to bear the thirst a little longer. He put the bottle to the child's lips,
and it drank all but a few drops. Then it got up and ran down the hill.

All kinds of sweet flowers began to grow on the rocks, and crimson and
purple butterflies flitted about in the air.

At the end of another hour, Gluck's thirst was almost unbearable. He saw
that there were only five or six drops of water in the bottle, however,
and he did not dare to drink. So he was putting the flask away again when
he saw a little dog on the rocks, gasping for breath. He looked at it, and
then at the Golden River, and he remembered the dwarf's words, "No one can
succeed except at the first trial"; and he tried to pass the dog. But it
whined piteously, and Gluck stopped. He could not bear to pass it.
"Confound the King and his gold, too!" he said; and he poured the few
drops of water into the dog's mouth.

The dog sprang up; its tail disappeared, its nose grew red, and its eyes
twinkled. The next minute the dog was gone, and the King of the Golden
River stood there. He stooped and plucked a lily that grew beside Gluck's
feet. Three drops of dew were on its white leaves. These the dwarf shook
into the flask which Gluck held in his hand.

"Cast these into the river," he said, "and go down the other side of the
mountains into the Treasure Valley." Then he disappeared.

Gluck stood on the brink of the Golden River, and cast the three drops of
dew into the stream. Where they fell, a little whirlpool opened; but the
water did not turn to gold. Indeed, the water seemed vanishing altogether.
Gluck was disappointed not to see gold, but he obeyed the King of the
Golden River, and went down the other side of the mountains.