After some time Petru saw something white rise up out of the red of the sky , and when he drew nearer he saw it was a castle , and so splendid that his eyes were dazzled when they looked at it . He did not know there was such a beautiful castle in the world . But no time was to be lost , so he shook himself , jumped down from his horse , and , leaving him on the dewy grass , began to play on his flute as he walked along . He had hardly gone many steps when he stumbled over a huge giant , who had been lulled to sleep by the music . This was one of the guards of the castle ! As he lay there on his back , he seemed so big that in spite of Petru 's haste he stopped to measure him . The further went Petru , the more strange and terrible were the sights he saw -- lions , tigers , dragons with seven heads , all stretched out in the sun fast asleep . It is needless to say what the dragons were like , for nowadays everyone knows , and dragons are not things to joke about . Petru ran through them like the wind . Was it haste or fear that spurred him on ? At last he came to a river , but let nobody think for a moment that this river was like other rivers ? Instead of water , there flowed milk , and the bottom was of precious stones and pearls , instead of sand and pebbles . And it ran neither fast nor slow , but both fast and slow together . And the river flowed round the castle , and on its banks slept lions with iron teeth and claws ; and beyond were gardens such as only the Fairy of the Dawn can have , and on the flowers slept a fairy ! All this saw Petru from the other side . But how was he to get over ? To be sure there was a bridge , but , even if it had not been guarded by sleeping lions , it was plainly not meant for man to walk on . Who could tell what it was made of ? It looked like soft little woolly clouds ! So he stood thinking what was to be done , for get across he must .
After a while , he determined to take the risk , and strode back to the sleeping XXXXX .
bottom bridge castle giant grass heads lions saw spite world