A prince and a princess live in the castle on top of the glass mountain. I am their only messenger. I carry messages back and forth from them to the people below.

The prince is very fortunate, because he scaled the glass mountain, while thousands of other suitors did not. Their bodies still lie at the mountain’s base. Still, I feel for the royal couple, because, with all that they have, they have no other company, and nowhere to go.

Wonder of wonders! Something is happening at the base of the mountain. People are gathering. Crowds and crowds. The prince summons me with his silver whistle. “What is the matter?” he wants to know. As I fly over the crowd, I am amazed, because the dead are rising as if they have just come out of sleep. All the suitors who died trying to make it to the top, they are all rising!

The Swallow Messenger in The Glass Mountain, Yellow Fairy. Vintage envelope.