At the bottom the king found a narrow grassy ledge by the brink of the stream , across which the light from a rude lantern in the mount of a cave shed a broad beam of uncertain light . At the edge of the stream sat an old hermit with a long white beard , who neither spoke nor moved as the king approached , but sat throwing into the stream dry leaves which lay scattered about the ground near him . ` Peace be upon you , ' said the king , giving the usual country salutation . ` And upon you peace , ' answered the hermit ; but still he never looked up , nor stopped what he was doing . For a minute or two the king stood watching him . He noticed that the hermit threw two leaves in at a time , and watched them attentively . Sometimes both were carried rapidly down by the stream ; sometimes only one leaf was carried off , and the other , after whirling slowly round and round on the edge of the current , would come circling back on an eddy to the hermit 's feet . At other times both leaves were held in the backward eddy , and failed to reach the main current of the noisy stream . ` What are you doing ? ' asked the king at last , and the hermit replied that he was reading the fates of men ; every one 's fate , he said , was settled from the beginning , and , whatever it were , there was no escape from it . The king laughed . ' I care little , ' he said , ` what my fate may be ; but I should be curious to know the fate of my little daughter . ' ' I can not say , ' answered the hermit . ` Do you not know , then ? ' demanded the king . ' I might know , ' returned the hermit , ` but it is not always wisdom to know much . ' But the king was not content with this reply , and began to press the old man to say what he knew , which for a long time he would not do . At last , however , the king urged him so greatly that he said : ` The king 's daughter will marry the son of a poor slave-girl called Puruna , who belongs to the king of the land of the north . There is no escaping from Fate . ' The king was wild with anger at hearing these words , but he was also very tired ; so he only laughed , and answered that he hoped there would be a way out of THAT fate anyhow .
Then he XXXXX if the hermit could shelter him and his beasts for the night , and the hermit said ` Yes ' ; so , very soon the king had watered and tethered his horse , and , after a supper of bread and parched peas , lay down in the cave , with the hound at his feet , and tried to go to sleep .
asked carried demanded hearing marry mount moved returned say stopped