` Very good , ' replied the witch , with something that she meant for a smile , ` but to-day it is late . To-morrow you shall go . Now enter , and you shall sleep with my lizards . ' ' I can not stay , ' said he . ' I must go back at once , so as to reach the road from which I started before day dawns . ' ` If I tell you , will you promise me that you will bring me this jar full of the many-coloured water from the spring in the court-yard of the castle ? ' asked she . ` If you fail to keep your word I will change you into a lizard for ever . ' ' I promise , ' answered the boy . Then the old woman called to a very thin dog , and said to him : ` Conduct this pig of a child to the castle of Come-and-never-go , and take care that you warn my friend of his arrival . ' And the dog arose and shook itself , and set out . At the end of two hours they stopped in front of a large castle , big and black and gloomy , whose doors stood wide open , although neither sound nor light gave sign of any presence within . The dog , however , seemed to know what to expect , and , after a wild howl , went on ; but the boy , who was uncertain whether this was the quarter of an hour when the giant was asleep , hesitated to follow him , and paused for a moment under a wild olive that grew near by , the only tree which he had beheld since he had parted from the dove . ` Oh , heaven , help me ! ' cried he . ` Cross ! cross ! ' answered a voice . The boy leapt for joy as he recognised the note of the owl of which the swallow had spoken , and he said softly in the bird 's language : ` Oh , wise owl , I pray you to protect and guide me , for I have come in search of the Bird of Truth . And first I must fill this far with the many-coloured water in the courtyard of the castle . '
` Do not do that , ' XXXXX the owl , ` but fill the jar from the spring which bubbles close by the fountain with the many-coloured water .
answered called enter gave leapt sleep spoken stood stopped take