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to consider, instinct and logic told me to head toward the mountains.
    A clickety-click sound grabbed my attention just as something pinched my left boot. Startled, I looked down. A six-inch crablike creature had clamped on to my foot with a large claw. The crab’s eyes, which were attached to floppy three-inch stalks, stared back at me like those of a small alien. The other claw made a clicking noise as the creature repeatedly opened and snapped it closed. My boot’s leather was thick enough to protect my toes from the crab’s pincers, but shaking my foot didn’t dislodge the little beast. I would have thought a creature made of glass might be a little more careful about who it grabbed!
    â€œYou’ve bitten off way more than you can chew, little guy.” I shook my finger at the creature as I scolded it. Then I blinked and smiled, inspired by my own words. “But I have something that’s much tastier than my boot.”
    Being careful not to poke the water pods, I opened the food pack and broke off a small piece of what looked like a cake made of sunflower seeds and carefully placed it on top of my boot. The crab’s eyes atop their floppy stalks stopped jiggling as they studied my offering, but the crab didn’t let go or try to grab the cake. Anxious to get moving, I tried stamping my heel to jar the creature loose, but the claw clamped down tighter, and it hung on.
    The crab’s one-claw clickety-click taunt became a noisy clatter as more crabs suddenly swarmed to joined the chorus. Interestingly enough, not a single one skittered near the rocks.
    I was wondering if I would have to just break its little claw off—hoping that it would grow a new one like the stingray—when I tried one last idea. Walking on the heel of my left boot so I wouldn’t break the crab, I slowly made my way to a large rock. As soon as I climbed onto it, the crab let go of my boot, dropped into the sand, and scurried back to the crab-creature colony.
    From here I was right beside the stone wall. The moss was more of a slime—so although there appeared to be places where I could put a hand or foot, the wall was too slippery to climb. Switching the heavy coat to my other arm, I jumped to the next bigrock. I headed down the beach this way, looking for a break in the stone wall. I had to get over it to reach the Three Queens.
    Suddenly I remembered the knotted wind rope. I couldn’t climb the barrier, but a strong wind could carry me over. I opened the blue drawstring pouch and pulled out the rope. Just as I was about to touch the first knot, I asked myself: Was it wise to use one of the magic knots so soon?
    I put the rope back in its pouch. Then I took a piece of cake from the other pouch and nibbled as I continued jumping from rock to rock. I found cracks between boulders here and there, but they were too narrow for anything except a butterfly flying sideways to squeeze through. Looking up, I realized that the rock wall blocked my view of the Three Queens. On the off chance that seeing the crowned peaks would give me a brainstorm, I jumped off the rock.

    I braced to jump back on in case any crabs attacked me from the sand. Keeping an eye out, I hurried down the beach, walking away from the rocks until the golden peaks of the three mountains were visible. From here, I could also make out threedistinct paths leading up to the piles of rocks: One went straight and the others branched to the left and right. Each path was obviously a route to one of the Three Queens, and each path was blocked by a pair of humungous boulders.
    One of the mountains was the key to completing my quest and making my dream come true, but which one? I had no information, no map to help me decide, and not even a friend to talk to about it.
    A shrill whistle rang out as pebbles and small rocks tumbled down the boulder barrier.
    â€œWho’s there?” I yelled.
    Suddenly a small man jumped out of the rocks. Standing