Slowly everyone followed: the mighty moon-alf, and also the friends of the milleris son: the runner who had once fetched the water of life and of healing for him - the cold-producer who had protected him with his cold in the hot bath - the listener who had informed him in advance about all the messages of the czar, and who had also heard that the runner had fallen asleep on his long way and was snoring deeply - the marksman who had woken up the runner by shooting into the beam of the mill which was worlds away - the eater who had eaten the strength of twelve oxen and the bread of fourty-five ovens - the drinker who had emptied fourty-five barrels of water and fourty-five barrels of mead - and finally the man who had produced a whole army from his faggot; Sol introduced Mani to all of them, and Mani was happy that her brother had told her their story of the flying ship.

But also the daughter of the czar - Hans' wife - and his two brothers were also there; Henry, the eldest, who led the mill when the father was away, and Charles who attended to the familyis business everywhere in the world - Mani met them too through her brother; and she saw them talking lively to the mighty eater while the whole company went towards the southern part of the palace.

But also her grand-mother and her girl-friend companions had joined the small procession; they wanted to escort Mani to the beach and then return, because they intended to stay for a while here on the Island of Happiness to complete their exercises.

So they finally reached the palace harbour; but how surprised was Mani to find brisk traffic there: permanently ships came and left again - they sailed into all directions and seemed to bring people back to their homes again; and from many worlds they seemed to bring them here.

The ships looked very different from each other; none of them looked alike, and one was more gorgeous than the other. Yet all these ships were obviously governed and steered according to the same inner mechanism.

Their ship too, which now seemed almost familiar to Mani - since she had had a very close look at it at the exercise on the clearing and still remembered it very well - was ready to travel and it glistened forth right in front of them in colourful scintillating splendour.

All sails were set and stood in the full wind of the moon which rose halfway to the right of the magic ship.
Since long the sun had gone to blessed rest in the world ocean, and the moon now went conscientiously along her silvery-white cosmic orbit.

Now everybody boarded the ship, and Mani noticed that - as before in the palace, or in the rings of cognition in general - she did not feel the ground below her feet: indeed, she seemed to float slightly above the ground.

As they stood on the flying ship, Mani's feeling of inner and outer lightness increased once more and it seemed to her as if soft and delicate air, hardly perceptible anymore, filled her as it were and lightened her even more - and it seemed to her that an infinitely subtle and exceedingly lively mild wind permeated her from the leader of the ship and made her very light.