So the tailor went. The King was delighted that at least one good
workman had been found, and gave him as much money as ever he wanted.
When his tailor had settled everything, he went home. And the Prince
said to him:
‘Now then, pray to God, and lie down to sleep; to-morrow all will be
ready.’ And the tailor followed his lad’s advice, and went to bed.
Midnight sounded. The Prince arose, went out of the city into the
fields, took out of his pocket the eggs which the maidens had given
him, and, as they had taught him, turned them into three palaces. Into
each of these he entered, took the maidens’ robes, went out again,
turned the palaces back into eggs, and went home. And when he got there
he hung up the robes on the wall, and lay down to sleep.
Early in the morning his master awoke, and behold! there hung such
robes as he had never seen before, all shining with gold and silver and
precious stones. He was delighted, and he seized them and carried them
off to the King. When the Princesses saw that the clothes were those
which had been theirs in the other world, they guessed that Prince Ivan
was in this world, so they exchanged glances with each other, but they
held their peace. And the master, having handed over the clothes, went
home, but he no longer found his dear journeyman there. For the Prince
had gone to a shoemaker’s, and him too he sent to work for the King;
and in the same way he went the round of all the artificers, and they
all proffered him thanks, inasmuch as through him they were enriched by
the King.
By the time the princely workman had gone the round of all the
artificers, the Princesses had received what they had asked for; all
their clothes were just like what they had been in the other world.
Then they wept bitterly because the Prince had not come, and it was
impossible for them to hold out any longer; it was necessary that they
should be married. But when they were ready for the wedding, the
youngest bride said to the King:
‘Allow me, my father, to go and give alms to the beggars.’
He gave her leave, and she went and began bestowing alms upon them, and
examining them closely. And when she had come to one of them, and was
going to give him some money, she caught sight of the ring which she
had given to the Prince in the other world, and her sisters’ rings
too—for it really was he. So she seized him by the hand, and brought
him into the hall, and said to the King:
‘Here is he who brought us out of the other world. His brothers forbade
us to say that he was alive, threatening to slay us if we did.’
Then the King was wroth with those sons, and punished them as he
thought best. And afterwards three weddings were celebrated.
THE WONDERFUL BIRCH
Once upon a time there were a man and a woman, who had an only
daughter. Now it happened that one of their sheep went astray, and they
set out to look for it, and searched and searched, each in a different
part of the wood. Then the good wife met a witch, who said to her:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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