The light from the gems roused the man, who groaned, sat up slowly, and rubbed his eyes. "What!" he cried in a trembling voice, "is it broad day already, and have they come to cut off my head? Give me that keg of spirits and a can. I will drink three gallons at a draught and then I shall be so full of courage that I shall not feel the axe." "But the robe is ready," said Ivan very quietly. "What?" roared the Court Shoemaker-Dressmaker. "When did we make it?" "It was made in the night, of course, and it is not the first time that a Court Dressmaker has had to work until the small hours. Do you not remember cutting the cloth?" "Ah, brother," said the man who was now weeping like a crocodile for sheer relief, "it must have been the sheen of the gold embroidery that dazzled my wits. I barely remember, but only very barely. But I must make haste to carry this robe to Elena the Beautiful. Thank goodness I have been able to rise to the occasion once more." "Yes, thank goodness," said Ivan, "but it is to be hoped that you will not be honoured with any more Court appointments." His employer, however, did not hear this last remark, for by the time that Ivan had finished speaking he was standing in the apartment of Elena the Beautiful, where the preparations seemed to be as busy as ever. The Golden Tsaritza looked at the robe and something to which she dared not give a name told her heart what had taken place. "Surely," she said to herself, "the good Spirits made this robe for Ivan." Then aloud she said to the prinking shoemaker, "How did you make this?" "Oh," said the unlucky man, "I can make anything." The reply of the Tsaritza came like a flash of lightning. "See that at to-morrow's dawn," she said, "the Kingdom of Gold be on the sea, seven miles from shore, and across the blue waters stretching from that Kingdom to our palace let there be a bridge of gold with costly crimson velvet laid upon it and set at each side with wonderful trees to form an avenue full of love-birds singing sweetest songs of dawn with varied voices. If this is not done by to-morrow morning I will have you cut up into four quarters." As the Tsaritza spoke, the face of the shoemaker took on an expression of wonder worthy of a large audience at the most wonderful conjuring entertainment you can imagine. Then he turned slowly and left the apartment of Elena the Beautiful, muttering to himself, "Court Shoemaker, Court Dressmaker, and now Court Magician. I may as well have another day's frolic, for though a man may rise twice in drowning he does not rise thrice and live."