He will understand the rest.
Now good-bye," and the bearded old man disappeared.

Prince Ivan, very sad and thoughtful, left the dark forest. He went
straight to his father, King Longbeard.

"Dear father king," said he, "a miracle occurred to me,"--and he told him
what he had seen and heard.

The king became pale like a ghost. "Woe to me, my dear son Ivan," cried he
weeping bitterly, "I see that we must part!" and he told to his son the
terrible story about his given oath.

"Do not cry, do not worry, father," answered the prince. "The calamity is
not so great. Give me a steed. I will go and you wait for me; keep the
secret, that nobody may know about it, not even my mother the queen. But if
I do not come back to you in a year, know that I am no longer alive." The
prince was fitted out for the journey. King Longbeard gave him gold armor,
a sword, and a steed. The queen gave him her blessing and a golden cross
upon his neck--and the young prince departed. What is going to happen to
him?

He rode for one day, for another, for a third, and on the fourth day right
after sunset, he came to a lake. The lake was smooth like glass; the water
was on a level with the shores; everything around was desert. The water was
covered with the rosy evening glow and the green shores with the thick
reeds were reflected in it. Everything seemed as if in a dream. The air did
not move; the reeds did not stir, there was no rustle upon the light
streams. The prince looked around and what did he see? Thirty crested white
ducks were swimming near the shore, upon the shore were lying thirty white
gowns. The prince dismounted very cautiously at some distance. Hidden by
the grass he crept towards the gowns and quickly took one of them. Then he
rested himself behind a bush to see what was going to happen. The ducks
swam and splattered in the stream, played, dived, and at last got to the
shore. Twenty-nine of them ran to the white gowns, knocked themselves upon
the ground, and all turned themselves into fair maidens, dressed and went
away. But the thirtieth duck ran up and down with a pitiful cry. Shyly
stretching her neck forward, she looked here and there, now flying up, now
coming down again. The prince felt pity for her. He came out from behind
his bush, and behold, she spoke to him in a human voice.

"Prince Ivan, give me back my gown and I will be useful to you."

The prince did not let her wait, but put the gown upon the grass and
suddenly