uel King Koshchey!" thought Ivan. "This is an impossible thing
for me to do."

Greatly grieved he went to his room and thought his sad thoughts. In the
evening a bright bee came flying to his window, flapped against the pane,
and he heard a voice saying "Let me in!" He opened the window, the bee flew
inside and turned into Princess Mary.

"Hello, Prince Ivan! Why are you so sad?"

"I have good reasons to be so. Your father wants to have me executed."

"What have you decided to do?"

"Nothing. Let him do it. Go where you can and die where you must."

"No, my dear Prince Ivan. We must not lose our courage. There are still
greater calamities in the world than yours. Go to sleep, and get up very
early. The palace will be built for you. You will only have to go around
it, and knock with your hammer at the walls as if finishing your work."

And so it was. Very early in the morning Ivan came out of his chamber, and
behold! The palace was all built for him.

King Koshchey was surprised. He did not believe his own eyes. "O, you are a
very skillful fellow indeed. Now let us see whether you are just as
clever. I have thirty daughters, beautiful princesses. To-morrow I will
place all of them in a row; you will pass three times before them and tell
me which is the youngest of them. If you don't guess, you shall die. Now
go."

[Illustration: All the Princesses were there.]

"Is that hard to guess?" thought the prince, "I certainly will recognize
Princess Mary."

"It is very hard," said the princess, who flew as a bee into his room, "and
if I do not help you, you will get into trouble. We thirty sisters look all
alike. So great is the resemblance between us, that our father can
recognize us only by our dress."

"What am I to do then?"

"I will tell you what: I will be the one who has a small black fly on the
right cheek. But beware! Look very carefully; it is easy to make a
mistake." And the bee disappeared.

The next day the prince was again called to King Koshchey. All the
princesses were there, and all dressed alike stood in a row with downcast
eyes.

"Well," said the king, "pass three times before these beauties and tell us
which of them is Princess Mary."

Ivan looked at them and thought, "What a resemblance." He passed the first
time and saw no fly; passed for the second time--still no fly; passed the
third time and saw a tiny fly stealing its way across the fresh burning
cheek of one of the princesses. The p