"--So they did as he desired. They shut him up in a
stone hut, with a little bed and a little stove and fire to warm him,
and in a fortnight he grew quite big, indeed he grew too big for his
little bed. "And now," said he, "I want to be married!" So they
brought to him all the fair young damsels of the land that he might
choose one to be his own true bride. Exceeding fair were all the
damsels they brought him, and yet he would choose none of them. Now
there was an old woman there, who had twelve daughters, and eleven of
these daughters they brought to the Serpent-Tsarevich, but not the
twelfth. "She is too young!" said they.--Then the youngest daughter
said, "Ye fools, not to take me too! Why, if I were brought to the
Serpent-Tsarevich, he would make me his bride at once."

Now this came to the Tsar's ears, and he commanded them to bring her
to him straightway. And the Tsar said to her, "Wilt thou be my son's
bride or not?"--And she said, "I will; but before I go to thy son,
give me at once a score of chemises, and a score of linen kirtles, and
a score of woollen kirtles, and twenty pairs of shoes--twenty of each,
I say."--So the Tsar gave them to her, and she put on the twenty
chemises, the twenty linen kirtles, the twenty woollen kirtles, and
the twenty pairs of shoes, one after the other, and went to see the
Serpent-Tsarevich. When she came to the threshold of his hut, she
stopped and said, "Hail, O Serpent-Tsarevich!"--"Hail, maiden!" cried
he. "Wilt thou be my bride?"--"I will!"--"Then take off one of thy
skins!" cried he.--"Yes," she said, "but thou must do the same."--So
he cast off one of his skins, and she cast off one of her twenty suits
of clothes. Then he cried out again, "Cast off another of thy skins,
maiden."--"Yes," she replied, "but thou must cast off one too!"--So he
did so. Nineteen times did he cast off one of his serpent's skins, and
nineteen times did she cast off one of her suits of clothes, till at
last she had only her every-day suit left, and he had only his human
skin left. Then he threw off his last skin also, and it flew about in
the air like a gossamer, whereupon she seized hold of it and threw it
into the fire that was burning on the hearth till it was all consumed,
and he stood before her no longer a serpent, but a simple Tsarevich.
Then they married and lived happily together, but the husband never
would go to visit his old father the Tsar, nor would he allow his
bride to go near the pal