nd it shall be to thy weal
and welfare!"

Swiftly they moved on their way, but the story that tells thereof
moves still swifter. They went on and on, for more than a month maybe,
till they came to another land and to another tsardom, to the Empire
of Thrice-ten. And the serpent was the Tsar of that tsardom. Vast were
his palaces, iron railings surrounded his courtyards, and the railings
were covered with the heads of various warriors; only on the twenty
huge pillars in front of the gate were there no heads. As they drew
nigh, deadly fear oppressed the heart of the prince, and he said to
Ivan, "Mark me, Ivan! those pillars yonder are meant for _our_
heads!"--"That remains to be seen," replied Ivan Golik.

When they arrived there, the serpent at first treated them hospitably
as welcome guests. They were all to come in and make merry, he said,
but the prince he took to his own house. So they ate and drank
together, and the thoughts of their hearts were joyous. Now the
serpent had twenty-one daughters, and he brought them to the prince,
and told him which was the eldest, and which the next eldest, down to
the very last one. But it was the youngest daughter of all that the
prince's fancy fed upon more than on any of the others. Thus they
diverted themselves till evening, and in the evening they made ready
to go to sleep. But the serpent said to the prince, "Well, which of
my daughters dost thou think the loveliest?"

"The youngest is the most beautiful," said the prince, "and her will I
wed."

"Good!" said the serpent, "but I will not let thee have my daughter
till thou hast done all my tasks. If thou doest my tasks, thou shalt
have my daughter; but if thou doest them not, thou shalt lose thy
head, and all thy suite shall perish with thee."

Then he gave him his first task: "In my barn are three hundred ricks
of corn; by the morning light thou shalt have threshed and sifted them
so that stalk lies by stalk, chaff by chaff, and grain by grain."

Then the prince went to his own place to pass the night there, and
bitterly he wept. But Ivan Golik saw that he was weeping, and said to
him, "Why dost thou weep, O prince?"

"Why should I not weep, seeing the task that the serpent has given me
is impossible?"

"Nay, weep not, my prince, but lie down to sleep, and by the morning
light it will all be done!"

No sooner had Ivan Golik left the prince than he went outside and
whistled for the mice. Then the mice assembled roun