rushed up to
her, and saw the serpent already nestling beneath the cushions. Then
the Tsarivna leaped out of bed; but Armless lay down on the floor and
kicked Legless on to the cushions, and Legless took the serpent in his
arms and began to throttle it. "Let me go! let me go!" begged the
serpent, "and I'll never fly here again, but will renounce my
tithes."

But Legless said, "That is but a small thing. Thou must carry us to
the place of healing waters, that I may get back my legs and my
brother here his arms."

"Catch hold of me," said the serpent, "and I'll take you, only torture
me no more."

So Legless clung on to him with his arms and Armless with his feet,
and the serpent flew away with them till he came to a spring. "There's
your healing water!" cried he.

Armless wanted to plunge in straightway, but Legless shrieked, "Wait,
brother! Hold the serpent tight with your legs while I thrust a dry
stick into the spring, and then we shall see whether it really is
healing water."

So he thrust a stick in, and no sooner had it touched the water than
it was consumed as though by fire. Then the pair of them, in their
rage, fell upon that false serpent and almost killed him. They beat
him and beat him till he cried for mercy. "Beat me no more!" cried he;
"the spring of healing water is not very far off!" Then he took them
to another spring. Into this they also dipped a dry stick, and
immediately it burst into flower. Then Armless leaped into the spring
and leaped out again with arms, whereupon he pitched in Legless, who
immediately leaped out again with legs of his own. So they let the
serpent go, first making him promise never to fly to the Tsarivna
again, and then each thanked the other for his friendship, and so they
parted.

But Ivan Golik went again to his brother the prince, to see what had
become of him. "I wonder what the princess has done to him?" thought
he. So he went toward that tsardom, and presently he saw not very far
from the roadside, a swineherd tending swine; he was tending swine,
but he himself sat upon a tomb. "I'll go and ask that swineherd what
he's doing there," thought Ivan Golik.

So he went up to the swineherd, and, looking straight into his eyes,
recognized his own brother. And the swineherd looked at him, and
recognized Ivan Golik. There they stood for a long time looking into
each other's eyes, but neither of them spoke a word. At last Ivan
Golik found his voice: "What!" cried he. "Is