or done a
day's work. I'll have them brought hither. I'll feast my eyes on them
once more, and then I'll have them driven into thy steppes--take
them."--"No, that won't do either!" said the Accursed One. The Tsar
went over, one by one, all the most precious things he had at home,
but the Accursed One said "No!" all along, and pulled him more and
more tightly by the beard. When the Tsar saw that the Accursed One
would take none of all these things, he said to him at last, "Look
now! I have a wife so lovely that the like of her is not to be found
in the whole world, take her and let me go!"--"No!" replied the
Accursed One, "I will not have her." The Tsar was in great straits.
"What am I to do now?" thought he. "I have offered him my lovely wife,
who is the very choicest of my chattels, and he won't have her!"--Then
said the Accursed One, "Promise me what thou shalt find awaiting thee
at home, and I'll let thee go."

The Tsar gladly promised this, for he could think of naught else that
he had, and then the Accursed One let him go.

But while he had been away from home, there had been born to him a
Tsarevko[8] and a Tsarivna; and they grew up not by the day, or even
by the hour, but by the minute: never were known such fine children.
And his wife saw him coming from afar, and went out to meet him, with
her two children, with great joy. But he, the moment he saw them,
burst into tears. "Nay, my dear love," cried she, "wherefore dost thou
burst into tears? Or art thou so delighted that such children have
been born unto thee that thou canst not find thy voice for tears of
joy?"--And he answered her, "My darling wife, on my way back from the
bazaar I was athirst, and turned toward a mountain known of old to my
father and me, and it seemed to me as though there were a spring of
water there, though the water was very near dried up. But looking
closer, I saw that it was quite full; so I bethought me that I would
drink thereof, and I leaned over, when lo! that Evil-wanton (I mean
the Devil) caught me by the beard and would not let me go. I begged
and prayed, but still he held me tight. 'Give me,' said he, 'what thou
hast at home, or I'll never let thee go!'--And I said to him, 'Lo!
now, I have horses.'--'I don't want thy horses!' said he.--'I have
oxen,' I said.--'I don't want thine oxen!' said he.--'I have,' said I,
'a wife so fair that the like of her is not to be found in God's fair
world; take her, but let me go.'--'I don't w