. When the tailor had settled everything,
he went home. And the Prince said to him:
"Now then, pray to God, and lie down to sleep; to-morrow
all will be ready." And the tailor followed his lad's advice,
and went to bed.
Midnight sounded. The Prince arose, went out of the city
into the fields, took out of his pocket the eggs which the
maidens had given him, and, as they had taught him, turned
them into three palaces. Into each of these he entered, took
the maidens' robes, went out again, turned the palaces back
into eggs, and went home. And when he got there he hung up
the robes on the wall, and lay down to sleep.
Early in the morning his master awoke, and behold! there
hung such robes as he had never seen before, all shining with
gold and silver and precious stones. He was delighted, and he
seized them and carried them off to the King. When the princesses
saw that the clothes were those which had been theirs in
the other world, they guessed that Prince Ivan was in this
world, so they exchanged glances with each other, but they
held their peace. And the master, having handed over the
clothes, went home, but he no longer found his dear journeyman
there. For the Prince had gone to a shoemaker's, and him too
he sent to work for the King; and in the same way he went the
round of all the artificers, and they all proffered him thanks,
inasmuch as through him they were enriched by the King.
By the time the princely workman had gone the round of all
the artificers, the princesses had received what they had asked
for; all their clothes were just like what they had been in the
other world. Then they wept bitterly because the Prince had
not come, and it was impossible for them to hold out any
longer, it was necessary that they should be married. But when
they were ready for the wedding, the youngest bride said to the
King:
"Allow me, my father, to go and give alms to the beggars."
He gave her leave, and she went and began bestowing alms
upon them, and examining them closely. And when she had
come to one of them, and was going to give him some money,
she caught sight of the ring which she had given to the Prince
in the other world, and her sisters' rings too--for it really was
he. So she seized him by the hand, and brought him into the
hall, and said to the King:
"Here is he who brought us out of the other world. His
brothers forba
|