er a man--came up to him, and
asked:

"Wherefore are you weeping so bitterly, O lord King?"

"How can I help weeping!" answers the King. "How
shall I be able to get all this great herd into so small a coffer?"

"If you like, I will set your mind at rest. I will pack up all
your cattle for you. But on one condition only. You must give
me whatever you have at home that you don't know of."

The King reflected.

"Whatever is there at home that I don't know of?" says he.
"I fancy I know about everything that's there."

He reflected, and consented. "Pack them up," says he. "I
will give you whatever I have at home that I know nothing
about."

So that man packed away all his cattle for him in the coffer.
The King went on board ship and sailed away homewards.

When he reached home, then only did he learn that a son
had been born to him. And he began kissing the child, caressing
it, and at the same time bursting into such floods of tears!

"My lord King!" says the Queen, "tell me wherefore thou
droppest bitter tears?"

"For joy!" he replies.

He was afraid to tell her the truth, that the Prince would
have to be given up. Afterwards he went into the back court,
opened the red coffer, and thence issued oxen and cows, sheep
and rams; there were multitudes of all sorts of cattle, so that
all the sheds and pastures were crammed full. He went into
the front court, opened the green coffer, and there appeared a
great and glorious garden. What trees there were in it to be
sure! The King was so delighted that he forgot all about
giving up his son.

Many years went by. One day the King took it into his
head to go for a stroll, and he came to a river. At that moment
the same man he had seen before came out of the water, and
said:

"You've pretty soon become forgetful, lord King! Think a
little! surely you're in my debt!"

The King returned home full of grief, and told all the truth to
the Queen and the Prince. They all mourned and wept together,
but they decided that there was no help for it, the Prince must
be given up. So they took him to the mouth of the river and
there they left him alone.

The Prince looked around, saw a footpath, and followed
trusting God would lead him somewhere. He walked and walked,
and came to a dense forest: in the forest stood a hut, in the
hut lived a Baba Yaga.

"Suppose I go in," thought the Pri