ther. There was his father,
and there was his mother, and a little baby girl was in his mother's
arms, screaming like a little fury.

"Well, she's not dumb," said his father, as if he were well pleased.

"Father," says the little Prince, "may I have the fastest horse in the
stable?" And those were the first words that ever left his mouth.

"What!" says his father, "have you got a voice at last? Yes, take
whatever horse you want. And see, you have a little sister; a fine
little girl she is too. She has teeth already. It's a pity they are
black, but time will put that right, and it's better to have black
teeth than to be born dumb."

Little Prince Ivan shook in his shoes when he heard of the black teeth
of his little sister, for he knew that they were iron. He thanked his
father and ran off to the stable. The old groom saddled the finest
horse there was. Such a horse you never saw. Black it was, and its
saddle and bridle were trimmed with shining silver. And little Prince
Ivan climbed up and sat on the great black horse, and waved his hand
to the old groom, and galloped away, on and on over the wide world.

"It's a big place, this world," thought the little Prince. "I wonder
when I shall come to the end of it." You see, he had never been
outside the palace grounds. And he had only ridden a little Finnish
pony. And now he sat high up, perched on the back of the great black
horse, who galloped with hoofs that thundered beneath him, and leapt
over rivers and streams and hillocks, and anything else that came in
his way.

On and on galloped the little Prince on the great black horse. There
were no houses anywhere to be seen. It was a long time since they had
passed any people, and little Prince Ivan began to feel very lonely,
and to wonder if indeed he had come to the end of the world, and could
bring his journey to an end.

Suddenly, on a wide, sandy plain, he saw two old, old women sitting in
the road.

They were bent double over their work, sewing and sewing, and now one
and now the other broke a needle, and took a new one out of a box
between them, and threaded the needle with thread from another box,
and went on sewing and sewing. Their old noses nearly touched their
knees as they bent over their work.

Little Prince Ivan pulled up the great black horse in a cloud of dust,
and spoke to the old women.

"Grandmothers," said he, "is this the end of the world? Let me stay
here and live with you, and be safe from