led together all his faithful servants, and promised
a great reward to any one who should bring news of the three
princesses. It was the same with the servants as with the soldiers.
Far and wide they galloped out. Slowly, one by one, they rode back,
with bent heads, on tired horses. Not one of them had seen the King's
daughters.

Then the King called a grand council of his wise boyars and men of
state. They all sat round and listened as the King told his tale and
asked if one of them would not undertake the task of finding and
rescuing the three princesses. "The wind has not set them down within
the boundaries of my kingdom; and now, God knows, they may be in the
power of wicked men or worse." He said he would give one of the
princesses in marriage to any one who could follow where the wind went
and bring his daughters back; yes, and besides, he would make him the
richest man in the kingdom. But the boyars and the wise men of state
sat round in silence. He asked them one by one. They were all silent
and afraid. For they were boyars and wise men of state, and not one of
them would undertake to follow the whirlwind and rescue the three
princesses.

The King wept bitter tears.

"I see," he said, "I have no friends about me in the palace. My
soldiers cannot, my servants cannot, and my boyars and wise men will
not, bring back my three sweet maids, whom I love better than my
kingdom."

And with that he sent heralds throughout the kingdom to announce the
news, and to ask if there were none among the common folk, the
moujiks, the simple folk like us, who would put his hand to the work
of rescuing the three lovely princesses, since not one of the boyars
and wise men was willing to do it.

Now, at that time in a certain village lived a poor widow, and she had
three sons, strong men, true bogatirs and men of power. All three had
been born in a single night: the eldest at evening, the middle one at
midnight, and the youngest just as the sky was lightening with the
dawn. For this reason they were called Evening, Midnight, and Sunrise.
Evening was dusky, with brown eyes and hair; Midnight was dark, with
eyes and hair as black as charcoal; while Sunrise had hair golden as
the sun, and eyes blue as morning sky. And all three were as strong as
any of the strong men and mighty bogatirs who have shaken this land of
Russia with their tread.

As soon as the King's word had been proclaimed in the village, the
three brothers asked fo