told
them to be glad; and so they danced and clapped their hands, and ran
about the ship, and teased the ancient old sailormen.

When they had been sailing many days, the Princess was looking out
over the sea, and she cried out to Ivan, "See, over there, far away,
are two big ships with white sails, not like our sails of brocade and
bits of silk."

Ivan looked, shading his eyes with his hands.

"Why, those are the ships of my elder brothers," said he. "We shall
all sail home together."

And he made the ancient old sailormen give a hail in their cracked old
voices. And the brothers heard them, and came on board to greet Ivan
and his bride. And when they saw that she was a Tzar's daughter, and
that the very decks were heaped with precious stones, because there
was no room below, they said one thing to Ivan and something else to
each other.

To Ivan they said, "Thanks be to God, He has given you good trading."

But to each other, "How can this be?" says one. "Ivan the Ninny
bringing back such a cargo, while we in our fine ships have only a bag
or two of gold."

"And what is Ivan the Ninny doing with a princess?" says the other.

And they ground their teeth, and waited their time, and came up
suddenly, when Ivan was alone in the twilight, and picked him up by
his head and his heels, and hove him overboard into the dark blue sea.

Not one of the old men had seen them, and the Princess was not on
deck. In the morning they said that Ivan the Ninny must have walked
overboard in his sleep. And they drew lots. The eldest brother took
the Princess, and the second brother took the little ship laden with
gold and silver and precious stones. And so the brothers sailed home
very well content. But the Princess sat and wept all day long, looking
down into the blue water. The elder brother could not comfort her, and
the second brother did not try. And the ancient old sailormen muttered
in their beards, and were sorry, and prayed to God to give rest to
Ivan's soul; for although he had been a ninny, and although he had
made them carry a lot of salt and other things, yet they loved him,
because he knew how to talk to ancient old sailormen.

But Ivan was not dead. As soon as he splashed into the water, he
crammed his fur hat a little tighter on his head, and began swimming
in the sea. He swam about until the sun rose, and then, not far away,
he saw a floating timber log, and he swam to the log, and got astride
of it, and thanke