good to his
subjects that there was no one who did not bless him, and pray to the
Heavenly Father to grant him a long life.

The king had lived happily with his wife for many years, but as yet no
child had blessed his marriage. Great was the rejoicing of the king and
all his subjects when at length the queen brought a fair child into the
world. But their happiness was short-lived, for three days after the
birth of the prince, the mother closed her eyes for ever, leaving her
child an orphan and her husband a widower. The king mourned grievously
for the loss of his dear consort, and his subjects mourned with him, and
there was not a cheerful face to be seen anywhere. Three years
afterwards the king married again, in deference to the wishes of his
subjects, but he was unfortunate in his second choice. He had buried a
dove and married a hawk in her place, and unfortunately it goes thus
with many widowers. The new consort was a wicked, hard-hearted woman,
who never showed any good-will towards the king and his subjects. She
could not bear the sight of the former queen's son, as she feared that
the succession would fall to him, for the people loved him greatly for
his mother's sake. The crafty queen conceived the wicked design of
sending the boy to some place where the king would be unable to discover
him, for she had not courage to murder him. She paid a wicked old woman
a large sum to help her to carry out her infamous design. The child was
handed over to the old woman at night, and she carried it far away along
unfrequented paths, and delivered it to some poor people to adopt as
their child. On the way, the old woman stripped off the child's good
clothes, and wrapped it in rags, so that no one should discover the
deceit. The queen had bound her by a solemn oath never to reveal to any
one the place to which she had carried the prince. The child-stealer did
not venture to travel by day, because she feared pursuit, so that it was
a long time before she found a sufficiently retired spot. At last she
reached a lonely house in a wood, where the feet of strangers rarely
penetrated, and she thought this a suitable abode for the prince, and
paid the peasant a hundred roubles for the expense of bringing up the
child. It was lucky for the prince that he had fallen among good people,
who cared for him as if he had been their own dear child. The lively boy
often made them laugh, especially when he called himself a prince. They
saw fro