our bidding, I must have three dresses; one as golden as
the sun, one as silver as the moon, and one as shining as the stars.
Besides these, I want a cloak made of a thousand different kinds of
skin; every animal in your kingdom must give a bit of his skin to it.'
But she thought to herself, 'This will be quite impossible, and I shall
not have to marry someone I do not care for.' The King, however, was not
to be turned from his purpose, and he commanded the most skilled maidens
in his kingdom to weave the three dresses, one as golden as the sun, and
one as silver as the moon, and one as shining as the stars; and he gave
orders to all his huntsmen to catch one of every kind of beast in the
kingdom, and to get a bit of its skin to make the cloak of a thousand
pieces of fur. At last, when all was ready, the King commanded the cloak
to be brought to him, and he spread it out before the Princess, and
said, 'Tomorrow shall be your wedding-day.' When the Princess saw
that there was no more hope of changing her father's resolution, she
determined to flee away. In the night, when everyone else was sleeping,
she got up and took three things from her treasures, a gold ring, a
little gold spinning-wheel, and a gold reel; she put the sun, moon, and
star dresses in a nut-shell, drew on the cloak of many skins, and made
her face and hands black with soot. Then she commended herself to God,
and went out and travelled the whole night till she came to a large
forest. And as she was very much tired she sat down inside a hollow tree
and fell asleep.

The sun rose and she still slept on and on, although it was nearly noon.
Now, it happened that the king to whom this wood belonged was hunting
in it. When his dogs came to the tree, they sniffed, and ran round and
round it, barking. The King said to the huntsmen, 'See what sort of a
wild beast is in there.' The huntsmen went in, and then came back and
said, 'In the hollow tree there lies a wonderful animal that we don't
know, and we have never seen one like it; its skin is made of a thousand
pieces of fur; but it is lying down asleep.' The King said, 'See if you
can catch it alive, and then fasten it to the cart, and we will take
it with us.' When the huntsmen seized the maiden, she awoke and was
frightened, and cried out to them, 'I am a poor child, forsaken by
father and mother; take pity on me, and let me go with you.' Then they
said to her, 'Many-furred Creature, you can work in the kitchen