he
current past a fisherman's cottage. The fisherman saw it, got into his
boat, and went after it. When he found what the basket contained he
was overjoyed. At once he carried the baby to his wife and said:

"You have always wanted a little son and here you have one. The river
has given him to us."

The fisherman's wife was delighted and brought up the child as her
own. They named him Plavachek, which means a little boy who has come
floating on the water.

The river flowed on and the days went by and Plavachek grew from a
baby to a boy and then into a handsome youth, the handsomest by far in
the whole countryside.

One day the king happened to ride that way unattended. It was hot and
he was thirsty. He beckoned to the fisherman to get him a drink of
fresh water. Plavachek brought it to him. The king looked at the
handsome youth in astonishment.

"You have a fine lad," he said to the fisherman. "Is he your own son?"

"He is, yet he isn't," the fisherman answered. "Just twenty years ago
a little baby in a basket floated down the river. We took him in and
he has been ours ever since."

A mist rose before the king's eyes and he went deathly pale, for he
knew at once that Plavachek was the child that he had ordered drowned.

Soon he recovered himself and jumping from his horse he said: "I need
a messenger to send to my palace and I have no one with me. Could this
youth go for me?"

"Your majesty has but to command," the fisherman said, "and Plavachek
will go."

The king sat down and wrote a letter to the queen. This is what he
said:

"Have the young man who delivers this letter run through with a sword
at once. He is a dangerous enemy. Let him be dispatched before I
return. Such is my will."

He folded the letter, made it secure, and sealed it with his own
signet.

Plavachek took the letter and started out with it at once. He had to
go through a deep forest where he missed the path and lost his way. He
struggled on through underbrush and thicket until it began to grow
dark. Then he met an old woman who said to him:

"Where are you going, Plavachek?"

"I'm carrying this letter to the king's palace and I've lost my way.
Can you put me on the right road, mother?"

"You can't get there today," the old woman said. "It's dark now. Spend
the night with me. You won't be with a stranger, for I'm your old
godmother."

Plavachek allowed himself to be persuaded and presently he saw before
him a pretty little hou