in a row
before you, and if you cannot tell me which of them is the youngest, off
goes your head.'

'What! Not recognise the youngest princess!' said the Prince to himself,
as he entered his room, 'a likely story!'

'It is such a difficult matter that you will never be able to do it
without my help,' replied the bee, who was buzzing about the ceiling.
'We are all so exactly alike, that even our father scarcely knows the
difference between us.'

'Then what must I do?'

'This. The youngest is she who will have a ladybird on her eyelid. Be
very careful. Now good-bye.'

Next morning King Kostiei again sent for the prince. The young
princesses were all drawn up in a row, dressed precisely in the same
manner, and with their eyes all cast down. As the prince looked at them,
he was amazed at their likeness. Twice he walked along the line, without
being able to detect the sign agreed upon. The third time his heart beat
fast at the sight of a tiny speck upon the eyelid of one of the girls.

'This one is the youngest,' he said.

'How in the world did you guess?' cried Kostiei in a fury. 'There is
some jugglery about it! But you are not going to escape me so easily.
In three hours you shall come here and give me another proof of your
cleverness. I shall set alight a handful of straw, and before it is
burnt up you will have turned it into a pair of boots. If not, off goes
your head.'

So the prince returned sadly into his room, but the bee was there before
him.

'Why do you look so melancholy, my handsome Prince?'

'How can I help looking melancholy when your father has ordered me to
make him a pair of boots? Does he take me for a shoemaker?'

'What do you think of doing?'

'Not of making boots, at any rate! I am not afraid of death. One can
only die once after all.'

'No, Prince, you shall not die. I will try to save you. And we will fly
together or die together.'

As she spoke she spat upon the ground, and then drawing the prince after
her out of the room, she locked the door behind her and threw away the
key. Holding each other tight by the hand, they made their way up into
the sunlight, and found themselves by the side of the same sea, while
the prince's horse was still quietly feeding in the neighbouring meadow.
The moment he saw his master, the horse whinnied and galloped towards
him. Without losing an instant the prince sprang into the saddle, swung
the princess behind him, and away they went like an arrow