Page:Czechoslovak fairy tales.djvu/247



NCE upon a time there was a king who had four sons. One day the queen said to him:

“It is time that one of our boys went out into the world to make his fortune.”

“I have been thinking that very same thing,” the king said. “Let us get ready Raduz, our youngest, and send him off with God’s blessing.”

Preparations were at once made and in a few days Raduz bid his parents farewell and set forth.

He traveled many days and many nights over desert plains and through dense forests until he came to a high mountain. Halfway up the mountain he found a house.

“I’ll stop here,” he thought to himself, “and see if they’ll take me into service.”

Now this house was occupied by three people: old Yezibaba, who was a bad old witch; her husband, who was a wizard but not so bad as Yezibaba; and their