Page:RussianFolkTales Afanasev 368pgs.djvu/156

140 imaginable lies of Iván Tsarévich. Then the King summoned his favourite hound and gave him a bit of the cake. The dog ate it and died on the spot.

So the Tsar summoned the Prince and cried out to him in a thundering voice: "How dared you bake me a poisoned cake! You shall be instantly tortured to death!"

"I know nothing about it; I had no idea of it, your Majesty!" the Tsarévich answered. "The other cooks were jealous of your rewarding me, and so they have deliberately contrived the plot."

Then the Tsar pardoned him, and he made him a horseherd.

One day, as the Tsarévich was taking his drove to drink, he met the Woodsprite with the iron hands, the cast-iron head, and the body of bronze. "Good-day, Tsarévich; come with me, visit me."

"I am frightened that the horses will run away."

"Fear nothing. Only come."

His hut was quite near. The Woodsprite had three daughters, and he asked the eldest: "What will you give Iván Tsarévich for saving me out of the iron tower?"

"I will give him this table-cloth."

With the table-cloth Iván Tsarévich went back to his horses, which were all gathered together, turned it round and asked for any food that he liked, and he was served, and meat and drink appeared at once.

Next day he was again driving his horses to the river, and the Woodsprite appeared once more. "Come into my hut!"

So he went with him. And the Woodsprite asked his second daughter, "What will you give Iván Tsarévich  for saving me out of the iron tower?"

"I will give him this mirror, in which he can see all he will."

And on the third day the third daughter gave him a