Page:Russian Fairy Book (N. H. Dole).djvu/153

 THE FROG-QUEEN

NCE upon a time a king and queen lived in a certain kingdom, in a certain realm, beyond blue seas, beyond high mountains. Long had the king lived in the white world, and as he lived he grew old, and to aid him he had three sons, three princes—all young men and so gallant that neither tongue could describe nor pen depict them. They used to go flying about the whole day long on their splendid steeds, like bright hawks through the sky. All three brothers were handsome and brave, but the best of them, the finest of them, was the youngest brother, and his name was Prince Ivan.

One day the king called his sons to him and said: "My dear children, you are now grown up. It is time for you to think of getting married. You shall have wives and I daughters-in-law. Let each choose a well-tempered arrow and go down into the forbidden meadow. Bend your stiff bows and shoot your arrows, and into whatever