Page:Russian Fairy Book (N. H. Dole).djvu/159

 Again the king gave this order to his three sons: "Let your wives make me a shirt in one night."

Prince Ivan went home in no happy frame of mind; his proud head hung down below his shoulders.

"Kwa kwa! Prince Ivan, why are you so troubled?" asked his Frog. "Can you have heard some sharp disagreeable word from your father?"

Prince Ivan replied: "How can I help being troubled? The sovereign, my father, has ordered me to provide him a new shirt in a single night."

"Do not be distressed, Prince Ivan. Do not disturb yourself for nothing: Morning is cleverer than Evening."

She got the prince off to sleep, and then she laid aside her frogskin and once more became the Soulmaiden, Vasilisa the All- wise, and so beautiful that neither tongue could describe nor pen depict her beauty. She went to the stairway and called out in a loud voice:

"Maidies! maidies! come and get the material and embroider a shirt such as my own father used to have made for him!"

No sooner said than done. In the morning when Prince Ivan woke up, his Frog had the shirt all ready, and such a wonderful shirt as could not be