Page:Russian Fairy Book (N. H. Dole).djvu/33

Rh it through the eye of a needle like a thread. In the spring they bleached the linen, and Vasilisa said to the old woman: "Grannie, take this linen and get some money for it!"

The old dame looked at the stuff and exclaimed: "No, my dear child, no one except the Tsar should wear such linen. I will take it to court."

So she went to the Tsar's palace and kept marching up and down in front of the windows. The Tsar saw her and asked: "What do you want, old dame?"

"Your majesty," she replied, "I have brought you some wonderful cloth. I do not want to show it to anyone except yourself."

The Tsar commanded that it be brought before him, and when he saw the linen he was dumfounded.

"What will you take for this?" he asked.

"It will not cost you anything, Tsar-father! I have brought it to you for a gift."

The Tsar thanked her and sent her off with handsome presents.

From that linen they started to make the Tsar some shirts. They cut them out, but they could not find a seamstress anywhere to make them. They searched long, and at last the Tsar summoned