Page:Russian Fairy Book (N. H. Dole).djvu/72

 48 my garden? To the one who will capture him alive I will give the half of my realm while I am still alive, and all of it after I am dead."

Then his sons cried with one voice: "Beloved sovereign and father, we will, with the greatest delight, try to capture the Magic Bird alive."

The first night Prince Dimitri went into the garden to watch; and taking his seat under the very apple-tree from which the Magic Bird robbed the apples, he fell asleep and did not hear a sound when the bird came flying over and took a great quantity of the fruit.

In the morning the Tsar summoned his son, Prince Dimitri, and asked him: "Well, my son, did you see the Magic Bird or not?"

He replied to his father: "No, my beloved sovereign and father, it did not make its appearance last night."

The next night Prince Vasili went into the garden to watch for the Magic Bird. He took his seat under the same apple-tree, and after he sat there an hour, and then another hour of the night, he fell so sound asleep that he did not hear the Magic Bird come flying over to strip off the apples.

In the morning the Tsar called him into his