Page:Russian Wonder Tales.djvu/137

Rh of Tzar's Afron's Court, turned into the Gray Wolf, which ran off more swiftly than seventy horses. The ladies-in-waiting hastened to the Palace and Tzar Afron sent many soldiers in pursuit, but they could not catch the Gray Wolf and soon he overtook Tzarevich Ivan.

"Mount on my back, Tzarevich Ivan," said the Wolf, "and let Helen the Beautiful ride on the Horse with the Golden Mane."

Tzarevich Ivan mounted the Gray Wolf, and the Tzarevna rode on the Horse with the Golden Mane, and so they went on together to the Tzardom of Tzar Dolmat, in whose garden hung the cage with the Glowing Bird. Whether the way was a long one or a short one, at length they came near to Tzar Dolmat's Palace. Then Tzarevich Ivan, getting down from the Wolf's back, said:

"Gray Wolf, my dear friend! Thou hast served me many services. Serve me also one more, the last and greatest. If thou canst take the shape of Helen the Beautiful, thou canst take also that of this Horse with the Golden Mane. Do this and let me deliver thee to Tzar Dolmat in exchange for the Glowing Bird. Then, when I am far away on the road to my own Tzardom, thou canst again rejoin us."