Page:Russian Wonder Tales.djvu/151



AR behind the blue sea-ocean, beyond the void places, in a city set in the midst of pleasant meads, there lived a Tzarevich whose name was Alexis, and he had three sisters, Tzarevna Anna, Tzarevna Olga and Tzarevna Helena. Their mother had long been dead, and when it came the father's time to die he called the Tzarevich to him and put the three sisters in his care.

"Heed thou, my dear son, my counsel and command," he said. "Keep not thy sisters overlong with thee, nor delay their marriage, but whoever may be first to ask the hand of either of them, to that one, if she consent, give her to be wed."

So the father died and was buried, and the Tzarevich and his sisters sorrowed, as was right, until time had dulled their grief. Before the