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Rh the peasant's son?" And he had but to name what he desired, to have it straightway brought him.

Time passed and at length Martin made up his mind to marry, and remembering what the daughter of the Snake-Tzar had told him of the ring, he said to himself, "Since I may have whomever I wish, I will wed the Tzar's daughter herself!"

He called his mother, therefore, and bade her go to the Tzar and ask for the Tzarevna's hand; but the old woman besought him to give up his purpose. "It were far more suitable for thee, my son," she said, "to marry a humble maiden. Should I go to the Tzar with this mad invention of thine, small doubt he would be angered and we should both lose our heads."

"Never mind, little mother," he answered. "Fear nothing. Surely, if I send thee on this errand, thou mayest be bold enough to carry it. Go and bring me the Tzar's answer, and come not back without it."

So his mother hobbled off to the Tzar's Palace. She went into the courtyard, and was half-way up the stairway when the sentries seized her. "What, beldame!" they said. "Wouldst thou go where even mighty champions and valiant generals may not pass without royal leave?"