Page:Russian Wonder Tales.djvu/252

210 saying to one another: "Now he must bring his frog-wife with him to the royal audience for all to see!" But Tzarevich Ivan went home weeping and his bright head hung down lower than his shoulders.

When he reached home the frog was sitting at the door. "Kwa! Kwa! Kworax!" she said. "Tzarevich Ivan, why dost thou weep? Hast thou heard sharp and unfeeling words from the Tzar thy father?"

"Why should I not weep?" he answered. "Thou hast sewn the shirt, thou hast baked the bread, and thou hast woven the carpet; but after all thou art but a frog, and to-morrow the Tzar my father commands that I bring thee to the Palace to royal audience. How, to my shame, can I show thee to the people as my wife?"

"Weep no more," the frog said. "Go to thy bed and sleep. There is more wisdom in the morning than in the evening."

The next day when Tzarevich Ivan awoke, she said: "Pay no heed to what others think. The Tzar thy father was pleased with his shirt, his bread and his carpet; maybe he will be pleased also with his daughter-in-law when I shall come. Do thou go to the Palace and I will come after thee in an hour. Make thy respects to the Tzar, and