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188 and thousands of suitors came together, all mounted on such splendid steeds that you would not know how to say which one was handsomer or better than the other. Even the son of the czar came to the race. The suitors drew themselves up in a line, all on horseback, side by side, but the virgin took her place on foot in the middle of them. Then she spoke,—

"There, at the winning-post, I have set up a golden apple. If any one among you can reach it before me and take it, I will be his; but should I be first at the goal and take the apple, know ye that all who run against me will sink dead on the earth. Think well, therefore, what ye do."

But the riders were as if enchanted; each one hoped to win the maiden, and they said one to the other,—

"It is clear at the outset that this maiden, on foot, will never be able to outrun any of us, but that that one among us whom God and good fortune shall bless, will bear her home."

Then, as the maiden clapped her hands together, they all sprang forward on the course. By the time they had run half the distance the maiden had already outstripped them by a long way, for she had unfolded small wings from below her shoulders. Then the riders shouted to each other, and spurred and whipped their horses until they overtook her.