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Hradibor was a wise and a clever man. He was wise because he would travel about the country, that he might see everything for himself; he was clever because he did so under an assumed name, in order that people might not prepare themselves for his visits. In this way he saw many remarkable things—things of which he had not the remotest idea before; and no wonder, for he would not only go into open towns and villages, but even into the poorest hut if it came in his way. In a miserable hovel he once saw what he had never seen before—a poor woman with twelve daughters.

"Are all these your daughters?" asked the king of the old woman, who was greatly surprised that a gentleman should deign to enter her poor hut.

"They are all mine," answered the old woman, sighing; "and I don't know what to do with them."