Page:Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar.djvu/111

Rh solable grief. He tore his hair, walked to and fro in the little chamber under the earth, called himself all the most awful names he could think of; but finding that all this did not bring back his beautiful wife, he pulled on the iron boots which she had given him, and bent his way to the tenth kingdom at the World's End, though he had not the slightest idea as to where it was—he thought it must be somewhere, so away he went.

He walked on and on for days and days, until he met a very old man, bent with age, whose hair was white as shining silver.

"Good day, father," said the prince.

"Good day to you, young prince. Whither are you going?" asked the old man, "and why?"

The prince told the old man his grief.

"Ah, Prince Akem! why did you do anything so silly as to burn the skin? It was not you who made it, and therefore you had no right to burn it. You see Princes Vera the Wise—as she is called in her country—is a very cunning princess, very much more learned than her father, and he is by no means a donkey. Well, the king, her father, got very angry with her for something, and changed his beautiful daughter into an ugly green frog for three years. These three years are now almost at an end, and if you had waited patiently Princess Vera would have been changed into her proper shape, and you would not have had all the bother of going to find her, and getting into trouble, as you are likely to do now. However, I have very little time, so I must bid you good-bye. But stop. Here is a little ball; take it, and follow