Page:Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar.djvu/173

Rh not my own, they all belong to that little boy, who lives with us."

"How so? I do not understand you."

"Well, I shall tell you the whole story, on condition that you tell no one."

And after the princess had promised not to say a word to any one, Theodore told her the story of his sins and his unkindness to the little boy.

"I became jealous of the merchant," he began, "and when the child was sent to him, I determined to be revenged on him somehow; so I took this child, whom both the parents loved dearly, and paid a woman to take care of it, while I put all the blame on the mother, whom the merchant straightway sent to prison, thinking that she had killed him. I then kept the child for myself, for he was useful to me; if ever I wished for anything I told him, and I got what I wanted."

The princess was so horrified that she did not know what to do or say, but the child, when he heard what Theodore had said, sprang forward, boiling with rage, and cried out wrathfully,—

"Let this wretched man be changed into a dog!"

And in another moment Theodore was no more, but a horrid, half-starved dog stood in his place.

The boy tied an iron chain round the dog's neck, and started off to the merchant's house.

"My good man," he said, when he came to his father, "give me a red-hot coal."

"What for, young man?" asked the father.

"My dog is rather hungry, and I want to feed him."