Page:Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar.djvu/240

224 they had said, and how they had granted his wish.

On the following day the old man sent his second son, Vasselie, to listen to what the people said about them.

Vasselie went, seated himself near the straight road behind some stray branches, and waited. Very soon he saw two magicians coming along.

"Everything that the man who cleansed these swamps may wish for shall be granted him," Vasselie heard one of the magicians say.

"Who is the good man, do you know?" asked the other.

Vasselie at once sprang forward,—

"I did it all, with my father and brothers!" he said.

"What do you want us to give you as a reward?"

"I should like to have sufficient bread to eat all the days of my life."

"Very well, go home, cut down the early ears of corn as they appear, sow them again, and you will have enough bread to last you your lifetime."

Vasselie thanked the magicians and returned home. He told his father what had happened, and then set to work to cut down and sow the corn as he had been told.

On the third day, Simeon-the-Youthful, the youngest of the three brothers, went and hid himself near the road. He had not to wait long before he saw two old magicians coming along, and talking to each other; he listened, and as they came nearer to him he heard them say,—