Page:Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar.djvu/28

12 "I did not make the linen, your Majesty, but a beautiful young lady who is staying with me did it by way of amusement."

"Well, then, let her make the shirts. Some one must make them, now that I have got the linen."

Away went the old nurse, and told Vaselesa all that the king had said.

"I knew that would be the case; no one has the patience to touch this stuff. It is too fine, I suppose," laughed Vaselesa, as she locked herself up in her room. Of course she did not think for a moment of making these shirts herself, but told her little doll to do so. (How convenient that doll was to be sure!)

In a very short time three dozen shirts lay by her side, so charmingly worked that it was quite impossible to see the sewing!

Next morning the old nurse took the shirts to the king, who was simply delighted with them, and would not rest until he saw this wonderful girl who did everything that no one else could do.

Meanwhile Vaselesa, after dressing herself in a beautiful satin dress, looking like a rose freshly plucked from the garden, sat by the open window as though waiting for something. Suddenly she heard the sound of wheels; she looked up, and saw one of the king's carriages drive up to the door. Vaselesa flew to answer the bell.

"Does the young lady who made the king's shirts live here?" asked a footman with powdered hair.

Vaselesa told him that she was the one. So off she drove to the palace; but no sooner had she made her appearance at court when all eyes were turned