two of them are two! It was no sooner
thought than done. He fared just the same the second time. But the
left now only wept occasionally, and the right one seemed ten years
younger.

"If that's the way things stand," thought Petru, "I know what I have
to do. I'll keep going to him, keep repeating the question, and keep
receiving the cuffs on the ear until both eyes laugh."

No sooner said than done. Petru never made the same remark twice.

"My son Petru," began the emperor, this time in a pleasant tone and
laughing with both eyes, "I see that you can't drive this anxiety out
of your head, so I'll tell you what is the matter with my eyes. Know
that this eye laughs when I see that I have three such sons as you,
but the other weeps because I fear that you will not be able to reign
in peace and protect the country against bad neighbors. But if you
bring me water from the fountain of the Fairy Aurora that I may bathe
my eyes with it, both will laugh, because I shall then know that I
have brave sons on whom I can rely."

Such were the emperor's words. Petru took his hat from the bench by
the stove, and went to tell his brothers what he had heard. The
princes consulted together and soon settled the matter, as is proper
among own brothers. Florea, being the oldest, went to the stables,
chose the best and handsomest horse, saddled it, and bade farewell to
home.

"I will go," he said to his brothers; "and if, at the end of a year, a
month, a week, and a day, I have not returned with the water, you can
follow me, Costan." With these words he departed.

For three days and three nights Florea did not stop; his horse flew
like a ghost over the mountains and valleys till it reached the
frontiers of the empire. But all around the emperor's dominions ran a
deep gulf, and across this abyss there was only a single bridge. Here
Florea halted to look back and bid farewell to his native land.

May the Lord preserve even a Pagan from what Florea now beheld when he
wanted to go on--a dragon! But a dragon with three heads and the most
horrible faces, with one jaw in the sky and another on the earth.
Florea did not wait for the dragon to bathe him in flames, but set
spurs to his horse and vanished as if he had never been in existence.
The dragon sighed once and disappeared, without leaving a trace
behind.

A week passed; Florea did not return; a fortnight slipped by, but
nothing was heard of him. A month elapsed; Costan began to searc