kingdom."

"Is he prospering?"

"Not especially; he has troubles."

"Who is annoying him?" asked Petru, somewhat sharply.

"Your brothers, Costan and Florea," the voice in the box answered. "As
it seems to me, they are trying to wrest the scepter from him and the
old monarch says that they are not yet worthy of it."

"Forward, bay, we have no time to lose," cried Petru. Then, shutting
the box, he put it into his knapsack.

They hurried as ghosts flit when whirlwinds are blowing and vampires
hunting at midnight. How long they rode can not be told, but it was a
long, long time.

"Stop! Let me give you another piece of advice," said the bay after a
while.

"Well, tell me," said Petru.

"You have been tormented by the cold, now you'll have to encounter
heat such as you never felt before. Keep up your courage, and don't
let yourself be attracted to the cool places."

"Forward!" replied Petru. "Don't be anxious--if I didn't freeze, I
shan't melt."

Indeed! This heat was enough to melt the very marrow of one's bones, a
heat that exists nowhere except in the kingdom of Holy Thursday.[7]
The further they went the greater the heat became. Even the iron of
the horses' shoes began to melt, but Petru would not yield. The
perspiration ran down his body in streams, he wiped it away with his
sleeve, and rode swiftly on. As for the heat, intense as it became,
there was something else that tortured Petru more. Along the roadside,
always a good stone's throw apart, were cool valleys with cold springs
ready to quench the traveler's thirst. When Petru looked at them, he
felt as if his heart was shriveled and his tongue dried up with
thirst. Lilies, violets, and roses grew in the soft grass around the
springs, and on these beds of flowers reclined girls so beautiful that
heaven only knows how it would have been possible for them to be
lovelier. Petru would fain have shut his eyes in order not to see such
bewitching creatures any longer.

[Footnote 7: Joi--Thursday and Jupiter.]

"Come, hero, come to the cooling waters, let us amuse you," called the
enticing maidens.

Petru silently shook his head, he had lost the power of speech.

They rode on so for a long, long time. Suddenly they felt that the
heat was beginning to lessen, and on a distant hill-top a hut
appeared. This was the dwelling of Holy Thursday. Petru approached,
and when almost at the door Holy Thursday came out and welcomed him.
Petru expressed his thanks,