ine handsome young men, who sat their horses as if they
were part of them, but the finest and handsomest of all was the young
emperor himself.

As they drew near the three sisters, and marked their beauty, they
checked their horses and rode slowly by.

'Listen, sisters!' said Anna, as they passed on. 'If one of those young
men should make me his wife, I would bake him a loaf of bread which
should keep him young and brave for ever.'

'And if I,' said Stana, 'should be the one chosen, I would weave my
husband a shirt which will keep him unscathed when he fights with
dragons; when he goes through water he will never even be wet; or if
through fire, it will not scorch him.'

'And I,' said Laptitza, 'will give the man who chooses me two boys,
twins, each with a golden star on his forehead, as bright as those in
the sky.'

And though they spoke low the young men heard, and turned their horses'
heads.

'I take you at your word, and mine shall you be, most lovely of
empresses!' cried the emperor, and swung Laptitza and her strawberries
on the horse before him.

'And I will have you,' 'And I you,' exclaimed two of his friends, and
they all rode back to the palace together.

The following morning the marriage ceremony took place, and for three
days and three nights there was nothing but feasting over the whole
kingdom. And when the rejoicings were over the news was in everybody's
mouth that Anna had sent for corn, and had made the loaf of which she
had spoken at the strawberry beds. And then more days and nights passed,
and this rumour was succeeded by another one--that Stana had procured
some flax, and had dried it, and combed it, and spun it into linen,
and sewed it herself into the shirt of which she had spoken over the
strawberry beds.

Now the emperor had a stepmother, and she had a daughter by her first
husband, who lived with her in the palace. The girl's mother had always
believed that her daughter would be empress, and not the 'Milkwhite
Maiden,' the child of a mere shepherd. So she hated the girl with all
her heart, and only bided her time to do her ill.

But she could do nothing as long as the emperor remained with his wife
night and day, and she began to wonder what she could do to get him away
from her.

At last, when everything else had failed, she managed to make her
brother, who was king of the neighbouring country, declare war against
the emperor, and besiege some of the frontier towns with a large