army.
This time her scheme was successful. The young emperor sprang up in
wrath the moment he heard the news, and vowed that nothing, not even
his wife, should hinder his giving them battle. And hastily assembling
whatever soldiers happened to be at hand he set off at once to meet
the enemy. The other king had not reckoned on the swiftness of his
movements, and was not ready to receive him. The emperor fell on him
when he was off his guard, and routed his army completely. Then when
victory was won, and the terms of peace hastily drawn up, he rode home
as fast as his horse would carry him, and reached the palace on the
third day.

But early that morning, when the stars were growing pale in the sky, two
little boys with golden hair and stars on their foreheads were born to
Laptitza. And the stepmother, who was watching, took them away, and dug
a hole in the corner of the palace, under the windows of the emperor,
and put them in it, while in their stead she placed two little puppies.

The emperor came into the palace, and when they told him the news he
went straight to Laptitza's room. No words were needed; he saw with
his own eyes that Laptitza had not kept the promise she had made at the
strawberry beds, and, though it nearly broke his heart, he must give
orders for her punishment.

So he went out sadly and told his guards that the empress was to be
buried in the earth up to her neck, so that everyone might know what
would happen to those who dared to deceive the emperor.

Not many days after, the stepmother's wish was fulfilled. The emperor
took her daughter to wife, and again the rejoicings lasted for three
days and three nights.

Let us now see what happened to the two little boys.

The poor little babies had found no rest even in their graves. In the
place where they had been buried there sprang up two beautiful young
aspens, and the stepmother, who hated the sight of the trees, which
reminded her of her crime, gave orders that they should be uprooted. But
the emperor heard of it, and forbade the trees to be touched, saying,
'Let them alone; I like to see them there! They are the finest aspens I
have ever beheld!'

And the aspens grew as no aspens had ever grown before. In each day they
added a year's growth, and each night they added a year's growth, and at
dawn, when the stars faded out of the sky, they grew three years' growth
in the twinkling of an eye, and their boughs swept across the palace
windows.