ybe they will," said they.--Then the old woman
scolded, and wouldn't let her go. "How can such a slut become the
consort of the Tsar's son?" screeched she.--"Nay, but she must come!"
said they; "go, dress thyself, maiden!"--"Wait but a moment," said
she, "and I'll tire myself as is meet!"--Then she went to the spring
beneath the willow-tree, and washed and dressed herself, and she came
back so lovely and splendid that the like of it can neither be thought
of nor guessed at, but only told of in tales. As she entered the hut
she shone like the sun, and her stepmother had not another word to
say.

So they put her in a carriage and drove off, and when the Tsarevich
saw her, he could not contain himself. "Make haste, O my father!"
cried he, "and give us thy blessing." So the Tsar blessed them, and
they were wedded. Then they made a great feast and invited all the
world to it. And they lived happily together, and ate wheat-bread to
their hearts' content.

THE IRON WOLF

There was once upon a time a parson who had a servant, and when this
servant had served him faithfully for twelve years and upward, he came
to the parson and said, "Let us now settle our accounts, master, and
pay me what thou owest me. I have now served long enough, and would
fain have a little place in the wide world all to myself."--"Good!"
said the parson. "I'll tell thee now what wage I'll give thee for thy
faithful service. I'll give thee this egg. Take it home, and when thou
gettest there, make to thyself a cattle-pen, and make it strong; then
break the egg in the middle of thy cattle-pen, and thou shalt see
something. But whatever thou doest, don't break it on thy way home, or
all thy luck will leave thee."

So the servant departed on his homeward way. He went on and on, and at
last he thought to himself, "Come now, I'll see what is inside this
egg of mine!" So he broke it, and out of it came all sorts of cattle
in such numbers that the open steppe became like a fair. The servant
stood there in amazement, and he thought to himself, "However in God's
world shall I be able to drive all these cattle back again?" He had
scarcely uttered the words when the Iron Wolf came running up, and
said to him, "I'll collect and drive back all these cattle into the
egg again, and I'll patch the egg up so that it will become quite
whole. But in return for that," continued the Iron Wolf, "whenever
thou dost sit down on the bridal bench,[17] I'll come and eat