ended sheep and plucked nosegays for the
merry little princess and the princess waited for him at the palace
window every afternoon and when she saw him she always spoke to him
politely and said: "Please."

When the day for the second meeting of the princes came, the servants of
the chest arrayed Yan in a suit of red and gave him a sorrel horse with
trappings of gold. Yan again rode to the palace and took his place with
the other princes but behind them so that the princess had to crane her
neck to see him.

Again the suitors rode by the princess one by one, but at each of them
she shook her head impatiently and kept her kerchief and ring until Yan
saluted her.

Instantly the ceremony was over, Yan put spurs to his horse and rode off
and, although the king sent after him to bring him back, Yan was able to
escape.

That evening when he was driving home his sheep the princess ran out to
him and said:

"Yanitchko, it was you! I know it was!"

But again Yan laughed and put her off and asked her how she could think
such a thing of a poor shepherd.

Again the princess was not convinced and she said in another month, when
the princes were to come for the third and last time, she would make
sure.

So for another month Yan tended his sheep and plucked nosegays for the
merry little princess and the princess waited for him at the palace
window every afternoon and, when she saw him, she always said politely:
"Please."

For the third meeting of the princes the servants of the chest arrayed
Yan in a gorgeous suit of black and gave him a black horse with golden
trappings studded in diamonds. He rode to the palace and took his place
behind the other suitors. Things went as before and again the princess
saved her kerchief and ring for him.

This time when he tried to ride off the other suitors surrounded him
and, before he escaped, one of them wounded him on the foot.

He galloped back to the castle in the forest, dressed once again in his
shepherd's clothes, and returned to the meadow where his sheep were
grazing. There he sat down and bound up his wounded foot in the kerchief
which the princess had given him. Then, when he had eaten some bread and
cheese from his magic wallet, he stretched himself out in the sun and
fell asleep.

Meanwhile the princess, who was sorely vexed that her mysterious suitor
had again escaped, slipped out of the palace and ran up the mountain
path to see for herself whether the shepherd were