h,
my beloved son-in-law, and his wife, my daughter, the fair Princess
Anastasia!" Then all the princes and boyars cried aloud with one
voice: "Hail, Sir Yaroslav Lasarevich, with thy young bride the fair
Princess!" and they bowed them to the ground. Then Yaroslav and the
Princess Anastasia, with all the princes and boyars fell to eating and
drinking and making merry.

One day, as Yaroslav was conversing with Anastasia, he said: "My dear
Tsarina, fairest princess in the world, I have gone through many
kingdoms to behold thy beauty, and have heard of it far and wide from
every maiden; and now, dear, tell me truly, is there any fairer
princess than thou, or any braver knight than I?" Then the Princess
replied: "My dear friend, there is no braver or handsomer knight in
the world indeed than thou; but as for me--what is there fair and good
in me? In the country of the Amazons, in the City of the Sun, there is
a Tsarina Polikaria, who herself rules over the land; another such a
beauty there is not in the wide world."

When Yaroslav Lasarevich heard this, he could think only of the
beautiful Polikaria; and one morning he arose early, and said to his
wife: "My dear Tsarina, I am going a journey to a certain city in a
distant country; keep this precious stone which I took from the
Dragon. Farewell! if I live, I will return to thee, but if death
overtakes me, have a Mass said for me." Thereat the Tsarina wept
bitterly, and fell to the ground as if dead with grief. Then Yaroslav
went to the Tsar Vorcholomei and said that he wished to pay a visit to
his father, Prince Lasar, and took his leave.

Yaroslav journeyed for nine months, until at last he came to the City
of the Sun, and dismounted at the gates of the palace. When the
Tsarevna Polikaria beheld a handsome knight in the courtyard, she was
frightened at his appearance in the castle without her permission; and
when he entered she said to him: "Brave knight, whence comest thou,
and what dost thou seek in our kingdom?"

He replied: "I am come from the kingdom of the Tsar Kartaus, the son
of Prince Lasar and the Princess Epistimia, and my name is Yaroslav. I
am come to pay my compliments to thee, and to behold thy unspeakable
beauty." At hearing this the Tsarevna Polikaria was rejoiced, took him
by his white hands, led him into the royal halls, and said: "Sir
Yaroslav Lasarevich, abide here and rule over my kingdom, and thy will
shall be my will." As Yaroslav gazed on her b