to bring home? At
length he reached a large city, where everybody was talking about a
misfortune which had befallen the king thrice already, but which no one
was able to comprehend or guard against. The king had a valuable tree in
his garden, which bore golden apples, many of which were as large as a
great ball of thread, and might have been worth many thousand roubles.
It may be imagined that such fruit was not left uncounted, and that
guards were stationed around night and day to prevent any attempt at
robbery. Nevertheless one of the largest apples, valued at six thousand
roubles, had been stolen every night for three nights running. The
guards had neither seen the thief nor been able to discover any trace of
him. It immediately occurred to Sharpeye that there must be some very
strange trick in the affair, which his piercing sight might perhaps
enable him to discover. He thought that if the thief did not approach
the tree incorporeally and invisibly, he would never be able to escape
his sharp eyes. He therefore asked the king to allow him to visit the
garden to make his observations without the knowledge of the guards. On
receiving permission, he prepared himself a place of concealment in the
summit of a tree not far from the golden apple-tree, where no one could
see him, while his sharp eyes could pierce everywhere, and see
everything that happened. He took with him a bag of bread and a bottle
of milk, so that there would be no need for him to leave his
hiding-place. He now kept close watch on the golden apple-tree, and on
everything around it. The guards were posted round the tree in three
rows, so close that not a mouse could have crept between them
unobserved. The thief must have wings, for he could not reach the tree
by the ground. But Sharpeye could detect nothing all day which looked
like a thief. Towards sunset a little yellow moth fluttered round the
tree, and at last settled on a branch which bore a very fine apple.
Everybody could understand just as well as Sharpeye that a little moth
could not carry a golden apple away from the tree, but as he could see
nothing bigger, he kept his eyes fixed upon it. The sun had set long
ago, and the last traces of twilight were fading from the horizon, but
the lanterns round the tree gave so much light that he could see
everything distinctly. The yellow moth still sat motionless on the
branch. It was about midnight when the eyes of the watchman in the tree
closed for a m