Page:Czechoslovak fairy tales.djvu/220

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CZECHOSLOVAK FAIRY TALES

and sat down in the courtyard near the gate, just as Zloboha and her mother were returning from a walk.

“Look, mother!” Zloboha cried. “What a gorgeous spinning wheel! I could spin on that myself! Wait. I’ll ask whether it’s for sale.”

She went over to the boy and asked him would he sell the spinning wheel.

“Yes,” he said, “if I get what I want.”

“What do you want?”

“I want two eyes.”

“Two eyes?”

“Yes, two eyes. My father told me to accept nothing for it but two eyes. So I can’t sell it for money.”

The longer Zloboha looked at the spinning wheel the more beautiful it seemed to her and the more she wanted it. Suddenly she remembered Dobrunka’s eyes that she had hidden away.

“Mother,” she said, “as a queen I ought to have something no one else has. When the king comes home he will want me to spin, and just think how lovely I should look sitting at this golden wheel. Now we’ve got those eyes of Dobrunka’s. Let us exchange them for the golden spinning wheel. We’ll still have the hands and feet.”