Page:Russian Wonder Tales.djvu/142

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106
RUSSIAN WONDER TALES

Tzarevich Ivan got down from the Wolf's back, weeping many tears that they should part, and the Gray Wolf leaped into a thicket and disappeared, leaving Tzarevich Ivan, mounted on the Horse with the Golden Mane, with Helen the Beautiful in his arms who held in her hands the golden cage in which was the Glowing Bird, to ride to the Palace of Tzar Wyslaff.

They rode on three days, till they came to the green plain where the three ways met, and where stood the great stone, and being very tired, the Tzarevich and the Tzarevna here dismounted and lay down to rest. He tied the Horse with the Golden Mane to the stone, and lying lovingly side by side on the soft grass, they went to sleep.

Now it happened that the two elder brothers of Ivan, Tzarevich Dimitry and Tzarevich Wassily, having tired of their amusements in the wood and being minded to return to their father without the Glowing Bird, came riding past the spot and found their brother lying asleep with Helen the Beautiful beside him. Seeing not only that he had found the Glowing Bird, but a horse with a mane of gold and a lovely Princess, they were envious, and Tzarevich Dimitry drew his sword, stabbed Tzarevich Ivan to