attire: his jacket was embroidered with gold, he wore a beautiful mantle on his shoulders, and ostrich feathers hung gracefully down from the top of his helmet, fastened by a brooch of a ruby surrounded by pearls. The hunter went into the castle, presented himself before the czar, and offered to drive away the forces of the enemy on condition that the czar gave him the beautiful Princess Milovzora for his wife.
The czar was greatly surprised, but did not like to refuse such an offer at once; he first asked the hunter his name, his birth, and his possessions.
"I am called Huntsman the Unlucky, Master of Murza the Invisible."
The czar thought the young stranger was mad; the courtiers, however, who had seen him before, assured the czar that the stranger exactly resembled Huntsman the Unlucky, whom they knew; but how he had got that splendid dress they could not tell.
Then the czar demanded:
"Do you hear what they say? If you are telling lies, you will lose your head. Let us see, then, how you will overcome the enemy with the forces of your invisible Murza?"
"Be of good hope, czar," answered the hunter; "as soon as I say the word, everything will be completed."
"Good," said the czar. "If you have spoken the
