ever, to choose the right princess; the king has twelve daughters, but only one of them has locks of gold."
When Irik arrived on the island he went to the Palace of Crystal, and begged the king to give him his daughter with the golden hair as a wife for his own master.
"I will," answered the king; "but you must serve for her. You must in three days perform three tasks which I will give you—one for each day. Meanwhile you can rest yourself until to-morrow."
Early next morning the king said to Irik, "My daughter Zlatovlaska had a costly pearl necklace; the string broke, and the pearls dropped off, and were scattered in the long grass of the meadow. You must gather these pearls together: not one must be missing."
Irik went into the meadow, it was wide and long; he knelt down in the grass, and began to search for the pearls. He searched from morning until mid-day, but could not find a single one.
"Oh that my ants were here!" he cried; "they would help me."
"We are here to help you," cried the ants, who suddenly appeared from somewhere, and ran to him from all sides. "What do you want?"
"I have to gather many pearls together in this meadow, and I cannot even find one."
"Wait a moment, we will collect them for you."
