him and sent word that he would like to see him at the castle. Peter answered the prince’s messenger that if the prince wished to see him he could come to the tavern.
“Who is this prince of yours,” Peter asked the landlord, “and why does he want to see me?”
“He’d probably like to borrow some money from you,” the landlord said. “He’s deep in debt for he has two of the wickedest, most extravagant daughters in the world. They’re the children of his first marriage. They are proud and haughty and they waste the money of the realm as though it were so much sand. The people are crying out against them and their wasteful ways but the prince seems unable to curb them. The prince has a third daughter, the child of his second wife. Her name is Angelina and she certainly is as good and beautiful as an angel. We call her the Princess Linka. There isn’t a man in the country that wouldn’t go through fire and water for her—God bless her! As for the other two—may the Devil take them!”
Suddenly remembering himself, the landlord clapped his hand to his mouth in alarm.
Peter laughed good-humoredly.
“That’s all right, landlord. Don’t mind me. As
