LITMIR.BIZ

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he ordered Yirik to pour him out a goblet of wine.

      "And I warn you," he said, "that you forfeit your head if you pour a drop too much or too little."

      Yirik carefully tilted a great tankard and began filling a goblet. As he poured a bird suddenly flew into the window pursued by another bird. The first bird had in its beak three golden hairs.

      "Give them to me! Give them to me! They're mine!" screamed the second bird.

      "I won't! I won't! They're mine!" the first bird answered. "I picked them up!"

      "Yes, but I saw them first!" the other cried. "I saw them fall as the maiden sat and combed her golden tresses. Give me two of them and I'll let you keep the third."

      "No! No! No! I won't let you have one of them!"

      The second bird darted angrily at the first and after a struggle succeeded in capturing one of the golden hairs. One hair dropped to the marble floor, making as it struck a musical tinkle, and the first bird escaped still holding in its bill a single hair.

      In his excitement over the struggle, Yirik overflowed the goblet.

      "Ha! Ha!" said the king. "See what you've done! You forfeit your head! However, I'll suspend sentence on condition that you find this golden-haired maiden and bring her to me for a wife."

      Poor Yirik didn't know who the maiden was nor where she lived. But what could he say? If he wanted to keep his head, he must undertake the quest. So he saddled his horse and started off at random.

      His road led him through a forest. Here he came upon a bush under which some shepherds had kindled a fire. Sparks were falling on an anthill nearby and the ants in great excitement were running hither and thither with their eggs.

      "Yirik!" they cried. "Help! Help, or we shall all be burned to death, we and our young ones in the eggs!"

      Yirik instantly dismounted, cut down the burning bush, and put out the fire.

      "Thank you, Yirik, thank you!" the ants said. "Your kindness to us this day will not go unrewarded. If ever you are in trouble, think of us and we will help you."

      As Yirik rode on through the forest, he came upon two fledgling ravens lying by the path.

      "Help us, Yirik, help us!" they cawed. "Our father and mother have thrown us out of the nest in yonder tall fir tree to fend for ourselves. We are young and helpless and not yet able to fly. Give us some meat to eat or we shall perish with hunger."

      The sight of the helpless fledglings touched Yirik to pity. He dismounted instantly, drew his sword, and killed his horse. Then he fed the starving birds the meat they needed.

      "Thank you, Yirik, thank you!" the little ravens croaked. "You have saved our lives this day. Your kindness will not go unrewarded. If ever you are in trouble, think of us and we will help you."

      Yirik left the young ravens and pushed on afoot. The path through the forest was long and wearisome. It led out finally on the seashore.

      On the beach two fishermen were quarreling over a big fish with golden scales that lay gasping on the sand.

      "It's mine, I tell you!" one of the men was shouting. "It was caught in my net, so of course it's mine!"

      To this the other one shouted back:

      "But your net would never have caught a fish if you hadn't been out in my boat and if I hadn't helped you!"

      "Give me this one," the first man said, "and I'll let you have the next one."

      "No! You take the next one!" the other said. "This one's mine!"

      So they kept on arguing to no purpose until Yirik went up to them and said:

      "Let me decide this for you. Suppose you sell me the fish and then divide the money."

      He offered them all the money the king had given him for his journey. The fishermen, delighted at the offer, at once agreed. Yirik handed them over the money and then, taking the gasping fish in his hand, he threw it back into the sea.

      When the fish had caught its breath, it rose on a wave and called out to Yirik:

      "Thank you, Yirik, thank you. You have saved my life this day. Your kindness will not go unrewarded. If ever you are in trouble, think of me and I will help you."

      With that the golden fish flicked its tail and disappeared in the water.

      "Where are you going, Yirik?" the fishermen asked.

      "I'm going in quest of a golden-haired maiden whom my master, the king, wished to make his wife."

      "He must mean the Princess Zlatovlaska," the fishermen said to each other.

      "The Princess Zlatovlaska?" Yirik repeated. "Who is she?"

      "She's the golden-haired daughter of the King of the Crystal Palace. Do you see the faint outlines of an island over yonder? That's where she lives. The king has twelve daughters but Zlatovlaska alone has golden hair. Each morning at dawn a wonderful glow spreads over land and sea. That's Zlatovlaska combing her golden hair."

      The fishermen conferred apart for a moment and then said:

      "Yirik, you settled our dispute for us and now in return we'll row you over to the island."

      So they rowed Yirik over to the Island of the Crystal Palace and left him there with the warning that the king would probably try to palm off on him one of the dark-haired princesses.

      Yirik at once presented himself at the palace, got an audience with the king, and declared his mission.

      "H'm," the king said. "So your master desires the hand of my daughter, the Princess Zlatovlaska, eh? H'm, h'm. Well, I see no objection to your master as a son-in-law, but of course before I entrust the princess into your hands you must prove yourself worthy. I tell you what I'll do: I'll give you three tasks to perform. Be ready for the first one tomorrow."

      Early the next day the king said to Yirik:

      "My daughter, Zlatovlaska, had a precious necklace of pearls. She was walking in the meadow over yonder when the string broke and the pearls rolled away in the tall grasses. Now your first task is to gather up every last one of those pearls and hand them to me before sundown."

      Yirik went to the meadow and when he saw how broad it was and how thickly covered with tall grasses his heart sank for he realized that he could never search over the whole of it in one day. However, he got down on his hands and knees and began to hunt.

      Midday came and he had not yet found a single pearl.

      "Oh dear," he thought to himself in despair, "if only my ants were here, they could help me!"

      He had no sooner spoken than a million little voices answered:

      "We are here and we're here to help you!"

      And sure enough there they were, the very ants that he supposed were far away!

      "What do you want us to do?" they asked.

      "Find me all the pearls that are scattered in this meadow. I can't find one of them."

      Instantly the ants scurried hither and thither and soon they began bringing him the pearls one by one. Yirik strung them together until the necklace seemed complete.

      "Are there any more?" he asked.

      He was about to tie the string together when a lame ant, whose foot had been burned in the fire, hobbled up, crying:

      "Wait, Yirik, don't tie the string yet! Here's the last pearl!"

      Yirik thanked the ants for their help and at sundown carried the string of pearls to the king. The king counted the pearls and, to his surprise, found that not one was missing.

      "You've done this well," he said. "Tomorrow I'll give you your second task."

      The next day when Yirik presented himself, the king said:

      "While my daughter, Zlatovlaska, was bathing in the sea, a golden ring slipped from her finger and disappeared. Your task is to find me this ring before sundown."

      Yirik went down to the

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