hast served me."

Hardly had the old man pronounced these words when the first cock crew
and the sorcerer dropped into his grave. Our Simpleton went quietly
back home, stretched himself under the icons, and his snoring was
heard far around.

"What happened?" the brothers again asked.

But the Simpleton did not even answer; he only waved his hand. The
three brothers continued to live their usual life, the two with
cleverness and the younger with foolishness. They lived a day in and
an equal day out. But one morning there came quite a different day
from all others. They learned that big men were going all over the
country with trumpets and players; that those men announced everywhere
the will of the Tsar, and the Tsar's will was this: The Tsar Pea and
the Tsaritza Carrot had an only daughter, the Tsarevna Baktriana,
heiress to the throne. She was such a beautiful maiden that the sun
blushed when she looked at it, and the moon, altogether too bashful,
covered itself from her eyes. Tsar and Tsaritza had a hard time to
decide to whom they should give their daughter for a wife. It must be
a man who could be a proper ruler over the country, a brave warrior on
the battlefield, a wise judge in the council, an adviser to the Tsar,
and a suitable heir after his death. They also wanted a bridegroom who
was young, brave, and handsome, and they wanted him to be in love with
their Tsarevna. That would have been easy enough, but the trouble was
that the beautiful Tsarevna loved no one. Sometimes the Tsar mentioned
to her this or that one. Always the same answer, "I do not love him."
The Tsaritza tried, too, with no better result; "I do not like him."