your wives weave a rug by to-morrow."

Tsarevitch Ivan came back to his home. There was no smile on his face
and his brow was clouded.

"C-R-O-A-K! C-R-O-A-K! Dear Tsarevitch Ivan, my husband and master,
why so troubled again? Was not father pleased?"

"How can I be otherwise? The Tsar, my father, has ordered a rug by
to-morrow."

"Do not worry, Tsarevitch. Go to bed; go to sleep. The morning hour
will bring help."

Again the frog turned into Vassilissa, the wise maiden, and again she
called aloud:

"Dear nurses and faithful waitresses, come to me for new work. Weave a
silk rug like the one I used to sit upon in the palace of the king, my
father."

Once said, quickly done. When the cocks began their early
"cock-a-doodle-doo," Tsarevitch Ivan awoke, and lo! there lay the
most beautiful silk rug before him, a rug that no one could begin
to describe. Threads of silver and gold were interwoven among
bright-colored silken ones, and the rug was too beautiful for anything
but to admire.

The Tsar father was pleased, thanked his son Ivan, and issued a new
order. He now wished to see the three wives of his handsome sons, and