Irik, delighted with his good fortune, hastened back to the palace. On the skirt of the forest he saw a spider's web spread from one fir-tree to another; in the middle of it sat a large spider killing a fly. Irik took the gourd bottle with the water of death, sprinkled it over the spider, and it fell to the ground like a ripe cherry; it was quite dead. Then he sprinkled the fly with the water of life from the other bottle, and the fly began to struggle; in a short time it disentangled itself from the spider's web, and flew into the air.

"With

"It is your good fortune, Irik, that you have brought me to life again," buzzed the fly in his ears. out my assistance you would never guess which one of the twelve maidens is the princess with the locks of gold."

When the king saw that Irik had also accomplished the third task, he said he would give him his daughter Zlatovlaska.

"But," added the king, "you must find her out yourself.”

Then the king took him to a large hall, in the middle of which stood a table, and around it sat twelve beautiful girls, all exactly alike; each of them had a long cloth, as white as snow, thrown over her head and reaching to the ground, so that it was impossible to see what kind of hair she had.

"These are my daughters," said the king; "if you can find out which of them is Zlatovlaska, you will have won her, and may lead her away at once. If you cannot point her out, she is not destined for you, and you must leave this place without her."

Irik was in the greatest trouble, and did not know what to do. All at once something whispered in his

ear :

66

'Bz-bz! go round the table, and I will tell you which one it is."

It was the fly which Irik had rescued from death with the water of life.

"This is not the one-nor this-nor this;—but this is Zlatovlaska!"

"Give me this one from among your daughters," cried Irik. "I have won her for my master!"

"You have chosen rightly," said the king. The princess rose immediately from the table, and removed the head-dress, and showed her golden hair, flowing in thick locks down to the ground; it was as bright as the rising sun! Irik was almost blinded by its radiance. Then the king arrayed his daughter for her journey, according to her high birth and station, and Irik took her to his master to become his wife. The old king's eyes sparkled, and he leapt with joy when he saw Zlatovlaska; he ordered immediate preparations to be made for the wedding.

"I intended to have you hanged for your disobedience, that the ravens might eat you," he said to Irik; "but since you have served me so well, I will only have you beheaded and decently buried."

After the execution, Zlatovlaska asked the old king for the dead body of Irik, and as the king could not very well refuse anything to his bride, he sent it to her. The princess joined the head to the trunk, sprinkled some of the water of death over them, and they immediately grew together so exactly that there was not even a mark left of the decapitation. Then she sprinkled the body with the water of life, and Irik got up as fresh as if he were newly born, and as hale as a deer; youth bloomed in his face.

“How soundly I have slept!" said Irik, rubbing his eyes.

"Yes," said the princess, "you have slept soundly. Had it not been for me, you would have slept long enough."

When the old king saw that Irik was alive, and had become younger and handsomer than before, he, too, wanted to be made young again. He immediately

directed that the same should be done to him as had been done to Irik. Accordingly they beheaded him, and then sprinkled the body with the water of life over and over again, until there was no more left. But the head