Part 17 (2/2)
”Isn't there a lake beyond the city,” the Prince asked, ”where the grazing is good?”
”H'm!” said the Tsar. ”So you know about that lake, too! What else do you know?”
”I've heard the shepherds disappear.”
”And still you want to try your luck?” the Tsar exclaimed.
Just then the Tsar's only daughter, a lovely Princess, who had been looking at the young stranger, slipped over to her father and whispered:
”But, father, you can't let such a handsome young man as that go off with the sheep! It would be dreadful if he never returned!”
The Tsar whispered back:
”Hush, child! Your concern for the young man's safety does credit to your n.o.ble feelings. But this is not the time or the place for sentiment. We must consider first the welfare of the royal sheep.”
He turned to the Youngest Prince:
”Very well, young man, you may consider yourself engaged as shepherd.
Provide yourself with whatever you need and a.s.sume your duties at once.”
”There is one thing,” the Youngest Prince said; ”when I start out to-morrow morning with the sheep I should like to take with me two strong boarhounds, a falcon, and a set of bagpipes.”
”You shall have them all,” the Tsar promised.
Early the next morning when the Princess peeped out of her bedroom window she saw the new shepherd driving the royal flocks to pasture. A falcon was perched on his shoulder; he had a set of bagpipes under his arm; and he was leading two powerful boarhounds on a leash.
”It's a shame!” the Princess said to herself. ”He'll probably never return and he's such a handsome young man, too!” And she was so unhappy at thought of never again seeing the new shepherd that she couldn't go back to sleep.
Well, the Youngest Prince reached the lake and turned out his sheep to graze. He perched the falcon on a log, tied the dogs beside it, and laid his bagpipes on the ground. Then he took off his smock, rolled up his hose, and wading boldly into the lake called out in a loud voice:
”Ho, dragon, come out and we'll try a wrestling match! That is, if you're not afraid!”
”Afraid?” bellowed an awful voice. ”Who's afraid?”
The water of the lake churned this way and that and a horrible scaly monster came to the surface. He crawled out on sh.o.r.e and clutched the Prince around the waist. And the Prince clutched him in a grip just as strong and there they swayed back and forth, and rolled over, and wrestled together on the sh.o.r.e of the lake without either getting the better of the other. By midafternoon when the sun was hot, the dragon grew faint and cried out:
”Oh, if I could but dip my burning head in the cool water, then I could toss you as high as the sky!”
”Don't talk nonsense!” the Prince said. ”If the Tsar's daughter would kiss my forehead, then I could toss you twice as high!”
After that the dragon slipped out of the Prince's grasp, plunged into the water, and disappeared. The Prince waited for him but he didn't show his scaly head again that day.
When evening came, the Prince washed off the grime of the fight, dressed himself carefully, and then looking as fresh and handsome as ever drove home his sheep. With the falcon on his shoulder and the two hounds at his heels he came playing a merry tune on his bagpipes.
The townspeople hearing the bagpipes ran out of their houses and cried to each other:
”The shepherd's come back!”
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