Atondido Stories
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 proba-
bly 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 per-
form. 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 an-
swered:
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