Atondido Stories
He commanded the executioner to cut off his head and he
told Zlatovlaska to sprinkle him afterwards with the Water of
Life.
The executioner did as he was told. Then Zlatovlaska sprin-
kled the old king's head and body with the Water of Life. Noth-
ing happened. Zlatovlaska kept on sprinkling the Water of Life
until there was no more left.
"Do you know," the princess said to Yirik, "I believe I should
have used the Water of Death first."
So now she sprinkled the body and head with the Water of
Death and, sure enough, they grew together at once. But of
course there was no life in them. And of course there was no
possible way of putting life into them because the Water of Life
was all gone. So the old king remained dead.
"This will never do," the people said. "We must have a king.
And with the wedding feast and everything prepared we simply
must have a wedding, too. If Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired,
cannot marry the old king, she'll have to marry some one else.
Now who shall it be?"
Some one suggested Yirik because he was young and hand-
some and because, like the old king, he could understand the
birds and the beasts.
"Yirik!" the people cried. "Let Yirik be our king!"
And Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired, who had long since
fallen in love with handsome Yirik, consented to have the wed-
ding at once in order that the feast already prepared might not
be wasted.
So Yirik and Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired, were married
and they ruled so well and they lived so happily that to this day
when people say of some one: "He's as happy as a king," they are
thinking of King Yirik, and when they say of some one:
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