Atondido Stories
"What does the master of the castle desire?"
"Show me everything there is to be seen," Yan ordered.
So the two servants of the chest showed him everything—
jewels and treasures and gold. Then they led him out into the
gardens where the most wonderful flowers in the world were
blooming. Yan plucked some of these and made them into a
nosegay.
That afternoon, as he drove home his sheep, he played on his
magic pipe and the sheep, pairing off two by two, began to
dance and frisk about him. All the people in the village ran out
to see the strange sight and laughed and clapped their hands for
joy.
The princess ran to the palace window and when she saw the
sheep dancing two by two she, too, laughed and clapped her
hands. Then the wind whiffed her a smell of the wonderful nose-
gay that Yan was carrying and she said to her serving maid:
"Run down to the shepherd and tell him the princess desires
his nosegay."
The serving maid delivered the message to Yan, but he shook
his head and said:
"Tell your mistress that whoever wants this nosegay must
come herself and say: 'Yanitchko, give me that nosegay.'"
When the princess heard this, she laughed and said:
"What an odd shepherd! I see I must go myself."
So the princess herself came out to Yan and said:
"Yanitchko, give me that nosegay."
But Yan smiled and shook his head.
"Whoever wants this nosegay must say: 'Yanitchko, please
give me that nosegay.'"
The Princess was a merry girl, so she laughed and said:
"Yanitchko, please give me that nosegay."
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