Atondido Stories
So he rode to the palace and took his place with the other
princes but behind them so that the princess had to crane her
neck to see him.
One by one the various princes rode by the princess but to
none of them did the princess give her kerchief and ring. Yan
was the last to salute her, and instantly she handed him her fa-
vors.
Then before the king or the other suitors could speak to him,
Yan put spurs to his horse and rode off.
That evening as usual when he was driving home his sheep,
the princess ran out to him and said:
"Yan, it was you!"
But Yan laughed and put her off.
"How can a poor shepherd be a prince?" he asked.
The princess was not convinced and she said in another
month, when the princes were to come again, she would find
out.
So for another month Yan tended sheep and plucked nose-
gays for the merry little princess and the princess waited for him
at the palace window every afternoon and when she saw him
she always spoke to him politely and said: "Please."
When the day for the second meeting of the princes came,
the servants of the chest arrayed Yan in a suit of red and gave
him a sorrel horse with trappings of gold. Yan again rode to the
palace and took his place with the other princes but behind them
so that the princess had to crane her neck to see him.
Again the suitors rode by the princess one by one, but at each
of them she shook her head impatiently and kept her kerchief
and ring until Yan saluted her.
Instantly the ceremony was over, Yan put spurs to his horse
and rode off and, although the king sent after him to bring
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