Of. 15

overtook the perch. “Perch! perch! turn thy
head round towards me, I want to have a chat with
thee!”—Then the perch stuck out its bristly fins
again and said: “If thou dost wish to have a chat,
dear cousin, I can hear thee just as well as I am.”
So the pike kept on pursuing the perch, but it
was of no use. At last the perch swam ashore, and
there was a Tsarivna whittling an ash twig. The
perch changed itself into a gold ring set with
garnets, and the Tsarivna saw it and fished up the
ring out of the water. Full of joy she took it
home, and said to her father: “Look, dear papa !
what a nice ring I have found!” The Tsar kissed
her, but the Tsarivna did not know which fluger it
would suit best, it was so lovely.

About the same time they told the Tsar that a
certain merchant had come to the palace. It was
Oh, who had changed himself into a merchant. The
Tsar went out to him and said: “What dost thou
want, old man ?”—*T was sailing on the sea in my
ship,” said Oh, “and carrying to the Tsar of my own
land a precious garnet ring, and this ring I dropped
into the water. Has any of thy servants perchance
found this precious ring ?”—“No, but my daughter
has,” said the Tsar. So they called the damsel, and
Oh began to beg her to give it back to him, “for I
may not live in this world if I bring not the ring,”