"Oh, your Majesty, our own little father, whom, we love, let us out to
see this world. Let us out just so that we may see this garden, and
walk in it on the green grass, and see the shining flowers."
The King turned his head away and tried not to listen to them. But
what could he do? They were the loveliest princesses in the world, and
when they begged him just to let them walk in the garden he could see
the tears in their eyes. And after all, he thought, there were high
walls to the garden.
So he called up his army, and set soldiers all round the garden, and a
hundred soldiers to each gate, so that no one should come in. And then
he let the princesses come up from their underground palace, and step
out into the sunshine in the garden, with ten nurses and maids to each
princess to see that no harm came to her.
The princesses stepped out into the garden, under the blue sky,
shading their eyes at first because they had never before been in the
golden sunlight. Soon they were taking hands, and running this way and
that along the garden paths and over the green grass, and gathering
posies of shining flowers to set in their girdles and to shame their
golden crowns. And the King sat and watched them with love in his
eyes, and was glad to see how happy they were. And after all, he
thought, what with the high walls and the soldiers standing to arms,
nothing could get in to hurt them.
[Illustration: It caught up the princesses and carried them up into
the air.]
But just as he had quieted his old heart a strong whirlwind came down
out of the blue sky, tearing up trees and throwing them aside, and
lifting the roofs from the houses. But it did not touch the palace
roofs, shining green in the sunlight, and it plucked no trees from the
garden. It raged this way and that, and then with its swift whirling
arms it caught up the three lovely princesses, and carried them up
into the air, over the high walls and over the heads of the guarding
soldiers. For a moment the King saw them, his daughters, the three
lovely princesses, spinning round and round, as if they were dancing
in the sky. A moment later they were no more than little whirling
specks, like dust in the sunlight. And then they were out of sight,
and the King and all the maids and nurses were alone in the empty
garden. The noise of the wind had gone. The soldiers did not dare to
speak. The only sound in the King's ears was the sobbing and weeping
of the maids and nurses.
The King called his generals, and made them send the soldiers in all
directions over the country to bring back the princesses, if the
whirlwind should tire and set them again upon the ground. The soldiers
went to the very boundaries of the kingdom, but they came back as they
went. Not one of them had seen the three lovely princesses.
Then the King called together all his faithful servants, and promised
a great reward to any one who should bring news of the three
princesses. It was the same with the servants as with the soldiers.
Far and wide they galloped out. Slowly, one by one, they rode back,
with bent heads, on tired horses. Not one of them had seen the King's
daughters.
Then the King called a grand council of his wise boyars and men of
state. They all sat round and listened as the King told his tale and
asked if one of them would not undertake the task of finding and
rescuing the three princesses. "The wind has not set them down within
the boundaries of my kingdom; and now, God knows, they may be in the
power of wicked men or worse." He said he would give one of the
princesses in marriage to any one who could follow where the wind went
and bring his daughters back; yes, and besides, he would make him the
richest man in the kingdom. But the boyars and the wise men of state
sat round in silence. He asked them one by one. They were all silent
and afraid. For they were boyars and wise men of state, and not one of
them would undertake to follow the whirlwind and rescue the three
princesses.
The King wept bitter tears.
"I see," he said, "I have no friends about me in the palace. My
soldiers cannot, my servants cannot, and my boyars and wise men will
not, bring back my three sweet maids, whom I love better than my
kingdom."
And with that he sent heralds throughout the kingdom to announce the
news, and to ask if there were none among the common folk, the
moujiks, the simple folk like us, who would put his hand to the work
of rescuing the three lovely princesses, since not one of the boyars
and wise men was willing to do it.
Now, at that time in a certain village lived a poor widow, and she had
three sons, strong men, true bogatirs and men of power. All three had
been born in a single night: the eldest at evening, the middle one at
midnight, and the youngest just as the sky was lightening with the
dawn. For this reason they were called Evening, Midnight, and Sunrise.
Evening was dusky, with brown eyes and hair; Midnight was dark, with
eyes and hair as black as charcoal; while Sunrise had hair golden as
the sun, and eyes blue as morning sky. And all three were as strong as
any of the strong men and mighty bogatirs who have shaken this land of
Russia with their tread.
As soon as the King's word had been proclaimed in the village, the
three brothers asked for their mother's blessing, which she gave them,
kissing them on the forehead and on both cheeks. Then they made ready
for the journey and rode off to the capital--Evening on his horse of
dusky brown, Midnight on his black horse, and Sunrise on his horse
that was as white as clouds in summer. They came to the capital, and
as they rode through the streets everybody stopped to look at them,
and all the pretty young women waved handkerchiefs at the windows. But
the three brothers looked neither to right nor left but straight
before them, and they rode to the palace of the King.