what you will; if you do not, let your own head pay for it."
"I will," said the master. And he placed them all in a row and searched them; and, as soon as he had come to the father of the Tsarévna, he said quietly:
"At the pike's good pleasure,
At God's good measure—
under the lappet of the kaftan of this Tsar, let the duck be found." So he went and lifted his kaftan and found the duck tied to the lappet; one feather was of gold, one was of silver.
Then all the Tsars and Tsarévichi, Kings and Korolévichi cried out fiercely, "Ho! ho! ho! what a deed! are Tsars turning into thieves?"
Then the Tsarévna's father swore by everything holy that as to thieving there had never been such an idea in his head. And he had no idea how the duck had come to him.
"That is a fine tale; it was found on you; you must be guilty."
Then the Tsarévna came out, burst upon her father, and acknowledged that she was his daughter whom he had given away to the poor peasant in marriage and had put into a barrel. "Bátyushka"[1] she said, "you would not then believe my words, and now you have acknowledged yourself that it is possible to be guilty without guilt."
And she told him how it had all arisen. And after that they began to live, and lived all together and lived all for good and forgot bygones.
- ↑ Father.
