and while they were yet conversing, the ground on which the Palace stood began to shiver and its walls to rumble and shake. "The Serpent-Tzar is coming!" she cried. "Thou must hide at once!" She showed him a coffer beneath the bed, made him lie down in it and shut its lid. "Listen," she said, "and thou shalt hear whatever the Snake says to me."
Presently Tzar Zmey, in the form of a huge serpent, came rolling into the room. "I smell a Russian smell!" he said. "Who has been here?"
The damsel laughed, and said she: "Would a Russian by any chance dare to venture into the innermost room of thy Palace? Thou hast been flying about all day in Russia and thou thyself hast brought the odor with thee!"
The Serpent-Tzar was satisfied and began to kiss and fondle her without stint, and then, coiling his scaly length on the bed, he said: "I am tired. Come, my darling, and rub my head so that I may go to sleep." So she began to rub his head, and as she did so, she said: "My Tzar, while thou wert absent I had such a curious dream! Wouldst thou hear it?"
"Yes," he said.
"I dreamed," she told him, "that I was walking
