until his wife had told of the underground room, and of the six Tzareviches with legs golden, arms of silver, and with stars in their hair.
When the shipmen had departed on their way, Tzaritza Marfa told Tzarevich Guidon the story of her life with Tzar Saltan and what she had suffered at the hands of her wicked sisters. "These six Tzareviches," she said, "whom the witch hides in the forest, are surely none other than my own dear sons and thy little brothers. Let us depart to search for them."
So the Tzarevich struck together his flint and steel and bade the ax and hammer build a ship which would fly either on land or sea and which should take them to the witch's forest. Next morning all was ready, and they straightway embarked and sailed over the sea-ocean, and over the open steppe to the edge of the forest, where the Baba-Yaga had hidden the stolen Princes.
Whether the journey was long or short, whether it took a twelvemonth or a day, they found the crooked oak-tree and the Tzarevich lifted the great flat stone and they entered the underground room. They looked here and there and presently saw six little soiled shirts lying on chairs. The Tzaritza took them, washed them clean, rinsed, wrung and
