In another moment she was in the Prince's arms, and the pressure of that embrace crushed the box and broke the egg.
'I wish,' she cried on the instant, raising her lips to his, 'I wish that you will love me for ever!'
BASHTCHELIK (OR, REAL STEEL)
A SERBIAN FAIRY TALE
The aged Tsar was dying, and his three sons and three daughters were standing round his bed. He had yet strength to give his last commands, which were extraordinary.
'It is my will, O my sons,' he said, 'that you give my daughters in marriage to the first suitors that come to demand them. Question me not, but fulfil to the letter this, my last injunction. If you fail, my curse will fall upon you.'
These were the Tsar's last words before he died. It was approaching the hour of midnight when he passed away; and, when the dawn found his sons and daughters weeping for grief, they were startled by a dreadful noise. Came a loud beating against the palace gates, and instantly an awful tempest sprang up around the palace. Peal on peal of thunder roared, and vivid lightning flashed. The whole place rocked and swayed and trembled to its foundations. Then above the fearful din came a loud voice: 'In the name of a King, open the gates!'
'Do not open!' cried the eldest brother.