“Oh, thou dunce, how could it be?”
Meanwhile the Tsarevna was thinking who her bridegroom could be. She went to the Tsar and said: “Father, let me bring together all the Tsars’ sons, kings’ sons, nobles, merchants, and peasants to a feast, to a talk, and find out who kissed me.” The Tsar permitted her.
Well, the whole Christian world met. The Tsarevna herself went among them all, entertained all with wine, examined to see if she could find the mark on any man’s forehead. She went to each; at last she brought wine to the simpleton.
“What hast thou bound up there?” asked the Tsarevna.
“So, nothing; my head aches,” said the simpleton.
“Well, then, untie it.” The Tsarevna unbound his head, recognized the mark, and grew faint.
The Tsar said to her, “It is impossible to change the word now; it has to be so,—be his wife.”
They married the simpleton and the Tsarevna. She was weeping bitterly; her two sisters, who had married Tsars’ sons, were laughing at her, and said: “There it is; she has married a fool!”
Once the Tsar called all his sons-in-law and said: “I have heard that in such a state, in such a kingdom, there is a wonder,—a pig with gold bristles. Is it not possible in some way to get this pig? Try.”
Well, the two crafty sons-in-law saddled the very best horses, sat on them, and rode away.