“We can, your Majesty.”
Now the two crafty sons-in-law saddled the very best horses and set out.
“Well,” said the Tsar to the simpleton, “go thou with the others.”
The simpleton took from the stable the very last miserable horse and followed his brothers. He went out in the open field and cried with a shrill voice: “Oh, blue-brown, cunning bay, stand before me as leaf before stem.” Wherever he came from, the wonderful horse was there, snorting and tearing the ground with his hoofs. The simpleton crept in one of his ears and out of the other. Wherever they came from, two young men stood before him and asked: “What dost thou want?”
“I want a tent here, in the tent a bed, and at the side of the tent a deer with golden horns and a golden tail.”
That moment the tent was there, in the tent a bed, on the bed the simpleton stretched himself,—such a beauty that no man could know him; at the side of the tent walked a deer with golden horns and a golden tail.
The crafty brothers travelled and travelled. Nowhere did they see such a deer, and they turned to come home. They came near the tent and saw the wonder. “Oh, this is where the deer with golden horns and a golden tail is! Let us go,” said they; “whatever must be given we’ll give, buy that deer, and please our father-in-law.”
They came up and saluted. The simpleton asked: “Why are ye travelling; what are ye seeking?”
“Wilt thou sell us the deer with golden horns and a golden tail?”
“No, it is not for sale; I want it myself.”