A wedding-feast lasts three days, as every one in Russia knows, and during all that time there was eating and drinking going on in the little boy’s house, with much singing and many games, some of them pretty loud and boisterous. The second evening, when the fun had become pretty noisy, the little boy went to his grandmother for a story. She told him about
THE BASIL-PLANT
Once upon a time there was a woman to whom it was revealed in a dream that she must fast one day in every week, for if she neglected to do so she would give birth to something other than human. The woman obeyed the behest, but one day she forgot to fast, and not long after she gave birth to a wonderfully beautiful and fragrant bush which in this world is called basil.
The woman watched and tended the bush, and the fame of it spread through the whole world, even to a distant country, where the son of an emperor heard of it and at once set out to see it.
When he beheld the basil-plant he felt an extraordinary love for it
When he beheld the basil-plant he felt an extraordinary love for it, and he begged the mother either to present it to him or else to sell it at a high price. But she would not hear a word of it, but sent him away, saying, “It is not to be bought, even for one-half of your father’s kingdom.”
Now the Prince’s servant, who overheard this, whispered to his master to say no more, and he would steal the plant for him. So said and so done. The servant managed somehow to steal the plant, and brought it to the Prince. The Prince, delighted to find his dearest wish gratified, richly rewarded the servant and locked the bush safely in a room.
Some days after the Prince invited a great company to a feast, intending to take this opportunity to exhibit the basil-plant. The feast was ready, and the servants hastened to announce it to the company; but when they went back there lay all the meats and pastries scattered in the dirt of the kitchen floor!