Then Katoma disclosed to him who he was. Prince Ivan warmly embraced him and burst into tears.
“I never hoped even to see you again,” said he.
So they exchanged clothes. The tutor drove the cows to the Princess’s courtyard. Anna the Fair went into the balcony, looked to see if all the cows were there, and ordered them to be driven into the sheds. All the cows went into the sheds except the last one, which remained at the gate. Katoma sprang at it, exclaiming—
“What are you waiting for, dog’s-meat?”
Then he seized it by the tail, and pulled it so hard that he pulled the cow’s hide right off! The Princess saw this, and cried with a loud voice:
“What is that brute of a cowherd doing? Seize him and bring him to me!”
Then the servants seized Katoma and dragged him to the palace. He went with them, making no excuses, relying on himself. They brought him to the Princess. She looked at him and asked—
“Who are you? Where do you come from?”
“I am he whose feet you cut off and whom you set on a stump. My name is Katoma dyadka, oaken shapka.”
“Well,” thinks the Princess, “now that he’s got his feet back again, I must act straight-forwardly with him for the future.”