"Now there is another task," said the Tsar smilingly. "Have each of your wives weave a rug by to-morrow."
Tsarevitch Ivan came back to his home. There was no smile on his face and his brow was clouded.
"C-R-O-A-K! C-R-O-A-K! Dear Tsarevitch Ivan, my husband and master, why so troubled again? Was not father pleased?"
"How can I be otherwise? The Tsar, my father, has ordered a rug by to-morrow."
"Do not worry, Tsarevitch. Go to bed; go to sleep. The morning hour will bring help."
Again the frog turned into Vassilissa, the wise maiden, and again she called aloud:
"Dear nurses and faithful waitresses, come to me for new work. Weave a silk rug like the one I used to sit upon in the palace of the king, my father."
[Once said, quickly done.] When the cocks began their early "cock-a-doodle-doo," Tsarevitch Ivan awoke, and lo! there lay the most beautiful silk rug before him, a rug that no one could begin to describe. Threads of silver and gold were interwoven among bright-colored silken ones, and the rug was too beautiful for anything but to admire.
The Tsar father was pleased, thanked his son Ivan, and issued a new order. He now wished to see the three wives of his handsome sons, and they were to present their brides on the next day.
The Tsarevitch Ivan returned home. Cloudy was his brow, more cloudy than before.