“I shall sail away to Russia in my little ship,” says Ivan.

And the Princess, who was very beautiful, said, “A little Russian ship?”

“Yes,” says Ivan.

“I have never seen a Russian ship,” says the Princess, and she begs her father to let her go to the harbour with her nurses and maids, to see the little Russian ship before Ivan set sail.

She came with Ivan to the harbour, and the ancient old sailormen took them on board.

She ran all over the ship, looking now at this and now at that, and Ivan told her the names of everything—­deck, mast, and rudder.

“May I see the sails?” she asked.  And the ancient old men hoisted the ragged sails, and the wind filled the sails and tugged.

“Why doesn’t the ship move when the sails are up?” asked the Princess.

“The anchor holds her,” said Ivan.

“Please let me see the anchor,” says the Princess.

“Haul up the anchor, my children, and show it to the Princess,” says Ivan to the ancient old sailormen.

And the old men hauled up the anchor, and showed it to the Princess; and she said it was a very good little anchor.  But, of course, as soon as the anchor was up the ship began to move.  One of the ancient old men bent over the tiller, and, with a fair wind behind her, the little ship slipped out of the harbour and away to the blue sea.  When the Princess looked round, thinking it was time to go home, the little ship was far from land, and away in the distance she could only see the gold towers of her father’s palace, glittering like pin points in the sunlight.  Her nurses and maids wrung their hands and made an outcry, and the Princess sat down on a heap of jewels, and put a handkerchief to her eyes, and cried and cried and cried.

Ivan the Ninny took her hands and comforted her, and told her of the wonders of the sea that he would show her, and the wonders of the land.  And she looked up at him while he talked, and his eyes were kind and hers were sweet; and the end of it was that they were both very well content, and agreed to have a marriage feast as soon as the little ship should bring them to the home of Ivan’s father.  Merry was that voyage.  All day long Ivan and the Princess sat on deck and said sweet things to each other, and at twilight they sang songs, and drank tea, and told stories.  As for the nurses and maids, the Princess told them to be glad; and so they danced and clapped their hands, and ran about the ship, and teased the ancient old sailormen.

When they had been sailing many days, the Princess was looking out over the sea, and she cried out to Ivan, “See, over there, far away, are two big ships with white sails, not like our sails of brocade and bits of silk.”

Ivan looked, shading his eyes with his hands.

“Why, those are the ships of my elder brothers,” said he.  “We shall all sail home together.”

And he made the ancient old sailormen give a hail in their cracked old voices.  And the brothers heard them, and came on board to greet Ivan and his bride.  And when they saw that she was a Tzar’s daughter, and that the very decks were heaped with precious stones, because there was no room below, they said one thing to Ivan and something else to each other.