Once upon a time, very long ago, there was a little Prince Ivan who was dumb.  Never a word had he spoken from the day that he was born—­not so much as a “Yes” or a “No,” or a “Please” or a “Thank you.”  A great sorrow he was to his father because he could not speak.  Indeed, neither his father nor his mother could bear the sight of him, for they thought, “A poor sort of Tzar will a dumb boy make!” They even prayed, and said, “If only we could have another child, whatever it is like, it could be no worse than this tongue-tied brat who cannot say a word.”  And for that wish they were punished, as you shall hear.  And they took no sort of care of the little Prince Ivan, and he spent all his time in the stables, listening to the tales of an old groom.

He was a wise man was the old groom, and he knew the past and the future, and what was happening under the earth.  Maybe he had learnt his wisdom from the horses.  Anyway, he knew more than other folk, and there came a day when he said to Prince Ivan,—­

“Little Prince,” says he, “to-day you have a sister, and a bad one at that.  She has come because of your father’s prayers and your mother’s wishes.  A witch she is, and she will grow like a seed of corn.  In six weeks she’ll be a grown witch, and with her iron teeth she will eat up your father, and eat up your mother, and eat up you too, if she gets the chance.  There’s no saving the old people; but if you are quick, and do what I tell you, you may escape, and keep your soul in your body.  And I love you, my little dumb Prince, and do not wish to think of your little body between her iron teeth.  You must go to your father and ask him for the best horse he has, and then gallop like the wind, and away to the end of the world.”

The little Prince ran off and found his father.  There was his father, and there was his mother, and a little baby girl was in his mother’s arms, screaming like a little fury.

“Well, she’s not dumb,” said his father, as if he were well pleased.

“Father,” says the little Prince, “may I have the fastest horse in the stable?” And those were the first words that ever left his mouth.

“What!” says his father, “have you got a voice at last?  Yes, take whatever horse you want.  And see, you have a little sister; a fine little girl she is too.  She has teeth already.  It’s a pity they are black, but time will put that right, and it’s better to have black teeth than to be born dumb.”

Little Prince Ivan shook in his shoes when he heard of the black teeth of his little sister, for he knew that they were iron.  He thanked his father and ran off to the stable.  The old groom saddled the finest horse there was.  Such a horse you never saw.  Black it was, and its saddle and bridle were trimmed with shining silver.  And little Prince Ivan climbed up and sat on the great black horse, and waved his hand to the old groom, and galloped away, on and on over the wide world.