there hung such robes as he had never seen before , all shining with gold and silver and precious stones . He was delighted , and he seized them and carried them off to the King . When the Princesses saw that the clothes were those which had been theirs in the other world , they guessed that Prince Ivan was in this world , so they exchanged glances with each other , but they held their peace . And the master , having handed over the clothes , went home , but he no longer found his dear journeyman there . For the Prince had gone to a shoemaker 's , and him too he sent to work for the King ; and in the same way he went the round of all the artificers , and they all proffered him thanks , inasmuch as through him they were enriched by the King . By the time the princely workman had gone the round of all the artificers , the Princesses had received what they had asked for ; all their clothes were just like what they had been in the other world . Then they wept bitterly because the Prince had not come , and it was impossible for them to hold out any longer ; it was necessary that they should be married . But when they were ready for the wedding , the youngest bride said to the King : ` Allow me , my father , to go and give alms to the beggars . ' He gave her leave , and she went and began bestowing alms upon them , and examining them closely . And when she had come to one of them , and was going to give him some money , she caught sight of the ring which she had given to the Prince in the other world , and her sisters ' rings too -- for it really was he . So she seized him by the hand , and brought him into the hall , and said to the King : ` Here is he who brought us out of the other world . His brothers forbade us to say that he was alive , threatening to slay us if we did . ' Then the King was wroth with those sons , and punished them as he thought best . And afterwards three weddings were celebrated . THE WONDERFUL BIRCH ONCE upon a time there were a man and a woman , who had an only daughter . Now it happened that one of their sheep went astray , and they set out to look for it , and searched and searched , each in a different part of the wood . Then the good wife met a witch , who said to her : ` If you spit , you miserable creature , if you spit into the sheath of my knife , or if you run between my legs , I shall change you into a black sheep . ' The woman neither spat , nor did she run between her legs , but yet the witch changed her into a sheep . Then she made herself look exactly like the woman , and called out to the good man : ` Ho , old man , halloa ! I have found the sheep already ! '
The man thought the witch was really his wife , and he did not know that his wife was the sheep ; so he went home XXXXX her , glad at heart because his sheep was found .
For as because before if in into like over with