When the emperor was fast asleep , the bed began to crack loudly , and to the empress each crack had a meaning . She felt as if she were listening to a language which no one but herself could understand . ` Is it too heavy for you , little brother ? ' asked one of the beds . ` Oh , no , it is not heavy at all , ' answered the bed in which the emperor was sleeping . ' I feel nothing but joy now that my beloved father rests over me . ' ` It is very heavy for me ! ' said the other bed , ` for on me lies an evil soul . ' And so they talked on till the morning , the empress listening all the while . By daybreak the empress had determined how to get rid of the beds . She would have two others made exactly like them , and when the emperor had gone hunting they should be placed in his room . This was done and the aspen beds were burnt in a large fire , till only a little heap of ashes was left . Yet while they were burning the empress seemed to hear the same words , which she alone could understand . Then she stooped and gathered up the ashes , and scattered them to the four winds , so that they might blow over fresh lands and fresh seas , and nothing remain of them . But she had not seen that where the fire burnt brightest two sparks flew up , and , after floating in the air for a few moments , fell down into the great river that flows through the heart of the country . Here the sparks had turned into two little fishes with golden scales , and one was so exactly like the other that everyone could tell at the first glance that they must be twins . Early one morning the emperor 's fishermen went down to the river to get some fish for their master 's breakfast , and cast their nets into the stream . As the last star twinkled out of the sky they drew them in , and among the multitude of fishes lay two with scales of gold , such as no man had ever looked on . They all gathered round and wondered , and after some talk they decided that they would take the little fishes alive as they were , and give them as a present to the emperor . ` Do not take us there , for that is whence we came , and yonder lies our destruction , ' said one of the fishes .
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