“Who should we marry?” asked the sons.

“Take an arrow and shoot it.  Where the arrow falls, there is your fate.”

The sons went to a field and let fly their arrows.  The oldest son’s arrow fell in the courtyard of a nobleman, whose daughter picked it up.  The middle son’s arrow landed on a merchant’s wide lawn; his daughter found it.

The arrow of the youngest son, Prince Ivan, flew off—to where?  He didn’t know.  So he walked and he walked and arrived at a swamp, where he saw a frog, holding his arrow.  Prince Ivan said, “Give me my arrow.”

But the frog answered him, “Marry me!”

“You must be crazy.  How can I marry a frog?”

“Such is your fate.”

Since there was nothing he could do, sad Prince Ivan took the frog and went home, where the czar held three weddings.

The shirtmaker.  The czar told his sons, “I want to see which of your wives is the best seamstress.  Have them sew me a shirt.”

Prince Ivan came home and hung his head.  The frog hopped about and asked, “Why are you sad?”

“You must sew father a shirt.”

The frog answered, “Don’t despair, Prince Ivan.  It is better to go to sleep.  The morning is wiser than the evening.”

Prince Ivan went to sleep.  The frog jumped to the porch, threw off her frog skin, and turned into Vasilisa the Wise, such a beauty that even fairy tales can’t relate.