Vasilisa the Wise clapped her hands and shouted, “Dear mothers and nannies, one and all, prepare yourselves and come to my call.  Sew for me before the dawn the very same shirt I once saw on my father.”

When Prince Ivan awoke in the morning, the frog hopped about but a shirt lay on the table.

Rejoicing, he brought it to his father.  The czar first accepted the oldest son’s shirt.  “This shirt is only fit for a servant,” he said.

When the middle son presented his shirt, the czar said, “I can only wear this shirt in the banya (sauna).”

Prince Ivan presented his shirt, which was decorated with intricate designs of gold and silver.  The czar declared, “Now this is a shirt to wear on holidays.”

The baker of bread.  Again the czar called his sons: “Have your wives bake me bread.  I want to know which is the best cook.”

Prince Ivan hung his head and went home. “You need to bake bread for the czar,” he told the frog and went to sleep.  The other brides, who had first laughed at the frog, now sent an old yardwoman to see how the frog baked bread.  The clever creature realized this.  She mixed the starter dough and poured it right onto a pile of coals in the stove.  The old yardwoman ran to tell the princely brides, and so they did the same.

The frog hopped to the porch, turned into Vasilisa the Wise, and clapped her hands.

“Dear mothers and nannies, one and all, prepare yourselves and come to my call.  Bake for me a soft white loaf of bread, just like the ones my father was fed.”

When Prince Ivan awoke, the bread lay on the table, decorated with stamped patterns and miniature walled cities.

Prince Ivan rejoiced and took the bread to his father.  Because the other wives had poured the dough into the coals, all they got were charred, inedible lumps.  The czar sent their bread to the servants’ quarters.  When Prince Ivan presented his loaf, the czar said, “This is bread fit for a celebration.”