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Updated: June 9, 2025
He had learnt by experience that this question always put the emperor in a rage. Petru next went to Costan, but did not succeed any better with him. 'Well, well, as everyone else is afraid, I suppose I must do it myself, observed Petru at length. No sooner said than done; the boy went straight to his father and put his question.
A banquet was held at the emperor's court, and all sorts of splendid ceremonies were arranged. All through the land went the news that the monarch's sons, Florea and Costan, had brought the water from the Fairy Aurora. The emperor washed his eyes with the water and saw as never mortal man had seen before.
The emperor was blind altogether now, and Florea and Costan had besought him to give the government of the kingdom into their hands; but he would not, saying that he did not mean to resign the government till he had washed his eyes from the well of the Fairy of the Dawn. Then the brothers had gone to consult old Birscha, who told them that Petru was already on his way home bearing the water.
'Petru, my dear brother, at length said Florea, 'would it not be better if we carried the water for you? Some one might try to take it from you on the road, while no one would suspect us. 'So it would, added Costan. 'Florea speaks well. But Petru shook his head, and told them what the Goddess of Thunder had said, and about the cloth she had given him.
Florea, the eldest, was so tall and broad-shouldered that no man in the kingdom could approach him. Costan, the second, was quite different. Small of stature, and slightly built, he had a strong arm and stronger wrist. Petru, the third and youngest, was tall and thin, more like a girl than a boy. He spoke very little, but laughed and sang, sang and laughed, from morning till night.
He had forgotten the warning given him by the Goddess of Thunder, and when Costan and Florea drew near with soft and flattering words he jumped straight off his horse, and rushed to embrace them. He had a thousand questions to ask, and a thousand things to tell. But his brown horse stood sadly hanging his head.
"How did Holy Friday break the jug?" he said at last. "She began to dance with joy, and fell down with it." "How have I wrested the empire from my brothers?" The box now began to relate how Florea and Costan, as the emperor was now old and blind in both eyes, had gone to him and begged him to divide his kingdom between them.
Florea did not wait for the dragon to bathe him in flames, but set spurs to his horse and vanished as if he had never been in existence. The dragon sighed once and disappeared, without leaving a trace behind. A week passed; Florea did not return; a fortnight slipped by, but nothing was heard of him. A month elapsed; Costan began to search among the horses to choose one.
So saying, Petru turned the bay's bridle. Oh, Petru, Petru! Who told you to stop? Wouldn't it be better for you to remember what Holy Thursday said to you? Wouldn't it be better for you to heed the bay's counsel? That's the way of the world, you can do nothing to change it! When he turned, he saw his brother Florea and his brother Costan. They were both there, and approached Petru.
'I am starting at once, said he to his brothers, 'and if after a year, a month, a week, and a day I have not returned with the water from the spring of the Fairy of the Dawn, you, Costan, had better come after me. So saying he disappeared round a corner of the palace. For three days and three nights he never drew rein.
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