"Is your father terribly poor, and does he desperately need the foal." "Oh, yes!" replied the little girl. "We live on the hares he catches in the rivers and the fish he picks from the trees!" "Aha!" cried the Emperor triumphantly. "So you're not as clever as you seem to be! Whoever heard of hares in the river and fish in the trees! To which the little girl swiftly replied. "And whoever heard of a stallion having a foal?" At that, both Emperor and Court burst into peals of laughter. Ivan was immediately given his hundred silver ducats and the foal, and the Emperor proclaimed. "Only in my kingdom could such a wise little girl be born!"
