The Frog-Tsarevna.

The Frog-Tsarevna.In a certain kingdom, in a certain Empire, there lived a Tsar with his Tsaritsa, and he had three sons, all of them young, valiant, and unwedded, the like of whom is not to be told in tales nor written by pens, and the youngest of them was called the Tsarevich Ivan. And the Tsar spoke these words to them: “My dear children, take unto you your darts, gird on your well-spanned bows, and go hence in different directions, and in whatsoever courts your arrows fall, there choose ye your brides!” The elder brother discharged his arrow and it fell into a boyar’s1court, right in front of theterem2of the maidens. The second brother discharged his arrow, and it flew into the court of a merchant and remained sticking in a beautiful balcony, and on this balcony was standing a lovely young maiden soul, the merchant’s daughter. The youngest brother discharged his arrow, and thearrow fell in a muddy swamp, and a quacking-frog seized hold of it.The Tsarevich Ivan said to his father: “How can I ever take this quacker to wife? A quacker is not my equal!”—“Take her!” replied his father, “’tis thy fate to have her!” So the Tsareviches all got married—the eldest to the boyar’s daughter, the second to the merchant’s daughter, and the youngest to the quacking-frog. And the Tsar called them to him and said: “Let your wives, to-morrow morning, bake me soft white bread.” The Tsarevich Ivan returned home, and he was not happy, and his impetuous head hung down lower than his shoulders. “Qua, qua! Ivan the Tsarevich! wherefore art thou so sad?” asked the Frog. “Or hast thou heard unpleasant words from thy father the Tsar?”—“Why should I not be sad? my father and sovereign lord hath commanded thee to bake soft white bread to-morrow.”—“Do not afflict thyself, O Tsarevich! lie down and rest, the morning is wiser than the evening.” She made the Tsarevich lie down and rest, cast her frog-skin, and turned into a maiden soul, Vasilisa Premudraya,3went out upon her beautiful balcony, and cried with a piercing voice: “Nurseys—nurseys! assemble, set to work and make me soft white bread such as I myself used to eat at my dearfather’s!” In the morning the Tsarevich Ivan awoke, the frog had got the bread ready long ago, and it was so splendid that the like of it is neither to be imagined nor guessed at, but is only to be told of in tales. The loaves were adorned with various cunning devices, royal cities were modelled on the sides thereof, with moats and ditches. The Tsar praised the Tsarevich Ivan greatly because of his bread, and gave this command to his three sons: “Let your wives weave me a carpet in a single night.” The Tsarevich Ivan returned home, and he was sad, and his impetuous head hung lower than his shoulders. “Qua! qua! Tsarevich Ivan! wherefore art thou so sad? Or hast thou heard cruel, unfriendly words from thy father the Tsar?”—“Have I not cause to grieve? My father and sovereign lord commands thee to weave him a silk carpet in a single night!”—“Fret not, Tsarevich! come, lay thee down and sleep, the morning is wiser than the evening!” Then she made him lie down to sleep, threw off her frog-skin, and turned into the lovely maiden soul, Vasilisa Premudraya, went forth upon her beautiful balcony, and cried with a piercing voice: “Nurseys—nurseys! assemble, set to work and weave me a silk carpet such as I was wont to sit upon at my dear father’s!” No sooner said than done. In the morning the Tsarevich Ivan awoke, and the frog had had the carpet ready long ago, andit was such a wondrous carpet that the like of it can only be told of in tales, but may neither be imagined nor guessed at. The carpet was adorned with gold and silver and with divers bright embroiderings. The Tsar greatly praised the Tsarevich Ivan for his carpet, and there and then gave the new command that all three Tsareviches were to appear before him on the morrow to be inspected together with their wives. Again the Tsarevich Ivan returned home and he was not happy, and his impetuous head hung lower than his shoulders. “Qua! qua! Tsarevich Ivan! wherefore art thou grieved? Or hast thou heard words unkind from thy father the Tsar?”—“Have I not cause to be sad? My father and sovereign lord has commanded me to appear before him with thee to-morrow! How can I show thee to people?”—“Fret not, Tsarevich! Go alone to the Tsar and pay thy visit, and I will come after thee. The moment you hear a rumbling and a knocking, say: ‘Hither comes my dear little Froggy in her little basket!’” And behold the elder brothers appeared, to be inspected with their richly-attired and splendidly-adorned consorts. There they stood and laughed at the Tsarevich Ivan and said: “Why, brother! why hast thou come hither without thy wife? Why thou mightest have brought her with thee in a kitchen clout. And where didst thou pick up sucha beauty? I suppose thou didst search through all the swamps fairly?” Suddenly there was a great rumbling and knocking, the whole palace shook. The guests were all terribly frightened and rushed from their places, and knew not what to do with themselves, but the Tsarevich Ivan said: “Fear not, gentlemen! ’tis only my little Froggy coming in her little basket!” And then a golden coach drawn by six horses flew up to the steps of the Tsar’s balcony, and out of it stepped Vasilisa Premudraya; such a beauty as is only to be told of in tales, but can neither be imagined nor guessed at. The Tsarevich Ivan took her by the hand and led her behind the oaken table, behind the embroidered table-cloth. The guests began to eat and drink and make merry. Vasilisa Premudraya drank wine, but the dregs of her cup she poured behind her left sleeve; she ate also of the roast swan, but the bones thereof she concealed behind her right sleeve. The wives of the elder brothers watched these devices, and took care to do the same. Afterwards when Vasilisa Premudraya began dancing with the Tsarevich Ivan, she waved her left hand and a lake appeared; she waved her right hand and white swans were swimming in the water; the Tsar and his guests were astonished. And now the elder brides began dancing. They waved their left hands and all the guests were squirted with water; they waved theirright hands and the bones flew right into the Tsar’s eyes. The Tsar was wroth, and drove them from court with dishonour.Now one day the Tsarevich Ivan waited his opportunity, ran off home, found the frog-skin, and threw it into a great fire. Vasilisa Premudraya duly arrived, missed her frog-skin, was sore troubled, fell a-weeping, and said to the Tsarevich: “Alas! Tsarevich Ivan! what hast thou done? If thou hadst but waited for a little, I should have been thine for ever more, but now farewell! Seek for me beyond lands thrice-nine, in the Empire of Thrice-ten, at the house of Koshchei Bezsmertny.”4Then she turned into a white swan and flew out of the window.The Tsarevich Ivan wept bitterly, turned to all four points of the compass and prayed to God, and went straight before his eyes. He went on and on, whether it was near or far, or long or short, matters not, when there met him an old, old man. “Hail, good youth!” said he, “what dost thou seek, and whither art thou going?” The Tsarevich told him all his misfortune. “Alas! Tsarevich Ivan, why didst thou burn that frog-skin? Thou didst not make, nor shouldst thou therefore have done away with it. Vasilisa Premudraya was born wiser and more cunning than her father; he was thereforeangry with her, and bade her be a frog for three years. Here is a little ball for thee, follow it whithersoever it rolls.” Ivan the Tsarevich thanked the old man, and followed after the ball. He went along the open plain, and there met him a bear. “Come now!” thought the Tsarevich Ivan, “I will slay this beast.” But the bear implored him: “Slay me not, Tsarevich Ivan, I may perchance be of service to thee somehow.” He went on further, and lo! behind them came waddling a duck. The Tsarevich bent his bow; he would have shot the bird, when suddenly she greeted him with a human voice: “Slay me not, Ivan Tsarevich! I also may befriend thee!” He had compassion on her, and went on further, and a hare darted across their path. The Tsarevich again laid an arrow on his bow and took aim, but the hare greeted him with a human voice: “Slay me not, Tsarevich Ivan! I also will befriend thee!” Ivan the Tsarevich had pity upon him, and went on further to the blue sea, and behold! on the beach lay gasping a pike. “Alas! Tsarevich Ivan!” sighed the pike, “have pity on me and cast me into the sea.” And he cast it into the sea, and went on along the shore. The ball rolled a short way, and it rolled a long way, and at last it came to a miserable hut; the hut was standing on hen’s legs and turning round and round. The Tsarevich Ivan said to it: “Littlehut, little hut! stand the old way as thy mother placed thee, with thy front to me, and thy back to the sea!” And the little hut turned round with its front to him, and its back to the sea. The Tsarevich entered in, and saw the bony-legged Baba-Yaga lying on the stove, on nine bricks, and grinding her teeth.—“Hillo! good youth, why dost thou visit me?” asked the Baba-Yaga.—“Fie, thou old hag! thou call’st me a good youth, but thou shouldst first feed and give me to drink, and prepare me a bath, then only shouldst thou ask me questions.” The Baba-Yaga fed him and gave him to drink, and made ready a bath for him, and the Tsarevich told her he was seeking his wife, Vasilisa Premudraya. “I know,” said the Baba-Yaga, “she is now with Koshchei Bezsmertny. ’Tis hard to get thither, and it is not easy to settle accounts with Koshchei. His death depends upon the point of a needle, that needle is in a hare, that hare is in a coffer, that coffer is on the top of a high oak, and Koshchei guards that tree as the apple of his eye.” The Baba-Yaga then showed him in what place that oak grew; the Tsarevich Ivan went thither, but did not know what to do to get at the coffer. Suddenly, how who can tell, the bear rushed at the tree and tore it up by the roots, the coffer fell and was smashed to pieces, the hare leaped out, and with one bound had taken cover. But look!the other hare bounded off in pursuit, hunted him down and tore him to bits; out of the hare flew a duck and rose high, high in the air, but the other duck dashed after her, and struck her down, whereupon the duck laid an egg, and the egg fell into the sea. The Tsarevich Ivan, seeing the irreparable loss of the egg, burst into tears, when suddenly the pike came swimming ashore holding the egg between its teeth. He took the egg, broke it, drew out the needle and broke off its little point. Then he attacked Koshchei, who struggled hard, but wriggle about as he might he had to die at last. Then the Tsarevich Ivan went into the house of Koshchei, took out Vasilisa Premudraya, and returned home. After that they lived together for a long, long time, and were very, very happy.1Nobleman.2The women’s apartments.3Super-sapient cross-gentian.4The deathless skeleton.The Two Sons of Ivan the Soldier.There once dwelt in a certain kingdom a peasant. The time came when they enlisted him as a soldier; he had to quit his wife, and as he bade her good-bye, he said to her, “Hearken, wife! live honestly; flout not good people; do not let our little hut fall to pieces, but keep house wisely, and await my return. If God permit it, I will come back and leave the service. Here are fifty rubles!—whether a little son or a little daughter be born to thee matters not; keep the money till the child grows up. If it be a daughter, wed her to the bridegroom whom God may provide; but if God give thee a son, and he arrive at years of discretion, this money will be of no little help to him.” Then he took leave of his wife, and went to the wars whither he was bidden. Three months passed, and the wife gave birth to twin sons, and she called them the sons of Ivan the soldier. The youngsters grew up betimes; like wheaten doughmixed with yeast they shot up broad and high. When they reached their tenth year their mother gave them instruction, and they quickly learned their letters, and the children of the boyars and the children of the merchants could not hold a candle to them; no one could read aloud, or write, or answer questions so well as they. The two sons of Ivan the soldier thus grew up, and they asked their mother, “Mother, dear! did not our father leave us some money? If there be any, let us have it, and we’ll take it to the fair and buy us a good horse apiece.” Their mother gave them the fifty rubles, twenty-five to each brother, and said to them, “Hearken, children, as ye go to the town, give a bow to every one you come across.”—“Good, dear mother.”So the brothers hied them off to the town, and went to the horse-market. There were many horses there, but they chose none of them, for they were not good enough mounts for the good brothers. So one of the brothers said to the other: “Let us go to the other end of the square; look how the people are all running together there. There is something strange going on.” Thither they went and joined the crowd; and there stood two mares tied to stout oaken posts with iron clamps; one with six clamps, and the other with twelve clamps. The horses were tugging at their chains, gnawing their bits, anddigging up the ground with their hoofs. No one was able to go near them. “What is the price of thy mares?” asked Ivan, the soldier’s son, of the owner. “Don’t thrust thy nose in here, friend!—such mares are not for the like of thee. Ask no more about them!”—“How dost thou know what I am? Maybe I’ll buy them, but I must first look at their teeth.” The horse-dealer smiled: “Look out for your heads, that’s all!” One of the brothers then drew near to the mare that was fastened by six clamps, and the other brother to the mare that was fastened by twelve. They tried to look at the horses’ teeth, but how was it to be done? The mares rose on their hind legs and pawed the air. Then the brothers struck them in the breast with their knees; the chains which held the horses burst, and the mares flew up into the air five fathoms high, and fell down with their legs uppermost. “Well!” cried the brothers, “that’s not much to boast of. We would not take such horses at a gift.” The crowd cried “Oh!” and was amazed. “What strong and stalwart heroes are these?” The horse-dealer was almost in tears. The mares galloped all over the town, and made off over the wide steppe; nobody dared approach them, and nobody knew how to catch them. The sons of Ivan the soldier were sorry for the horse-dealer. They went out into the open steppe, cried with a piercingvoice and whistled lustily, and the mares came running back and stood in their proper place as if they had been nailed there. Then the good youths put the iron chains upon them again, and tied them to the oaken posts, and bound them tightly. This they did, and then they went homewards. As they were going along there met them an old graybeard. They forgot what their mother had told them, and passed him by without greeting him. Suddenly one of them recollected himself and cried: “Oh, brother! what have we done? We never gave that old man a bow; let us run after him and bow to him!” They ran after the old man, took off their little caps, bowed to the very girdle, and said, “Forgive us, dear little father, for passing thee by without a greeting. Our motherstraightlycharged us to pay honour to every one we met in the way.”—“Thanks, good youths! whither is God leading you?”—“We have been to the town fair; we wanted to buy us a good horse apiece, but there are none there which please us.”—“Why, how’s that? Suppose now that I were to give you a little nag apiece?”—“Ah! little father, we would then always pray to God for thee!”—“Well, come with me.”—The old man led them to a huge mountain, opened two cast-iron doors, and brought out two horses of heroic breed. “Here, take your horses and depart in God’s name, goodyouths, and may ye prosper with them!” They thanked him, mounted and galloped home; reached the courtyard, bound their horses to a post, and entered the hut. Their mother then began, and asked them: “Well, my dear children, have you bought yourselves a little nag apiece?”—“We have not bought them with money, but got them as a gift.”—“Where have you left them?”—“We put them beside the hut.”—“Alas! my children, look if any one has taken them away.”—“Nay, dear mother, such horses are not taken away. No one could lead them, and there’s no getting near them!” The mother went out, looked at the horses, and burst into tears. “Well, my dear sons, ye are surely never those whom I have nourished.”The next day the sons begged their mother to let them go into the town to buy them a sword apiece. “Go, my children!” Then they got them ready, went to the smith’s, entered the master’s house, and said: “Make us a couple of swords!”—“Why should I make them when they are ready made? Take whichever you like best.”—“No, friend, we want swords which weigh ten puds1each.”—“What are you thinking of? Who would be able to wield a machine like that? You’ll find such swords nowhere.” So there was nothing for the good youths to do butreturn homewards with hanging heads. As they were on their way the same old man met them again. “Hail, young men!”—“Hail, dear little father!”—“Whence do you come?”—“From town, from the smith’s. We wanted to buy two Damascus blades, and there were none that suited our hands.”—“How stupid! Suppose now I were to give you a sword apiece?”—“Ah, dear little father, in that case we would pray to God for thee for evermore.” The old man led them to the huge mountain, opened the cast-iron door, and drew out two heroic swords. The brothers took them, thanked the old man, and their hearts were merry and joyful. They came home, and their mother asked them: “Well, my children, have you bought yourselves a sword apiece?”—“We have not bought them for money, but got them as a gift.”—“And what have you done with them?”—“We have placed them beside the hut.”—“Take care lest some one take them away.”—“Nay, dear mother, nobody will take them away, for it is impossible to even carry them.” The mother went out into the courtyard and looked; the two heavy, heroic swords were leaning against the wall, the hut was scarce able to bear the weight of them. The old woman burst into tears and said: “Well, my dear sons, ye are surely never those whom I have nourished.”The next morning the sons of Ivan the soldier saddled their good horses, took their heroic blades, went into the hut, prayed to God, and took leave of the mother who bore them. “Bless us, dear little mother, for a long journey is before us.”—“My irremovable, motherly blessing be upon you. Go, in God’s name. Show yourselves, and see the world. Offend none without cause, and follow not evil ways.”—“Be not afraid, dear mother; our motto is, ‘When I eat I don’t whistle, and when I bite I don’t let go.’” Then the good youths mounted their horses and rode off. Whither they went, near or far, long or short, the tale is soon told, but the deed is not soon done; anyhow, they came to a cross-way where stood two pillars. On one pillar was written, “Who goes to the right will become a Tsar,” and on the other pillar was written, “Who goes to the left will become a corpse.” The brothers stood still, read the inscriptions, and fell a-thinking: “Whichever way shall we go? If we both go to the right, there will not be honour and glory enough for the heroic strength and youthful prowess of us both; but nobody wants to go to the left and die.” And one brother said to the other: “Look now, dear brother, I am stronger than thou; let me go a little on the left to see how death can get hold of me. But thou go to the right, and perchance God willmake thee a Tsar.” Then they took leave of each other, and each gave to the other a little piece of cloth, and they made this compact—each was to go his own way and place posts along the road, and write on these posts everything concerning himself as a mark and guide; every morning each of them was to wipe his face with his brother’s cloth, and if blood appeared on the cloth it would mean that death had befallen his brother, and in such a calamity he was to hasten back to seek his dead. So the good youths parted in different directions. He who turned his horse to the right came to a splendid kingdom. In this kingdom dwelt a Tsar and his Tsaritsa, and they had a daughter called the thrice-beautiful Tsarevna Nastasia. The Tsar beheld the son of the soldier Ivan, loved him for his knightly valour, and without beating about the bush, gave him his daughter as a consort, called him the Tsarevich Ivan, and bade him rule over the whole kingdom. The Tsarevich Ivan lived right merrily, loved his wife dearly, gave good laws to his kingdom, and diverted himself with the pleasures of the chase.But his brother, Ivan the soldier’s son, who had taken the road to the left, went on day and night without rest. A month, and a second month, and a third passed by, and he found himself in an unknown empire, in the midst of the capital. In thisempire there was great mourning, the houses were covered with black cloth, and the people crept about as if they were dreaming. He hired him a lodging at a poor old woman’s, and began to ask her, “Tell me, old mother, why are all the people in this empire of thine so full of woe, and all the houses covered with black cloth?”—“Alas, good youth! a great grief weighs upon us; every day there comes out of the blue sea, from beyond the gray rock, a twelve-headed serpent and eats up a man every time, and now it has come to the turn of the Tsar’s own house. He has three most lovely Tsarevnas; at this very time they are escorting the youngest of them to the sea-shore to be devoured by the monster.” Ivan the soldier’s son mounted his horse and rode off to the blue sea, to the gray rock; on the shore stood the thrice-lovely Tsarevna, tied to an iron chain. She saw the hero and said to him, “Depart hence, good youth. The twelve-headed serpent will soon be here; I shall perish, nor wilt thou escape death; the cruel serpent will devour thee also.” “Fear not, lovely maiden. Perhaps it may be overcome.” And Ivan the soldier’s son went up to her, burst the chain with his heroic hand, and broke it into little bits as if it were rotten rope; then he lit a large fire all round the rock and nourished it with the trunks of uprooted oaks and pines, piled them up into a huge pyre, andthen went back to the lovely maiden, laid his head on her knee, and said to her, “I must rest, but thou look seawards, and as soon as a cloud arises, and the wind begins to blow, and the sea to leap and roar, awaken me, young maiden.” So he spake, and fell into a deep sleep, and the lovely maiden watched over him, and sat and looked out upon the sea. Suddenly a cloud rose above the horizon, and the wind began to blow, and the sea to leap and roar; the serpent was coming forth from the blue sea, and raised itself mountains high. The Tsarevna tried to awake Ivan the soldier’s son; she shook him and shook him; it was of no use, he heard her not; then she burst into tears, and her burning tear-drops fell upon his cheeks. At this the hero awoke, ran to his horse, and the good horse had already ploughed up half a fathom of earth with his hoofs. The twelve-headed serpent rushed straight at him, belching forth fire; it looked upon the hero and cried, “Goodly art thou and comely, fair youth, but thy last hour has come. Say farewell to the wide world, and gallop down my throat as quickly as thou canst.”—“Thou liest, cursed serpent; surrender!” Then they fell to mortal combat. Ivan the soldier’s son struck so deftly and sturdily with his sword that it grew red-hot, there was no holding it in his hand. Then he cried to the Tsarevna: “Save me, lovelymaiden! Take out thy fair kerchief, dip it in the blue sea, and wrap it round my sword.” The Tsarevna immediately moistened her kerchief in the sea, and gave it to the good youth. He wrapped it round his sword and again fell fiercely on the serpent, but he found that he could not despatch the serpent with his sword. Then he snatched a burning pine-brand from the pyre and burnt out the serpent’s eye, and then he hewed off all its twelve heads, placed them beneath the rock, cast the body into the sea, and then trotted home, ate and drank, and laid him down to sleep for thrice four-and-twenty hours.And in the meantime the Tsar called his water-carrier and said to him: “Go to the sea-shore and collect the bones of the Tsarevna, if haply ye find them.” The water-carrier went down to the sea-shore, and lo! the Tsarevna was in no way hurt. He placed her on the cart and drove her into the drear forest—far into the forest he drove her—drew his knife from his girdle, and began to sharpen it. “What art thou doing?” asked the Tsarevna. “I am sharpening my knife. I mean to slay thee. Tell thy father that I slew the serpent, and I’ll have mercy on thee.” He terrified the lovely maiden, and she took an oath to speak according to his words. Now this daughter was the Tsar’s favourite, and when the Tsar saw thatshe was alive, and in no way hurt, he wished to reward the water-carrier, and gave him his youngest daughter to wife; and the rumour of it went through the whole realm. Ivan the soldier’s son heard also that a marriage was being celebrated at the Tsar’s, and straight to court he went. There a great banquet was proceeding; the guests were eating and drinking, and diverting themselves with divers pastimes. The youngest Tsarevna looked at Ivan the soldier’s son, and saw his sword wrapped round with her costly kerchief, whereupon she leaped from her chair, seized his hand, and cried: “My dear father and sovereign lord, lo! here is he who saved us from the cruel serpent and from violent death. The water-carrier can only sharpen his knife and say—’I am sharpening my knife. I mean to kill thee.’” The Tsar was wroth, and he bade them hang the water-carrier, and gave the Tsarevna to Ivan the soldier’s son as his consort, and there was great rejoicing. And the young couple lived together, and their life was happy and prosperous.Not a very long time passed away, and then this thing befell the Tsarevich Ivan, the other son of Ivan the soldier.One day he was going a-hunting, and he started a swift-footed stag. The Tsarevich Ivan put spurs to his horse and pursued the stag. On and on he sped,and he came to a vast meadow. Here the stag vanished from before his eyes. Ivan looked about him and considered—“Whither does my way lie now?” And, lo, in that meadow a little stream was flowing, and on the water two gray ducks were swimming. He took aim at them, fired, and slew the ducks, dragged them out of the water, put them into his knapsack, and went on further. He went on and on till he saw a palace of white stone, dismounted from his horse, fastened it to a post, and went into the rooms. They were all empty, not a living soul was to be seen, only in one room was there a lighted stove, a pan for a meal of six stood there, and the table was already laid; there were plates and glasses and knives. The Tsarevich Ivan pulled the ducks from his pocket and drew them, put them in the pan, cooked them, placed them on the table, and began carving and eating them. Suddenly, whence I know not, a lovely damsel appeared to him, so lovely that the like of her cannot be told of in tales or written with pens, and she said to him: “Bread and salt, Ivan the Tsarevich.”—“I cry thy pardon, lovely damsel, sit down and eat with me.”—“I would sit down with thee, but I am afraid. Thou hast an enchanted horse.”—“Nay, lovely damsel, thou art ill-informed. I have left my magic horse at home, and am riding on a common one.” No sooner did thelovely damsel hear this than she began to swell out and swell out till she became a frightful lioness, opened wide her jaws, and swallowed up the Tsarevich Ivan whole. She was not an ordinary damsel, but the very sister of the serpent who had been slain by Ivan the soldier’s son.And it fell about this time that the other Tsarevich Ivan bethought him of his brother, drew his kerchief out of his pocket, dried his face with it, and saw that the whole kerchief was covered with blood. Sorely grieved was he. “What’s the matter?” he cried. He took leave of his wife and father-in-law, and went forth on his heroic horse to seek his brother. He went near and far, and long and short, and at last he came to the same realm where his brother had lived. He asked about everything, and learnt that the Tsarevich had indeed gone hunting and disappeared—not a trace of him could be found. Ivan went a-hunting the selfsame way, and there met him a swift-footed stag. The hero pursued after it; he came out into the vast meadow, and the stag vanished from before his eyes. In the meadow he saw a little stream flowing, and two gray ducks were swimming on the water. Ivan the soldier’s son shot the ducks, came to the white stone palace, and went into the rooms. They were all empty, only in one room was a stove lighted and a pan for a meal for six was upon it. He roastedthe ducks, went out into the courtyard, sat on the steps, and began carving them up and eating. Suddenly a lovely damsel appeared before him. “Bread and salt, good youth, why dost thou eat in the courtyard?” Ivan the soldier’s son answered: “In the rooms it is not to my mind; in the courtyard ’twill be more pleasant. Sit down with me, fair damsel!”—“I would sit down gladly, but I fear thy enchanted horse.”—“No need, damsel. I am riding on an ordinary nag.” Like a fool she believed him, and began to swell out, and swelled into a frightful lioness, and would have swallowed up the good youth, when his magic horse ran up and seized her round the body with its heroic feet. Ivan the soldier’s son drew his sharp sword and cried with a piercing voice: “Stand, accursed one. Hast thou not swallowed my brother, the Tsarevich Ivan? Give him back to me, or I’ll cut thee into little bits.” The red lioness turned back again into a most lovely damsel, and began to beg and pray: “Spare me, good youth. Take the two phials from that bench full of healing and living water, follow me into the underground chamber, and revive thy brother.”The Tsarevich Ivan followed the lovely damsel into the underground chamber, and saw his brother lying there torn to bits. He sprinkled his brother with the healing water; the flesh and fat grew together again.He sprinkled him with the living water, and his brother stood up and spoke: “Ah! how long have I slept?” Ivan the Tsarevich said, “Thou wouldst have slept for ever but for me.” And the brothers returned to court, made a three days’ feast, and then took leave of each other. Ivan the soldier’s son remained with his wife, and lived with her in love and harmony and enduring bliss. But the Tsarevich returned to his realm, and I met him on his way; three days he drank and diverted himself with me, and ’twas he who told me all this tale.1Four hundred pounds.The Woman-Accuser.There was once upon a time an old man and an old woman. The old woman was not a bad old woman, but there was this one bad thing about her—she did not know how to hold her tongue. Whatever she might hear from her husband, or whatever might happen at home, she was sure to spread it over the whole village; she even doubled everything in the telling, and so things were told which never happened at all. Not unfrequently the old man had to chastise the old woman, and her back paid for the faults of her tongue.One day the old man went into the forest for wood. He had just got to the border of the forest, when his foot, in treading on a certain place, sank right into the ground. “Why, what’s this?” thought the old man. “Come, now, I’ll dig a bit here; maybe I shall be lucky enough to dig out something.” He dug several times, and saw, buried in the ground, alittle cauldron quite full of silver and gold. “Look, now, what good luck has befallen me! But what am I to do with it? I cannot hide it from that good wife of mine at home, and she will be sure to blab to all the world about my lucky find, and thou wilt repent the day thou didst ever see it.”For a long time the old man sat brooding over his treasure, and at last he made up his mind what to do. He buried the treasure, threw a lot of wood over it, and went to town. There he bought at the bazaar a live pike and a live hare, returned to the wood, and hung the pike upon a tree, at the very top of it, and carried the hare to the stream, where he had a fish-basket, and he put the hare into it in a shallow place.Then he went off home, whipped up his little nag for pure lightness of heart, and so entered his hut. “Wife, wife,” he cried, “such a piece of luck has befallen me that I cannot describe it!”—“What is it, what is it, hubby darling? Why dost thou not tell me?”—“What’s the good, when thou wilt only blab it all about?”—“On my word, I’ll say nothing to anybody. I swear it. I’ll take the holy image from the wall and kiss it if thou dost not believe me.”—“Well, well, all right. Listen, old woman!” and he bent down towards her ear and whispered, “I have found in the wood a cauldron full of silverand gold.”—“Then why didst thou not bring it hither?”—“Because we had both better go together, and so bring it home.” And the old man went with his old woman to the forest.They went along the road, and the peasant said to his wife, “From what I hear, old woman, and from what people told me the other day, it would seem that fish are now to be found growing on trees, while the beasts of the forest live in the water.”—“Why, what art thou thinking about, little hubby? People nowadays are much given to lying.”—“Lying, dost thou call it? Then come and see for thyself.” And he pointed to the tree where the pike was hanging. “Why, what marvel is this?” screamed the old woman. “However did that pike get there? Or have the people been speaking the truth to thee after all?” But the peasant stood there, and moved his arms about, and shrugged his shoulders, and shook his head, as if he could not believe his own eyes. “Why dost thou keep standing there?” said the old woman. “Go up the tree, rather, and take the pike; ’twill do for supper.” So the peasant took the pike, and then they went on further. They passed by the stream, and the peasant stopped his horse. But his wife began screeching at him, and said, “What art gaping at now? let us make haste and go on.”—“Nay, but look! I see something struggling about allround my fish-basket. I’ll go and see what it is.” So he ran, looked into the fish-basket, and called to his wife. “Just come and look here, old woman! Why, a hare has got into our fishing-basket!”—“Then people must have told thee the truth after all. Fetch it out quickly; it will do for dinner on the feast-day.” The old man took up the hare, and then went straight towards the treasure. He pitched away the wood, digged wide and deep, dragged the cauldron out of the earth, and they took it home.The old man and the old woman grew rich, they lived right merrily, and the old woman did not improve; she went to invite guests every day, and gave such banquets that she nearly drove her husband out of the house. The old man tried to correct her. “What’s come to thee?” he cried. “Canst thou not listen to me?”—“Don’t order me about,” said she. “I found the treasure as well as thou, and have as much right to make merry with it.” The old man put up with it for a very long time, but at last he said to the old woman straight out, “Do as best thou canst, but I’m not going to give thee any more money to cast to the winds.” But the old woman immediately fell foul of him. “I see what thou art up to,” screeched she; “thou wouldst keep all the money for thyself. No, thou rogue, I’ll drive thee whither the crows will pick thy bones. Thou wilt have nogood from thy money.” The old man would have chastised her, but the old woman thrust him aside, and went straight to the magistrate to lay a complaint against her husband. “I have come to throw myself on thy honour’s compassion, and to present my petition against my good-for-nothing husband. Ever since he found that treasure there is no living with him. Work he won’t, and he spends all his time in drinking and gadding about. Take away all his gold from him, father. What a vile thing is gold when it ruins a man so!” The magistrate was sorry for the old woman, and he sent his eldest clerk to him, and bade him judge between the husband and wife. The clerk assembled all the village elders, and went to the peasant and said to him, “The magistrate has sent me to thee, and bids thee deliver up all thy treasure into my hands.” The peasant only shrugged his shoulders. “What treasure?” said he. “I know nothing whatever about any treasure.”—“Not know? Why, thy old woman has just been to complain to the magistrate, and I tell thee what, friend, if thou deniest it, ’twill be worse for thee. If thou dost not give up the whole treasure to the magistrate, thou must give an account of thyself for daring to search for treasures, and not revealing them to the authorities.”—“But I cry your pardon, honoured sirs! what is this treasure you are talking of? My wife musthave seen this treasure in her sleep; she has told you a pack of nonsense, and you listen to her.”—“Nonsense!” burst forth the old woman; “it is not nonsense, but a whole cauldron full of gold and silver!”—“Thou art out of thy senses, dear wife. Honoured sirs, I cry your pardon. Cross-examine her thoroughly about the affair, and if she proves this thing against me, I will answer for it with all my goods.”—“And dost thou think that I cannot prove it against thee? Thou rascal, I will prove it. This is how the matter went, Mr. Clerk,” began the old woman; “I remember it, every bit. We went to the forest, and we saw a pike on a tree.”—“A pike?” roared the clerk at the old woman; “or dost thou want to make a fool of me?”—“Nay, I am not making a fool of thee, Mr. Clerk; I am speaking the simple truth.”—“There, honoured sirs,” said the old man, “how can you believe her if she goes on talking such rubbish?”—“I am not talking rubbish, yokel! I am speaking the truth—or hast thou forgotten how we found a hare in thy fishing-basket in the stream?”—All the elders rolled about for laughter; even the clerk smiled, and began to stroke down his long beard. The peasant again said to his wife, “Recollect thyself, old woman; dost thou not see that every one is laughing at thee? But ye, honoured gentlemen, can now see for yourselves how far you can believemy wife.”—“Yes,” cried all the elders, with one voice, “long as we have lived in the world, we have never heard of hares living in rivers, and fish hanging on the trees of the forest.” The clerk himself saw that this was a matter he could not get to the bottom of, so he dismissed the assembly with a wave of his hand, and went off to town to the magistrate.And everybody laughed so much at the old woman that she was forced to bite her own tongue and listen to her husband; and the husband bought wares with his treasure, went to live in the town, and began to trade there, exchanged his wares for money, grew rich and prosperous, and was as happy as the day was long.Thomas Berennikov.Once upon a time there lived in a village a miserably poor peasant called Tommy Berennikov. Thomas’s tongue could wag right well, and in mother-wit he was no worse than his neighbours, but he was anything but handsome to look at, and for working in the fields he was not worth a button. One day he went into the field to plough. The work was heavy and his nag was a wretched hack, quite starved and scarce able to drag along the plough, so at last Tom quite gave way to woe, sat down on a little stone, and immediately whole swarms of blow-flies and gad-flies fell upon his poor knacker from every quarter and stuck fast. Thomas seized a bundle of dry twigs and thwacked his horse about the back with all his might; the horse never stirred from the spot, and the blow-flies and gad-flies fell off him in swarms. Thomas began to count how many he had killed, eight gad-flies, and there was nonumbering the slain of the other flies. And Thomas Berennikov smiled. “That’s something like!” said he, “we’ve killed eight at a blow! And there’s no counting the smaller fry! What a warrior I am, what a hero! I won’t plough any more, I’ll fight. I’ll turn hero, and so seek my fortune!” And he took his crooked sickle from his shoulders, hung up his bast-basket by his girdle, placed in this basket his blunt scythe, and then he mounted his hack and wandered forth into the wide world.He went on and on till he came to a post on which passing heroes had inscribed their names, and he wrote with chalk on this post, “The hero Thomas Berennikov has passed by this way, who slew eight at one blow, and of the smaller fry without number.” This he wrote and went on further. He had only got a mile from this post when two stalwart young heroes came galloping up to it, read the inscription, and asked one another, “What unheard-of hero is this? Whither has he gone? I never heard of his gallant steed, and there is no trace of his knightly deed!” They followed hard upon Thomas, overtook him, and were amazed at the sight of him. “What sort of a horse is the fellow riding on?” cried they; “why, ’tis a mere hack! Then all this prowess cannot be in the horse, but in the hero himself.” And they both rode up to Thomas and said to himquite humbly and mildly, “Peace be with thee, good man.” Thomas looked at them over his shoulder, and without moving his head, said, “Who are you?”—“Ilia Muromets and Alesha Popovich; we would fain be thy comrades.”—“Well, maybe you’ll do. Follow behind me pray.”They came to the realm of the neighbouring Tsar and went straight into his preserves; here they let their horses out to graze, and laid themselves down to rest beneath their tent. The neighbouring Tsar sent out against them a hundred horsemen of his guard, and bade them drive away the strangers from his preserves. Ilia Muromets and Alesha Popovich said to Thomas, “Wilt thou go against them, or wilt thou send us?”—“What, forsooth! do you think I’d soil my hands by going against such muck! No; go thou, Ilia Muromets, and show thy prowess.” So Ilia Muromets sat him on his heroic steed, charged the Tsar’s horsemen, swooped down upon them like a bright falcon on a flock of doves, smote them, and cut them all down to the very last one. At this the Tsar was still more wroth, collected all of his host that was in the town, both horse and foot, and bade his captains drive the wandering strangers out of his preserves without ceremony. The Tsar’s army advanced on the preserves, blew with their trumpets, and columns of dust arose in their path. IliaMuromets and Alesha Popovich came to Thomas and said to him, “Wilt thou go thyself against the foe, or wilt thou send one of us?” But Thomas, who was lying on his side, did not so much as turn him round, but said to the heroes, “The idea of my coming to blows with this rabble!—the idea of my soiling my heroic hands with the like of them! No! Go thou, Alesha Popovich, and show them our style of fighting, and I’ll look on and see if thy valour be of the right sort.” Alesha rushed like a whirlwind upon the Tsar’s host, his armour rattled like thunder, he waved his mace from afar, and shouted with a voice more piercing than the clang of clarions, “I will slay and smash all of you without mercy!” He flew upon the host and began crushing it. The captains saw that every one took to his heels before him, and there was no way of stopping them, so they blew a retreat with the trumpets, retired towards the town, and came themselves with an apology to Alesha, and said: “Tell us now, strong and potent hero, by what name we must call thee, and tell us thy father’s name that we may honour it. What tribute must we give thee that thou mayst trouble us no more, and leave our realm in peace?”—“’Tis not to me you must give tribute!” answered Alesha; “I am but a subordinate. I do what I am bidden by my elder brother, the famous hero Thomas Berennikov. You must reckonwith him. He will spare you if he pleases, but if he does not please, he will level your whole kingdom with the ground.” The Tsar heard these words, and sent Tommy rich gifts and an honourable embassy of distinguished persons, and bade them say: “We beg the famous hero Thomas Berennikov to come and visit us, to dwell in our royal court, and help us to war against the Khan of China. If, O hero, thou dost succeed in smiting utterly the countless Chinese host, then I will give thee my own daughter, and after my death thou shalt have the whole realm.” But Tommy put on a long face and said, “What’s that? Well, well, I don’t mind! I suppose I may as well consent to that.” Then he mounted his hack, commanded his heroic younger brethren to ride behind him, and went as a guest to the neighbouring Tsar.Tommy had not yet thoroughly succeeded in testing the quality of the Tsar’s kitchen, he had not yet thoroughly rested from his labours, when there came a threatening embassy from the Khan of China, demanding that the whole kingdom should acknowledge him as its liege lord, and that the Tsar should send him his only daughter. “Tell your Khan,” replied the Tsar, “that I fear him no longer; I now have a firm support, a sure defence, the famous hero Thomas Berennikov, who can slay eight at one blowof his sword, and of the lesser fry without number. If life is not pleasant to your Khan and your Chinese brethren, come to my empire, and you shall have cause to remember Thomas Berennikov.” In two days a countless Chinese host surrounded the city of the Tsar, and the Chinese Khan sent to say, “I have here an unconquerable hero, the like of whom the world knows not; send out against him thy Thomas. If thy champion prevails I’ll submit and pay thee a tribute from my whole Khanate; but if mine prevails, thou must give me thy daughter, and pay me a tribute from thy whole kingdom.” So now it was the turn of Thomas Berennikov to show his prowess! And his heroic younger brothers, Ilia Muromets and Alesha Popovich, said to him: “Mighty and potent hero, our elder brother, how wilt thou fight against this Chinaman without armour? Take our martial armour, choose the best of our heroic horses!” Thomas Berennikov answered thus: “How then? Must I hide myself in armour from this shaven pate? Why, I could finish off this Chinaman with one hand quite easily! Why, you yourselves when you first saw me said, ’Tis plain that we must not look at the horse, but at the warrior!” But Thomas thought to himself: “I’m in a pretty pickle now! Well, let the Chinaman kill me if he likes—I’ll not be put to shame over the business anyhow!” Then theybrought him his hack: he mounted it in peasant style, struck it with his bunch of twigs, and went into the open plain at a gentle amble.The Chinese Khan had armed his champion like a fortress; he clothed him in armour twelve puds (480 lbs.) in weight, taught him the use of every weapon, put in his hands a battle-axe eighty pounds in weight, and said to him just before he set out, “Mark me, and recollect my words! When a Russian hero cannot prevail by force, he will overcome by cunning, so lest thou should get the worst of it, take care and do everything the Russian hero does.” So the champions went out against each other into the open field, and Thomas saw the Chinese hero advancing against him, as big as a mountain, with his head like a beer-cask, and covered with armour like a tortoise in its shell, so that he was scarcely able to move. So Tommy had recourse to artifice. He got off his horse and sat down on a stone and began to sharpen his scythe. The Chinese hero when he saw that, got off his horse immediately, fastened it to a tree, and began to whet his axe against a stone also. When Thomas had finished sharpening his scythe, he marched up to the Chinaman and said to him, “We two are mighty and potent heroes, we have come out against each other in mortal combat; but before we pitch into each other we ought to show each otherproper respect, and salute one another after the custom of the country.” And he saluted the Chinaman with a low, a very low bow. “Oh, oh!” thought the Chinaman, “here’s some piece of trickery, I know. I’ll bow yet lower.” And he bowed himself to the very ground. But before he could raise himself up again in his heavy armour, Thomas rushed at him, tickled him once or twice in the neck, and so cut his throat through for him. Then he leaped upon the heroic horse of the Chinaman, scrambled on the top of it somehow, flourished his birch of twigs, tried to grasp the reins, and quite forgot that the horse was tied to a tree. But the good horse, as soon as he felt a rider on his back, tugged and pulled till he tore the tree up by the roots, and off he set at full gallop towards the Chinese host, dragging after him the big tree as if it had been a mere feather. Thomas Berennikov was terribly frightened, and began bawling, “Help, help!” But the Chinese host feared him more than a snowstorm, and it seemed to them as if he were crying to them, “Run, run!” so they took to their heels without once looking back. But the heroic horse plunged into the midst of them, trampled them beneath its feet, and the huge tree-trunk scattered them in all directions. Wherever it plunged it left a wide road behind it.The Chinese swore that they would never fightwith Thomas again, and this resolution was lucky for Thomas. He returned to the town on his own hack, and they were all amazed at his strength, valour, and success. “What dost thou require of me?” said the Tsar to Thomas, “one half of my golden treasures and my daughter into the bargain, or one half of my glorious kingdom?” “Well, I’ll take half your kingdom if you like, but I wouldn’t turn up my nose either at your daughter with half your golden treasure for a dowry. And look now, when I get married, don’t forget to invite to the wedding my younger brothers, Ilia Muromets and Alesha Popovich!”And Thomas married the thrice-lovely Tsarevna, and they celebrated the wedding so gloriously that the heads of all the guests ached for more than two weeks afterwards. I too was there, and I drank mead and ale and got rich gifts, and so my tale is told.

The Frog-Tsarevna.In a certain kingdom, in a certain Empire, there lived a Tsar with his Tsaritsa, and he had three sons, all of them young, valiant, and unwedded, the like of whom is not to be told in tales nor written by pens, and the youngest of them was called the Tsarevich Ivan. And the Tsar spoke these words to them: “My dear children, take unto you your darts, gird on your well-spanned bows, and go hence in different directions, and in whatsoever courts your arrows fall, there choose ye your brides!” The elder brother discharged his arrow and it fell into a boyar’s1court, right in front of theterem2of the maidens. The second brother discharged his arrow, and it flew into the court of a merchant and remained sticking in a beautiful balcony, and on this balcony was standing a lovely young maiden soul, the merchant’s daughter. The youngest brother discharged his arrow, and thearrow fell in a muddy swamp, and a quacking-frog seized hold of it.The Tsarevich Ivan said to his father: “How can I ever take this quacker to wife? A quacker is not my equal!”—“Take her!” replied his father, “’tis thy fate to have her!” So the Tsareviches all got married—the eldest to the boyar’s daughter, the second to the merchant’s daughter, and the youngest to the quacking-frog. And the Tsar called them to him and said: “Let your wives, to-morrow morning, bake me soft white bread.” The Tsarevich Ivan returned home, and he was not happy, and his impetuous head hung down lower than his shoulders. “Qua, qua! Ivan the Tsarevich! wherefore art thou so sad?” asked the Frog. “Or hast thou heard unpleasant words from thy father the Tsar?”—“Why should I not be sad? my father and sovereign lord hath commanded thee to bake soft white bread to-morrow.”—“Do not afflict thyself, O Tsarevich! lie down and rest, the morning is wiser than the evening.” She made the Tsarevich lie down and rest, cast her frog-skin, and turned into a maiden soul, Vasilisa Premudraya,3went out upon her beautiful balcony, and cried with a piercing voice: “Nurseys—nurseys! assemble, set to work and make me soft white bread such as I myself used to eat at my dearfather’s!” In the morning the Tsarevich Ivan awoke, the frog had got the bread ready long ago, and it was so splendid that the like of it is neither to be imagined nor guessed at, but is only to be told of in tales. The loaves were adorned with various cunning devices, royal cities were modelled on the sides thereof, with moats and ditches. The Tsar praised the Tsarevich Ivan greatly because of his bread, and gave this command to his three sons: “Let your wives weave me a carpet in a single night.” The Tsarevich Ivan returned home, and he was sad, and his impetuous head hung lower than his shoulders. “Qua! qua! Tsarevich Ivan! wherefore art thou so sad? Or hast thou heard cruel, unfriendly words from thy father the Tsar?”—“Have I not cause to grieve? My father and sovereign lord commands thee to weave him a silk carpet in a single night!”—“Fret not, Tsarevich! come, lay thee down and sleep, the morning is wiser than the evening!” Then she made him lie down to sleep, threw off her frog-skin, and turned into the lovely maiden soul, Vasilisa Premudraya, went forth upon her beautiful balcony, and cried with a piercing voice: “Nurseys—nurseys! assemble, set to work and weave me a silk carpet such as I was wont to sit upon at my dear father’s!” No sooner said than done. In the morning the Tsarevich Ivan awoke, and the frog had had the carpet ready long ago, andit was such a wondrous carpet that the like of it can only be told of in tales, but may neither be imagined nor guessed at. The carpet was adorned with gold and silver and with divers bright embroiderings. The Tsar greatly praised the Tsarevich Ivan for his carpet, and there and then gave the new command that all three Tsareviches were to appear before him on the morrow to be inspected together with their wives. Again the Tsarevich Ivan returned home and he was not happy, and his impetuous head hung lower than his shoulders. “Qua! qua! Tsarevich Ivan! wherefore art thou grieved? Or hast thou heard words unkind from thy father the Tsar?”—“Have I not cause to be sad? My father and sovereign lord has commanded me to appear before him with thee to-morrow! How can I show thee to people?”—“Fret not, Tsarevich! Go alone to the Tsar and pay thy visit, and I will come after thee. The moment you hear a rumbling and a knocking, say: ‘Hither comes my dear little Froggy in her little basket!’” And behold the elder brothers appeared, to be inspected with their richly-attired and splendidly-adorned consorts. There they stood and laughed at the Tsarevich Ivan and said: “Why, brother! why hast thou come hither without thy wife? Why thou mightest have brought her with thee in a kitchen clout. And where didst thou pick up sucha beauty? I suppose thou didst search through all the swamps fairly?” Suddenly there was a great rumbling and knocking, the whole palace shook. The guests were all terribly frightened and rushed from their places, and knew not what to do with themselves, but the Tsarevich Ivan said: “Fear not, gentlemen! ’tis only my little Froggy coming in her little basket!” And then a golden coach drawn by six horses flew up to the steps of the Tsar’s balcony, and out of it stepped Vasilisa Premudraya; such a beauty as is only to be told of in tales, but can neither be imagined nor guessed at. The Tsarevich Ivan took her by the hand and led her behind the oaken table, behind the embroidered table-cloth. The guests began to eat and drink and make merry. Vasilisa Premudraya drank wine, but the dregs of her cup she poured behind her left sleeve; she ate also of the roast swan, but the bones thereof she concealed behind her right sleeve. The wives of the elder brothers watched these devices, and took care to do the same. Afterwards when Vasilisa Premudraya began dancing with the Tsarevich Ivan, she waved her left hand and a lake appeared; she waved her right hand and white swans were swimming in the water; the Tsar and his guests were astonished. And now the elder brides began dancing. They waved their left hands and all the guests were squirted with water; they waved theirright hands and the bones flew right into the Tsar’s eyes. The Tsar was wroth, and drove them from court with dishonour.Now one day the Tsarevich Ivan waited his opportunity, ran off home, found the frog-skin, and threw it into a great fire. Vasilisa Premudraya duly arrived, missed her frog-skin, was sore troubled, fell a-weeping, and said to the Tsarevich: “Alas! Tsarevich Ivan! what hast thou done? If thou hadst but waited for a little, I should have been thine for ever more, but now farewell! Seek for me beyond lands thrice-nine, in the Empire of Thrice-ten, at the house of Koshchei Bezsmertny.”4Then she turned into a white swan and flew out of the window.The Tsarevich Ivan wept bitterly, turned to all four points of the compass and prayed to God, and went straight before his eyes. He went on and on, whether it was near or far, or long or short, matters not, when there met him an old, old man. “Hail, good youth!” said he, “what dost thou seek, and whither art thou going?” The Tsarevich told him all his misfortune. “Alas! Tsarevich Ivan, why didst thou burn that frog-skin? Thou didst not make, nor shouldst thou therefore have done away with it. Vasilisa Premudraya was born wiser and more cunning than her father; he was thereforeangry with her, and bade her be a frog for three years. Here is a little ball for thee, follow it whithersoever it rolls.” Ivan the Tsarevich thanked the old man, and followed after the ball. He went along the open plain, and there met him a bear. “Come now!” thought the Tsarevich Ivan, “I will slay this beast.” But the bear implored him: “Slay me not, Tsarevich Ivan, I may perchance be of service to thee somehow.” He went on further, and lo! behind them came waddling a duck. The Tsarevich bent his bow; he would have shot the bird, when suddenly she greeted him with a human voice: “Slay me not, Ivan Tsarevich! I also may befriend thee!” He had compassion on her, and went on further, and a hare darted across their path. The Tsarevich again laid an arrow on his bow and took aim, but the hare greeted him with a human voice: “Slay me not, Tsarevich Ivan! I also will befriend thee!” Ivan the Tsarevich had pity upon him, and went on further to the blue sea, and behold! on the beach lay gasping a pike. “Alas! Tsarevich Ivan!” sighed the pike, “have pity on me and cast me into the sea.” And he cast it into the sea, and went on along the shore. The ball rolled a short way, and it rolled a long way, and at last it came to a miserable hut; the hut was standing on hen’s legs and turning round and round. The Tsarevich Ivan said to it: “Littlehut, little hut! stand the old way as thy mother placed thee, with thy front to me, and thy back to the sea!” And the little hut turned round with its front to him, and its back to the sea. The Tsarevich entered in, and saw the bony-legged Baba-Yaga lying on the stove, on nine bricks, and grinding her teeth.—“Hillo! good youth, why dost thou visit me?” asked the Baba-Yaga.—“Fie, thou old hag! thou call’st me a good youth, but thou shouldst first feed and give me to drink, and prepare me a bath, then only shouldst thou ask me questions.” The Baba-Yaga fed him and gave him to drink, and made ready a bath for him, and the Tsarevich told her he was seeking his wife, Vasilisa Premudraya. “I know,” said the Baba-Yaga, “she is now with Koshchei Bezsmertny. ’Tis hard to get thither, and it is not easy to settle accounts with Koshchei. His death depends upon the point of a needle, that needle is in a hare, that hare is in a coffer, that coffer is on the top of a high oak, and Koshchei guards that tree as the apple of his eye.” The Baba-Yaga then showed him in what place that oak grew; the Tsarevich Ivan went thither, but did not know what to do to get at the coffer. Suddenly, how who can tell, the bear rushed at the tree and tore it up by the roots, the coffer fell and was smashed to pieces, the hare leaped out, and with one bound had taken cover. But look!the other hare bounded off in pursuit, hunted him down and tore him to bits; out of the hare flew a duck and rose high, high in the air, but the other duck dashed after her, and struck her down, whereupon the duck laid an egg, and the egg fell into the sea. The Tsarevich Ivan, seeing the irreparable loss of the egg, burst into tears, when suddenly the pike came swimming ashore holding the egg between its teeth. He took the egg, broke it, drew out the needle and broke off its little point. Then he attacked Koshchei, who struggled hard, but wriggle about as he might he had to die at last. Then the Tsarevich Ivan went into the house of Koshchei, took out Vasilisa Premudraya, and returned home. After that they lived together for a long, long time, and were very, very happy.1Nobleman.2The women’s apartments.3Super-sapient cross-gentian.4The deathless skeleton.

In a certain kingdom, in a certain Empire, there lived a Tsar with his Tsaritsa, and he had three sons, all of them young, valiant, and unwedded, the like of whom is not to be told in tales nor written by pens, and the youngest of them was called the Tsarevich Ivan. And the Tsar spoke these words to them: “My dear children, take unto you your darts, gird on your well-spanned bows, and go hence in different directions, and in whatsoever courts your arrows fall, there choose ye your brides!” The elder brother discharged his arrow and it fell into a boyar’s1court, right in front of theterem2of the maidens. The second brother discharged his arrow, and it flew into the court of a merchant and remained sticking in a beautiful balcony, and on this balcony was standing a lovely young maiden soul, the merchant’s daughter. The youngest brother discharged his arrow, and thearrow fell in a muddy swamp, and a quacking-frog seized hold of it.

The Tsarevich Ivan said to his father: “How can I ever take this quacker to wife? A quacker is not my equal!”—“Take her!” replied his father, “’tis thy fate to have her!” So the Tsareviches all got married—the eldest to the boyar’s daughter, the second to the merchant’s daughter, and the youngest to the quacking-frog. And the Tsar called them to him and said: “Let your wives, to-morrow morning, bake me soft white bread.” The Tsarevich Ivan returned home, and he was not happy, and his impetuous head hung down lower than his shoulders. “Qua, qua! Ivan the Tsarevich! wherefore art thou so sad?” asked the Frog. “Or hast thou heard unpleasant words from thy father the Tsar?”—“Why should I not be sad? my father and sovereign lord hath commanded thee to bake soft white bread to-morrow.”—“Do not afflict thyself, O Tsarevich! lie down and rest, the morning is wiser than the evening.” She made the Tsarevich lie down and rest, cast her frog-skin, and turned into a maiden soul, Vasilisa Premudraya,3went out upon her beautiful balcony, and cried with a piercing voice: “Nurseys—nurseys! assemble, set to work and make me soft white bread such as I myself used to eat at my dearfather’s!” In the morning the Tsarevich Ivan awoke, the frog had got the bread ready long ago, and it was so splendid that the like of it is neither to be imagined nor guessed at, but is only to be told of in tales. The loaves were adorned with various cunning devices, royal cities were modelled on the sides thereof, with moats and ditches. The Tsar praised the Tsarevich Ivan greatly because of his bread, and gave this command to his three sons: “Let your wives weave me a carpet in a single night.” The Tsarevich Ivan returned home, and he was sad, and his impetuous head hung lower than his shoulders. “Qua! qua! Tsarevich Ivan! wherefore art thou so sad? Or hast thou heard cruel, unfriendly words from thy father the Tsar?”—“Have I not cause to grieve? My father and sovereign lord commands thee to weave him a silk carpet in a single night!”—“Fret not, Tsarevich! come, lay thee down and sleep, the morning is wiser than the evening!” Then she made him lie down to sleep, threw off her frog-skin, and turned into the lovely maiden soul, Vasilisa Premudraya, went forth upon her beautiful balcony, and cried with a piercing voice: “Nurseys—nurseys! assemble, set to work and weave me a silk carpet such as I was wont to sit upon at my dear father’s!” No sooner said than done. In the morning the Tsarevich Ivan awoke, and the frog had had the carpet ready long ago, andit was such a wondrous carpet that the like of it can only be told of in tales, but may neither be imagined nor guessed at. The carpet was adorned with gold and silver and with divers bright embroiderings. The Tsar greatly praised the Tsarevich Ivan for his carpet, and there and then gave the new command that all three Tsareviches were to appear before him on the morrow to be inspected together with their wives. Again the Tsarevich Ivan returned home and he was not happy, and his impetuous head hung lower than his shoulders. “Qua! qua! Tsarevich Ivan! wherefore art thou grieved? Or hast thou heard words unkind from thy father the Tsar?”—“Have I not cause to be sad? My father and sovereign lord has commanded me to appear before him with thee to-morrow! How can I show thee to people?”—“Fret not, Tsarevich! Go alone to the Tsar and pay thy visit, and I will come after thee. The moment you hear a rumbling and a knocking, say: ‘Hither comes my dear little Froggy in her little basket!’” And behold the elder brothers appeared, to be inspected with their richly-attired and splendidly-adorned consorts. There they stood and laughed at the Tsarevich Ivan and said: “Why, brother! why hast thou come hither without thy wife? Why thou mightest have brought her with thee in a kitchen clout. And where didst thou pick up sucha beauty? I suppose thou didst search through all the swamps fairly?” Suddenly there was a great rumbling and knocking, the whole palace shook. The guests were all terribly frightened and rushed from their places, and knew not what to do with themselves, but the Tsarevich Ivan said: “Fear not, gentlemen! ’tis only my little Froggy coming in her little basket!” And then a golden coach drawn by six horses flew up to the steps of the Tsar’s balcony, and out of it stepped Vasilisa Premudraya; such a beauty as is only to be told of in tales, but can neither be imagined nor guessed at. The Tsarevich Ivan took her by the hand and led her behind the oaken table, behind the embroidered table-cloth. The guests began to eat and drink and make merry. Vasilisa Premudraya drank wine, but the dregs of her cup she poured behind her left sleeve; she ate also of the roast swan, but the bones thereof she concealed behind her right sleeve. The wives of the elder brothers watched these devices, and took care to do the same. Afterwards when Vasilisa Premudraya began dancing with the Tsarevich Ivan, she waved her left hand and a lake appeared; she waved her right hand and white swans were swimming in the water; the Tsar and his guests were astonished. And now the elder brides began dancing. They waved their left hands and all the guests were squirted with water; they waved theirright hands and the bones flew right into the Tsar’s eyes. The Tsar was wroth, and drove them from court with dishonour.

Now one day the Tsarevich Ivan waited his opportunity, ran off home, found the frog-skin, and threw it into a great fire. Vasilisa Premudraya duly arrived, missed her frog-skin, was sore troubled, fell a-weeping, and said to the Tsarevich: “Alas! Tsarevich Ivan! what hast thou done? If thou hadst but waited for a little, I should have been thine for ever more, but now farewell! Seek for me beyond lands thrice-nine, in the Empire of Thrice-ten, at the house of Koshchei Bezsmertny.”4Then she turned into a white swan and flew out of the window.

The Tsarevich Ivan wept bitterly, turned to all four points of the compass and prayed to God, and went straight before his eyes. He went on and on, whether it was near or far, or long or short, matters not, when there met him an old, old man. “Hail, good youth!” said he, “what dost thou seek, and whither art thou going?” The Tsarevich told him all his misfortune. “Alas! Tsarevich Ivan, why didst thou burn that frog-skin? Thou didst not make, nor shouldst thou therefore have done away with it. Vasilisa Premudraya was born wiser and more cunning than her father; he was thereforeangry with her, and bade her be a frog for three years. Here is a little ball for thee, follow it whithersoever it rolls.” Ivan the Tsarevich thanked the old man, and followed after the ball. He went along the open plain, and there met him a bear. “Come now!” thought the Tsarevich Ivan, “I will slay this beast.” But the bear implored him: “Slay me not, Tsarevich Ivan, I may perchance be of service to thee somehow.” He went on further, and lo! behind them came waddling a duck. The Tsarevich bent his bow; he would have shot the bird, when suddenly she greeted him with a human voice: “Slay me not, Ivan Tsarevich! I also may befriend thee!” He had compassion on her, and went on further, and a hare darted across their path. The Tsarevich again laid an arrow on his bow and took aim, but the hare greeted him with a human voice: “Slay me not, Tsarevich Ivan! I also will befriend thee!” Ivan the Tsarevich had pity upon him, and went on further to the blue sea, and behold! on the beach lay gasping a pike. “Alas! Tsarevich Ivan!” sighed the pike, “have pity on me and cast me into the sea.” And he cast it into the sea, and went on along the shore. The ball rolled a short way, and it rolled a long way, and at last it came to a miserable hut; the hut was standing on hen’s legs and turning round and round. The Tsarevich Ivan said to it: “Littlehut, little hut! stand the old way as thy mother placed thee, with thy front to me, and thy back to the sea!” And the little hut turned round with its front to him, and its back to the sea. The Tsarevich entered in, and saw the bony-legged Baba-Yaga lying on the stove, on nine bricks, and grinding her teeth.—“Hillo! good youth, why dost thou visit me?” asked the Baba-Yaga.—“Fie, thou old hag! thou call’st me a good youth, but thou shouldst first feed and give me to drink, and prepare me a bath, then only shouldst thou ask me questions.” The Baba-Yaga fed him and gave him to drink, and made ready a bath for him, and the Tsarevich told her he was seeking his wife, Vasilisa Premudraya. “I know,” said the Baba-Yaga, “she is now with Koshchei Bezsmertny. ’Tis hard to get thither, and it is not easy to settle accounts with Koshchei. His death depends upon the point of a needle, that needle is in a hare, that hare is in a coffer, that coffer is on the top of a high oak, and Koshchei guards that tree as the apple of his eye.” The Baba-Yaga then showed him in what place that oak grew; the Tsarevich Ivan went thither, but did not know what to do to get at the coffer. Suddenly, how who can tell, the bear rushed at the tree and tore it up by the roots, the coffer fell and was smashed to pieces, the hare leaped out, and with one bound had taken cover. But look!the other hare bounded off in pursuit, hunted him down and tore him to bits; out of the hare flew a duck and rose high, high in the air, but the other duck dashed after her, and struck her down, whereupon the duck laid an egg, and the egg fell into the sea. The Tsarevich Ivan, seeing the irreparable loss of the egg, burst into tears, when suddenly the pike came swimming ashore holding the egg between its teeth. He took the egg, broke it, drew out the needle and broke off its little point. Then he attacked Koshchei, who struggled hard, but wriggle about as he might he had to die at last. Then the Tsarevich Ivan went into the house of Koshchei, took out Vasilisa Premudraya, and returned home. After that they lived together for a long, long time, and were very, very happy.

1Nobleman.2The women’s apartments.3Super-sapient cross-gentian.4The deathless skeleton.

1Nobleman.

2The women’s apartments.

3Super-sapient cross-gentian.

4The deathless skeleton.

The Two Sons of Ivan the Soldier.There once dwelt in a certain kingdom a peasant. The time came when they enlisted him as a soldier; he had to quit his wife, and as he bade her good-bye, he said to her, “Hearken, wife! live honestly; flout not good people; do not let our little hut fall to pieces, but keep house wisely, and await my return. If God permit it, I will come back and leave the service. Here are fifty rubles!—whether a little son or a little daughter be born to thee matters not; keep the money till the child grows up. If it be a daughter, wed her to the bridegroom whom God may provide; but if God give thee a son, and he arrive at years of discretion, this money will be of no little help to him.” Then he took leave of his wife, and went to the wars whither he was bidden. Three months passed, and the wife gave birth to twin sons, and she called them the sons of Ivan the soldier. The youngsters grew up betimes; like wheaten doughmixed with yeast they shot up broad and high. When they reached their tenth year their mother gave them instruction, and they quickly learned their letters, and the children of the boyars and the children of the merchants could not hold a candle to them; no one could read aloud, or write, or answer questions so well as they. The two sons of Ivan the soldier thus grew up, and they asked their mother, “Mother, dear! did not our father leave us some money? If there be any, let us have it, and we’ll take it to the fair and buy us a good horse apiece.” Their mother gave them the fifty rubles, twenty-five to each brother, and said to them, “Hearken, children, as ye go to the town, give a bow to every one you come across.”—“Good, dear mother.”So the brothers hied them off to the town, and went to the horse-market. There were many horses there, but they chose none of them, for they were not good enough mounts for the good brothers. So one of the brothers said to the other: “Let us go to the other end of the square; look how the people are all running together there. There is something strange going on.” Thither they went and joined the crowd; and there stood two mares tied to stout oaken posts with iron clamps; one with six clamps, and the other with twelve clamps. The horses were tugging at their chains, gnawing their bits, anddigging up the ground with their hoofs. No one was able to go near them. “What is the price of thy mares?” asked Ivan, the soldier’s son, of the owner. “Don’t thrust thy nose in here, friend!—such mares are not for the like of thee. Ask no more about them!”—“How dost thou know what I am? Maybe I’ll buy them, but I must first look at their teeth.” The horse-dealer smiled: “Look out for your heads, that’s all!” One of the brothers then drew near to the mare that was fastened by six clamps, and the other brother to the mare that was fastened by twelve. They tried to look at the horses’ teeth, but how was it to be done? The mares rose on their hind legs and pawed the air. Then the brothers struck them in the breast with their knees; the chains which held the horses burst, and the mares flew up into the air five fathoms high, and fell down with their legs uppermost. “Well!” cried the brothers, “that’s not much to boast of. We would not take such horses at a gift.” The crowd cried “Oh!” and was amazed. “What strong and stalwart heroes are these?” The horse-dealer was almost in tears. The mares galloped all over the town, and made off over the wide steppe; nobody dared approach them, and nobody knew how to catch them. The sons of Ivan the soldier were sorry for the horse-dealer. They went out into the open steppe, cried with a piercingvoice and whistled lustily, and the mares came running back and stood in their proper place as if they had been nailed there. Then the good youths put the iron chains upon them again, and tied them to the oaken posts, and bound them tightly. This they did, and then they went homewards. As they were going along there met them an old graybeard. They forgot what their mother had told them, and passed him by without greeting him. Suddenly one of them recollected himself and cried: “Oh, brother! what have we done? We never gave that old man a bow; let us run after him and bow to him!” They ran after the old man, took off their little caps, bowed to the very girdle, and said, “Forgive us, dear little father, for passing thee by without a greeting. Our motherstraightlycharged us to pay honour to every one we met in the way.”—“Thanks, good youths! whither is God leading you?”—“We have been to the town fair; we wanted to buy us a good horse apiece, but there are none there which please us.”—“Why, how’s that? Suppose now that I were to give you a little nag apiece?”—“Ah! little father, we would then always pray to God for thee!”—“Well, come with me.”—The old man led them to a huge mountain, opened two cast-iron doors, and brought out two horses of heroic breed. “Here, take your horses and depart in God’s name, goodyouths, and may ye prosper with them!” They thanked him, mounted and galloped home; reached the courtyard, bound their horses to a post, and entered the hut. Their mother then began, and asked them: “Well, my dear children, have you bought yourselves a little nag apiece?”—“We have not bought them with money, but got them as a gift.”—“Where have you left them?”—“We put them beside the hut.”—“Alas! my children, look if any one has taken them away.”—“Nay, dear mother, such horses are not taken away. No one could lead them, and there’s no getting near them!” The mother went out, looked at the horses, and burst into tears. “Well, my dear sons, ye are surely never those whom I have nourished.”The next day the sons begged their mother to let them go into the town to buy them a sword apiece. “Go, my children!” Then they got them ready, went to the smith’s, entered the master’s house, and said: “Make us a couple of swords!”—“Why should I make them when they are ready made? Take whichever you like best.”—“No, friend, we want swords which weigh ten puds1each.”—“What are you thinking of? Who would be able to wield a machine like that? You’ll find such swords nowhere.” So there was nothing for the good youths to do butreturn homewards with hanging heads. As they were on their way the same old man met them again. “Hail, young men!”—“Hail, dear little father!”—“Whence do you come?”—“From town, from the smith’s. We wanted to buy two Damascus blades, and there were none that suited our hands.”—“How stupid! Suppose now I were to give you a sword apiece?”—“Ah, dear little father, in that case we would pray to God for thee for evermore.” The old man led them to the huge mountain, opened the cast-iron door, and drew out two heroic swords. The brothers took them, thanked the old man, and their hearts were merry and joyful. They came home, and their mother asked them: “Well, my children, have you bought yourselves a sword apiece?”—“We have not bought them for money, but got them as a gift.”—“And what have you done with them?”—“We have placed them beside the hut.”—“Take care lest some one take them away.”—“Nay, dear mother, nobody will take them away, for it is impossible to even carry them.” The mother went out into the courtyard and looked; the two heavy, heroic swords were leaning against the wall, the hut was scarce able to bear the weight of them. The old woman burst into tears and said: “Well, my dear sons, ye are surely never those whom I have nourished.”The next morning the sons of Ivan the soldier saddled their good horses, took their heroic blades, went into the hut, prayed to God, and took leave of the mother who bore them. “Bless us, dear little mother, for a long journey is before us.”—“My irremovable, motherly blessing be upon you. Go, in God’s name. Show yourselves, and see the world. Offend none without cause, and follow not evil ways.”—“Be not afraid, dear mother; our motto is, ‘When I eat I don’t whistle, and when I bite I don’t let go.’” Then the good youths mounted their horses and rode off. Whither they went, near or far, long or short, the tale is soon told, but the deed is not soon done; anyhow, they came to a cross-way where stood two pillars. On one pillar was written, “Who goes to the right will become a Tsar,” and on the other pillar was written, “Who goes to the left will become a corpse.” The brothers stood still, read the inscriptions, and fell a-thinking: “Whichever way shall we go? If we both go to the right, there will not be honour and glory enough for the heroic strength and youthful prowess of us both; but nobody wants to go to the left and die.” And one brother said to the other: “Look now, dear brother, I am stronger than thou; let me go a little on the left to see how death can get hold of me. But thou go to the right, and perchance God willmake thee a Tsar.” Then they took leave of each other, and each gave to the other a little piece of cloth, and they made this compact—each was to go his own way and place posts along the road, and write on these posts everything concerning himself as a mark and guide; every morning each of them was to wipe his face with his brother’s cloth, and if blood appeared on the cloth it would mean that death had befallen his brother, and in such a calamity he was to hasten back to seek his dead. So the good youths parted in different directions. He who turned his horse to the right came to a splendid kingdom. In this kingdom dwelt a Tsar and his Tsaritsa, and they had a daughter called the thrice-beautiful Tsarevna Nastasia. The Tsar beheld the son of the soldier Ivan, loved him for his knightly valour, and without beating about the bush, gave him his daughter as a consort, called him the Tsarevich Ivan, and bade him rule over the whole kingdom. The Tsarevich Ivan lived right merrily, loved his wife dearly, gave good laws to his kingdom, and diverted himself with the pleasures of the chase.But his brother, Ivan the soldier’s son, who had taken the road to the left, went on day and night without rest. A month, and a second month, and a third passed by, and he found himself in an unknown empire, in the midst of the capital. In thisempire there was great mourning, the houses were covered with black cloth, and the people crept about as if they were dreaming. He hired him a lodging at a poor old woman’s, and began to ask her, “Tell me, old mother, why are all the people in this empire of thine so full of woe, and all the houses covered with black cloth?”—“Alas, good youth! a great grief weighs upon us; every day there comes out of the blue sea, from beyond the gray rock, a twelve-headed serpent and eats up a man every time, and now it has come to the turn of the Tsar’s own house. He has three most lovely Tsarevnas; at this very time they are escorting the youngest of them to the sea-shore to be devoured by the monster.” Ivan the soldier’s son mounted his horse and rode off to the blue sea, to the gray rock; on the shore stood the thrice-lovely Tsarevna, tied to an iron chain. She saw the hero and said to him, “Depart hence, good youth. The twelve-headed serpent will soon be here; I shall perish, nor wilt thou escape death; the cruel serpent will devour thee also.” “Fear not, lovely maiden. Perhaps it may be overcome.” And Ivan the soldier’s son went up to her, burst the chain with his heroic hand, and broke it into little bits as if it were rotten rope; then he lit a large fire all round the rock and nourished it with the trunks of uprooted oaks and pines, piled them up into a huge pyre, andthen went back to the lovely maiden, laid his head on her knee, and said to her, “I must rest, but thou look seawards, and as soon as a cloud arises, and the wind begins to blow, and the sea to leap and roar, awaken me, young maiden.” So he spake, and fell into a deep sleep, and the lovely maiden watched over him, and sat and looked out upon the sea. Suddenly a cloud rose above the horizon, and the wind began to blow, and the sea to leap and roar; the serpent was coming forth from the blue sea, and raised itself mountains high. The Tsarevna tried to awake Ivan the soldier’s son; she shook him and shook him; it was of no use, he heard her not; then she burst into tears, and her burning tear-drops fell upon his cheeks. At this the hero awoke, ran to his horse, and the good horse had already ploughed up half a fathom of earth with his hoofs. The twelve-headed serpent rushed straight at him, belching forth fire; it looked upon the hero and cried, “Goodly art thou and comely, fair youth, but thy last hour has come. Say farewell to the wide world, and gallop down my throat as quickly as thou canst.”—“Thou liest, cursed serpent; surrender!” Then they fell to mortal combat. Ivan the soldier’s son struck so deftly and sturdily with his sword that it grew red-hot, there was no holding it in his hand. Then he cried to the Tsarevna: “Save me, lovelymaiden! Take out thy fair kerchief, dip it in the blue sea, and wrap it round my sword.” The Tsarevna immediately moistened her kerchief in the sea, and gave it to the good youth. He wrapped it round his sword and again fell fiercely on the serpent, but he found that he could not despatch the serpent with his sword. Then he snatched a burning pine-brand from the pyre and burnt out the serpent’s eye, and then he hewed off all its twelve heads, placed them beneath the rock, cast the body into the sea, and then trotted home, ate and drank, and laid him down to sleep for thrice four-and-twenty hours.And in the meantime the Tsar called his water-carrier and said to him: “Go to the sea-shore and collect the bones of the Tsarevna, if haply ye find them.” The water-carrier went down to the sea-shore, and lo! the Tsarevna was in no way hurt. He placed her on the cart and drove her into the drear forest—far into the forest he drove her—drew his knife from his girdle, and began to sharpen it. “What art thou doing?” asked the Tsarevna. “I am sharpening my knife. I mean to slay thee. Tell thy father that I slew the serpent, and I’ll have mercy on thee.” He terrified the lovely maiden, and she took an oath to speak according to his words. Now this daughter was the Tsar’s favourite, and when the Tsar saw thatshe was alive, and in no way hurt, he wished to reward the water-carrier, and gave him his youngest daughter to wife; and the rumour of it went through the whole realm. Ivan the soldier’s son heard also that a marriage was being celebrated at the Tsar’s, and straight to court he went. There a great banquet was proceeding; the guests were eating and drinking, and diverting themselves with divers pastimes. The youngest Tsarevna looked at Ivan the soldier’s son, and saw his sword wrapped round with her costly kerchief, whereupon she leaped from her chair, seized his hand, and cried: “My dear father and sovereign lord, lo! here is he who saved us from the cruel serpent and from violent death. The water-carrier can only sharpen his knife and say—’I am sharpening my knife. I mean to kill thee.’” The Tsar was wroth, and he bade them hang the water-carrier, and gave the Tsarevna to Ivan the soldier’s son as his consort, and there was great rejoicing. And the young couple lived together, and their life was happy and prosperous.Not a very long time passed away, and then this thing befell the Tsarevich Ivan, the other son of Ivan the soldier.One day he was going a-hunting, and he started a swift-footed stag. The Tsarevich Ivan put spurs to his horse and pursued the stag. On and on he sped,and he came to a vast meadow. Here the stag vanished from before his eyes. Ivan looked about him and considered—“Whither does my way lie now?” And, lo, in that meadow a little stream was flowing, and on the water two gray ducks were swimming. He took aim at them, fired, and slew the ducks, dragged them out of the water, put them into his knapsack, and went on further. He went on and on till he saw a palace of white stone, dismounted from his horse, fastened it to a post, and went into the rooms. They were all empty, not a living soul was to be seen, only in one room was there a lighted stove, a pan for a meal of six stood there, and the table was already laid; there were plates and glasses and knives. The Tsarevich Ivan pulled the ducks from his pocket and drew them, put them in the pan, cooked them, placed them on the table, and began carving and eating them. Suddenly, whence I know not, a lovely damsel appeared to him, so lovely that the like of her cannot be told of in tales or written with pens, and she said to him: “Bread and salt, Ivan the Tsarevich.”—“I cry thy pardon, lovely damsel, sit down and eat with me.”—“I would sit down with thee, but I am afraid. Thou hast an enchanted horse.”—“Nay, lovely damsel, thou art ill-informed. I have left my magic horse at home, and am riding on a common one.” No sooner did thelovely damsel hear this than she began to swell out and swell out till she became a frightful lioness, opened wide her jaws, and swallowed up the Tsarevich Ivan whole. She was not an ordinary damsel, but the very sister of the serpent who had been slain by Ivan the soldier’s son.And it fell about this time that the other Tsarevich Ivan bethought him of his brother, drew his kerchief out of his pocket, dried his face with it, and saw that the whole kerchief was covered with blood. Sorely grieved was he. “What’s the matter?” he cried. He took leave of his wife and father-in-law, and went forth on his heroic horse to seek his brother. He went near and far, and long and short, and at last he came to the same realm where his brother had lived. He asked about everything, and learnt that the Tsarevich had indeed gone hunting and disappeared—not a trace of him could be found. Ivan went a-hunting the selfsame way, and there met him a swift-footed stag. The hero pursued after it; he came out into the vast meadow, and the stag vanished from before his eyes. In the meadow he saw a little stream flowing, and two gray ducks were swimming on the water. Ivan the soldier’s son shot the ducks, came to the white stone palace, and went into the rooms. They were all empty, only in one room was a stove lighted and a pan for a meal for six was upon it. He roastedthe ducks, went out into the courtyard, sat on the steps, and began carving them up and eating. Suddenly a lovely damsel appeared before him. “Bread and salt, good youth, why dost thou eat in the courtyard?” Ivan the soldier’s son answered: “In the rooms it is not to my mind; in the courtyard ’twill be more pleasant. Sit down with me, fair damsel!”—“I would sit down gladly, but I fear thy enchanted horse.”—“No need, damsel. I am riding on an ordinary nag.” Like a fool she believed him, and began to swell out, and swelled into a frightful lioness, and would have swallowed up the good youth, when his magic horse ran up and seized her round the body with its heroic feet. Ivan the soldier’s son drew his sharp sword and cried with a piercing voice: “Stand, accursed one. Hast thou not swallowed my brother, the Tsarevich Ivan? Give him back to me, or I’ll cut thee into little bits.” The red lioness turned back again into a most lovely damsel, and began to beg and pray: “Spare me, good youth. Take the two phials from that bench full of healing and living water, follow me into the underground chamber, and revive thy brother.”The Tsarevich Ivan followed the lovely damsel into the underground chamber, and saw his brother lying there torn to bits. He sprinkled his brother with the healing water; the flesh and fat grew together again.He sprinkled him with the living water, and his brother stood up and spoke: “Ah! how long have I slept?” Ivan the Tsarevich said, “Thou wouldst have slept for ever but for me.” And the brothers returned to court, made a three days’ feast, and then took leave of each other. Ivan the soldier’s son remained with his wife, and lived with her in love and harmony and enduring bliss. But the Tsarevich returned to his realm, and I met him on his way; three days he drank and diverted himself with me, and ’twas he who told me all this tale.1Four hundred pounds.

There once dwelt in a certain kingdom a peasant. The time came when they enlisted him as a soldier; he had to quit his wife, and as he bade her good-bye, he said to her, “Hearken, wife! live honestly; flout not good people; do not let our little hut fall to pieces, but keep house wisely, and await my return. If God permit it, I will come back and leave the service. Here are fifty rubles!—whether a little son or a little daughter be born to thee matters not; keep the money till the child grows up. If it be a daughter, wed her to the bridegroom whom God may provide; but if God give thee a son, and he arrive at years of discretion, this money will be of no little help to him.” Then he took leave of his wife, and went to the wars whither he was bidden. Three months passed, and the wife gave birth to twin sons, and she called them the sons of Ivan the soldier. The youngsters grew up betimes; like wheaten doughmixed with yeast they shot up broad and high. When they reached their tenth year their mother gave them instruction, and they quickly learned their letters, and the children of the boyars and the children of the merchants could not hold a candle to them; no one could read aloud, or write, or answer questions so well as they. The two sons of Ivan the soldier thus grew up, and they asked their mother, “Mother, dear! did not our father leave us some money? If there be any, let us have it, and we’ll take it to the fair and buy us a good horse apiece.” Their mother gave them the fifty rubles, twenty-five to each brother, and said to them, “Hearken, children, as ye go to the town, give a bow to every one you come across.”—“Good, dear mother.”

So the brothers hied them off to the town, and went to the horse-market. There were many horses there, but they chose none of them, for they were not good enough mounts for the good brothers. So one of the brothers said to the other: “Let us go to the other end of the square; look how the people are all running together there. There is something strange going on.” Thither they went and joined the crowd; and there stood two mares tied to stout oaken posts with iron clamps; one with six clamps, and the other with twelve clamps. The horses were tugging at their chains, gnawing their bits, anddigging up the ground with their hoofs. No one was able to go near them. “What is the price of thy mares?” asked Ivan, the soldier’s son, of the owner. “Don’t thrust thy nose in here, friend!—such mares are not for the like of thee. Ask no more about them!”—“How dost thou know what I am? Maybe I’ll buy them, but I must first look at their teeth.” The horse-dealer smiled: “Look out for your heads, that’s all!” One of the brothers then drew near to the mare that was fastened by six clamps, and the other brother to the mare that was fastened by twelve. They tried to look at the horses’ teeth, but how was it to be done? The mares rose on their hind legs and pawed the air. Then the brothers struck them in the breast with their knees; the chains which held the horses burst, and the mares flew up into the air five fathoms high, and fell down with their legs uppermost. “Well!” cried the brothers, “that’s not much to boast of. We would not take such horses at a gift.” The crowd cried “Oh!” and was amazed. “What strong and stalwart heroes are these?” The horse-dealer was almost in tears. The mares galloped all over the town, and made off over the wide steppe; nobody dared approach them, and nobody knew how to catch them. The sons of Ivan the soldier were sorry for the horse-dealer. They went out into the open steppe, cried with a piercingvoice and whistled lustily, and the mares came running back and stood in their proper place as if they had been nailed there. Then the good youths put the iron chains upon them again, and tied them to the oaken posts, and bound them tightly. This they did, and then they went homewards. As they were going along there met them an old graybeard. They forgot what their mother had told them, and passed him by without greeting him. Suddenly one of them recollected himself and cried: “Oh, brother! what have we done? We never gave that old man a bow; let us run after him and bow to him!” They ran after the old man, took off their little caps, bowed to the very girdle, and said, “Forgive us, dear little father, for passing thee by without a greeting. Our motherstraightlycharged us to pay honour to every one we met in the way.”—“Thanks, good youths! whither is God leading you?”—“We have been to the town fair; we wanted to buy us a good horse apiece, but there are none there which please us.”—“Why, how’s that? Suppose now that I were to give you a little nag apiece?”—“Ah! little father, we would then always pray to God for thee!”—“Well, come with me.”—The old man led them to a huge mountain, opened two cast-iron doors, and brought out two horses of heroic breed. “Here, take your horses and depart in God’s name, goodyouths, and may ye prosper with them!” They thanked him, mounted and galloped home; reached the courtyard, bound their horses to a post, and entered the hut. Their mother then began, and asked them: “Well, my dear children, have you bought yourselves a little nag apiece?”—“We have not bought them with money, but got them as a gift.”—“Where have you left them?”—“We put them beside the hut.”—“Alas! my children, look if any one has taken them away.”—“Nay, dear mother, such horses are not taken away. No one could lead them, and there’s no getting near them!” The mother went out, looked at the horses, and burst into tears. “Well, my dear sons, ye are surely never those whom I have nourished.”

The next day the sons begged their mother to let them go into the town to buy them a sword apiece. “Go, my children!” Then they got them ready, went to the smith’s, entered the master’s house, and said: “Make us a couple of swords!”—“Why should I make them when they are ready made? Take whichever you like best.”—“No, friend, we want swords which weigh ten puds1each.”—“What are you thinking of? Who would be able to wield a machine like that? You’ll find such swords nowhere.” So there was nothing for the good youths to do butreturn homewards with hanging heads. As they were on their way the same old man met them again. “Hail, young men!”—“Hail, dear little father!”—“Whence do you come?”—“From town, from the smith’s. We wanted to buy two Damascus blades, and there were none that suited our hands.”—“How stupid! Suppose now I were to give you a sword apiece?”—“Ah, dear little father, in that case we would pray to God for thee for evermore.” The old man led them to the huge mountain, opened the cast-iron door, and drew out two heroic swords. The brothers took them, thanked the old man, and their hearts were merry and joyful. They came home, and their mother asked them: “Well, my children, have you bought yourselves a sword apiece?”—“We have not bought them for money, but got them as a gift.”—“And what have you done with them?”—“We have placed them beside the hut.”—“Take care lest some one take them away.”—“Nay, dear mother, nobody will take them away, for it is impossible to even carry them.” The mother went out into the courtyard and looked; the two heavy, heroic swords were leaning against the wall, the hut was scarce able to bear the weight of them. The old woman burst into tears and said: “Well, my dear sons, ye are surely never those whom I have nourished.”

The next morning the sons of Ivan the soldier saddled their good horses, took their heroic blades, went into the hut, prayed to God, and took leave of the mother who bore them. “Bless us, dear little mother, for a long journey is before us.”—“My irremovable, motherly blessing be upon you. Go, in God’s name. Show yourselves, and see the world. Offend none without cause, and follow not evil ways.”—“Be not afraid, dear mother; our motto is, ‘When I eat I don’t whistle, and when I bite I don’t let go.’” Then the good youths mounted their horses and rode off. Whither they went, near or far, long or short, the tale is soon told, but the deed is not soon done; anyhow, they came to a cross-way where stood two pillars. On one pillar was written, “Who goes to the right will become a Tsar,” and on the other pillar was written, “Who goes to the left will become a corpse.” The brothers stood still, read the inscriptions, and fell a-thinking: “Whichever way shall we go? If we both go to the right, there will not be honour and glory enough for the heroic strength and youthful prowess of us both; but nobody wants to go to the left and die.” And one brother said to the other: “Look now, dear brother, I am stronger than thou; let me go a little on the left to see how death can get hold of me. But thou go to the right, and perchance God willmake thee a Tsar.” Then they took leave of each other, and each gave to the other a little piece of cloth, and they made this compact—each was to go his own way and place posts along the road, and write on these posts everything concerning himself as a mark and guide; every morning each of them was to wipe his face with his brother’s cloth, and if blood appeared on the cloth it would mean that death had befallen his brother, and in such a calamity he was to hasten back to seek his dead. So the good youths parted in different directions. He who turned his horse to the right came to a splendid kingdom. In this kingdom dwelt a Tsar and his Tsaritsa, and they had a daughter called the thrice-beautiful Tsarevna Nastasia. The Tsar beheld the son of the soldier Ivan, loved him for his knightly valour, and without beating about the bush, gave him his daughter as a consort, called him the Tsarevich Ivan, and bade him rule over the whole kingdom. The Tsarevich Ivan lived right merrily, loved his wife dearly, gave good laws to his kingdom, and diverted himself with the pleasures of the chase.

But his brother, Ivan the soldier’s son, who had taken the road to the left, went on day and night without rest. A month, and a second month, and a third passed by, and he found himself in an unknown empire, in the midst of the capital. In thisempire there was great mourning, the houses were covered with black cloth, and the people crept about as if they were dreaming. He hired him a lodging at a poor old woman’s, and began to ask her, “Tell me, old mother, why are all the people in this empire of thine so full of woe, and all the houses covered with black cloth?”—“Alas, good youth! a great grief weighs upon us; every day there comes out of the blue sea, from beyond the gray rock, a twelve-headed serpent and eats up a man every time, and now it has come to the turn of the Tsar’s own house. He has three most lovely Tsarevnas; at this very time they are escorting the youngest of them to the sea-shore to be devoured by the monster.” Ivan the soldier’s son mounted his horse and rode off to the blue sea, to the gray rock; on the shore stood the thrice-lovely Tsarevna, tied to an iron chain. She saw the hero and said to him, “Depart hence, good youth. The twelve-headed serpent will soon be here; I shall perish, nor wilt thou escape death; the cruel serpent will devour thee also.” “Fear not, lovely maiden. Perhaps it may be overcome.” And Ivan the soldier’s son went up to her, burst the chain with his heroic hand, and broke it into little bits as if it were rotten rope; then he lit a large fire all round the rock and nourished it with the trunks of uprooted oaks and pines, piled them up into a huge pyre, andthen went back to the lovely maiden, laid his head on her knee, and said to her, “I must rest, but thou look seawards, and as soon as a cloud arises, and the wind begins to blow, and the sea to leap and roar, awaken me, young maiden.” So he spake, and fell into a deep sleep, and the lovely maiden watched over him, and sat and looked out upon the sea. Suddenly a cloud rose above the horizon, and the wind began to blow, and the sea to leap and roar; the serpent was coming forth from the blue sea, and raised itself mountains high. The Tsarevna tried to awake Ivan the soldier’s son; she shook him and shook him; it was of no use, he heard her not; then she burst into tears, and her burning tear-drops fell upon his cheeks. At this the hero awoke, ran to his horse, and the good horse had already ploughed up half a fathom of earth with his hoofs. The twelve-headed serpent rushed straight at him, belching forth fire; it looked upon the hero and cried, “Goodly art thou and comely, fair youth, but thy last hour has come. Say farewell to the wide world, and gallop down my throat as quickly as thou canst.”—“Thou liest, cursed serpent; surrender!” Then they fell to mortal combat. Ivan the soldier’s son struck so deftly and sturdily with his sword that it grew red-hot, there was no holding it in his hand. Then he cried to the Tsarevna: “Save me, lovelymaiden! Take out thy fair kerchief, dip it in the blue sea, and wrap it round my sword.” The Tsarevna immediately moistened her kerchief in the sea, and gave it to the good youth. He wrapped it round his sword and again fell fiercely on the serpent, but he found that he could not despatch the serpent with his sword. Then he snatched a burning pine-brand from the pyre and burnt out the serpent’s eye, and then he hewed off all its twelve heads, placed them beneath the rock, cast the body into the sea, and then trotted home, ate and drank, and laid him down to sleep for thrice four-and-twenty hours.

And in the meantime the Tsar called his water-carrier and said to him: “Go to the sea-shore and collect the bones of the Tsarevna, if haply ye find them.” The water-carrier went down to the sea-shore, and lo! the Tsarevna was in no way hurt. He placed her on the cart and drove her into the drear forest—far into the forest he drove her—drew his knife from his girdle, and began to sharpen it. “What art thou doing?” asked the Tsarevna. “I am sharpening my knife. I mean to slay thee. Tell thy father that I slew the serpent, and I’ll have mercy on thee.” He terrified the lovely maiden, and she took an oath to speak according to his words. Now this daughter was the Tsar’s favourite, and when the Tsar saw thatshe was alive, and in no way hurt, he wished to reward the water-carrier, and gave him his youngest daughter to wife; and the rumour of it went through the whole realm. Ivan the soldier’s son heard also that a marriage was being celebrated at the Tsar’s, and straight to court he went. There a great banquet was proceeding; the guests were eating and drinking, and diverting themselves with divers pastimes. The youngest Tsarevna looked at Ivan the soldier’s son, and saw his sword wrapped round with her costly kerchief, whereupon she leaped from her chair, seized his hand, and cried: “My dear father and sovereign lord, lo! here is he who saved us from the cruel serpent and from violent death. The water-carrier can only sharpen his knife and say—’I am sharpening my knife. I mean to kill thee.’” The Tsar was wroth, and he bade them hang the water-carrier, and gave the Tsarevna to Ivan the soldier’s son as his consort, and there was great rejoicing. And the young couple lived together, and their life was happy and prosperous.

Not a very long time passed away, and then this thing befell the Tsarevich Ivan, the other son of Ivan the soldier.

One day he was going a-hunting, and he started a swift-footed stag. The Tsarevich Ivan put spurs to his horse and pursued the stag. On and on he sped,and he came to a vast meadow. Here the stag vanished from before his eyes. Ivan looked about him and considered—“Whither does my way lie now?” And, lo, in that meadow a little stream was flowing, and on the water two gray ducks were swimming. He took aim at them, fired, and slew the ducks, dragged them out of the water, put them into his knapsack, and went on further. He went on and on till he saw a palace of white stone, dismounted from his horse, fastened it to a post, and went into the rooms. They were all empty, not a living soul was to be seen, only in one room was there a lighted stove, a pan for a meal of six stood there, and the table was already laid; there were plates and glasses and knives. The Tsarevich Ivan pulled the ducks from his pocket and drew them, put them in the pan, cooked them, placed them on the table, and began carving and eating them. Suddenly, whence I know not, a lovely damsel appeared to him, so lovely that the like of her cannot be told of in tales or written with pens, and she said to him: “Bread and salt, Ivan the Tsarevich.”—“I cry thy pardon, lovely damsel, sit down and eat with me.”—“I would sit down with thee, but I am afraid. Thou hast an enchanted horse.”—“Nay, lovely damsel, thou art ill-informed. I have left my magic horse at home, and am riding on a common one.” No sooner did thelovely damsel hear this than she began to swell out and swell out till she became a frightful lioness, opened wide her jaws, and swallowed up the Tsarevich Ivan whole. She was not an ordinary damsel, but the very sister of the serpent who had been slain by Ivan the soldier’s son.

And it fell about this time that the other Tsarevich Ivan bethought him of his brother, drew his kerchief out of his pocket, dried his face with it, and saw that the whole kerchief was covered with blood. Sorely grieved was he. “What’s the matter?” he cried. He took leave of his wife and father-in-law, and went forth on his heroic horse to seek his brother. He went near and far, and long and short, and at last he came to the same realm where his brother had lived. He asked about everything, and learnt that the Tsarevich had indeed gone hunting and disappeared—not a trace of him could be found. Ivan went a-hunting the selfsame way, and there met him a swift-footed stag. The hero pursued after it; he came out into the vast meadow, and the stag vanished from before his eyes. In the meadow he saw a little stream flowing, and two gray ducks were swimming on the water. Ivan the soldier’s son shot the ducks, came to the white stone palace, and went into the rooms. They were all empty, only in one room was a stove lighted and a pan for a meal for six was upon it. He roastedthe ducks, went out into the courtyard, sat on the steps, and began carving them up and eating. Suddenly a lovely damsel appeared before him. “Bread and salt, good youth, why dost thou eat in the courtyard?” Ivan the soldier’s son answered: “In the rooms it is not to my mind; in the courtyard ’twill be more pleasant. Sit down with me, fair damsel!”—“I would sit down gladly, but I fear thy enchanted horse.”—“No need, damsel. I am riding on an ordinary nag.” Like a fool she believed him, and began to swell out, and swelled into a frightful lioness, and would have swallowed up the good youth, when his magic horse ran up and seized her round the body with its heroic feet. Ivan the soldier’s son drew his sharp sword and cried with a piercing voice: “Stand, accursed one. Hast thou not swallowed my brother, the Tsarevich Ivan? Give him back to me, or I’ll cut thee into little bits.” The red lioness turned back again into a most lovely damsel, and began to beg and pray: “Spare me, good youth. Take the two phials from that bench full of healing and living water, follow me into the underground chamber, and revive thy brother.”

The Tsarevich Ivan followed the lovely damsel into the underground chamber, and saw his brother lying there torn to bits. He sprinkled his brother with the healing water; the flesh and fat grew together again.He sprinkled him with the living water, and his brother stood up and spoke: “Ah! how long have I slept?” Ivan the Tsarevich said, “Thou wouldst have slept for ever but for me.” And the brothers returned to court, made a three days’ feast, and then took leave of each other. Ivan the soldier’s son remained with his wife, and lived with her in love and harmony and enduring bliss. But the Tsarevich returned to his realm, and I met him on his way; three days he drank and diverted himself with me, and ’twas he who told me all this tale.

1Four hundred pounds.

1Four hundred pounds.

The Woman-Accuser.There was once upon a time an old man and an old woman. The old woman was not a bad old woman, but there was this one bad thing about her—she did not know how to hold her tongue. Whatever she might hear from her husband, or whatever might happen at home, she was sure to spread it over the whole village; she even doubled everything in the telling, and so things were told which never happened at all. Not unfrequently the old man had to chastise the old woman, and her back paid for the faults of her tongue.One day the old man went into the forest for wood. He had just got to the border of the forest, when his foot, in treading on a certain place, sank right into the ground. “Why, what’s this?” thought the old man. “Come, now, I’ll dig a bit here; maybe I shall be lucky enough to dig out something.” He dug several times, and saw, buried in the ground, alittle cauldron quite full of silver and gold. “Look, now, what good luck has befallen me! But what am I to do with it? I cannot hide it from that good wife of mine at home, and she will be sure to blab to all the world about my lucky find, and thou wilt repent the day thou didst ever see it.”For a long time the old man sat brooding over his treasure, and at last he made up his mind what to do. He buried the treasure, threw a lot of wood over it, and went to town. There he bought at the bazaar a live pike and a live hare, returned to the wood, and hung the pike upon a tree, at the very top of it, and carried the hare to the stream, where he had a fish-basket, and he put the hare into it in a shallow place.Then he went off home, whipped up his little nag for pure lightness of heart, and so entered his hut. “Wife, wife,” he cried, “such a piece of luck has befallen me that I cannot describe it!”—“What is it, what is it, hubby darling? Why dost thou not tell me?”—“What’s the good, when thou wilt only blab it all about?”—“On my word, I’ll say nothing to anybody. I swear it. I’ll take the holy image from the wall and kiss it if thou dost not believe me.”—“Well, well, all right. Listen, old woman!” and he bent down towards her ear and whispered, “I have found in the wood a cauldron full of silverand gold.”—“Then why didst thou not bring it hither?”—“Because we had both better go together, and so bring it home.” And the old man went with his old woman to the forest.They went along the road, and the peasant said to his wife, “From what I hear, old woman, and from what people told me the other day, it would seem that fish are now to be found growing on trees, while the beasts of the forest live in the water.”—“Why, what art thou thinking about, little hubby? People nowadays are much given to lying.”—“Lying, dost thou call it? Then come and see for thyself.” And he pointed to the tree where the pike was hanging. “Why, what marvel is this?” screamed the old woman. “However did that pike get there? Or have the people been speaking the truth to thee after all?” But the peasant stood there, and moved his arms about, and shrugged his shoulders, and shook his head, as if he could not believe his own eyes. “Why dost thou keep standing there?” said the old woman. “Go up the tree, rather, and take the pike; ’twill do for supper.” So the peasant took the pike, and then they went on further. They passed by the stream, and the peasant stopped his horse. But his wife began screeching at him, and said, “What art gaping at now? let us make haste and go on.”—“Nay, but look! I see something struggling about allround my fish-basket. I’ll go and see what it is.” So he ran, looked into the fish-basket, and called to his wife. “Just come and look here, old woman! Why, a hare has got into our fishing-basket!”—“Then people must have told thee the truth after all. Fetch it out quickly; it will do for dinner on the feast-day.” The old man took up the hare, and then went straight towards the treasure. He pitched away the wood, digged wide and deep, dragged the cauldron out of the earth, and they took it home.The old man and the old woman grew rich, they lived right merrily, and the old woman did not improve; she went to invite guests every day, and gave such banquets that she nearly drove her husband out of the house. The old man tried to correct her. “What’s come to thee?” he cried. “Canst thou not listen to me?”—“Don’t order me about,” said she. “I found the treasure as well as thou, and have as much right to make merry with it.” The old man put up with it for a very long time, but at last he said to the old woman straight out, “Do as best thou canst, but I’m not going to give thee any more money to cast to the winds.” But the old woman immediately fell foul of him. “I see what thou art up to,” screeched she; “thou wouldst keep all the money for thyself. No, thou rogue, I’ll drive thee whither the crows will pick thy bones. Thou wilt have nogood from thy money.” The old man would have chastised her, but the old woman thrust him aside, and went straight to the magistrate to lay a complaint against her husband. “I have come to throw myself on thy honour’s compassion, and to present my petition against my good-for-nothing husband. Ever since he found that treasure there is no living with him. Work he won’t, and he spends all his time in drinking and gadding about. Take away all his gold from him, father. What a vile thing is gold when it ruins a man so!” The magistrate was sorry for the old woman, and he sent his eldest clerk to him, and bade him judge between the husband and wife. The clerk assembled all the village elders, and went to the peasant and said to him, “The magistrate has sent me to thee, and bids thee deliver up all thy treasure into my hands.” The peasant only shrugged his shoulders. “What treasure?” said he. “I know nothing whatever about any treasure.”—“Not know? Why, thy old woman has just been to complain to the magistrate, and I tell thee what, friend, if thou deniest it, ’twill be worse for thee. If thou dost not give up the whole treasure to the magistrate, thou must give an account of thyself for daring to search for treasures, and not revealing them to the authorities.”—“But I cry your pardon, honoured sirs! what is this treasure you are talking of? My wife musthave seen this treasure in her sleep; she has told you a pack of nonsense, and you listen to her.”—“Nonsense!” burst forth the old woman; “it is not nonsense, but a whole cauldron full of gold and silver!”—“Thou art out of thy senses, dear wife. Honoured sirs, I cry your pardon. Cross-examine her thoroughly about the affair, and if she proves this thing against me, I will answer for it with all my goods.”—“And dost thou think that I cannot prove it against thee? Thou rascal, I will prove it. This is how the matter went, Mr. Clerk,” began the old woman; “I remember it, every bit. We went to the forest, and we saw a pike on a tree.”—“A pike?” roared the clerk at the old woman; “or dost thou want to make a fool of me?”—“Nay, I am not making a fool of thee, Mr. Clerk; I am speaking the simple truth.”—“There, honoured sirs,” said the old man, “how can you believe her if she goes on talking such rubbish?”—“I am not talking rubbish, yokel! I am speaking the truth—or hast thou forgotten how we found a hare in thy fishing-basket in the stream?”—All the elders rolled about for laughter; even the clerk smiled, and began to stroke down his long beard. The peasant again said to his wife, “Recollect thyself, old woman; dost thou not see that every one is laughing at thee? But ye, honoured gentlemen, can now see for yourselves how far you can believemy wife.”—“Yes,” cried all the elders, with one voice, “long as we have lived in the world, we have never heard of hares living in rivers, and fish hanging on the trees of the forest.” The clerk himself saw that this was a matter he could not get to the bottom of, so he dismissed the assembly with a wave of his hand, and went off to town to the magistrate.And everybody laughed so much at the old woman that she was forced to bite her own tongue and listen to her husband; and the husband bought wares with his treasure, went to live in the town, and began to trade there, exchanged his wares for money, grew rich and prosperous, and was as happy as the day was long.

There was once upon a time an old man and an old woman. The old woman was not a bad old woman, but there was this one bad thing about her—she did not know how to hold her tongue. Whatever she might hear from her husband, or whatever might happen at home, she was sure to spread it over the whole village; she even doubled everything in the telling, and so things were told which never happened at all. Not unfrequently the old man had to chastise the old woman, and her back paid for the faults of her tongue.

One day the old man went into the forest for wood. He had just got to the border of the forest, when his foot, in treading on a certain place, sank right into the ground. “Why, what’s this?” thought the old man. “Come, now, I’ll dig a bit here; maybe I shall be lucky enough to dig out something.” He dug several times, and saw, buried in the ground, alittle cauldron quite full of silver and gold. “Look, now, what good luck has befallen me! But what am I to do with it? I cannot hide it from that good wife of mine at home, and she will be sure to blab to all the world about my lucky find, and thou wilt repent the day thou didst ever see it.”

For a long time the old man sat brooding over his treasure, and at last he made up his mind what to do. He buried the treasure, threw a lot of wood over it, and went to town. There he bought at the bazaar a live pike and a live hare, returned to the wood, and hung the pike upon a tree, at the very top of it, and carried the hare to the stream, where he had a fish-basket, and he put the hare into it in a shallow place.

Then he went off home, whipped up his little nag for pure lightness of heart, and so entered his hut. “Wife, wife,” he cried, “such a piece of luck has befallen me that I cannot describe it!”—“What is it, what is it, hubby darling? Why dost thou not tell me?”—“What’s the good, when thou wilt only blab it all about?”—“On my word, I’ll say nothing to anybody. I swear it. I’ll take the holy image from the wall and kiss it if thou dost not believe me.”—“Well, well, all right. Listen, old woman!” and he bent down towards her ear and whispered, “I have found in the wood a cauldron full of silverand gold.”—“Then why didst thou not bring it hither?”—“Because we had both better go together, and so bring it home.” And the old man went with his old woman to the forest.

They went along the road, and the peasant said to his wife, “From what I hear, old woman, and from what people told me the other day, it would seem that fish are now to be found growing on trees, while the beasts of the forest live in the water.”—“Why, what art thou thinking about, little hubby? People nowadays are much given to lying.”—“Lying, dost thou call it? Then come and see for thyself.” And he pointed to the tree where the pike was hanging. “Why, what marvel is this?” screamed the old woman. “However did that pike get there? Or have the people been speaking the truth to thee after all?” But the peasant stood there, and moved his arms about, and shrugged his shoulders, and shook his head, as if he could not believe his own eyes. “Why dost thou keep standing there?” said the old woman. “Go up the tree, rather, and take the pike; ’twill do for supper.” So the peasant took the pike, and then they went on further. They passed by the stream, and the peasant stopped his horse. But his wife began screeching at him, and said, “What art gaping at now? let us make haste and go on.”—“Nay, but look! I see something struggling about allround my fish-basket. I’ll go and see what it is.” So he ran, looked into the fish-basket, and called to his wife. “Just come and look here, old woman! Why, a hare has got into our fishing-basket!”—“Then people must have told thee the truth after all. Fetch it out quickly; it will do for dinner on the feast-day.” The old man took up the hare, and then went straight towards the treasure. He pitched away the wood, digged wide and deep, dragged the cauldron out of the earth, and they took it home.

The old man and the old woman grew rich, they lived right merrily, and the old woman did not improve; she went to invite guests every day, and gave such banquets that she nearly drove her husband out of the house. The old man tried to correct her. “What’s come to thee?” he cried. “Canst thou not listen to me?”—“Don’t order me about,” said she. “I found the treasure as well as thou, and have as much right to make merry with it.” The old man put up with it for a very long time, but at last he said to the old woman straight out, “Do as best thou canst, but I’m not going to give thee any more money to cast to the winds.” But the old woman immediately fell foul of him. “I see what thou art up to,” screeched she; “thou wouldst keep all the money for thyself. No, thou rogue, I’ll drive thee whither the crows will pick thy bones. Thou wilt have nogood from thy money.” The old man would have chastised her, but the old woman thrust him aside, and went straight to the magistrate to lay a complaint against her husband. “I have come to throw myself on thy honour’s compassion, and to present my petition against my good-for-nothing husband. Ever since he found that treasure there is no living with him. Work he won’t, and he spends all his time in drinking and gadding about. Take away all his gold from him, father. What a vile thing is gold when it ruins a man so!” The magistrate was sorry for the old woman, and he sent his eldest clerk to him, and bade him judge between the husband and wife. The clerk assembled all the village elders, and went to the peasant and said to him, “The magistrate has sent me to thee, and bids thee deliver up all thy treasure into my hands.” The peasant only shrugged his shoulders. “What treasure?” said he. “I know nothing whatever about any treasure.”—“Not know? Why, thy old woman has just been to complain to the magistrate, and I tell thee what, friend, if thou deniest it, ’twill be worse for thee. If thou dost not give up the whole treasure to the magistrate, thou must give an account of thyself for daring to search for treasures, and not revealing them to the authorities.”—“But I cry your pardon, honoured sirs! what is this treasure you are talking of? My wife musthave seen this treasure in her sleep; she has told you a pack of nonsense, and you listen to her.”—“Nonsense!” burst forth the old woman; “it is not nonsense, but a whole cauldron full of gold and silver!”—“Thou art out of thy senses, dear wife. Honoured sirs, I cry your pardon. Cross-examine her thoroughly about the affair, and if she proves this thing against me, I will answer for it with all my goods.”—“And dost thou think that I cannot prove it against thee? Thou rascal, I will prove it. This is how the matter went, Mr. Clerk,” began the old woman; “I remember it, every bit. We went to the forest, and we saw a pike on a tree.”—“A pike?” roared the clerk at the old woman; “or dost thou want to make a fool of me?”—“Nay, I am not making a fool of thee, Mr. Clerk; I am speaking the simple truth.”—“There, honoured sirs,” said the old man, “how can you believe her if she goes on talking such rubbish?”—“I am not talking rubbish, yokel! I am speaking the truth—or hast thou forgotten how we found a hare in thy fishing-basket in the stream?”—All the elders rolled about for laughter; even the clerk smiled, and began to stroke down his long beard. The peasant again said to his wife, “Recollect thyself, old woman; dost thou not see that every one is laughing at thee? But ye, honoured gentlemen, can now see for yourselves how far you can believemy wife.”—“Yes,” cried all the elders, with one voice, “long as we have lived in the world, we have never heard of hares living in rivers, and fish hanging on the trees of the forest.” The clerk himself saw that this was a matter he could not get to the bottom of, so he dismissed the assembly with a wave of his hand, and went off to town to the magistrate.

And everybody laughed so much at the old woman that she was forced to bite her own tongue and listen to her husband; and the husband bought wares with his treasure, went to live in the town, and began to trade there, exchanged his wares for money, grew rich and prosperous, and was as happy as the day was long.

Thomas Berennikov.Once upon a time there lived in a village a miserably poor peasant called Tommy Berennikov. Thomas’s tongue could wag right well, and in mother-wit he was no worse than his neighbours, but he was anything but handsome to look at, and for working in the fields he was not worth a button. One day he went into the field to plough. The work was heavy and his nag was a wretched hack, quite starved and scarce able to drag along the plough, so at last Tom quite gave way to woe, sat down on a little stone, and immediately whole swarms of blow-flies and gad-flies fell upon his poor knacker from every quarter and stuck fast. Thomas seized a bundle of dry twigs and thwacked his horse about the back with all his might; the horse never stirred from the spot, and the blow-flies and gad-flies fell off him in swarms. Thomas began to count how many he had killed, eight gad-flies, and there was nonumbering the slain of the other flies. And Thomas Berennikov smiled. “That’s something like!” said he, “we’ve killed eight at a blow! And there’s no counting the smaller fry! What a warrior I am, what a hero! I won’t plough any more, I’ll fight. I’ll turn hero, and so seek my fortune!” And he took his crooked sickle from his shoulders, hung up his bast-basket by his girdle, placed in this basket his blunt scythe, and then he mounted his hack and wandered forth into the wide world.He went on and on till he came to a post on which passing heroes had inscribed their names, and he wrote with chalk on this post, “The hero Thomas Berennikov has passed by this way, who slew eight at one blow, and of the smaller fry without number.” This he wrote and went on further. He had only got a mile from this post when two stalwart young heroes came galloping up to it, read the inscription, and asked one another, “What unheard-of hero is this? Whither has he gone? I never heard of his gallant steed, and there is no trace of his knightly deed!” They followed hard upon Thomas, overtook him, and were amazed at the sight of him. “What sort of a horse is the fellow riding on?” cried they; “why, ’tis a mere hack! Then all this prowess cannot be in the horse, but in the hero himself.” And they both rode up to Thomas and said to himquite humbly and mildly, “Peace be with thee, good man.” Thomas looked at them over his shoulder, and without moving his head, said, “Who are you?”—“Ilia Muromets and Alesha Popovich; we would fain be thy comrades.”—“Well, maybe you’ll do. Follow behind me pray.”They came to the realm of the neighbouring Tsar and went straight into his preserves; here they let their horses out to graze, and laid themselves down to rest beneath their tent. The neighbouring Tsar sent out against them a hundred horsemen of his guard, and bade them drive away the strangers from his preserves. Ilia Muromets and Alesha Popovich said to Thomas, “Wilt thou go against them, or wilt thou send us?”—“What, forsooth! do you think I’d soil my hands by going against such muck! No; go thou, Ilia Muromets, and show thy prowess.” So Ilia Muromets sat him on his heroic steed, charged the Tsar’s horsemen, swooped down upon them like a bright falcon on a flock of doves, smote them, and cut them all down to the very last one. At this the Tsar was still more wroth, collected all of his host that was in the town, both horse and foot, and bade his captains drive the wandering strangers out of his preserves without ceremony. The Tsar’s army advanced on the preserves, blew with their trumpets, and columns of dust arose in their path. IliaMuromets and Alesha Popovich came to Thomas and said to him, “Wilt thou go thyself against the foe, or wilt thou send one of us?” But Thomas, who was lying on his side, did not so much as turn him round, but said to the heroes, “The idea of my coming to blows with this rabble!—the idea of my soiling my heroic hands with the like of them! No! Go thou, Alesha Popovich, and show them our style of fighting, and I’ll look on and see if thy valour be of the right sort.” Alesha rushed like a whirlwind upon the Tsar’s host, his armour rattled like thunder, he waved his mace from afar, and shouted with a voice more piercing than the clang of clarions, “I will slay and smash all of you without mercy!” He flew upon the host and began crushing it. The captains saw that every one took to his heels before him, and there was no way of stopping them, so they blew a retreat with the trumpets, retired towards the town, and came themselves with an apology to Alesha, and said: “Tell us now, strong and potent hero, by what name we must call thee, and tell us thy father’s name that we may honour it. What tribute must we give thee that thou mayst trouble us no more, and leave our realm in peace?”—“’Tis not to me you must give tribute!” answered Alesha; “I am but a subordinate. I do what I am bidden by my elder brother, the famous hero Thomas Berennikov. You must reckonwith him. He will spare you if he pleases, but if he does not please, he will level your whole kingdom with the ground.” The Tsar heard these words, and sent Tommy rich gifts and an honourable embassy of distinguished persons, and bade them say: “We beg the famous hero Thomas Berennikov to come and visit us, to dwell in our royal court, and help us to war against the Khan of China. If, O hero, thou dost succeed in smiting utterly the countless Chinese host, then I will give thee my own daughter, and after my death thou shalt have the whole realm.” But Tommy put on a long face and said, “What’s that? Well, well, I don’t mind! I suppose I may as well consent to that.” Then he mounted his hack, commanded his heroic younger brethren to ride behind him, and went as a guest to the neighbouring Tsar.Tommy had not yet thoroughly succeeded in testing the quality of the Tsar’s kitchen, he had not yet thoroughly rested from his labours, when there came a threatening embassy from the Khan of China, demanding that the whole kingdom should acknowledge him as its liege lord, and that the Tsar should send him his only daughter. “Tell your Khan,” replied the Tsar, “that I fear him no longer; I now have a firm support, a sure defence, the famous hero Thomas Berennikov, who can slay eight at one blowof his sword, and of the lesser fry without number. If life is not pleasant to your Khan and your Chinese brethren, come to my empire, and you shall have cause to remember Thomas Berennikov.” In two days a countless Chinese host surrounded the city of the Tsar, and the Chinese Khan sent to say, “I have here an unconquerable hero, the like of whom the world knows not; send out against him thy Thomas. If thy champion prevails I’ll submit and pay thee a tribute from my whole Khanate; but if mine prevails, thou must give me thy daughter, and pay me a tribute from thy whole kingdom.” So now it was the turn of Thomas Berennikov to show his prowess! And his heroic younger brothers, Ilia Muromets and Alesha Popovich, said to him: “Mighty and potent hero, our elder brother, how wilt thou fight against this Chinaman without armour? Take our martial armour, choose the best of our heroic horses!” Thomas Berennikov answered thus: “How then? Must I hide myself in armour from this shaven pate? Why, I could finish off this Chinaman with one hand quite easily! Why, you yourselves when you first saw me said, ’Tis plain that we must not look at the horse, but at the warrior!” But Thomas thought to himself: “I’m in a pretty pickle now! Well, let the Chinaman kill me if he likes—I’ll not be put to shame over the business anyhow!” Then theybrought him his hack: he mounted it in peasant style, struck it with his bunch of twigs, and went into the open plain at a gentle amble.The Chinese Khan had armed his champion like a fortress; he clothed him in armour twelve puds (480 lbs.) in weight, taught him the use of every weapon, put in his hands a battle-axe eighty pounds in weight, and said to him just before he set out, “Mark me, and recollect my words! When a Russian hero cannot prevail by force, he will overcome by cunning, so lest thou should get the worst of it, take care and do everything the Russian hero does.” So the champions went out against each other into the open field, and Thomas saw the Chinese hero advancing against him, as big as a mountain, with his head like a beer-cask, and covered with armour like a tortoise in its shell, so that he was scarcely able to move. So Tommy had recourse to artifice. He got off his horse and sat down on a stone and began to sharpen his scythe. The Chinese hero when he saw that, got off his horse immediately, fastened it to a tree, and began to whet his axe against a stone also. When Thomas had finished sharpening his scythe, he marched up to the Chinaman and said to him, “We two are mighty and potent heroes, we have come out against each other in mortal combat; but before we pitch into each other we ought to show each otherproper respect, and salute one another after the custom of the country.” And he saluted the Chinaman with a low, a very low bow. “Oh, oh!” thought the Chinaman, “here’s some piece of trickery, I know. I’ll bow yet lower.” And he bowed himself to the very ground. But before he could raise himself up again in his heavy armour, Thomas rushed at him, tickled him once or twice in the neck, and so cut his throat through for him. Then he leaped upon the heroic horse of the Chinaman, scrambled on the top of it somehow, flourished his birch of twigs, tried to grasp the reins, and quite forgot that the horse was tied to a tree. But the good horse, as soon as he felt a rider on his back, tugged and pulled till he tore the tree up by the roots, and off he set at full gallop towards the Chinese host, dragging after him the big tree as if it had been a mere feather. Thomas Berennikov was terribly frightened, and began bawling, “Help, help!” But the Chinese host feared him more than a snowstorm, and it seemed to them as if he were crying to them, “Run, run!” so they took to their heels without once looking back. But the heroic horse plunged into the midst of them, trampled them beneath its feet, and the huge tree-trunk scattered them in all directions. Wherever it plunged it left a wide road behind it.The Chinese swore that they would never fightwith Thomas again, and this resolution was lucky for Thomas. He returned to the town on his own hack, and they were all amazed at his strength, valour, and success. “What dost thou require of me?” said the Tsar to Thomas, “one half of my golden treasures and my daughter into the bargain, or one half of my glorious kingdom?” “Well, I’ll take half your kingdom if you like, but I wouldn’t turn up my nose either at your daughter with half your golden treasure for a dowry. And look now, when I get married, don’t forget to invite to the wedding my younger brothers, Ilia Muromets and Alesha Popovich!”And Thomas married the thrice-lovely Tsarevna, and they celebrated the wedding so gloriously that the heads of all the guests ached for more than two weeks afterwards. I too was there, and I drank mead and ale and got rich gifts, and so my tale is told.

Once upon a time there lived in a village a miserably poor peasant called Tommy Berennikov. Thomas’s tongue could wag right well, and in mother-wit he was no worse than his neighbours, but he was anything but handsome to look at, and for working in the fields he was not worth a button. One day he went into the field to plough. The work was heavy and his nag was a wretched hack, quite starved and scarce able to drag along the plough, so at last Tom quite gave way to woe, sat down on a little stone, and immediately whole swarms of blow-flies and gad-flies fell upon his poor knacker from every quarter and stuck fast. Thomas seized a bundle of dry twigs and thwacked his horse about the back with all his might; the horse never stirred from the spot, and the blow-flies and gad-flies fell off him in swarms. Thomas began to count how many he had killed, eight gad-flies, and there was nonumbering the slain of the other flies. And Thomas Berennikov smiled. “That’s something like!” said he, “we’ve killed eight at a blow! And there’s no counting the smaller fry! What a warrior I am, what a hero! I won’t plough any more, I’ll fight. I’ll turn hero, and so seek my fortune!” And he took his crooked sickle from his shoulders, hung up his bast-basket by his girdle, placed in this basket his blunt scythe, and then he mounted his hack and wandered forth into the wide world.

He went on and on till he came to a post on which passing heroes had inscribed their names, and he wrote with chalk on this post, “The hero Thomas Berennikov has passed by this way, who slew eight at one blow, and of the smaller fry without number.” This he wrote and went on further. He had only got a mile from this post when two stalwart young heroes came galloping up to it, read the inscription, and asked one another, “What unheard-of hero is this? Whither has he gone? I never heard of his gallant steed, and there is no trace of his knightly deed!” They followed hard upon Thomas, overtook him, and were amazed at the sight of him. “What sort of a horse is the fellow riding on?” cried they; “why, ’tis a mere hack! Then all this prowess cannot be in the horse, but in the hero himself.” And they both rode up to Thomas and said to himquite humbly and mildly, “Peace be with thee, good man.” Thomas looked at them over his shoulder, and without moving his head, said, “Who are you?”—“Ilia Muromets and Alesha Popovich; we would fain be thy comrades.”—“Well, maybe you’ll do. Follow behind me pray.”

They came to the realm of the neighbouring Tsar and went straight into his preserves; here they let their horses out to graze, and laid themselves down to rest beneath their tent. The neighbouring Tsar sent out against them a hundred horsemen of his guard, and bade them drive away the strangers from his preserves. Ilia Muromets and Alesha Popovich said to Thomas, “Wilt thou go against them, or wilt thou send us?”—“What, forsooth! do you think I’d soil my hands by going against such muck! No; go thou, Ilia Muromets, and show thy prowess.” So Ilia Muromets sat him on his heroic steed, charged the Tsar’s horsemen, swooped down upon them like a bright falcon on a flock of doves, smote them, and cut them all down to the very last one. At this the Tsar was still more wroth, collected all of his host that was in the town, both horse and foot, and bade his captains drive the wandering strangers out of his preserves without ceremony. The Tsar’s army advanced on the preserves, blew with their trumpets, and columns of dust arose in their path. IliaMuromets and Alesha Popovich came to Thomas and said to him, “Wilt thou go thyself against the foe, or wilt thou send one of us?” But Thomas, who was lying on his side, did not so much as turn him round, but said to the heroes, “The idea of my coming to blows with this rabble!—the idea of my soiling my heroic hands with the like of them! No! Go thou, Alesha Popovich, and show them our style of fighting, and I’ll look on and see if thy valour be of the right sort.” Alesha rushed like a whirlwind upon the Tsar’s host, his armour rattled like thunder, he waved his mace from afar, and shouted with a voice more piercing than the clang of clarions, “I will slay and smash all of you without mercy!” He flew upon the host and began crushing it. The captains saw that every one took to his heels before him, and there was no way of stopping them, so they blew a retreat with the trumpets, retired towards the town, and came themselves with an apology to Alesha, and said: “Tell us now, strong and potent hero, by what name we must call thee, and tell us thy father’s name that we may honour it. What tribute must we give thee that thou mayst trouble us no more, and leave our realm in peace?”—“’Tis not to me you must give tribute!” answered Alesha; “I am but a subordinate. I do what I am bidden by my elder brother, the famous hero Thomas Berennikov. You must reckonwith him. He will spare you if he pleases, but if he does not please, he will level your whole kingdom with the ground.” The Tsar heard these words, and sent Tommy rich gifts and an honourable embassy of distinguished persons, and bade them say: “We beg the famous hero Thomas Berennikov to come and visit us, to dwell in our royal court, and help us to war against the Khan of China. If, O hero, thou dost succeed in smiting utterly the countless Chinese host, then I will give thee my own daughter, and after my death thou shalt have the whole realm.” But Tommy put on a long face and said, “What’s that? Well, well, I don’t mind! I suppose I may as well consent to that.” Then he mounted his hack, commanded his heroic younger brethren to ride behind him, and went as a guest to the neighbouring Tsar.

Tommy had not yet thoroughly succeeded in testing the quality of the Tsar’s kitchen, he had not yet thoroughly rested from his labours, when there came a threatening embassy from the Khan of China, demanding that the whole kingdom should acknowledge him as its liege lord, and that the Tsar should send him his only daughter. “Tell your Khan,” replied the Tsar, “that I fear him no longer; I now have a firm support, a sure defence, the famous hero Thomas Berennikov, who can slay eight at one blowof his sword, and of the lesser fry without number. If life is not pleasant to your Khan and your Chinese brethren, come to my empire, and you shall have cause to remember Thomas Berennikov.” In two days a countless Chinese host surrounded the city of the Tsar, and the Chinese Khan sent to say, “I have here an unconquerable hero, the like of whom the world knows not; send out against him thy Thomas. If thy champion prevails I’ll submit and pay thee a tribute from my whole Khanate; but if mine prevails, thou must give me thy daughter, and pay me a tribute from thy whole kingdom.” So now it was the turn of Thomas Berennikov to show his prowess! And his heroic younger brothers, Ilia Muromets and Alesha Popovich, said to him: “Mighty and potent hero, our elder brother, how wilt thou fight against this Chinaman without armour? Take our martial armour, choose the best of our heroic horses!” Thomas Berennikov answered thus: “How then? Must I hide myself in armour from this shaven pate? Why, I could finish off this Chinaman with one hand quite easily! Why, you yourselves when you first saw me said, ’Tis plain that we must not look at the horse, but at the warrior!” But Thomas thought to himself: “I’m in a pretty pickle now! Well, let the Chinaman kill me if he likes—I’ll not be put to shame over the business anyhow!” Then theybrought him his hack: he mounted it in peasant style, struck it with his bunch of twigs, and went into the open plain at a gentle amble.

The Chinese Khan had armed his champion like a fortress; he clothed him in armour twelve puds (480 lbs.) in weight, taught him the use of every weapon, put in his hands a battle-axe eighty pounds in weight, and said to him just before he set out, “Mark me, and recollect my words! When a Russian hero cannot prevail by force, he will overcome by cunning, so lest thou should get the worst of it, take care and do everything the Russian hero does.” So the champions went out against each other into the open field, and Thomas saw the Chinese hero advancing against him, as big as a mountain, with his head like a beer-cask, and covered with armour like a tortoise in its shell, so that he was scarcely able to move. So Tommy had recourse to artifice. He got off his horse and sat down on a stone and began to sharpen his scythe. The Chinese hero when he saw that, got off his horse immediately, fastened it to a tree, and began to whet his axe against a stone also. When Thomas had finished sharpening his scythe, he marched up to the Chinaman and said to him, “We two are mighty and potent heroes, we have come out against each other in mortal combat; but before we pitch into each other we ought to show each otherproper respect, and salute one another after the custom of the country.” And he saluted the Chinaman with a low, a very low bow. “Oh, oh!” thought the Chinaman, “here’s some piece of trickery, I know. I’ll bow yet lower.” And he bowed himself to the very ground. But before he could raise himself up again in his heavy armour, Thomas rushed at him, tickled him once or twice in the neck, and so cut his throat through for him. Then he leaped upon the heroic horse of the Chinaman, scrambled on the top of it somehow, flourished his birch of twigs, tried to grasp the reins, and quite forgot that the horse was tied to a tree. But the good horse, as soon as he felt a rider on his back, tugged and pulled till he tore the tree up by the roots, and off he set at full gallop towards the Chinese host, dragging after him the big tree as if it had been a mere feather. Thomas Berennikov was terribly frightened, and began bawling, “Help, help!” But the Chinese host feared him more than a snowstorm, and it seemed to them as if he were crying to them, “Run, run!” so they took to their heels without once looking back. But the heroic horse plunged into the midst of them, trampled them beneath its feet, and the huge tree-trunk scattered them in all directions. Wherever it plunged it left a wide road behind it.

The Chinese swore that they would never fightwith Thomas again, and this resolution was lucky for Thomas. He returned to the town on his own hack, and they were all amazed at his strength, valour, and success. “What dost thou require of me?” said the Tsar to Thomas, “one half of my golden treasures and my daughter into the bargain, or one half of my glorious kingdom?” “Well, I’ll take half your kingdom if you like, but I wouldn’t turn up my nose either at your daughter with half your golden treasure for a dowry. And look now, when I get married, don’t forget to invite to the wedding my younger brothers, Ilia Muromets and Alesha Popovich!”

And Thomas married the thrice-lovely Tsarevna, and they celebrated the wedding so gloriously that the heads of all the guests ached for more than two weeks afterwards. I too was there, and I drank mead and ale and got rich gifts, and so my tale is told.

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