{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_49249/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_49249","id":"gutenberg_49249","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49249","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Legends -- Poland","Legends -- Russia (Federation)"],"text":"FOLK-LORE AND LEGENDS\n\n                          _RUSSIAN AND POLISH_\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                       UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME.\n\n                \u201c_These dainty little books._\u201d\u2014STANDARD.\n\n\n                         FOLK-LORE AND LEGENDS.\n\n                            _FIRST SERIES._\n\n                       1. GERMAN.\n                       2. ORIENTAL.\n                       3. SCOTLAND.\n                       4. IRELAND.\n\n\n                           _SECOND SERIES._\n\n\n                       1. ENGLAND.\n                       2. SCANDINAVIAN.\n                       3. RUSSIAN.\n                       4. NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN.\n\n          \u201c_They transport us into a romantic world._\u201d\u2014TIMES.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                               FOLK-LORE\n\n                                  AND\n\n                                LEGENDS\n\n\n\n\n                           RUSSIAN AND POLISH\n\n                             [Illustration]\n\n                             W. W. GIBBINGS\n                       18 BURY ST., LONDON, W.C.\n                                  1890\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                           INTRODUCTORY NOTE.\n\n\nIN this volume I present selections made from the Russian chap-book\nliterature, and from the works of various Russian and Polish collectors\nof Folklore\u2014Afanasief, Erben, Wojcicki, Glinski, etc. The chap-book\ntales, and many of those of Glinski, are, there is little doubt, of\nforeign origin, but since Russia and Poland are the countries in which\nthese tales have found their home, and since they have there been so\nadapted by the people as to incorporate the national customs and lore,\nthey appear to me to belong properly to the present volume.\n\n                                                                C. J. T.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                                CONTENTS\n\n\n                                                          PAGE\n          The Poor Man and the Judge,          _Russian_,    1\n          The Wind Rider,                      _Polish_,     4\n          The Three Gifts,                         \u201d         9\n          Snyegurka,                           _Russian_,   22\n          Prince Peter and Princess Magilene,      \u201d        28\n          The Old Man, his Wife, and the Fish,     \u201d        35\n          The Golden Mountain,                     \u201d        42\n          The Duck that laid Golden Eggs,          \u201d        53\n          Emelyan the Fool,                        \u201d        58\n          Ilija, the Muromer,                      \u201d        76\n          The Bad-Tempered Wife,                   \u201d        83\n          Ivashka with the Bear\u2019s Ear,             \u201d        88\n          The Plague,                          _Polish_,    96\n          The Peasant and the Wind,            _Russian_,   99\n          The Wonderful Cloth,                 _Polish_,   107\n          The Evil Eye,                            \u201d       125\n          The Seven Brothers,                  _Russian_,  136\n          Sila Czarovitch and Ivaschka,            \u201d       146\n          The Stolen Heart,                    _Polish_,   154\n          Prince Slugobyl,                         \u201d       159\n          Princess Marvel,                         \u201d       167\n          The Ghost,                               \u201d       177\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                      THE POOR MAN AND THE JUDGE.\n\n\nONCE upon a time there were two brothers who lived upon a piece of\nground. The one was rich and the other poor. One day the poor brother\nwent to the rich one to ask him to lend him a horse, so that he might\ncarry wood from the forest. The rich brother lent him the horse, and\nthen the poor one asked him to also let him have a collar for it. The\nrich man, however, got angry, and would not let him have one, and then\nit occurred to the poor man that he could fasten the sledge to the\nhorse\u2019s tail. Away he went to the forest to get his wood, and he got\nsuch a load that the horse could scarcely draw it. When he came home\nwith it he opened the gate, but he did not think of the board at the\nfoot of the gate, and the horse tumbling over it tore its tail out!\n\nThe poor fellow took the horse back to his rich brother, but he, when he\nsaw that the horse had no tail, would not receive it, and went off to\nthe judge Schemyaka to complain to him of the poor brother. The poor man\nsaw that things looked bad for him, and that he would be sent for by the\njudge. He thought over the matter for a long time, and at last set off\nafter his brother on foot.\n\nOn their way the two brothers had to pass over a bridge, and the poor\nman, thinking that he should never return from the judge alive, jumped\nover it. It chanced that, just at that time, a man\u2019s son was driving his\nsick father to the baths, and was passing under the bridge. The poor man\nfell upon the old man and killed him, and the son went off to the judge\nto complain of his father\u2019s having been killed.\n\nThe rich brother, when he came to the judge, laid his complaint before\nhim, telling him that his brother had pulled out his horse\u2019s tail. Now\nthe poor man had taken a stone and wrapped it in a cloth, and he stood\nwith it in his hand, behind his brother, intending to kill the judge if\nhe did not decide in his favour. The judge thought the man had brought a\nhundred roubles for him in the cloth, so he ordered the rich man to give\nhis horse to the poor man until the tail was grown again.\n\nThen came the son to complain to the judge of the poor man having slain\nhis father. The poor man again took the stone wrapped in the cloth and\nshowed it to the judge, who thought the man must there have two hundred\nroubles to give to him for deciding the case. So he ordered the son to\ntake his place upon the bridge and the poor man to stand below. Then the\nson was to throw himself off the bridge on to the poor man and crush him\nto death.\n\nThe poor brother went to the rich one to take the horse without a tail,\nas the judge had ordered, so that he might keep it till the tail grew.\nThe rich man, however, was not willing to lose his horse, so he gave the\npoor man five roubles, three bushels of corn, and a milch-goat, and so\nthey settled the matter.\n\nThen the poor man went off to the son, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cAccording to the judgment you must stand on the bridge while I must\nstand underneath it, and then you must jump off and crush me to death.\u201d\n\nThen thought the son\u2014\n\n\u201cWho knows whether if I jump off the bridge I may not, instead of\ncrushing him to death, kill myself?\u201d\n\nSo he thought it would be best to come to an arrangement with the poor\nman, and he gave him two hundred roubles, a horse, and five bushels of\ncorn.\n\nAfter this the judge, Schemyaka, sent his servant to the poor man to ask\nhim for two hundred roubles. The poor man showed him the stone, and\nsaid\u2014\n\n\u201cIf the judge had not decided for me I should have killed him with it.\u201d\n\nWhen the servant came back to the judge and told him that, he crossed\nhimself\u2014\n\n\u201cThank Heaven,\u201d said he, \u201cI decided as he wished!\u201d\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                            THE WIND-RIDER.\n\n\nA MAGICIAN was once upon a time much put out with a young countryman,\nand being in a great rage he went to the man\u2019s hut and stuck a new sharp\nknife under the threshold. While he did so he cursed the man, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cMay this fellow ride for seven years on the fleet storm-wind, until he\nhas gone all round the world.\u201d\n\nNow when the peasant went into the meadows in order to carry the hay,\nthere came suddenly a gust of wind. It quickly scattered the hay, and\nthen seized the peasant. He endeavoured in vain to resist; in vain he\nsought to cling to the hedges and trees with his hands. Do what he\nwould, the invisible power hurried him forwards.\n\nHe flew on the wings of the wind like a wild pigeon, and his feet no\nmore touched the ground. At length the sun set, and the poor fellow\nlooked with hungry eyes upon the smoke which curled up from the chimneys\nin his village. He could almost touch them with his feet, but he called\nand screamed in vain, and all his wailing and complaints were useless.\nNo one heard his lamentation, no one saw his tears.\n\nSo he went on for three months, and what with thirst and hunger he was\ndried up and almost a skeleton. He had gone over a good deal of ground\nby that time, but the wind most often carried him over his native\nvillage.\n\nHe wept when he saw the hut in which dwelt his sweetheart. He could see\nher busied about the house. Sometimes she would bring out some dinner in\na basket. Then he would stretch out his dried-up hands to her, and\nvainly call her name. His voice would die away, and the girl not hearing\nhim would not look up.\n\nHe fled on. The magician came to the door of his hut, and seeing the\nman, cried to him, mockingly\u2014\n\n\u201cYou have to ride for seven years yet, flying over this village. You\nshall go on suffering, and shall not die.\u201d\n\n\u201cO my father,\u201d said the man, \u201cif I ever offended you, forgive me! Look!\nmy lips are quite hard; my face, my hands, look at them! I am nothing\nbut bone. Have pity upon me.\u201d\n\nThe magician muttered a few words, and the man stopped in his course. He\nstayed in one place, but did not yet stand on the ground.\n\n\u201cWell, you ask me to pity you,\u201d said the magician. \u201cAnd what do you mean\nto give me if I put a stop to your torment?\u201d\n\n\u201cAll you wish,\u201d said the peasant, and he clasped his hands, and knelt\ndown in the air.\n\n\u201cWill you give me your sweetheart,\u201d asked the magician, \u201cso that I may\nhave her for my wife? If you will give her up, you shall come to earth\nagain.\u201d\n\nThe man thought for a moment, and said to himself\u2014\n\n\u201cIf I once get on the earth again, I may see if I cannot do something.\u201d\n\nSo he said to the magician\u2014\n\n\u201cIndeed, you ask me to make a great sacrifice, but if it must be so it\nmust.\u201d\n\nThe magician then blew at him, and the man came to the ground. He was\nvery pleased to find the earth once more under his feet, and to have\nescaped from the power of the wind. Off he hurried to his hut, and at\nthe threshold he met his sweetheart. She cried aloud with amazement when\nshe saw the long-lost peasant, whom she had so long lamented and wept\nfor. With his skinny hands the man put her gently aside, and went into\nthe house, where he found the farmer who had employed him sitting down,\nand said to him, as he commenced to weep\u2014\n\n\u201cI can no longer stay in your service, and I cannot marry your daughter.\nI love her very much, as much as the apple of my eye, but I cannot marry\nher.\u201d\n\nThe old farmer wondered to see him, and when he saw his white pinched\nface and the traces of his suffering, he asked him why he did not wish\nfor the hand of his daughter.\n\nThe man told him all about his ride in the air, and the bargain he had\nmade with the magician. When the farmer had listened to it all, he told\nthe poor fellow to keep a good heart, and putting some money in his\npocket, went out to consult a sorceress.\n\nTowards evening he returned very merry, and taking the peasant aside,\nsaid to him\u2014\n\n\u201cTo-morrow morning, before day, go to the witch, and you will find all\nwill be well.\u201d\n\nThe wearied peasant, who had not slept for three months, went to bed,\nbut he woke before it was day, and went off to the witch. He found her\nsitting beside the hearth boiling herbs over a fire. She told him to\nstand by her, and, suddenly, although it was a calm day, such a storm of\nwind arose that the hut shook again.\n\nThe sorceress then took the peasant outside into the yard and told him\nto look up. He lifted up his eyes, and\u2014O wonder!\u2014saw the evil magician\nwhirling round and round in the air.\n\n\u201cThere is your enemy,\u201d said the woman, \u201che will trouble you no more. If\nyou would like to see him at your wedding, I will tell you what to do,\nbut he must suffer the torment that he meant to put you to.\u201d\n\nThe peasant was delighted, and ran back to the house, and a month later\nhe was married. While the wedding folk were dancing, the peasant went\nout into the yard, looked up, and saw right over the hut the magician\nturning round and round. Then the peasant took a new knife, and throwing\nit with all his force, stuck it in the magician\u2019s foot.\n\nHe fell at once to the ground, and the knife held him to the earth, so\nthat he could only stand at the window and see how merry the peasant and\nhis friends were.\n\nThe next day he had disappeared, but he was afterwards seen flying in\nthe air over a lake. Before him and behind him were flocks of ravens and\ncrows, and these, with their hoarse cries, heralded the wicked\nmagician\u2019s endless ride on the wind.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                            THE THREE GIFTS.\n\n\nA VERY rich widow had three children, a step-son, a fine young fellow, a\nstep-daughter of wonderful beauty, and a daughter who was not so bad.\nThe three children lived under the same roof, and took their meals\ntogether. At length the time came when the children were treated very\ndifferently. Although the widow\u2019s daughter was bad-tempered, obstinate,\nvain, and a chatterer, her mother loved her passionately, praised her,\nand covered her with caresses. She was favoured in every way. The\nstep-son, who was a good-natured lad, and who did all kinds of work, was\nfor ever grumbled at, checked, and treated like a sluggard. As for the\nstep-daughter, who was so wonderfully pretty, and who had the\ndisposition of an angel, she was tormented, worried, and ill-treated in\na thousand ways. Between her sister and her step-mother her life was\nmade miserable.\n\nIt is natural that one should love one\u2019s own children better than those\nof other folk; but it is only right that liking and disliking should be\nindulged in with moderation. The evil step-mother, however, loved her\nchild to distraction, and equally detested her step-children. To such a\npitch did she carry these feelings that when she was angry she used to\nsay how she would advance the fortune of her daughter even at the\norphans\u2019 expense.\n\nAn old proverb says, \u201cMan sets the ball rolling, but Heaven directs it,\u201d\nand we shall see what happened.\n\nOne Sunday morning the step-daughter, before going to church, went out\ninto the garden to pluck some flowers to place on the altar. She had\ngathered some roses, when, on lifting up her eyes, she saw, right in\nfront of her, three young men who sat upon a grassy bank. They were\nclothed in garments of dazzling white which shone like sunshine. Near by\nthem was an old man, who came and asked the girl for alms.\n\nThe girl was a little frightened when she saw the three men, but when\nthe old man came to her she took her last piece of money out of her\npocket and gave it to him. The poor man thanked her, put the piece of\nmoney into his bag, and, laying his hand on the girl\u2019s head, said to the\nyoung men\u2014\n\n\u201cYou see this little orphan; she is good and patient in suffering, and\nhas so much pity for the poor that she gives them even the last penny\nshe has. What do you wish for her?\u201d\n\nThe first one said\u2014\n\n\u201cI wish that when she cries her tears may turn to pearls.\u201d\n\n\u201cI wish,\u201d said the second, \u201cthat when she laughs the most delicately\nperfumed roses may fall from her lips.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I,\u201d said the third, \u201cwish that when she touches water golden fish\nspring up in it.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo shall it be,\u201d said the old man, and he and his companions vanished.\n\nWhen the girl saw that, she gave thanks to Heaven, and ran joyfully into\nthe house. Hardly had she entered when her step-mother met her and gave\nher a slap on the face, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cWhere are you running to?\u201d\n\nThe poor girl began to cry, but behold! instead of tears pearls fell\nfrom her eyes. The step-mother forgot her rage, and set herself to\ngather them up as quickly as possible. The girl could not help laughing\nat the sight, and from her lips there fell roses of such a delightful\nscent that the step-mother was beside herself with pleasure. After that\nthe girl, wishing to preserve the flowers she had plucked in the garden,\npoured some water into a glass: as soon as she touched the water with\nher finger, it was filled with beautiful golden fish.\n\nFrom that time the same things never failed to happen. The girl\u2019s tears\nturned to pearls, when she laughed roses, which did not die, fell from\nher lips; and water which she only touched with her little finger became\nfilled with golden fish.\n\nThe step-mother became better disposed towards her, and by little and\nlittle learned from her the secret of how she had obtained these gifts.\n\nOn the following Sunday she sent her own daughter into the garden to\npluck flowers as if for the altar. Hardly had the girl gathered some\nroses, when, lifting up her eyes, she saw the three young men sitting on\na grassy bank, beautiful, and shining like the sun, and by them was the\nold man, clad in white, who asked her for alms. When she saw the young\nmen, the girl pretended to be afraid, but when the old man spoke to her,\nshe ran to him, took out of her pocket a gold piece, looked hard at it,\nand then gave it to him, but evidently very much against her will. The\nold man put the money in his bag, and said to the three others\u2014\n\n\u201cYou see this girl who is her mother\u2019s spoilt child? She is\nbad-tempered, wicked, and is hard-hearted as regards the poor. We know\nvery well why she has been so charitable, for the first time in her\nlife, to-day. Tell me then what you wish for her.\u201d\n\nThe first said\u2014\n\n\u201cI wish that when she cries her tears may change to lizards.\u201d\n\n\u201cI,\u201d said the second, \u201cwish that when she laughs, hideous toads may fall\nfrom her lips.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I,\u201d said the third, \u201cwish that when she touches water with her hand\nit may be filled with serpents.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt shall be as you wish,\u201d said the old man, and he and his companions\ndisappeared.\n\nThe girl was terrified, and ran into the house to tell her mother what\nhad happened. All occurred as had been said. When she laughed toads\nsprang from her lips, when she cried her tears changed to lizards, and\nwhen she touched water it became full of serpents.\n\nThe step-mother did not know what to do. She paid greater attention than\never to her daughter, and hated the orphans more and more, and so\ntormented them that the lad, not being able to put up with it, took\nleave of his sister, praying Heaven to guard her, and, leaving his\nstep-mother\u2019s house, set out to seek his fortune. The wide world was\nbefore him. He knew not where to go, but he knew that Heaven, that sees\nall men, watches over the orphans. He prayed, and then walking down to\nthe burial-ground where slept his father and mother, he knelt at the\ngrave. He wept and prayed for a time, and having kissed the earth which\ncovered them three times, he rose and prepared to set out on his\njourney. All of a sudden he felt, in the folds of his dress on his\nbosom, something he had not perceived there before. He put his hand up,\nand was so astonished that he could scarcely believe his eyes, for he\nfound there a charming little picture of his much-loved sister,\nsurrounded by pearls, roses, and little golden fish. Delighted at the\nsight, he kissed the picture, looked around the burial-ground once more,\nmade the sign of the cross, and set out on his way.\n\nA story is soon told, but events move slowly.\n\nAfter many adventures of little importance he came to the capital of a\nkingdom situated on the sea-shore. There he sought to obtain a living,\nand he was not unsuccessful, for he was engaged to look after the king\u2019s\ngarden, and was both well fed and well paid. This good fortune did not,\nhowever, make him forget his poor sister, about whom he was much\ntroubled. When he had a moment to himself, he would sit down in some\nquiet spot and look at his picture, sometimes melting into tears, for he\nlooked upon the portrait of his sister as a precious legacy given to him\nby his parents at their grave.\n\nOne day while the lad sat thus by a brook, the king saw him, and\ncreeping up to him from behind very softly, he looked over his shoulder\nat the likeness that the young man was regarding so attentively.\n\n\u201cGive me the portrait,\u201d said the king.\n\nThe lad gave it to him.\n\nThe king looked at it and was delighted.\n\n\u201cNever,\u201d said he, \u201cin all my life did I see such a beautiful girl, never\nhave I heard of such a one, never did I dream there was such. Tell me,\ndoes she live?\u201d\n\nThe lad burst into tears, and told the king that the picture was the\nportrait of his sister, who some time ago had been so favoured by Heaven\nthat when she cried her tears became pearls, when she laughed roses\nsprang from her lips, and when she touched water it was filled with\ngolden fish.\n\nThe king ordered him to write at once to his step-mother, to tell her to\nsend her lovely step-daughter to his palace, where the king waited to\nmake her his wife. On the occasion of his marriage he declared he would\nheap rewards on the step-mother and on the brother of his bride. The lad\nwrote the letter, and the king sent a servant with it.\n\nA story is quickly told, but events move slowly.\n\nAfter she had read the letter, the step-mother did not show it to the\norphan, but to her own daughter.\n\nSo they plotted together, and the step-mother went to an old sorceress\nto consult her, and to be instructed in magic. She then set out with her\ntwo daughters. As they came near to the capital of the king\u2019s dominions,\nin a place near to the sea, the step-mother suddenly threw the\nstep-daughter out of the carriage, muttered some magic words, and spat\nthree times behind her. All at once the poor girl became very little,\ncovered with feathers, and changed into a wild duck. She commenced to\ncackle, threw herself into the sea, just as ducks do, and began to swim\nabout there. The step-mother dismissed her with these words: \u201cBy the\nforce of my hate, I have done what I wished! Swim away upon the shore\nlike a duck, happy in liberty, and in the meantime my daughter, clothed\nin your beauty, shall marry the king, and enjoy all that was meant for\nyou.\u201d\n\nHardly had she finished these words when her daughter found herself\nclothed in all the charms of the unfortunate girl. So they went on their\nway, came to the palace, which they reached at the time named in the\nletter, and there the king received the daughter from the hands of the\ntreacherous step-mother, in place of the orphan. After the marriage, the\nstep-mother, loaded with presents, returned to her home. The king,\nlooking upon his wife, could not imagine how it was that he did not feel\nthat love and tenderness that had been aroused in him at the sight of\nthe portrait. However, there was no remedy, what was done was done.\nHeaven sees one, and knows of what malady one shall die, and what woman\none shall marry! The king admired his wife\u2019s beauty, and thought of the\npleasure he would have when he saw the pearls drop from her eyes, the\nroses from her lips, and the golden fish spring up in the water she\ntouched. During the feast, however, the queen chanced to laugh at her\nhusband, and a mass of hideous toads sprang forth! The king ran off\nquickly. Then the queen commenced to cry, and instead of pearls, lizards\ndropped from her eyes. An attendant presented a basin of water to her,\nbut she had no sooner dipped the tip of her finger in the water than it\nbecame a mass of serpents, which began to hiss and dart into the middle\nof the wedding party. Every one was afraid, and all was in confusion.\nThe guards were at last called in, and by their aid the hall was cleared\nof the horrible reptiles.\n\nThe king had gone into the garden, where he met with the orphan lad; and\nso enraged was the king at the trick that he thought had been played\nhim, that he gave the lad a blow on the head with his stick. The poor\nlad, falling down upon the ground, died at once.\n\nThe queen came running to the king, sobbing, and, taking him by the\nhand, said\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat have you done? You have killed my brother, who was altogether\nguiltless. Is it his fault or mine that, since I have been married to\nyou, I have lost the wonderful powers I once had? They will come back\nagain in time, but time will not bring my brother to me more.\u201d\n\n\u201cPardon me, my dear wife,\u201d said the king. \u201cIn a moment of rage I thought\nhe had betrayed me, and I wished to punish him. I am sorry for what I\nhave done; now, however, it is beyond recall. Forgive me, and I forgive\nyou with all my heart.\u201d\n\n\u201cI pardon you,\u201d said the queen, \u201cbut I beg you to order that my brother\nshall be honourably buried.\u201d\n\nThe queen\u2019s wish was carried out. The poor lad, who was thought to be\nthe queen\u2019s brother, was put in a fine coffin, and laid on a magnificent\ncatafalque in the church. When night came on a guard of honour was\nplaced around the coffin and at the gates to watch till morning. Towards\nmidnight the doors of the church opened of their own accord and without\nany noise, and, at the same moment, an irresistible drowsiness came over\nthe soldiers, who all went to sleep. A pretty little wild duck entered,\nstopped in the middle of the church, shook its feathers, of which it\nfreed itself one by one, and there stood the orphan girl in her former\nshape. She approached the coffin of her brother, and shed very many\ntears over him, which all changed to pearls. After she had wept for some\ntime, she reassumed the feathers once more, and went out. When the\nguards awoke, great was their surprise to find a number of beautiful\npearls on the coffin. The next day they told the king how the gates of\nthe church had opened of themselves at midnight, how an irresistible\ndesire to sleep had overtaken them, and how the pearls had been\ndiscovered upon the coffin. The king was surprised at their story, and\nmore so when he saw the pearls. He doubled the guard, and told them to\nwatch more carefully the second night.\n\nAt the same time the doors opened again of themselves, and the soldiers\nagain fell asleep. The wild duck entered, shook off its feathers, and\nbecame the lovely girl. At the sight of the double guard, all of them\nfast asleep, she could not help laughing, and beautiful roses fell from\nher lips. As she approached her brother her tears broke forth and fell\nin a shower of pearls to the ground. At length she took her feathers\nagain and flew away. When the guards awoke they collected the roses and\npearls and took them to the king, who was now more surprised than\nbefore, seeing not only the pearls but the roses also. He again doubled\nthe guards, and he threatened them with the most severe punishment if\nthey did not keep awake. They did their best, but all was of no use. At\nthe end of their nap on the third night they found not only pearls and\nroses, but also golden fish swimming in the church font. The king was\nnow very much astonished, and began to think that there must be some\nmagic in the matter. When night came on he again doubled the number of\nthe guards, and hid himself in the chapel, after having put up a mirror\nin which he could see everything reflected without being himself seen.\n\nAt midnight the doors opened of themselves, the soldiers dropt their\narms, lay down on the ground, and fell fast asleep. The king did not\ntake his eyes off the mirror, and he saw a little wild duck enter, and\nlook timidly around it. When it saw the guards all asleep it seemed to\ntake courage, and came into the middle of the church. Then it cast off\nits feathers and became a girl of extraordinary loveliness. The king was\ntransported with joy and wonder, and felt that this must be his true\nbride. When she had come to the coffin the king rushed forward with a\nwax taper in his hand and set fire to the feathers, the flame leaping up\nand waking the guards. When the girl saw what was done she ran to the\nking wringing her hands, while pearls dropped from her eyes.\n\n\u201cWhat have you done?\u201d she cried. \u201cHow shall I now escape the fury of my\nstep-mother, by whose magic arts I was turned into a wild duck?\u201d\n\nThen she told the king all, and he at once ordered some of his guards to\nseize the woman who had so treacherously married him, and to conduct her\nout of the kingdom. He also sent some soldiers to take the step-mother\nand burn her as a sorceress. While the king gave these orders the girl\ntook from her bosom three little vessels, which she had brought with her\nfrom the sea, full of different liquids. She sprinkled the liquid in one\nof them over her brother, and he became supple and warm; his cheeks took\ntheir colour again, and the warm red blood began to run from his wound.\nHis sister sprinkled him again with the second liquid, which had the\nproperty of healing, and his wound at once closed. She sprinkled him the\nthird time with the water which had the property of calling back to\nlife. The young man opened his eyes, looked on his sister with\nastonishment, and threw himself, full of happiness, into her arms.\n\nAt the sight of this the king was overjoyed. He took the young man by\nthe hand, and, leading his sister, the three went to the palace.\n\nIn a short time he married his true bride, and he lived happily with her\nand her brother for many years.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                               SNYEGURKA.\n\n\nTHERE was once upon a time a peasant named Ivan, who had a wife named\nMary. They had been married many years, and loved one another, but they\nhad no children, and this caused them so much sorrow that they could\nfind no pleasure but in watching the children of their neighbours. What\ncould they do? Heaven had willed it so. Things in this world do not go\nas we wish, but as Heaven ordains.\n\nOne day, in the winter, the children played about in the road and the\ntwo old folk looked on, sitting in the window seat. At last the children\nbegan to make a beautiful snow figure. Ivan and Mary looked on enjoying\nit.\n\nAll of a sudden Ivan said\u2014\n\n\u201cWife, suppose we make a snow figure?\u201d\n\nMary was ready.\n\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d said she; \u201cwe might as well amuse ourselves a little. But\nwhat is the use of making a big figure? Better make a snow-child, since\nGod has not given us a living one.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are right,\u201d said Ivan, and he took his hat and went out into the\ngarden with his wife.\n\nSo they set to work to make a snow-child. They fashioned a little body,\nlittle hands, and little feet, and when all that was done they rolled a\nsnow-ball and shaped it into a head.\n\n\u201cHeaven bless you!\u201d cried a passer-by.\n\n\u201cThanks,\u201d replied Ivan.\n\n\u201cThe help of Heaven is always good,\u201d said Mary.\n\n\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d asked the stranger.\n\n\u201cLook,\u201d said Ivan.\n\n\u201cWe are making a snow-girl,\u201d said Mary.\n\nOn the ball of snow which stood for a head they made the nose and the\nchin. Then they put two little holes for the eyes. As Ivan finished the\nwork, oh, wonderful! the figure became alive! He felt a warm breath come\nfrom its lips. Ivan drew back, and looked. The child had sparkling eyes,\nand there was a smile upon its lips.\n\n\u201cHeavens! what is this?\u201d cried Ivan, making the sign of the cross.\n\nThe snow figure bent its head as if it was alive, and stirred its little\narms and legs in the snow as if it was a real child.\n\n\u201cIvan! Ivan!\u201d cried Mary, trembling with joy, \u201cHeaven has heard our\nprayers,\u201d and she threw herself on the child and covered her with\nkisses. The snow fell away from the little girl like the shell from a\nchicken.\n\n\u201cAh, my dear Snyegurka!\u201d cried Mary, embracing the long wished for and\nunexpected child, and she carried her off into the cottage.\n\nIvan had much to do to recover himself, he was so surprised, and Mary\nwas foolish with joy.\n\nSnyegurka grew hour by hour, and became more and more beautiful. Ivan\nand Mary were overjoyed, and their hut was full of life and merriment.\nThe village girls were always there playing with Snyegurka, dressing\nher, chattering with her, singing songs to her, teaching her all they\nknew. Snyegurka was very clever; she noticed everything, and learnt\nthings quickly. During that winter she grew as big as a three-year-old\nchild. She understood things, and when she spoke her voice was so sweet\nthat one could have listened to it for ever. She was amiable, obedient,\nand affectionate. Her skin was white, her hair the colour of flax, and\nher eyes deep blue; her cheeks, however, had no rosy flush in them, for\nshe had no blood, but she was so good and so amiable that every one\nloved her.\n\n\u201cYou see,\u201d said Mary, \u201cwhat joy has Heaven given us in our old age.\u201d\n\n\u201cHeaven be thanked,\u201d responded Ivan.\n\nAt last the winter was ended, and the spring sun shone down and warmed\nthe earth. The snow melted, the green grass sprang up in the fields, and\nthe lark sang high up in the sky. The village girls went singing\u2014\n\n              \u201cSweet spring, how did you come to us?\n               How did you come?\n               Did you come on a plough, or on a harrow?\u201d\n\nSnyegurka, however, became very sad. \u201cWhat is the matter with you, my\ndear child?\u201d said Mary, drawing her to her and caressing her. \u201cAre you\nnot well? You are not merry. Has an evil eye glanced on you?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d answered Snyegurka; \u201cit is nothing, mother. I am quite well.\u201d\n\nThe last snow of the winter had melted and disappeared. Flowers sprang\nup in all the gardens and fields. In the woods the nightingale and all\nthe birds sang, and all the world seemed very happy save Snyegurka, who\nbecame more and more sad. She would run away from her companions, and\nhide herself from the sun in dark nooks, like a timid flower under the\ntrees. She liked nothing save playing by the water-side under the green\nwillows. She seemed to enjoy only the cool and the shower. At night-time\nshe was happy; and when a good storm occurred, a fierce hail-storm, she\nwas as pleased with the drops as if they had been pearls. When the sun\nbroke forth again\u2014when the hail was melted\u2014then Snyegurka began to weep\nbitterly.\n\nThe spring was ended, the summer came, and the feast of Saint John was\nat hand. The girls were going to play in the woods, and they called for\nSnyegurka to go with them.\n\nMary was afraid to let her go, but she thought that the outing might do\nher child good, so she got her ready, embraced her, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cGo, my child, and play with your friends; and you, my daughters, look\nwell after her. You know I love her better than the apple of my eye.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll right,\u201d cried they all, and they ran off in a body to the woods.\n\nThere they plucked the wild-flowers, made themselves wreaths, and sang\nsongs.\n\nWhen the sun was setting they made a fire of dry grass and placed\nthemselves in a row by it, each of them having a crown of flowers on her\nhead. \u201cLook at us,\u201d said they to Snyegurka, \u201chow we run, and follow us,\u201d\nand then they began to sing and to jump, around and over the little\nfire.\n\nAll of a sudden they heard, behind them, a sigh\u2014\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d\n\nThey looked about them, and then at one another. There was nothing to be\nseen. They looked again, and found that Snyegurka was no longer among\nthem.\n\n\u201cShe has hidden herself,\u201d cried they. Then they looked for her, but\ncould not find her, calling out and shouting her name, but there was no\nanswer.\n\n\u201cWhere can she be? She must have gone home,\u201d said they.\n\nThey ran back to the village, but there no one had seen Snyegurka. All\nthe folk searched during the next day and the day following. They went\nthrough all the woods, they looked through every thicket, but no trace\nof the child was discovered.\n\nIvan and Mary were inconsolable, and for a long time did the poor mother\nseek her child in the woods, crying\u2014\n\n\u201cSnyegurka, my sweet, come to me.\u201d\n\nSometimes she thought she could hear the voice of her child replying to\nher; but no, it was not Snyegurka.\n\n\u201cWhat could have become of her?\u201d folk asked one another; \u201ccan a wild\nbeast have carried her off into the woods? Has some bird of prey flown\noff with her?\u201d\n\nNo beast had carried her off, nor had a bird flown away with her. When\nshe began to run with her companions she suddenly changed into a light\nvapour, and was carried up to heaven.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                  PRINCE PETER AND PRINCESS MAGILENE.\n\n\nIN the kingdom of France there was once a high-born prince named\nVolchvan who married a noble lady named Petronida. They had one son, who\nwas called Peter. This Prince Peter in his youth was very fond of\nhorsemanship and of war, and when he grew up he thought of nothing but\nknightly deeds. Now it chanced that just at that time there arrived a\nknight named Ruiganduis, who had come from Naples, and he, seeing the\nPrince\u2019s disposition, said to him, \u201cPrince Peter, the King of Naples has\na beautiful daughter named Magilene, and he bestows great rewards on the\nknights who by their deeds do honour to her.\u201d\n\nPeter, when he heard that, went to his father and mother, and begged\nthem to let him go to Naples to learn knightly arts, and, especially, to\nsee the beautiful Magilene, the daughter of the King.\n\nThey parted with Prince Peter with great sorrow, and bade him only make\nfriends of good folk. Then they gave him three gold rings with precious\nstones, and also a golden key. So they sent him off.\n\nWhen Prince Peter came to Naples he went to a clever workman, and\nordered him to make him a coat of mail, and a helmet to match, and told\nhim to fasten to it two golden keys. When he had done this he rode away\nto the place where the tournaments were held, where he found the King.\nThe folk called Peter, Peter with the Golden Keys, and off he went and\nplaced himself among the knights. First of all there rode out the Knight\nAndrei Skrintor, and against him appeared the son of the King of\nEngland. Andrei dealt Henry such a blow, that he was nearly thrown off\nhis horse. Then Landiot, the King\u2019s son, came forth and threw Andrei off\nhis horse on to the ground.\n\nWhen Prince Peter saw that Landiot had thrown Andrei from his saddle, he\nrode out and cried aloud\u2014\n\n\u201cLong may their Majesties live in happiness, the King, the Queen, and\ntheir beautiful daughter, the Princess Magilene.\u201d\n\nHe rode at Landiot with such force that his horse rolled on the ground\nand the spear went through his heart. This deed won for him the praise\nof the King and of all the knights, but especially that of the Princess\nMagilene, and Prince Peter became the first of all the King\u2019s knights.\n\nNow when the beautiful Princess saw how brave and handsome Prince Peter\nwas she fell in love with him, and resolved to marry him. She made a\nconfidante of her maid, and from that time Prince Peter used to see the\nPrincess daily. He gave her the three golden rings as a mark of his true\nlove, and one day, taking her with him, rode away from the city.\n\nThey rode off on their good horse, taking much gold and silver with\nthem, and they continued their journey all night. At length they came to\na thick forest which stretched far away to the seashore. There they\nstopped to rest, and the Princess, lying down on the grass, fell fast\nasleep. Prince Peter sat by her side and watched her, and as he looked\nat her he saw a locket having a golden fastening. He opened it and out\nfell the three gold rings he had given to her. The Prince put them on\nthe grass, and, as it chanced, a black raven flew by at the moment,\nseized the rings, and took them off into a tree. Peter climbed up the\ntree, hoping to catch the bird; but as he was about to seize it, the\nraven flew into another tree, and so from tree to tree till at last it\nwent away over the sea to an island, letting the rings fall into the\nwater.\n\nPrince Peter followed the bird, and, having come to the seashore, he\nlooked about him for a boat in which he could pursue it to the island.\nAt length he set off in a small fishing-boat, but as he had no oars he\npaddled along with his hands. All of a sudden, as he was on his way,\nthere came on a storm of wind which carried him away to the open sea.\nWhen the Prince saw he was far from the shore he thought he was lost,\nand he prayed with groans and tears.\n\n\u201cAlas! I am the most miserable and unfortunate of all men,\u201d said he.\n\u201cWhy did I not leave the rings in the locket where they were safe? No\none in the world is so unfortunate as I, for I have lost my happiness. I\nhave led the Princess away, and have left her in the thick forest, where\nwild beasts will tear her in pieces, or she will wander about till she\ndies of hunger. I am her destroyer, and have spilt innocent blood!\u201d He\nthen began to sink in the sea.\n\nAs it chanced, a vessel came by, bound from Turkey, and when the sailors\nsaw a man floating on the sea, they took him on board, and, carrying him\naway to Alexandria, they sold him to a Turkish Pasha, who sent him off\nas a present to the Sultan. When the Sultan saw how good his behaviour\nwas, and how agreeable he was, he made him one of his counsellors, and\nhis honesty and his good nature won him the love of all who came in\ncontact with him.\n\nWhen the Princess awoke she found herself in the thick forest. She\nlooked on every side, and when she could not see Prince Peter, she was\nmuch distressed, and sank down upon the ground. Then she went into the\nwood, and called with all her strength\u2014\n\n\u201cMy dear husband, Prince Peter, where are you?\u201d\n\nShe wandered on a long way until she met a nun, with whom she exchanged\nclothes, putting on the nun\u2019s dark garments and giving her her own\nlight-coloured dress. Then she went on to a port, where she went on\nboard a vessel which was about to sail to the country over which Prince\nPeter\u2019s father ruled. When she came there she went to live with a noble\nlady named Susanna, and, finding a place among the mountains, she made a\nharbour, built a convent there named after the apostles Peter and Paul,\nand there she also founded a hospital for strangers. So she became\nfamous for her pious works. One day the father and mother of Prince\nPeter came to her and brought to her three rings. They told her that\ntheir cook had purchased a fish in which the rings had been found. These\nrings they had given to their son Peter, and they therefore concluded\nthat he had been drowned, and they wept bitterly.\n\nNow when Peter had been with the Sultan a long time, he wished to visit\nhis own land, and the Sultan gave him his leave to go, loading him, at\nthe same time, with presents of gold, silver, and magnificent pearls.\nHaving taken leave of the Sultan, the Prince went and hired a French\nvessel, bought fourteen casks, put salt at the bottom of them, laid the\ngold and silver in the casks, scattered more salt on the top of the\ntreasure, and told the sailors that there was nothing but salt in the\ncasks. The wind was favourable, and they set off for the Prince\u2019s land,\nand, having arrived at an island not far off the coast of France, they\nweighed anchor, for the Prince was very sea-sick. He went upon shore and\nwandered about in the island till he lost his way, and being tired he\nlay down and went to sleep. He slept a long time, and the sailors sought\nhim and called him everywhere, but as they could not find him they set\nsail. They came to the Princess\u2019s convent, and there they sold the salt.\nNow one day when salt was wanted Magilene went to the casks and was very\nmuch surprised to find in them all the treasure.\n\nPrince Peter was picked up by another vessel and came likewise to the\nconvent. There he was in Magilene\u2019s hospital for a month, but all that\ntime he did not recognise the Princess, for her black veil hid her\nfeatures from him. While he was there he wept every day.\n\nOne day as Magilene came into the hospital she saw the Prince weeping,\nand she asked him why he did so, and he told her all his misfortunes.\nMagilene then recognised him, and sent off to his father and mother to\ntell them that their son was come back. When they came to the convent\nthey found the Princess arrayed in her royal garments; and when the\nPrince saw his parents he fell at their feet, embraced them and wept,\nwhile they wept with him. At length he stood up, and, taking them by the\nhand, kissed them, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cMy father and my mother, this lady is the daughter of the great King of\nNaples on account of whom I left you.\u201d\n\nSo they were married, and they lived in great happiness.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                  THE OLD MAN, HIS WIFE, AND THE FISH.\n\n\nTHERE once lived in a hut on the shores of the Isle of Buyan an old man\nand his wife. They were very poor. The old man used to go to the sea\ndaily to fish, and they only just managed to live on what he caught. One\nday he let down his net and drew it in. It seemed to be very heavy. He\ndragged and dragged, and at last got it to shore. There he found that he\nhad caught one little fish of a kind he had never before seen\u2014a golden\nfish.\n\nThe fish spoke to him in a man\u2019s voice. \u201cDo not keep me, old man,\u201d it\nsaid; \u201clet me go once more free in the sea and I will reward you for it,\nfor whatever you wish I will do.\u201d\n\nThe old man thought for a while. Then he said, \u201cWell, I don\u2019t want you.\nGo into the sea again,\u201d and he threw the fish into the water and went\nhome.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said his wife, when he got home, \u201cwhat have you caught to-day?\u201d\n\n\u201cOnly one little fish,\u201d said the man, \u201ca golden fish, and that I let go\nagain, it begged so hard. \u2018Put me in the blue sea again,\u2019 it said, \u2018and\nI will reward you, for whatever you wish I will do.\u2019 So I let it go, and\ndid not ask anything.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, you old fool!\u201d said the wife in a great rage, \u201cwhat an opportunity\nyou have lost. You might, at least, have asked the fish to give us some\nbread. We have scarce a crust in the house.\u201d\n\nThe old woman grumbled so much that her husband could have no quiet, so\nto please her off he went to the seashore, and there he cried out\u2014\n\n            \u201cLittle fish, little fish, come now to me,\n             Your tail in the water, your head out of sea!\u201d\n\nThe fish came to the shore.\n\n\u201cWell, what do you want, old man?\u201d it asked.\n\n\u201cMy wife,\u201d said the man, \u201cis in a great passion, and has sent me to ask\nfor bread.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said the fish, \u201cgo home and you shall have it.\u201d\n\nThe old man went back, and when he entered the hut he found bread in\nplenty.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said he to his wife, \u201cwe have enough bread now.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh yes!\u201d said she, \u201cbut I have had such a misfortune while you were\naway. I have broken the bucket. What shall I do the washing in now? Go\nto the fish, and ask it to give us a new bucket.\u201d\n\nAway went the man. Standing on the shore he called out\u2014\n\n            \u201cLittle fish, little fish, come now to me,\n             Your tail in the water, your head out of sea!\u201d\n\nThe fish soon made its appearance.\n\n\u201cWell, old man,\u201d it said, \u201cwhat do you want?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy wife,\u201d said the man, \u201chas had a misfortune, and has broken our\nbucket. So I have come to ask for a new one.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said the fish, \u201cyou shall find one at home.\u201d\n\nThe old man went back. As soon as he got home his wife said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cBe off to the golden fish again, and ask it to give us a new hut. Ours\nis all coming to pieces. We have scarcely a roof over our heads.\u201d\n\nThe old man once more came to the shore, and cried\u2014\n\n            \u201cLittle fish, little fish, come now to me,\n             Your tail in the water, your head out of sea!\u201d\n\nThe fish came.\n\n\u201cWell, what is it?\u201d asked the fish.\n\n\u201cMy wife,\u201d said the man, \u201cis in a very bad temper, and has sent me to\nask you to build us a new cottage. She says she cannot live any longer\nin our present one.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, do not be troubled about that,\u201d said the fish. \u201cGo home. You shall\nhave what you want.\u201d\n\nThe old man went back again, and in the place of his miserable hovel he\nfound a new hut built of oak and nicely ornamented. The old man was\ndelighted, but as soon as he went in his wife set on him, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat an idiot you are! You do not know how to take good fortune when it\nis offered to you. You think you have done a great thing just because\nyou have got a new hut. Be off again to the golden fish, and tell it I\nwill not be a mere peasant\u2019s wife any longer. I will be an Archduchess,\nwith plenty of servants, and set the fashion.\u201d\n\nThe old man went to the golden fish.\n\n\u201cWhat is it?\u201d asked the fish.\n\n\u201cMy wife will not let me rest,\u201d replied the man; \u201cshe wants now to be an\nArchduchess, and is not content with being my wife.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, it shall be as she wishes. Go home again,\u201d said the fish.\n\nAway went the man. How astonished was he, when, on coming to where his\nhouse had stood, he now found a fine mansion, three stories high.\nServants crowded the hall, and cooks were busy in the kitchens. On a\nseat in a fine room sat the man\u2019s wife, dressed in robes shining with\ngold and silver, and giving orders.\n\n\u201cGood day, wife!\u201d said the man.\n\n\u201cWho are you, man?\u201d said his wife. \u201cWhat have you to do with me, a fine\nlady? Take the clown away,\u201d said she to her servants. \u201cTake him to the\nstable, and whip some of the impudence out of him.\u201d\n\nThe servants seized the old man, took him off to the stable, and when\nthey had him there beat him so that he hardly knew whether he was alive\nor not. After that the wife made him the door-keeper of the house. She\ngave him a besom, and put him to keep the yard in order. As for his\nmeals, he got them in the kitchen. He had a hard life of it. If the yard\nwas not swept clean, he had to look out.\n\n\u201cWho would have thought she had been such a hag?\u201d said the old man to\nhimself. \u201cHere she has all such good fortune, and will not even own me\nfor her husband!\u201d\n\nAfter a time the wife got tired of being merely an Archduchess, so she\nsaid to her husband\u2014\n\n\u201cGo off to the golden fish, and tell it I will be a Czarina.\u201d\n\nThe old man went down to the shore. He cried\u2014\n\n            \u201cLittle fish, little fish, come now to me,\n             Your tail in the water, your head out of sea!\u201d\n\nThe fish came swimming to the shore.\n\n\u201cWell, old man!\u201d it said, \u201cwhat do you want?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy wife is not yet satisfied,\u201d said the man; \u201cshe wants now to be a\nCzarina.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo not let that trouble you,\u201d said the fish, \u201cbut go to your house.\nWhat you ask shall be done.\u201d\n\nThe man went back. In place of the fine house he found a palace with a\nroof of gold. Soldiers were on guard around it. In front of the palace\nwas a garden, and at the back a fine park, in which some troops were\nparading. On a balcony stood the Czarina surrounded by officers and\nnobles. The troops presented arms, the drums beat, the trumpets blew,\nand the people shouted.\n\nIn a short time the woman got tired of being Czarina, and she commanded\nthat her husband should be found and brought to her presence. The palace\nwas all in confusion, for who knew what had become of the old man?\nOfficers and noblemen hurried here and there to search for him. At\nlength he was found in a hut behind the palace.\n\n\u201cListen, you old idiot!\u201d said his wife. \u201cGo to the golden fish, and tell\nit that I am tired of being Czarina. I want to rule over all the ocean,\nto have dominion over every sea and all the fish.\u201d\n\nThe old man hesitated to go to the fish with such a request.\n\n\u201cBe off!\u201d said his wife, \u201cor your head shall be cut off.\u201d\n\nThe man went to the seashore and said\u2014\n\n            \u201cLittle fish, little fish, come now to me,\n             Your tail in the water, your head out of sea!\u201d\n\nThe fish did not come. The man waited, but it was not to be seen. Then\nhe said the words a second time. The waves roared. A short while before\nit had been bright and calm, now dark clouds covered the sky, the wind\nhowled, and the water seemed of an inky blackness.\n\nAt length the fish came.\n\n\u201cWhat do you want, old man?\u201d it asked.\n\n\u201cMy old wife,\u201d answered he, \u201cis not satisfied even now. She says she\nwill be Czarina no longer, but will rule over all the waters and all the\nfish.\u201d\n\nThe fish made no reply, but dived down and disappeared in the sea.\n\nThe man went back. What had become of the palace? He looked around, but\ncould not see it. He rubbed his eyes in wonder. On the spot where the\npalace had stood was the old hut, and at the door stood the old woman in\nher old rags.\n\nSo they commenced to live again in their old style. The man often went\na-fishing, but he never more caught the golden fish.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN.\n\n\nIN a certain kingdom there once lived a Czar and his wife who had three\nfine sons. The eldest was called Vasili, the second Fedor, and the\nyoungest Ivan. One day the Czar went with his wife to walk in his\ngarden, and there suddenly came on such a storm that the Czarina was\ncarried off by it, out of her husband\u2019s sight. The Czar was sore\ngrieved, and sorrowed for a long time. When the two eldest sons saw\ntheir father\u2019s trouble they came to him, and asked him to let them go\nforth to look for their mother. So he gave them his blessing, and they\nset out. They travelled for a long time, and at last came to a great\ndesert. There they pitched their tent, and waited to see if any one\nwould come to tell them the way. For three years they waited, but they\nsaw no one.\n\nMeanwhile the youngest brother, Ivan, went to his father to ask him for\nhis blessing, and took leave of him. He travelled for a long time, until\nat last he saw some tents in the distance. He rode on, and on coming to\nthem he saw that he had found his brothers.\n\n\u201cWhy do you stop on the borders of this dreary waste, brothers?\u201d said\nhe; \u201clet us go on together and seek our mother.\u201d\n\nThe others agreed, and they once more set out. When they had gone a long\nway they saw in the distance a palace built of crystal, with a wall\naround it of the same material. They drew near to it, and Ivan opened\nthe gate and rode into the courtyard. As he approached the door he saw a\npillar to which there were attached two rings, one of gold and the other\nof silver. He put his bridle through the rings and secured his horse,\nand then went to the door. There the king of the palace came to meet\nhim. They talked for some time, and the king, discovering that Ivan was\nhis nephew, led him into his room, and brought his brothers in also.\n\nWhen they had been with him a long time, the king gave them a magic\nball, which the brothers threw before them, and following it they came\nto a high mountain at the foot of which they stopped to rest. It was so\nhigh and so steep that no one could climb up it. Ivan rode round it to\ndiscover some means of getting to the top, and at last he found a\ncrevice into which he stepped. Then he saw an iron door with an iron\nring. When he had opened the door he found some iron hooks which he\nfastened to his hands and feet. By means of these he contrived to climb\nto the top of the mountain. When he reached the top he was very tired,\nand sat down to rest, and as soon as ever he took off the hooks they\nvanished. Afar off in the mountain he saw a tent of fine cambric, on\nwhich was pictured a copper kingdom, and on its summit was a copper\nball. On going to the tent he found at the entrance two large lions,\nwhich refused to let him pass. Ivan, however, saw two copper basins\nstanding near, so he went and got some water and gave it to the lions,\nwho were thirsty, and then they let him go into the tent. When he had\ncome there he saw a lovely princess on a couch, and at her feet slept a\ndreadful dragon, whose head Ivan cut off with one blow. The princess\nthanked him, and gave him a copper egg, in which was contained a copper\nkingdom. Then the Czarewitch left her and went on.\n\nWhen he had gone a long way he saw a tent of fine gauze hung from a\ncedar-tree by silver cords. These cords had tassels of emeralds, and on\nthe tent was the picture of a silver kingdom. On the summit of the tent\nwas a silver ball. At the entrance lay two large tigers. He satisfied\ntheir thirst, as he had done that of the lions, and then they let him\npass. When he came into the tent he saw a lovely princess dressed in\nvery fine clothes, and very much more beautiful than the former. At her\nfeet lay a dragon with six heads, and twice as large as the first. With\none blow Ivan cut off its heads, and the princess rewarded his courage\nby giving him a silver egg, in which was a silver kingdom. Then Ivan\nleft her and went on.\n\nAt length he came to a third tent of silk, on which was pictured a\ngolden kingdom, and on its summit was a ball of pure gold. The tent was\nhung from a laurel-tree by gold cords, and the tassels of the cords were\ncomposed of diamonds. By the entrance lay two large crocodiles which\nbreathed out great flames. The Czarewitch gave them some water, and thus\ngot them to let him enter the tent. Inside he found on a couch a\nprincess who even surpassed the two former ones in beauty. At her feet\nlay a dragon with twelve heads. Ivan cut off all the heads with one blow\nof his sword, and the princess, thanking him, gave him a golden egg, in\nwhich was a golden kingdom. With it she also gave him her heart. As they\ntalked together, Ivan asked the princess if she could tell him where he\nshould find his mother, and she, showing him where his mother dwelt,\nwished he would have good fortune in his adventure.\n\nHe went on a long way and came to a palace, and going in he passed\nthrough many rooms, but he found no one in them. At last he came to a\nlarge beautiful hall, and there he saw his mother, dressed in royal\nrobes, sitting on a chair. When they had tenderly saluted, Ivan told her\nhow he and his brothers had travelled very far to seek her whom they\nloved so much. The Czarina informed Ivan that a spirit would soon come,\nand told him to conceal himself under her cloak.\n\n\u201cWhen the spirit appears,\u201d said she, \u201cseize his magic wand with both\nhands. He will then fly upwards with you, but do not be afraid, and be\nquiet. After a time he will fall to the earth and be dashed to pieces.\nYou must gather these up, burn them, and scatter the ashes on the\nfield.\u201d\n\nHis mother had scarcely finished these words, and hidden him under her\ncloak, before the spirit appeared. Then Ivan sprang forward as his\nmother had told him, and laid hold of the magic wand. The spirit seized\nthe Czarewitch, flew with him far up, fell to the ground, and was dashed\nto pieces. The Czarewitch gathered these together, and burnt them, but\nkept the magic stick. Then he took his mother and the three princesses\nwhom he had rescued, and, coming to an oak-tree, he let each one of them\nslide down the mountain-side by means of a linen cloth. When the\nbrothers, who waited at the foot of the mountain, saw that he alone\nremained on the top, they tore the linen cloth out of his hand, led away\ntheir mother and the three princesses to their own kingdom, and made\nthem take an oath that they would tell their father that they had been\nsaved by them.\n\nIvan was thus left alone on the mountain, and did not know how he could\nget down. He walked about very sorrowfully, and happening to pass the\nmagic wand from one hand to the other, a man suddenly appeared before\nhim, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat is your will, Ivan Czarewitch?\u201d\n\nIvan was much astonished to see the man, and asked him who he was, and\nhow he had come on the mountain.\n\n\u201cI am a spirit,\u201d replied the man, \u201cand was the servant of him whom you\nhave overcome. As you have now his magic stick, and as you have passed\nit from one hand to the other, as you always must when you want me, I\nhave come to perform what you wish.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is well,\u201d said Ivan to the spirit. \u201cDo me your first service,\nthen, and carry me into my own country.\u201d\n\nScarcely had he finished these words before he found himself in his\nfather\u2019s city.\n\nHe wanted to first know what was going on in the palace, so instead of\ngoing straight in he went and began work in a shoemaker\u2019s shop, for he\nthought no one would quickly recognise him there. The next morning the\nshoemaker went into town to buy some leather, and came home in the\nevening very drunk. So tipsy was he that he could not see to the shop,\nso he left all to his new man. Ivan knew nothing about the work, so he\ncalled the spirit to assist him, and told him to set to and make some\nshoes while he himself went to sleep. When the master awoke early the\nnext morning he went to see what work his man had done, and when he\nfound him still fast asleep, he was very angry, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cAh! you lazy fellow, do you think I took you into my service to sleep?\u201d\n\n\u201cDo not blame me,\u201d replied Ivan, stretching himself, \u201cgo first into the\nwork-room, and see what you find there.\u201d\n\nThe shoemaker went off, and how much was he astonished to find there a\nnumber of shoes all finished. He went to them and took up a shoe to look\nat the work, but he was more astonished still, and began to disbelieve\nhis eyes, for there was not a single stitch in the shoes, but they were\nall of one piece. He took some of the shoes and set off to sell them,\nand every one who saw the wonderful shoes bought them eagerly. His fame\nspread, and in a short time the shoemaker became so noted that they sent\nfor him to the palace. There he saw the princesses, who ordered him to\nmake them some dozens of shoes, adding that they must all be ready by\nthe next morning. He told them that it was impossible for him to do what\nthey asked, but they said that if he did not do what they told him he\nshould have his head cut off, for they declared they well knew he made\nhis shoes by some magic means.\n\nThe poor shoemaker left the castle, thinking he was as good as a dead\nman, went into the city, bought some leather, and went a-drinking to\ndrive off care. Towards evening he came home, and throwing the leather\ndown upon the floor, said to his new man\u2014\n\n\u201cListen, you wretched fellow, to what you have done with your magic\nwork.\u201d\n\nSo he told him all that had happened with the princesses, and how he was\nto be put to death if he did not do what they commanded.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t be put out,\u201d said Ivan; \u201clie down and go to sleep. The morning\nwill bring us good luck.\u201d\n\nHis master thanked him for what he said, laid himself down on a bench,\nand very quickly began to snore. Then Ivan called upon his spirit,\nordered him to make all ready, and went to sleep himself.\n\nThough the shoemaker had been very drunk, when he awoke early in the\nmorning he remembered that he was to have his head cut off that day. So\nhe went to his man and said\u2014\n\n\u201cLet us have a bottle together, so that I may be more courageous when I\nam under the axe.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo not fear,\u201d answered Ivan; \u201cgo into your workshop. You will find that\nall is finished, and ready to be taken to the palace.\u201d\n\nThe shoemaker walked off to the workshop, not believing what Ivan said;\nbut when he saw all the shoes ready, he was so delighted that he did not\nknow what to do. He embraced Ivan and called him his saviour.\n\nHe took the shoes and set off to the palace; and when the princesses saw\nthe shoes, they felt sure that Ivan must be in the town, so they said to\nthe shoemaker\u2014\n\n\u201cYou have well performed what you were ordered, but you must do\nsomething more for us. This night there must be built opposite our\npalace a golden castle. There must be a porcelain bridge from the one\npalace to the other, and this must be covered with velvet.\u201d\n\nThe shoemaker was confounded at this, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cI am only a poor shoemaker, how can I do such a thing?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you do not do what we tell you,\u201d said the princesses, \u201cyour head\nshall be cut off.\u201d\n\nThe shoemaker went at once from the castle, weeping bitterly. He turned\nin at an alehouse to drown his care, got drunk, and when he reached home\ntold Ivan what he had been commanded.\n\n\u201cGo to sleep,\u201d said Ivan; \u201cto-morrow will bring us good luck.\u201d\n\nThe shoemaker laid himself down on a bench and went to sleep, and Ivan,\ncalling the spirit to him, told him to get everything ready as the\nshoemaker had been commanded. After that he lay down, and went to sleep\nalso.\n\nEarly the next morning Ivan woke his master, and putting the wing of a\ngoose in his hand, said\u2014\n\n\u201cGo at once to the bridge and dust it.\u201d\n\nIvan himself went into the golden palace. The Czar and his daughters\nwoke very early, and came out on the balcony, and from there they saw\neverything. The princesses were beside themselves with joy, for they\nwere now sure that Ivan was in the town, and soon after they saw him\nstanding at a window in the golden castle. Then they begged the Czar and\nhis wife to go with them into the castle, and as they were about to go\nup the steps of the palace, Ivan came out to meet them. His mother and\nthe princesses ran forward to embrace him, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cThis is he who rescued us.\u201d\n\nHis brothers were ashamed, and looked down on the ground, and the Czar\nwas thunderstruck, so astonished was he. His wife, however, soon\nexplained everything to him, and then the Czar was so angry with his\neldest sons that he would have put them to death. Ivan threw himself at\nhis feet, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cMy dear father, if you wish to reward me for my labour, grant me the\nlives of my brothers, and I shall be satisfied.\u201d\n\nThen his father raised him up, kissed him, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cThey are really unworthy of thee.\u201d\n\nSo they all went back to the castle.\n\nThe following day three weddings were celebrated. The eldest son,\nVasili, wedded the princess of the copper kingdom. Fedor, the second\nson, married the princess of the silver kingdom, and Ivan saw them\nsettled in their dominions. He himself and his princess took possession\nof the golden kingdom. He took the shoemaker with him, and there they\nall lived for many years prosperous and happy.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                    THE DUCK THAT LAID GOLDEN EGGS.\n\n\nTHERE lived once an old man and his wife. The man was called Abrosim,\nand his wife Fetinia. They were very poor and miserable, and had a son\nnamed Little Ivan, who was fifteen years old. One day old Abrosim\nbrought a crust of bread home for his wife and son. He had scarcely\nbegun to eat, however, when Krutschina (Sorrow) sprang up from behind\nthe stove, seized the crust out of his hand, and ran away behind the\nstove again. The old man made a bow to Krutschina, and begged her to\ngive him the crust back again, as he and his wife had nothing else to\neat.\n\n\u201cI will not give you the crust again,\u201d said Krutschina, \u201cbut instead of\nit I will give you a duck which lays a gold egg every day.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said Abrosim. \u201cI shall be supperless to-night. Do not\ndeceive me, but tell me where I shall find the duck.\u201d\n\n\u201cEarly to-morrow morning,\u201d said Krutschina, \u201cwhen you are up, go into\nthe town; there you will see a duck in a pond, catch it, and carry it\nhome.\u201d\n\nWhen Abrosim heard this he lay down and went to sleep.\n\nThe next morning he rose early, and went to the town, and was very much\npleased to see the duck swimming about on a pond. He called it to him,\ncarried it off to his home, and gave it to his wife Fetinia. They were\nboth delighted, and put the duck in a big basin, placing a sieve over\nit. In an hour\u2019s time they went to look at it, and discovered that the\nduck had laid a golden egg. Then they took the duck out, and let it walk\na little on the floor, and the old man, taking the egg, set off to town.\nThere he sold the egg for a hundred roubles, took the money, and, going\nto the market, bought different kinds of vegetables and set off home.\n\nThe next day the duck laid another egg like the first, which Abrosim\nsold in the same manner. So the duck went on laying a golden egg every\nday, and the old man became, in a short time, very rich. He bought a\nlarge house, a great many shops, all kinds of wares, and set up in\nbusiness.\n\nHis wife Fetinia made a favourite of a young clerk in her husband\u2019s\nemploy, and used to supply him with money. One day when Abrosim was away\nfrom home, buying some goods, the clerk called to have a talk with\nFetinia, and it chanced that he then saw the duck that laid the golden\neggs. He was pleased with the bird, and, examining it, found written\nunder its wing in gold letters\u2014\n\n\u201cWhoever eats this duck will be a Czar.\u201d\n\nHe did not say anything to Fetinia about what he had seen, but asked her\nto roast the duck for him. Fetinia said she could not kill the duck, for\nall their fortune depended on it, but the clerk begged her so earnestly\nthat she at last consented and killed it, and put it in the oven. The\nclerk then went off saying he would return soon, and Fetinia also went\nout in the town. While they were gone in came little Ivan. He felt very\nhungry, and, looking about him for something to eat, he chanced to see\nthe roast duck in the oven, so he took it out and ate all of it but the\nbones. Then he went off again to the shop.\n\nIn a little while the clerk came back, and, having called Fetinia, asked\nher to bring out the duck. The woman went to the oven, but when she saw\nthat the duck was not there, she was terribly put out, and told the\nclerk that the duck had disappeared. At that the clerk flew into a great\nrage, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cYou have eaten the duck yourself, of course,\u201d and he got up and walked\nout of the house.\n\nIn the evening Abrosim and his son, Little Ivan, came home. When Abrosim\ndid not see the duck, he asked his wife where it was, and she told him\nthat she did not know. Then Little Ivan said to his father\u2014\n\n\u201cMy dear father, when I came home, in the middle of the day, for dinner,\nmy mother was not in, so I looked in the oven, and there found a roast\nduck. I took it out and ate it all but the bones, but I do not know\nwhether it was our duck or a strange one.\u201d\n\nThen old Abrosim was in such a rage that he thrashed his wife till she\nwas half dead, and he turned Little Ivan out of doors.\n\nLittle Ivan began his journey. Where should he go? He determined to\nfollow his nose. For ten days and nights he went on. Then he came to a\ntown, and as he stepped to the gate he saw a great many people assembled\ntogether. Now these folk had been taking council, their Czar being dead,\nas to who should succeed him. In the end they agreed that the first\nperson who came in at the city gate should be made Czar. Just then in\ncame Little Ivan through the gate, so all the people cried out together\u2014\n\n\u201cHere is our Czar!\u201d\n\nThe chief folk took Little Ivan by the arms, conducted him to the royal\napartments, put on him the Czar\u2019s robes, seated him on the throne, made\nobeisance to him as to their Czar, and waited for his commands. Then\nLittle Ivan thought he must surely be asleep and dreaming all this; but\nat last he knew that he must be really Czar. He was heartily pleased,\nbegan to rule over the people, and to appoint his officers. A short time\nafter he called one of them, named Luga, to him, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cMy true friend and good knight Luga, I want you to do me a service. Go\nto my own country, go to the Czar, salute him from me, and ask him to\ndeliver to you the shopkeeper Abrosim and his wife, so that you may\nbring them to me. If he will not deliver them up to you, tell him that I\nwill lay waste his country with fire, and will make him himself my\nprisoner.\u201d\n\nWhen the servant Luga was come into Little Ivan\u2019s country he went to the\nCzar and asked him to let Abrosim and Fetinia go away with him. The Czar\nwas unwilling to let Abrosim go, for he wanted to keep the rich merchant\nin his own country. He knew, however, that Ivan\u2019s kingdom was very large\nand populous, and being therefore afraid, he let Abrosim and Fetinia\ndepart. Luga received them from the Czar, and conducted them to his own\nnative country.\n\nWhen he brought them to Little Ivan, the Czar said to his father\u2014\n\n\u201cYes, father, you turned me away from your house, and I therefore bring\nyou to mine. Come, live with me, you and my mother, till the end of your\ndays.\u201d\n\nAbrosim and Fetinia rejoiced exceedingly to find that their son was\nbecome Czar, and they lived with him many years, until they died.\n\nLittle Ivan ruled for thirty years in good health, and was very happy,\nand all his people loved him sincerely to the last hour of his life.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                           EMELYAN THE FOOL.\n\n\nIN a certain village there once lived a peasant who had three sons, of\nwhom two were sensible, but the third was a fool, and his name was\nEmelyan. When the peasant had lived for a long time, and was grown very\nold, he called his three sons to him, and said to them\u2014\n\n\u201cMy dear children, I feel that I have not very long to live, so I give\nyou the house and cattle, which you will divide, share and share alike,\namong you. I also leave you, in money, a hundred roubles apiece.\u201d\n\nSoon after the old man died, and his sons, after they had buried him,\nlived on happy and contented.\n\nSome time after Emelyan\u2019s brothers took it into their heads to remove\ninto the city, and carry on trade with the three hundred roubles which\ntheir father had left them. So they said to Emelyan\u2014\n\n\u201cHark ye, fool! we are going to the city, and we will take your hundred\nroubles with us, and if we prosper in trade we will buy you a red coat,\nred boots, and a red cap. Do you, however, stay at home here, and when\nyour sisters-in-law desire you to do anything, do as they bid you.\u201d\n\nThe fool, who had a great longing for a red coat, a red cap, and red\nboots, answered at once that he would do whatever his sisters-in-law\ntold him. So his brothers went off to the city, and Emelyan stayed at\nhome.\n\nOne day, when the winter was come and the cold was great, his\nsisters-in-law told him to go out and fetch in water, but Emelyan\nremained lying on the stove, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cAy, and who, then, are you?\u201d\n\n\u201cHow now, fool!\u201d said his sisters-in-law, \u201cwe are what you see. You know\nhow cold it is, and that it is a man\u2019s business to go.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am lazy,\u201d replied he.\n\n\u201cHow!\u201d cried they. \u201cYou are lazy! You will want to eat, and how can we\ncook if we have no water? Very well, then, we will tell our husbands not\nto give him anything when they have bought the fine red coat and all for\nhim.\u201d\n\nThe fool heard what they said, and, as he was very desirous to get the\nred coat and cap, he saw that he must go. So he got down from by the\nstove, and began to put on his shoes and stockings, and to dress\nhimself. When he was ready he took the buckets and the axe, and went\ndown to the river, which ran near their village. When he arrived there,\nhe cut an enormous hole in the ice. He then drew water in the buckets,\nand, setting them on the ice, he stood by the hole, looking into the\nwater. As he looked he saw a large pike swimming about in the open\nwater. Fool as Emelyan was he felt a wish to catch this pike. So he\nstole on softly and cautiously to the edge of the hole, and, making a\nsudden grasp at the pike, he caught him, and pulled him out of the\nwater. Putting him in his bosom, he was hurrying home, when the pike\ncried out\u2014\n\n\u201cHo, fool! why have you caught me?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo take you home,\u201d answered he, \u201cto get my sisters-in-law to cook you.\u201d\n\n\u201cHo, fool!\u201d said the pike; \u201cdo not take me home, but let me go again\ninto the water, and I will make a rich man of you.\u201d\n\nEmelyan, however, would not consent, and was going on homewards. When\nthe pike clearly saw that the fool was not inclined to let him go, he\nsaid\u2014\n\n\u201cHark ye, fool! let me go, and I will do for you everything you do not\nlike to do for yourself. You will only have to wish, and it will be\ndone.\u201d\n\nWhen the fool heard that he rejoiced very much, for, as he was\nuncommonly lazy, he thought to himself\u2014\n\n\u201cIf the pike does everything that I have no mind to do, all will be done\nwithout my having any occasion to work.\u201d\n\nSo he said to the pike\u2014\n\n\u201cI will let you go in the water if you will do all you promise.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet me go first,\u201d said the pike, \u201cand then I will keep my promise.\u201d\n\nThe fool, however, said that the pike must first perform his promise,\nand then he would let him go. When the pike saw he would not put him\ninto the water, he said\u2014\n\n\u201cIf you wish, as I told you, that I should do all you desire, you must\ntell me now what your desire is.\u201d\n\n\u201cI wish,\u201d said the fool, \u201cthat my buckets should go of themselves from\nthe river up the hill, and that without spilling any of the water.\u201d\n\nThen said the pike\u2014\n\n\u201cRemember the words I now say, and listen to what they are: \u2018At the\npike\u2019s command, and at my request, go, buckets, of yourselves up the\nhill.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe fool repeated after him\u2014\n\n\u201cAt the pike\u2019s command, and at my request, go, buckets, of yourselves up\nthe hill.\u201d\n\nInstantly, with the speed of thought, the buckets ran up the hill. When\nEmelyan saw that, he was amazed beyond expression, and he said to the\npike\u2014\n\n\u201cBut will it always be so?\u201d\n\n\u201cEverything you desire will be done,\u201d said the pike; \u201cbut do not forget,\nI say, the words I have taught you.\u201d\n\nEmelyan then put the pike into the water, and followed his buckets home.\n\nThe neighbours were all amazed when they saw the buckets, and said to\none another\u2014\n\n\u201cThis fool makes the buckets come of themselves up from the river, and\nhe follows them himself at his leisure.\u201d\n\nBut Emelyan took no notice of them, and went on home. The buckets were\nby this time in the house, and standing in their place on the\nfoot-bench, and Emelyan himself lay down on the stove.\n\nAfter some time his sisters-in-law said to him again\u2014\n\n\u201cEmelyan, what are you loitering there for? Get up and cut wood.\u201d\n\nBut the fool said\u2014\n\n\u201cAy! and you! who are you, then?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou see,\u201d cried they, \u201cit is now winter, and if you do not go and cut\nwood you will be frozen.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am lazy,\u201d said the fool.\n\n\u201cWhat! you are lazy!\u201d said the sisters-in-law. \u201cIf you do not get up and\ncleave wood, we will tell our husbands not to give you the red coat, or\nthe red cap, or the fine red boots.\u201d The fool, who longed for the red\ncap, coat, and boots, saw that he must cleave the wood; but as it was\nbitter cold, and he did not like to leave the stove, he repeated, under\nhis breath, as he lay there: \u201cAt the pike\u2019s command, and at my request,\nup, axe, and hew wood; and do you, logs, come of yourselves into the\nhouse and lay yourselves in the stove.\u201d\n\nThe axe instantly jumped up, ran into the yard, and began to cut up the\nwood, and the logs came of themselves into the house, and went and laid\nthemselves in the stove. When the sisters-in-law saw this they wondered\nexceedingly, and as the axe did the work of itself whenever Emelyan was\nwanted to cut up wood, he lived with them for some time in great\ntranquillity. At length the wood was cut, and they said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cEmelyan, we have no more wood, so you must go to the forest to cut\nsome.\u201d\n\n\u201cAy,\u201d said the fool, \u201cand you! who are you, then?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe wood,\u201d said the sisters-in-law, \u201cis far off, and it is winter, and\ntoo cold for us to go.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am lazy,\u201d said the fool.\n\n\u201cHow! you are lazy!\u201d said they, \u201cyou will be frozen, then, and besides,\nwhen our husbands come home we will tell them not to give you the red\ncoat, cap, and boots.\u201d\n\nAs the fool longed for the red clothes, he found that he must go and cut\nthe wood. So he got off the stove, and began to put on his shoes and\nstockings, and to dress himself. When he was dressed, he went out into\nthe yard, pulled the sledge out of the shed, took a rope and the axe\nwith him, mounted the sledge, and called out to his sisters-in-law\u2014\u201cOpen\nthe gate!\u201d\n\nWhen the sisters-in-law saw that he was going off in the sledge without\nany horses, for the fool had not put the horses to it, they cried out\u2014\n\n\u201cWhy, Emelyan, you have got on the sledge without yoking the horses!\u201d\n\nHe answered that he did not want any horses, but asked them to open the\ngate. The sisters-in-law threw open the gate, and the fool, as he sat in\nthe sledge, said\u2014\n\n\u201cAt the pike\u2019s command, and at my request, away, sledge, go to the\nwood.\u201d\n\nAt these words the sledge galloped out of the yard at such a rate that\nthe people of the village, when they saw it, were filled with amazement.\nThe sledge went on so very fast, that if a pair of horses had been yoked\nto it they could not have drawn it at anything like the same rate.\n\nAs it was necessary for the fool to go through the town on his way to\nthe wood, he came to it at full speed. Not knowing that he should cry\nout \u201cMake way!\u201d in order that he might not run over any one, he gave no\nnotice, but rode on. So he ran over a great many people; and though they\nran after him, no one was able to overtake him and bring him back.\nEmelyan, having got clear of the town, came to the wood, and stopped his\nsledge. He then got down, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cAt the pike\u2019s command, and at my request, up, axe, hew wood; and you,\nlogs, lay yourselves on the sledge, and tie yourselves together.\u201d\n\nThe fool had scarcely uttered these words, when the axe began to cut\nwood, the logs to lay themselves in the sledge, and the rope to tie them\ndown. When the axe had cut wood enough, he desired it to cut him a good\ncudgel, and when the axe had done this he mounted the sledge, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cUp and away! At the pike\u2019s command, and at my request, go home,\nsledge.\u201d\n\nAway went the sledge at the top of its speed. When Emelyan came to the\ntown where he had hurt so many people, he found a crowd waiting to catch\nhim, and as soon as he got into the town they laid hold of him, and\nbegan to drag him off his sledge and to beat him. When the fool saw how\nthey were treating him, he said under his breath\u2014\n\n\u201cAt the pike\u2019s command, and at my request, up, cudgel, and thrash them.\u201d\n\nInstantly the cudgel began to lay about it in all directions, and when\nthe people were all driven away he made his escape, and came to his own\nvillage. The cudgel, having thrashed them all soundly, rolled to the\nhouse after him, and Emelyan, as usual when he got home, lay down on the\nstove.\n\nAfter he had left the town the people began everywhere to talk, not\nabout the number of persons whom he had injured, but about the amazing\nfact of his riding in the sledge without horses; and from one to another\nthe news spread till it reached the court, and came even to the ears of\nthe king. When the king heard the story he felt an extreme desire to see\nEmelyan, so he despatched an officer with a party of soldiers in search\nof him. The officer whom the king sent lost no time in leaving the town,\nand he took the road that the fool had taken. When he came to the\nvillage where Emelyan lived, he summoned before him the Starosta\n(Head-man) of the village, and said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cI am sent by the king to take a certain fool, and bring him before his\nmajesty.\u201d\n\nThe Starosta at once showed him the house where Emelyan lived, and the\nofficer, entering it, asked where the fool was. Emelyan, who was lying\non the stove, made answer and said\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat is it you want with me?\u201d\n\n\u201cHow!\u201d said the officer. \u201cWhat do I want with you? Get up and dress\nyourself. I must take you to the king.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat to do?\u201d asked Emelyan.\n\nThe officer was so enraged at the rudeness of his replies, that he gave\nhim a slap on the cheek.\n\n\u201cAt the pike\u2019s command, and at my request,\u201d said the fool, under his\nbreath, \u201cup, cudgel, and thrash them.\u201d\n\nAt the word, up sprang the cudgel, and began to lay about it on all\nsides, on officer and on men alike. The officer was forced to go back to\ntown as fast as he could; and when he came before the king, and told him\nhow the fool had cudgelled them all round, the king marvelled greatly,\nand would not believe that he had been able to cudgel them at all.\n\nThe king then selected a wise man, commanding him to bring him the fool\nby craft, if nothing else would do. The envoy left the king, and went to\nthe village where Emelyan lived. He called the Starosta before him, and\nsaid\u2014\n\n\u201cI am sent by the king to take your fool. So do you send for those with\nwhom he lives.\u201d\n\nThe Starosta then ran and fetched the sisters-in-law. The king\u2019s\nmessenger asked them what it was the fool liked, and they answered\u2014\n\n\u201cNoble sir, if any one entreats our fool earnestly to do anything, he\nflatly refuses the first and the second time. The third time, however,\nhe does not refuse, but does what one wants, for he does not like to be\nroughly handled.\u201d\n\nThe king\u2019s messenger then dismissed them, charging them not to tell\nEmelyan that he had summoned them before him. He then bought raisins,\nbaked plums, and grapes, and went to the fool. When he came into the\nroom, he went up to the stove, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cEmelyan, why are you lying there?\u201d and with that he gave him the\nraisins, baked plums, and grapes, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cEmelyan, we will go together to the king. I will take you with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am very warm here,\u201d said the fool, for there was nothing he was so\nfond of as warmth.\n\nThe messenger then began to entreat him.\n\n\u201cBe so good, Emelyan,\u201d said he; \u201clet us go. You will like the court\nvastly.\u201d\n\n\u201cAy,\u201d said the fool; \u201cI am lazy.\u201d\n\nThe messenger began once more to entreat him.\n\n\u201cBe so good,\u201d said he; \u201ccome with me, and the king will get you made a\nfine red coat, a red cap, and a pair of red boots.\u201d\n\nWhen the fool heard the red coat mentioned, he said\u2014\n\n\u201cGo on before, I will follow.\u201d\n\nThe messenger then pressed him no further, but went out and asked the\nsisters-in-law if there was any danger of the fool\u2019s deceiving him. They\nassured him that there was not, and he went his way. The fool, who was\nstill lying on the stove, then said to himself\u2014\n\n\u201cHow I hate this going to the king!\u201d\n\nThen after a few minutes\u2019 thought\u2014\n\n\u201cAt the pike\u2019s command, and at my request,\u201d said he, \u201cup stove, and away\nto the town.\u201d\n\nInstantly the wall of the room opened, and the stove moved out. When it\nhad got clear of the yard, it went at such a rate that there was no\novertaking it, and it came up with the king\u2019s messenger, and went after\nhim, and entered the palace with him. When the king knew the fool had\ncome, he went forth with all his ministers to see him, and when he saw\nthat Emelyan was come riding on the stove, he was greatly amazed.\nEmelyan still lay where he was, and said nothing. Then the king asked\nhim why he had hurt so many people when he went to the wood.\n\n\u201cIt was their own fault,\u201d said the fool; \u201cwhy did they not get out of\nthe way?\u201d\n\nJust at that moment the king\u2019s daughter came to the window and looked at\nthe fool, and Emelyan, happening suddenly to look up at the window where\nshe stood observing him, and seeing that she was very handsome, said,\nquite softly to himself\u2014\n\n\u201cAt the pike\u2019s command, and at my request, let this lovely maiden fall\nin love with me.\u201d\n\nScarcely had he spoken the words, when the king\u2019s daughter was\ndesperately in love with him. He then said\u2014\n\n\u201cAt the pike\u2019s command, and at my request, up and away, stove, go home.\u201d\n\nImmediately the stove left the palace, went through the town, got home,\nand set itself in its old place. There Emelyan lived for some time,\ncomfortable and happy.\n\nOther people in the town, however, were far otherwise. At the word of\nEmelyan, the king\u2019s daughter had fallen in love with him, and she began\nto implore her father to give her the fool for a husband. The king was\nin a great rage, both with her and the fool, but he knew not how he\ncould lay hold of him. His minister, however, suggested that he should\nagain send the officer whom he had before sent to take him. This advice\npleased the king well, and he had the officer called to him. When he\ncame the king said\u2014\n\n\u201cHark ye, friend! I sent you before for the fool, and you came without\nhim. To punish you I now send you for him a second time. If you bring\nhim you shall be rewarded, but if you do not bring him you shall be\npunished.\u201d\n\nWhen the officer heard that, he left the king, and lost no time in going\nin quest of the fool. When he came to the village, he called for the\nStarosta, and said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cHere is money for you. Buy everything for a good dinner to-morrow.\nInvite Emelyan, and when he comes make him drink till he falls asleep.\u201d\n\nThe Starosta, knowing that the officer came from the king, felt obliged\nto obey him, so he bought everything that was required, and invited the\nfool. When Emelyan said he would come, the officer was greatly pleased.\nSo next day the fool came to dinner, and the Starosta plied him so well\nwith drink that he fell fast asleep. As soon as the officer saw he was\nasleep, he laid hold of him, and ordered a carriage to be brought. When\nit came, they put the fool in it, and the officer, getting in himself,\ndrove off to the town, and so to the palace. The minister informed the\nking that the officer had come, and as soon as he heard it, he ordered a\nlarge cask to be provided without delay, and to be hooped with strong\niron hoops. When the cask was brought to the king, and he saw that\neverything had been done as he desired, he ordered his daughter and the\nfool to be put into it and the cask to be well pitched. When all this\nhad been done, the king ordered the cask to be thrown into the sea, and\nleft to the mercy of the waves. The king then returned to his palace,\nand the cask floated along for some time on the sea. All this time the\nfool was fast asleep. When he awoke, and found it was quite dark, he\nsaid to himself\u2014\n\n\u201cWhere am I?\u201d for he thought he was all alone; but the princess said\u2014\n\n\u201cYou are in a cask, Emelyan, and I am shut up with you in it.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut who are you?\u201d asked he.\n\n\u201cI am the king\u2019s daughter,\u201d answered the princess; and then she told him\nwhy she had been shut up there with him. She then besought him to\ndeliver himself and her out of the cask, but the fool said\u2014\n\n\u201cI am very warm here.\u201d\n\n\u201cGrant me the favour,\u201d said the princess; \u201chave pity on my tears, and\ndeliver me out of this cask.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said Emelyan; \u201cI am lazy.\u201d\n\nThe princess began once more to entreat him.\n\n\u201cGrant me the favour, Emelyan,\u201d said she; \u201cdeliver me out of this cask,\nand let me not die.\u201d\n\nThe fool was moved by her tears and entreaties, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cWell, I will do this for you.\u201d\n\nHe then said softly\u2014\n\n\u201cAt the pike\u2019s command, and at my request, cast us, O sea, on the shore,\nwhere we may dwell on a dry place, only let us be near our own country,\nand do thou, cask, fall to pieces on the dry land.\u201d\n\nScarcely had the fool spoken the words, when the waves began to roll,\nand the cask was thrown up on a dry place and fell to pieces of itself.\nEmelyan got up and went with the princess about the place where they\nwere cast. The fool saw that they were in a very fine island, where\nthere was an abundance of trees, with all kinds of fruit on them. When\nthe princess saw that, she rejoiced greatly at their being on such an\nisland, and she said\u2014\n\n\u201cBut, Emelyan, where shall we live? there is not even a nook here.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou want too much,\u201d said the fool.\n\n\u201cGrant me the favour,\u201d said the princess; \u201clet there be, if nothing\nmore, a little cottage in which we may shelter us from the rain\u201d\u2014for the\nprincess knew he could do anything he wished.\n\n\u201cI am lazy,\u201d said the fool.\n\nThe princess began again to urge him, and Emelyan, overcome by her\nentreaties, was obliged to do as she desired.\n\nHe went away from her, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cAt the pike\u2019s command, and at my request, let me have, in the middle of\nthis island, a finer castle than the king\u2019s, and let a crystal bridge\nlead from my castle to the royal palace, and let there be people of all\nconditions in the court.\u201d\n\nThe words were scarcely spoken than there appeared a splendid castle\nwith a crystal bridge. The fool went with the princess into the castle,\nand saw that the apartments were all magnificently furnished, and that\nthere were many people there, such as footmen, and all kinds of\nofficers, who waited for the fool\u2019s commands. When he saw that all these\nmen were like men, and that he alone was ugly and stupid, he wished to\nbe better, so he said\u2014\n\n\u201cAt the pike\u2019s command, and at my request, let me become such a youth\nthat I shall have no equal, and let me be extremely wise.\u201d\n\nHe had scarcely spoken the words before he became so handsome and so\nwise that all were amazed.\n\nEmelyan then sent one of his servants to the king to invite him and all\nhis ministers to the castle. The servant went along the bridge which the\nfool had made, and when he came to the court the ministers brought him\nbefore the king, and Emelyan\u2019s messenger said\u2014\n\n\u201cPlease your majesty, I am sent by my master to ask you to dinner.\u201d\n\nThe king asked him who his master was, but he answered\u2014\n\n\u201cPlease your majesty, I can tell you nothing about my master, but if you\ncome to dine with him he will inform you himself.\u201d\n\nThe king, who was curious to know who it was who had sent to invite him,\ntold the messenger that he would come without fail.\n\nThe servant went away, and when he got home the king and his ministers\nset out along the crystal bridge to visit the fool. When they arrived at\nthe castle, Emelyan came forth to meet the king, took him by the white\nhands, kissed him on the mouth, led him into his castle, and made him\nsit behind the oak tables, with fine diapered table-cloths, at\nsugar-meats and honey-drinks. The king and his ministers ate and drank,\nand made themselves merry. When they got up from table and retired, the\nfool said to the king\u2014\n\n\u201cDoes your majesty know who I am?\u201d\n\nAs Emelyan was now dressed in fine clothes, and was very handsome, it\nwas not possible to recognise him; so the king said that he did not know\nhim. Then said the fool\u2014\n\n\u201cDoes not your majesty recollect how a fool came on a stove to your\ncourt, and how you fastened him up in a pitched cask with your daughter,\nand cast them into the sea? Know me then now, for I am that Emelyan.\u201d\n\nWhen the king saw him thus before him, he was greatly terrified, and\nknew not what to do. But the fool went to the king\u2019s daughter, and\nbrought her out to him. When the king saw her he was very pleased, and\nsaid\u2014\n\n\u201cI have been very unjust towards you, so I give you my daughter for your\nwife.\u201d\n\nHearing that, Emelyan thanked the king, and when he had prepared\neverything for the wedding, it was celebrated with great magnificence,\nand the following day Emelyan gave a feast to the ministers and to the\ncommon people. There were barrels of wine set forth; and when all these\nfestivities were at an end, the king wanted to give up his kingdom to\nhim, but Emelyan had no mind to take it. So the king went back to his\nkingdom, and Emelyan remained in his castle, and lived happily.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          ILIJA, THE MUROMER.\n\n\nIN the celebrated city of Murom, near to Katatscharowa, there lived a\ncountryman named Ivan Timofejevitch. He had one son named Ilija, the\nMuromer, and of him he was very fond. He was thirty years old when he\nbegan to walk. Then, all of a sudden, not only did he become strong\nenough to go about, but also made himself a suit of armour and a steel\nspear. Then he saddled his horse, went to his father and mother, and\nasked them for their blessing, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cFather and mother of mine, let me go to the celebrated town of Kiev, to\npray to God and to see the prince.\u201d\n\nHis father and mother gave him their blessing, and said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cGo, then, to the town of Kiev, to the town of Tschernigof, and do no\nwrong on your way, and spill no Christian blood wantonly.\u201d\n\nIlija, the Muromer, received their blessing, and prayed to God. Then he\nbid his parents farewell, and went on his way. He travelled so far in a\ndark forest that at length he came to the hold of some robbers. As soon\nas the robbers saw the Muromer, they began to wish for his beautiful\nhorse, and they said one to another\u2014\n\n\u201cLet us seize this horse, which is so beautiful that its like has never\nbeen seen, and let us take it from this unknown fellow.\u201d\n\nSo they all, five-and-twenty, set upon Ilija, the Muromer. Ilija reined\nin his horse, took an arrow out of his quiver, put it on the string of\nhis bow, and shot it into the ground with so much force that the pieces\nof earth flew over three acres. When the robbers saw that they looked at\none another with astonishment. Then they threw themselves on their\nknees, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cMaster and father, we have wronged you. If you want to punish us take\nour treasure, our fine clothes, and as many of our horses as you like.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat should I do with your treasure?\u201d said Ilija. \u201cIf you want to keep\nyour lives, see that you do not do the like in future.\u201d So he went on to\nfamous Kiev. He came at length to the town of Tschernigof, and found it\nbeset by an army of pagans, so great that no one could tell their\nnumber. They wanted to destroy the town, tear down the churches, and\ncarry off the princes and nobles as slaves. When Ilija, the Muromer, saw\nthe army he was afraid, but he placed confidence in the Highest, and\nbraced himself up to die for the Christian religion. So he attacked the\npagan army, put them to flight, took the chiefs prisoners, and carried\nthem to Tschernigof. When he came to the city the folk ran out to meet\nhim, the prince and the nobles coming first. They gave him thanks, and\nthen went with him to offer up praise to God, who had preserved the town\nsafe, and not allowed it to be overthrown by so large an army.\n\nThen they conducted Ilija to the palace, and entertained him at a great\nfeast. After that Ilija, the Muromer, went straight on to Kiev, along a\nroad which the Robber Nightingale had kept for thirty years, and on\nwhich he suffered no horseman or traveller on foot to pass, putting them\nto death, not by the sword, but by the sound of his robber whistle. When\nIlija came into the open fields he rode on to the Bianski forest, and\nwent far on, passing over marshes, by means of bridges made of\nwater-elder, to the river Smarodienka. When the Robber Nightingale saw\nhim about twenty versts away, he guessed his errand, and sounded his\nrobber whistle. But the hero did not quail, and came on till he was only\nten versts off, when the robber blew his whistle so loudly that Ilija\u2019s\nhorse fell down on its knees. Then Ilija went up to the robber\u2019s nest,\nwhich was built upon twelve oaks. When the robber saw the hero he blew\nwith all his might and tried to kill him, but Ilija took his bow, put a\nnew arrow on the string, shot it straight into the robber\u2019s nest, and\nhit the robber in the right eye. Robber Nightingale fell down from the\ntree like a sheaf of oats.\n\nIlija, the Muromer, took him, bound him fast to his saddle, and rode\naway to Kiev. At the side of the road stood the palace of Robber\nNightingale, and as he rode by the robber\u2019s daughters were sitting at\nthe open window.\n\n\u201cThere comes our father,\u201d said the youngest, \u201criding, and bringing with\nhim a peasant, tied to his saddle.\u201d\n\nThe eldest looked at him carefully, and began to weep bitterly.\n\n\u201cIt is not our father,\u201d said she, \u201cthat rides there, but a strange man\nwho has made him prisoner.\u201d\n\nThen they called out to their husbands\u2014\n\n\u201cDear husbands, ride out against this stranger, and deliver our father\nfrom him. Let not such shame come on us!\u201d\n\nTheir husbands were mighty riders, and they came out to attack the\nRussian horseman; and they had good horses and sharp lances, and thought\nit would be an easy matter to kill him. When Robber Nightingale saw\nthem, he called out and said\u2014\n\n\u201cMy dear sons, let no shame come on you, and do not attack so brave a\nknight, for if you do he will but slay you. Ask him, rather, to enter\nthe house and drink with us.\u201d\n\nWhen Ilija heard the invitation he turned to enter the palace,\nsuspecting no treachery; but the eldest daughter had hung a beam, by\nmeans of a chain, over the entrance, so that she might kill him as he\nrode through. When Ilija saw that he gave her a stroke with his lance\nand killed her. Then he rode on to Kiev and came to the prince\u2019s palace.\nHe entered the palace, prayed to God, and saluted the nobles.\n\n\u201cTell me, my good young man,\u201d said the prince, \u201cwhat is your name, and\nto what place you belong?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am called Little Ilija, sir,\u201d said he; \u201cmy father is Ivan, and I was\nborn in the town of Murom, near to Katatscharowa.\u201d\n\nThe prince next asked him by what road he had come.\n\n\u201cFrom Murom I rode to Tschernigof, and there I slew a great host of\npagans and saved the city. From that place I came here. I have taken\nprisoner the famous Robber Nightingale, and I have brought him here\nbound to my stirrup.\u201d\n\nThen the prince grew angry, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cWhy do you try to deceive me?\u201d\n\nHowever, he sent two knights, Alescha Popowitsch and Dobrinja\nNikititsch, to see if it was as Ilija said; and when they told the\nprince that it was true, he was pleased, gave the young man some drink,\nand desired to hear the robber\u2019s whistle. Ilija, the Muromer, therefore\nwrapped up the prince and the princess under his cloak, lined with\nsable, put them under his arm, and then told the Robber Nightingale to\nblow his whistle gently. He blew, however, so loud that he deafened all\nthe knights and they fell on the floor, and Ilija, the Muromer, was so\nenraged that he killed him there and then.\n\nIlija became very friendly with Dobrinja Nikititsch, and, saddling their\ngood horses, they rode away together, and travelled for three months\nwithout meeting with any adversary. Then they came up with a cripple.\nHis beggar\u2019s cloak weighed fifty pounds, his hat nine pounds, and his\ncrutch was six feet long. Ilija, the Muromer, rode up to him and began\nto try his courage, but the cripple addressing him said\u2014\n\n\u201cAh! Ilija, the Muromer, do you not know me? Do you not remember how we\nlearnt lessons in the same school? Will you fall on me, a poor cripple?\nDo you know that there is great distress in the famous town of Kiev? A\npowerful infidel knight, a godless idolater, has come there. His head is\nas big as a beer-barrel, his eyebrows are a span apart, and his\nshoulders are six feet across. He eats an ox at a meal, and drinks a\ncask of beer at a time. The Prince is sore troubled at your absence.\u201d\n\nThen Ilija, the Muromer, put on the cripple\u2019s cloak and rode off to\nKiev. He went to the palace, and cried with all his might\u2014\n\n\u201cHo, there! Prince of Kiev, give the cripple an alms.\u201d\n\nWhen the Prince heard him, he said\u2014\n\n\u201cCome into my palace. I will give you something to eat and drink, and\nsome money for your journey.\u201d\n\nThen Ilija went into the palace and sat down near the stove, and there\nalso sat the pagan knight calling for food to be brought. The servants\nbrought him an ox, roasted whole, and he ate it up, bones and all. Then\nhe called for something to drink, and twenty-seven men brought him a\nbarrel of beer. The knight took it in his hands and lifted it up. Then\nIlija, the Muromer, said\u2014\n\n\u201cMy father once had a gluttonous mare, which ate so much that it burst.\u201d\n\nThe infidel was angry, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean, you wretched cripple? You are no equal for me. I\ncould set you on the palm of my right hand and squeeze you dry with my\nleft. You once had a real hero in your country, Ilija, the Muromer; I\nshould like to have a fight with him.\u201d\n\n\u201cHere he is,\u201d cried Ilija, taking off his hat, and striking the pagan a\nblow on the head, not very hard, but so strong as to send the head\nthrough the wall of the palace. Ilija then took up the body and cast it\ninto the yard. So the prince gave Ilija a royal reward, and kept him at\nhis court as the first and the bravest of his knights.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                         THE BAD-TEMPERED WIFE.\n\n\nTHERE was once upon a time a poor fellow who was troubled with a wife,\nwith whom he lived on the worst terms imaginable. She paid not the\nslightest attention to what he told her, but was always contrary. If he\ntold her to get up early, she was sure to lie in bed later than ever, or\nperhaps even for three days at a time. If he asked her to make some\ncakes, she would say\u2014\n\n\u201cCakes, you villain! What do you want with cakes? Do you think you\ndeserve them?\u201d\n\n\u201cAll right,\u201d the man would say; \u201cdon\u2019t make them, then.\u201d\n\nThen off would go his wife, make three times as many cakes as could be\neaten, and plumping them down before her husband\u2014\n\n\u201cEat,\u201d she would cry\u2014\u201ceat, you gluttonous fellow! They must be finished\nup.\u201d\n\nThe man spent most of his time disputing with her; but his wife used to\nwear him out and get the better in the end.\n\nOne day, wearied by his wife\u2019s jangle, and utterly dispirited, he went\noff to the wood to look for some berries. As he went on he came at last\nto a wild currant-bush, and looking at it he saw beside it a deep hole.\nHe looked down, but could discover no bottom to it.\n\n\u201cDear me!\u201d said he, \u201cI wish my wife were down there! What is the use of\nliving as I do in continual misery? I will see if I can get her down the\nhole.\u201d\n\nOff he went home. There he found his wife.\n\n\u201cWife,\u201d said he, \u201cI want you to keep out of the wood. Don\u2019t go looking\nabout there for berries.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou want me!\u201d said she. \u201cIndeed, I shall go where I please.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the man, \u201cI have found a currant-bush there, and I want to\nkeep the currants. Don\u2019t eat them.\u201d\n\n\u201cWon\u2019t I?\u201d said his wife. \u201cI will eat them all. You shall not have a\nsingle one.\u201d\n\nThe man went out, and his wife came after him to find the currant-bush.\nOn they went till the man came to the place where the bush was, when his\nwife, hurrying past him, got to it first.\n\n\u201cNow don\u2019t you come near,\u201d said she. \u201cI warn you to stand off.\u201d\n\nOn she went; all at once her husband heard a crack and a crash. He\nlooked about, but could not see his wife. Sure enough, she had fallen\ndown the hole.\n\nThe man returned home rejoicing at the success of his plan. For some\ndays he lived in peace. Then he became curious to know where his wife\nhad really gone to. So he got a very long cord, and set off with it to\nthe forest. He came to the currant-bush and found the hole, and, letting\ndown one end of his cord, tried to touch the bottom. The cord went down\nand down\u2014the hole seemed to have no bottom at all. Then the man drew the\ncord up. As he pulled out the last piece of it, he fell back astounded,\nfor there, clinging to it, was a little devil. After the first surprise,\nthe man was about to lay his hands on the imp in order to throw him down\nthe hole again; but it addressed him in a pitiful tone, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cMy good man, I beseech you do not throw me down the hole again. No\ntongue can tell what I have suffered there. A few days since there came\na woman amongst us, and she has led us such a time of it that our lives\nare not worth living. Let me stay aboveground, and I will reward you for\nit.\u201d\n\nThe peasant, when he heard the imp\u2019s tale, felt sorry for him, and had\nnot the heart to send him back again. So he let him go where he would.\n\nNo sooner was the imp at liberty than he began to torment the wives and\ndaughters of the wealthy folk, entering into them, and making them so\nwhimsical and sick that they seemed beside themselves. While they were\nin this condition the peasant would present himself as a physician and\nundertake to cure the afflicted persons. As soon as he was called in,\nbefore he had almost stepped across the threshold of the house in which\nthe sick person lay, the imp would scuttle away as fast as he could, the\npatient recovered, and the whole place rang with the marvellous cure\neffected by the doctor. So they went on for some time. The peasant was\nnow rich. Money and all good things were heaped upon him by the\nrelations of those whom he restored to health.\n\nOne day the imp said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cMy man, I have had enough of this kind of thing. I am now going to take\npossession of a rich man\u2019s daughter. Don\u2019t you come to heal her, for I\nwarn you that if you do so I will tear you to pieces.\u201d\n\nAway he went. The daughter was possessed, and was so beside herself that\nno one dare venture near her. Away sent her relations for the wonderful\ndoctor. The peasant, however, was unwilling to take the case in hand. He\nwould not come. At last the folk sent their servants to bring him to the\nhouse by force, declaring that if he refused to come they would kill\nhim.\n\nThe man did not know what to do; at last he thought he saw his way out\nof the difficulty.\n\nIn the road running beside the house he collected a number of coachmen,\ngrooms, and others, and ordered them to run up and down, smacking their\nwhips and crying as loudly as they could\u2014\n\n\u201cThat wretched woman has come again! that wretched woman has come\nagain!\u201d\n\nWhen the hubbub was at its full height the peasant went into the house.\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d cried the imp. \u201cYou have come, have you? Well then, now, I will\nmake you repent it.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear friend,\u201d said the man, \u201cit is true I have come, but I came to\ndo you a service. I came to tell you that that miserable woman has come\nback again.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d cried the imp.\n\nHe leaped to the window, looked out, and listened. When he saw the\nconfusion, and heard the cries\u2014\u201cThat wretched woman has come again! that\nwretched woman has come again!\u201d he turned to the peasant, and said to\nhim, in a tone full of anxiety and mournfulness\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat shall I do? Where can I hide from her?\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d said the man, \u201cbut I should say the hole would be the\nsafest place. She will hardly search there a second time for you.\u201d\n\nAway went the imp at full speed, and, coming to the hole, down he went\nheadlong. He was never seen again. The girl was completely cured when he\nleft her, and was as happy as ever, and her parents heaped rewards on\nthe wonderful physician.\n\nThe bad-tempered woman, too, never made her appearance again, so it\nseems as if she would remain down the pit for ever.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                      IVASHKA WITH THE BEAR\u2019S EAR.\n\n\nONCE upon a time there lived in a certain kingdom a moujik. He was\nmarried, and his wife bore him a child\u2014a boy\u2014who had the ear of a bear,\nso he was named Ivashka with the Bear\u2019s Ear. Ivashka used to go and play\nwith the children of his neighbours, but his manner was rather rough,\nfor if he took hold of a child by the hand he would give it such a\nwrench that the hand would come off, and if he took hold of a child by\nthe head, the head would come off too. Such play was not agreeable to\nthe parents of the children, and they came to Ivashka\u2019s father and told\nhim that he must see that his son did not come out to play with their\nchildren, or that he did them no hurt. The man promised to do what he\ncould. He found, however, that Ivashka paid no heed to him, so in the\nend he turned him out of doors, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cBe off where you will, for I want you no longer; you shall come no more\ninto my house, for if you do you will get me into trouble.\u201d\n\nSo Ivashka with the Bear\u2019s Ear set off on his travels. He went on for a\nlong time, and at last came to a great forest. There he found a man\nhewing wood.\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d said Ivashka to him, \u201cwhat are you called?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am called Dubunia,\u201d said the man.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Ivashka, \u201clet us be friends.\u201d\n\nAfter some talk they became very friendly, and the man went on with\nIvashka. They travelled for some time, and at length they came to a high\nrock, where they found a man hewing stone.\n\n\u201cHeaven bless you, good fellow!\u201d said Ivashka; \u201cwhat are you called?\u201d\n\n\u201cGorunia,\u201d replied the man.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Ivashka, \u201clet us be friends.\u201d\n\nAfter some talk the man became very friendly with Ivashka and his\ncompanion, and agreed to go on with them in their travels. On they went.\nAt last they came to a river, on the bank of which they found a man with\nvery long moustaches, with which he was fishing in the water.\n\n\u201cHeaven bless you!\u201d said Ivashka and his companions. \u201cMay you have good\nluck.\u201d\n\n\u201cThanks, my brothers,\u201d said the man.\n\n\u201cWhat are you called?\u201d asked Ivashka.\n\n\u201cUsunia,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Ivashka, \u201clet us be friends.\u201d\n\nSo, after some talk, the man agreed to join Ivashka and his companions.\n\nThe four went on, and at length they came to a forest, near to which\nthey found a hut. Now the hut stood on a fowl\u2019s legs, and kept turning\nround and round.\n\n\u201cHut, hut,\u201d cried Ivashka, \u201cstand still with your back to the forest and\nyour front towards us!\u201d\n\nThe hut at once did what they told it, and the four travellers going in\ncommenced to plan how they should live. They were very hungry, so they\nwent into the forest, caught some game, and ate it.\n\nThe next day Dubunia stayed at home while the others went into the\nforest to look for game. He cooked the dinner, and waited for his\ncompanions to come back. They did not come, so Dubunia washed his head\nand sat combing his hair, and who should come into the hut but Baba\nYaja. She came riding in an iron mortar, which she drove on with a\npestle, and with her tongue she wiped out the marks the mortar made as\nit passed over the ground. As she came into the cabin\u2014\n\n\u201cHo, ho!\u201d cried she, \u201cI smell Russian flesh.\u201d\n\nThen she turned to Dubunia and said\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat do you do here?\u201d\n\nWithout waiting for his reply, Baba Yaja laid on him with her pestle,\nand beat him until he hardly had any life left in him. Then she ate the\ndinner he had got ready for his companions, got into her mortar, and\nrode off. Dubunia lay for some time on the ground. Then he got up, tied\nup his head with a handkerchief, and sat down, groaning, till his\ncompanions came home.\n\n\u201cWhere is the dinner?\u201d said they.\n\n\u201cI have been ill,\u201d answered Dubunia, \u201cand have been too unwell to get it\nready.\u201d\n\nThe next day Gorunia was left to keep the hut and get the dinner ready.\nHe cooked the food, and waited for his friends to come back, when, all\nof a sudden, who should come in but Baba Yaja.\n\n\u201cHo, ho!\u201d said she, \u201cI smell Russian flesh. What are you doing here?\u201d\nshe asked, turning to Gorunia.\n\nWithout giving him time to reply she commenced to beat him with the\npestle. Then she ate up all the food he had ready, got into the mortar,\nand rode away. When his friends came home Gorunia told them what had\nhappened.\n\nOn the third day Usunia stayed at home, and Baba Yaja made her\nappearance again, and treated him as she had his companions.\n\nAt length it was Ivashka\u2019s turn to keep house. His comrades went out to\nhunt in the wood, and Ivashka got the dinner ready. Looking about the\nhut he found in it a jar of honey. Then Ivashka took an axe and split\nopen one of the posts of the hut, and putting a piece of wood in at the\ntop he kept the crack open. Then he took the honey and poured it all\nover the post and in the chink. After that he got three iron rods, and\nthen he sat down to await Baba Yaja\u2019s coming. He did not wait long, for\nshe came riding to the hut in her mortar.\n\n\u201cHo, ho!\u201d cried she, as she entered, \u201cI smell Russian flesh. What do you\nhere?\u201d said she, turning to Ivashka.\n\nJust then, however, she smelt the honey, and, going to the post, she\ncommenced to lick it with her long tongue. She licked all the honey off\nthe outside, and then put her tongue in the crack, to get the honey out\nthat was there. Then Ivashka suddenly pulled out the piece of wood that\nheld the post asunder, and Baba Yaja\u2019s tongue being held fast, she could\nnot get away. She screamed and struggled, but could not free herself,\nand Ivashka, taking his three iron rods, commenced to beat her with all\nhis strength. He beat her till he was tired; and then, as she begged him\nto have mercy on her, and promised that if he would let her go she would\nnever trouble him more, he set her free.\n\n\u201cStop there,\u201d said he, putting her in a corner of the cabin. So he sat\ndown and waited for his companions to come home. Towards evening they\ncame, and how much were they surprised to find that Ivashka had the food\ncooked and ready for them! When they had eaten he told them how he had\nserved Baba Yaja, and how he had beaten her and put her in the corner of\nthe hut. When they went to look for her, however, she was nowhere to be\nseen. While they examined the place to find how she could have escaped,\nthey discovered a large stone in the ground. Lifting it up they found\nthere was a deep pit below. They wished very much to know what was in\nthis place, but none durst go down, till Ivashka said he would go. So\nthey made a rope and let him down.\n\n\u201cWait for me,\u201d said Ivashka; \u201cbut if I do not come back at the end of a\nweek, know then that you will see me no more. When I want to come up I\nwill pull the rope.\u201d So he took leave of his companions, and they let\nhim down. When he arrived at the bottom of the pit he found himself in a\nstrange country. He went on for some time until he came to a hut, and,\ngoing in, he found three girls who sat sewing with gold thread.\n\n\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d said they, when they saw Ivashka with the Bear\u2019s\nEar. \u201cWhat has brought you here? Baba Yaja, our mother, lives here, and\nif she sees you she will certainly kill you. We will, however, tell you\nhow you may save your life if you will take us to the upper world.\u201d\n\nIvashka promised to do what they asked.\n\n\u201cWhen our mother comes in,\u201d said they, \u201cshe will run at you and attack\nyou. When you have fought for a time she will leave you and go to the\ncellar. There are two jars full of water: the one is white and the other\nis blue. The white jar contains the water of weakness, and the blue jar\nthe water of strength. If you drink the water in the blue jar you are\nsaved.\u201d\n\nThe girls had scarcely finished speaking when Baba Yaja was heard coming\nto the hut. She came riding in the iron mortar, which she drove along\nwith the pestle, while, with her tongue, she swept out the mark made by\nthe mortar as it passed over the ground.\n\n\u201cHo, ho!\u201d said she, \u201cI smell Russian flesh. Why do you come here?\u201d she\nwent on, turning to Ivashka with the Bear\u2019s Ear. \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d\n\nWith that she rushed upon him, and they fought together until they were\nso tired that they fell to the ground. Then Baba Yaja, getting up, ran\nto the cellar for the water, and Ivashka went after her. Baba Yaja, in\nher hurry, took up the white jar and drank the water, and Ivashka drank\nthat in the blue jar. Then they began to fight again. At length Ivashka\ngot the better of her, and taking her pestle he beat her with it till\nshe begged him to have mercy on her. Still Ivashka would not stop till\nshe promised him she would never do him any injury, and would leave that\nplace as soon as he released her. So he let her go.\n\nIvashka went to the three daughters and told them to get ready and go\nwith him to the world above. Then he went to the rope, and, calling to\nhis companions, got them to let down a large basket. He told the eldest\ndaughter to get into it, and then, on Ivashka\u2019s pulling the rope, his\ncompanions drew the basket up. They were very much astonished when they\nfound a beautiful girl in the basket instead of Ivashka, but she told\nthem all that had occurred, and they let the basket down again. So the\nsecond and the third daughters were drawn up. Then they let down the\nbasket again, and Ivashka filled it with gold and silver and fine\nclothes, which he had found in Baba Yaja\u2019s hut. When the men commenced\nto draw the basket up they wondered why it was so heavy, and they\nthought that Baba Yaja herself must be in it. So they cut the rope and\nlet the basket and all the things fall down to the bottom, and left\nIvashka down below.\n\nFor a long time he wandered about seeking his way to the upper world. At\nlength he found an iron door in the rock, and on opening it and looking\nin he saw a long passage. So he went on and on till at last he came out\nin the upper world. Then he went to seek his friends. When he came to\nthem he found that they had given him up as dead, and had married the\nthree daughters of Baba Yaja.\n\n\u201cWhy did you leave me at the bottom of the pit?\u201d asked Ivashka; \u201cand who\nwas it that cut the rope?\u201d\n\nThey told him that Usunia had done it, and Ivashka was so angry that he\nkilled him on the spot. So Ivashka married Usunia\u2019s wife, and he and his\ncompanions lived together for many years in great happiness.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                              THE PLAGUE.\n\n\nA RUSSIAN peasant sat out in the field. The sun was shining fiercely. In\nthe distance the man saw something coming to him. It came nearer, and\nthen he saw it was a woman. She was clad in a large cloak, and strode\nalong with great strides. The man felt much afraid, and would have run\naway, but the phantom held him with its bare arms.\n\n\u201cDo you know the Plague?\u201d said she. \u201cI am it. Take me on your shoulders\nand carry me through all Russia. Miss no village or town, for I must go\neverywhere. For yourself fear nothing. You shall live in the midst of\ndeath.\u201d\n\nShe wrapt her long arms round the neck of the fearful peasant. The man\nwent on, and was astonished to find that he felt no weight. He turned\nhis head, and saw that the Plague was on his back.\n\nHe first took her to a town, and when they came there, there was joy in\nall the streets, dancing, music, and jollity. The peasant went on and\nstood in the market-place, and the woman shook her cloak. Soon the\ndance, joy, and merriment ceased. Wherever the man looked he saw terror.\nPeople carried coffins, the bells tolled, the burial-ground was full;\nthere was at length no room for more to be buried in it.\n\nThen the people brought the dead to the market-place and left them\nthere, having no place in which to bury them.\n\nThe wretched man went on. Whenever he came to a village the houses were\nleft deserted, and the peasants fled with white faces, and trembling\nwith fear. On the roads, in the woods, and out in the fields, could be\nheard the groans of the dying.\n\nUpon a high hill stood the man\u2019s own village, the place in which he was\nborn, and to this place the Plague began to direct his steps. There were\nthe man\u2019s wife, his children, and his old parents.\n\nThe man\u2019s heart was bleeding! When he came near his own village, he laid\nhold of the Plague so that she should not escape him, and held her with\nall his might.\n\nHe looked before him and saw the blue Pruth flowing past, and beyond it\nwere the green hills, and afar off the dark mountains with snow-capped\ntops.\n\nHe ran quickly to the stream and leaped under its waters, wishing to\ndestroy himself and his burden together, and so free his land from\nsorrow and the Plague.\n\nHe himself was drowned, but the Plague, being as light as a feather,\nslipped off his shoulders, and so escaped. She was, however, so alarmed\nby this brave deed that she fled away and hid herself in the mountain\nforests.\n\nSo the man saved his village, his parents, his wife, and his little\nchildren, and all that part of fair Russia through which the Plague had\nnot passed.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                       THE PEASANT AND THE WIND.\n\n\nONCE upon a time there was a peasant who lived in great poverty with his\nwife. He was as dull as a sheep, but she was as wily as a serpent, and\nshe was so bad tempered that she used to beat him for any little thing\nthat put her out.\n\nOne day the woman begged some corn of a neighbour so that she might make\nsome bread, and she sent her husband off to the mill with it to get it\nground. The miller knew they were very poor, so he ground the corn for\nnothing, and the man set off to go home with the flour. As he was on his\nway there came all of a sudden such a fierce blast of wind that all the\nflour was, in a moment, blown away out of the pan which he carried on\nhis head. So the man went home and told his wife what had happened. When\nshe heard his story she set upon him and gave him a hearty beating, and\nthen, having scolded and thrashed till she could do no more, she told\nhim to be off to the wind and ask it either to give him the flour back\nagain or to pay him for it.\n\nThe man went off out of the house, weeping; and, not knowing in what\ndirection to go, he went to a great dark forest. There he wandered\nabout, here and there. At last an old woman met him.\n\n\u201cGood man,\u201d said she, \u201cwhere are you going? How came you in these parts,\nwhere no bird ever flies, and scarce a wild animal runs?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy mother,\u201d said he, \u201cI have been forced to come here. I carried some\ncorn to the mill to be ground, and when it was finished, as I carried\nthe flour home, the wind came and scattered it all out of the pan. I had\nno flour when I got home, and I told my wife what had happened; so she\nbeat me, and sent me off to the wind to ask it to give me the flour\nagain or to pay me for it. So I came here to look for the wind, but I do\nnot know where to find it.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome with me,\u201d said the woman. \u201cI am the mother of the winds, and I\nhave four sons. The first is the East-wind, the second the South-wind,\nthe third the West-wind, and the fourth the North-wind. Tell me, now,\nwhich wind was it that took your flour?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt was the South-wind,\u201d said the man.\n\nThe old woman led the man deep into the forest, and bringing him to a\nlittle hut, said\u2014\n\n\u201cHere we are, my man. Climb up upon the stove and cover yourself up, for\nmy children will soon be here.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy should I cover myself?\u201d asked the man.\n\n\u201cBecause, my son, the North-wind, will be here,\u201d said the woman, \u201cand he\nwill otherwise freeze you up.\u201d\n\nIn a short time the sons began to come in. When the South-wind had\narrived, the old woman told the man to come off the stove, and said to\nher son\u2014\n\n\u201cSouth-wind, my dear son, this man has a complaint against you. Why do\nyou hurt the poor? You have taken this man\u2019s flour out of his pan. Now\ngive him money for it, or make him some recompense.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well, mother,\u201d said the South-wind, \u201cI will buy the flour of him.\u201d\n\nSo saying, he turned to the man, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cHere, my man. Take this basket. It has in it all you most want\u2014money,\nbread, food, and drink of all kinds. You have only to say to it,\n\u2018Basket, give me so and so,\u2019 and it will give you whatever you wish.\nTake it to your house. I give it you for your flour.\u201d\n\nThe peasant bowed to the Wind, thanked it for the basket, and set off\nhomewards.\n\nHe gave the basket to his wife, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cWife, here is a basket which contains everything, whatever you most\nwant. You only have to ask for it.\u201d\n\nThe woman took the basket, and said to it\u2014\n\n\u201cBasket, give me some good flour, so that I may make bread.\u201d\n\nThe basket gave her as much as she wished. She continued asking for very\nmany things, and everything she named the basket gave her.\n\nNow it chanced that one day a nobleman was passing by the peasant\u2019s hut.\nWhen the woman saw him she said to her husband\u2014\n\n\u201cGo and ask the nobleman to dine with us. If you do not bring him in I\nwill beat you till you are half dead.\u201d\n\nThe man was afraid of his wife carrying out her threat, so he set off\nand asked the stranger in to dinner.\n\nHis wife meanwhile watched him from the window, having taken out of the\nbasket all that was required for the dinner. There she sat, with her\nhands in her lap, awaiting her husband\u2019s return with the guest.\n\nThe nobleman was astonished, and laughed at the invitation. He would not\naccept it himself, but told his attendants they might go if they wished,\nand he should like to know how they dined.\n\nSo the attendants went, thinking they should fare very badly, for the\nappearance of the hut would not have led any one to suppose that there\nwas much feasting to be had within it. When they entered they were\nvastly astonished. The dinner was such as would have done credit had it\nbeen provided by a host of some rank. The men sat down, and ate and\ndrank and made merry; and, keeping their eyes open the while, they\nobserved that when the woman wanted anything for the table she went to\nthe basket and got it given to her by it. The men began to think how\nthey could get the prize for themselves. As they feasted they sent off\none of their number to look for a basket just like the one in the room.\nOff went the man as quickly as he could, found what he wanted, and\nbrought it with him to the cottage. Then while the peasant and his wife\nwere busy, the men slipped the new basket in the place of the other.\nWhen they left they carried away the treasure-basket with them, and\ncoming to their master they told him how they had been entertained.\n\nAfter the feast was over and the guests had gone, the peasant\u2019s wife\ncast away the food that was left, for what was the use of keeping it\nwhen fresh could be so easily got? The next morning she went to the\nbasket and asked it for various things, but a great change seemed to\nhave come over it, for it paid no heed to her.\n\n\u201cOld Greyhead,\u201d cried she to her husband, \u201cthis is a nice basket you\nhave got us! What is the good of it if it does not do what we tell it?\nBe off to the wind again, and tell it to give you back your flour, or I\nwill thrash you till you are half dead.\u201d\n\nThere was nothing for it but he must go. He came to the old woman\u2019s hut,\nand there he began to tell her what a terrible wife he had got, and the\nold woman told him to wait a while till her son, the South-wind, came\nhome.\n\nNot long after in came the South-wind, and the peasant told him all\nabout his trouble.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the wind, when he had heard him to an end, \u201cI am sorry, old\nman, that you have such a bad wife, but I will help you, and your wife\nshall thrash you no more. Here now is a cask. Take it home with you, and\nwhen your wife threatens to beat you, stand behind the cask and say,\n\u2018Five, come out of the cask and beat my wife!\u2019 When you think they have\npunished her sufficiently, say, \u2018Five, go back to your cask!\u2019\u201d\n\nThe peasant was very grateful to the Wind, made him his best bow, and\nwent home. When he got there, he said\u2014\n\n\u201cThere, wife, now you have a cask instead of the basket.\u201d\n\nHis wife flew into a rage, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat do I want with your cask? Why didn\u2019t you bring the flour with\nyou?\u201d\n\nShe grasped a weapon as she said this, and got ready to lay on her\nhusband, but he slipped behind the cask, and when he saw how matters\nwere, he said\u2014\n\n\u201cFive, come out of the cask and beat my wife!\u201d\n\nIn an instant out sprang five big fellows, who set to to thrash the\nwife. The husband looked on till he thought she had had enough. Then he\nlistened to her cries for mercy, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cFive, go back to your cask!\u201d\n\nIn the twinkling of an eye the men ceased their labour, and disappeared\ninto the cask again. From that hour the woman was much improved, and the\npeasant, seeing that he should not want the cask in order to preserve\nquiet at home, began to think whether he could not somehow obtain his\nbasket by means of it. He concluded that the nobleman\u2019s servants must\nhave taken the basket away, and he and his wife set their heads together\nto think how they could get it from them.\n\n\u201cSince you have such a marvellous cask,\u201d said she, \u201cyou need not be\nafraid even of a thousand men. Why not then go to the nobleman and make\nhim give you the basket.\u201d Her husband thought the idea was a good one,\nso he went off to the nobleman\u2019s house and asked him to come outside and\nfight him. He laughed at the peasant, but thought he would have a joke\nwith him, so he told him to await him outside. Off went the peasant,\ntook his cask under his arm, and came to the spot where the nobleman was\nto meet him. In a short time he came, bringing with him several of his\nservants. As soon as he had come up he ordered his attendants to set on\nthe peasant and give him a good thrashing; but he, when he saw the\ngentleman\u2019s trickery, fell in a rage, and shouted out\u2014\n\n\u201cLook you, sir, will you give me back my basket, or will you not? It\nshall be better for you all if you do!\u201d\n\nWhen, however, he saw that no one paid any attention to what he said,\nand that the attendants were about to thrash him, he cried out\u2014\n\n\u201cFive to each man come out of the cask, and beat them thoroughly!\u201d\n\nIn an instant there sprang forth five stout fellows for each of them,\nand they laid upon them most unmercifully. The nobleman was afraid he\nshould be beaten till there was no life in him, and so he called out\u2014\n\n\u201cGood fellow, for Heaven\u2019s sake, do not beat us any more!\u201d\n\nWhen the peasant heard that, he said\u2014\n\n\u201cGo back to the cask, you fellows.\u201d\n\nIn a moment the cudgels ceased to play, and the men disappeared into the\ncask. The gentleman had had enough. He ordered that the basket should be\ngiven up to the peasant as quickly as possible, and the man taking it\nhome with him, he and his wife lived very happily ever after.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          THE WONDERFUL CLOTH.\n\n\nTHERE was once a shepherd who looked after the king\u2019s flocks. He had\nthree sons, two of whom were considered very clever, but the third was\nlooked upon as a fool. The elder brothers helped their father to herd\nthe flocks, but the youngest, who was thought to be good for nothing,\nplayed about or went to sleep.\n\nHe passed his days and nights sleeping on the top of the stove, and\nnever left that place unless he was driven from it. If he bestirred\nhimself, it was rather because he was too hot, or wanted something to\neat or drink. His father did not care for him, and called him a lazy\nfellow, while his brothers often tormented him, pulling him off the\nstove or refusing to let him eat. If his mother had not looked after him\nhe would have been nearly starved. She, however, would caress him and\ngive him food. Was it his fault that he was a fool? Who could tell what\nHeaven had in store for him? It sometimes happens that the wisest folk\ndo not get on well, and that fools, especially such as are harmless and\ninoffensive, succeed in a wonderful fashion.\n\nOne day when the two brothers returned from the fields, finding the\nsimpleton on the top of the stove, they made him dress and put on his\nhat, and having dragged him into the yard, they gave him a good beating,\nand turning him out, said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cGo, simpleton, and lose no time, for you shall have neither lodging nor\nsupper until you have gone to the wood and brought us a basket of\nmushrooms.\u201d\n\nThe poor fellow, full of astonishment, did not even understand what his\nbrothers wished of him. After having stood for a time scratching his\nhead, he set off to a little forest of oak-trees which was near at hand.\nAll seemed wonderful and strange to him. Right in his way he came across\nthe dry trunk of a tree. He went up to it, took off his hat, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cI see that other trees in the forest stand up and wear hats of green\nleaves, but you alone, my poor friend, are bare. The cold will kill you.\nYou are amongst just such brothers as I have. No doubt you are a fool\nlike myself. Will you have my hat, then?\u201d\n\nFolding his arms, he wept tenderly. All of a sudden one of the trees\nwhich grew near moved as if it were alive. The idiot was alarmed, and\nwas about to fly, when the tree, addressing him in a man\u2019s voice, said\u2014\n\n\u201cDo not fly, but stop and listen. That tree, which was cut down so\nprematurely, was my son. No one besides myself has until now wept over\nhis so early blighted life. You alone have watered him with your tears.\nAs a reward for it, you shall henceforth obtain whatever you ask of me,\nsaying the following words:\u2014\n\n\u201cOak with the golden acorns, I beseech you give me what I want!\u201d\n\nAt the moment that the oak ceased, a shower of golden acorns fell upon\nthe idiot, who filled his pockets with them, saluted the oak, thanked\nit, and returned home.\n\n\u201cAh, you simpleton!\u201d cried his brothers, \u201cwhere are the mushrooms?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have in my pocket some oak mushrooms,\u201d said the idiot.\n\n\u201cEat them yourself, then, for your supper,\u201d said they, \u201cfor you will\nhave nothing else, you sluggard. Where is your hat?\u201d\n\n\u201cI covered a poor tree I came across on the road with it; it had nothing\non it, and I was afraid it would be frozen,\u201d answered he.\n\nThe idiot climbed upon the stove as he said this, and lay down. All of a\nsudden the golden acorns fell out of his pocket. The brothers rushed\nforward, and paying no heed to the lad\u2019s remonstrances, gathered up the\nacorns and took them to their father. He told them to carry them to the\nking, and tell him that one of his sons, an idiot, had found them in the\nwood. When the king saw them, he at once sent some soldiers to look\nthrough the wood for golden acorns, but all their search was fruitless.\nThey came back and told him that there was not a single golden acorn to\nbe found in the forest. The king fell in a great rage when he heard\nthat. When he was calm again, he ordered the shepherd to come to him,\nand said\u2014\n\n\u201cTell your son, the idiot, that he must bring to the court this evening\na cask full to the brim of gold acorns. If he does so he shall receive\nmy royal favour, and you may be assured that you shall not be\nforgotten.\u201d\n\nThe shepherd went off to his son, and told him what the king had said.\n\n\u201cThe king,\u201d said the idiot, \u201cI see, likes good things. He does not ask,\nbut commands me to do what he wishes, and makes mere promises, and for\nthem he wants a fool to bring him golden acorns. I shall not do it.\u201d\n\nNeither the prayers nor the threats of his father could make him change\nhis mind. At last his brothers pulled him off the stove, made him dress\nand put on a hat, took him into the yard and beat him, and then put him\nout, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cLose no time, you simpleton, but be off, for you shall have neither\nlodging nor supper till you return from the wood with the golden\nacorns.\u201d\n\nThe fool did not know what to do, so he set off again to the forest. In\na short time he came to the stump on which was his hat, just by the old\noak. He raised his cap, bowed, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cOak with the golden acorns, help me in my distress, I beseech you. Give\nme what I want.\u201d\n\nThe oak shook itself, rattled its branches, and instead of golden acorns\na cloth fell into the lad\u2019s hands.\n\n\u201cTake care of the cloth,\u201d said the oak, \u201cand keep it. In case of need,\nsay to it\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018Wonderful cloth, let one who is hungry and thirsty find here\neverything he wants.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe oak ceased, and the lad, saluting and thanking it, commenced to go\nhome. As he went he wondered what his brothers would say to him, and he\nthought how pleased his mother would be when he told her that he had got\nthe wonderful cloth. When he was half-way home he met a beggar, who said\nto him\u2014\n\n\u201cSee, I am old, ill, and ragged, for the love of God give me something,\neither money or a piece of bread.\u201d\n\nThe idiot laid his cloth on the grass, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cWonderful cloth, let those who are hungry and thirsty find here all\nthey want.\u201d\n\nImmediately there was a whistling in the air; something shone over them,\nand they found before them a table set as if for a king\u2019s feast. There\nwere numberless dishes, goblets full of hydromel, and glasses full of\nthe best wines. The things on the table were all of gold or of silver.\n\nThe idiot and his guest admired the table and commenced to eat and\ndrink. When they had finished eating and drinking the table vanished,\nand the idiot wrapped up his cloth and began to go homewards, when the\nold man said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cGive me your cloth, and take this stick in its stead. When you speak to\nit such-and-such words it belabours people so that they will give all\nthe world to escape from it.\u201d\n\nThe idiot, thinking of his brothers, took the cudgel and gave the man\nthe cloth. So they parted.\n\nNow afterwards he considered that the oak had told him to keep the cloth\nhimself, and that, having given it away, he would not be able to\nsurprise his mother as he had intended. So he said to the stick\u2014\n\n\u201cStick which beats by itself, go quickly and look for my cloth. Go, I\nwant it back.\u201d\n\nThe stick went off at once in pursuit of the man and soon overtook him.\nIt set upon him, and commenced to beat him, crying\u2014\n\n\u201cSo you seek the wealth of others, do you? Take that, you knave, and\nthat.\u201d\n\nThe man tried to escape, but it was no use, for the stick followed him,\nthrashing on, and repeating the same words. However much he would have\nliked to keep the cloth, he was obliged to throw it aside to save\nhimself. The stick brought the cloth to its master, and the idiot\ncontinued his journey, thinking how he would surprise his mother and\nbrothers. A little further on he met a man who carried in his hand an\nempty bag.\n\n\u201cStop,\u201d cried the man. \u201cFor the love of Heaven give me some pence or a\npiece of bread! My bag is empty, and I am hungry and have a long way to\ngo.\u201d\n\nThe fool spread his cloth once more, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cWonderful cloth, let him who is hungry and thirsty find here everything\nhe wants.\u201d\n\nThey heard a whistling noise, saw something shine in the air above them,\nand, immediately, in front of them, was a table set as if for a royal\nbanquet. There were numberless dishes, and hydromel and wine in plenty.\nThe idiot and his guest sat down, and when they had finished eating and\ndrinking the table disappeared. The fool wrapped up his cloth, and was\ncommencing his journey, when the man said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cWill you give me your cloth for my girdle? When you say, \u2018Girdle, which\nswims so wonderfully, for my safety and not for my pleasure, let me find\nmyself in a boat on the water,\u2019 the girdle will change itself into a\ndeep lake, upon which you can sail at your will.\u201d\n\nThe simpleton thought how much his father would like to always have\nwater for his flocks. So he gave the man the cloth for the girdle, which\nhe tied around him. Then he took his stick in his hand, and the two\nparted. In a short time, when the beggar was afar off, the fool began\nagain to remember how the oak had told him to keep the cloth for\nhimself, and he saw that unless he had it he would not be able to give\nhis mother the pleasant surprise he had intended. So he said to his\nstick\u2014\n\n\u201cStick, which beats of itself, go quickly and look for my cloth. Go, I\nwant it back.\u201d\n\nThe stick set off again, and coming up to the beggar commenced to beat\nhim, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cSo you seek the wealth of others, do you? Take that, knave, and that.\u201d\n\nThe beggar tried to fly, but the stick pursued him, and however much he\nwould have liked to keep the cloth, he preferred rather to save himself\nfrom the stick. The cudgel brought the cloth to its master, and he,\nhaving hidden it under his coat, put on the girdle and, with the stick\nin his hand, again went on his way. As he walked he thought with\npleasure of how he would be able to exercise the stick on his brothers,\nand how pleased his father would be to always have water for the king\u2019s\nflocks, even though he should be in the midst of dry fields and woods.\nThen he thought of his mother\u2019s surprise at finding he had got the\nwonderful cloth. All of a sudden he met a soldier clothed in rags, lame,\nand covered with scars. He had once been a fine warrior, and, addressing\nthe young man, he said\u2014\n\n\u201cEvil luck follows me, a man who has been a good soldier, and who has\nfought well in his youth. What has been the good of it all? I am lamed\nfor life, and upon this lonely road I cannot even get anything to eat.\nTake pity on me, and give me at least a piece of bread.\u201d\n\nThe fool sat down, spread his cloth, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cWonderful cloth, let him who is hungry and thirsty find here everything\nhe wants.\u201d\n\nImmediately they heard a hissing noise in the air, something shone above\nthem, and they found a fine table, spread as for a royal feast in front\nof them. They ate and drank, and then the table disappeared. As the\nsimpleton was about to continue his journey, the soldier said\u2014\n\n\u201cWill you give me your cloth in exchange for this hat with six corners.\nIt shoots of itself, and hits, in an instant, whatever you wish. You\nhave only to turn it round on your head, and say\u2014\u2018Hat which fires, to\nplease me, strike what I tell you.\u2019 Then it shoots with such a sure aim\nthat if your enemy were a mile away he would bite the dust.\u201d\n\nThe lad thought it would be well to have the hat, for how useful would\nit be in time of danger, and when he wished to serve his king and\ncountry. So he gave the cloth to the soldier, tied the girdle again\nround his waist, put the hat upon his head, took his stick in his hand,\nand went on once more.\n\nHe had not gone far when he thought of what the oak had told him about\nthe cloth, and of how he wanted to surprise his mother with it. So he\nsaid to his stick\u2014\n\n\u201cStick, that beats of itself, go quickly and look for my cloth. Go, I\nwant it back.\u201d\n\nThe cudgel went off after the soldier, overtook him, and commenced to\nbeat him, crying\u2014\n\n\u201cSo you seek the wealth of others, do you? Take that, knave, and that.\u201d\n\nThe soldier, who was lusty in spite of his wounds, set himself on his\nguard, and would have given blow for blow, but the stick laid on so\nrapidly that he at last gave in. Overcome by the pain, he threw down the\ncloth and fled. The stick took the cloth to its master, who continued\nhis journey.\n\nAt length he came out of the wood. He crossed over the fields, and\nalready saw his father\u2019s house before him, when he met his brothers,\nwho, running to him, said impatiently\u2014\n\n\u201cWell, simpleton, where are the golden acorns?\u201d\n\nThe lad looked at them, laughed, and said to his stick\u2014\n\n\u201cStick, which beats of itself, punish those who have offended me.\u201d\n\nThe stick at once left the hands of the lad and commenced to lay itself\non the brothers, crying\u2014\n\n\u201cYou have done your brother enough wrong. Now, then, suffer yourselves\nin your turn.\u201d\n\nThe brothers were as much astounded as if a kettle of hot water had\nfallen about their ears. They cried out and ran off, disappearing in a\ncloud of dust. The stick at length came back to its master, who entered\nthe house, climbed up on the stove, and, calling his mother, told her\nall that had happened. Then he said\u2014\n\n\u201cWonderful cloth, let him who is hungry and thirsty find here all he\nwants.\u201d\n\nA whistling was heard, something came sparkling in the air, and they\nfound before them a table spread as if for a king\u2019s banquet. There were\ndishes, glasses, and goblets of hydromel and wine, and all the things\nwere of gold or silver. The simpleton and his mother for a time admired\nthe feast, and then, just as they were sitting down to it, the door\nopened and his father came in. He was thunderstruck when he saw the\ntable, but, being invited to share the good things with them, quickly\nsat down and fell to. When they had finished the whistling noise was\nagain heard, and all the things disappeared.\n\nThe shepherd went off to the Court to tell the king all about these\nwonderful things, and the king despatched an officer to the fool. When\nhe came into the house he found the simpleton lying on the stove, and\nsaid to him\u2014\n\n\u201cIf you love your life, listen and obey the orders of the king. You are\nto send him by myself the wonderful cloth which provides feasts of\nitself, and for this you shall be honoured by the royal favour. If you\ndo not comply, you shall remain in your present wretched condition, and\nshall, moreover, receive the punishment of a disobedient fellow. Do you\nunderstand me?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh yes,\u201d said the lad, \u201cI understand you;\u201d and then he quietly said\u2014\n\n\u201cStick, which beats of itself, give those who deserve them some good\nblows.\u201d\n\nWith the speed of lightning the stick left the fool\u2019s hands. Three times\nit alighted on the officer\u2019s body, and then he fled. The stick, however,\nwas not content to let him off so easily, and it followed him, beating\nhim all the time, and crying\u2014\n\n\u201cPromises befool children. Don\u2019t make them too rashly. To teach you\nbetter, take that, knave, and that.\u201d\n\nBeaten and bewildered, the officer returned to the king and told him\nall, and when his majesty heard that the lad had a stick which beat of\nits own accord, he longed so much for it that he quite forgot the cloth.\nSo he sent off some of his soldiers to the lad with orders to bring the\nstick. The soldiers came to the hut and found the fool on the stove.\n\n\u201cGive us the cudgel,\u201d said they. \u201cThe king will give you what you ask\nfor it. If you will not give it to us we shall take it.\u201d\n\nInstead of making a reply, the lad put on his girdle, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cWonderful girdle, for my safety, and not for my pleasure, let me find\nmyself on the water.\u201d\n\nThere was a murmuring in the air, and a great change took place. A\nmagnificent lake\u2014long, wide, and deep\u2014appeared in the middle of the\nplain, and in it swam fish with golden scales and eyes of pearls. In the\nmiddle of the lake, in a silver skiff, was a man whom the soldiers\nrecognised as the fool. For a time they looked on in wonder, and then\nthey set off to tell the king all about it. When the king heard of such\na girdle he longed to have it. He took counsel with his officer, and\nthen sent off a whole battalion of soldiers to take the fool prisoner.\n\nThis time they tried to catch him while he was asleep. Just as they were\nabout to lay hands on him, however, the fool turned his hat, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cHat that shoots, to please me, strike those who trouble me.\u201d\n\nAt that instant a hundred bullets whistled in the air. The place rang\nwith the noise of guns, and the air was filled with smoke. Some of the\nsoldiers fell dead on the ground, others ran off to hide themselves in\nthe woods, and some went to tell the king.\n\nThe king was dreadfully angry to think that he could not get the better\nof the fool. He had desired to have the cloth, to have the stick, to\nhave the girdle, but what were any of these things to the wonderful\nsix-cornered hat which, of its own accord, fired and shot down its\nopponents as well as if it had been a battery of cannon!\n\nHaving considered for some time, he thought it would, perhaps, be best\nto try persuasion. So he sent to the lad\u2019s mother, and said to her\u2014\n\n\u201cTell your son, the fool, that I and my lovely daughter salute him, and\nwe beg of him to come to the palace and show us all the wonderful things\nwe are told he possesses. If he is willing to make me a present of them\nI will give him half my kingdom, and will name him as my successor in\nthe throne. My daughter also will take him for her husband.\u201d\n\nThe mother ran off to her son, and persuaded him to accept the king\u2019s\ninvitation, and go to the palace with his wonderful treasures. The lad\nfastened on his girdle, put on his hat, hid the cloth in his bosom, took\nhis stick in his hand, and set off to the Court. When he came there the\nking was engaged, but the lad was received very politely by his\nattendants. Music struck up as he came to the palace, the soldiers\npresented arms, and altogether the lad was received very much better\nthan he could have expected. At length, when he was introduced into the\nhall in which was the king, the lad took off his hat and bowed.\n\n\u201cWhat,\u201d said he, \u201cO king, do you desire? I have come to lay at the foot\nof your throne the cloth, the girdle, the stick, and the hat. In return\nfor these presents I only ask that your royal favour may light on the\nhumblest of your subjects.\u201d\n\n\u201cTell me then, fool,\u201d said the king, \u201chow much money do you want for\nthose things?\u201d\n\n\u201cMoney,\u201d replied the lad, \u201ca fool like me does not want money. The king\npromised my mother to give me half his kingdom, and his daughter in\nmarriage. I only ask so much!\u201d\n\nThe king\u2019s officer signed to the soldiers to come in. They laid hands on\nthe lad suddenly, dragged him out into the courtyard, and there, while\nthe drums beat and the trumpets sounded, they killed him and buried him.\n\nAs the soldiers pierced him to the heart, some drops of blood sprang\nforth, and fell under the windows of the princess, who wept at the sight\nand shed tears on the reddened earth. Wonderful to tell! from these\ndrops of blood there sprang up an apple-tree which grew till it reached\nthe windows of the princess\u2019s apartments. When the princess laid her\nhand on the boughs of the tree, an apple fell off into her bosom. The\nprincess took it up and played with it.\n\nThe next day, when night came on, all were asleep in the palace save the\nguards, the king\u2019s officer, and the princess. The guards were watching,\nas usual, with their arms in their hands. The princess was playing with\nthe apple, and could not sleep. As for the king\u2019s officer, soon after he\nlay down he was roused by a terrible noise. The cudgel appeared before\nhim, and though he ran round and round his chamber, it pursued and beat\nhim, crying\u2014\n\n\u201cYou good-for-nothing fellow! Don\u2019t be so envious and unjust. Don\u2019t\nreturn evil for good, and steal what belongs to others. Take that, and\nthat, and that!\u201d\n\nThe officer called aloud and cried for mercy, but the stick still laid\non.\n\nThe princess, hearing some one groaning, began to weep, and then a\nwonderful thing happened. Some of her tears fell on the apple. It grew,\nchanged its form, and, all of a sudden, there stood before her a fine\nyoung man, the very same as had been slain under her window.\n\n\u201cFair princess,\u201d said he, \u201cI salute you. The treachery of the king\u2019s\nofficer caused my death, and your tears have recalled me to life again.\nYour father promised to give you to me for my wife: what do you say?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf it is my father\u2019s wish,\u201d replied the princess, \u201cI consent,\u201d and she\ngave him her hand.\n\nThe lad spoke some words and the doors opened of themselves. The\nsix-cornered hat came and placed itself on his head, the girdle came and\nwound itself around his waist, the cloth hid itself in one of his\npockets, and the avenging cudgel placed itself in his hands.\n\nWhen this had taken place the king came running in. How astonished was\nhe to see the fool alive, and there! The lad did not await for the king\nto give vent to his rage, but said\u2014\n\n\u201cWonderful girdle, for my safety, and not for my pleasure, let me find\nmyself on the water.\u201d\n\nThere was a murmuring in the air. A wonderful change took place. A\nlarge, wide, and deep lake appeared in the middle of the palace grounds.\nIn the crystal waters played fish with golden scales and eyes of pearl.\nAfar off on the water were the fool and the princess. The king came to\nthe side of the lake and beckoned the lad to him. He came, and with the\nprincess knelt at the king\u2019s feet, and told him how they two were in\nlove with one another. The king gave them his blessing. The lake\ndisappeared, and the three returned to the palace, when the king,\ncalling his counsellors, told them all that had occurred. Then he named\nthe fool as his successor on the throne, gave him his daughter, and\nthrew his officer into prison.\n\nIn return, the lad gave the king the cloth, the stick, the girdle, and\nthe hat, telling him how to use them, and teaching him the magic words.\nThe next day the marriage took place, and, with his daughter, the king\ngave the lad half of his dominions, and in the evening there was a royal\nfeast, so grand that the like was never before seen or heard of.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                             THE EVIL EYE.\n\n\n                                   I.\n\nTHERE was once upon a time a rich gentleman who lived in a fine house on\nthe banks of the Vistula. All the windows in the house looked towards\nthe river, none looked towards the wide sweep of country around. The\npath under the poplars which led up to the house was overgrown with\ngrass and weeds, and showed plainly enough that none of the neighbours\nvisited there, and that very little of the old hospitality was to be\nexperienced there.\n\nThe gentleman who owned the house had lived there for seven years, and\nhad come from some far-off place. The peasants knew little about him,\nand they avoided him with fear and trembling, for there were terrible\ntales about him.\n\nThe gentleman was born on the banks of the river Sau, and his parents\nhad been rich. Misfortune, however, had pursued him from the cradle\nupwards. He had an evil eye, which scattered disease and death wherever\nits glances fell. If he by ill chance glanced over his herd, the cattle\non which his eye fell died. Whatever he loved would surely die. His own\nparents, to complete the son\u2019s sorrow, perished, and the man with the\nevil eye, as he came to be called in his birthplace, where the evil eye\nhad caused so much mischief, sold everything he had, and set off to the\nbanks of the Vistula, where he bought the fine house. He kept no folk\nabout him save one old manservant, who had nursed him in his arms when\nhe was a boy, and on whom the evil eye of his master had no effect.\n\nThe unlucky man seldom went out of his house, for he knew that his\nglance brought misfortune, disease, and death on what it lighted on.\nWhen he did go out in his carriage his old servant sat beside him, and\ntold him when they were coming to a man, a village, or a town. Then the\nmiserable man would either cover his eyes with his hands, or cast down\nhis glances on the floor of his carriage, where he always had a bundle\nof pea-stalks at his feet.[1]\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n  When the evil eye is directed to a bundle of pea-stalks it does no\n  damage, but merely dries up the stalks.\n\n-----\n\nSo it was that he had all the windows of his fine house made to look\nover the Vistula. Twice had he by ill chance looked upon his\nfarm-buildings, and they had been set on fire by his glance.\n\nIn spite of all his care the sailors cursed him, and pointed with fear\nto the wide windows of his beautiful house, out of which he scattered\ndestruction amongst them, the stream rushing on fast in the channel, and\nbringing many a ship to ground opposite the White House, as the place\nwas called.\n\nOne boatman determined to see the man. He jumped into his boat and set\noff to the house. When he arrived there he asked to see the master. The\nold servant, fearful of the consequences, led him into the room. His\nmaster was dining, and being put out that he should be interrupted at\nhis meal, he frowned upon the stranger. Immediately a fever took the\nsailor, and he sank down on the floor at the door.\n\nThe old servant, at the command of his master, took the man to his boat,\ngave him some money, and rowed him back to the other side of the river.\nThe poor sailor was ill for a long time, and when he regained his\nstrength he gave such a terrible account of the White House, and of its\nmaster, as greatly increased the fear of his comrades. From that time,\nwhen they went down the river in their boats and came opposite to the\nWhite House, they would turn their eyes away, and pray heartily that\nthey might be protected from the evil glance of the terrible man who\nlived there.\n\n\n                                  II.\n\nThree years had passed, and the White House was still the dread of the\nneighbours and the terror of the sailors. No one came to see the\nmuch-feared man, and he lived solitary and miserable.\n\nThe next winter was very severe. The wolves, coming together, howled\nwith hunger around the house, and the master sat by the hearth, on which\nburned a large fire, and sorrowfully turned over the leaves of a large\nbook. The old servant had secured all the doors, and sat at the other\nside of the room warming himself, and busied in mending a fishing-net.\n\n\u201cStanislas,\u201d said his master, \u201chave you caught any fish?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot many, master, but as many as we two shall want.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is true,\u201d said his master. \u201cAlthough so many years have passed, we\nare but two. O unlucky hour in which I was born! Here am I alone, and\nall men fly from me as if I were a monster,\u201d and the tears fell in a\ntorrent from his unfortunate eyes.\n\nAll of a sudden they heard a voice crying for help. The master started.\nIt was a long time since he had heard a strange voice. The old servant\nrushed out, and his master followed him with the light in his hand.\n\nBefore the door stood a covered sledge, and by it was an old man who\ncalled for help.\n\nAs soon as the stranger saw the two men coming to him, he lifted his\nwife, who had fainted, out of the sledge, and the old servant helped the\nterrified daughter, a beautiful girl, to alight.\n\nThey put on more wood, and brought the fainted lady round, and the\nmaster of the house, pleased to be able to show hospitality, went and\nfetched some old wine in order to drink the strangers\u2019 healths. The old\nservant laughed to himself as he marked his master\u2019s joyful face. The\nstrange guest, cheered by the wine, told how they had lost their way,\nhow they had fallen in with a pack of hungry wolves, and how their fleet\nhorse had carried them to the White House.\n\nTowards night the luggage was taken out of the sledge, and the wearied\ntravellers retired to rest in warm, comfortable chambers. All was still\nin the White House, save that the fire now and then sent forth a\nglimmering flame.\n\n\n                                  III.\n\nIt was within an hour of midnight, and the old servant was asleep by the\nfireside, when the door of his master\u2019s bedchamber opened and the\nunhappy man trod lightly into the hall. The old servant, wondering\nwhether he was dreaming, rubbed his eyes, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat, cannot my master sleep?\u201d\n\n\u201cBe quiet, old friend!\u201d said his master in a joyful voice. \u201cI cannot\nsleep, and do not wish to sleep when I am so happy as I now am.\u201d\n\nAnd he sat down in a big arm-chair by the fireside, smiled, and\ncommenced to weep.\n\n\u201cWeep, poor master, weep,\u201d said Stanislas to himself. \u201cMaybe you may\nweep your evil eyes away.\u201d\n\n\u201cWould that God would give me what I now wish,\u201d said his master, \u201cand I\nwould ask for nothing more in the world. Here have I lived thirty years\nlike a hermit or a criminal, and yet I have never willingly hurt any\none, and my soul is free from sin, but my eyes, my eyes!\u201d\n\nHis countenance, which was so happy till now, became gloomy as usual;\nbut soon a smile appeared on his face, as hope once more chased away\nsorrow.\n\n\u201cDear friend!\u201d said he, and Stanislas looked at him, \u201cmaybe I shall\nmarry.\u201d\n\n\u201cHeaven help us!\u201d cried the old servant. \u201cBut where then is your future\nbride?\u201d\n\nThe master rose from his chair, walked on tiptoe to the side-door, which\nled to the chambers where slept the travellers, and, pointing to the\ndoor, said\u2014\n\n\u201cThere.\u201d\n\nStanislas nodded his head, as if he approved of his master\u2019s choice, and\ncheerfully put some wood upon the fire. His master went back to his room\nin deep thought, and the old servant mumbled to himself\u2014\n\n\u201cHeaven grant it! But pears don\u2019t grow on willow-trees.\u201d\n\nAnd he was soon asleep.\n\n\n                                  IV.\n\nOn the following morning the traveller rose rested and refreshed, but he\nwas not able to continue his journey in consequence of the illness of\nhis wife.\n\nThe master of the house was pleased when he heard that the strangers\nmust pass some more days in his house, and old Stanislas began almost to\nthink that the pears might grow on the willows after all.\n\nThe stranger was not exactly a rich man, but he had enough, was deemed\nan honest man, and lived honourably. He was much pleased with his\nfriendly host, and as he was one day talking to his wife, who had much\nimproved in her health, he said\u2014\n\n\u201cMargaret, it strikes me that our host is in love with our daughter\nMary, and, from what I can see, I think she does not dislike him. I\ncannot but be pleased with it.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said his wife, \u201cyou only imagine it.\u201d But she was secretly pleased\nthat her husband had no objection to what she had herself very much\nwished.\n\n\u201cThe man is not poor, he has lived here a long time, he has proved\nhimself a gentleman,\u201d went on the husband, walking up and down the room,\n\u201cand our daughter is old enough to be married and take on her the cares\nof a household.\u201d\n\nIn the evening the husband, having partaken of the host\u2019s good wine,\nstroked his grey moustache with satisfaction, and listened with joy when\nthe master of the house asked for his daughter\u2019s hand.\n\n\u201cMy brother,\u201d said he after a short pause, \u201cI am pleased with you, and\nsince you ask no dowry with my daughter, and you have enough to live\nupon, she shall be your wife.\u201d\n\nThree months later the terrible man took his wife home. The grass and\nweeds were cleared from the avenue of poplars, and many horses and\ncarriages passed along it to and fro, as relations and friends of the\nbeautiful bride came in troops to the wedding at the White House. In a\nfew days, however, all was still again, and fresh grass and weeds began\nto grow in the avenue under the poplars.\n\n\n                                   V.\n\nThe winter was at hand, and the inmates of the White House only numbered\none more\u2014the mistress of the house.\n\nMost of the servants whom the master had engaged ran away at once as\nsoon as they heard he had an evil eye, and those who stayed a while,\nhaving been taken ill, soon left the house also.\n\nThe young, beautiful wife lay ill upon her rich bed. Near her was her\nhusband, who, with averted eyes, pressed her cold hand.\n\nThe poor wife knew well how terrible was her husband\u2019s glance. She knew\nthat through it her suffering and sorrow were increased; but still, in\nher love for the sorrowing man, she asked him to look upon her once\nmore.\n\n\u201cMy Mary,\u201d said the wretched man, with a deep sigh. \u201cI shall never be\nhappy with you so long as I have my eyes. Cut them out, then. Here is a\nsharp knife, and at your hand it will cause me no pain.\u201d\n\nThe poor wife shuddered at this terrible proposal, and the wretched man\nsank from his chair to the floor, and commenced to weep bitterly.\n\n\u201cOf what use is this gift of Heaven to me?\u201d cried he. \u201cOf what use is it\nto me to possess the pleasures men have in sight, when my eyes scatter\ndestruction and ruin around? You are ill, my Mary. Why, a tree itself\nwould wither when I cast my glance upon it in an evil hour. Take\ncourage, though. Upon our child these eyes shall never look. Him they\nshall never harm, and he shall not have reason to curse his father.\u201d\n\nA groan was the only answer of the sick wife.\n\nThe master called in a servant and left the room. All at once two\ndifferent cries were heard from the two opposite sides of the White\nHouse.\n\nFrom one side came the cry of a new-born child, from the other side, in\nthe hall where the fire burned, came the cry of a man in pain. The one\nwas the cry of an infant as it looked upon the light for the first time,\nthe other was the cry of a man who had bid farewell to sight for ever.\n\n\n                                  VI.\n\nSix years later there were windows in the White House from which one\ncould obtain a fine view of the village and the surrounding country. The\nsailors had begun to make the House a resting-place on their way down\nthe stream. The mistress was well and merry, and her great joy was a\nbeautiful little daughter who led her blind father about.\n\nThe country-folk, who had fled in terror from the miserable man, now\ncame up to him in friendship, when they saw him blind and taking a walk\nled by his little daughter. The former stillness departed. The servants\nfilled the once empty halls of the White House.\n\nOld Stanislas had on that terrible day buried his master\u2019s eyes in the\ngarden. One day he wondered what had become of them, and whether he\ncould find them. So he dug for them. All of a sudden the eyes glared on\nhim with a bright light. Hardly had the glance fallen on his face when\nhe stumbled and, falling to the ground, died.\n\nThat was the first time the evil eyes had done him hurt, and it was the\nlast time their power was exerted. They had done him no hurt while his\nmaster kept them, because, as he loved his servant, his heart had\ndestroyed their power. Now they were in the earth they had acquired\npower for fresh evil, and killed the honest old man!\n\nHis blind master sorrowed long for him, and over his grave he placed a\nfine cross, near which the sailors often offered up a prayer when they\nlanded at the White House.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          THE SEVEN BROTHERS.\n\n\nONCE upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman, who had been\nmarried many years and had no children, and when they were yet old they\nprayed to God to give them a child who might help them in their work as\nthey advanced in years. Their prayer was heard. When seven years had\npassed the old woman gave birth to seven sons, and they were all called\nSimeon. When the children were ten years old the old man and his wife\ndied, and the sons began to till his ground.\n\nIt chanced that one day the Czar Ados came past, and, seeing them\nworking in the fields, he was astonished to see such little fellows\ndoing such work. He sent one of his nobles to ask whose children they\nwere. So the noble came to them and asked who they were who worked so\nhard. The eldest Simeon told him that they were orphans and had no one\nto work for them. As for their names they were all called Simeon.\n\nWhen the Czar got back to the palace he called together all his nobles\nand asked them their opinion, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cMy lords, there are seven orphans who have no kinsfolk. I will make\nthem such men that they shall be grateful to me. Now, I want your advice\nas to what trade or art I shall have them taught.\u201d\n\nThen all answered\u2014\n\n\u201cGracious sire, since they are old enough and have ability, we think it\nwould be best to ask each of them what trade or art he wishes to learn.\u201d\n\nThe Czar was pleased with this advice, and asked the eldest Simeon\u2014\n\n\u201cTell me, friend, what trade or art would you like to learn? I will see\nthat you are instructed in it.\u201d\n\nThe lad answered\u2014\n\n\u201cMay it please your majesty, I wish to learn no art, but if you will\norder a smithy to be built in the middle of your court, I will smithy a\ncolumn which shall reach to heaven.\u201d\n\nThe Czar saw that this Simeon required no teaching, since he was such a\nsmith, for he showed him very costly work, but he did not believe that\nhe would be able to smithy a column that should reach to heaven.\nHowever, he ordered a place to be built in the middle of his yard, and\nthe eldest Simeon set to work.\n\nThen the Czar asked the second Simeon\u2014\n\n\u201cAnd you, my friend, what art will you learn?\u201d\n\n\u201cYour majesty,\u201d said he, \u201cI do not wish to learn any business or trade,\nbut when my brother has finished the column, I will stand on the top of\nit, look around into all the countries, and let you know what is passing\nin each of them.\u201d\n\nThe Czar perceived that there was no need to teach this lad anything,\nsince he was so clever already.\n\nThen he said to the third Simeon\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat business or what art will you learn?\u201d\n\n\u201cYour majesty,\u201d said he, \u201cI do not wish to learn either handiwork or\nart, but if my eldest brother will make me an axe, I will build a ship\nin an instant.\u201d\n\n\u201cSuch a man do I want,\u201d said the Czar. \u201cYou, too, have nothing to\nlearn.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd you,\u201d said the Czar to the fourth Simeon, \u201cwhat handiwork or what\nart do you wish to learn?\u201d\n\n\u201cYour majesty,\u201d said he, \u201cI do not wish to learn anything, but, when my\nbrother has finished his ship, and it is attacked by the enemy, I will\nseize it by the prow, carry it to the underground kingdom, and, when the\nenemy is gone, I will put it again on the sea.\u201d\n\nThe Czar was very much astonished, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cYou, too, have nothing to learn.\u201d\n\nThen he spoke to the fifth brother\u2014\n\n\u201cAnd you, Simeon, what handiwork or what art will you learn?\u201d\n\n\u201cI want to learn nothing, your majesty,\u201d said he, \u201cbut if my eldest\nbrother will make me a gun, I will shoot with it any bird that flies,\nhowever far off it be, so that I am able to see it.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou will be an excellent sportsman,\u201d said the Czar.\n\nThen he asked the sixth brother\u2014\n\n\u201cWell, Simeon, what art do you wish to learn?\u201d\n\n\u201cI wish to learn no art, your majesty,\u201d said he, \u201cbut if my fifth\nbrother shoots a bird, I will catch it before it comes to the ground and\nbring it to your majesty.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is very clever,\u201d said the Czar. \u201cYou will do instead of a dog in\nthe field.\u201d\n\nThen the Czar asked the last brother\u2014\n\n\u201cAnd you, Simeon, what handiwork or art will you learn?\u201d\n\n\u201cI want to learn neither handiwork nor art, your majesty,\u201d replied he,\n\u201cfor I already know a precious art.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is it,\u201d asked the Czar, \u201cthat is so good?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am so skilful at stealing,\u201d said he, \u201cthat no one can beat me at it.\u201d\n\nWhen the Czar heard that the lad was acquainted with such a wicked art,\nhe was angry, and said to his nobles\u2014\n\n\u201cMy lords, let me have your advice as to how this thief, Simeon, should\nbe punished. What death should he die?\u201d\n\n\u201cYour majesty,\u201d said they all, \u201cwhy should he die? It is not unlikely,\nsince he is such a clever thief, that he may prove useful in some case.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow so?\u201d asked the Czar.\n\n\u201cYour majesty,\u201d said they, \u201chas during the last ten years sought the\nhand of the Czarina, the beautiful Helena, in vain, and lost many armies\nand much treasure. Now this thief, Simeon, may devise some means of\nstealing the Czarina for your Majesty.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou say well, my friends,\u201d observed the Czar, and he went and said to\nthe thief\u2014\n\n\u201cNow, Simeon, can you wander over seven and twenty countries into the\nthirtieth and steal for me the beautiful princess, Helena? I love her\nvery much, and if you procure her for me you shall be well rewarded.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe will see to it,\u201d said he, \u201cyou have but to command.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not merely command,\u201d said the Czar, \u201cbut I beg of you not to\nremain longer at my court, but to take what armies you wish to effect\nyour purpose.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not want either your armies or your treasure,\u201d said the thief.\n\u201cOnly send all of us together, for I can do nothing without the others.\u201d\n\nThe Czar did not wish for all the brothers to go, but though he thought\nit hard, he was obliged to consent.\n\nIn the meantime the eldest brother had completed the iron column in the\nsmithy in the court of the palace. The second brother climbed up to the\ntop, and from there he saw the kingdom of the fair Helena\u2019s father. He\ncalled out to the Czar Ados\u2014\n\n\u201cYour majesty, beyond twenty-seven countries in the thirtieth there\nsits, at a window, the Czarina, the beautiful Helena. How fair she is!\nOne can see every blue vein in her white skin.\u201d\n\nThen the Czar was more in love with her than ever, and cried out to the\nSimeons\u2014\n\n\u201cMy friends, set out as quickly as you can and return soon. I can live\nno longer without the beautiful Helena.\u201d\n\nThe eldest Simeon smithied a gun for the third brother, and carried\nbread for the journey. The thief took with him a cat, and so they set\nout. Now the thief had so trained the cat that it ran after him\neverywhere, just like a dog, and when he stood still it stood by him, on\nits hind-legs, rubbing against him and purring. So they went on till\nthey came to the shore of a sea over which they must pass. For a long\ntime they walked about on the shore and looked for wood, in order to\nbuild a ship, and at last they came to a great oak. The third brother\ntook his axe and cut away at the root. The oak was brought to the\nground, and a ship was in a moment built from it, filled with all kinds\nof precious things. The brothers entered the ship and sailed away.\n\nAfter some months they came to the place they sought, and cast anchor in\nthe harbour. The next day the thief, taking his cat, went into the town,\nand, coming to the Czar\u2019s palace, stood in front of the Princess\nHelena\u2019s window. His cat at once stood up on its hind-legs and began to\nrub itself against him, and to purr. Now a cat had never before been\nseen in that kingdom, nor, indeed, had the people knowledge that there\nwas any such animal.\n\nThe princess sat at the window, and, when she saw the cat, she sent out\nher servants and maids to ask Simeon if he would sell it, and if so,\nwhat he wanted for it. The servants came to Simeon, and asked him what\nkind of animal the cat was, and whether he would sell it.\n\n\u201cTell her majesty, the beautiful Helena,\u201d said the thief, \u201cthat the\nanimal is called a cat. I cannot sell it, but, if her majesty pleases, I\ndesire the honour of making her a present of it.\u201d\n\nThe attendants took the message to the princess, who, when she heard it,\nwas delighted, and coming out of her chamber she asked Simeon why he\nwould not sell the cat.\n\n\u201cI cannot sell the cat, your majesty,\u201d said he, \u201cbut, if you please, I\nwill give it to you.\u201d\n\nThe princess took the cat in her arms, and going back to her apartment,\ntold Simeon to follow. When they were in the palace, she went to her\nfather, the Czar Say, showed him the cat, and told him that a stranger\nhad given it to her. The Czar was very much pleased with the strange\nanimal, and ordered that the thief Simeon should be brought to him. When\nhe came, the Czar wished to give him treasures in return for the cat,\nbut, as Simeon refused all, the Czar said to him: \u201cMy friend, stay for a\nwhile in my palace. The cat will become more familiar to my daughter if\nyou are here.\u201d\n\nSimeon, however, did not wish to stay, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cIt would give me the greatest pleasure, your majesty, to stay in your\npalace if I had not a ship in which I came to your country, and which I\ncan leave in charge of no one. If, however, your majesty wishes it, I\nwill come every day to the palace, and get the cat accustomed to your\ndaughter.\u201d\n\nSo the Czar ordered him to come. Simeon went every day to the beautiful\nPrincess Helena, and one day he said to her\u2014\n\n\u201cGracious lady, I have come a long while to you, but I have noticed that\nyou never go out. Would you not like to see my vessel? I could show you\nfine goods, gold-stuff, and diamonds, such as you have never seen.\u201d\n\nThe princess went away to her father, and begged his permission for her\nto take a walk on the quay. The Czar gave it her, but told her to take\nher attendants and maids with her. So the princess went with Simeon.\nWhen they had come to the quay, Simeon invited the princess on board his\nvessel, and, calling his brothers to show her all the various goods, he\nsaid, after a time\u2014\n\n\u201cTell your servants and maids to leave the ship so that I can show you\nsome costly things they must not see.\u201d\n\nSo the princess bade them leave the vessel. When she was alone, the\nthief ordered his brothers to cut the cable, set all sail, and put out\nto sea. In the meanwhile he amused the princess, showing her the things,\nand giving presents to her. So they spent several hours examining the\ngoods. At last the princess told him that it was time for her to go\nhome, as the Czar would be expecting her. But when she went up out of\nthe cabin, she saw that the vessel was already far out at sea, and that\nshe was far away from the coast. Then she beat upon her breast, changed\nherself to a swan, and flew upwards; but the fifth Simeon, seizing his\ngun, shot at her, and the sixth caught her as she was falling into the\nwater and brought her to the vessel. The princess became a young woman\nonce more.\n\nThe attendants and maids, who had gone to the quay with the princess,\nand had seen the ship sail away with her, told the Czar of the trick\nSimeon had played them, and he ordered that all his fleet should go in\npursuit. It had come near to Simeon\u2019s vessel, when the fourth brother\nlaid hold of the vessel by the prow and dragged it off to the\nunderground kingdom. The sailors of the fleet saw the vessel vanish, and\nthey thought that it had sunk with the beautiful princess; so, going\nback to the Czar Say, they told him of the ship\u2019s disappearance.\n\nThe brothers came safely home, and led the fair Princess Helena to the\nCzar Ados, who gave the Simeons, in reward for their great service,\ntheir freedom and much gold, silver, and many precious stones. And he\nlived with the princess for many years, prosperous and happy.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                     SILA CZAROVITCH AND IVASCHKA.\n\n\nTHERE was once upon a time a Czar called Chotei, who had three sons. The\nfirst was called Aspe, the second Adam, and the third, the youngest,\nSila. The elder brothers came to their father and asked him to let them\ngo and travel in other countries, so that they might see the world and\nlearn how things were. The Czar gave them his permission, and let them\neach have a vessel in which they might sail. Then the youngest brother\ncame to the Czar and asked him to let him go with his brothers.\n\n\u201cMy dear son,\u201d said the Czar, \u201cyou are too young to bear the fatigues of\na journey. Stop here then at home, and do not think of going abroad.\u201d\n\nSila, however, wished very much to see the strange countries, and so\nwearied his father with his prayers, that at last he gave him his\npermission to go, and let him have a vessel also. As soon as the three\nbrothers were on board their ships they set sail. When they came to the\nopen sea, however, the eldest brother\u2019s vessel went on first, the second\nbrother\u2019s next, and Sila\u2019s came last.\n\nAs they sailed, the third day there came floating past them a coffin\nwith iron bands. The two eldest brothers saw it, but did not pick it up.\nWhen Sila, however, saw it, he gave orders to his sailors to secure it,\nbring it on board, and bury it when they came to a suitable spot. On the\nfollowing day a great storm came on, and Sila\u2019s ship, being driven out\nof its proper course, drifted to the steep shores of an unknown land.\nWhen they arrived there, Sila ordered the sailors to carry the coffin on\nshore, and he followed it himself and saw it buried in the earth.\n\nSila then told the ship\u2019s master to stop where the vessel was for three\nyears, waiting for him. If he did not come back at the end of that time,\nhe told the man he was to sail away. Then Sila took leave of his captain\nand his men, and went away following his eyes. For a long time he went\non and met no one. On the third day, however, he heard a man running\nafter him, clothed in white. When he saw that the man was coming up to\nhim, he drew his sword, fearing that the stranger might intend to do him\nsome hurt. But when the man came up to him, he fell down at his feet,\nand began to thank him for having rescued him. Sila, not understanding\nwhat he meant, asked him why he thanked him, and what good service he\nhad done him. The unknown sprang to his feet, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cSila Czarovitch, how can I ever repay you? There I lay in my coffin,\nwhich you took on board and buried on the land, and so was I rescued\nfrom the sea.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow came you in the coffin?\u201d asked Sila.\n\n\u201cI will tell you all,\u201d said the man. \u201cI was once a great magician, and\nmy mother, fearing that I did a great deal of harm to folk by my magic,\nconfined me in the coffin, and turned me out upon the sea. I have been\nfloating for over a hundred years, and no one ever picked me up. You I\nhave to thank for my deliverance, and in return for it I will aid you in\nany way I can. Tell me, do you not wish to marry? If you do, I know the\nbeautiful Queen Truda, who would make you a worthy wife.\u201d\n\nSila told him that if the queen were beautiful he would be content to\nmarry her. Ivaschka, in the white grave-clothes, assured him that she\nwas the most beautiful woman in all the world, and Sila, when he heard\nthat, asked his companion to go with him to her country. So they went on\ntogether.\n\nNow Queen Truda\u2019s kingdom was surrounded by a fence with posts, and on\nevery post, save one, was a man\u2019s head. When Sila saw that he was\nalarmed, and asked Ivaschka what it meant.\n\n\u201cThose,\u201d said Ivaschka, \u201care the heads of the warriors who came to ask\nthe Queen Truda to marry them.\u201d\n\nSila was afraid when he heard that, and wished himself back again in his\nown kingdom. He did not wish to go on and see the father of the queen,\nbut Ivaschka told him he had nothing to fear if he went on boldly with\nhim. So Sila and he went on together.\n\nWhen they had entered the kingdom, Ivaschka said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cListen, Sila Czarovitch, I will live with you as your servant. When you\ncome to the royal apartments, behave humbly to King Salom. He will ask\nyou where you come from, what country you belong to, who your father is,\nwhat is your name, and on what errand you have come. Tell him all, and\ndo not try to conceal anything. Tell him that you have come to ask for\nhis daughter\u2019s hand, and he will give her to you with the greatest joy.\u201d\n\nSila went into the palace, and when King Salom saw him he came to meet\nhim, took him by the white hands, led him into the white marble room,\nand said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cYoung man, who are you? From what kingdom do you come? Who is your\nfather? What is your name? and why are you come?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have come,\u201d replied Sila, \u201cfrom the kingdom of the Czar Chotei; I am\nknown as Sila Czarovitch, and I have come here to ask for your daughter,\nthe beautiful Queen Truda, for my wife.\u201d\n\nThen King Salom was very pleased when he heard that the son of so famous\na Czar desired to wed his daughter, and he at once sent to her, to tell\nher to get ready for the wedding. When the day came, the king commanded\nall the princes and nobles to come to the palace. From there they went\nto the church, and Sila Czarovitch married the beautiful Queen Truda.\nThe company went back to the palace, seated themselves at table, and ate\nand drank with great joy.\n\nWhen evening was come Ivaschka came near to Sila, and said to him\nsoftly\u2014\n\n\u201cListen, Sila Czarovitch. When you retire with your wife, take care you\ndo not say a word to her, or you are a dead man, and your head will find\na place on the last post. She will do all she can to make you speak, but\ndo not you say a word to her.\u201d\n\nSila asked him why he gave him this warning.\n\n\u201cShe is,\u201d said Ivaschka, \u201cacquainted with a spirit which flies through\nthe air in the shape of a dragon with six heads. Your wife will lay her\nhand upon your breast. When she does so, spring up and beat her with a\nstick till she has no strength left in her. I will myself watch at the\ndoor of the room.\u201d\n\nThe queen did, as Ivaschka foretold, do all she could to make Sila\nspeak, but he would not utter a word. Then Truda put her hand on his\nbreast, and pressed him, so that he could hardly breathe. Sila jumped\nup, seized a stick, which Ivaschka had put there for the occasion, and\ncommenced to beat her as if he would kill her. Immediately there came on\na terrible storm, and there flew into the room a six-headed dragon who\ncommenced to attack Sila. Then Ivaschka came in with a sharp sword in\nhis hand, and he and the dragon fought together for three hours, when\nIvaschka managed to cut off two of the dragon\u2019s heads, and the monster\nflew away. Ivaschka then told Sila he might go to sleep and fear\nnothing. So Sila laid him down and slept till morning.\n\nKing Salom was anxious respecting his son-in-law, and he sent early in\nthe morning to ask if all was well with him. When he heard that it was,\nhe was delighted, for he remembered the fate of the others who had come\nto marry his daughter. He summoned Sila to him, and they spent the whole\nday in merriment.\n\nThe next night Ivaschka warned Sila that he must not speak to his wife,\nand he himself took up his station outside the door of the room. Sila\u2019s\nwife again tried to make him speak, and again put her hand upon his\nbreast, and Sila leaped up and thrashed her. The dragon flew in and\nattacked him, but Ivaschka sprang in from the door with the sword in his\nhand, and after he and the dragon had fought for three hours Ivaschka\ncut off two more of its heads. Then the dragon flew off and Sila lay\ndown to sleep. The king again sent for Sila to come to him, and they\nspent the day together very pleasantly.\n\nThe third night Ivaschka warned Sila as before, and Sila did as he was\nbid. Ivaschka again fought with the monster, and, cutting off the two\nlast heads, he burnt them and the carcass, and scattered the ashes over\nthe fields.\n\nSo Sila Czarovitch stayed with his father-in-law for a whole year, and\nthen Ivaschka, coming to him one day, told him to ask the king to give\nhim permission to return home. Sila went to King Salom and obtained his\nleave to go, and the king sent two divisions of his army with him as an\nescort. So Sila parted with his father-in-law, and set off with his wife\nfor his own land.\n\nWhen they were half-way home Ivaschka told Sila to stop and camp there.\nSila did as he advised, and ordered his tent to be put up. On the next\nday Ivaschka took some pieces of stick and burnt them in front of the\nCzarovitch\u2019s tent. Then he came to the tent, led Queen Truda outside,\nand unsheathing his sword he cut her in two. Sila was greatly terrified,\nand commenced to weep when he saw that.\n\n\u201cDo not weep,\u201d said Ivaschka, \u201cshe will come to life again.\u201d\n\nAs soon as the Queen was cut in two there came out of her all manner of\nevil spirits, and all of these Ivaschka threw into the fire. Then said\nhe to Sila\u2014\n\n\u201cDo you see the evil things which possessed your wife? They are all evil\nspirits which had entered her.\u201d\n\nWhen all the evil spirits were destroyed in the fire, he placed the two\nparts of Truda\u2019s body together, sprinkled them with water from a running\nbrook, and the queen became alive again. She was now also as good as she\nhad before been evil.\n\nThen said Ivaschka to Sila\u2014\n\n\u201cGood-bye, Sila Czarovitch, you will see me no more;\u201d and as soon as he\nhad spoken those words he disappeared.\n\nSila struck his tent and went on homewards, and when he came to the spot\nwhere he had left his ship, he dismissed the troops that accompanied\nhim, went on board with his queen, and set sail. He soon came to his own\nland, and his arrival there was greeted with the sound of cannon. Czar\nChotei came to meet him, and taking him and his wife by their white\nhands he led them into the white marble room. Then there was a feast\nprepared, and they ate and drank and were merry. Sila lived with his\nfather two years, and then he went back to the country of his\nfather-in-law, King Salom. He succeeded him on the throne, and reigned\nwith his beautiful Queen Truda, during many years, with much love and\nhappiness.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                           THE STOLEN HEART.\n\n\nONCE upon a time there stood, on an island in the Vistula, a great\ncastle surrounded by a strong rampart. At each corner was a tower, and\nfrom these there waved in the wind many a flag, while the soldiers stood\non guard upon them. A bridge connected the island with the banks of the\nriver.\n\nIn this castle lived a knight, a brave and famous warrior. When the\ntrumpets sounded from the battlements of the castle, their notes\nannounced that he had returned from victory loaded with booty.\n\nIn the deep dungeons of the castle many a prisoner was confined, and\nthey were led out daily to work. They had to keep the ramparts in\nrepair, and to see to the garden. Now among these prisoners was an old\nwoman, who was a sorceress. She swore that she would be revenged upon\nthe knight for his ill-treatment of her, and patiently awaited an\nopportunity to effect her purpose.\n\nOne day the knight came back wearied out with his exertions on one of\nhis warlike excursions. He lay down upon the grass, closed his eyes, and\nwas soon fast asleep.\n\nThe witch seized the opportunity. Coming gently to him, she scattered\npoppy seed on his eyes so that he should sleep the sounder. Then, with\nan aspen branch, she struck him on the breast over his heart.\n\nThe knight\u2019s breast at once opened, so that one could look in and see\nthe heart as it lay there and beat. The sorceress laughed, stretched out\nher bony arm, and with her long fingers she stole away the heart so\nquietly that the knight never woke.\n\nThen the woman took a hare\u2019s heart which she had ready, put it in the\nsleeping man\u2019s breast, and closed up the opening. Going away softly, she\nhid herself in a thicket, to see the effect of her wicked work.\n\nBefore the knight was even awake he began to feel the change that the\nhare\u2019s heart was making in him. He, who had till now never known fear,\nquaked and tossed himself uneasily from side to side. When he awoke he\nfelt as if he should be crushed by his armour. The cry of his hounds, as\nit fell on his ear, filled him with terror.\n\nOnce he had loved to hear their deep baying as he followed them in\npursuit of the prey in the wild forest, but now he was filled with fear,\nand fled like a timid hare. As he ran to his room the clang of his\narmour, the ringing of his silver spurs, the clatter of his spear,\nfilled him with such terror that he threw all aside, and sank exhausted\non his bed.\n\nEven in his sleep fear pursued him. Once he dreamed only of battles, and\nof the prizes of victory, now he trembled as he dreamt. The barking of\nhis dogs, the voices of his soldiers as they paced the ramparts while\nthey watched, made him quake as he lay on his bed, and he buried his\nhead, like a frightened child, in his pillow.\n\nAt length there came a body of the knight\u2019s enemies to besiege him in\nhis castle. The knight\u2019s soldiers looked upon their leader, who had so\noften delighted in the excitement of the camp, and in the victory. In\nvain they waited for him to lead them forth. The once so brave knight,\nwhen he heard the clash of arms, the cry of the men, and the clang of\nthe horses\u2019 hoofs, fled to the topmost chamber of his castle, and from\nthere looked down upon the force which had come against him.\n\nWhen he recollected his expeditions in the time past, his combats, his\nvictories, he wept bitterly, and cried out aloud\u2014\n\n\u201cO Heaven! give me now courage, give me the old strength of heart and\nvigour. My men have already gone to the field, and I, who used to lead\nthem, now, like a girl, look through the highest loophole upon my\nenemies. Give me my old boldness, that I may take my arms again; make me\nwhat I was once, and bless me with victory.\u201d\n\nThese thoughts, as it were, awakened him from a dream. He went again\ninto his chamber, put on his armour, leaped upon his horse, and rode\noutside the castle gate. The soldiers saw him come with joy, and sounded\nthe trumpets. The knight went on, but in his secret soul he was afraid,\nand when his men gallantly threw themselves upon the enemy, deadly fear\ncame over him, and he turned and fled.\n\nEven when he was once more in his stronghold, when the mighty walls held\nhim safe within them, fear did not leave him. He sprang from his horse,\nfled to an innermost chamber, and there, quite unmanned, awaited\ninglorious death.\n\nHis men had triumphed over the foe, and the salutations of the guards\nannounced their victorious return. All wondered at the flight of their\nleader at such a time. They looked for him, and discovered him half dead\nin a deep cellar.\n\nThe unfortunate knight did not live long. During the winter he tried to\nwarm his quaking limbs by the fireside of his castle. When spring came\nhe would open his window that he might breathe the fresh air, and one\nday it chanced a swallow, that had built its nest in a hole of the roof,\nstruck him on the head with its wing. The blow was fatal. As if he had\nbeen struck by lightning, the knight fell down upon the ground, and in a\nshort while died.\n\nAll his men mourned for their good master. They knew not what had\nchanged him, but about a year later, when some sorceresses were being\nput to the ordeal for having kept off the rain, one of them confessed\nthat she had taken the knight\u2019s heart, and put in his breast a hare\u2019s\nheart in its place. Then the men knew how it was that a man who had\nformerly been so bold of heart had become so fearful. They mourned his\nmisfortune, and, taking the witch to his grave, there they burnt her\nalive.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                            PRINCE SLUGOBYL.\n\n\nTHERE was once upon a time a king who had an only son named Slugobyl.\nThe young prince was very fond of travelling, and when he was twenty\nyears of age he begged his father and mother so much to let him go to\nsee the world, that they gave him their consent, giving him as an\nattendant an old servant on whose fidelity they thought they could rely.\nThe prince, well equipped and armed, mounted his horse, and, after\nhaving taken a tender leave, set off to distant countries in the hope of\nacquiring knowledge and returning wiser, and more fitted to rule.\n\nAs he rode along he saw a cygnet pursued by an eagle, which threatened\nto overtake it every moment. The prince seized his bow, and shot so well\nthat the eagle, mortally wounded, fell at his feet. The cygnet seeing\nthis stopped in its flight, and said to the prince\u2014\n\n\u201cPrince Slugobyl, it is not a poor cygnet that thanks you, but the\ndaughter of the Invisible Prince, who, changed into this shape, sought\nrefuge from the pursuit of the giant Koshchei. My father will reward you\nfor this good action. Remember when you have need of him, you have only\nto speak these words thrice\u2014\u2018Invisible Prince, come to me.\u2019\u201d\n\nWhen it had thus spoken, the cygnet flew away, and the prince, having\nwatched it till it was out of sight, continued his journey. He went on\nfor a long time until he found himself in the midst of a plain scorched\nup by the heat of the sun. Not a tree, not a bush, not even a plant, was\nto be seen. No bird flew by, no insect broke the stillness with its hum.\nEverything seemed as if it had been stricken with death by the sun\u2019s\nrays. The prince, after having travelled some hours on this plain, began\nto feel very thirsty, so he sent his servant off to see if he could find\nsome spring or well at which he could alight. By good luck the servant\nfound a well, very deep, and containing plenty of fresh water, but there\nwas nothing by means of which they could draw the water up. What should\nthey do? At length the prince said\u2014\n\n\u201cTake the cord with which we secure our horses and fasten it around you,\nand then I will let you down into the well, for I am nearly dead with\nthirst.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy prince,\u201d answered the servant, \u201cI am heavier than you, and you are\nnot so strong as I am. If I go down you will never be able to draw me up\nagain. It would be better for you to go down the well, and then I can\npull you up when you have drunk as much as you wish.\u201d\n\nThe prince thought the advice good, and the servant tied the cord under\nhis arms, and let him down into the well. When he had drunk as much as\nhe wished, he got some of the water for his servant, and then he pulled\nthe cord as a signal for him to draw him up. Instead of doing so,\nhowever, the servant looked down and said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cListen to me, prince. Since the day of your birth up to the present\ntime you have had everything you wished for, while I have undergone\ngreat misery, and have slaved all my life. Now we will change places.\nTake your choice. Will you be my servant? If not, pray Heaven to have\nmercy on you, for I shall leave you to drown.\u201d\n\n\u201cStop, my good servant,\u201d said the prince, \u201cdon\u2019t do that, I beg you.\nWhat good would it do you? You would never find so good a position as\nyou have with me, and you know that murderers meet with a dreadful fate\nin the next world. Their hands are plunged in boiling pitch, their\nshoulders are scourged with red-hot iron, and their necks are sawn with\nwooden saws.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not care for all that,\u201d said the servant, \u201cbut I know that I shall\ndrown you unless you consent.\u201d\n\nAnd he commenced to loosen the cord.\n\n\u201cWell then,\u201d said the prince, \u201cI agree to what you ask. You shall be my\nprince and I will be your servant. I pledge you my word.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t believe in words,\u201d cried the servant, \u201cwhich the wind blows\naway. Swear to me that you will confirm the promise in writing.\u201d\n\n\u201cI swear it,\u201d said the prince.\n\nThe servant let down a paper and pencil, and dictated the following\nwords\u2014\n\n\u201cI declare that I renounce my name and all my rights in favour of him\nwho carries this paper, and that I take him for my prince, and will\nserve him.\n\nSigned, in the well\u2014\n\n                                                       PRINCE SLUGOBYL.\u201d\n\nThe servant, who was unable to read, took the paper, drew the prince up\nout of the well, and then changed clothes with him. Thus disguised, the\ntwo went on for a week, until they entered a large town and came to the\npalace of the king. The false prince sent his companion to see to the\nhorses, while he presented himself boldly to the king, and said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cI am come, sire, to ask the hand of your beautiful and wise daughter,\nwhose fame has spread even to my father\u2019s court. If you consent I assure\nyou of our friendship, but if you refuse we shall make war with you.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe request and the threat are alike unseasonable,\u201d said the king.\n\u201cListen, prince; I am willing to show my respect for the king, your\nfather, by granting his request, on one condition. Our enemies, enraged\nagainst us, have assembled a large army, and now threaten our town. If\nyou deliver us, my daughter is yours.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d replied the false prince, \u201cI will utterly destroy the\nhostile army. Let them come as near as possible to the town. I promise\nyou that I will acquit myself so well, that to-morrow morning you shall\nfind no traces of them.\u201d\n\nWhen it was evening, he called his pretended servant to him from his\nlodging in the stables, and, when the prince had respectfully saluted\nhim, said\u2014\n\n\u201cListen, my friend. Go out at once and destroy the hostile army which is\nencamped outside the city, and do it so that folk will think that I am\nthe vanquisher. In return for this service, I promise to give you back\nthe writing by which you agree to let me have your title and to serve\nme.\u201d\n\nThe prince put on his armour, jumped on his horse, and, going out of the\ntown, called thrice on the Invisible Prince.\n\n\u201cHere I am,\u201d said a voice close to him. \u201cWhat do you wish? I will do\nwhatever you tell me, for it was you who saved my daughter from\nKoshchei, and that is a service I shall never forget.\u201d\n\nPrince Slugobyl showed him the army he wished destroyed. The Invisible\nPrince whistled, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cMagical horse with the golden mane, come to me, not on the ground but\nthrough the air, quick as an arrow, nimble as the lightning\u2019s flash.\u201d\n\nThat moment, in the midst of a whirlwind of smoke, there came a\nmagnificent horse of an iron grey colour, and with a golden mane. It\nflew like the wind. Fire came from its nostrils. Its eyes sparkled like\nstars, and its ears smoked.\n\nThe Invisible Prince jumped upon it, and said to Prince Slugobyl\u2014\n\n\u201cTake my sword and go and exterminate the left wing, while I destroy the\nright and the centre.\u201d\n\nSo the two set off, each to his place, and attacked the enemy with fury.\nTo the right and to the left the soldiers fell like mown down grass. The\nslaughter was dreadful. The soldiers fled in all directions, but the two\nprinces pursued them, and only ceased their labour when there remained\non the field of battle only the dead and the dying. Then the two\nreturned to the town. When they came near to the palace they shook\nhands. The Invisible Prince disappeared, and Prince Slugobyl went back\nto his stable.\n\nIt chanced that the king\u2019s daughter had been in such trouble that she\nhad not been able to sleep. So she had gone out upon her balcony, and\nfrom there she had observed all that had occurred. She had heard the\nconversation between the false prince and his servant. She had seen\nSlugobyl call the Invisible Prince to assist him, and she had seen him\ngive his clothes and armour to the impostor, while he told him all that\nhe had done during the night. The princess divined all, but she resolved\nto be careful, and not to speak till the right time.\n\nThe next day the king ordered that the victory gained by his guest over\nthe hostile army should be celebrated by great festivities. Calling his\ndaughter to him at the banquet, he was about to give her to the false\nprince, when she, leaving the table, made her way among the servants,\nand embracing Slugobyl, who stood amongst them, brought him forward.\n\n\u201cMy father,\u201d said she, \u201cand all you who are here present, here is he who\ngained the victory, and whom Heaven has sent me to be my husband. He\nwhom you have been honouring is nothing more than a vile impostor, who\nhas robbed his master alike of his name and of his rights. Last night I\ncould not sleep, and, going out upon my balcony, I saw things such as\neye had never before seen, and heard things such as ear had never before\nbeen acquainted with. I will tell you all, but first of all command that\ntraitor to show you the paper by which he claims to be what he\npretends.\u201d\n\nThe false prince then produced the paper signed by his master, and it\nwas found to contain these words\u2014\n\n\u201cLet the bearer of this paper, the traitorous and wicked servant of\nPrince Slugobyl, receive the punishment he well deserves for his\ntreachery.\n\n                                        (Signed),      PRINCE SLUGOBYL.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d cried the traitor, \u201cdo you say that that is what the writing\nmeans?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d cried they all. \u201cThat is what is here.\u201d\n\nThen he threw himself at the king\u2019s feet and begged for mercy, but he\nonly received what he deserved. He was tied to four wild horses and torn\nto pieces.\n\nPrince Slugobyl married the princess. I, who tell you of these things,\nwas there myself, and I there drank wine and hydromel, but, though my\nbeard was wetted, none of the drink went into my mouth.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                            PRINCESS MARVEL.\n\n\nUPON an island in the midst of the sea dwelt a princess, and with her\nlived twelve female attendants. The princess was of extraordinary\nbeauty. Her face was calm and lovely as the moon, her lips were rosy\nred, and when she spoke her voice was full of music. Her eyes were\nremarkable. If they looked upon one with favour, her glance filled him\nwith delight; but if they were cast upon one in anger, he was at once\nchanged into a block of ice. All the princess\u2019s attendants were very\nbeautiful, and devoted to their mistress. In time the fame of the\nprincess\u2019s extraordinary loveliness was spread abroad. Folk came from\nall parts to see her, and the island became full of people.\n\nMany princes sought the princess in marriage, but she rejected them all.\nThose who took her refusal in good part returned to their homes safe and\nsound, but woe to him who endeavoured to obtain the hand of Princess\nMarvel by force! Having landed with an army on the island, he saw his\nsoldiers miserably perish, and he himself, pierced by a glance from the\nprincess\u2019s eye, became a block of ice.\n\nOne day the great ogre Koshchei, looking around the world, took it into\nhis head to see all the different kings, queens, princes, and princesses\nit contained.\n\nAll of a sudden his glance fell upon the island where dwelt the\nprincess. He looked, and saw the twelve beautiful attendants, and in\ntheir midst the lovely princess, asleep. As she slept the princess\ndreamt of a man who wore gold armour, was mounted on a fiery charger,\nand who was armed with an invisible club, and she felt that she loved\nthe chevalier more than life itself.\n\nMeanwhile Koshchei had fallen deep in love with the princess. Stamping\nthree times upon the ground, he was at once transported to the island,\nbut the princess, when he presented himself, rejected him with scorn,\nfor she felt that she could be the wife of none but him whom she had\nseen in her dream. As Koshchei was determined to carry off the princess\nby force, if need be, she assembled her troops, and went out to meet\nhim. Koshchei with his poisonous breath laid all the troops prostrate on\nthe ground in a deep sleep. The princess, however, escaped, for, casting\none of her angry glances on Koshchei, he was turned into a block of ice,\nand the princess returned to her palace. Koshchei did not long remain in\nthat condition. When the princess came to her palace she found all the\npeople within it asleep, and Koshchei, following her there, and not\ndaring to appear before her for fear of again feeling the power of her\neyes, built a wall of iron around the palace, placed a dragon with\ntwelve heads at its gate, and waited, thinking that the princess would\nat length tire of being a solitary prisoner, and would agree to become\nhis wife.\n\nAll upon the island were asleep, save the princess and Koshchei. Weeks\nand months passed away and Koshchei came to the gate of the palace time\nafter time to tell the princess that he loved her, that resistance must\nbe vain, and that, as his wife, she should be queen of all the\nunderground world. Princess Marvel, however, listened to him in silence.\n\nSolitary and sad, she thought of him she had seen in her dream. She\nthought of his shining armour, his fiery horse, his invisible club, and\nthe glances he had cast upon her, assuring her he loved her. She was\nalways thinking of him. One day, as she looked out, she saw a cloud\npassing along the sky, and said to it\u2014\n\n\u201cStop on your way through the blue sky, cloud, and tell me where is he\nwhom I love, and whether he ever thinks of me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not know,\u201d said the cloud. \u201cAsk the wind.\u201d\n\nThe princess, seeing a breath of wind playing amongst the flowers, said\nto it\u2014\n\n\u201cWind, you travel far and wide and are so happy in your freedom, have\npity upon me, who am so miserable and helpless. Tell me where is he whom\nI love, and whether he ever thinks of me.\u201d\n\n\u201cAsk the stars,\u201d said the wind. \u201cThey know more than I do.\u201d\n\nPrincess Marvel lifted up her eyes to the bright, shining stars, and\nsaid\u2014\n\n\u201cStars, that shine so bright, can you see my eyes so full of tears\nwithout having pity on me? Tell me where is he whom I love, and whether\nhe thinks of me.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou had better ask the moon,\u201d said the stars. \u201cShe knows more that goes\non upon the earth than we do.\u201d\n\nThen Princess Marvel said to the moon\u2014\n\n\u201cBeautiful moon, look on me for a moment, and tell me where is he whom I\nlove, and whether he thinks of me.\u201d\n\n\u201cPrincess,\u201d answered the moon, \u201cI know nothing about your friend. Wait a\nfew hours, and then you will see the sun. Ask him. There is nothing hid\nfrom him, and he will tell you all.\u201d\n\nThe princess waited till morning, and when the sun rose she said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cSun, look on me, and tell me where is my love, and if he thinks of me.\u201d\n\n\u201cPrincess Marvel,\u201d replied the sun, \u201cdry up your tears and take courage.\nThe prince is coming to you. He has obtained the magic ring from the\ndepths below; he has collected together an innumerable army to come to\nyour rescue, and to punish Koshchei. All will, however, be useless\nunless the prince takes another course, for Koshchei can overthrow all\nthe prince\u2019s forces. I will go to the prince and give him some advice.\nGood-bye. I go to him who loves you. Be of good cheer, for he will come\nand rescue you, and you shall be happy.\u201d\n\nThen the sun looked down upon the country where Prince Junak, clothed in\ngolden armour and mounted on a fiery horse, got ready his army to go and\nattack Koshchei. Three times had the prince seen the Princess Marvel in\nhis dreams, and he loved her deeply.\n\n\u201cLeave your army,\u201d said the sun to him, \u201cfor it will be of no service\nwhatever against Koshchei. You can only deliver the princess from him by\nkilling him, and to learn how you are to do that you must go to old\nYaga. She can tell you how he can be killed. I will tell you how to get\na horse which will carry you direct to her. Go towards the east until\nyou come to a vast plain in the middle of which grow three oaks. Near to\nthese you will find in the ground an iron door. Open it, and in a corner\nyou will find the horse and the invisible club, which you must have to\neffect your wishes. You will afterwards learn how to proceed.\u201d\n\nPrince Junak hardly knew what to do, but at length he resolved to take\nthe sun\u2019s advice, so he took off the magic ring from his finger and\nthrew it into the sea. His army at once disappeared, and the prince set\nout to go to the east. For eight days he went on, and then he came to a\nlarge plain, in the middle of which he found the three oaks of which the\nsun had spoken. He saw the iron door, opened it, and saw before him some\nwinding steps. He went down these till he came to another iron door,\nwhich he likewise opened. Then he heard the neigh of a horse in the\ndistance. Twelve other doors opened of themselves, and the prince at\nlast came to the horse, which had been confined there during a great\nmany ages by a magician. When it saw the prince, the horse broke the\ntwelve iron chains that held it, and ran to him.\n\n\u201cPrince Junak,\u201d it said, \u201cI have waited for ages for such a man as\nyourself. Now I am ready to bear you and serve you faithfully. Leap on\nmy back and grasp the invisible club which is attached to my saddle. You\nwill not, however, have to wield it, for you have only to tell it what\nyou want done and it obeys you of itself. Now let us go. Where shall I\ntake you? Name the place you wish to be at, and we will be off at once.\u201d\n\nThe prince leaped on the horse\u2019s back, grasped the invisible club, and\nset out. The horse took its course through the air, and towards sunset\nthe prince came to the borders of an immense forest in which was the\nresidence of the old Yaga. Huge oaks stood all around. Not a bird sang,\nnot an insect hummed, all was profound silence. The prince went on till\nhe came to a hut which stood upon fowl\u2019s feet, and which kept turning\nround and round.\n\n\u201cHut,\u201d said the prince, \u201cturn your front towards me and your back to the\nforest.\u201d\n\nThe hut turned to him and stood still, and the prince, going in, found\nthe old Yaga there. When she saw him, she cried out\u2014\n\n\u201cWhy are you come here, Prince Junak, where no one has ever before\nbeen?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are a foolish witch to ask questions of me,\u201d said the prince, \u201cand\nnot to welcome me.\u201d Then the Yaga rose and got ready everything that the\nprince needed. When he had eaten and drunk and rested himself, he told\nher why he had come.\n\n\u201cYou have undertaken a difficult thing, Prince Junak,\u201d said the Yaga,\n\u201cand you will want all your courage to succeed. I will show you how to\novercome Koshchei. In the middle of the ocean is the island of eternal\nlife. In the centre of the island grows an oak, and under it is an iron\ncoffer. In the coffer is a hare, under the hare is a grey duck, and\nunder the duck is an egg in which is contained the life of Koshchei. If\nthe egg is broken, Koshchei dies.\u201d\n\nThe Prince at once set off to seek the egg. He rode on his wonderful\nhorse until he came to the seashore. There he found a large fish\nstruggling in a net.\n\n\u201cPrince Junak,\u201d said the fish, \u201clet me loose, and I promise you your\nkindness shall not be forgotten.\u201d\n\nThe prince took the fish out of the net and set it free. Then he stood\nupon the shore, and thought how he should reach the island of eternal\nlife, whose rocks he saw afar off. As he stood silent and sad, his horse\nsaid to him\u2014\n\n\u201cPrince, what is it you are thinking of, and why do you look so sad?\u201d\n\n\u201cHow can I be otherwise,\u201d answered the prince, \u201cwhen I find my journey\nhere all in vain? How can I reach the far-off island?\u201d\n\n\u201cMount upon my back,\u201d said the horse, \u201cand I will carry you to it. Only\nhold on well.\u201d\n\nThe prince did as the horse told him, and the brave steed, plunging into\nthe sea, carried him over to the island. When he had arrived there, the\nprince looked around him, and in the middle of the island he saw an\nimmense oak. Going to it, the prince seized it, and, pulling with all\nhis force, the oak was torn up by the roots. The tree groaned as the\nprince tore it from the earth. In the place its roots had occupied was a\nlarge hole in which was an iron coffer. When the prince opened the\ncoffer out sprang the hare, and away flew the duck carrying the egg with\nit. The duck made towards the sea, and the prince, fearing he should\nlose the egg, shot at the bird. It fell, and with it also fell the egg\ninto the sea. Then the prince gave a cry of despair, and, running down\nto the shore, he looked around to see if he could see anything of the\negg, but it was not to be seen. All of a sudden a large fish made its\nappearance. \u201cPrince Junak,\u201d it said, \u201cI have not forgotten the service\nyou did me, for which I now make you some return.\u201d\n\nAs it said this the fish placed the egg upon the shore, turned, and\ndisappeared in the sea. Junak was delighted. He went to his horse,\nleaped into the saddle, and set off to the island where the Princess\nMarvel dwelt, carrying the egg with him. When he came there he saw the\nimmense iron wall Koshchei had raised around the palace, and the dragon\nwhich lay at the gate. Six of the monster\u2019s heads were asleep, while the\nother six watched. Then the prince commanded his invisible club to slay\nit. The dragon became furious under the blows. It could not see the\nclub, and so could not tell to what quarter to turn itself. It rolled\nabout, it turned its twelve heads here and there, it darted forth its\nsharp tongues, but all to no purpose. At length, in despair, it turned\nits rage upon itself, and with its sharp claws tore itself to pieces.\nThen the prince went in, and, dismounting and taking the invisible club\nin his hand, he sought the princess.\n\n\u201cPrince,\u201d said she, when she saw him approach, \u201cI have seen how you have\novercome the dragon, but a still more terrible conflict awaits you with\nmy cruel jailer, Koshchei. Be careful, I beseech you, how you engage\nwith him, for, should you fall, I will cast myself down the steep\nprecipice near the palace.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo not fear, Princess Marvel,\u201d replied he, \u201cfor I hold the life of\nKoshchei in my hand.\u201d\n\nThen said he to the invisible club\u2014\n\n\u201cGo, and lay on to Koshchei.\u201d\n\nThe club went and commenced to deal such blows upon Koshchei that the\nking of the underground world commenced to grind his teeth, to roll his\neyes, and toss himself hither and thither. None else than Koshchei could\nhave borne the blows for an instant. He looked around him but could see\nnothing, and his pain was so great that he howled so that the whole\nisland rang again. At length he came to the palace, and there he saw\nPrince Junak.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said he, \u201cyou have put me to all this pain, have you?\u201d\n\nHe was about to send his poisoned breath against him, when the prince\nsuddenly squeezed the egg he had in his hand. The shell broke, the yolk\nsprang out and fell to the ground, and at the same moment Koshchei fell\ndead. As he did so all his enchantments ceased. All the people in the\npalace awoke, and the iron wall disappeared.\n\nAll then was happiness. In a few days the prince and the princess were\nmarried, and they lived joyfully all their days.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                               THE GHOST.\n\n\nOnce upon a time a poor scholar going to town chanced to come across the\nbody of a man which had been cast by some one under the walls of the\ntown near to the gate. The scholar had very little money in his pocket,\nbut for all that he willingly paid for the body to be buried in a\nChristian manner, so that it might be protected from insult. Having seen\nto this, he said a few prayers over the grave, and then continued his\njourney.\n\nIt chanced that one day, as he passed through an oak-wood, he felt\ntired, and laid himself down to sleep under one of the trees. When he\nawoke, how astonished was he to find that his pockets were all full of\ngold! He called down blessings on the head of whoever it was that had\ndone him this good turn, and went on. At length he came to the bank of a\nwide river too deep for him to ford. Seeing the money he had with him,\ntwo boatmen offered to row him across. He entered the boat, and the men\nrowed till they came to the middle of the river, when they set upon him,\nrobbed him of his gold, and then threw him into the water.\n\nAlmost insensible he was carried away by the stream, but as he was\nfloating along he found a log of wood beside him. He clung to it, and,\nkeeping himself afloat by means of it, managed to scramble to shore. The\nlog, however, was not really what it seemed to be. It was the spirit of\nthe dead man whom the poor scholar had buried, and now, when he was on\nshore, the spirit spoke to him, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cI am the spirit of him whose corpse you honoured with burial. I am\ngrateful for what you did, and in return I will teach you three things:\nhow to change yourself into a crow, a hare, and a roebuck.\u201d\n\nHaving acquired these strange powers, the poor man went on his way. In\ntime he came to the court of a mighty king, in whose service he entered\nas an archer. Now this king was the father of a beautiful princess who\nlived alone in a castle on a solitary island. The walls of the castle\nwere of copper, and in it was a sword of such an extraordinary kind that\none could, by waving it in the air, cut down a whole army at one sweep.\nIt was natural that the sword should be coveted by very many, but no one\ndurst venture upon the island to endeavour to obtain it.\n\nNow at the time that the poor scholar came to the court, the king was\nsore troubled by his enemies, who were invading his dominions. He had\ngreat need of the sword, but how could he get it? He determined to see\nwhether there was any among his subjects who would dare to go to the\nisland, and so he caused a proclamation to be published to the effect\nthat if any one would bring him the magical sword he should receive his\ndaughter in marriage and succeed him on the throne.\n\nFor a while no one came forward, but at last the scholar determined to\nmake the attempt. Every one was astonished at his audacity, but he\nboldly went to the king and begged him to give him a letter that he\nmight deliver to the princess asking her to give the sword to him. The\nking wrote the letter and gave it to the man, who at once set out,\nmaking his way through the forest. Unknown to him he was followed at a\nlittle distance by another of the king\u2019s archers who had determined to\ngo after him and see how he sped. To travel the quicker, the archer\nassumed the shapes of a hare and a roebuck, as was suited to the ground\nover which he had to pass, and at last he came to the sea-shore. He then\ntook the shape of a crow, and, flying over the waves as quickly as his\nwings would bear him, he at length came to the island on which was the\ncastle.\n\nHe landed, and, making his way to the castle, entered and delivered the\nking\u2019s letter to the princess, begging her at the same time to let him\nhave the victorious sword. The beautiful princess, who had lived so long\nwithout looking upon a stranger, scanned the archer closely, and fell in\nlove with him. She inquired of him how it was that he had had the\ncourage to undertake a task from which others drew back, and to come to\nthe castle which had not been visited by man for so many years, and the\narcher told her all about himself and the wonderful powers he possessed.\nThe princess, asking him to give her proof that what he said was true,\nand desiring him to change himself into the various forms, the archer\nimmediately did as she desired, and a handsome roebuck gambolled and\nplayed around her. As the princess stroked it she plucked a tuft of hair\nout of the animal\u2019s coat, but the archer did not notice it. Next he\nchanged himself into a crow, and flew about the room. The princess laid\nher hand upon the bird, and, while she stroked it, contrived to pluck\nsome feathers out of its wing without the archer noticing it. He last of\nall changed himself into a hare, and again the princess plucked a tuft\nof hair out of his coat unobserved.\n\nThen the princess wrote a letter to her father, delivered the sword to\nthe archer, and dismissed him.\n\nTaking the form of a crow, the man flew over the sea, and, having\nreached the shore, he changed himself to a roebuck, and ran till he came\nto the forest. Then he changed himself into a hare, and began to make\nhis way as fast as possible through the forest depths. Now, the archer\nwho had followed him had seen all that he had done till he came to the\nsea-shore to fly over to the castle. There the man had stopped awaiting\nthe other\u2019s return. He saw him come back in the shape of a crow, change\nhimself into a roebuck, and again into a hare. As the hare was making\nits way through the forest the archer bent his bow, and discharged an\narrow so well aimed that the hare at once fell dead to the ground. The\narcher came up to it, took the letter and the sword, and set out to the\npalace. When he arrived there he gave the king the sword, and demanded\nthe promised reward.\n\nThe king was delighted to find himself in possession of the sword which\nwould destroy all his enemies. He confirmed his promise of the reward,\nleaped into the saddle, and set off to the place where the hostile army\nwas encamped. Scarcely had he come near enough to distinguish the flags\nof the enemy in the distance than he brandished the sword. At every\nstroke fresh foes fell to the ground, and at last the few of them that\nwere left fled from the field stricken with terror at their comrades\u2019\nmysterious fate. The king collected together the booty he found in the\nenemy\u2019s camp, and, returning home, sent to his daughter to tell her to\ncome to his court so that he might give her to the archer.\n\nMeanwhile the poor fellow who had been slain while he was travelling as\na hare lay dead in the forest under an oak-tree. All of a sudden,\nhowever, he came to life again, and, looking around him, he saw the\nspirit of the dead man, whose body he had buried, standing near him. The\nspirit told him that it had witnessed what had befallen him, and had by\nthe power it possessed called him back to life.\n\n\u201cThe wedding of the princess,\u201d it said to the man, \u201cis to be celebrated\nto-morrow, and if you would keep her you must go as fast as you can to\nthe palace. She will know you as soon as she sees you, and you will also\nbe recognised by the archer who so wickedly slew you.\u201d\n\nSo the young man lost no time, but went on to the palace. When he came\nto the court he found all the guests already assembled. He entered the\nroom, and no sooner had the princess cast a glance on him than she knew\nit was he, and was beside herself with joy. As for the treacherous\narcher, he turned pale when he saw the man, whom he thought he had\nmurdered, alive and well.\n\nThen the man told all the company everything that had happened, and how\nthe archer had slain and robbed him. The tale was so wonderful that the\nguests could scarcely credit it, so the man changed himself into a\nroebuck to show them that what he had said was true. Then the princess\nput her hand in her pocket and took out of it a tuft of hair which was\nfound to exactly fit a bare place on the roebuck\u2019s coat. The man changed\nhimself into a hare, and the princess again produced a piece of a hare\u2019s\ncoat which exactly fitted a bare spot in the animal\u2019s skin. Lastly he\nchanged himself into a crow, and the princess producing the feathers she\nhad formerly plucked out of the bird, it was found that they were\nmissing in its plumage.\n\nWhen the king saw all this he required no further proof of the man\u2019s\nstory, and he ordered that the treacherous archer should be at once led\nforth and put to death by being torn to pieces by four wild horses.\n\nWithin the palace all was joy and festivity. The archer married the\nprincess, and they wanted nothing, for the wish of their hearts was\nobtained.\n\n                           ------------------\n\n        Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty,\n                  _at the Edinburgh University Press_.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                           TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTE\n\n\nPunctuation has been normalized.\n\nVariations in hyphenation have been retained as they were in the\noriginal publication.\n\nItalicized words and phrases are presented by surrounding the text with\n_underscores_.","title":"Folk-Lore and Legends: Russian and Polish","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":42624}