{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_49278/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_49278","id":"gutenberg_49278","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49278","summary":null,"tags":["Category: British Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore -- Russia"],"text":"THE\n                           SOLDIER AND DEATH\n\n                          A RUSSIAN FOLK TALE\n                          TOLD IN ENGLISH BY\n                            ARTHUR RANSOME\n\n\n\n\n_January 1920_\n\nTHE SOLDIER AND DEATH\n\n\nA soldier served God and the Great Tzar for twenty-five years, earned\nthree dry biscuits, and set off to walk his way home. He kissed his\ncompanions with whom he had served so long, and boasted of the feasting\nthere would be in the village when he should come marching home with\nall his wars behind him. Singing at the top of his voice he was as he\nset off. But as soon as he was alone on the high road, walking through\nthe forest he began to think things over. And he thought to himself:\nAll these years I have served the Tzar and had good clothes to my back\nand my belly full of victuals. And now I am like to be both hungry and\ncold. Already I've nothing but three dry biscuits.\n\nJust then he met an old beggar, who stood in the road and crossed\nhimself and asked alms for the love of God.\n\nThe soldier had not a copper piece in the world, so he gave the beggar\none of his three dry biscuits.\n\nHe had not gone very far along the road when he met a second beggar,\nwho leant on a stick and recited holy words and begged alms for the\nlove of God.\n\nThe soldier gave him the second of his three dry biscuits.\n\nAnd then, at a bend in the road, he met a third old beggar, with long\nwhite hair and beard and loathsome rags, who stood shaking by the\nroadside, and he begged alms for the love of God.\n\n\"If I give him my last dry biscuit I shall have nothing left for\nmyself,\" thought the soldier. He gave the old beggar half of the third\ndry biscuit. Then the thought came into his head that perhaps this old\nbeggar would meet the other two, and would learn that they had been\ngiven whole biscuits while he had only been given a half. \"He will be\nhurt and affronted,\" thought the soldier, \"and his blessing will be of\nno avail.\" So he gave the old beggar the other half also of the third\nof his three dry biscuits. \"I shall get along somehow,\" thought the\nsoldier, and was for making forward on his way. But the old beggar put\nout his hand and stopped him.\n\n\"Brother,\" says the old beggar, \"are you in want of anything?\"\n\n\"God bless you,\" says the soldier, looking at the beggar's rags, \"I\nwant nothing from you. You're a poor man yourself.\"\n\n\"Never mind my poverty,\" says the old beggar. \"Just tell me what you\nwould like to have, and I am well able to reward you for your kind\nheart.\"\n\n\"I don't want anything,\" said the soldier; \"but, if you do happen to\nhave such a thing as a pack of cards about you, I'd keep them in memory\nof you, and they'd be a pleasure to me on the long road.\"\n\nThe old beggar thrust his hand into his bosom among his rags, and\npulled out a pack of cards.\n\n\"Take these,\" says he, \"and when you play with them you'll always be\nwinner whoever may be playing against you. And here's a flour sack for\nyou as well. If you meet anything and want to catch it, just open the\nsack and tell beasts or birds or aught else to get into it, and they'll\ndo just that, and you can close the sack and do with them what you\nwill.\"\n\n\"Thank you kindly,\" says the soldier, throws the sack over his\nshoulder, puts the pack of cards in his pocket, and trudges off along\nthe high road singing an old song.\n\nHe went on and on till he came to a lake, where he drank a little water\nto ease his thirst, and smoked a pipe to put off his hunger, resting by\nthe shore of the lake. And there on the lake he saw three wild geese\nswimming far away. \"Now if I could catch them!\" thought the soldier,\nand remembered the sack the old beggar had given him. He opened the\nsack and shouted at the top of his voice: \"Hi! You there, you wild\ngeese, come into my sack!\"\n\nAnd the three wild geese splashed up out of the water, and flew to the\nbank and crowded into the sack one after the other.\n\nThe soldier tied up the mouth of the sack, flung it over his shoulder\nand went on his way.\n\nHe came to a town, and looked for a tavern, and chose the best he could\nsee, and went in there and asked for the landlord.\n\n\"See here,\" says he, \"here are three wild geese. I want one of them\nroasted for my dinner. Another I'll give you in exchange for a bottle\nof vodka. The third you shall have to pay you for your trouble.\"\n\nThe landlord agreed, as well he might, and presently the soldier was\nseated at a good table near a window, with a whole bottle of the best\nvodka, and a fine roast goose fresh from the kitchen.\n\nWhen he had made an end of the goose, the soldier laid down his knife\nand fork, tipped the last drops of the vodka down his throat, and set\nthe bottle upside down upon the table. Then he lit his little pipe, sat\nback on the bench and took a look out of the window to see what was\ndoing in the town.\n\nAnd there on the other side of the road was a fine palace, well carved\nand painted. A year's work had gone to the carving of every doorpost\nand window-frame. But in all the palace there was not one whole pane of\nglass.\n\n\"Landlord,\" says the soldier, \"tell me what's the meaning of this? Why\nis a fine palace like that standing empty with broken windows?\"\n\n\"It's a good enough palace,\" says the landlord. \"The Tzar built the\npalace for himself, but there's no living in it because of the devils.\"\n\n\"Devils?\" says the soldier.\n\n\"Devils,\" says the landlord. \"Every night they crowd into the palace,\nand, what with their shouting and yelling and screaming and playing\ncards, and all the other devilries that come into their heads, there's\nno living in the palace for decent folk.\"\n\n\"And does nobody clear them out?\" asks the soldier.\n\n\"Easier said than done,\" says the landlord.\n\nWell, with that the soldier wishes good health to the landlord, and\nsets off to see the Tzar. He comes walking into the Tzar's house and\ngives him a salute.\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" says he, \"will you give me leave to spend one night in\nyour empty palace?\"\n\n\"God bless you,\" says the Tzar, \"but you don't know what you are\nasking. Foolhardy folk enough have tried to spend a night in that\npalace. They went in merry and boasting, but not one of them came\nwalking out alive in the morning.\"\n\n\"What of that?\" says the soldier. \"Water won't drown a Russian soldier,\nand fire won't burn him. I have served God and the Tzar for twenty-five\nyears and am not dead. A single night in that palace won't be end of\nme.\"\n\n\"But I tell you: a man walks in there alive in the evening, and in the\nmorning the servants have to search the floor for the little bits of\nhis bones.\"\n\n\"None the less,\" says the soldier, \"if your majesty will give me\nleave....\"\n\n\"Get along with you and God be with you,\" says the Tzar. \"Spend the\nnight there if you've set your heart on it.\"\n\nSo the soldier came to the palace and stepped in, singing through the\nempty rooms. He made himself comfortable in the biggest room of all,\nlaid his knapsack in a corner and hung his sword on a nail, sat down at\nthe table, took out his bag of tobacco, filled his little pipe, and\nsat there smoking, ready for what might come.\n\nTwelve o'clock sharp and there was a yelling, a shouting, a blowing\nof horns, a scraping of fiddles and every other kind of instrument, a\nnoise of dancing, of running, of stamping, and the palace cram full of\ndevils making themselves at home as if the place belonged to them.\n\n\"And you, soldier?\" cried the devils. \"What are you sitting there so\nglum for, smoking your pipe? There's smoke enough where we have been.\nPut your pipe in your pocket and play a round of cards with us.\"\n\n\"Right you are,\" says the soldier, \"if you'll play with my cards.\"\n\n\"Deal them out,\" shouted the devils, and the soldier put his pipe in\nhis pocket and dealt out the cards, while the devils crowded round the\ntable fighting for room on the benches.\n\nThey played a game and the soldier won. They played another and he won\nagain. The devils were cunning enough, God knows, but not all their\ncunning could win a single game for them. The soldier was raking in\nthe money all the time. Soon enough the devils had not a penny piece\nbetween them, and the soldier was for putting up his cards and lighting\nhis pipe. Content he was, and well he might be, with his pockets\nbulging with money.\n\n\"Stop a minute, soldier,\" said the devils, \"we've still got sixty\nbushels of silver and forty of gold. We'll play for them if you'll give\nus time to send for them.\"\n\n\"Lets see the silver,\" says the soldier, and puts the cards in his\npocket.\n\nWell, they sent a little devil to fetch the silver. Sixty times he ran\nout of the room and sixty times he came staggering back with a bushel\nof silver on his shoulders.\n\nThe soldier pulled out his cards, and they played on, but it was all\nthe same. The devils cheated in every kind of way, but could not win a\ngame.\n\n\"Go and fetch the gold,\" says the oldest devil.\n\n\"Aye, aye, grandfather,\" says the little devil, and goes scuttling out\nof the room. Forty times he ran out, and forty times he came staggering\nback with a bushel of gold between his shoulders.\n\nThey played on. The soldier won every game and all the gold, asked if\nthey had any more money to lose, put his cards in his pocket and lit\nhis pipe.\n\nThe devils looked at all the money they had lost. It seemed a pity to\nlose all that good silver and gold.\n\n\"Tear him to pieces, brothers,\" they cried, \"tear him to pieces, eat\nhim and have done!\"\n\nThe soldier tapped his little pipe on the table.\n\n\"First make sure,\" says he, \"who eats whom.\" And with that he whips\nout his sack, and, says he, to the devils, who were all gnashing their\nteeth and making ready to fall on him, \"what do you call this?\"\n\n\"It's a sack,\" said the devils.\n\n\"Is it?\" says the soldier. \"Then, by the word of God, get into it!\"\n\nAnd the next minute all those devils were tumbling over each other and\ngetting into the sack, squeezing in one on the top of another until the\nlast one had got inside. Then the soldier tied up the sack with a good\ndouble knot, hung it on a nail, and lay down to sleep.\n\nIn the morning the Tzar sent his servants.\n\n\"Go,\" says the Tzar, \"and see what has happened to the soldier who\nspent the night in the empty palace. If the unclean spirits have made\nan end of him, then you must sweep up his bones and make all clean.\"\n\nThe servants came, all ready to lament for the brave soldier done to\ndeath by the unclean, and there was the soldier walking cheerfully from\none room to another, smoking his little pipe.\n\n\"Well done, soldier! We never thought to see you alive. And how did you\nspend the night? How did you manage against the devils?\"\n\n\"Devils?\" says the soldier. \"I wish all men I have played cards against\nhad paid their debts so honestly. Have a look at the silver and gold I\nwon from them. Look at the heaps of money lying on the floor.\"\n\nThe servants looked at the silver and gold and touched it to see if it\nwas real. But there was no doubt about that. I wish I had more in my\npocket of the same sort.\n\n\"Now, brothers,\" said the soldier, \"off with you as quick as you can,\ngo and fetch two blacksmiths here on the run. And let them bring with\nthem an iron anvil and the two heaviest hammers in the forge.\"\n\nThe servants asked no questions, but hurried to the smithy, and the two\nblacksmiths came running, with anvil and hammers. Giants they were, the\nstrongest men in all the town.\n\n\"Now,\" says the soldier, \"take that sack from the nail and lay it on\nthe anvil and let me see how the blacksmiths of this town can set about\ntheir work.\"\n\nThe blacksmiths took the sack from the nail.\n\n\"Devil take it, what a weight,\" they said to each other.\n\nAnd little voices screamed out of the sack: \"We are good folk. We are\nyour own people.\"\n\n\"Are you?\" said the blacksmiths; and they laid the sack on the anvil\nand swung the great hammers, up and down, up and down, as if they were\nbeating out a lump of iron.\n\nThe devils fared badly in there, and worse and worse. The hammers came\ndown as if they were going through devils, anvil, earth, and all. It\nwas more than even devils could bear.\n\n\"Have mercy!\" they screamed. \"Have mercy, soldier! Let us out again\ninto the world, and we'll never forget you world without end. And as\nfor this palace.... No devil shall put the nail of the toe of his foot\nin it. We'll tell them all. Not one shall come within a hundred miles.\"\n\nThe soldier let the blacksmiths give a few more blows, just for luck.\nThen he stopped them, and untied the mouth of the sack. The moment he\nopened it, the devils shot out, and fled away to hell without looking\nright or left in their hurry.\n\nBut the soldier was no fool, and he grabbed one old devil by the leg.\nAnd the devil hung gibbering, trying to get away. The soldier cut the\ndevil's hairy wrist to the bone, so that the blood flowed, took a pen,\ndipped it in the blood, and gave it to the devil. But he never let go\nof his leg.\n\n\"Write,\" says he, \"that you will be my faithful servant.\"\n\nThe old devil screamed and wriggled, but the soldier gripped him tight.\nThere was nothing to be done. He wrote and signed in his own blood a\npromise to serve the soldier faithfully wherever and whenever there\nshould be need. Then the soldier let him go, and he went hopping and\nscreaming after the others, and had disappeared in a moment.\n\nAnd so the devils went rushing down to hell, aching in every bone of\ntheir hairy bodies. And they called all the other unclean spirits, old\nand young, big and little, and told what had happened to them. And they\nset sentinels all round hell, and guards at every gate, and ordered\nthem to watch well, and, whatever they did, not on any account to let\nin the soldier with the flour sack.\n\nThe soldier went to the Tzar and told him how he had dealt with the\ndevils, and how henceforth no devil would set foot within a hundred\nmiles of the palace.\n\n\"If that's so,\" says the Tzar, \"we'll move at once, and go and live\nthere, and you shall live with me and be honoured as my own brother.\"\nAnd with that there was a great to do shifting the bedding and tables\nand benches and all else from the old palace to the new, and the\nsoldier set up house with the Tzar, living with him as his own brother,\nand wearing fine clothes with gold embroidery, and eating the same food\nas the Tzar, and as much of it as he liked. Money to spend he had,\nfor he had won from the devils enough to last even a spending man a\nthousand years. And he had nothing to spend it on. Hens don't eat gold.\nNo more do mice. And there the money lay in a corner till the soldier\nwas tired of looking at it.\n\nSo the soldier thought he would marry. And he took a wife, and in a\nyear's time God gave him a son, and he had nothing more to wish for\nexcept to see the son grow up and turn into a general.\n\nBut it so happened that the little boy fell ill, and what was the\nmatter with him no one knew. He grew worse and worse from day to day,\nand the Tzar sent for every doctor in the country, but not one of them\ndid him a half-pennyworth of good. The doctors grew richer and the boy\ngrew no better but worse, as is often the way.\n\nThe soldier had almost given up hope of saving his son when he\nremembered the old devil who had signed a promise written in his own\nblood to serve the soldier faithfully wherever and whenever there\nshould be need. He remembered this, and said to himself: \"Where the\ndevil has my old devil hidden himself all this time?\"\n\nAnd he had scarcely said this when suddenly there was the little old\ndevil standing in front of him, dressed like a peasant in a little\nshirt and breeches, trembling with fright and asking: \"How can I serve\nyour Excellency?\"\n\n\"See here,\" says the soldier. \"My son is ill. Do you happen to know how\nto cure him?\"\n\nThe little old devil took a glass from his pocket and filled it with\ncold water and set it on the sick child's forehead.\n\n\"Come here, your Excellency,\" says he, \"and look into the glass of\nwater.\"\n\nThe soldier came and looked in the glass.\n\n\"And what does your Excellency see?\" asked the little old devil, who\nwas so much afraid of the soldier that he trembled and could hardly\nspeak.\n\n\"I see Death, like a little old woman, standing at my son's feet.\"\n\n\"Be easy,\" says the little old devil, \"for if Death is standing at your\nson's feet he will be well again. But if Death were standing at his\nhead then nothing could save him.\"\n\nAnd with that the little old devil lifted the glass and splashed the\ncold water over the sick child, and the next minute there was the\nlittle boy crawling about and laughing and crowing as if he had never\nbeen sick in his life.\n\n\"Give me that glass,\" says the soldier, \"and we'll cry quits.\"\n\nThe little old devil gave him the glass. And the soldier gave back\nthe promise which the devil had signed in his own blood. As soon as\nthe little old devil had that promise in his hand he gave one look at\nthe soldier and fled away as if the blacksmiths had only that minute\nstopped beating him on the anvil.\n\nAnd the soldier after that set up as a wise man and put all the doctors\nout of business, curing the boyars and generals. He would just look in\nhis glass, and if Death stood at a sick man's feet, he threw the water\nover him and cured him. If Death stood at the sick man's head, he said:\n\"It's all up with you,\" and the sick man died as sure as fate.\n\nAll went well until the Tzar himself fell ill and sent for the soldier\nto cure him.\n\nThe soldier went in, and the Tzar greeted him as his own brother, and\nprayed him to be quick, as he felt the sickness growing upon him as\nhe lay. The soldier poured cold water in the glass, and set it on the\nTzar's forehead, and looked and looked again, and saw Death standing at\nthe Tzar's head.\n\n\"O Tzar,\" says the soldier, \"it's all up with you. Death is waiting by\nyour head, and you have but a few minutes left to live.\"\n\n\"What?\" cries the Tzar, \"you cure my boyars and generals and you will\nnot cure me who am Tzar, and have treated you as my own born brother.\nIf I've only a few minutes to live I've time enough to give orders for\nyou to be beheaded.\"\n\nThe soldier thought and thought, and he begged Death: \"O Death,\" says\nhe, \"give my life to the Tzar and kill me instead. Better to die so\nthan to end by being shamefully beheaded!\"\n\nHe looked once more in the glass, and saw that the little old woman\nDeath had shifted from the Tzar's head and was now standing at his\nfeet. He picked up the glass and splashed the water over the Tzar, and\nthere was the Tzar as well and healthy as ever he had been.\n\n\"You are my own true brother after all,\" says the Tzar. \"Let us go and\nfeast together.\"\n\nBut the soldier shook in all his limbs and could hardly stand, and he\nknew that his time was come. He prayed Death: \"O Death, give me just\none hour to say good-bye to my wife and my little son.\"\n\n\"Hurry up!\" says Death.\n\nAnd the soldier hurried to his room in the palace, said good-bye to his\nwife, told his son to grow up and be a general, lay down on his bed and\ngrew iller every minute.\n\nHe looked, and there was Death, a little old woman, standing by his\nbedside.\n\n\"Well, soldier,\" says Death, \"you have only two minutes left to live!\"\n\nThe soldier groaned, and, turning in bed, pulled the flour sack from\nunder his pillow and opened it.\n\n\"Do you know what this is?\" says he to Death.\n\n\"A sack,\" says Death.\n\n\"Well, if it is a sack, get into it!\" says the soldier.\n\nDeath was into the sack in a moment, and the soldier leapt from his\nbed well and strong, tied up the sack with two double knots, flung it\nover his shoulder and set out for the deep forest of Brian, which is\nthe thickest in all the world. He came to the forest and made his way\ninto the middle of it, hung the sack from the topmost branches of a\nhigh poplar tree, left it there and came home singing songs at the top\nof his voice and full of all kinds of merriment.\n\nFrom that time on there was no dying in the world. There were births\nevery day, and plenty of them, but nobody died. It was a poor time for\ndoctors. And so it was for many years. Death had come to an end, and it\nwas as if all men would live for ever. And all the time the little old\nwoman, Death, tied up in a sack, unable to get about her business, was\nhanging from the top of a tall poplar tree away in Brian forest.\n\nAnd then, one day, the soldier was walking out to take the air, and he\nmet an ancient old crone, so old and so ancient that she was like to\nfall whichever way the wind blew. She tottered along, blown this way\nand that, like a blade of withered grass.\n\n\"What an old hag,\" said the soldier to himself. \"It was time for her to\ndie a many years ago.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" says the old crone, with her toothless gums numbling and\ngrumbling over her words. \"Long ago it was time for me to die. When you\nshut up Death in the sack I had only an hour left to live. I had done\nwith the world, and the world had done with me, and I would have been\nglad to be at peace. Long ago my place in heaven was made ready, and it\nis empty to this day for I cannot die. You, soldier, have sinned before\nGod and before man. You have sinned a sin that God will not forgive. I\nam not the only soul in the world who is tortured as I am. Mine is not\nthe only place that is growing dusty in heaven. Hundreds and thousands\nof us who should have died drag on in misery about the world. And but\nfor you we should now be resting in peace.\"\n\nThe soldier began to think. And he thought of all the other old men\nand women he had kept from the rest that God had made ready for them.\n\"There is no doubt about it,\" thinks he; \"I had better let Death loose\nagain. No matter if I am the first of whom she makes an end. I have\nsinned many sins, not counting this one. Better go to the other world\nnow and bear my punishment while I am strong, for when I am very old it\nwill come worse to me to be tortured.\"\n\nSo he set off to the forest of Brian, which is the thickest in all the\nworld. He found the poplar tree, and saw the sack hanging from the\ntopmost branches, swinging this way and that as wind blew.\n\n\"Well, Death, are you alive up there?\" the soldier shouted against the\nwind.\n\nAnd a little voice, hardly to be heard, answered from the sack: \"Alive,\nlittle father!\"\n\nSo the soldier climbed up the tree, took down the sack, and carried it\nhome over his shoulder. He said good-bye to his wife and his son, who\nwas now a fine young lad. Then he went into his own room, opened the\nbag, lay down upon the bed, and begged Death to make an end of him.\n\nAnd Death, in the form of a little old woman, crept trembling out of\nthe sack, looking this way and that, for she was very much afraid. As\nsoon as she saw the soldier she bolted through the door, and ran away\nas fast as her little old legs could carry her. \"The devils can make an\nend of you if they like,\" she shrieked, \"but you don't catch me taking\na hand in it.\"\n\nThe soldier sat up on the bed and knew that he was alive and well.\nTroubled he was as to what to do next. Thinks he: \"I'd better get\nstraight along to hell, and let the devils throw me into the boiling\npitch, and stew me until all my sins are stewed out of me.\"\n\nSo he said good-bye to everybody, took his sack in his hands and set\noff to hell by the best road he could find.\n\nWell, he walked on and on, over hill and valley and through the deep\nforest, until he came at last to the kingdom of the unclean. There were\nthe walls of hell and the gates of hell, and as he looked he saw that\nsentinels were standing at every gate.\n\nAs soon as he came near a gate the devil doing sentry go calls out:\n\n\"Who goes there?\"\n\n\"A sinful soul come to you to be stewed in the boiling pitch.\"\n\n\"And what is that you've got in your hand?\"\n\n\"A sack.\"\n\nAnd the devil yelled out at the top of his voice and gave the alarm.\nFrom all sides the unclean rushed up and began closing every gate and\nwindow in hell with strong bolts and bars.\n\nAnd the soldier walked round hell outside the walls, unable to get in.\n\nHe cried out to the Prince of Hell:\n\n\"Let me into hell, I beg you. I have come to you to be tormented,\nbecause I have sinned before God and before man.\"\n\n\"No,\" shouted the Prince of Hell, \"I won't let you in. Go away. Go\naway, I tell you. Go away, anywhere you like. There's no place for you\nhere.\"\n\nThe soldier was more troubled than ever.\n\n\"Well,\" says he, \"if you won't let me in, you won't. I'll go away if\nyou will give me two hundred sinful souls. I will take them to God, and\nperhaps, when he sees them, he will forgive me and let me into heaven.\"\n\n\"I'll throw in another fifty,\" says the Prince of Hell, \"if only you'll\nget away from here.\"\n\nAnd he told the lesser devils to count out two hundred and fifty sinful\nsouls and to let them out quickly at one of the back doors of hell,\nwhile he held the soldier in talk, so that the soldier should not slip\nin while the sinful souls were going out.\n\nIt was done, and the soldier set off for heaven with two hundred and\nfifty sinful souls behind him, marching in column of route, as the\nsoldier made them for the sake of order and decency.\n\nWell, they marched on and on, and in the end they came to heaven, and\nstopped before the very gates of Paradise.\n\nAnd the holy apostles, standing in the gateway of Paradise, said: \"Who\nare you?\"\n\n\"I am the soldier who hung Death in a sack, and I have brought two\nhundred and fifty sinful souls from hell in hope that God will pardon\nmy sins and let me into Paradise.\"\n\nAnd the apostles went to the Lord, and told him that the soldier had\ncome, and brought with him two hundred and fifty sinful souls.\n\nAnd God said: \"Let in the sinful souls, but do not let in the soldier.\"\n\nThe apostles went back to the gateway, and opened the gates and told\nthe souls they might come in. But when the soldier tried to march in\nat the head of his company they stopped him, and said: \"No, soldier!\nThere's no place for you here.\"\n\nSo the soldier took one of the sinful souls aside and gave that soul\nhis sack, and told him: \"As soon as you are through the gates of\nParadise, open the sack and shout out \"Into the sack, soldier!\" You\nwill do this because I brought you here from hell.\"\n\nAnd the sinful soul promised to do this for the soldier.\n\nBut when that sinful soul went through the gates into Paradise,\nfor very joy it forgot about the soldier, and threw away the sack\nsomewhere in Paradise, where it may be lying to this day.\n\nAnd so the soldier, after waiting a long time, went slowly back to\nearth. Death would not take him. There was no place for him in Paradise\nand no place for him in Hell. For all I know he may be living yet.\n\n\n\n\n                     Printed for the Author at The\n                       Westminster Press, London\n                          W. and published by\n                           John G. Wilson at\n                            77 Queen Street\n                               Cheapside\n                                 E.C.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's notes:\n\nPunctuation errors repaired.\n\n\"vokda\" changed to \"vodka\" in \"vodka, and a fine roast goose\"\n\n_ is italic","title":"The Soldier and Death: A Russian Folk Tale Told in English by Arthur Ransome","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":5186}