THE BETROTHAL
Easter Day had come, and everybody in the house was giving
and returning the Easter greeting. The little boy ran into his
grandmother's room.
"Christ is risen, little grandmamma!" he said.
"He is risen indeed," the grandmother answered.
The older brother and sisters came to salute their grandmother.
"Christ is risen!" each one said to her, and to each she answered:
"He is risen indeed."
Then they all went to the parents' room for the morning prayer. They
did this every morning, for Russian peasants are very devout; but
Easter was a special morning, and they sang many hymns and said many
prayers. When they had finished, the married son and his wife came in.
"Christ is risen, father and mother!" they said.
"He is risen indeed," the parents answered.
After church, which seemed very long to the little boy, they all came
home to dinner. With them came a strange young man whom the little
boy did not know. When they sat down at table he sat at the head and
the little boy's elder sister beside him. She had beautiful flowers
in her hair.
"Why does sister wear flowers in her hair?" the little boy asked his
grandmother softly.
"Because she is a bride," whispered the grandmother. "She is betrothed
to that young man. He will be your brother when they are married
next autumn."
All the afternoon there were games and merriment, and many people came
to congratulate the young people and to drink tea. As the merriment
grew louder the little boy grew tired of it, and he went to ask his
grandmother for a story. She, too, was tired of the lively doings in
the other room, and she very willingly told him about
THE DESERTER
Once upon a time there was a deserter who was three times faithless
to his colors. Twice had he undergone the punishment due to desertion;
the third time, he knew, he was face to face with death. So he resolved
to flee by night and hide himself by day in some ditch or thicket, for
he was afraid that in the daylight he might be recognized and arrested.
One night, as he was hastening onward, he saw a glimmer of light in
the distance, and thought to himself, "I will go toward that light;
perhaps it will somehow help me out of my trouble."
When, however, he came up to that light all he saw was an opening just
wide enough for him to creep into. The moment he was inside thick
darkness fell upon him. He could find his way neither in nor out;
but on groping around he at last came upon a staircase, up which he
climbed and found himself in a passageway. Through this passageway he
went for a long, long time, until at last he stumbled upon a door. He
opened the door and stepped into a room, but it was pitch dark there
too; so he groped all about until at last he stumbled upon another
door and entered another room.
So on he went through eleven rooms, and finally reached the twelfth,
where at last he found a lighted candle upon a table. The room was
beautifully fitted up, and he thought within himself, "Come what come
may, I shall make myself at home in this room."
So he stretched himself upon a couch. He lay there for a while lost
in thought, when, lo and behold! the table began to lay itself. When
the cloth was spread, all sorts of good cheer began to appear upon it.
"Come what come may," he thought to himself again, "I am hungry." So
he fell to and ate to his heart's content. When he had eaten all
that he could swallow he threw himself upon the couch again and began
to consider.
Suddenly three women entered, clothed entirely in black. One seated
herself at the piano, while the two others danced. Tired as he was,
when he saw this he arose and skipped about with them. After this
entertainment they began to talk with him, speaking of one thing and
another, and finally came round to the question how he might break
the spell that bound them.
They told him the very way and manner of doing it, saying that he had
nothing more nor less to do than to pass the night in a certain room
which they would show him. A ghost would come there and pester him
with all sorts of questions--who he was, how he had come there, and
other things. But he must not say a mortal word to all these questions,
not though the ghost tormented him in all sorts of ways; if he could
only hold out in silence the ghost would vanish, and then he would
feel not the least pain from all the torments he had been enduring.
Our deserter fell in with the proposition without further words, and
the ladies escorted him to the fateful room with the sound of music
and left him there alone. When they were gone he undressed himself,
bolted the door securely, and lay down in bed. But he could not sleep,
for his head throbbed with expectation of what was about to happen.
At eleven o'clock a sudden knock was heard at the door. He dared not
make a sound, for he was firmly resolved to ransom himself, the ladies,
and the enchanted castle; so he kept as still as a mouse. Again the
knocking came, but he made no answer. At the third knock the door
flew open, and in walked a gigantic form all clothed in flames.
The giant placed himself at the bedside and began to ask the man
whence he was and why he had come; but the deserter never uttered a
word. Then the giant seized him, threw him upon the floor, and began
to torment him; but no sound passed the sufferer's lips. At the stroke
of twelve the ghost departed, with the words:
"Though you wouldn't tell to-day, you will to-morrow, when we all
three come."
He spoke, the door flew open, closed again, and he was gone. The
young man arose from the floor, lay down upon his bed, and fell
sweetly asleep, without feeling the least harm.
Next morning came the three ladies, all in white up to their knees,
and led him, with the sound of music, back to the room where he
had been on the previous day. They placed a chair for him and set a
delicious breakfast before him. When he had plentifully breakfasted
he fell asleep and snored till evening.
When he awoke he asked how late it was. The ladies replied that it
was nine o'clock; and they gave him a good supper and led him again
to the same room to sleep.
At the stroke of eleven some one knocked at the door. He made no sound,
but at the third knock the door flew open and three ghosts entered. The
one who had been there the night before asked him the same questions
as before, but received no better answer. Then one of them seized him
and flung him into one corner, and another into another, and so they
tossed him about until the poor fellow lay helpless against the wall,
all covered with blood.
When the clock struck twelve the spokesman said to him, "Though you
won't answer to-night, you will to-morrow, when we all four come." With
these words they disappeared.
He again lifted himself up, lay down upon his bed, and felt no harm. In
the morning the three ladies came, all in white up to their girdles,
and escorted him, to the sound of music, into the other room, where,
after breakfast, he again fell asleep.
At night they again escorted him to his chamber to sleep. When they
were gone he did not go to bed as usual, but began to consider how
he might avoid the fearful torment in store for him. First he looked
out at a window, but his gaze fell upon a frightful abyss enclosed
by rocky precipices. He went to the second window, but there it was
no better, but seemed to be even more fearful.
So nothing was left him but to heap all the furniture of the room
before the door, in hope thus to escape his tormentors. But he soon
gave up this hope, for about midnight the knocking began. He made
no answer, but at the third knock the door flew open and all the
furniture returned to its own place.
The ghost who had before questioned him now began to repeat his
questions, commanding him to tell who he was and how he came there;
but the young man was not to be made to speak. Then the spokesman
ordered one of his comrades to go below and bring up an anvil and four
hammers, and when these had been brought, one of the ghosts blew up
a fire and threw the young man upon it. When he was heated to a glow
they laid him upon the anvil and beat him with hammers until he was
as flat as paper. But with all this he was not to be forced to speak.
The time was up and the ghosts must go. Before they went they told
him that he and all around him were blessed; and then the door flew
open and they vanished. He again arose, laid himself upon the bed,
and sank at once into slumber.
Next morning the three ladies, all in white from head to foot, came,
with the sound of music, to thank him for ransoming them, and they gave
him leave to choose among them for a wife. Now the youngest of them
had grown nearest his heart, and he declared himself ready to marry
her, not at once, but later, for first he wished to see something of
the world.
This being the case, they gave him a ham, a wooden flask of wine,
a loaf of bread, three dogs, and a pipe which hung by a golden chain,
and they told him that these dogs would come to his aid in every time
of need; he had only to call them by means of his pipe. And should
he be tired, he had only to seat himself upon one of them. So he took
all these things and went forth to see the world.
One day when he was travelling through a forest he arrived at a castle
and turned aside to enter. But the steps which led up were of such
a kind that he could not climb them; so he seated himself upon one
of his dogs and the animal carried him up. As he passed through the
entrance he peeped through a window and saw a Tiger and his wife,
who was combing his hair.
He went in to where they were, and the Tiger at once arose, led him
from room to room, and showed him many wonderful things. Everything
pleased the young man, except that the Tiger's wife kept the dogs
shut up in a room apart.
When he entered the fourth room he went around it, gazing upon the
many statues and paintings; and while thus doing he stepped upon
a board which gave way and let him fall into a cellar where it was
as dark as pitch. He groped around for a way of escape, but a damp,
heavy wind seemed to sweep all around him, and first he would wound
his hand and then his foot. So he thought to himself, "You won't come
safely out of this!"
After a while the Tiger let himself down by a rope, butcher-knife in
hand, intending to kill him. The young man begged for a half-hour's
respite, that he might do penance for his sins. This was granted,
but the time soon flew by, and the Tiger was already whetting his
knife to stab him, when the young man sprang aside, and his hand met
the chain upon which the pipe was hanging. He blew upon it, and quick
as thought the dogs were on the spot. He set them upon the Tiger,
but as they fell upon him the Tiger begged humbly for life, promising
that his wife would draw him and his dogs up out of the cellar.
So it came to pass; but they were no sooner out than he again set the
dogs upon the Tiger, who again began to beg, promising to give him a
salve which had the power of fastening against the wall any one upon
whose back it was rubbed, and keeping him there fast and firm until
he chose to let him go.
The youth took the salve and went on farther, till he reached a city
which was all shrouded in mourning. He entered and asked why every
one was in mourning, and received answer that a fearful Dragon was
to come that day and carry off the Emperor's daughter.
At this he laughed heartily, and said, "That may easily be helped;
just go and announce to the Emperor that I am ready to ransom the
Princess, if it is agreeable to him." This was announced, and the
Emperor received him into the castle with great joy.
As the appointed time for the Dragon's coming had arrived, the young
man placed himself in readiness. At the stroke of twelve the Dragon
suddenly appeared, driving four horses. The young man was waiting for
him, and as soon as the Dragon had taken the Princess by the hand to
carry her off he spread the salve upon his back, pressed him against
the wall, and set his dogs upon him. At the same time he belabored him
with the butt-end of his musket, till the Dragon was quite exhausted
and began to beg off, promising to give a written agreement never
again to molest the Princess. When he had written the paper in his
own blood and signed it he vanished through the window.
Then the Emperor knew not what to do for joy. He offered his daughter
to the soldier to wife, or, if he liked it better, the half of
his kingdom. But the young man declined both offers and returned
to his own ladies, where he married the youngest with the greatest
festivities. As they came out of church to go to their house a new
city sprang up all along the roadside. The hilarity was great. I
myself was among the guests, and after I had made merry to my heart's
content I set out upon the way home to Varazdin.
"Did you ever live in Varazdin, grandmother?" asked the little boy.
"No, surely not," said the grandmother. "That is just the way the
story ends."
"Oh!" said the little boy.