THERE lived once an old man and his wife. The man was called Abrosim,
and his wife Fetinia. They were very poor and miserable, and had a son
named Little Ivan, who was fifteen years old. One day old Abrosim
brought a crust of bread home for his wife and son. He had scarcely
begun to eat, however, when Krutschina (Sorrow) sprang up from behind
the stove, seized the crust out of his hand, and ran away behind the
stove again. The old man made a bow to Krutschina, and begged her to
give him the crust back again, as he and his wife had nothing else to
eat.
“I will not give you the crust again,” said Krutschina, “but instead of
it I will give you a duck which lays a gold egg every day.”
“Very well,” said Abrosim. “I shall be supperless to-night. Do not
deceive me, but tell me where I shall find the duck.”
“Early to-morrow morning,” said Krutschina, “when you are up, go into
the town; there you will see a duck in a pond, catch it, and carry it
home.”
When Abrosim heard this he lay down and went to sleep.
The next morning he rose early, and went to the town, and was very much
pleased to see the duck swimming about on a pond. He called it to him,
carried it off to his home, and gave it to his wife Fetinia. They were
both delighted, and put the duck in a big basin, placing a sieve over
it. In an hour’s time they went to look at it, and discovered that the
duck had laid a golden egg. Then they took the duck out, and let it walk
a little on the floor, and the old man, taking the egg, set off to town.
There he sold the egg for a hundred roubles, took the money, and, going
to the market, bought different kinds of vegetables and set off home.
The next day the duck laid another egg like the first, which Abrosim
sold in the same manner. So the duck went on laying a golden egg every
day, and the old man became, in a short time, very rich. He bought a
large house, a great many shops, all kinds of wares, and set up in
business.
His wife Fetinia made a favourite of a young clerk in her husband’s
employ, and used to supply him with money. One day when Abrosim was away
from home, buying some goods, the clerk called to have a talk with
Fetinia, and it chanced that he then saw the duck that laid the golden
eggs. He was pleased with the bird, and, examining it, found written
under its wing in gold letters—
“Whoever eats this duck will be a Czar.”
He did not say anything to Fetinia about what he had seen, but asked her
to roast the duck for him. Fetinia said she could not kill the duck, for
all their fortune depended on it, but the clerk begged her so earnestly
that she at last consented and killed it, and put it in the oven. The
clerk then went off saying he would return soon, and Fetinia also went
out in the town. While they were gone in came little Ivan. He felt very
hungry, and, looking about him for something to eat, he chanced to see
the roast duck in the oven, so he took it out and ate all of it but the
bones. Then he went off again to the shop.
In a little while the clerk came back, and, having called Fetinia, asked
her to bring out the duck. The woman went to the oven, but when she saw
that the duck was not there, she was terribly put out, and told the
clerk that the duck had disappeared. At that the clerk flew into a great
rage, and said—
“You have eaten the duck yourself, of course,” and he got up and walked
out of the house.
In the evening Abrosim and his son, Little Ivan, came home. When Abrosim
did not see the duck, he asked his wife where it was, and she told him
that she did not know. Then Little Ivan said to his father—
“My dear father, when I came home, in the middle of the day, for dinner,
my mother was not in, so I looked in the oven, and there found a roast
duck. I took it out and ate it all but the bones, but I do not know
whether it was our duck or a strange one.”
Then old Abrosim was in such a rage that he thrashed his wife till she
was half dead, and he turned Little Ivan out of doors.
Little Ivan began his journey. Where should he go? He determined to
follow his nose. For ten days and nights he went on. Then he came to a
town, and as he stepped to the gate he saw a great many people assembled
together. Now these folk had been taking council, their Czar being dead,
as to who should succeed him. In the end they agreed that the first
person who came in at the city gate should be made Czar. Just then in
came Little Ivan through the gate, so all the people cried out together—
“Here is our Czar!”
The chief folk took Little Ivan by the arms, conducted him to the royal
apartments, put on him the Czar’s robes, seated him on the throne, made
obeisance to him as to their Czar, and waited for his commands. Then
Little Ivan thought he must surely be asleep and dreaming all this; but
at last he knew that he must be really Czar. He was heartily pleased,
began to rule over the people, and to appoint his officers. A short time
after he called one of them, named Luga, to him, and said—
“My true friend and good knight Luga, I want you to do me a service. Go
to my own country, go to the Czar, salute him from me, and ask him to
deliver to you the shopkeeper Abrosim and his wife, so that you may
bring them to me. If he will not deliver them up to you, tell him that I
will lay waste his country with fire, and will make him himself my
prisoner.”
When the servant Luga was come into Little Ivan’s country he went to the
Czar and asked him to let Abrosim and Fetinia go away with him. The Czar
was unwilling to let Abrosim go, for he wanted to keep the rich merchant
in his own country. He knew, however, that Ivan’s kingdom was very large
and populous, and being therefore afraid, he let Abrosim and Fetinia
depart. Luga received them from the Czar, and conducted them to his own
native country.