A father had three daughters; they went to the river to wash the
linen. The king's son rode up. One said: 'Well, if the king's son
were to marry me, I would hem the whole palace round with a single
needle.' The second said: 'If the king's son were to marry me, I
would feed the whole palace with a single roll.' But the third said:
'If the king's son were to marry me, I would bring him two sons,
each with a moon on his head and a star on the nape of his neck.'
The king rode up to the one that said: 'I would bring him two sons;'
they lived one year, two years, and she was expecting to become a
mother. The king came and gave orders to her mother: 'Whatever God
gives my wife, let it be reared.' He rode away twenty miles off, and
God gave his wife children; she brought him two sons, each with a
moon on his head and a star on the nape of his neck. His wife wrote
a letter, that God had given them two sons, each with a moon on his
head and a star on the nape of his neck. A servant carried the
letter to him, and went in to stop the night at the house of the
queen's sister, without knowing that it was her sister. He lay down
to sleep; then she took and opened the letter, erased that which was
written in it--'Each with a moon on his head and a star on the nape
of his neck'--and wrote instead, that it was not a snake nor a
lizard--it was nobody knew what, that she had become the mother of.
The man went to the king and delivered the letter. He read it
through: 'What God has given her, let it not be destroyed without my
orders.' He went back and again stopped at the same place to pass
the night; she took the letter again, opened it, erased what the
king had written, and wrote instead, that before he returned, she
was to bury her sons. When he arrived, the king's wife read it
through, and began to weep; she was grieved to bury those beautiful
sons. She dug two graves in the yard and buried them; out of them
grew two maples, a golden stem and a silver one. The king came to
the house and put her away because she had buried them without his
orders.
He rode off and married his wife's second sister. They lived
together, and after a time she said: 'My most illustrious husband!
let us cut down those maples and make ourselves a bed.'--'Ah! my
most illustrious husband! let us cut up that bed and burn it, and
sprinkle the ashes on the road.' A shepherd was driving sheep that
way; a ewe strayed and swallowed some of the ashes; she bore two
he-lambs; on the head of each was a moon, on the back of the neck a
star. Then she disliked those lambs, ordered them to be slaughtered,
and the entrails to be thrown out into the street. The first wife
came out, collected the entrails, cooked and ate them, and became
the mother of two sons; each had a moon on his head and a star on
the nape of his neck. The two sons grew and grew, and never took off
their caps. Then the king had a desire that somebody should come to
tell him stories. People said that there were two brothers there who
could tell stories. They came to tell stories.
They began to tell a story. 'There was a king who had a queen; the
queen became the mother of two sons; on the head of each was a moon,
on the nape of the neck a star. Afterwards the king went hunting;
the queen wrote a letter and sent it. The man went to her sister's
for the night; she took the letter, opened it, and wrote that it was
not a snake nor a lizard--it was nobody knew what, that the queen
had been the mother of. The king read it through, and replied that
it was to be reared, whether it were a snake or a lizard. The man
went homewards, and again rested at the house where he had passed
the night. She opened the letter, and wrote that she was to bury it
'_by my arrival_.' Then she dug two holes--graves--and buried them;
and two maples grew out, a golden stem and a silver one. The new
queen contrived that they should be cut down and a bed made of them,
and began to sleep on it, and began to be uncomfortable: she
ordered the bed to be cut up and burnt, and the ashes to be thrown
out into the yard. A shepherd was driving sheep; a ewe swallowed
some of the ashes and bore two he-lambs; each had a moon on the head
and a star on the back of the neck. The queen ordered the lambs to
be slaughtered, and their entrails to be thrown out into the street.
Her divorced sister went out into the street, collected the
entrails, took them to her house, cooked and ate them, and became
the mother of two sons; each had a moon on his head and a star on
the nape of his neck.' The boys bowed and took off their caps, thus
illuminating the whole room. The second wife was placed on an iron
harrow, and torn to pieces, but the king took his first wife, and
they began to live happily.
_LITTLE RUSSIAN STORIES._
(FROM GALICIA.)
Mr. Ralston does not seem to have been directly acquainted with
these tales; at any rate, none of them are given in either his book
of Russian folk-tales or in that of Russian songs. It is, therefore,
the more necessary for me to supplement his admirable work by giving
all the Galician stories in Erben's collection.
The Little Russians, or Ruthenians, form the bulk of the population
in the Austrian province of Galicia, formerly the principality of
Halicz, and also designated 'Red Russia.' The capital is Lemberg
(contracted from Löwenberg), or Lvóv. They are also found in the
adjoining parts of the north of Hungary, and in the Bukovina.
I think that the present selection is the first introduction of the
literature of the Austrian Russians to the notice of the British
reader.
The prophet Elijah (_Ilya_) is a very important and powerful
personage in Russian folklore, and we find him accordingly in No. 27
holding a prominent position in the heavenly hierarchy, even before
the creation of man! He seems to have taken the place of Perun, the
god of thunder, among the heathen Slavonians.
I must also draw attention to the extreme stupidity of the 'devils'
of Slavonic folklore. They are still less intelligent than their
Teutonic brethren, and do not appear to have any connection with the
Arch Enemy, but to be, as Mr. Ralston says (p. 370), rather 'the
lubber fiends of heathen mythology, beings endowed with supernatural
might, but scantily provided with mental power.' No. 26 gives a
specimen of their average intelligence.