"Hail to thee!"
"Who art thou, prythee?"
"I am Ivan Golik.[29] Who art thou?"
[29] Naked.
"We are from such and such a land, and we are going with our prince to
seek him a bride."
"Go, tell thy prince that he must take me with him, for he'll make no
good match without me."
So the messenger returned to the prince and told him. Then the prince
bade his servants open his trunk and take out a shirt and pantaloons
and all manner of raiment, whereupon the naked man went into the water
and washed, and after that he dressed himself. Then they brought him
to the prince, and he said to him, "If you take me with you, you must
all obey me. If you listen to me, you shall remain in the land of
Russia; but if not, you shall all perish."
"Be it so!" said the prince, and he bade all his suite obey him.
They went on and on till they overtook the hosts of the mice. The
prince wanted to go hunting after the mice, but Ivan Golik said, "Nay,
step aside and give place to the mice, so that not a single one of
them lose a single hair!"
So they turned aside, and the mice swept by in their hosts, but the
hindmost mouse turned round and said, "Thanks to thee, Ivan Golik,
thou hast saved my host from perishing; I will save thine also."
Then they went on farther, and lo! the gnat was marching with his
host, and so vast was it that no eye could take it all in. Then the
lieutenant-general of the gnats came flying up and said, "Oh, Ivan
Golik! let my host drink of thy blood. If thou dost consent, 'twill be
to thy profit; but if thou dost not consent, thou shalt not remain in
the land of Russia."
Then he stripped off his shirt and bade them tie him up so that he
could not beat off a single gnat, and the gnats drank their fill of
him and flew off again.
After that they went along by the seashore till they came to a man who
had caught two pike. Then Ivan Golik said to the prince, "Buy those
two pike of the man, and let them go into the sea again."
"But wherefore?"
"Ask not wherefore, but buy them!"
So they bought the pike, and let them go into the sea again. But as
they swam away, the pike turned round and said, "We thank thee, Ivan
Golik, that thou hast not let us perish, and it shall be to thy weal
and welfare!"
Swiftly they moved on their way, but the story that tells thereof
moves still swifter. They went on and on, for more than a month maybe,
till they came to another land and to another tsardom, to the Empire
of Thrice-ten. And the serpent was the Tsar of that tsardom. Vast were
his palaces, iron railings surrounded his courtyards, and the railings
were covered with the heads of various warriors; only on the twenty
huge pillars in front of the gate were there no heads. As they drew
nigh, deadly fear oppressed the heart of the prince, and he said to
Ivan, "Mark me, Ivan! those pillars yonder are meant for _our_
heads!"--"That remains to be seen," replied Ivan Golik.
When they arrived there, the serpent at first treated them hospitably
as welcome guests. They were all to come in and make merry, he said,
but the prince he took to his own house. So they ate and drank
together, and the thoughts of their hearts were joyous. Now the
serpent had twenty-one daughters, and he brought them to the prince,
and told him which was the eldest, and which the next eldest, down to
the very last one. But it was the youngest daughter of all that the
prince's fancy fed upon more than on any of the others. Thus they
diverted themselves till evening, and in the evening they made ready
to go to sleep. But the serpent said to the prince, "Well, which of
my daughters dost thou think the loveliest?"
"The youngest is the most beautiful," said the prince, "and her will I
wed."
"Good!" said the serpent, "but I will not let thee have my daughter
till thou hast done all my tasks. If thou doest my tasks, thou shalt
have my daughter; but if thou doest them not, thou shalt lose thy
head, and all thy suite shall perish with thee."
Then he gave him his first task: "In my barn are three hundred ricks
of corn; by the morning light thou shalt have threshed and sifted them
so that stalk lies by stalk, chaff by chaff, and grain by grain."
Then the prince went to his own place to pass the night there, and
bitterly he wept. But Ivan Golik saw that he was weeping, and said to
him, "Why dost thou weep, O prince?"
"Why should I not weep, seeing the task that the serpent has given me
is impossible?"
"Nay, weep not, my prince, but lie down to sleep, and by the morning
light it will all be done!"
No sooner had Ivan Golik left the prince than he went outside and
whistled for the mice. Then the mice assembled round them in their
hosts: "Why dost thou whistle, and what dost thou want of us, O Ivan
Golik?" said they.
"Why should I not whistle, seeing that the serpent has bidden us
thresh out his barn by the morning light, so that straw lies by straw,
chaff by chaff, and grain by grain?"
No sooner did the mice hear this than they began scampering all about
the barn! There were so many of them that there was not room to move.
They set to work with a will, and long before dawn it was quite
finished. Then they went and awoke Ivan Golik. He went and looked, and
lo! all the chaff was by itself, and all the grain was by itself, and
all the straw by itself! Then Ivan bade them be quite sure that there
was not a single grain remaining in a single ear of corn. So they
scampered all about, and there was not a mouse which did not look
under every stalk of straw. Then they ran up to him, and said, "Fear
not! there is not a single loose grain anywhere. And now we have
requited thee thy service, Ivan Golik, farewell!"
Next morning the prince came to seek Ivan, and marvelled to find that
everything had been done as the serpent had commanded. So he thanked
Ivan Golik, and went off to the serpent. Then they both went together,
and the serpent himself was amazed. He called to his twenty-one
daughters to search the ears of corn well to see whether one single
grain might not be found therein, and his daughters searched and
searched, but there was not a single loose grain to be found. Then
said the serpent, "'Tis well, let us go! We will eat and drink and
make merry till evening, and in the evening I will give thee thy
to-morrow's task." So they made merry till evening, and then the
serpent said, "Early this morning, my youngest daughter went bathing
in the sea and lost her ring in the water. She searched and searched
for it, but could find it nowhere. If thou canst find it to-morrow,
and bring it hither while we are sitting down to meat, thou shalt
remain alive; if not, 'tis all over with thee!"
The prince returned to his own people and fell a-weeping. Ivan Golik
perceived it, and said to him, "Wherefore dost thou weep?"
"For such and such a reason," said he; "dost thou not see that I am
ruined?"
Then said Ivan Golik, "The serpent lies. He himself it was who took
his daughter's ring and flew over the sea early this morning, and
dropped it in the water. But lie down and sleep! I myself will go to
the sea to-morrow, haply I may find the ring."
So, very early next morning, Ivan Golik went down to the sea. He
shouted with an heroic voice, and whistled with an heroic whistle,
till the whole sea was troubled by a storm. Then the two pike he had
thrown back into the sea came swimming to the shore. "Why dost thou
call us, O Ivan Golik?" said they.
"Why should I not call you? The serpent flew over the sea early
yesterday morning and dropped in it his daughter's ring. Search for it
everywhere. If you find it, I shall remain alive, but if you find it
not, know that the serpent will remove me from the face of the
earth!"
Then they swam off and searched, nor was there a single corner of the
sea where they searched not. Yet they found nothing. At last they swam
off to their mother, and told her what a great woe was about to
befall. Their mother said to them, "The ring is with me. I am sorry
for him, and still more sorry for you, so you may have it." And with
that she drew off the ring, and they swam with it to Ivan Golik, and
said, "Now we have requited thy service. We have found it, but 'twas a
hard task."
Then Ivan Golik thanked the two pike and went on his way. He found the
prince weeping, for the serpent had already sent for him twice, and
there was no ring. The moment he saw Ivan Golik he sprang to his feet,
and said, "Hast thou the ring?"
"Yes, here it is! But look! the serpent himself is coming!"
"Let him come!"
The serpent was already on the threshold as the prince was going out.
They ran against each other with their foreheads, and the serpent was
very angry. "Where's the ring?" cried he.
"There it is! But I will not give it to thee, but to her from whom
thou didst take it."
The serpent laughed. "Very good!" said he, "but now let us go to
dinner, for my guests are many, and we have been waiting for thee this
long time."
So they went. The prince arrived at the house, where eleven serpents
were sitting down to dinner. He saluted them, and then went on to the
daughters, and said, as he drew off the ring, "To which of you does
this belong?"