There was once upon a time an old man and an old woman, and they
had three sons; two were clever, but the third was a fool. The old
woman loved the first two, and quite spoiled them, but the latter
was always hardly treated. They heard that a writing had come from
the Tsar which said, "Whoever builds a ship that can fly, to him
will I give my daughter the Tsarevna to wife." The elder brothers
resolved to go and seek their fortune, and they begged a blessing
of their parents. The mother got ready their things for the journey,
and gave them something to eat on the way, and a flask of wine. And
the fool began to beg them to send him off too. His mother told him
he should not go. "Whither would you go, fool?" said she; "why, the
wolves would devour you!" But the fool was always singing the same
refrain: "I will go, I will go!" His mother saw that she could do
nothing with him, so she gave him a piece of dry bread and a flask
of water, and quickly shoved him out of the house.
The fool went and went, and at last he met an old man. They greeted
each other. The old man asked the fool, "Whither are you going?"--"Look
now!" said the fool, "the Tsar has promised to give his daughter to
him who shall make a flying ship!"--"And can you then make such a
ship?"--"No, I cannot, but they'll make it for me somewhere."--"And
where is that somewhere?"--"God only knows."--"Well, in that case,
sit down here; rest and eat a bit. Take out what you have got in
your knapsack."--"Nay, it is such stuff that I am ashamed to show
it to people."--"Nonsense! Take it out! What God has given is quite
good enough to be eaten." The fool undid his knapsack, and could
scarcely believe his eyes--there, instead of the dry crust of bread,
lay white rolls and divers savoury meats, and he gave of it to the
old man. So they ate together, and the old man said to the fool,
"Go into the wood, right up to the first tree, cross yourself thrice,
and strike the tree with your axe, then fall with your face to the
ground and wait till you are aroused. Then you will see before you a
ship quite ready; sit in it and fly wherever you like, and gather up
everything you meet on your road." So our fool blessed the old man,
took leave of him, and went into the wood. He went up to the first
tree and did exactly as he had been commanded; he crossed himself three
times, struck the tree with his axe, fell with his face to the ground,
and went to sleep. In a little while some one or other awoke him. The
fool rose up, and saw the ship quite ready, and without thinking long
about it, he sat in it, and the ship flew up into the air. It flew
and flew, and look!--there on the road below, a man was lying with his
ear to the damp earth. "Good-day, uncle!"--"Good-day."--"What are you
doing?"--"I am listening to what is going on in the world."--"Take
a seat in the ship beside me." The man did not like to refuse,
so he sat in the ship, and they flew on further. They flew and
flew, and look!--a man was coming along hopping on one leg, with
the other leg tied tightly to his ear. "Good-day, uncle; what are
you hopping on one leg for?"--"Why, if I were to untie the other I
should stride half round the world at a single stride."--"Come and
sit with us." The man sat down, and they flew on. They flew and flew,
and look!--a man was standing with a gun and taking aim, but at what
they could not see. "Good-day, uncle; at what are you aiming? Not
even a bird is to be seen."--"What! I am shooting at short range. I
could hit bird or beast at a distance of one hundred leagues. That's
what I call shooting!"--"Sit down with us." This man also sat with
them, and they flew on further. They flew and flew, and look!--a
man was carrying on his back a whole sack-load of bread. "Good-day,
uncle; whither are you going?"--"I am going," he said, "to get some
bread for dinner."--"But you've got a whole sack-load on your back
already!"--"That! Why I should think nothing of eating all that at a
single mouthful."--"Come and sit with us." The Gobbler sat in the ship,
and they went flying on further. They flew and they flew, and look!--a
man was walking round a lake. "Good-day, uncle; what are you looking
for?"--"I want to drink, but I can find no water."--"But there's a
whole lake before you, why don't you drink of it?"--"That! Why that
water would not be more than a mouthful to me!"--"Then come and sit
with us." He sat down, and again they flew on. They flew and flew,
and look!--a man was walking in the forest, and on his shoulders was
a bundle of wood. "Good-day, uncle; why are you dragging about wood
in the forest?"--"But this is not common wood."--"What sort is it
then?"--"It is of such a sort that if you scatter it, a whole army
will spring up."--"Sit down with us then." He sat down with them,
and they flew on further. They flew and flew, and look!--a man was
carrying a sack of straw. "Good-day, uncle; whither are you carrying
that straw?"--"To the village."--"Is there little straw in the village
then?"--"Nay, but this straw is of such a kind that if you scatter
it on the hottest summer day, cold will immediately set in with snow
and frost."--"Won't you sit with us, then?"--"Thank you, I will."
Soon they flew into the Tsar's courtyard. The Tsar was sitting at
table just then; he saw the flying ship, was much surprised, and
sent out his servant to ask who was flying on that ship. The servant
went to the ship and looked, and brought back word to the Tsar that
'twas but a single, miserable little muzhik [5] who was flying the
ship. The Tsar fell a-thinking. He did not relish the idea of giving
his daughter to a simple muzhik, and began to consider how he could rid
him of this wretched son-in-law for a whole year. And so he thought,
"I'll give him many grievous tasks to do." So he immediately sent
out to the fool with the command to get him, by the time the imperial
meal was over, living and singing water. Now, at the very time when
the Tsar was giving this command to his servant, the first comrade
whom the fool had met (that is to say, the one who was listening
to what was going on in the world) heard what the Tsar said, and
told it to the fool. "What shall I do now?" said the fool. "Why,
if I search for a year, and for my whole life too, I shall never
find such water."--"Don't be afraid," said Swift-of-foot to him,
"I'll manage it for you." The servant came and made known the Tsar's
command. "Say I'll fetch it," replied the fool, and his comrade untied
his other leg from his ear, ran off, and in a twinkling he drew from
the end of the world some of the living and singing water. "I must
make haste and return presently," said he, and he sat down under a
water-mill and went to sleep. The Tsar's dinner was drawing to a close,
and still he did not turn up though they were all waiting, so that
those on board the ship grew uneasy. The first comrade bent down to
the earth and listened. "Oh ho! so you are asleep beneath the mill,
are you?" Then the marksman seized his gun, shot into the mill, and
awoke Swift-of-foot with his shooting. Swift-of-foot set off running,
and in a moment he had brought the water. The Tsar had not yet risen
from the table, and his command could not therefore have been more
exactly fulfilled. But it was all to no purpose, another task had to be
imposed. The Tsar bade them say to the fool, "Come now, as you are so
smart, show what you're made of! You and your comrades must eat at one
meal twenty roast oxen and twenty large measures of baked bread." The
first comrade heard and told this to the fool. The fool was terrified,
and said, "Why, I can't eat even one whole loaf at one meal!"--"Don't
be afraid," said Gobbler, "that will be very little for me." The
servant came and delivered the Tsar's command. "Good!" said the fool,
"let us have it and we'll eat it." And they brought twenty roasted
bullocks, and twenty measures of baked bread. Gobbler alone ate it
all up. "Ugh!" he said, "precious little! they might have given us
a little more." The Tsar bade them say to the fool that he must now
drink forty barrels of wine, each barrel holding forty buckets. The
first comrade of the fool heard these words, and told them to him
beforehand. The fool was horrified. "Why, I could not drink a single
bucketful," said he. "Don't be frightened," said the Drinker, "I'll
drink for all; it will be little enough for me." They poured out the
forty barrels of wine; the Drinker came and drank the whole lot at
one draught; he drank it right to the dregs, and said, "Ugh! little
enough, too! I should have liked as much again." After that the
Tsar commanded the fool to get ready for his wedding, and go to the
bath-room to have a good wash. Now this bath-room was of cast-iron,
and the Tsar commanded that it should be heated hotter than hot, that
the fool might be suffocated therein in a single instant. So they
heated the bath red-hot. The fool went to wash himself, and behind
him came the muzhik with the straw. "I must straw the floor," said
he. They locked them both in the bath-room; the muzhik scattered the
straw, and it became so cold that the fool was scarce able to wash
himself properly, the water in the bath froze so hard. He crept up
on the stove and there he passed the whole night. In the morning they
opened the bath, and they found the fool alive and well, lying on the
stove and singing songs. They brought word thereof to the Tsar. The
Tsar was sore troubled, he did not know how to rid himself of the
fool. He thought and thought, and commanded him to produce a whole
army of his own devising. "How will a simple muzhik be able to form
an army?" thought he; "he will certainly not be able to do that." As
soon as the fool heard of this he was much alarmed. "Now I am quite
lost," said he; "you have delivered me from my straits more than once,
my friends, but it is plain that nothing can be done now."
"You're a pretty fellow," said the man with the bundle of wood; "why,
you've clean forgotten me, haven't you?" The servant came and told
the fool the Tsar's command: "If you will have the Tsarevna to wife,
you must put on foot a whole army by morning."
"Agreed. But if the Tsar, even after this, should refuse, I will
conquer his whole Tsardom and take the Tsarevna by force." At night
the fool's companion went out into the fields, took his bundle of
wood, and began scattering the faggots in different directions--and
immediately a countless army appeared, both horse and foot. In the
morning the Tsar saw it, and was terrified in his turn, and in all
haste he sent to the fool precious ornaments and raiment, and bade
them lead him to court and marry him to the Tsarevna. The fool attired
himself in these costly ornaments, and they made him look handsomer
than words can tell. He appeared before the Tsar, wedded the Tsarevna,
received a large wedding-gift, and became quite clever and witty. The
Tsar and the Tsaritsa [6] grew very fond of him, and the Tsarevna
lived with him all her life, and loved him as the apple of her eye.
THE MUZHICHEK [7]-AS-BIG-AS-YOUR-THUMB-WITH-MOUSTACHES-
SEVEN-VERSTS[8]-LONG.
In a certain kingdom, in a certain empire, there once lived a Tsar. At
his royal court there was a harness of golden rings. Now it fell
out that this Tsar once dreamed that in this harness was fastened a
strange horse, not woolly white, but silvery bright, and on its brow
a glistening moon. On awaking in the morning the Tsar commanded the
public crier to cry abroad that whoever would interpret this dream,
and discover this horse, should have his daughter in exchange,
and half his tsardom into the bargain. At this royal proclamation a
multitude of princes, boyards, [9] and great lords came together,
and thought and thought, but not one of them could interpret the
dream, not one of them could discover the horse. At last they hunted
up a little withered old grey-beard Muzhichek, [10] and he said to
the Tsar, "Thy dream was not a dream, but real. On just such a horse
as thou didst see in thy dream, there came to thee in the night the
Muzhichek-as-big-as-your-thumb-with-moustaches-seven-versts-long,
and he wants to steal away your lovely little daughter out of the
strong fortress."--"I thank thee, good man, for thy interpretation;
and now wilt thou not tell me who can get me this horse?"--"I will
tell thee, my Lord Tsar. I have three sons, mighty men of valour. My
wife bore me all three of them in a single night; the eldest in the
evening, the second at midnight, the third at dawn of day, and so
we called them Zor'ka, [11] Vechorka, [12] and Polunochka. [13] They
have not their equals in this realm for strength or valour. Look now,
my little father and sovereign lord, send them forth that they may
seek this strange horse for thee."--"Let them go, dear old friend. Let
them take as much from my treasury as they need, nor will I go back
from my royal word; whichever of them brings me this horse, to him
will I give the Tsarevna and half my tsardom."
The next day, early in the morning, the three brother-heroes, Zor'ka,
Vechorka, and Polunochka, arrived at the Tsar's court; the first
had the fairest face, the second the broadest shoulders, the third
the stateliest figure. They went in to the Tsar, prayed before the
sacred ikons, and bowed low on every side of them, but to the Tsar
they bowed lowest of all. "May our Sovereign Lord and Tsar live long
in the land! We have come to thee, not to feast with the festive, but
to do a deed right hard and sore, for we have come to fetch thee this
strange horse from far away--that selfsame horse that appeared to thee
in thy dreams."--"Success attend you, ye good youths! What provision
do ye require for your journey?"--"We want nothing, O Gosudar! [14]
Only do not neglect our good father and mother. Provide for them in
their old age and need."--"If that be all, depart in God's name on your
journey. I will bring your old parents to my court, and they shall
be my guests; I will give them to eat and drink from my own royal
table, they shall be clothed and shod from my own royal wardrobe,
and they shall be filled full with all good things."
So the good youths departed on their long journey. They travelled
that day, and the next, and the third also, with nothing but the sky
above their heads, and the broad steppe on every side of them. At
last they left the steppe and entered a dense forest, and rejoiced
greatly. On the very skirts of the forest stood a little hut, and
beside the little hut a tiny sheepfold full of sheep. "Look," said
they, "there we shall find some place to lay our heads in, and rest
from our journey." They knocked at the hut--there was no answer;
they peeped into it--it was quite empty. The brothers entered in,
made ready for the night, prayed to God, and laid them down to
sleep. In the morning Zor'ka and Polunochka went into the wood to
hunt, and said to Vechorka, "Stay at home and get dinner ready for
us." The eldest brother agreed, put everything to rights in the hut,
and then went to the sheepfold, chose the fattest ram, cut it up,
cleansed it, and roasted it for dinner. He had no sooner laid the
table, however, and had just sat down by the window to await his
brothers, when all at once there came a rumbling and a thundering
from the forest, the door was nearly torn off its hinges, and the
Muzhichek-only-as-big-as-your-thumb-but-with-moustaches-seven-versts-long
entered the hut, with his moustaches floating far down his back. On
entering the hut he looked at Vechorka from beneath his beetling
brows, and shrieked with a terrible voice, "How dare you come into
my hut as if you were its lord and master? How dare you cut up my
ram?" But Vechorka looked at him and smiled. "You ought to grow a
little bigger before you shriek like that," said he. "Be off, and
don't let me see you here again, or I'll take a spoonful of cabbage
soup, and a little crumb of bread, and glue up your eyes for you." The
Muzhichek-no-bigger-than-your-thumb-but-with-moustaches-seven-versts-long
replied, "I see that you don't know that, though small, I am brave
withal;" then, tearing the hero from the bench, he dragged him
from corner to corner, bumped his head well against the walls,
and then threw him, more dead than alive, beneath the bench. He
himself took the roast ram from the table, ate it, bones and all, and
vanished. The brothers returned and asked, "What's the matter? Why have
you bandaged your head?" But Vechorka was ashamed to say that such a
miserable little wretch had trounced him so soundly, and he said to
his brothers, "I got a headache from looking to the fire without you,
so that I could neither roast nor boil."
The next day Zor'ka and Vechorka went out to hunt, and
Polunochka stayed behind to get the dinner ready. No
sooner had he finished cooking the dinner, than there was
again a rushing sound in the wood, and into the hut came the
Muzhichek-no-bigger-than-your-thumb-but-with-moustaches-seven-versts-long,
knocked Polunochka about, maimed him, pitched him under the bench,
ate up the whole dinner, and vanished. Again the brothers returned and
asked, "What's the matter, brotherkin? Why do you tie up your head with
rags?"--"I have got a headache from looking to the fire, my brothers,"
replied Polunochka, "so that my poor little head was quite splitting,
and therefore I could not get ready your dinner for you."
On the third day the elder brothers went to hunt, and Zor'ka remained
in the hut alone, and thought to himself, "There's something not quite
right here. It is not for nothing that my brothers have complained
of the heat of the fire two days running." So he began to look all
about, and to listen, in case any one should be coming to fall upon
him unawares. He chose a ram, killed and cut it up, cleansed it,
roasted it, and placed it on the table, and immediately there was
a racket and a thundering in the wood, and in at the door rushed the
Muzhichek-no-bigger-than-your-thumb-but-with-moustaches-seven-versts-long,
with a rick of hay on his head, and in his hand a bucket of water. He
put the bucket of water in the midst of the courtyard, strewed the
straw all over the courtyard, and set about counting his sheep. He
saw that there was yet another ram missing, flew into a violent rage,
stamped on the ground with his little feet, dashed into the hut, and
flung himself violently upon Zor'ka. But this Zor'ka was not like his
brothers. He seized the Muzhichek by his moustaches, and began to drag
him about the hut and well towzle him, and cried at the same time--
"If you don't know the ford
Don't step overboard." [15]
The Muzhichek-no-bigger-than-your-thumb wriggled about from side
to side, tore himself out of Zor'ka's iron paws, though he left the
ends of his moustaches in his fists, and ran away from him as hard as
he could, Zor'ka after him--but whither, pray? He flew up into the
air like fluff, vanished from before his eyes, and was gone. Zor'ka
returned to the hut, and sat down by the window to await his beloved
brothers. The brothers arrived, and were quite astonished to find
him hale and whole, and the dinner ready. But Zor'ka drew out from
his girdle the ends of the long moustaches which he had torn from the
monster, and said to his brothers, with a smile, "Look, my brothers,
I have twisted your headache that you caught from the fire [16] round
my girdle! I see now that neither in strength nor stout-heartedness
are ye fit comrades for me, so I will go on alone to discover the
wondrous steed, but you go back to the village and plough land." Then
he took leave of his brothers, and went on his way.
Just as he was leaving the wood, Zor'ka came upon a crazy little hut,
and in this crazy little hut he heard some one crying dolorously,
"Whoever will give me to eat and to drink, him will I serve." The
good youth went into the hut, and saw that on the stove lay an
armless, legless one, piteously groaning, and begging for meat and
drink. Zor'ka gave him to eat and drink, and asked him who he was. "A
hero was I, no whit worse than thou, but lo! I ate one of the rams
of the Muzhichek-no-bigger-than-your-thumb, and he made me a cripple
for the rest of my life. But because you have had compassion upon me,
and given me both to eat and to drink, I will show you how to get the
wondrous horse."--"Show me, I pray, good man."--"Go, then, to the river
hard by, take a ferry-boat on it, ferry people across it the whole
year round, take money from none, and--you'll see what will happen."
Zor'ka went to the river, took a ferry-boat, and a whole year round
he ferried everybody across gratis. And it befell him once that he
had to ferry over three old pilgrims. The old men got out on the bank,
and began to undo their travelling purses, and the first pulled out a
whole handful of gold, the second a whole roll of pure pearls, and the
third the most precious stones. "There, that is for thy ferrying, good
youth," said the old men. "I can take nothing from you," said Zor'ka,
"because I am here, according to promise, to ferry every one across
without taking money for it."--"Then for what dost thou do it?"--"I
seek the wondrous horse which is not woolly white, but silvery bright,
and I can find it nowhere; so that is why good people have advised
me to hire a ferry-boat here, and they said, you shall see what will
happen."--"Well for thee, good youth, that thou hast been true to thy
word; we can equip thee for thy journey. Here is a little ring for
thy little finger, do but transfer it from finger to finger, and all
thy wishes will be gratified." And the old men went on their way, but
Zor'ka immediately put the ring on the other hand and said--"Let me be
at once in those places where the Muzhichek-no-bigger-than-your-thumb
lives and pastures his horse!" And immediately the tempest took
him, and before he could wink once he found himself in front of
a deep chasm amongst the gloomy rocks, and he saw that in this
side of the chasm, but on the very edge of it, was sitting the
Muzhichek-no-bigger-than-your-thumb-but-with-moustaches-seven-versts-long,
and around him was pacing the wondrous horse that was not woolly
white, but silvery bright; on its brow shone a moon, and many stars
were in its mane. "Welcome, good youth!" screeched the monster to
Zor'ka; "what brings you hither?"--"I am going to take your horse
away from you."--"Nay, 'tis not for you nor for any one else to
take him from me. If I but seize him by the mane and lead him to
the edge of this abyss, nobody in the world can take him away from
hence, though they strive for ever and ever."--"Well, then, let us
exchange."--"Willingly. I don't mind exchanging with you. You bring
me hither the daughter of your Tsar, and I will give you my horse,
and you may lead him from field to field."--"Good," said Zor'ka,
and he immediately began considering how he might get the better of
the monster. He transferred his ring from finger to finger, and said,
"Let the lovely Tsarevna immediately appear here before me." And in
the twinkling of an eye the Tsarevna appeared before him, all pale
and trembling, and fell down on her knees before him, and begged and
prayed him: "Good youth, wherefore hast thou conjured me away from my
father? Oh, spare my tender youth!" But Zor'ka whispered her, "I want
to get the better of that monster there. I'll make believe to exchange
you for the horse, and leave you with the monster as his wife; but you
take this ring, and when you want to return home you have only to take
it off one finger and put it on the other, and say, 'I want to turn
into a little needle to stick it into Zor'ka behind his collar,' and
you'll see what will happen." And as Zor'ka had said to the Tsarevna,
so it fell out. He gave the Tsarevna to the monster in exchange for
the wondrous horse, put his martial harness on the horse, mounted, and
went on his way; but the Muzhichek-no-bigger-than-your-thumb laughed
and shouted after him, "'Tis well, good youth; thou hast exchanged a
lovely damsel for a horse." Zor'ka had not gone two or three versts
when he felt something pricking him behind the collar. He put his
hand there, and lo! there was a needle. He pitched it on the ground,
and before him stood a lovely damsel, who wept and begged him to
take her back to her dear father's house. Zor'ka set her on the horse
beside him, and galloped off as only heroes can gallop. He arrived at
the Tsar's court, and found the Tsar in an evil mood. The Tsar said
to him, "I rejoice not at all, good youth, in thy faithful service,
nor do I require the steed thou hast gotten for me, nor will I reward
thee with aught according to thy merits."--"And wherefore, pray, dear
father Tsar?"--"Because, good youth, my daughter went away without my
leave."--"Nay, but, my Sovereign Lord and Tsar, it beseems thee not
to trifle with me so: the Tsarevna was only this instant greeting me
from out of her stronghold." Then the Tsar rushed into the stronghold,
where he still found his daughter, embraced her, and brought her out
to the good youth. "Here is thy reward and my delight." And the Tsar
took the horse, and gave his daughter to Zor'ka to wife, and half
his tsardom along with her into the bargain. And Zor'ka still lives
with his wife, and cannot love her enough, and he rejoices in his
good fortune without over-much boasting.
THE STORY OF THE TSAREVICH IVAN, AND OF THE HARP THAT HARPED WITHOUT
A HARPER.
Far, far behind the blue sea, behind the fiery abyss, in the void
places, in the midst of the pleasant meadows, stood a lofty city, and
in this city ruled Tsar Umnaya Golova [17] with his Tsaritsa. There
they lived a long time, and to their great delight a daughter was
born to them, a most lovely Tsarevna whom they called Neotsyenaya,
[18] and the next year there was born to them another daughter just as
lovely, and her they named the Tsarevna Beztsyenaya. [19] In his joy
Tsar Umnaya Golova made merry and gladdened his heart, and feasted
and ate and drank to his heart's content. He gave his voevods [20]
three hundred and three buckets of mead to toast him in, and bade
them regale his whole realm with beer for three days. Whoever liked
might drink, and good measure was meted out to him. Now, when all
the feastings and junketings were over, Tsar Umnaya Golova began to
be troubled with the thought how to feed and nourish and train up
his beloved daughters, and bring them under the golden crown. [21]
Great were the cares of the Tsar concerning his daughters. They were
only fed with gold spoons, they were laid to sleep on eider-down beds,
they were covered with sable coverlets, and three nurses took it in
turn to drive away the flies when the Tsarevnas laid them down to
sleep. Tsar Umnaya Golova bade them watch over his daughters, and take
care that the lovely sun never looked into their room with his bright
rays, that the cold dew never fell on them, and that the truant wind
never dared to blow upon them. And for the defence and protection
of his daughters, the Tsar placed beside them seventy-seven nurses,
and seventy-seven guardians--a certain wise man advised him to do so.
Thus Tsar Umnaya Golova with his Tsaritsa and his two daughters lived
and thrived together. I know not how many years passed by, and the
Tsarevnas began to grow up, fill out, and become beautiful. Wooers
already began to make their appearance at the Tsar's court, but Tsar
Umnaya Golova was in no great haste to marry off his daughters. He
reflected that a destined wooer cannot be avoided even on a swift
horse, while a wooer that is not destined cannot be held fast by triple
iron chains, and while he was thus thinking and casting the matter over
in his mind, he suddenly heard a great noise and commotion. There was
a scampering up and down and to and fro in his courtyard. The outdoor
nurses were crying, the indoor nurses were howling, and the guardians
were bawling with all their might. Tsar Umnaya Golova immediately
rushed out and asked, "What is the matter?" Then the seventy-seven
male attendants, and the seventy-seven female attendants all fell
down on their knees before him. "We are guilty," they cried; "look
now! the Tsarevnas Neotsyenaya and Beztsyenaya have been carried off
by a whirlwind!" A strange thing had happened. The Tsarevnas had gone
out to walk in the Tsar's garden to pluck a few sweet-peas and wrench
off a red poppy or two, and feast upon a few ripe pippins. Suddenly
a black cloud rose up above them (whence it came nobody knew), blew
right into the eyes of the nurses and guardians, and by the time they
had come to themselves and begun to rub their eyes, all trace of the
Tsarevnas had vanished, there was nothing for the eye to see or the
ear to hear. Tsar Umnaya Golova regularly flared up with rage. "I will
deliver you all over to an evil death!" said he. "You shall perish
miserably in dungeons; I will bid them shoot at you with peas in the
gates. What! seven-and-seventy of you nurses, and seven-and-seventy
of you guardians, could not look after two Tsarevnas!"
And now Tsar Umnaya Golova was in sore trouble and affliction;
he neither ate, nor drank, nor slept; everything was a grief and a
burden to him; banquets at his court there were none, and the sound
of the fiddle and the shawm was heard there no more. Only sad grief
sat beside him and sang her mournful dirge like the croaking of a
crow of evil omen.
But time passes and sorrow with it. The life of man is like a
variegated tapestry, interwoven with dark flowers and bright. Time
moved onwards, and then another child was born to the Tsar, but
this time it was not a Tsarevna, but a Tsarevich. Tsar Umnaya Golova
rejoiced greatly; he called his son Ivan, and placed beside him old-men
nurses, foster-fathers, wise teachers, and valiant voevods. And the
Tsarevich Ivan began to grow and grow just as wheaten meal swells and
swells when good yeast is put to it. He grew not by the day but by the
hour, and what wondrous beauty, what a stately figure was his! One
thing only weighed upon the heart of Tsar Umnaya Golova: good and
beauteous was the Tsarevich Ivan, but there was nothing in him of
heroic valour or of knightly skill. He did not tear off the heads
of his comrades, nor break their arms and legs; he neither loved to
play with lances of damask steel, nor with swords of tempered metal;
he did not muster his strong battalions, nor hold converse with his
voevods. Good and beauteous was the Tsarevich Ivan; he amazed all men
with his wit and wisdom, and his sole delight was to play on the harp
that needed no harper. And the Tsarevich Ivan played so that all men
forgot all else as they listened. The moment he placed his fingers
on the strings they sang and played with such a wondrous voice that
the very dumb wept for sympathy, and the very legless danced for
joy. Beautiful songs they were, but they did not replenish the Tsar's
treasure, nor defend the realm, nor smite the evil foe.
And one day Tsar Umnaya Golova bade them bring the Tsarevich Ivan
before him, and thus he spake to him: "My beloved son, good art thou
and beauteous, and I am well content with thee. One thing only grieves
me. I do not see in thee the valour of a warrior, or the skill of
a champion. Thou dost not love the clash of steel lances and the
tempered blade has no charm for thee. Look now! I am growing old,
and we have savage foes. They will come to us, make our realm the
spoil of war, put to death our boyars and voevods, and lead captive
me and my Tsaritsa, for thou canst not defend us." The Tsarevich Ivan
listened to the words of Tsar Umnaya Golova, and thus he made answer:
"Dear Tsar-Gosudar and father! Not by strength but by craft are
cities taken, not by cudgels but by cunning will I prevail against
the foe. Make trial of my martial strength, make trial of my youthful
valour. Look now! They tell me that I had two sisters, Tsarevnas,
and that the truant whirlwind carried them away, and that the rumour
of them vanished as if it were covered with snow. Call together now
all thy princes, thy heroes, thy stalwart voevods, and bid them do
thee the service of finding out my sisters, the Tsarevnas. Let them
bring their damask blades, their iron lances, their glowing darts,
and their countless soldiery; and if any one of them shall do thee this
service, give to him my tsardom and bid me be unto him as a scullion,
to lick his pots, and as a fool to make him sport. But if they cannot
render thee this service, then I will render it thee, and then thou
shalt see that my wisdom and my wit is sharper than a damask blade,
and stronger than a lance of steel."
And the words of the Tsarevich pleased the Tsar. He called together
his boyars, his voevods, his strong and mighty champions, and he said
to them: "Is there any one of you, my boyars, voevods, strong and
mighty champions, hero enough to go seek my daughters? If so, to him
will I give to choose which of my daughters he will to be his love,
and with her he shall have half my tsardom." The boyars, the voevods,
and the champions looked one upon another, and hid one behind the
other, but not one of them dared to speak. Then the Tsarevich Ivan
bowed low before his father and said--"Dear Father-Gosudar! if none
will take it upon him to render thee this paltry little service,
give me thy blessing on my journey. I will go, I will seek my
sisters, nor have I need of any royal gift from thee to enable me
to do it."--"Good!" replied Tsar Umnaya Golova; "my blessing go
with thee. Take also of my treasures, silver and gold and precious
stones, and if thou requirest soldiers, take a hundred thousand horse
and a hundred thousand foot also." And the Tsarevich Ivan replied,
"I need neither silver nor gold, neither horse nor foot, neither the
horse of the champion nor his sword and lance. I will take with me my
sweet-sounding harp that plays of its own accord, and nothing else. And
thou, my Sovereign Tsar, await me these three years, and if I come
not again in the fourth year, then choose thee my successor." Then
the Tsarevich Ivan received his father's blessing both in writing and
by word of mouth, commended himself to God, took his harp under his
arm, and went straight on his way whither his eyes led him. Whither
was he to go to find his sisters? He went and went near and far,
high and low. The tale of his going is soon told, but the deed that
he did is not soon done. The Tsarevich Ivan went straight onwards,
he went on and on, and as he went he played songs upon his harp;
whenever the morning broke he arose again and wended his way along;
when night fell he laid him down on the silky grass beneath the vast
roof of the heavenly dome bright with stars. And at last he came to
a dense forest. The Tsarevich Ivan heard a great cracking in this
dense forest as if some one were smashing it, such a rumbling and
a thundering was there in this forest. "What is this?" thought the
Tsarevich Ivan; "a man must die once though no man can die twice." And
his eyes filled with terror, for he saw two wood demons fighting. One
was belabouring the other with an uprooted oak, and the other was
pitching into his comrade with a pine tree five fathoms long, and
the pair of them were fighting with all their devilish strength. The
Tsarevich Ivan approached them with his harp and struck up a dance. The
demons stopped short, began to dance some devilish dance, and kicked
up their heels [22] with such vigour that the very welkin rang. They
danced and they danced, they danced themselves off their legs and
rolled on to the ground, and the Tsarevich Ivan began to talk to
them. "Come now! what are you quarrelling for?" said he. "Ye, my
children, are regular wood demons, and yet ye make fools of yourselves
as if ye were common people." Then one of the wood demons said to him,
"Wherefore should we not fight? Hearken and judge betwixt us! We
were going on our way and we found something. I said, 'Tis mine; but
he said, 'Tis mine--we tried to divide it and we could not divide
it."--"And what then was it that you found?" asked the Tsarevich
Ivan.--"This is what it was: a little bread-and-salt table-cloth,
self-moving boots, and an invisible little cap. Dost thou want to eat
and drink? Then spread out the little table-cloth, and twelve youths
and twelve maids will bring thee mead to drink and sweetmeats as much
as thou wilt! And if any one come that way, thou hast only to slip on
the self-walking boots and thou canst go seven versts at one stride;
nay, thou canst go even quicker than fourteen versts at one stride,
so that no bird can fly level with thee and no wind can overtake
thee. But if some unavoidable calamity threaten thee thou hast but
to put on thy little invisible cap, and thou vanishest so completely
that the very dogs cannot scent out thy whereabouts."--"What a thing
to quarrel about! Will ye agree to what I say if I divide what ye
have found?" The wood demons agreed, and the Tsarevich Ivan said,
"Look now! Run towards that little path, and whichever of you reaches
it, he shall have the table-cloth, the boots, and the cap."--"Ah,
now!" cried the wood demons, "that is common sense! Do thou hold the
treasures and we will do the running." So away they went at full tilt,
till nothing but their heels were visible and they disappeared in the
forest. But the Tsarevich Ivan did not wait for them, he put the boots
on his feet, the cap on his head, the little table-cloth under his
arm, and made himself scarce as they call it. The wood demons came
running back, but could not find the place where the Tsarevich had
stood; but Ivan the Tsarevich, striding with great strides, got out
of the wood and saw the wood demons running round him and beyond him,
and trying to scent him out, but they could find nothing, and fell
to wringing their hands.
Ivan the Tsarevich went on his way; he went on and on, he strode
and strode, and he came to the open plains. Three roads lay before
him, and in the cross-way stood a wretched little hut turning
round and round on hen's legs. And Ivan the Tsarevich said to it,
"Izbushka! izbushka! [23] turn your back to the wood and your front
to me!" Then Ivan the Tsarevich stepped into the hut, and there in
the hut was sitting Baba-Yaga [24] bony-leg. "Fie! fie! fie!" said
Baba-Yaga, "up to this day a Russian soul has been a sight unknown to
my eyes and a sound unknown to my ears, and now a Russian soul appears
before my very eyes! For what hast thou come, good youth?"--"Oh, thou
senseless Granny!" said the Tsarevich Ivan to her, "thou shouldst
feed me well first, and only after that shouldst thou begin to ask
questions." Baba-Yaga leaped up in the twinkling of an eye, heated
her little stove, fed Ivan the Tsarevich, and then began to ask him,
"Whither dost thou go, good youth, and whither does thy way lie?"--"I
go," said Ivan the Tsarevich, "to seek my sisters, the Tsarevna
Neotsyenaya and the Tsarevna Beztsyenaya. But now, dear little Granny,
tell me, if thou knowest, what way must I go, and where shall I find
them?"--"I know where the Tsarevna Neotsyenaya lives!" said Baba-Yaga;
"thou must take the middle road to get to her, but she lives in the
white stone palace of her old husband the Forest Monster. The road
thither is hard, far must thou go; and if thou gettest there 'twill
boot thee little, for the Forest Monster will devour thee."--"Well,
little Granny, perhaps it will choke him. A Russian man is a bony
morsel, and God will not give him over to be eaten by a swine like
that! Farewell! and thank you for your bread and salt!" And so
the Tsarevich Ivan strode away from her, and look!--there, right
across the plain, shone white and dazzling the stony palace of the
Forest Monster. Ivan went up to it and saw the gate, and on the
gate sat a sort of little devil who said, "No admittance!"--"Open,
my friend!" replied Ivan the Tsarevich, "and I'll give thee some
vodka!" [25] The little devil took the vodka, but he didn't open
the gate for all that. Then Ivan the Tsarevich went round about the
palace and resolved to climb over the wall. He climbed up and along and
never observed the trap into which he was falling, for on the top of
the walls wires were spread all about, and the moment the Tsarevich
Ivan touched one of these wires with his foot all the bells fell
a-ringing. Ivan the Tsarevich looked, and out upon the balcony rushed
his sister the Tsarevna Neotsyenaya and said, "Is it thou then that
hast come, my beloved brother, Ivan the Tsarevich?" And the brother
and the sister embraced and kissed each other. "Where shall I hide
thee from the Monster of the Forest?" said the Tsarevna Neotsyenaya,
"for I believe he will be here at once."--"Where indeed, for I am no
needle." The brother and sister were still talking when suddenly there
was the dull roar of a tempest and whirlwind, all the palace trembled,
and the Monster of the Forest appeared; but Ivan the Tsarevich put on
his little invisible cap and became invisible. And the Forest Monster
said, "Where then is thy guest who climbed over the wall?"--"I have
no guest here at all," replied the Tsarevna Neotsyenaya, "but perhaps
the sparrows have been flying over it and stuck to it with their
wings!"--"Sparrows indeed! Methinks I smell the smell of a Russian
soul here!"--"What are you dreaming about? You run about the wide
world and do nothing but harass souls, and now you would vex other
souls also!"--"Don't be angry, Tsarevna Neotsyenaya, I do no harm to
thy happiness, only I have now a desire to eat, and I should like to
eat up this unknown," said the Forest Monster. Ivan the Tsarevich,
however, took off his invisible cap, bowed to the Forest Monster,
and said, "Why do you want to eat me? Don't you see what a lean and
bony morsel I am! Rather let me regale you with a breakfast such as
you have never eaten since the day of your birth, only take care that
you don't swallow your tongue and all!" Then Ivan the Tsarevich spread
out his little bread-and-salt table-cloth, the twelve youths and the
twelve damsels appeared, and began to regale the Forest Monster with
as much as ever he could eat. The Forest Monster ate and ate and ate,
then he drank, and then he ate again, till he was unable to stir
from the spot; he fell asleep in the very place where he sat. "And
now farewell, my beloved sister!" said the Tsarevich Ivan; "yet
tell me, dost thou not know the place where our sister the Tsarevna
Beztsyenaya dwells?"--"I know it," replied the Tsarevna Neotsyenaya;
"thou must go to her along the great sea Ocean, there she dwells in
the very whirlpool of the ocean with her old husband the Sea Monster;
but the way thither is hard. Far, very far must thou swim, and if
thou gettest there it will boot thee little, for he will devour
thee!"--"Well," said the Tsarevich Ivan, "he may chew me perhaps,
but he will find me a hard morsel to swallow. Farewell, sister!" And
Ivan the Tsarevich began to stride onwards, and he came to the great
sea Ocean. By the shore stood a boat such as the Russian people use
when they go a-fishing; the shrouds and gear were of linden bast, the
sails of fine hair mats, and the boat itself was not welded with nails,
but sown fast with birch-bark. On this ship the mariners were getting
ready to go to sea, to sail to the Rock-Salt Island. "Won't you take
me with you?" said the Tsarevich Ivan; "I will pay you nothing for
my passage, but I will tell you tales so that you will never notice
how long the journey is." The ship-folk agreed, and they sailed away
upon the great sea Ocean, they sailed past the Rock-Salt Island; the
Tsarevich Ivan told them tales, and they sailed and sailed. Suddenly,
whence they knew not, a tempest came flying up, the thunder began
to growl, and the ship began to quake. "Alas!" shrieked the ship's
folk, "to our own destruction have we listened to this fair speaker,
never shall we see our dear little homes again, we shall descend
into the whirlpools of Ocean! There is no help for it, we must pay
tribute to the Monster of the Sea; let us cast lots, it will fall
upon the guilty!" They cast lots, and it fell upon the Tsarevich
Ivan. "It can't be helped, my brothers!" said the Tsarevich Ivan. "I
thank you for your bread and salt; farewell, nor think amiss of me
in time to come!" Then he took with him his self-walking boots, his
little bread-and-salt table-cloth, his little invisible cap, and his
harp that harped of its own accord, and they raised the good youth and
swung him right out into the whirlpools of Ocean. The sea became calm,
the boat sped on, and the Tsarevich Ivan went like a key to the bottom,
and stood upright on his legs in the halls of the Monster of the Sea,
the wondrous flower-grown halls of ocean! The Sea Monster was sitting
on his throne with the Tsarevna Beztsyenaya by his side, and the
Sea Monster said, "'Tis a long time since I have eaten fresh flesh,
and lo! it comes right into my very hands! Welcome, friend! Come
here, and let me see at which end of you I may begin!" Then the
Tsarevich Ivan began to say that he was the brother of the Tsarevna
Beztsyenaya, and that amongst good people one behaved not so badly
as to eat another up. "That is too much!" shrieked the Sea Monster;
"he comes to force his own rules and regulations upon the homes
of other people!" Ivan the Tsarevich saw that things were going
badly, so he took out his harp that played of its own accord, and
when he began playing a plaintive air, the Sea Monster began to
pull wry faces, then fell to sighing like a blacksmith's bellows,
and wept and moaned just as if he had swallowed a needle; and then,
when the Tsarevich Ivan struck up the air, "Let the merry churochki
[26] go round the little table!" why then indeed the very halls put
their arms akimbo and fell a-dancing, while the Sea Monster could
not skip up and down enough, but stamped with his feet, snapped with
his fingers, rolled his eyes about, and pulled such faces that all
the fishes flocked round to see, and nearly died for laughter. The
Monster of the Sea thoroughly enjoyed himself. "Well!" said he,
"'twould be a sin to eat such a youth. Stop here, stay with us, sit
down and be our guest, won't you? Here are lots of herrings, pike,
bream, and perch! Come, sit down at table, eat, drink, and be merry,
my dear guest!" So Ivan the Tsarevich and the Tsarevna Beztsyenaya and
the Sea Monster sat down, and ate and drank and made merry. A whale
danced a German dance in front of them, the herrings sang glees, the
carps performed on various instruments. After dinner the Sea Monster
went to sleep, and the Tsarevna Beztsyenaya said, "My beloved brother,
I am glad to see thee, dear guest; so far well, but 'twill not last for
ever. When he awakes the Sea Monster will eat thee if the evil humour
takes him."--"Tell me, darling sister," said the Tsarevich Ivan, "how
I may save our sister Neotsyenaya from the Forest Monster, and thee
from the Monster of the Sea?"--"If you like you may try your luck,
but you'll find it, I think, a ticklish business. Behind the great
sea Ocean here lies a large tsardom, and there reigns there not a
Tsar but a Tsaritsa called the Tsar-Maiden. If thou makest thy way
thither, and gettest into her fenced garden, then the Tsar-Maiden
will become thy consort, and she only can free us and restore us
to our father and mother. But the mischief of it is this--she has
a strict guard which will allow no one to cross the shore, a guard
all bristling with guns and lances, and fastened to each lance is a
head, and all these poor little heads are the heads of the youths who
came to woo the Tsar-Maiden. There were tsars, tsareviches, kings,
kings' sons, mightily strong warriors, and they came with hosts,
and they sailed with ships, and were able to do nothing; all of
them were stuck upon lances."--"Look now!" said the Tsarevich Ivan,
"what is there to fear? Terrible are the threats of Heaven and
manifold is the mercy of God. Tell me but how I may get to the
tsardom of the Tsar-Maiden."--"But is it a wise thing to make thy way
thither? Nevertheless I'll give thee my beloved sturgeon; sit upon
him and go thy way, and my swift runner the long-nosed sterlet shall
swim before thee to show the way." The brother and sister then said
farewell, the Tsarevich Ivan sat him on the sturgeon and sped away,
and the sterlet went on before to show the way. They fell in with some
crabs, and they saluted the Tsarevich Ivan with their moustaches, and
beat the drums with their clippers, and drove the little fishes out
of the way. But the sea is not the same thing as the dry land. There
was neither hemp nor bramble to hold on by, the way was slippery, as
slippery as grease. The Tsarevich Ivan slipped and slipped. Then he put
on his little invisible cap and saw that the guards of the Tsar-Maiden
were opening wide their eyes and gazing afar off, and saw nothing that
was going on beneath their noses, and they were still whetting their
swords and sharpening their spears. And the Tsarevich Ivan came to
the shore, the sturgeon set him safely on the quay, made an obeisance,
and jumped into the water again; but the Tsarevich Ivan went past the
guard without bending his knee, and entered the fenced garden as if
he were the master there; he walked about, he walked all over it, he
diverted himself, and ate of the luscious and transparent apples there.
And lo! the Tsarevich lingered and lingered there. And he saw twenty
white doves flying towards a pond. They lighted on the ground and
became twenty maidens lovely as the stars of heaven and as goodly
as blood and milk. Amongst them the Tsar-Maiden was walking like a
peacock, and said, "My beloved friends, 'tis hot; ye see how the sun
burns like an oven. Let us bathe! No evil eye can see us here. So
strong a guard stands on the shore that not even a fly could pass
by them."--"A fly cannot pass them, eh! Look now what a big fly has
passed them," said the Tsarevich Ivan, and he took off his little
invisible cap and bowed low to the Tsar-Maiden. The Tsar-Maiden and her
comrades, as maidens are wont to do, shrieked and moaned, thought of
running away and didn't, made as though they wouldn't look and looked
all the same, and winked and blinked with their eyes. "Tsar-Maiden,
and ye, lovely damsels," said the Tsarevich Ivan, "wherefore do ye
fear me? I am not a bear, I shall not bite you, I will take no one's
heart against her will; but if my destined bride be here, then am
I her destined bridegroom." Then the Tsar-Maiden turned as scarlet
as the red poppy-flower, gave her white hand to the Tsarevich Ivan,
and said, "Welcome, good youth! Whether thou be tsar or tsarevich,
king or king's son, I know not; but if thou hast come hither as a
gentle guest, thy reception shall be as beseemeth a dear friend. Many
brutal wooers have come to me who would have taken my virginal heart
by force, such a thing as was never heard of since the beginning of the
world. Come into my white stone halls and into my crystal chambers!"
The whole nation heard that their Tsarevna, the Tsar-Maiden, had got
her a bridegroom after her own heart, and they came in swarms both
of young and old, and shouted and rejoiced with all their might. And
the Tsar-Maiden commanded that the royal cellar should be opened
for them, and that they should be allowed to beat drums and guitars
and play fiddles; and the next day they played at the merry banquet
and the wedding feast. And there were banquets for three days and
rejoicings for three weeks. And after that the Tsarevich Ivan spoke to
his consort about releasing his sisters, one from the Monster of the
Forest and the other from the Monster of the Sea. "My beloved consort,
Ivan the Tsarevich," she replied, "what would I not do for thee! Send
and fetch me my hedgehog-lawyer and my sparrow-scribe, and let them
send ukases to the Monster of the Forest and the Monster of the Sea,
bidding them give up the sisters of Ivan the Tsarevich, or I will
take them into custody and give them over to a cruel death." So the
hedgehog-lawyer and the sparrow-scribe wrote out ukases and sent them
off. And the Monster of the Forest and the Monster of the Sea could do
nothing, so they set free the Tsarevna Neotsyenaya and the Tsarevna
Beztsyenaya. And the Tsarevich Ivan wrote this letter to his father,
the Tsar Umnaya Golova: "Thou seest, O Sovereign Tsar, that not with
strength and valour only but with craft and wit also can one prevail
over all. And the self-playing harp is sometimes of as good service
as the Damascus blade, although of course one must not lash it with
a whip. And now come to me, dear father, and be my guest, and I will
be with thee with my wife and my sisters. A goodly banquet is ready,
and I wish thee long years and many." And so Ivan the Tsarevich lived
a joyous life, and waxed rich and prosperous. And he lived long and
reigned gloriously, and feasted me right royally, so I made up this
merry tale about him.