COSSACK FAIRY TALES 
 
 AND 
 
 FOLK-TALES. 
 
 SELECTED, EDITED, AND TRANSLATED 
 
 BY 
 
 R. NISBET BAIN. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY E. W. MITCHELL. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 LAWRENCE AND BULLEN, 
 16 HENRIETTA ST., COYENT GARDEN, W.C. 
 
 1894. 
 (All rightt reserved.]
 
 RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, 
 LONDON & BUNOAV.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ix 
 
 OH ... ... ... ... ' ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 THE STORY OF THE WIND ... ... ... ... ... 18 
 
 THE VOICES AT THE WINDOW ... ... ... ... MX)) 
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNY, THE FALSE SISTER, 
 
 AND THE FAITHFUL BEASTS ... ... ... ... 47 
 
 THE VAMPIRE AND ST. MICHAEL ... ... ... ... 79 
 
 THE STORY OF TREMSIN, THE BIRD ZHAR, AND NASTASIA, THE 
 
 LOVELY MAID OF THE SEA ... ... ... ... 92 
 
 THE SERPENT- WIFE ... ... ... ... ... ... 103 
 
 vLx 
 
 THE STORY OF UNLUCKY DANIEL ... ... ... ... 109 
 
 THE SPARROW AND THE BUSH ... ... ... ... 122 
 
 E OLD DOG ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 127 
 
 THE FOX AND THE CAT ... ... ... ... ... 130 
 
 THE STRAW OX ... ... ... ... ... ... 134 
 
 THE GOLDEN SLIPPER ... ... ... ... ... ... 141 
 
 THE IRON WOLF ... ... ... ... 153 
 
 THE THREE BROTHERS 161 
 
 545030
 
 J 
 
 viii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE TSAR AND THE ANGEL ... ... ... ... ... 166 
 
 THE STOEY OF IVAN AND THE DAUGHTER OF THE SUN ... 178 
 
 THE CAT, THE COCK, AND THE FOX ... ... ... ... 185 
 
 THE SERPENT-TSAREVICH AND HIS TWO WIVES ... ... 191 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE MOLE ... ... ... 201 
 
 THE TWO PRINCES ... ... ... ... ... ... 203 
 
 THE UNGRATEFUL CHILDREN AND THE OLD FATHER WHO 
 
 WENT TO SCHOOL AGAIN... ... ... ... ... 212 
 
 IVAN THE FOOL AND ST. PETER'S FIFE ... ... ... 222 
 
 THE MAGIC EGG ... ... ... ... ... ... 232 
 
 THE STORY OF THE FORTY-FIRST BROTHER ... ... . 
 
 THE STORY OF THE UNLUCKY DAYS ... ... ... ... 257 
 
 THE WONDROUS STORY OF IVAN GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS 262
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE favourable reception given to my volume of 
 Russian Fairy Tales has encouraged me to follow 
 it up with a sister volume of stories selected from 
 another Slavonic dialect extraordinarily rich in folk- 
 tales I mean Rutheniau, the language of the 
 Cossacks. 
 
 Euthenian is a language intermediate between 
 Russian and Polish, but quite independent of both. 
 Its territory embraces, roughly speaking, that vast 
 plain which lies between the Carpathians, the water- 
 shed of the Dnieper, and the Sea of Azov, with 
 Lemberg and Kiev for its chief intellectual centres : 
 though rigorously repressed by the Russian Gov- 
 ernment, it is still spoken by more than twenty 
 millions of people. It possesses a noble literature, 
 numerous folk-songs, not inferior even to those of 
 Servia, and, what chiefly concerns us now, a copious 
 collection of justly admired folk-tales, many of them 
 of great antiquity, which are regarded, both in Russia 
 and Poland, as quite unique of their kind. Mr.
 
 x INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ealston, I fancy, was the first to call the attention 
 of the West to these curious stories, though the want 
 at that time of a good Ruthenian dictionary (a want 
 since supplied by the excellent lexicon of Zhelekhovsky 
 and Nidilsky) prevented him from utilizing them. 
 Another Slavonic scholar, Mr. Morfill, has also fre- 
 quently alluded to them (most recently in his 
 interesting history of Poland) in terms of enthusiastic 
 but by no means extravagant praise. 
 
 The three chief collections of Ruthenian Folk-Lore 
 are those of Kulish, Rudchenko, and Dragornanov, 
 which represent, at least approximately, the three 
 dialects into which Ruthenian is generally divided. 
 It is from these three collections that the present 
 selection has been made. Kulish, who has the 
 merit of priority, was little more than a pioneer, 
 his contribution merely consisting of some dozen 
 kazki (miirchen) and kazochiki (marchenlein), in- 
 corporated in the second volume of his Zapiski o 
 yuzhnoi Rust (Descriptions of South Russia), St. 
 Petersburg, 1856-7. Twelve years later Rudchenko 
 published at Kiev what is still, on the whole, the 
 best collection of Ruthenian Folk- Tales, under the 
 title of Narodnuiya Yuzhnorusskiya Skazki (Popular 
 South Russian Marchen). Like Linnrot among the 
 Finns, Rudchenko took down the greater part of 
 these tales direct from the lips of the people. In a
 
 INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 second volume, published in the following year, he 
 added other stories gleaned from various minor MS. 
 collections of great rarity. In 1876 the Imperial 
 Russian Geographical Society published at Kiev, 
 under the title of Malorusskiya Narodnuiya Pre- 
 clonyia i Razkazui (Little-Russian Popular Traditions 
 and Tales), an edition of as many MS. collections 
 of Ruthenian Folk-Lore (including poems, proverbs, 
 riddles, and rites) as it could lay its hands upon. 
 This collection, though far less rich in variants than 
 Rudchenko's, contained many original tales which 
 had escaped him, and was ably edited by Michael 
 Dragomanov, by whose name indeed it is generally 
 known. 
 
 The present attempt to popularize these Cossack 
 stories is, I believe, the first translation ever made from 
 Ruthenian into English. The selection, though natur- 
 ally restricted, is fairly representative ; every variety 
 of folk-tale has a place in it, and it should never be 
 forgotten that the Ruthenian Kazka (marchen), owing 
 to favourable circumstances, has managed to preserve 
 far more of the fresh spontaneity and naive simplicity 
 of the primitive folk- tale than her more sophisticated 
 sister, the Russian Skazka. It is maintained, more- 
 over, by Slavonic scholars that there are peculiar 
 and original elements in these stories not to be found 
 in the folk-lore of other European peoples ; such data,
 
 xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 for instance, as the magic handkerchiefs (generally 
 beneficial, but sometimes, as in the story of Ivan Golik, 
 terribly baleful) ; the demon-expelling, hemp-and-tar 
 whips, and the magic cattle-teeming egg, so mis- 
 chievous a possession to the unwary. It may be so, 
 but, after all that Mr. Andrew Lang has taught us 
 on the subject, it would be rash for any mere philolo- 
 gist to assert positively that there can be anything 
 really new in folk-lore under the sun. On the other 
 hand, the comparative isolation and primitiveness of 
 the Cossacks, and their remoteness from the great 
 theatres of historical events, would seem to be 
 favourable conditions both for the safe preservation 
 of old myths and the easy development of new ones. 
 It is for professional students of folk-lore to study 
 the original documents for themselves. 
 
 E. NISBET BAIN. 
 
 Srilish Museum, 
 
 August, 1894.
 
 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 OH. 
 
 HE okleii times were not like the 
 times we live in. In the olden 
 times all manner of Evil Powers l 
 walked abroad. The world itself 
 was not then as it is now : now 
 there are no such Evil Powers 
 amongst us. I'll tell you a kazka 2 of Oh, the Tsar 
 of the Forest, that you may know what manner of 
 being he was. 
 
 Once upon a time, long long ago, beyond the times 
 that we can call to mind, ere yet our great-grand- 
 fathers or their grandfathers had been born into the 
 world, there lived a poor man and his wife, and they 
 had one only son, who was not as an only son ought 
 
 1 Div. This ancient, untranslatable word (comp. Latin Deus) 
 is probably of Lithuanian origin, and means any malefic power. 
 
 2 A folk-tale. Russ., Skazka. Ger., Marchen.
 
 2 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 to be to his old father and mother. So idle and lazy 
 was that only son that Heaven help him ! He would 
 do nothing, he would not even fetch water from the 
 well, but lay on the stove all day long and rolled 
 among the warm cinders. Although he was now 
 twenty years old, he would sit on the stove with- 
 out any trousers on, and nothing would make him 
 come down. If they gave him anything to eat, he 
 ate it; and if they didn't give him anything to eat, he 
 did without. His father and mother fretted sorely 
 because of him, and said : " What are we to do with 
 thee, son ? for thou art good for nothing. Other 
 people's children are a stay and a support to their 
 parents, but thou art but a fool and dost consume our 
 bread for nought." But it was of no use at all. He 
 would do nothing but sit on the stove and play with 
 the cinders. So his father and his mother grieved 
 over him for many a long day, and at last his mother 
 said to his father : " What is to be done with our 
 son ? Thou dost see that he has grown up and yet is 
 of no use to us, and he is so foolish that we can do 
 nothing with him. Look now, if we can send him 
 away, let us send him away ; if we can hire him out, 
 let us hire him out ; perchance other folks may be 
 able to do more with him than we can." So his 
 father and mother laid their heads together, and sent 
 him to a tailor's to learn tailoring. There he remained
 
 OH. 3 
 
 three days, but then he ran away home, climbed up 
 on the stove, and again began playing with the cinders. 
 His father then gave him a sound drubbing and sent 
 him to a cobbler's to learn cobbling, but again he ran 
 away home. His father gave him another drubbing 
 and sent him to a blacksmith to learn smith's work. 
 But there, too, he did not remain long but ran away 
 home again, so what was that poor father to do ? 
 "I'll tell thee what I'll do with thee, thou son of a 
 dog !" said he; "I'll take thee, thou lazy lout, into 
 another kingdom. There, perchance, they will be 
 able to teach thee better than they can here, and it 
 will be too far to run away from." So he took him. 
 and set out on his journey. 
 
 They went on and on, they went a short way and 
 they went a long way, and at last they came to a 
 forest so dark that they could see neither earth 
 nor sky. They went through this forest, but in a 
 short time they grew very tired, and when they came 
 to a path leading to a clearing full of large tree- 
 stumps, the father siid : " I am so tired out that I 
 will rest here a little," and with that he sat down 
 on a tree-stump and cried : "Oh, how tired I am ! " 
 He had no sooner said those words, than out of the 
 tree-stump, nobody could say how, sprang such a 
 little little old man all so wrinkled and puckered, and 
 his beard was quite green and reached right down to
 
 4 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 his- knee. " What dost thou want of me, man ? " 
 lie asked. The man was amazed at the strangeness 
 of his coming to light, and said to him : " I did not 
 call thee ; begone ! " " How canst thou say that 
 when thou didst call me ? " asked the little old man. 
 " Who art thou, then ? " asked the father. " I am Oh, 
 the Tsar of the Woods," replied the old man ; " why 
 didst thou call me, I say ? " " Away with thee, I did 
 not call thee," said the man. " What ! thou didst not 
 call me when thou saidst ' Oh ' ? " " I was tired, and 
 therefore I said 'Oh'!" replied the man. "Whither 
 art thou going ? " asked Oh. " The wide world lies 
 before me," sighed the man. " I am taking this scurvy 
 blockhead of mine to hire him out to somebody or 
 other. Perchance other people may be able to knock 
 more sense into him than we can at home ; but send 
 him whither we will, he always comes running home 
 again ! " " Hire him out to me. I'll warrant I'll 
 teach him," said Ob. " Yet I'll only take him on one 
 condition. Thou shalt come back for him when a 
 year has run, and if thou dost know him again, thou 
 mayest take him ; but if thou dost not know him 
 again, he shall serve another year with me." 
 " Good ! " cried the man. So they shook hands upon 
 it, had a right-down good drink to clinch the bargain, 
 and the man went back to his own home, while Oh 
 took the son away with him.
 
 6 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 Oh took the son away with him, and they passed 
 into the other world, the world beneath the earth, and 
 came to' a green hut woven out of rushes, and in this 
 hut everything was green ; the walls were green and 
 the benches were green, and Oil's wife was green and 
 his children were green in fact everything there was 
 green. And Oh had water-nixies for serving-maids, 
 and they were all as green as rue. " Sit down now ! " 
 
 said Oh to his new labourer, "and have a bit of 
 something to eat." The nixies then brought him 
 some food, and that was also green, and he ate of it. 
 "And now," said Oh, "take my labourer into the 
 courtyard that he may chop wood and draw water." 
 So they took him into the courtyard, but instead of 
 chopping any wood he lay down and went to sleep. 
 Oh came out to see how he was getting on, and there
 
 OH. 7 
 
 he lay a-snoring. Then Oh seized him, and bade 
 them bring wood and tie his labourer fast to the wood, 
 and set the wood on fire till the labourer was burnt 
 to ashes. Then Oh took the ashes and scattered 
 them to the four winds, but a single piece of burnt 
 coal fell from out of the ashes, and this coal he sprinkled 
 with living water, whereupon the labourer immediately 
 stood there alive again and somewhat handsomer and 
 stronger than before. Oh again bade him chop wood, 
 but again he went to sleep. Then Oh again tied him 
 to the wood and burnt him and scattered the ashes to 
 the four winds and sprinkled the remnant of the coal 
 with living water, and instead of the loutish clown 
 there stood there such a handsome and stalwart 
 Cossack l that the like of him can neither be imagined 
 nor described but only told of in tales. 
 
 There, then, the lad remained for a year, and at the 
 end of the year the father came for his son. He 
 came to the self-same charred stumps in the self-same 
 forest, sat him down, and said : Oh ! " Oh imme- 
 diately came out of the charred stump and said ; 
 " Hail ! ma,n ! " " Hail to thee, Oh ! " " And what 
 dost thou want, man ? " asked Oh. " I have come," 
 said he, " for my son." " Well, come then ! If thou 
 
 1 Kozak, a Cossack, being the ideal human hero of the Ruthe- 
 nians, just as a bogatyr is a hero of the demi-god type, as the 
 name implies.
 
 8 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 dost know him again, thou sbalt take him away ; but 
 if thou dost not know him, he shall serve with me yet 
 another year." So the man went with Oh. They 
 came to his hut, and Oh took whole handfuls of millet 
 and scattered it about, and myriads of cocks came 
 running up and pecking it. " Well, dost thou know 
 thy son again ? " said Oh. The man stared and 
 stared. There was nothing but cocks, and one cock 
 was just like another. He could not pick out his son. 
 " Well," said Oh, " as thou dost not know him, go 
 home again ; this year thy son must remain in my 
 service." So the man went home again. 
 
 The second year passed away, and the man again 
 went to Oh. He came to the charred stumps and 
 said : " Oh ! " and Oh popped out of the tree-stump 
 again. " Come ! " said he, " and see if thou canst 
 recognize him now." Then he took him to a sheep- 
 pen, and there were rows and rows of rams, and one 
 ram was just like another. The man stared and 
 stared, but he could not pick out his son. "'Thou 
 mayest as well go home then," said Oh, " but thy son, 
 shall live with me yet another year." So the man 
 went away sad at heart. 
 
 The third year also passed away, and the man came 
 again to find Oh. He went on and on till there met 
 him an old man all as white as milk, and the raiment 
 of this old man was glistening white. " Hail to thee,
 
 OH. 9 
 
 man ! " said he. " Hail to tbee also, my father ! " 
 " Whither doth God lead thee ? " " I am going to 
 free my son from Oh." " How so ? " Then the man 
 told the old white father how he had hired out his 
 son to Oh and under what conditions. " Aye, aye ! " 
 said the old white father, " 'tis a vile pagan thou hast 
 to deal with ; he will lead thee about by the nose for 
 a long time." " Yes," said the man, " I perceive that 
 he is a vile pagan ; but I know not what in the world 
 to do with him. Canst thou not tell me then, 
 dear father, how I may recover my son ? " " Yes, I 
 can/' said the old man. " Then pry thee tell me, 
 darling father, and I'll pray for thee to God all 
 my life, for though he has not been much of a son to 
 me, he is still my own flesh and blood." " Hearken, 
 then ! " said the old man ; " when thou dost go to Oh, 
 he will let loose a multitude of doves before thee, but 
 choose not one of these doves. The dove thou shalt 
 choose must be the one that comes not out, but 
 remains sitting beneath the pear-tree pruning its 
 feathers ; that will be thy son." Then the man 
 thanked the old white father and went on. 
 
 He came to the charred stumps. " Oh ! " cried he, 
 and out came Oh and led him to his sylvan realm. 
 There Oh scattered about handfuls of wheat and 
 called his doves, and there flew down such a multitude 
 of them that there was no counting them, and one
 
 10 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 clove was just like another. "Dost thou recognize 
 thy son ?" asked Oh. "An thou kiiovvest him again, 
 he is thine ; an thou knowest him not, he is mine." 
 Now all the doves there were pecking at the wheat, 
 all but one that sat alone beneath the pear-tree, 
 sticking out its breast and pruning its feathers. 
 "That is my son," said the man. "Since thou hast 
 guessed him, take him," replied Oh. Then the father 
 took the dove, and immediately it changed into a 
 handsome young man, and a handsomer was not to be 
 found in the wide world. The father rejoiced greatly 
 and embraced and kissed him. " Let us go home, my 
 son ! " said he. So they went. 
 
 As they went along the road together they fell a- 
 talking, and his father asked him how he had fared 
 at Oh's. The son told him. Then the father told 
 the son what he had suffered, and it was the son's 
 turn to listen. Furthermore the father said : " What 
 shall we do now, my son ? I am poor and thou art 
 poor : hast thou served these three years and earned 
 nothing ? " " Grieve not, dear dad, all will come 
 right in the end. Look! there are some young 
 nobles hunting after a fox. I will turn myself into a 
 greyhound and catch the fox, then the young noble- 
 men will want to buy me of thee, and thou must 
 sell me to them for three hundred rubles only, 
 mind thou sell me without a chain ; then we shall
 
 OH. 11 
 
 have lots of money at home, and will live happily 
 together ! " 
 
 They went on and on, and there, on the borders 
 of a forest, some hounds were chasing a fox. They 
 chased it and chased it, but the fox kept on escaping, 
 and the hounds could not run it down. Then the son 
 changed himself into a greyhound, and ran down the 
 fox and killed it. The noblemen thereupon came 
 galloping out of the forest. " Is that thy grey- 
 hound ? " " It is." " 'Tis a good dog ; wilt sell it to 
 us ? " " Bid for it ! " " What dost thou require ? " 
 " Three hundred rubles without a chain." " What 
 do we want with thy chain, we would give him a 
 chain of gold. Say a hundred rubles ! " " Nay ! " 
 " Then take thy money and give us the dog." They 
 counted down the money and took the dog and set 
 off hunting. They sent the dog after another fox. 
 Away he went after it and chased it right into the 
 forest, but then he turned into a youth again and 
 rejoined his father. 
 
 They went on and on, and his father said to him : 
 " What use is this money to us after all ? It is 
 barely enough to begin housekeeping with and repair 
 our hut." " Grieve not, dear dad, we shall get 
 more still. Over yonder are some young noblemen 
 hunting quails with falcons. I will change myself 
 into a falcon, and thou must sell me to them ; only
 
 12 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 sell me for three hundred rubles, and without a 
 hood." 
 
 They went into the plain, and there were some 
 young noblemen casting their falcon at a quail. The 
 falcon pursued but always fell short of the quail, and 
 the quail always eluded the falcon. The son then 
 changed himself into a falcon and immediately struck 
 down its prey. The young noblemen saw it and 
 were astonished. " Is that thy falcon ? " " 'Tis 
 mine." " Sell it to us, then ! " -" Bid for it ! "- 
 " What dost thou want for it ? " " If ye give three 
 hundred rubles, ye may take it, but it must be 
 without the hood." " As if we want thy hood ! 
 We'll make for it a hood worthy of a Tsar." So they 
 higgled and haggled, but at last they gave him the 
 three hundred rubles. Then the young nobles sent 
 the falcon after another quail, and it flew and flew 
 till it beat down its prey ; but then he became a 
 youth again, and went on with his father. 
 
 " How shall we manage to live with so little ? " said 
 the father. "Wait a while, dad, and we shall have 
 still more," said the son. " When we pass through tire 
 fair I'll change myself into a horse, and thou must 
 sell me. They will give thee a thousand rubles -for 
 me, only sell me without a halter." So when they 
 got to the next little town where they were holding 
 a fair, the son changed himself into a horse, a horse
 
 OH. 13 
 
 as supple as a serpent, and so fiery that it was 
 dangerous to approach him. The father led the 
 horse along by the halter, it pranced about and 
 struck sparks from the ground with its hoofs. Then 
 the horse-dealers came together and began to bargain 
 for it. " A thousand rubles down," said he, " and you 
 may have it, but without the halter." " What do we 
 want with thy halter? we will make for it a silver- 
 gilt halter. Come, we'll give thee five hundred ! " 
 ' ; No ! " said he. Then up there came a gipsy, blind 
 of one eye. " man ! what dost thou want for that 
 horse?" said he. "A thousand rubles without the 
 halter." " Nay ! but that is dear, little father ! Wilt 
 thou not take five hundred with the halter ? " " No, 
 not a bit of it ! " " Take six hundred, then ! " Then 
 the gipsy began higgling and haggling, but the man 
 would not give way. " Come, sell it ! " said he, 
 " with the halter." " No, thou gipsy, I have a liking 
 for that halter." " But, my good man, when didst 
 thou ever see them sell a horse without a halter ? 
 How then can one lead him off?" "Nevertheless, 
 the halter must remain mine." "Look now, my 
 father, I'll give thee five rubles extra, only I must 
 have the halter." The old man fell a-thinking. " A 
 halter of this kind is w r orth but three grivni, 1 and 
 the gipsy offers me five rubles for it ; let him have 
 
 1 A grivna is the tenth part of a ruble, about 2^d.
 
 14 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 it." So they clinched the bargain with a good drink, 
 and the old man went home with the money, and the 
 gipsy walked off with the horse. But it was not 
 really a gipsy, but Oh, who had taken the shape of a 
 
 gipsy- 
 Then Oh rode off on the horse, and the horse 
 
 carried him higher than the trees of the forest, but 
 lower than the clouds of the sky. At last they sank 
 down among the woods and came to Oh's hut, and 
 Oh went into his hut and left his horse outside on 
 the steppe. "This son of a dog shall not escape 
 from my hands so quickly a second time," said he 
 to his wife. And at dawn Oh took the horse by the 
 bridle and led it away to the river to water it. But 
 no sooner did the horse get to the river and bend 
 down its head to drink, than it turned into a perch 
 and began swimming away. Oh, without more ado, 
 turned himself into a pike and pursued the perch. 
 But just as the pike was almost up with it, the 
 perch gave a sudden twist and stuck out its 
 spiky fins and turned its tail towards the pike, so 
 that the pike could not lay hold of it. So when 
 the pike came up to it, it said : " Perch ! perch ! 
 turn thy head towards me, I want to have a chat 
 with thee ! " " I can hear thee very well as I am, 
 dear cousin, if thou art inclined to chat," said the 
 perch. So off they set again, and again the pike
 
 OH. 15 
 
 overtook the perch. " Perch ! perch ! turn thy 
 head round towards me, I want to have a chat with 
 thee ! " Then the perch stuck out its bristly fins 
 again and said : " If thou dost wish to have a chat, 
 dear cousin, I can hear thee just as well as I am." 
 So the pike kept on pursuiog the perch, but it 
 was of no use. At last the perch swam ashore, and 
 there was a Tsarivna whittling an ash twig. The 
 perch changed itself into a gold ring set with 
 garnets, and the Tsarivna saw it and fished up the 
 ring out of the water. Full of joy she took it 
 home, and said to her father : " Look, dear papa ! 
 what a nice ring I have found ! " The Tsar kissed 
 her, but the Tsarivna did not know which finger it 
 would suit best, it was so lovely. 
 
 About the same time they told the Tsar that a 
 certain merchant had come to the palace. It was 
 Oh, who had changed himself into a merchant. The 
 Tsar went out to him and said: "What dost thou 
 want, old man ? " " I was sailing on the sea in my 
 ship," said Oh, " and carrying to the Tsar of my own 
 land a precious garnet ring, and this ring I dropped 
 into the water. Has any of thy servants perchance 
 found this precious ring ? " " No, but my daughter 
 has," said the Tsar. So they called the damsel, and 
 Oh began to beg her to give it back to him, " for I 
 may not live in this world if I bring not the ring,"
 
 16 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 said he. But it was of no avail, she would not give 
 it up. Then the Tsar himself spoke to her. " Nay, 
 but, darling daughter, give it up, lest misfortune befall 
 this man because of us ; give it up, I say ! " Then Oh 
 begged and prayed her yet more, and said : " Take 
 what thou wilt of me, only give me back the ring."- 
 " Nay, then ! " said the Tsarivna, " it shall be neither 
 mine nor thine," and with that she pitched the ring 
 upon the ground, and the ring turned into a heap of 
 millet-seed and scattered all about the floor. Then 
 Oh, without more ado, changed into a cock, and 
 began pecking up all the millet-^ecd. He pecked 
 and pecked till he had pecked it all up. Yet there 
 was one single little grain of millet which rolled 
 right beneath the feet of the Tsarivna, and that he 
 did not see. When he had done pecking he got upon 
 the window-sill, opened his wings, and flew right 
 away. 
 
 But the one remaining grain of millet-seed turned 
 into a most beauteous youth, a youth so beauteous 
 that when the Tsarivna beheld him she fell in love 
 with him on the spot, and begged the Tsar and 
 Tsaritsa right piteously to let her have him as her 
 husband. " With no other shall I ever be happy," 
 said she, " my happiness is in him alone ! " For a 
 long time the Tsar wrinkled his brows at the thought 
 of giving his daughter to a simple youth ; but at last
 
 OH. 17 
 
 he gave them his blessing, and they crowned them 
 with bridal wreaths, and all the world was bidden to 
 the wedding-feast. And I too was there, and drank 
 beer and mead, and what my mouth could not 
 hold ran down over my beard, and my heart rejoiced 
 within me.
 
 THE STOKY OF THE WIND. 
 
 NCE upon a time there dwelt two 
 brethren in one village, and one 
 brother was very, very rich, and 
 the other brother was very, very 
 poor. The rich man had wealth 
 of all sorts, but all that the poor 
 man had was a heap of children. 
 One day, at harvest-time, the poor man left his 
 wife and went to reap and thresh out his little plot 
 of wheat, when the Wind came and swept all his corn 
 away down to the very last grain. The poor man 
 was exceeding wrath thereat, and said : " Come what 
 will, I'll go seek the Wind, and I'll tell him with 
 what pains and trouble I had got my corn to grow 
 and ripen, and then he, forsooth ! must needs come 
 and blow it all away." 
 
 So the man went home and made ready to go, 
 and as he was making ready, his wife said to him :
 
 THE STORY OF THE WIND. 19 
 
 "Whither away, husband?" "I am going to seek 
 the Wind," said he ; " what dost thou say to that ? " 
 " I should say, do no such thing," replied his wife. 
 " Thou knowest the saying , ' If thou dost want to 
 find the Wind, seek him on the open steppe. He can 
 go ten different ways to thy one.' Think of that, dear 
 husband, and go not at all." " I mean to go," replied 
 the man, " though I never return home again." 
 Then he took leave of his wife and children, and went 
 straight out into the wide world to seek the Wind on 
 the open steppe. 
 
 He went on farther and farther till he saw before 
 him a forest, and on the borders of that forest stood 
 a hut on liens' legs. The man went into this hut and 
 was filled with astonishment, for there lay on the 
 floor a huge, huge, old man, as grey as milk. He 
 lay there stretched at full length, his head on the 
 seat of honour, 1 with an arm and leg in each of the 
 four corners, and all his hair standing on end. It 
 was no other than the Wind himself. The man 
 stared at this awful Ancient with terror, for never 
 in his life had he seen anything like it. " God help 
 thee, old fcither !" cried he. "Good health to thee, 
 good man ! " said the ancient giant, as he lay on the 
 floor of the hut. Then he asked him in the most 
 
 1 Pokute, the place of honour in a Rutheninn peasant's hut, at 
 the right-hand side of the entrance.
 
 20 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 friendly manner : " Whence hath God brought thee 
 hither, good man ? " " I am wandering through the 
 wide world in search of the Wind," said the man. 
 " If I find him, I will turn back ; if I don't find him, 
 I shall go on and on till I do." " What dost thou 
 want with the Wind ? " asked the old giant lying on 
 the floor. " Or what wrong hath he done thee, that 
 thou shouldst seek him out so doggedly? " "What 
 wrong hath he done me ? " replied the wayfarer. 
 " Hearken now, Ancient, and I will tell thee ! I 
 went straight from my wife into the field and reaped 
 my little plot of corn ; but when I began to thresh 
 it out, the Wind came and caught and scattered every 
 bit of it in a twinkling, so that there was not a single 
 little grain of it left. So now thou dost see, old man, 
 what I have to thank him for. Tell me, in God's 
 name, why such things be ? My little plot of corn 
 was my all-in-all, and in the sweat of my brow did 
 I reap and thresh it ; but the Wind came and blew 
 it all away, so that not a trace of it is to be found in 
 the wide world. Then I thought to myself : ' Why 
 should he do this ? ' And I said to my wife : ' I'll 
 go seek the Wind, and say to him : " Another time, 
 visit not the poor man who hath but a little corn, 
 and blow it not away, for bitterly doth he rue 
 it ! " : " Good, rny son ! " said the giant who lay on 
 the floor. " I shall know better in future ; in future
 
 22 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 I will not blow away the poor man's corn. But, good 
 man, there is no need for thee to seek the Wind in 
 the open steppe, for I myself am the Wind." 
 "Then if thou art the Wind," said the man, "give 
 me back my corn." " Nay," slid the giant ; " thou 
 canst not make the dead coins back from the grave. 
 Yet, inasmuch as I have done thee a mischief, I will 
 now give thee this sack, good man, and do thou take 
 it home with thee. And whenever thou waut'st a 
 meal say : ' Sack, sack, give me to eat and drink ! ' 
 and immediately thou shalt have thy fill both of 
 meat and drink, so now thou wilt have wherewithal 
 to comfort thy wife and children." 
 
 Then the man was full of gratitude. " I thank 
 thee, Wind ! " said he, " for thy courtesy in 
 giving me such a sack as will give me my fill of meat 
 and drink without the trouble of working for it." 
 " For a Lizy loon, 'twere a double boon," said the 
 Wind. ' : Go home, then, but look no\v, enter no 
 tavern by the way; I shall know it if thou do?t." 
 " No," said the man, " I will not." And then he 
 took leave of the Wind and went his way. 
 
 lie had not gone very far, when he passed by a 
 tavern, and he felt a burning desire to find out 
 whether the Wind had spoken the truth in the matter 
 of the sack. " Row can a man pass a tavern without 
 going into it ^ " thought he ; " I'll go in, come what
 
 THE STORY OF THE WIXD. 23 
 
 may. The Wind won't know, because he can't see." 
 So he went into the tavern and hung up his sack 
 upon a peg. The Jew who kept the tavern immedi- 
 ately said to him : " What dost thou want, good 
 man ? " " What is that to thee, thou dog ? " said the 
 man. " You are all alike," sneered the Jew, " take 
 what you can, and pay for nothing." " Dost think 
 I want to buy anything from thee ? " shrieked the 
 man ; then, turning angrily to the sack, he cried : 
 " Sack, sack, give me to eat and drink ! " Immedi- 
 ately the table was covered with all sorts of meats 
 and liquors. Then all the Jews in the tavern 
 crowded round full of amazement, and asked all 
 manner of questions. " Why, what is this, good 
 man ? " said they ; " never have w r e seen anything 
 like this before ! " " Ask no questions, ye accursed 
 Jews ! " cried the man, " but sit down to eat, for there 
 is enough for all." So the Jews and the Jewesses set 
 to and ate until they were full up to the ears ; and 
 they drank the man's health in pitchers of wine of 
 every sort, and said : " Drink, good man, and spare 
 not, and when thou hast drunk thy fill, thou shalt 
 lodge with us this night. We'll make ready a bed 
 for thee. None shall vex thee. Come now, eat 
 and drink whatever thy soul desires." So the Jews 
 flattered him with devilish cunning, and almost forced 
 the wine-jars to his lips.
 
 24 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 The simple fellow did not perceive their malice and 
 cunning, and he got so drunk that he could not move 
 from the place, but went to sleep where he was. 
 Then the Jews changed his sack for another, which 
 they hung up on a peg, and then they woke him. 
 " Dost hear, fellow I " cried they ; "get up, it is time 
 to go home. Dost thou not see the morning light ? " 
 The man sat up and scratched the back of his head, 
 for he w r as loth to go. But what was he to do ? So 
 he shouldered the sack that was hanging on the peg, 
 and went off home. 
 
 When he got to his house, he cried : " Open the 
 door, wife ! " Then his wife opened the door, and he 
 went in and hung his sack on the peg and said : "Sit 
 down at the table, dear wife, and you children sit 
 down there too. Now, thank God ! we shall have 
 enough to eat and drink, and to spare." The wife 
 looked at her husband and smiled. She thought he 
 was mad, but down she sat, and her children sat down 
 all round her, arid she waited to see what her husband 
 would do next. Then the man said : " Sack, sack, 
 give to us meat and drink ! " But the sack was silent. 
 Then he said again : " Sack, sack, give my children 
 something to eat ! " And still the sack was silent. 
 Then the man fell into a violent rage : " Thou didst 
 give me something at the tavern," cried he ; " and 
 now I may call in vain. Thou givest nothing, and
 
 THE STORY OF THE WIND. 25 
 
 thou hearest nothing " and, leaping from his seat, he 
 took up a club and began beating the sack till he had 
 knocked a hole in the wall, and beaten the sack to 
 bits. Then he set off to seek the Wind again. But 
 his wife stayed at home and put everything to rights 
 again, railing and scolding at her husband as a madman. 
 Bat the man went to the Wind and said : " Hail to 
 thee, Wind ! " " Good health to thee, man ! " 
 replied the Wind. Then the Wind asked : "Wherefore 
 hast thou come hither, man ? Did I not give thee 
 a sack ? What more dost thou want ? " " A pretty 
 sack indeed ! " replied the man ; " that sack of thine 
 has been the cause of much mischief to me and mine/' 
 " What mischief has it done thee ? " " Why, look 
 now, old father, I'll tell thee what it has done. It 
 wouldn't give me anything to eat and drink, so I 
 began beating it, and beat the wall in. Now what 
 shall I do to repair my crazy hut ? Give me some- 
 thing, old father." But the Wind replied : " Nay, 
 man, thou must do without. Fools are neither 
 sown nor reaped, but grow of their own accord hast 
 thou not been into a tavern ? " " I have not," said 
 the man. " Thou hast not ? Why wilt thou lie? " 
 " Well, and suppose I did lie ? " said the man ; " if thou 
 suffer harm through thine own fault, hold thy tongue 
 about it, that's what I say. Yet it is all the fault of 
 thy sack that this evil has come upon me. If it had
 
 26 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 only given me to eat and to drink, I should not have 
 come to thee again." At this the Wind scratched his 
 head a bit, but then he said : " Well then, thou man ! 
 there's a little rani for thee, and whenever thou dost 
 want money say to it : ' Little ram, little ram, scatter 
 money ! ' and it will scatter money as much as thou 
 wilt. Only bear this in mind : go not into a tavern, 
 for if thou dost, I shall know all about it ; and 
 if thou comest to me a third time, thou shalt have 
 cause to remember it for ever." " Good," said the 
 man, " I won't go." Then he took the little ram, 
 thanked the Wind, and went on his way. 
 
 So the man went along leading the little ram by a 
 string, and they came to a tavern, that very same 
 tavern wdiere he had been before, and again a strong 
 desire came upon the man to go in. So he stood by 
 the door and began thinking whether he should go in 
 or not, and whether he had any need to find out the 
 truth about the little ram. " Well, well," said he at 
 last, " I'll go in, only this time I won't get drunk. 
 I'll drink just a glass or so, and then I'll go home." 
 So into the tavern he went, dragging the little ram 
 after him, for he was afraid to let it go. 
 
 Now, when the Jews w r ho were inside there saw 
 the little ram, they began shrieking and said : " What 
 art thou thinking of, man ! that thou bringest that 
 little rani into the room ? Are there no barns outside
 
 THE STORY OF THE WIND. 27 
 
 where thou mayest put it up ? " " Hold your tongues, 
 ye accursed wretches ! " replied the man ; " what has 
 it got to do with you ? It is not the sort of ram 
 that muck- worms like you deal in. And if you don't 
 Relieve me, spread a cloth on the floor and you shall 
 S2e something, I warrant you." Then he said : 
 " Little ram, little ram, scatter money ! " and the 
 little ram scattered so much money that it seemed to 
 grow, and the Jews screeched like demons. " 
 man, man ! " cried they, " such a ram as that we 
 have never seen in all our days. Sell it to us ! We 
 will give thee such a lot of money for it." " You 
 may pick up all that money, ye accursed ones," cried 
 the man, " but I don't mean to sell my ram." 
 
 Then the Jews picked up the money, but they laid 
 before him a table covered with all the dishes that a 
 man's heart may desire, and they begged him to sit 
 down and make merry, and said with true Jewish 
 cunning : " Though thou mayest get a little lively, 
 don't get drunk, for thou knowest how drink plays 
 the fool with a man's wits." The man marvelled at 
 the straightforwardness of the Jews in warning him 
 against the drink, and, forgetting everything else, sat 
 down at table and began drinking pot after pot of 
 mead, and talking with the Jews, and his little ram 
 went clean out of his head. But the Jews made him 
 drunk, and laid him in the bed, and changed rams
 
 28 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 with him ; his they took away, and put in its place 
 one of their own exactly like it. 
 
 When the man had slept off his carouse, he arose 
 and went away, taking the ram with him, after bid- 
 ding the Jews farewell. When he got to his hut he 
 found his wife in the doorway, and the moment she 
 saw him coming, she went into the hut and cried to 
 her children : " Come, children ! make haste, make 
 haste ! for daddy is coming, and brings a little ram 
 along with him ; get up, and look sharp about it ! An 
 evil year of waiting has been the lot of wretched me, 
 but he has come home at last." 
 
 The husband arrived at the door and said : " Open 
 the door, little wife; open, I say!" The wife replied: 
 " Thou art not a great nobleman, so open the door 
 thyself. Why dost thou get so drunk that thou dost 
 not know how to open a door ? It's an evil time that 
 I spend with thee. Here we are with all these little 
 children, and yet thou dost go away and drink." 
 Then the wife opened the door, and the husband 
 walked into the hut and said : " Good health to thee, 
 dear wife ! " But the wife replied : " Why dost thou 
 bring that ram inside the hut, can't it stay outside 
 the walls?" "Wife, wife!" said the man, "speak, 
 but don't screech. Now we shall have all manner of 
 good things, and the children will have a fine time of 
 it." '"What!" said the wife, "what good can we
 
 THE STORY OF THE WIND. 29 
 
 get from that wretched ram? Where shall we get 
 the money to find food for it ? Why, we've nothing 
 to eat ourselves, and thou dost saddle us with a ram 
 besides. Stuff and nonsense ! I say." " Silence, 
 wife," replied the husband; "that ram is not like 
 oth?r rams, I tell thee." "What sort is it, then ?" 
 asked his wife. "Don't ask questions, but spread 
 a cloth on the floor and keep thine eyes open."- 
 "Why spread a cloth?" asked the wife. " Why ?" 
 shrieked the man in a rage; " do what I tell thee, and 
 hold thy tongue." But the wife said : " Alas, alas ! 
 I have an evil time of it. Thou dost nothing at all 
 but go away and drink, and then thou comest home 
 and dost talk nonsense, and bringest sacks and rams 
 with thee, and knockest down our little hut." At 
 this the husband could control his rage no longer, but 
 shrieked at the ram : "Little ram, little ram, scatter 
 money ! " But the ram only stood there and stared 
 at him. Then he cried again : " Little ram, little 
 ram, scatter money I " But the ram stood there 
 stock-still and did nothing. Then the man in his 
 anger caught up a piece of wood and struck the ram 
 on the head, but the poor ram only uttered a feeble 
 baa ! and fell to the earth dead. 
 
 The man was now very much offended and said : 
 " I'll go to the Wind again, and I'll tell him what a 
 fool he has made of me." Then he took up his hat
 
 30 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 and went, leaving everything behind him. And the 
 poor wife put everything to rights, and reproached 
 and railed at her husband. 
 
 So the man came to the Wind for the third time 
 and said : " "Wilt thou tell me, please, if thou art 
 really the Wind or no?" "What's the matter with 
 thee ? " asked the Wind. " I'll tell thee what's the 
 matter," said the man ; " why hast thou laughed at 
 and mocked me and made such a fool of me ? " " I 
 laugh at thee ! " thundered the old father as he lay 
 there on the floor and turned round on the other ear ; 
 '' why didst thou not hold fast what I gave thee ? 
 Why didst thou not listen to me when I told thee 
 not to go into the tavern, eh ? " " What tavern dost 
 thou mean ? " asked the man proudly ; " as for the 
 sack and the ram thou didst give me, they only did 
 me a mischief ; give me something else." " What's 
 the use of giving thee anything?" said the Wind; 
 '"' thou wilt only take it to the tavern. Out of the 
 drum, my twelve henchmen ! " cried the Wind, " and 
 just give this accursed drunkard a good lesson that 
 he may keep his throat dry and listen a little more 
 to old people ! " Immediately the twelve henchmen 
 leaped out of the drum and began giving the man 
 a sound thrashing. Then the man saw that it was 
 no joke and begged for mercy : " Dear old father 
 Wind," cried he, "be merciful, and let me get off
 
 THE STORY OF THE WIND. 31 
 
 alive. I'll not come to thee again though I should 
 have to wait till the Judgment Day, and I'll do all 
 thy behests." " Into the drum, my henchmen ! " 
 cried the Wind. " And now, man ! " said the 
 Wind, " thou mayest have this drum with the twelve 
 henchmen, and go to those accursed Jews, and if 
 they will not give thee back thy sack and thy ram, 
 thou wilt know what to say." 
 
 So the man thanked the Wind for his good advice, 
 and went on his way. He came to the inn, and when 
 the Jews saw that he brought nothing with him they 
 said: "Hearken, man! don't come here, for we 
 have no brandy." " What do I want with your 
 brandy?" cried the man in a rage. "Then for what 
 hast thou come hither?" "I have come for my 
 own." "Thy own," said the Jews ; " what dost thou 
 mean ? " " What do I mean ? " roared the man ; 
 " why, my sack and my ram, which you must give 
 up to me." "What ram? What sack?" said the 
 Jew T s; "why, thou didst take them away from here 
 thyself." "Yes, but you changed them," said the 
 man. "What dost thou mean by changed?" whined 
 the Jews ; "we will go before the magistrate, and 
 thou slialt hear from us about this." " You will have 
 an evil time of it if you go before the magistrate," 
 said the man ; " but at any rate, give me back my 
 own." And he sat down behind the table. Then the
 
 32 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 Jews cau'ht him bv the shoulders to cast him out 
 
 O > 
 
 and cried : " Be off, thou rascal ! Does any one know 
 where this man comes from ? No doubt he is an evil- 
 doer." The man could not stand this, so he cried : 
 " Cut of the drum, my henchmen ! and give the 
 accursed Jews a sound drubbing, that they may know 
 better than to take in honest folk ! " and immediately 
 the twelve henchmen leaped out of the drum and 
 began thwacking the Jews finely. " Oh, oh ! " roared 
 the Jews; "oh, dear, darling, good man, w T e'll give 
 thee whatever thou dost want, only leave off beating 
 us ! Let us live a bit longer in the world, and we 
 will give thee back everything." " Good !" said the 
 man, " and another time you'll know better than to 
 deceive people." Then he cried: "Into the drum, 
 my henchmen ! " and the henchmen disappeared, 
 leaving the Jews more dead than alive. Then they 
 gave the man his sack and his ram, and he went 
 home, but it was a long, long time before the Jews 
 forgot those henchmen. 
 
 So the man went home, and his wife and children 
 yaw him coming from afar. " Daddy is coming home 
 now with a sack and a ram ! " said she ; " what shall 
 we do ? We shall have a bad time of it, we shall 
 have nothing left at all. God defend us poor 
 wretches ! Go and hide everything, children." So 
 the children hastened away, but the husband came to
 
 THE STORY OF THE WIND. 33 
 
 the door and said : " Open the door ! " " Open the 
 door thyself," replied the wife. Again the husband 
 bade her open the door, but she paid no heed to him. 
 The man was astonished. This was carrying a joke 
 too far, so he cried to his henchmen : " Henchmen, 
 henchmen ! out of the drum, and teach my wife to 
 respect her husband ! " Then the henchmen leaped 
 out of the drum, laid the good wife by the heels, and 
 began to give her a sound drubbing. " Oh, my 
 dear, darling husband ! " shrieked the wife, " never to 
 the end of my days will I be sulky with thee again. 
 I'll do whatever thou tellest me, only leave off beat- 
 ing me." "Then I have taught thee sense, eh?" 
 said the man. " Oh, yes, yes, good husband ! " cried 
 she. Then the man said : " Henchmen, henchmen ! 
 into the drum!" and the henchmen leaped into it 
 again, leaving the poor wife more dead than alive. 
 
 Then the husband said to her: "Wife, spread a 
 cloth upon the floor." The wife scudded about as 
 nimbly as a fly, and spread a cloth out on the floor 
 without a word. Then the husband said : " Little 
 ram, little ram, scatter money ! " And the little ram 
 scattered money till there were piles and piles of it. 
 
 Pick it up, my children," said the man, "and 
 thou too, wife, take what thou wilt ! " And they 
 didn't wait to be asked twice. Then the man hung 
 up his sack on a peg and said: "Sack, sack, meat
 
 34 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 and drink ! " Then he caught hold of it and shook 
 it, and immediately the table was as full as it could 
 hold with all manner of victuals and drink. " Sit 
 down, my children, and thou too, dear wife, and eat 
 thy fill. Thank God, we shall now have no lack of 
 food, and shall not have to work for it either." 
 
 So the man and his wife were very happy together, 
 and were never tired of thanking the Wind. They 
 had not had the sack and the ram very long when 
 they grew very rich, and then the husband said to 
 the wife : " I tell thee what, wife ! " " What ? " said 
 she. " Let us invite my brother to come and see 
 us." " Very good," she replied ; " invite him, but 
 dost thou think he'll come ? " " Why shouldn't he ? " 
 asked her husband. "Now, thank God, we have 
 everything we want. He wouldn't come to us when 
 we were poor and he was rich, because then he was 
 ashamed to say that I was his brother, but now even 
 he hasn't got so much as we have." 
 
 So they made ready, and the man went to invite 
 his brother. The poor man came to his rich brother 
 and said: "Hail to thee, brother ; God help thee!" 
 Now the rich brother was threshing wheat on his 
 threshing-floor, and, raising his head, was surprised to 
 see his brother there, and said to him haughtily : " I 
 thank thee. Hail to thee also! Sit down, my brother, 
 and tell us why thou hast come hither." " Thanks,
 
 THE STORY OF THE WIND. 35 
 
 my brother, I do not want to sit-down. I have come 
 hither to invite thee to us, thee and thy wife." 
 " Wherefore ? " asked the rich brother. The poor 
 man said: "My wife prays thee, and I pray thee 
 also, to come and dine with us of thy courtesy." 
 " Good ! " replied the rich brother, smiling secretly. 
 "I will come whatever thy dinner may be." 
 
 So the rich man went with his wife to the poor 
 man, and already from afar they perceived that the 
 poor man had grown rich. And the poor man 
 rejoiced greatly when he saw his rich brother in his 
 house. And his tongue was loosened, and he began 
 to show him everything whatsoever he possessed. 
 The rich man was amazed that things were going so 
 well with his brother, and asked him how he had 
 managed to get on so. But the poor man answered : 
 " Don't ask me, brother. I have more to show thee 
 yet." Then he took him to his copper money, and 
 said : " There are my oats, brother ! " Then he took 
 and showed him his silver money, and said : " That's 
 the sort of barley I thresh on my threshing-floor ! " 
 And, last of all, he took him to his gold money, and 
 said : " There, my dear brother, is the best wheat 
 I've got." Then the rich brother shook his head, not 
 once nor twice, and marvelled at the sight of so many 
 good things, and he said : " Wherever didst thou pick 
 up all this, my brother ? " " Oh ! I've more than
 
 36 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 that to show thee yet. Just be so good as to sit down 
 on that chair, and I'll show and tell thee everything." 
 Then they sat them down, and the poor man hung 
 up his sack upon a peg. " Sack, sack, meat and 
 drink ! " he cried, and immediately the table was 
 covered with all manner of dishes. So they ate and 
 ate, till they were full up to the ears. When they 
 had eaten and drunken their fill, the poor man called 
 to his son to bring the little ram into the hut. So 
 the lad brought in the ram, and the rich brother 
 wondered what they were going to do with it. Then 
 the poor man said : " Little ram, scatter money ! " 
 And the little ram scattered money, till there were 
 piles and piles of it on the floor. " Pick it up ! " said 
 the poor man to the rich man and his w r ife. So they 
 picked it up, and the rich brother and his wife 
 marvelled, and the brother said: " Thou hast a very 
 nice piece of goods there, brother. If I had only 
 something like that I should lack nothing ; " then, 
 after thinking a long time, he said : " Sell it to me, 
 my brother." " No," said the poor man, " I will not 
 sell it." After a little time, however, the rich brother 
 said again : " Come now ! I'll give thee for it six yoke 
 of oxen, and a plough, and a harrow, and a hay-fork, 
 and I'll give thee besides, lots of corn to sow, thus 
 thou wilt have plenty, but give me the ram and the 
 sack." So at last they exchanged. The rich man
 
 THE STORY OF THE WIND. 37 
 
 took the sack and the ram, and the poor man took 
 the oxen and went out to the plough. 
 
 Then the poor brother went out ploughing all day, 
 but he neither watered his oxen nor gave them any- 
 thing to eat. And next day the poor brother again 
 went out to his oxen, but found them rolling on their 
 sides on the ground. He began to pull and tug at 
 them, but they didn't get up. Then he began to beat 
 them with a stick, but they uttered not a sound. 
 The man was surprised to find them fit for nothing, 
 and off he ran to his brother, not forgetting to take 
 with him his drum with the henchmen. 
 
 When the poor brother came to the rich brother's, 
 he lost no time in crossing his threshold, and said : 
 '' Hail, my brother ! " " Good health to thee also !" 
 replied the rich man, " why hast thou come hither ? 
 Has thy plough broken, or thy oxen failed thee ? 
 Perchance thou hast watered them with foul water, 
 so that their blood is stagnant, and their flesh 
 inflamed ? " " The murrain take 'em if I know thy 
 meaning ! " cried the poor brother. " All that I 
 know is that I thwacked 'em till my arms ached, and 
 they wouldn't stir, and not a single grunt did they 
 give ; till I was so angry that I spat at them, and came 
 to tell thee. Give me back my sack and my ram, I 
 say, and take back thy oxen, for they won't listen to 
 me ! " " What ! take them back I " roared the rich
 
 38 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 brother. " Dost think I only made the exchange for 
 a single day ? ,No, I gave them to thee once and 
 for all, and now thou wouldst rip the whole thing up 
 like a goat at the fair. I have no doubt thou hast 
 neither watered them nor fed them, and that is why 
 they won't stand up." "I didn't know," said the 
 poor man, " that oxen needed water and food." 
 " Didn't know ! " screeched the rich man, in a mighty 
 rage, and taking the poor brother by the hand, he 
 led him away from the hut. " Go away," said he, 
 " and never come back here again, or I'll have thee 
 hanged on a gallows ! " " Ah ! what a big gentleman 
 we are!" said the poor brother; "just thou give me 
 back my own, and then I will go away." " Thou 
 hadst better not stop here," said the rich brother; 
 " come, stir thy stumps, thou pagan ! Go home ere 
 I beat thee!" " Don't say that," replied the poor 
 man, " but give me back my ram and my sack, and 
 then I will go." At this the rich brother quite lost 
 his temper, and cried to his wife and children : 
 " Why do you stand staring like that ? Can't you 
 come and help me to pitch this insolent rogue out of 
 the house ? " This, however, was something beyond 
 a joke, so the poor brother called to his henchmen : 
 " Henchmen, henchmen ! out of the drum, and give 
 this accursed brother of mine and his wife a sound 
 drubbing, that they may think twice about it another
 
 THE STORY OF THE WIND. 39 
 
 time before they pitch a poor brother out of their 
 hut! " Then the henchmen leaped out of the drum, 
 and laid hold of the rich brother and his wife, and 
 trounced them soundly, until the rich brother yelled 
 with all his might : " Oh, oh ! my own true brother, 
 take what thou wilt, only let me off alive ! " where- 
 upon the poor brother cried to his henchmen : 
 " Henchmen, henchmen ! into the drum ! " and the 
 henchmen disappeared immediately. 
 
 Then the poor brother took his ram and his sack, 
 and set off home with them. And they lived happily 
 ever after, and grew richer and richer. They sowed 
 neither wheat nor barley, and yet they had lots and 
 lots to eat. And I was there, and drank mead and 
 beer. What my mouth couldn't hold ran down my 
 beard. For you, there's a kazka, but there be fat 
 hearth- cakes for me the asker. And if I have aught 
 to eat, thou shalt share the treat.
 
 THE VOICES AT THE WINDOW. 
 
 NOBLEMAN went hunting one 
 autumn, and with him went a 
 goodly train of huntsmen. All 
 day long they hunted and 
 hunted, and at the end of the 
 day they had caught nothing. 
 At last dark night overtook 
 them. It had now grown bitterly cold, and the 
 rain began to fall heavily. The nobleman was wet 
 to the skin, and his teeth chattered. He rubbed his 
 hands together and cried : " Oh, had we but a warm 
 hut, and a white bed, and soft bread and sour kvas, 1 
 we should have nought to complain of, but would tell 
 tales and feign fables till dawn of day ! " Immedi- 
 ately there shone a light in the depths of the forest. 
 They hastened up to it, and lo \ there was a hut. 
 They entered, and on the table lay bread and a jug 
 1 A sourish drink.
 
 THE VOICES AT THE WINDOW. 41 
 
 of kvas ; and the hut was warm, and the bed therein 
 was white everything just as the nobleman had 
 desired it. So they all entered after him, and said 
 grace, and had supper, and laid them down to sleep. 
 
 They all slept, all but one, but to him slumber 
 would not come. About midnight he heard a strange 
 noise, and something came to the window and said : 
 " Oh, thou son of a dog ! thou didst say : ' If we had 
 but a warm hut, and a white bed, and soft bread and 
 sour kvas, we should have nought to complain of, but 
 would tell tales and feign fables till dawn ' ; but now 
 thou hast forgotten thy fine promise ! Wherefore 
 this shall befall thee on thy way home. Thou shalt 
 fall ia with an apple-tree full of apples, and thou 
 shalt desire to taste of them, and when thou hast 
 tasted thereof thou shalt burst. And if any of these 
 thy huntsmen hear this thing and tell thee of it, that 
 man shall become stone to the knee ! " All this that 
 huntsman heard, and he thought, " Woe is me ! " 
 
 And about the second cockcrow something else 
 came to the window and said: " Oh, thou son of a 
 dog ! thou didst say : ' If we had but a warm hut, and 
 a white bed, and soft bread and sour kvas, we should 
 have nought to complain of, but would tell tales and 
 feign fables till dawn ' ; but now thou hast forgotten 
 thy fine promises ! Wherefore this shall befall thee 
 on thy way home. Thou shalt come upon a spring by
 
 42 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 the roadside, a spring of pure water, and tliou shalt 
 desire to drink of it, and when thou hast drunk 
 thereof thou shalt burst. But if any of these thy 
 huntsmen hear and tell thee of this thing, he shall 
 become stone to the girdle." All this that huntsman 
 heard, and he thought to himself : " Woe is me ! " 
 
 Again, towards the third cockcrow, he heard some- 
 thing else coming to the window, and it said : " Oh, 
 thou son of a dog ! thou didst say : ' If only we had 
 a warm hut, and a white bed, and soft bread and 
 sour kvas, we should have nought to complain of, 
 but would tell tales and feign fables till dawn ' ; but 
 now thou hast forgotten all thy fine promises ! 
 Wherefore this shall befall thee on thy way home. 
 Thou shalt come upon a feather-bed in the highway ; 
 a longing for rest shall come over thee, and thou wilt 
 lie down on it, and the moment thou liest down 
 thereon thou shalt burst. But if any of thy hunts- 
 men hear this thing and tell it thee, he shall become 
 stone up to the neck ! " All this that huntsman 
 heard, and then he awoke his comrades and said : 
 " It is time to depart ! " " Let us go then," said the 
 nobleman. 
 
 So on they went, and they had not gone very far 
 when they saw an apple-tree growing by the wayside, 
 and on it were apples so beautiful that words cannot 
 describe them. The nobleman felt that he must taste
 
 44 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 of these apples or die ; but the wakeful huntsman 
 rushed up and cut down the apple-tree, whereupon 
 apples and apple-tree turned to ashes. But the 
 huntsman galloped on before and hid himself. 
 
 They went on a little further till they came to a 
 spring, and the water of that spring was so pure and 
 clear that words cannot describe it. Then the noble- 
 man felt that he must drink of that water or die ; but 
 the huntsman rushed up and splashed in the spring 
 with his sword, and immediately the water turned to 
 blood. The nobleman was wrath, and cried : " Cut 
 me down that son of a dog ! " But the huntsman 
 rode on in front and hid himself. 
 
 They went on still further till they came upon a 
 golden bed in the highway, full of white feathers so 
 soft and cosy that words cannot describe it. The 
 nobleman felt that he must rest in that bed or die. 
 Then the huntsman rushed up and struck the bed' 
 with his sword, and it turned to coal. But the 
 nobleman was very wrath, and cried : " Shoot me 
 down that son of a dog ! " But the huntsman rodo 
 on before and hid himself. 
 
 When they got home the nobleman commanded 
 them to bring the huntsman before him. " What 
 hast thou done, thou son of Satan?" he cried. "I 
 must needs slay thee ! " But the huntsman said : 
 " My master, bid them bring hither into the courtyard
 
 THE VOICES AT THE WINDOW. 45 
 
 an old mare fit for nought but the knacker." They 
 brought the mare, and he mounted it and said : " My 
 master, last midnight something came beneath the 
 window and said : ' Oh, son of a dog ! thou saidst if 
 only we had a warm hut, and a white bed, and soft 
 bread and sour kvas, we should grieve no more, but 
 tell tales and feign fables till dawn, and now thou 
 hast gone and forgotten thy promise. Wherefore this 
 shall befall thee on thy way home : thou shalt come 
 upon an apple-tree covered with apples by the way- 
 side, and straightway thou shalt long to eat of them, 
 and the moment thou tastest thereof thou shalt burst. 
 And if any of thy huntsmen hears this thing, and 
 tells thee of it, he shall become stone up to the knee.' " 
 When the huntsman had spoken so far, the horse on 
 which he sat became stone up to the knee. Then he 
 went on : " About the second cockcrow something 
 else came to the window and said the selfsame thing, 
 and prophesied : ' He shall come upon a spring by 
 the roadside, a spring of pure water, and he shall long 
 to drink thereof, and the moment he tastes of it he 
 shall burst ; and whoever hears and tells him of this 
 thing shall become stone right up to the girdle.' " 
 And when the huntsman had spoken so far, the horse 
 on which he sat became stone right up to the breast. 
 And he continued, and said : " About the third cock- 
 crow something else came to the window and said the
 
 46 . COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 selfsame thing, and added : ' This shall befall thy 
 lord on his way home. He shall come upon a white 
 bed on the road, and he shall desire to rest upon it, 
 and the moment he rests upon it he shall burst ; and 
 whoever hears and tells him of this thing shall become 
 stone right up to the neck ! ' " And with these words 
 he leaped from the horse, and the horse became stone 
 right up to its neck. " That therefore, my master, 
 was why I did what I did, and I pray thee pardon 
 me."
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNY, THE 
 FALSE SISTER, AND THE FAITHFUL BEASTS. 
 
 NCE upon a time, in a certain kingdom, 
 in a certain empire, there dwelt a 
 certain Tsar who had never had a 
 child. One day this Tsar went to 
 the bazaar (such a bazaar as we have 
 at Kherson) to buy food for his needs. 
 For though he was a Tsar, he had a mean and churlish 
 soul, and used always to do his own marketing, and so 
 now, too, he bought a little salt fish and went home 
 with it. On his way homeward, a great thirst suddenly 
 fell upon him, so he turned aside into a lonely mountain 
 where he knew, as his father had known before him, 
 there was a spring of crystal clear water. He was so 
 very thirsty that he flung himself down headlong by 
 this spring without first crossing himself, wherefore 
 that Accursed One, Satan, immediately had power over
 
 48 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 him, and caught him by the beard. The Tsar sprang 
 back in terror, and cried : " Let me go ! " But the 
 Accursed One held him all the tighter. " Nay, I will 
 not let thee go ! " cried he. Then the Tsar began to 
 entreat him piteously : " Ask what thou wilt of me," 
 said he, " only let me go." " Give me, then," said 
 the Accursed One, " something that thou hast in the 
 house, and then I'll let thee go ! " " Let me see, 
 what have I got ? " said the Tsar. " Oh, I know. 
 I've got eight horses at home, the like of which I 
 have seen nowhere else, and I'll immediately bid my 
 equerry bring them to thee to this spring take 
 them." " I wont have them ! " cried the Accursed 
 One, and he held him still more tightly by the beard. 
 " Well, then, hearken now ! " cried the Tsar. " I have 
 eight oxen. They have never yet gone a-ploughing 
 for me, or doue a day's work. I'll have them brought 
 hither. I'll feast my eyes on them once more, and 
 then I'll have them driven into thy steppes take 
 them." "No, that won't do either! "said the Ac- 
 cursed One. The Tsar went over, one by one, all the 
 most precious things he had at home, but the Accursed 
 One said " No ! " all along, and pulled him more and 
 more tightly by the beard. When the Tsar saw that 
 the Accursed One would take none of all these things, 
 he said to him at last : " Look now ! I have a wife 
 so lovely that the like of her is not to be found in
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNY. 49 
 
 the whole world, take her and let me go ! " " No ! " 
 replied the Accursed One, "I will not have her." 
 The Tsar was in great straits. " What am I to do 
 now ? " thought he. "I have offered him my lovely 
 wife, who is the very choicest of my chattels, and he 
 won't have her ! " Then said the Accursed One : 
 " Promise me what thou shalt find awaiting thee at 
 home, and I'll let thee go." 
 
 The Tsar gladly promised this, for he could think 
 of nought else that he had, and then the Accursed 
 One let him go. 
 
 But while he had been away from home, there had 
 been born to him a Tsarevko l and a Tsarivna ; 2 and 
 they grew up not by the day, or even by the hour, 
 but by the minute : never were known such fine 
 children. And his wife saw him coming from afar, 
 and went out to meet him, with her two children, 
 with great joy. But he, the moment he saw them, 
 burst into tears. "Nay, my dear love," cried she, 
 "wherefore dost thou burst into tears ? Or art thou 
 so delighted that such children have been born unto 
 thee that thou canst not find thy voice for tears of 
 joy?" And he answered her: "My darling wife, on 
 my way back from the bazaar, I was athirst, and 
 turned towards a mountain known of old to my 
 father and me, and it seemed to me as though there 
 
 1 A little Tsar. 2 Bus.. Tsarevna, i. e. a Tsar's daughter.
 
 50 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 were a spring of water there, though the water was 
 very near dried up. But looking closer, I saw that 
 it was quite full ; so I bethought me that I would 
 drink thereof, and I leaned over, when lo ! that 
 Evil-Wanton (I mean the Devil) caught me by the 
 beard and would not let me go. I begged and 
 prayed, but still he held me tight. ' Give me,' said 
 he, ' what thou hast at home, or I'll never let thee 
 go ! ' And I said to him : ' Lo ! now, I have horses/ 
 ' I don't want thy horses ! ' said he. ' I have 
 oxen,' I said. ' I don't want thine oxen ! ' said he. 
 ' I have,' said 1, ' a wife so fair that the like of her 
 is not to be found in God's fair world ; take her, but 
 let me go.' 'I don't want thy fair wife!' said he. 
 Then I promised him what I should find at home 
 when I got there, for I never thought that God had 
 blessed me so. Come now, my darling wife ! and let 
 us bury them both lest he take them ! " " Nay, nay ! 
 my dear husband, we had better hide them some- 
 where. Let us dig a ditch by our hut just under 
 the gables ! " (For there were no lordly mansions in 
 those days, and the Tsars dwelt in peasants' huts.) 
 So they dug a ditch right under the gables, and put 
 their children inside it, and gave them provision of 
 bread and water. Then they covered it up and 
 smoothed it down, and turned into their own little 
 hut.
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNY. 51 
 
 Presently the serpent (for the Accursed One had 
 changed himself into a serpent) came flying up in 
 search of the children. He raged up and down 
 outside the hut but there was nothing to be seen. 
 At last he cried out to the stove : " Stove, stove, 
 where has the Tsar hidden his children ? " The 
 stove replied : " The Tsar has been a good master to 
 me ; he has put lots of warm fuel inside me ; I hold 
 to him." So, finding he could get nothing out of 
 the stove, he cried to the hearth-broom : " Hearth- 
 broom, hearth-broom, where has the Tsar hidden his 
 children ? " But the hearth-broom answered : " The 
 Tsar has always been a good master to me, for he 
 always cleans the warm grate with me ; I hold to 
 him." So the Accursed One could get nothing out 
 of the hearth-broom. Then he cried to the hatchet : 
 " Hatchet, hatchet, where has the Tsar hidden his 
 children ? "The hatchet replied: "The Tsar has 
 always been a good master to me. He chops his 
 wood with me, and gives me a place to lie down in ; 
 so I'll 'not have him disturbed." Then the Devil 
 cried to the chisel : " Chisel, chisel, where has the 
 Tsar hidden his children ? " But the chisel replied : 
 " The Tsar has always been a good master to me. 
 He drills little holes with me, and then lets me rest ; 
 so I'll let him rest too." Then the serpent said to 
 the chisel : " So the Tsar's a good master to thee, eh !
 
 52 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 Well, I can only say that if he's the good master 
 thou sayest he is, I am rather surprised that he knocks 
 thee on the head so much with a hammer." " Well, 
 that's true," said the chisel, " I never thought of 
 that. Thou mayest take hold of me if thou wilt, and 
 draw me out of the top of the hut, near the front 
 gable ; and wherever I fall into the marshy ground, 
 there set to work and dig with me ! " 
 
 The Devil did so, and began digging at the spot 
 where the chisel fell out on the marshy ground till 
 he had dug out the children. Now, as they had been 
 growing all along, they were children no more, but 
 a stately youth and a fair damsel ; and the serpent 
 took them up and carried them off. But they were 
 big and heavy, so he soon got tired and lay down 
 to rest, and presently fell asleep. Then the Tsarivna 
 sat down on his head, and the Tsarevko sat down 
 beside her till a horse came running up. The horse 
 ran right up to them and said : " Hail ! little Tsar 
 Novislmy ; art thou here by thy leave or against 
 thy leave ? " And the little Tsar Novishny replied : 
 "Nay, little nag! we are here against our leave, 
 not by our leave." " Then sit on my back ! " said 
 the horse, " and I'll carry you off ! " So they got 
 on his back, for the serpent was asleep all the 
 time. Then the horse galloped off with them ; 
 and he galloped far, far away. Presently the serpent
 
 54 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 awoke, looked all round him, and could see nothing 
 till he had got up out of the reeds in which 
 he lay, when he saw them in the far distance, and 
 gave chase. He soon caught them up ; and little 
 Tsar Novishny said to the horse : " Oh ! little nag, 
 how hot it is. It is all up with thee and us!" 
 And, in truth, the horse's tail was already singed 
 to a coal, for the serpent was hard behind them, 
 blazing like fire. The horse perceived that he could 
 do no more, so he gave one last wriggle and died ; 
 but they, poor things, were left alive. " Whom 
 have you been listening to ? " said the serpent as 
 he flew up to them. " Don't you know that I only 
 am your father and tsar, and have the right to carry 
 you away ? " " Oh, dear daddy ! we'll never listen 
 to anybody else again ! " " Well, I'll forgive you 
 this time," said the serpent ; " but mind you never 
 do it again." 
 
 Again the serpent took them up and carried them 
 off. Presently he grew tired and again lay down 
 to rest, and nodded off. Then the Tsarivna sat 
 down on his head, and the Tsarevko sat down be- 
 side her, till a hurnble-bee came flying up. " Hail, 
 little Tsar Novishny ! " cried the humble-bee. 
 " Hail, little humble-bee ! " said the little Tsar. 
 " Say, friends, are you here by your leave or against 
 your leave ? " " Alas ! little humble-bumble-bee, 'tis
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNY. 55 
 
 not with my leave I have been brought hither, but 
 against my leave, as thou niayest see for thyself." 
 " Then sit on my back," said the bee, " and I'll carry 
 you away." " But, dear little humble-bumble-bee, 
 if a horse couldn't save us, how will you?" "I 
 cannot tell till I try," said the humble-bee. " But if 
 I cannot save you, I'll let you fall." " Well, then," 
 said the little Tsar, " we'll try. For we two must 
 perish in any case, but thou perhaps mayest get off 
 scot free." So they embraced each other, sat on the 
 humble-bee, and off they went. When the serpent 
 awoke he missed them, and raising his head above 
 the reeds and rushes, saw them flying far away, 
 and set off after them at full speed. "Alas! little 
 humble-bumble-bee," cried little Tsar Novishny, 
 " how burning hot 'tis getting. We shall all three 
 perish ! " Then the humble-bee turned his wing and 
 shook them off. They fell to the earth, and he flew 
 away. Then the serpent came flying up and fell 
 upon them with open jaws. " Ah-ha ! " cried he, with 
 a snort, "you've come to grief again, eh? Didn't I 
 tell you to listen to nobody but me ! " Then they 
 fell to weeping and entreating : " We'll listen to you 
 alone and to nobody else ! " and they wept and 
 entreated so much, that at last he forgave them. 
 
 So he took them up and carried them off once 
 more. Again he sat down to rest and fell asleep,
 
 56 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 and again the Tsarivna sat upon his head and the 
 Tsarevko sat down by her side, till a bullock came 
 up, full tilt, and said to them : " Hail, little Tsar 
 Novishny ! art thou here with thy leave or art 
 thou here against thy leave ? " " Alas ! dear little 
 bullock, I came not hither bv my leave ; but may- 
 be I was brought here against my leave ! " " Sit 
 on my back, then," said the bullock, " and I'll 
 carry you away." But they said : " Nay, if a 
 horse and a bee could not manage it, how wilt 
 thou ? " " Nonsense ! " said the bullock. " Sit down, 
 and I'll carry you off ! " So he persuaded them. 
 " Well, we can only perish once ! " they cried ; and 
 the bullock carried them off. And every little while 
 they went a little mile, and jolted so that they very 
 nearly tumbled off. Presently the serpent awoke 
 and was very very wroth. He rose high above the 
 woods and flew after them oh ! how fast he did 
 fly! Then cried the little Tsar: "Alas! bullock, 
 how hot it turns. Thou wilt perish, and we shall 
 perish also ! " Then said the bullock : " Little 
 Tsar ! look into my left ear and thou wilt see 
 a horse-comb. Pull it out and throw it behind 
 thee ! " The little Tsar took out the comb and threw 
 it behind him, and it became a huge wood, as thick 
 and jagged as the teeth of a horse-comb. But the 
 bullock went on at his old pace : every little while
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNT. 57 
 
 they went a little mile, and jolted so that they nearly 
 tumbled off. The serpent however managed to gnaw 
 his way through the wood, and then flew after them 
 again. Then cried the little Tsar : " Alas ! bullock, 
 it begins to burn again. Thou wilt perish, and we 
 shall perish also ! " Then said the bullock : " Look 
 into my right ear, and pull out the brush thou dost 
 find there, and fling it behind thee ! " So he threw 
 it behind him, and it became a forest as thick as a 
 brush. Then the serpent came up to the wood and 
 began to gnaw at it ; and at last he gnawed his way 
 right through it. But the bullock went on at his 
 old pace : every little while they went a little mile, 
 and they jolted so that they nearly tumbled off. 
 But when the serpent had gnawed his way through 
 the forest, he again pursued them ; and again they 
 felt a burning. And the little Tsar said : " Alas ! 
 bullock, look ! look ! how it burns. Look ! look ! 
 how we perish." Now the bullock was already near- 
 ing the sea. "Look into my right ear," said the 
 bullock, "draw out the little handkerchief thou 
 findest there, and throw it in front of me. He drew 
 it out and flung it, and before them stood a bridge. 
 Over this bridge they galloped, and by the time they 
 had done so, the serpent reached the sea. Then 
 said the bullock to the little Tsar : " Take up the 
 handkerchief again and wave it behind me." Then
 
 58 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 he took and waved it till the bridge doubled up 
 behind them, and went and spread out again right 
 in front of them. The serpent came up to the edge 
 of the sea ; but there he had to stop, for he had 
 nothing to run upon. 
 
 So they crossed over that sea right to the other 
 side, and the serpent remained on his own side. 
 Then the bullock said to them : " I'll lead you to 
 a hut close to the sea, and in that hut you must 
 live, and you must take and slay me." But they 
 fell a-weeping sore. " How shall we slay thee ! " 
 they cried ; " thou art our own little dad, and hast 
 saved us from death ! " " Nay ! " said the bullock ; 
 " but you must slay me, and one quarter of me you 
 must hang up on the stove, and the second quarter 
 you must place on the ground in a corner, and the 
 third quarter you must put in the corner at the 
 entrance of the hut, and the fourth quarter you 
 must put round the threshold, so that there will 
 be a quarter in all four corners." So they took and 
 slew him in front of the threshold, and they hung 
 his four quarters in the four corners as he had bidden 
 them, and then they laid them down to sleep. Now 
 the Tsarevko awoke at midnight, and saw in the 
 right-hand corner a horse so gorgeously caparisoned 
 that he could not resist rising at once and mounting 
 it ; and in the threshold corner there was a self-
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNT. 59 
 
 slicing sword, and in the third corner stood the dog 
 Protius, 1 and in the stove corner stood the dog 
 Nedviga.* The little Tsar longed to be off. "Rise, 
 iittle sister ! " cried he. " God has been good to us ! 
 Rise, dear little sister, and let us pray to God ! " 
 So they arose and prayed to God, and while they 
 prayed the day dawned. Then he mounted his horse 
 and took the dogs with him, that he might live by 
 what they caught. 
 
 So they lived in their hut by the sea, and one day 
 the sister went down to the sea to w r ash her bed- 
 iinen and her body-linen in the blue waters. And 
 the serpent came and said to her : " How didst thou 
 manage to jump over the sea ? " " Look, now ! " 
 said she, " we crossed over in this way. My brother 
 tias a handkerchief which becomes a bridge when 
 lie waves it behind him." And the serpent said to 
 her: "I tell thee what, ask him for this handkerchief; 
 say thou dost want to wash it, and take and wave it, 
 and I'll then be able to cross over to thee and live 
 with thee, and we'll poison thy brother." Then she 
 went home and said to her brother : " Give me that 
 handkerchief, dear little brother ; it is dirty, so I'll 
 wash and give it back to thee." And he believed 
 her and gave it to her, for she was dear to him, 
 
 1 The two fabulous hounds of Ruthenian legend. 
 2 Heavysides?
 
 60 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 and he thought her good and true. Then she took i 
 the handkerchief, went down to the sea, and waved i 
 it and behold there was a bridge. Then the 
 serpent crossed over to her side, and they walked 
 to the hut together and consulted as to the bestj 
 way of destroying her brother and removing him] 
 from God's fair world. Now it was his custom to 
 rise at dawn, mount his horse, and go a-hunting, 
 for hunting he dearly loved. So the serpent said to 
 her : " Take to thy bed and pretend to be ill, and say 
 to him : I dreamed a dream, dear brother, and lo,j 
 I saw thee go and fetch me wolfs milk to make 
 me well. Then he'll go and fetch it, and the wolves 
 will tear his dogs to pieces, and then we can take 
 and do to him as we list, for his strength is in hisj 
 dogs." 
 
 'So when the brother came home from hunting the 
 serpent hid himself, but the sister said: "I have 
 dreamed a dream, dear brother. Me thought thou 
 didst go and fetch me wolfs milk, and I drank ofi 
 it, and my health came back to me, for I am soj 
 weak that God grant I die not." "I'll fetch it," 
 said her brother. So he mounted his horse and 
 set off. Presently he came to a little thicket, andi 
 immediately a she-wolf came out. Then Protius 
 ran her down and Nedviga held her fast, and the 
 little Tsar milked her and let her go. And tho
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNY. 61 
 
 she- wolf looked round and said : " Well for thee, 
 little Tsar Novishny, that thou hast let me go. 
 Methought thou wouldst not let me go alive. For 
 that thou hast let me go, I'll give thee, little Tsar 
 Novishny, a wolf- whelp." Then she said to the 
 little wolf: "Thou shalt serve this dear little Tsar 
 as though he were thine own dear father." Then 
 the little Tsar went back, and now there were with 
 him two dogs and a little wolf- whelp that trotted 
 behind them. 
 
 Now the serpent and the false sister saw him 
 coming from afar, and three dogs trotting behind 
 him. And the serpent said to her : " What a sly, 
 wily one it is ! If he hasn't added another watch- 
 dog to his train ! Lie down, and make thyself 
 out worse than ever, and ask bear's milk of him, 
 for the bears will tear him to pieces without doubt." 
 Then the serpent turned himself into a needle, 
 jand she took him up and stuck him in the wall. 
 Meanwhile the brother dismounted from his horse 
 and came with his dogs and the wolf to the hut, 
 [and the dogs began snuffing at the needle in the 
 wall. And his sister said to him : " Tell me, why 
 dost thou keep these big dogs ? They let me have 
 no rest." Then he called to the dogs, and they sat 
 down. And his sister said to him : "I dreamed 
 a dream, my brother. I saw thee go and search
 
 62 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 and fetch me from somewhere bear's milk, and I 
 drank of it, and my health came back to me." " I 
 will fetch it," said her brother. 
 
 But first of all he laid him down to sleep. Nedviga 
 lay at his head, and Protius at his feet, and Vovcliok l 
 by his side. So he slept through the night, and 
 at dawn he arose and mounted his good steed 
 and hied him thence. Again they came to a little 
 thicket, and this time a she-bear came out. Protius 
 ran her down, Nedviga held her fast, and the little 
 Tsar milked her and let her go. Then the she-bear 
 said : " Hail to thee, little Tsar Novishny ; because 
 thou hast let me go, I'll give thee a bear-cub." 
 But to the little bear she said : " Obey him as 
 though he were thine own father." So he set off] 
 home, and the serpent and his sister saw that four: 
 were now trotting behind him. "Look!" said the] 
 serpent, "if there are not four running behind him! j 
 Shall we never be able to destroy him ? I tell thee 
 what. Ask him to get thee hare's milk; perhaps] 
 his beasts will gobble up the hare before he can 
 milk it." So he turned himself into a needle again, 1 
 and she fastened him in the wall, only a little! 
 higher up, so that the dogs should not get at him.l 
 Then, when the little Tsar dismounted from his- 
 horse, he and his dogs came into the hut, and the 
 1 Little Wolf.
 
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNY. 63 
 
 dogs began snuffing at the needle in the wall and 
 barked at it, but the brother knew not the cause 
 thereof. But his sister burst into tears and said : 
 "Why dost thou keep such monstrous dogs? Such 
 a kennel of them makes me sweat with anguish ! " 
 Then he shouted to the dogs, and they sat down 
 quite still. Then she said to him : " I am so ill, 
 brother, that nothing will make me well but hare's 
 milk. Go and get it for me." " I'll get it," said he. 
 
 But first he laid him down to sleep. Nedviga 
 Hay at his head, Protius at his feet, and Vovchok 
 and Medvedik 1 each on one side. He slept through 
 the night, but at dawn he mounted his steed, 
 took his pack with him, and departed. Again he 
 came to a little thicket, and a she-hare popped out. 
 iProtius ran her down, Nedviga held her fast, then 
 |he milked her and let her go. Then the hare said : 
 " Hail to tbee, little Tsar Novishny ; because thou 
 ihast let me go I thought thou wouldst have torn 
 jme to pieces with thy dogs I'll give thee a leveret 
 (for it." But to the leveret she said : " Obey him, 
 : as though he were thine own father." Then he 
 went home, and again they saw him from afar. 
 
 What a wily rogue it is ! " said they. " All five 
 are following him, and he is as well as ever!" 
 " Ask him to get thee fox's milk ! " said the 
 
 1 Little Bear.
 
 64 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 serpent ; " perhaps when he goes for it his beasts 
 will leave him in the lurch ! " Then he changed 
 himself into a needle, and she stuck him still 
 higher in the wall, so that the dogs could not 
 get at him. The Tsar again dismounted from his 
 horse, and his dogs rushed up to the hut and began 
 snuffing at the needle. But his sister fell a-weeping, 
 and said : " Why dost thou keep such monstrous 
 dogs ? " He shouted to them, and they sat down 
 quietly on their haunches. Then Iris sister said 
 again : "I am ailing, my brother ; go and get me 
 fox's milk, and I shall be well." " I'll fetch it for 
 thee," said her brother. 
 
 But first he lay down to sleep. Nedviga lay at 
 his head, Protius at his feet, and Vovchok, Medvedik, 
 and the leveret by his side. The little Tsar slept 
 through the night, and at dawn he arose, mounted 
 his horse, took his pack with him, and went off. 
 They came to a little thicket, and a vixen popped 
 out. Protius ran her down, Nedviga held her 
 fast, and the little Tsar milked her and let her go. 
 Then said the vixen to him: "Thanks to thee/ 
 little Tsar Novishny, that thou hast let me go.i 
 Methought thou wouldst tear me in pieces with 
 thy dogs. For thy kindness I'll give thee a little: 
 fox." But to the little fox she said : " Obey him 
 as though he were thine own father." So he went]
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNY. 65 
 
 home, and they saw him coming from afar, and lo ! 
 now he had six guardians, and yet had come by no 
 harm. " Tis no good ; we shall never do for him," 
 said the serpent. " Look, now ! Make thyself worse 
 than ever, and say to him : I am very ill, my brother, 
 because in another realm, far, far away, there is a 
 wild boar who ploughs with his nose, and sows with 
 his ears, and harrows with his tail and in that same 
 empire there is a mill with twelve furnaces that 
 grinds its own grain and casts forth its own meal, 
 and if thou wilt bring me of the meal that is beneath 
 these twelve furnaces, so that I may make me a 
 cake of it and eat, my soul shall live." Then her 
 brother said to her : " Me thinks thou art not my 
 sister, but my foe ! " But she replied : " How can 
 I be thy foe when we two live all alone together 
 in a strange land ? " " Well, I will get it for thee," 
 said he. For again he believed in his sister. 
 
 So he mounted his steed, took his pack with 
 him, and departed, and he came to the land where 
 were that boar and that mill she had told him of. 
 He came up to the mill, tied his horse to it, and 
 entered into it. And there were twelve furnaces 
 there and twelve doors, and these twelve doors 
 needed no man to open or shut them, for they 
 opened and shut themselves. He took meal from 
 beneath the first furnace and went through the
 
 66 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 second door, but the clogs were shut in by the doors. 
 Through all twelve doors he went, and came out 
 again at the first door, and looked about him, and 
 there were no dogs to be seen. He whistled, and 
 he heard his dogs whining where they could not 
 get out. Then he wept sore, mounted his horse, 
 and went home. He got home, and there was his 
 sister making merry with the serpent. And no 
 sooner did the brother enter the hut than the serpent 
 said : " "Well, we wanted flesh, and now flesh has 
 come to us!" For they had just slain a bullock, 
 and on the ground where they had slain it there 
 sprang up a white-thorn tree, so lovely that it may 
 be told of in tales, but neither imagined nor divined. 
 When the little Tsar saw it, he said : " Oh, my dear 
 brother-in-law ! " (for without his dogs he must needs 
 be courteous to the serpent,) " pray let me climb up 
 that white-thorn tree, and have a good look about 
 me ! " But the sister said to the serpent : " Dear 
 friend, make him get ready boiling water for him- 
 self, and we will boil him, for it does not become 
 thee to dirty thy hands." " Very well," said the 
 serpent ; " he shall make the boiling water ready ! " 
 So they ordered the little Tsar to go and chop wood 
 and get the hot water ready. Then he went and 
 chopped wood, but as he was doing so, a starling 
 flew out and said to him : " Not so fast, not so
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NO VIS H XT. 67 
 
 fast, little Tsar Novishny. Be as slow as thou 
 canst, for thy dogs have gnawed their way through 
 two doors." 
 
 Then the little Tsar poured water into the caldron, 
 and put fire under it. But the wood that he had 
 cut was rotten and very very dry, so that it burned 
 most fiercely, and he took and sprinkled it with 
 water, and sprinkled it again and again, so that it 
 might not burn too much. And when he went out 
 into the courtyard for more water, the starling said 
 to him : " Not so fast, not so fast, little Tsar 
 Novishny, for thy dogs have gnawed their way 
 through four doors ! " As he was returning to the hut 
 his sister said to him : " That water does not boil up 
 quick enough I Take the fire-shovel and poke the 
 fire ! " So he did so, arid the faggots blazed up, but 
 when she had gone away he sprinkled them with 
 water again, so that they might burn more slowly. 
 Then he went into the courtyard again, and the 
 starling met him and said : " Not so fast, not so 
 fast, little Tsar; be as slow as thou canst, for thy 
 dogs have gnawed their way through six doors." 
 Then he returned to the hut, and his sister again 
 took up the shovel and made him poke up the fire, 
 and "when she went away he again flung water on 
 the burning coals. So he kept going in and out of 
 the courtyard. " 'Tis weary work ! " cried he ; but
 
 68 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 the starling said to him : " Not so fast, not so fast, little 
 Tsar Novishny, for thy dogs have already gnawed their 
 way through ten doors ! " The little Tsar picked up 
 the rottenest wood he could find and flung it on the fire, 
 to make believe he was making haste, but sprinkled 
 it at the same time with water, so that it might not 
 burn up too quickly, and yet the kettle soon began 
 to boil. Again he went to the forest for more wood, 
 and the starling said to him : " Not so fast, not so 
 fast, little Tsar, for thy dogs have already gnawed 
 their way through all the doors, and are now resting ! " 
 But now the water was boiling, and his sister ran up 
 and said to him : " Come, boil thyself, be quick ; 
 how much longer art thou going to keep us waiting 1 ? " 
 Then he, poor thing, began ladling the boiling water 
 over himself, while she got the table ready and spread 
 the cloth, that the serpent might eat her brother on 
 that very table. 
 
 But he, poor thing, kept ladling himself, and cried : 
 " Oh, my dear brother-in-law, pray let me climb up 
 to the top of that white-thorn tree ; let me have a look 
 out from the top of it, for thence one can see afar ! " 
 " Don't let him, dear ! " said the sister to the 
 serpent ; "he will stay there too long and lose our 
 precious time." But the serpent replied : " It doesn't 
 matter, it doesn't matter ; let him climb up if he 
 likes." So the little Tsar went up to the tree, and
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNY. 69 
 
 began to climb it ; he did not miss a single branch, 
 and stopped a little at each one to gain time, and 
 so he climbed up to the very top, and then he took 
 out his flute and began to play upon it. But the 
 starling flew up to him and said : " Not so fast, 
 little Tsar Novishny, for lo ! thy dogs are running to 
 thee with all their might." But his sister ran out 
 and said : " What art thou playing up there for ? 
 Thou dost forget perhaps that we are waiting for 
 thee down here ! " Then he began to descend the 
 tree, but he stopped at every branch on his way 
 down, while his sister kept on calling to him to 
 come down quicker. At last he came to the last 
 branch, and as he stood upon it and leaped down to 
 the ground, he thought to himself: " Now I perish !" 
 At that same instant his dogs and his beasts, 
 growling loudly, came running up, and stood in a 
 circle around him. Then he crossed himself and 
 said : " Glory to Thee, Lord ! I have still, per- 
 chance, a little time to live in Thy fair world ! " 
 Then he called aloud to the serpent and said : " And 
 now, dear brother-in-law, come out, for I am ready 
 for thee ! " Out came the serpent to eat him, but 
 he said to his dogs and his beasts : " Vovchok ! 
 Medvedik ! Protius ! Nedviga ! Seize him ! " Then 
 the dogs and the beasts rushed upon him and tore 
 him to bits.
 
 70 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 Then the little Tsar collected the pieces and burnt 
 them to ashes, and the little fox rolled his brush in 
 the ashes till it was covered with them, and then 
 went out into the open field and scattered them to 
 the four winds. But while they were tearing the 
 serpent to pieces the wicked sister knocked out his 
 tooth and hid it. After it was all over the little 
 Tsar said to her : " As thou hast been such a false 
 friend to me, sister, thou must remain here while I 
 go into another kingdom." Then he made two 
 buckets and hung them up on the white-thorn tree, 
 and said to his sister : " Look now, sister ! if thou 
 weepest for me, these buckets will fill with tears, but 
 if thou weepest for the serpent they will fill with 
 blood ! " Then she fell a-weeping and praying, and 
 said to him : " Don't leave me, brother, but take me 
 with thee." " I won't," said he, " such a false friend 
 as thou art I'll not have with me. Stay where thou 
 art." So he mounted his horse, called to him his 
 dogs and his beasts, and went his way into another 
 kingdom and into another empire. 
 
 He went on and on till he came to a certain city, 
 and in this city there was only one spring, and in 
 this spring sat a dragon with twelve heads. And it 
 was so that when any went to draw water from this 
 well the dragon rose up and ate them, and there 
 was no other place from whence that city could draw
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNY. 71 
 
 its water. So the little Tsar came to that town and 
 put up at the stranger's inn, and he asked his host : 
 " What is the meaning of all this running and crying 
 of the people in the streets ? " " Why, dost thou not 
 know ? " said he ; " it is the turn of the Tsar to send 
 
 his daughter to the dragon ! " Then he went out and 
 listened, and heard the people say : " The Tsar pro- 
 claims that whoever is able to slay the dragon, to him 
 will he give his daughter and one half of his tsar- 
 dom ! " Then little Tsar Novishny stepped forth and 
 said : " I am able to slay this evil dragon ! " So
 
 72 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 all the people immediately sent and told the Tsar : 
 " A stranger has come hither who says he is ready 
 to meet and slay the dragon." Then the Tsar bade 
 them take him to the watch-house and put him among 
 the guards. 
 
 Then they led out the Tsarivna, and behind her 
 they led him, and behind him came his beasts and his 
 horse. And the Tsarivna was so lovely and so richly 
 attired that all who beheld her burst into tears. But 
 the moment the dragon appeared and opened his 
 mouth to devour the Tsarivna, the little Tsar cried 
 to his self -slicing sword : " Fall upon him ! " and to 
 his beasts he cried : " Protius ! Medvedik ! Vov- 
 chok ! Nedviga ! Seize him ! " Then the self-slicing 
 sword and the beasts fell upon him, and tore him 
 into little bits. When they had finished tearing him, 
 the little Tsar took the remains of the body and 
 burnt it to ashes, and the little fox took up all the 
 ashes on her tail, and scattered them to the four 
 winds. Then he took the Tsarivna by the hand, and 
 led her to the Tsar, and the people rejoiced because 
 their water was free again. And the Tsarivna gave 
 him the nuptial ring. 
 
 Then they set off home again. They went on and 
 on, for it was a long way from the tsardom of that 
 Tsar, and at last he grew weary and lay down in the 
 grass, and she sat at his head. Then his lackey
 
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNT. 73 
 
 crept up to him, unfastened the self-slicing sword 
 from his side, went up to the little Tsar, and said : 
 "Self-slicing sword! slay him!" Then the self- 
 slicing sword cut him into little bits, and his beasts 
 knew nothing about it, for they were sleeping after 
 their labours. After that the lackey said to the 
 Tsarivna : " Thou must say now to all men that I 
 saved thee from death, or if not, I will do to thee 
 what I have done to him. Swear that thou wilt say 
 this thing ! " Then she said : " I will swear that thou 
 didst save me from death," for she was sore afraid of the 
 lackey. Then they returned to the city, and the Tsar 
 was very glad to see them, and clothed the lackey in 
 goodly apparel, and they all made merry together. 
 Now when Nedviga awoke he perceived that his 
 master was no longer there, and immediately awoke 
 all the rest, and they all began to think and consider 
 which of them was the swiftest. And when they 
 had thought it well over they judged that the hare 
 was the swiftest, and they resolved that the hare 
 should run and get living and healing water and the 
 apple of youth also. So the hare ran to fetch this 
 water and this apple, and he ran and ran till he came 
 to a certain land, and in this land the hare saw a 
 spring, and close to the spring grew an apple-tree 
 with the apples of youth, and this spring and this 
 apple-tree were guarded by a Muscovite, oh ! so
 
 74 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 strong, so strong, and he waved his sabre again and 
 again so that not even a mouse could make its way 
 up to that well. What was to be done ? Then the 
 little hare had resort to subtilty, and made herself 
 crooked, and limped towards the spring as if she 
 were lame. When the Muscovite saw her he said : 
 "What sort of a little beast is this? I never saw 
 the like of it before ! " So the hare passed him by, 
 and went further and further on till she came right 
 up to the well. The Muscovite stood there and 
 opened his eyes wide, but the hare had now got up 
 to the spring and took a little flask of the water and 
 nipped off a little apple, and was off in a trice. 
 
 She ran back to the little Tsar Novishny, and 
 Nedviga immediately took the water and sprinkled 
 therewith the fragments of the little Tsar, and the 
 fragments came together again. Then he poured 
 some of the living water into his mouth and he 
 became alive, and gave him a bite of the apple of 
 youth, and he instantly grew young again and 
 stronger than ever. Then the little Tsar rose upon 
 his feet, stretched himself, and yawned. " What a 
 long time I've been asleep ! " cried he. " 'Tis a good 
 thing for thee that we got the living and healing 
 water!" said Protius. "But what shall we do 
 next ? " said they all. Then they all took council 
 together, and agreed that the little Tsar should
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNY. 75 
 
 disguise himself as an old man, and so go to the 
 Tsar's palace. 
 
 So the little Tsar Novishny disguised himself as an 
 old man, and went to the palace of the Tsar. And 
 when he got there he begged them to let him in that 
 he might see the young married people. But the 
 lackeys would not let him in. Then the Tsarivna 
 herself heard the sound of his begging and praying, 
 and commanded them to admit him. Now when he 
 entered the room and took off his cap and cloak, the 
 ring which the Tsarivna had given him when he slew 
 the serpent sparkled so that she knew him, but, not 
 believing her own eyes, she said to him : " Come 
 hither, thou godly old pilgrim, that I may show thee 
 hospitality ! " Then the little Tsar drew near to the 
 table, and the Tsarivua poured him out a glass of 
 wine and gave it to him, and he took it with his left 
 hand. She marked that he did not take it with the 
 hand on which was the ring, so she drank off that 
 glass herself. Then she filled another glass and gave 
 it him, and he took it with his right hand. Then 
 she immediately recognized her ring, and said to her 
 father : " This man is my husband who delivered me 
 from death, but that fellow " pointing to the lackey 
 " that rascally slavish soul killed my husband and 
 made me say that Jie was my husband." When the 
 Tsar heard this he boiled over with rage. " So that
 
 76 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 is what thou art ! " said he to the lackey, aDd im- 
 mediately he bad them bind him and tie him to the 
 tail of a horse so savage that no man could ride it, 
 and then turn it loose into the endless steppe. But 
 the little Tsar Novishny sat down behind the table 
 and made merry. 
 
 So the Tsarevko and the Tsarivna lived a long 
 time together in happiness, but one day she asked 
 him : " What of thy kindred and thy father's 
 house ? " Then he told her all about his sister. She 
 immediately bade him saddle his horse, and taking 
 his beasts with him, go in search of her. They came 
 to the place where he had left her, and saw that the 
 bucket which was put up for the serpent was full of 
 blood, but that the little Tsar's bucket was all dry 
 and falling to pieces. Then he perceived that she 
 was still lamenting for the serpent, and said to her : 
 " God be with thee, but I will know thee no more. 
 Stay here, and never will I look upon thy face 
 again ! " But she began to entreat and caress and 
 implore him that he would take her with him. Then 
 the brother had compassion on his sister and took her 
 away with him. 
 
 Now when they got home she took out the 
 serpent's tooth which she had hidden about her, 
 and put it beneath his pillow on the bed whereon 
 he slept. And at night-time the little Tsar went
 
 THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR NOVISHNT. 77 
 
 to lie down and the tooth killed him. His wife 
 thought that he was sulky, and therefore did not 
 speak to her, so she begged him not to be angry ; 
 and, getting no answer, took him by the hand, and 
 lo I his hand was cold, as cold as lead, and she 
 screamed out. But Protius came bounding through 
 the door and kissed his master. Then the little 
 Tsar became alive again, but Protius died. Then 
 Nedviga kissed Protius and Protius became alive, but 
 Nedviga died. Then the Tsarevko said to Medvedik : 
 " Kiss Nedviga ! " He did so, and Nedviga became 
 alive again, but Medvedik died. And so they went 
 on kissing each other from the greatest to the 
 smallest, till the turn came to puss. Puss kissed 
 Vovchok and died, but Vovchok remained alive. 
 What was to be done ? Now that puss had died 
 there was none to kiss her back into life again. 
 "Kiss puss," said the little Tsar to the little fox. 
 But the little fox was artful, and taking puss on his 
 shoulder, he trotted off to the forest. He carried her 
 to a place where lay a felled oak, with two branches 
 one on the top of the other, and put the hare on the 
 lower branch ; then he ran under the branch and kissed 
 the hare, but took good care that the branch should 
 be between them. Thereupon the serpent's tooth 
 new out of the hare and fastened itself in the upper 
 branch, and both the fox and puss scampered back out
 
 78 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 of the forest alive and well. When the others saw 
 them both alive they rejoiced greatly that no harm 
 had come to any of them from the tooth. But they 
 seized the sister and tied her to the tail of a savage 
 horse and let her loose upon the endless steppe. 
 
 So they all lived the merry lives of Tsars who 
 feast continually. And I was there too, and drank 
 wine and mead till my mouth ran over and it 
 trickled all down my beard. So there's the whole 
 kazka for you.
 
 THE VAMPIRE AND ST. MICHAEL. 
 
 NCE upon a time in a certain village 
 there lived two neighbours ; one 
 was rich, very rich, and the other 
 so poor that he had nothing iii the 
 world but a little hut, and that was 
 tumbling about his ears. At length 
 things came to such a pass with the poor man 
 that he had nothing to eat, and could get work 
 nowhere. Full of grief, he bethought him what he 
 should do. He thought and thought, and at last he 
 said : " Look ye, wife ! I'll go to my rich neighbour. 
 Perchance he will lend me a silver ruble ; that, at 
 any rate, will be enough to buy bread with." So he 
 went. 
 
 He came to the rich man. " Good health to my 
 lord!" cried he. "Good health!" "I have come 
 on an errand to thee, dear little master ! " " What 
 may thine errand be ? " inquired the rich man.
 
 80 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 " Alas ! would to God that I had no need to say it. 
 It has come to such a pass with us that there's 
 not a crust of bread nor a farthing of money in the 
 house. So I have come to thee, dear little master ; 
 lend us but a silver ruble and we will be ever 
 thankful to thee, and I'll work myself old to pay it 
 back." " But who will stand surety for thee ? " asked 
 the rich man. " I know not if any man will, I am 
 so poor. Yet, perchance, God and St. Michael will 
 be my sureties," and he pointed at the ikon in the 
 corner. Then the ikon of St. Michael spoke to the 
 rich man from the niche and said : " Come now ! 
 lend it him, and put it down to my account. God 
 will repay thee ! " " Well," said the rich man, 
 " I'll lend it to thee." So he lent it, and the 
 poor man thanked him and returned to his home 
 full of joy. 
 
 But the rich man was not content that God should 
 give him back his loan by blessing him in his flocks 
 and herds, and in his children, and in his health, 
 and in the blessed fruits of the earth. He waited 
 and waited for the poor man to come and pay him 
 back his ruble, and at last he went to seek him. 
 "Thou son of a dog," he shouted, before the house, 
 " why hast thou not brought me back my money ? 
 Thou knowest how to borrow, but thou forgettest to 
 repay ! " Then the wife of the poor man burst into
 
 THE VAMPIRE AND ST. MICHAEL. 
 
 81 
 
 tears : " He would repay thee indeed if he were in 
 this world," said she, "but lo now! he died but a 
 little while ago ! " The rich man snarled at her and 
 departed, but when he got home he said to the ikon : 
 " A pretty surety thou art ! " Then he took St. 
 Michael down from the niche, dug out his eyes, and 
 began beating him. 
 
 He beat St. Michael again and again, and at last 
 he flung him into a puddle 
 and trampled on him. " I'll 
 give it thee for standing me 
 surety so scurvily," said he. 
 While he was thus abusing 
 St. Michael, a young fellow 
 about twenty years old came 
 along that way, and said to 
 him : " What art thou doing, 
 my father ?" "I am beating 
 him because he stood surety 
 and has played me false. He 
 took upon himself the re- 
 payment of a silver ruble, which I lent to the son 
 of a swine, who has since gone away and died. That 
 is why I am beating him now." " Beat him not, my 
 father! I'll give thee a silver ruble, but thou give 
 me this holy image ! " "Take him if thou wilt, but 
 see that thou bring me the silver ruble first."
 
 82 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 Then the young man ran home and said to his 
 father : " Dad, give me a silver ruble ! " " Where- 
 fore, my son ? " " I would buy a holy image," said 
 he, and he told his father how he had seen that 
 heathen beating St. Michael. " Nay, my son, whence 
 shall we who are poor find a silver ruble to 
 give to him who is so rich ? " " Nay, but give it 
 me, dad ! " and he begged and prayed till he got it. 
 Then he ran back as quickly as he could, paid 
 the silver ruble to the rich man, and got the holy 
 image. He washed it clean and placed it in the 
 midst of sweet-smelling flowers. And so they lived 
 on as before. 
 
 Now this youth had three uncles, rich merchants, 
 who sold all manner of merchandise, and went in 
 ships to foreign lands where they sold their goods 
 and made their gains. One day, when his uncles 
 were again making ready to depart into foreign lauds, 
 he said to them: "Take me with you!" "Why 
 shouldst thou go ? " said they : " we have wares to 
 sell, but what hast thou ? " " Yet take me," said 
 he. " But thou hast nothing." " I will make me 
 laths and boards and take them with me," said he. 
 His uncles laughed at him for imagining such wares 
 as these, but he begged and prayed them till they 
 were wearied. " Well, come," they said, " though 
 there is nought for thee to do ; only take not much
 
 THE VAMPIRE AND ST. MICHAEL. 83 
 
 of these wares of thine with thee, for our ships are 
 already full." Then he made him laths and boards, 
 put them on board the ship, took St. Michael with 
 him, and they departed. 
 
 They went on and on. They sailed a short distance 
 and they sailed a long distance, till at last they came 
 to another tsardom and another empire. And the Tsar 
 of this tsardom had an only daughter, so lovely that 
 the like of her is neither to be imagined nor divined 
 in God's fair world, neither may it be told in tales. 
 Xow this Tsarivna one day went down to the river 
 to bathe, and plunged into the water without first 
 crossing herself, whereupon the unclean spirit took 
 possession of her. The Tsarivna got out of the water, 
 and straightway fell ill of so terrible a disease that it 
 may not be told of. Do what they would and the 
 wise men and the wise women did their utmost it 
 was of no avail. In a few days she grew worse and 
 died. Then the Tsar, her father, made a proclama- 
 tion that people should come and read the prayers 
 for the dead over her dead body, and so exorcise the 
 evil spirit, and whosoever delivered her was to have 
 half his power and half his tsardom. 
 
 And the people came in crowds but none of them 
 could read the prayers for the dead over her, it was 
 impossible. Every evening a man went into the 
 church, and every morning they swept out his bones,
 
 84 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 for there was nought else of him remaining. And 
 the Tsar was very wroth. " All my people will be 
 devoured," cried he. And he commanded that all 
 the foreign merchants passing through his realm 
 should be made to read prayers for the dead over 
 his daughter's body. " And if they will not 
 read," said he, "they shall not depart from my 
 kingdom." 
 
 So the foreign merchants went one by one. In 
 the evening a merchant was shut up in the church, 
 and in the early morning they came and found and 
 swept away his bones. At last it came to the turn 
 of the young man's uncles to read the prayers for the 
 dead in the church. They wept and lamented and 
 cried : " We are lost ! we are lost ! Heaven help 
 us ! " Then the eldest uncle said to the lad : " Listen, 
 good simpleton ! It has now come to my turn to 
 read prayers over the Tsarivna. Do thou go in my 
 stead and pass the night in the church, and I'll give 
 thee all my ship." " Nay, but," said the simpleton, 
 " what if she tear me to pieces too ? I won't go ! " 
 But then St. Michael said to him: "Go and fear 
 not ! Stand in the very middle of the church fenced 
 round about with thy laths and boards, and take with 
 thee a basket full of pears. When she rushes at thee, 
 take and scatter the pears, and it will take her till 
 cockcrow to pick them all up. But do thou go on
 
 THE VAMPIRE AND ST. MICHAEL. 85 
 
 reading thy prayers all the time, and look not up, 
 whatever she may do." 
 
 When night came, he took up his laths and boards 
 and a basket of pears, and went to the church. He 
 entrenched himself behind his boards, stood there 
 and began to read. At dead of night there was a 
 rustling and a rattling. Lord ! what was that "? 
 There was a shaking of the bier bang ! bang ! and 
 the Tsarivna arose from her coffin and came straight 
 towards him. She leaped upon the boards and made 
 a grab at him and fell back. Then she leaped at him 
 again, and again she fell back. Then he took his 
 basket and scattered the pears. All through the 
 church they rolled, she after them, and she tried to 
 pick them up till cockcrow, and at the very first 
 " Cock-a-doodle-doo ! " she got into her bier again and 
 lay still. 
 
 When God's bright day dawned, the people came 
 to clean out the church and sweep away his bones ; 
 but there he was reading his prayers, and the rumour 
 of it went through the town and they were all filled 
 with joy. 
 
 Next night it was the turn of the second uncle, 
 and he began to beg and pray : " Go thou, simpleton, 
 in my stead ! Look now, thou hast already passed 
 a night there, thou mayest very well pass another, 
 and I'll give thee all my ship." But he said: "I
 
 SG COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 won't go, I am afraid." But then St. Michael said 
 to him again : " Fear not, but go ! Fence thee 
 all about with thy boards, and take with thee a 
 basket of nuts. When she rushes at thee, scatter 
 thy nuts, and the nuts will go rolling all about the 
 church, and it will take her till cockcrow to gather 
 them all up. But thou go on reading thy prayers, 
 nor look thou up, whatever may happen." 
 
 And he did so. He took his boards and the basket 
 of nuts, and went to the church at nightfall and read. 
 A little after midnight there was a rustling and an 
 uproar, and the whole church shook. Then came a 
 fumbling round about the coffin " Bang, bang ! " up 
 she started, and made straight for him. She leaped 
 and plunged, she very nearly got through the boards. 
 She hissed, like seething pitch, and her eyes glared 
 at him like coals of fire, but it was of no use. He 
 read on and on, and didn't once look at her. Besides, 
 he scattered his nuts, and she went after them and 
 tried to pick them all up till cockcrow. And at the 
 first "Cock-a-doodle-doo !" she leaped into her coffin 
 again and pulled down the lid. In the morning the 
 people carne to sweep away his bones, and lo ! they 
 found him alive. 
 
 The next night he had to go again in the third 
 uncle's stead. Then he sat down and cried and 
 wailed : "Alas, alas! what shall I do ? 'Twere better
 
 88 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 I had never been born ! " But St. Michael said to 
 him : " Weep not, 'twill all end happily. Fence 
 thyself about with thy boards, sprinkle thyself all 
 about with holy water, incense thyself with holy 
 incense, and take me with thee. She shall not have 
 thee. And the moment she leaves her coffin, do 
 thou jump quickly into it. And whatever she may 
 say to thee, and however she may implore thee, let 
 her not get into it again until she says to thee : 'My 
 consort ! ' ' 
 
 So he went. There he stood in the middle of the 
 church, fenced himself about with his boards, strewed 
 consecrated poppy-seed around him, incensed himself 
 with holy incense, and read and read. About the 
 middle of the night a tempest arose outside, and there 
 was a rustling and a roaring, a hissing and a wailing. 
 The church shook, the altar candelabra were thrown 
 down, the holy images fell on their faces. Lord, 
 how awful ! Then came a " Bang, bang ! " from the 
 coffin, and again the Tsarivna started up. She left 
 her coffin and fluttered about the church. She 
 rushed at the boards and made a snatch at him, and 
 fell back ; she rushed at him again, and again she fell 
 back. She foamed at the mouth, and her fury every 
 instant grew worse and worse. She dashed herself 
 about, and darted madly from one corner of the 
 church to the other, seeking him everywhere. But
 
 THE VAMPIRE AND ST. MICHAEL. 89 
 
 be skipped into the coffin, with the image of St. 
 Michael by his side. She ran all over the church 
 seeking him. "He was here and now he is not 
 here ! " cried she. Then she ran further on, felt all 
 about her, and cried again : " He was here and now 
 he's not here ! " At last she sprang up to the coffin, 
 and there he was. Then she began to beg and pray 
 him : " Come down, come down ! I'll try and catch 
 thee no more, only come down, come down ! " But 
 he only prayed to God, and answered her never a 
 word. Then the cock crew once : " Cock-a-doodle- 
 doo ! " " Alas ! come down, come down, my con- 
 sort!" cried she. Then he came down, and they 
 both fell on their knees and began praying to God, 
 and wept sore and gave thanks to God because He 
 had had mercy on them both. 
 
 And at dawn of day crowds of people, with the 
 Tsar at the head of them, came to the church. " Shall 
 we find him reading prayers, or shall we only find his 
 bones ? " said they. And lo ! there they both were 
 on their knees praying fervently to God. Then the 
 Tsar rejoiced greatly, and embraced both him and 
 her. After that they had a grand service in the 
 church, and sprinkled her with holy water, and 
 baptized her again, and the unclean spirit departed 
 from her. Then the Tsar gave the young man half 
 his power and half his kingdom, but the merchants
 
 90 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 departed in their ships, with their nephew on 
 board. 
 
 They lived together, and time went on and the 
 young man still remained a bachelor, and was so 
 handsome that words cannot describe it. But the 
 Tsar lived alone with his daughter. She, however, 
 grew sadder and sadder, and was no longer like her 
 former self, so sorrowful was she. And the Tsar asked 
 her, saying : " Wherefore art thou so sorrowful ? " 
 " I am not sorrowful, father," said she. But the Tsar 
 watched her, and saw that she was sorrowful, and 
 there was no help for it. Then he asked her again : 
 " Art thou ill ? " " Nay, dear dad," said she. " I 
 myself know not what is the matter with me." 
 
 And so it went on, till the Tsar dreamt a dream, 
 and in this dream it was said to him : " Thy daughter 
 grieves because she loves so much the youth who 
 drove the unclean spirit out of her." Then the Tsar 
 asked her : " Dost thou love this youth ? " And she 
 answered: "I do, dear father." "Then why didst 
 thou not tell me before, my daughter ? " said he. 
 Then he sent for his heydukes and commanded them, 
 saying : " Go this instant to such and such a king- 
 dom, and there ye will find the youth who cured my 
 daughter; bring him to me." Then they went on 
 and on until they found him, and he took just the 
 same laths and boards that he had had before, and
 
 THE VAMPIRE AND ST. MICHAEL. 91 
 
 went with them. The Tsar met him, and bought all 
 his boards, and when they split them in pieces, lo ! 
 they were full of precious stones. Then the Tsar 
 took him to his own house and gave him his daughter. 
 And they lived right merrily together.
 
 THE STORY OF TREMSIN, THE BIRD ZHAR, 
 
 AND NASTASIA, THE LOVELY MAID OF 
 
 THE SEA. 
 
 HERE was once upon a time a man 
 and a woman, and they had one 
 little boy. In the summer-time 
 they used to go out and mow corn 
 in the fields, and one summer when 
 they had laid their little lad by 
 the side of a sheaf, an eagle swooped down, caught 
 up the child, carried him into a forest, and laid him 
 in its nest. Now in this forest three bandits chanced 
 to be wandering at the same time. They heard the 
 child crying in the eagle's nest : " Oo-oo ! oo-oo ! 
 oo-oo ! " so they went up to the oak on which was 
 the nest and said one to another : " Let us hew down 
 the tree and kill the child ! " " No," replied one of 
 them : " it were better to climb up the tree and bring 
 him down alive." So he climbed up the tree and
 
 THE STORY OF TREMSIN. 93 
 
 brought down the lad, and they nurtured him and 
 gave him the name of Tremsin. They brought up 
 Tremsin until he became a youth, and then they 
 gave him a horse, set him upon it, and said to him : 
 " Xow go out into the wide world and search for thy 
 father and thy mother ! " So Tremsin went out into 
 the wide world and pastured his steed on the vast 
 steppes, and his steed spoke to him and said : " When 
 we have gone a little further, thou wilt see before 
 thee a plume of the Bird Zhar; 1 pick it not up, or 
 sore trouble will be thine ! " Then they went on 
 again. They went on and on, through ten tsardoms 
 they went, till they came to another empire in the 
 land of Thrice Ten where lay the feather. And the 
 youth said to himself : " Why should I not pick up 
 the feather when it shines so brightly even from 
 afar ? " And he went near to the feather, and it shone 
 so that the like of it cannot be expressed or con- 
 ceived or imagined or even told of in tales. Then 
 Tremsin picked up the feather and went into the town 
 over against him, and in that town there lived a rich 
 nobleman. And Tremsin entered the house of this 
 nobleman and said : " Sir, may I not take service with 
 thee as a labourer ? " The nobleman looked at him, 
 and seeing that he was comely and stalwart : " Why 
 not ? Of course thou mayest," said he. So he took 
 
 1 i. e. Burning-bright.
 
 94 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 him into his service. Now this nobleman had many 
 servants, and they curried his horses for him, and 
 made them smart and glossy against the day he 
 should go a-hunting. And Tremsin began to curry 
 his horse likewise, and the servants of the nobleman 
 could not make the horses of their master so shinino- 
 
 O 
 
 bright as Tremsin made his own horse. So they 
 looked more closely, and they perceived that when 
 Tremsiu cleaned his horse he stroked it with the 
 feather of the Bird Zhar, and the coat of the good 
 steed straightway shone like burnished silver. Then 
 those servants were filled with envy, and said among 
 themselves : " How can we remove this fellow from 
 the world ? We'll saddle him with a task he is 
 unable to do, and then our master will drive him 
 away." So they went to their master and said : 
 " Tremsin has a feather of the Bird Zhar, and he 
 snys that if he likes he can get the Bird Zhar itself." 
 Then the nobleman sent for Tremsin and said to him : 
 " Tremsin ! my henchmen say that tliou canst 
 get the Bird Zhar if thou dost choose." "Nay, but 
 I cannot," replied Tremsiu. "Answer me not," said 
 the nobleman, " for so sure as I've a sword, I'll slice 
 thy head off like a gourd." Then Tremsin fell a- 
 weeping and went away to his horse. " My master," 
 said he, " hath given me a task to do that will clean 
 undo me." " What task is that ? " asked the horse.
 
 THE STORY OF TREMSIN. 95 
 
 " Why, to fetch him the Bird Zhar." " Why that's 
 not a task, but a trifle," replied the horse. " Let us 
 go to the steppes," it continued, "and let me go a- 
 browsing ; but thou strip thyself stark naked and lie 
 down in the grass, and the Bird Zhar will straightway 
 swoop down to feed. So long as she only claws 
 about thy body, touch her not ; but as soon as she 
 begins to claw at thy eyes, seize her by the legs." 
 
 So when they got to the wild steppes, Tremsin 
 stripped himself naked and flung himself in the grass, 
 and, immediately, the Bird Zhar swooped down and 
 began pecking all about him, and at last she pecked 
 at his eyes. Then Tremsin seized her by both legs, 
 and mounted his horse and took the Bird Zhar to the 
 nobleman. Then his fellow-servants were more envious 
 than ever, and they said among themselves: "How 
 shall we devise for him a task to do that cannot be 
 done, and so rid the world of him altogether ? " So 
 they bethought them, and then they went to the 
 nobleman and said : " Tremsin says that to get the 
 Bird Zhar was nothing, and that he is also able to 
 get the thrice-lovely Nastasia of the sea." Then the 
 nobleman again sent for Tremsin and said to him : 
 " Look now ! thou didst get for me the Bird Zhar, see 
 that thou now also gettest for me the thrice-lovely 
 Nastasia of the sea." " But I cannot, sir ! " said 
 Tremsin. "Answer me not so! "replied the noble-
 
 96 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 man, "for so sure as I've a sword, I'll slice thy head 
 off like a gourd an thou bring her not." Then 
 Tremsin went out to his horse and fell a-weeping. 
 " Wherefore dost thou weep ? " asked the faithful steed. 
 " Wherefore should I not weep ? " he replied. " My 
 master has given me a task that cannot be done." 
 "What task is that ? " " Why, to fetch him the 
 thrice-lovely Nastasia of the sea ! " " Oh-ho ! " 
 laughed the horse, " that is not a .task, but a trifle. 
 Go to thy master and say : Cause white tents to be 
 raised by the sea-shore, and buy wares of sundry kinds, 
 and wine and spirits in bottles and flasks, and the 
 thrice-lovely Nastasia will come and purchase thy 
 wares, and then thou mayest take her." 
 
 And the nobleman did so. He caused white tents 
 to be pitched by the sea-shore, and bought kerchiefs 
 and scarves and spread them out gaily, and made 
 great store of wine and brandy in bottles and flasks. 
 Then Tremsin rode towards the tents, and while he 
 was on the way, his horse said to him : " Now when 
 I go to graze, do thou lie down and feign to sleep. 
 Then the thrice-lovely Nastasia will appear and say : 
 ' What for thy wares ? ' but do thou keep silence. But 
 when she begins to taste of the wine and the brandy, 
 then she will go to sleep in the tent, and thou canst 
 catch her easily and hold her fast ! " Then Tremsin 
 lay down and feigned to sleep, and forth from the
 
 THE STORY OF TREMSIN. 97 
 
 sea came the thrice-lovely Nastasia, and went up to 
 the tents and asked : " Merchant, merchant, what for 
 thy wares ? " But he lay there, and moved never a 
 limb. She asked the same thing over and over again, 
 but, getting no answer, went into the tents where 
 stood the flasks and the bottles. She tasted of the 
 wine. How good it was ! She tasted of the brandy. 
 That was still better. So from tasting she fell to 
 drinking. First she drank a little, and then she drank 
 a little more, and at last she went asleep in the tent. 
 Then Tremsin seized the thrice-lovely Nastasia and 
 put her behind him on horseback, and carried her off 
 to the nobleman. The nobleman praised Tremsin 
 exceedingly, but the thrice-lovely Nastasia said : 
 " Look now ! since thou hast found the feather of the 
 Bird Zhar, and the Bird Zhar herself, since also thou 
 hast found me, thou must now fetch me also my little 
 coral necklace from the sea ! " Then Tremsin went 
 out to his faithful steed and wept sorely, and told 
 him all about it. And the horse said to him : " Did 
 I not tell thee that grievous woe would come upon 
 thee if thou didst pick up that feather?" But the 
 horse added : " Come ! weep not ! after all 'tis not a 
 task, but a trifle." Then they went along by the 
 sea, and the horse said to him : " Let me out to graze, 
 and then keep watch till thou see a crab come forth 
 from the sea, and then say to him : ' I'll catch thee/ "
 
 98 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 So Tremsin let his horse out to graze, and he himself 
 stood by the sea-shore, and watched and watched till 
 he saw a crab come swimming along. Then he said 
 to the crab : " I'll catch thee." " Oh ! seize me 
 not!" said the crab, "but let me get back into the 
 sea, and I'll be of great service to thee." "Very 
 well," said Tremsin, " but thou must get me from the 
 sea the coral necklace of the thrice-lovely Nastasia," 
 and with that he let the crab go back into the sea 
 again. Then the crab called together all her young 
 crabs, and they collected all the coral and brought it 
 ashore, and gave it to Tremsin. Then the faithful 
 steed came running up, and Tremsin mounted it, and 
 took the coral to the thrice-lovely Nastasia. " Well," 
 said Nastasia, " thou hast got the feather of the Bird 
 Zhar, thou hast got the Bird Zhar itself, thou hast got 
 me my coral, get me now from the sea my herd of 
 wild horses ! " Then Tremsin was sore distressed, 
 and went to his faithful steed and wept bitterly, and 
 told him all about it. "Well," said the horse, "this 
 time 'tis no trifle, but a real hard task. Go now to 
 thy master, and bid him buy twenty hides and twenty 
 poods 1 of pitch, and twenty poods of flax, and twenty 
 poods of hair." So Tremsin went to his master and 
 told him, and his master bought it all. Then Tremsin 
 loaded his horse with all this, and to the sea they 
 1 Apood = 401bs.
 
 THE STORY OF TREMSIN. 99 
 
 went together. And when they came to the sea the 
 horse said : " Now lay upon me the hides and the tar 
 and the flax, and lay them in this order : first a hide, 
 and then a pood of tar, and then a pood of flax, and 
 so on, laying them thus till they are all laid." 
 Tremsin did so. "And now," said the horse, "I 
 shall plunge into the sea, and when thou seest a large 
 red wave driving towards the shore, run away till 
 the red wave has passed, and thou dost see a white 
 wave coming, and then sit down on the shore and 
 keep watch. I shall then come out of the sea, and 
 after me the whole herd ; then thou must strike 
 with the horse-hair the horse which gallops imme- 
 diately after me, and he will not be too strong for 
 thee." So the faithful steed plunged into the sea, and 
 Tremsin sat down on the shore and watched. The 
 horse swam to a bosquet that rose out of the sea, and 
 there the herd of sea-horses was grazing. When the 
 strong charger of Nastasia saw him and the hides he 
 carried on his back, it set off after him at full tilt, and 
 the whole herd followed the strong charger of Nastasia. 
 They drove the horse with the hides into the sea, and 
 pursued him. Then the strong charger of Nastasia 
 caught up the steed of Tremsin and tore off one of his 
 hides, and began to worry it with his teeth and tear it 
 to fragments as he ran. Then he caught him up a 
 second time, and tore off another hide, and began to
 
 100 
 
 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 worry that in like manner till lie had torn it also 
 to shreds ; and thus he ran after Tremsin's steed for 
 seventy miles, till he had torn off all the hides, and 
 worried them to bits. But Tremsin sat upon the sea- 
 shore till he saw the large white billow bounding in, 
 and behind the billow came his own horse, and behind 
 
 his own horse came the thrice-terrible charger of the 
 thrice-lovely Nastasia, with the whole herd at his 
 heels. Tremsin struck him full on the forehead with 
 the twenty poods of hair, and immediately he stood 
 stock still. Then Tremsin threw a halter over him, 
 mounted, and drove the whole herd to the thrice- 
 lovely Nastasia. Nastasia praised Tremsin for his
 
 THE STORY OF TREMSIN. 101 
 
 prowess, and said to him : " Well, thou hast got the 
 feather of the Bird Zhar, thou hast got the Bird Zhar 
 itself, thou hast got me my coral and my herd of 
 horses, now milk my mare and put the milk into 
 three vats, so that there may be milk hot as boiling 
 water in the first vat, lukewarm milk in the second 
 vat, and icy cold milk in the third vat." Then 
 Tremsin went to his faithful steed and wept bitterly, 
 and the horse said to him: "Wherefore do^t thou 
 weep ? " " Why should I not weep ? " cried he ; " the 
 thrice-lovely Nastasia has given me a task to do that 
 cannot be done. I am to fill three vats with the milk 
 from her mare, and the milk must be boiling hot in 
 the first vat, and lukewarm in the second, and icy 
 cold in the third vat." " Oh-ho ! " cried the horse, 
 " that is not a task, but a trifle. I'll caress the mare, 
 and then go on nibbling till thou hast milked all 
 three vats full." So Tremsin did so. He milked the 
 three vats full, and the milk in the first vat was 
 boiling hot, and in the second vat warm, and in the 
 third vat freezing cold. When all was ready the 
 thrice-lovely Nastasia said to Tremsin : " Now, leap 
 first of all into the cold vat, and then into the warm 
 vat, and then into the boiling hot vat ! " Tremsin 
 leaped into the first vat, and leaped out again an old 
 man ; he leaped into the second vat, and leaped out 
 again a youth ; he leaped into the third vat, but when
 
 102 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 he leaped out again, lie was so young arid handsome 
 that no pen can describe it, and no tale can tell of 
 it. Then the thrice-lovely Nastasia herself leaped 
 into the vats. She leaped into the first vat, and 
 came out an old woman ; she leaped into the second 
 vat, and came out a young maid ; but when she leaped 
 out of the third vat, she was so handsome and goodly 
 that no pen can describe it, and no tale can tell of i$. 
 Then the thrice-lovely Nastasia made the nobleman 
 leap into the vats. He leaped into the first vat, and 
 became quite old ; he leaped into the second vat, and 
 became quite young ; he leaped into the third vat, 
 and burst to pieces. Then Tremsin took unto himself 
 the thrice-lovely Nastasia to wife, and they lived 
 happily together on the nobleman's estate, and the 
 evil robbers they drove right away.
 
 THE SERPENT- WIFE. 
 
 HERE was once a gentleman who 
 had a labourer who never went 
 about in company. His fellow- 
 servants did all the} 7 could to 
 make him come with them, and 
 now and then enticed him into 
 the tavern, but they could never get him to stay there 
 long, and he always wandered away by himself through 
 the woods. One day he went strolling about in the 
 forest as usual, far from any village and the haunts 
 of men, when he came upon a huge Serpent, which 
 wriggled straight up to him and said : " I am going 
 to eat thee on the spot ! " But the labourer, who was 
 used to the loneliness of the forest, replied : " Very 
 . well, eat me if thou hast a mind to ! "< Then the 
 Serpent said : " Nay ! I will not eat thee ; only do 
 what I tell thee ! " And the Serpent began to tell 
 the maiLAvhat he had to do. "Turn back home," it
 
 104 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 said, " and them wilt find thy master angry because 
 them hast tarried so long, and there was none to work 
 for him, so that his corn has to remain standing in 
 the field. Then he will send thee to bring in his 
 sheaves, and I'll help thee. Load the wagon well, 
 but don't take quite all the sheaves from the field. 
 Leave one little sheaf behind ; more than that thou 
 needst not leave, but that thou must leave. Then 
 beg thy master to let thee have this little sheaf by 
 way of wages. Take no money from him, but that 
 one little sheaf only. Then, when thy master has 
 given thee this sheaf, burn it, and. a fair lady will 
 leap out of it ; take her to wife ! " 
 
 The labourer obeyed, and went and worked for his 
 master as the Serpent had told him. He went out 
 into the field to bring home his master's corn, and 
 marvellously he managed it. He did all the carrying 
 himself, and loaded the wagon so heavily that it 
 creaked beneath its burden. Then when he had 
 brought home all his master's corn, he begged that 
 he might have the remaining little sheaf for himself. 
 He refused to be rewarded for his smart labour, he 
 would take no money; he wanted nothing for himself, 
 he said, but the little sheaf he had left in the field. 
 So his master let him have the sheaf. Then he went 
 out by himself into the field, burnt the sheaf, just as 
 the Serpent had told him, and immediately a lovely
 
 THE SERPENT-WIFE. 105 
 
 lady leapt out of it. The labourer forthwith took 
 and married her ; and now he began to look out for 
 a place to build him a hut upon. His master gave 
 him a place where he might build his hut, and his 
 wife helped him so much with the building of it that 
 it seemed to him as if he himself never laid a hand 
 to it. His hut grew up as quick as thought, and 
 it contained everything that they wanted. The 
 man could not understand it ; he could only walk 
 about and wonder at it. Wherever he looked there 
 was everything quite spick and span and ready, for 
 use : none in the whole village had a better house 
 than he. 
 
 And so he might have lived in all peace and 
 prosperity to the end of his days had not his desires 
 outstripped his deserts. He had three fields of 
 standing corn, and when he came home one day his 
 labourers said to him : " Thy corn is not gathered 
 in yet, though it is standing all ripe on its stalks." 
 Now the season was getting on, and for all the care 
 and labour of his wife, the corn was still standing in 
 the field. "Why, what's the meaning of this?" 
 thought he. Then in his anger he cried : " I see 
 how it is. Once a serpent, always a serpent ! " He 
 was quite beside himself all the way home, and was 
 very wroth with his wife because of the corn. 
 
 When he got home he went straight to his chamber
 
 106 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 to lie down on his pillo\v. There was no sign of 
 his wife, but a huge serpent was just coiling itself 
 round and round and settling down in the middle of 
 the pillow. Then he called to mind how, once, his 
 wife had said to him : " Beware, for Heaven's sake, of 
 ever calling me a serpent. I will not suffer thee to 
 call me by that name, and if thou dost thou shalt 
 lose thy wife." He called this to mind now, but it 
 was already too late ; "what he had said could not be 
 unsaid. Then he reflected what a good wife he had 
 had, and how she herself had sought him out, and 
 how she had waited upon him continually and done 
 him boundless good, and yet he had not been able to 
 refrain his tongue, so that now, maybe, he would be 
 without a wife for the rest of his days. His heart 
 grew heavy within him as he thought of all this, 
 and he wept bitterly at the harm he had done 
 to himself. Then the Serpent said to him : " Weep 
 no more. What is to be, must be. Is it thy 
 standing corn thou art grieved about ? Go up 
 to thy barn, and there thou wilt find all thy corn 
 lying, to the very last little grain. Have I not 
 brought it all home and threshed it for thee, and set 
 everything in order ? And now I must depart to the 
 place where thou didst first find me." Then she 
 crept off, and the man followed her, weeping and 
 mourning all the time as for one already dead.
 
 108 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 When they reached the forest she stopped and coiled 
 herself round and round beneath a hazel-nut bush. 
 Then she said to the man : " Now kiss me once, but 
 see to it that I do not bite thee ! " Then he kissed 
 her once, and she wound herself round a branch of a 
 tree and asked him: "What dost thou feel within 
 thee ? " He answered : " At the moment when I 
 kissed thee it seemed to me as if I knew everything 
 that was going on in the world ! " Then she said to 
 him again: "Kiss me a second time!" "And what 
 dost thou feel now ? " she asked when he had kissed 1 
 her again. " Now," said he, " I understand all 
 languages which are spoken amongst men." Then 
 she said to him : " And now kiss me a third time, but 
 this will be for the last time." Then he kissed the 
 Serpent for the last time, and she said to him : 
 " What dost thou feel now ? " " Now," said he, " I 
 know all that is going on under the earth." " Go 
 now," said she, " to the Tsar, and he will give thee 
 his daughter for the knowledge thou hast. But pray 
 to God for poor me, for now I must be and remain a 
 serpent again." And with that the Serpent uncoiled 
 herself and disappeared among the bushes, but the 
 man went away and wedded the Tsar's daughter.
 
 THE STORY OF UNLUCKY DANIEL. 
 
 HERE was once upon a time a 
 youth called Unlucky Dan. 
 Wherever he went, and what- 
 ever he did, and with whomso- 
 ever he served, nothing came of 
 it : all his labour was like spilt 
 water, he got no good from it. One day he took 
 service with a new master. " I'll serve thee a 
 whole year," said he, "for a piece of sown wheat- 
 land." His master agreed, and he entered into 
 his service, and at the same time he sowed his 
 piece of wheat-land. His wheat shot up rapidly. 
 When his master's wheat was in the stalk, his was 
 already in the ear, and when his master's wheat 
 was in the ear, his own wheat was already ripe. 
 " I'll reap it to-morrow," thought he. The same 
 night a cloud arose, the hail poured down, and 
 destroyed his wheat altogether. Daniel fell a-weep-
 
 110 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 ing. " I'll go serve another master," he cried, 
 " perhaps God will then prosper me ! " So he went 
 to another master. " I'll serve thee for a whole 
 year," said he, " if thou wilt give me that wild colt." 
 So he stopped and served him, and by the end of the 
 year he trained the wild colt so well that he made a 
 carriage-horse out of it. " Oh-ho ! " thought he, " I 
 shall take away something with me this time ! " The 
 same night the wolves made an inroad upon the 
 stables and tore the horse to pieces. Daniel fell 
 a-weeping. " I'll go to another master," said he, 
 "perhaps I shall be luckier there." So he went to 
 a third master, and on this master's tomb lay a large 
 stone. Whence it came none knew, and it was so 
 heavy that none could move it, though they tried for 
 ages. " I'll serve thee a year," said he, " for that 
 stone." The master agreed, and he entered his 
 service. Then a change came over the stone, and 
 divers flowers began to grow upon it. On one side 
 they were red, on the second side silver, and on the 
 third side golden. "Oh-ho," thought Daniel, "that 
 stone, at any rate, will soon be mine. Nobody can 
 move it." But the next morning a thunder-bolt 
 descended and struck the stone, and shivered it to 
 atoms. Then Daniel fell a-weeping, and lamented 
 that God had given him nothing, though he had 
 served for so many years. But the people said to
 
 THE STORY OF UNLUCKY DANIEL, 111 
 
 him : " Listen now 1 thou that art so unlucky, why 
 dost thou not go to the Tsar ? He is the father of us 
 all, and will therefore certainly care for thee ! " So 
 he listened to them and went, and the Tsar gave him 
 a place at his court. One day the Tsar said to him : 
 " I marvel that thou art so unlucky, for do whatso- 
 ever thou wilt, thou art none the better for it. I 
 would fain requite thee for all thy labours." Then 
 he took and filled three barrels, the first with gold, 
 and the second with coal, and the third with sand, 
 and said to Daniel : " Look now ! if thou dost pitch 
 upon that which is filled with gold, thou shalt be a 
 Tsar ; if thou dost choose the one that is filled with 
 coal, thou shalt be a blacksmith ; but if thou dost 
 pick out the one that is full of sand, why then thou 
 art indeed hopelessly unlucky, and out of my tsardom 
 thou must go straightway, yet I will give thee a 
 horse and armour to take along with thee." So 
 Daniel was brought to the place where were the three 
 barrels, and went about them and felt and felt them 
 one after the other. " This one is full of gold ! " said 
 he. They broke it open and it was full of sand. 
 " Well," said the Tsar, "I see that thou art hope- 
 lessly unlucky. Depart from my tsardom, for I have 
 no need at all of such as thou." Then he gave him 
 a charger and armour, and the full equipment of a 
 Cossack, and sent him awav.
 
 112 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 He went on and on for a whole day, he w r ent on 
 and on for a second day, and there was nothing to 
 eat, either for his horse or himself. He went for a 
 third day, and in the distance he saw a hay-cock. 
 " That will do for my horse, at any rate," thought he, 
 " even if it is of no good to me." So he went up 
 to it, and immediately it burst into flames. Daniel 
 began to weep, when he heard a voice crying 
 piteously : " Save me, save me ! I am burning ! " 
 "How can I save thee," he cried, "when I myself 
 cannot draw near 1 " " Oh ! give me thy weapon ! " 
 cried the voice, "and I'll seize hold of it, and then 
 thou canst pull me out." So he stretched forth his 
 weapon, and drew forth a goodly serpent, such as is 
 only known of in old folk songs. And she said to 
 him : " Since thou hast drawn me out, thou must also 
 take me home." " How shall I carry thee ? " asked 
 he. " Carry me on thy horse, and in whatsoever 
 direction I turn my head and his, thither go." So 
 he took her upon his horse, and they went on and on 
 till they came to a court so splendid that it was a 
 delight to look at it. Then she glided down from his 
 charger and said : " Wait here, and I'll soon be with 
 thee again/' and with that she wriggled under the 
 gate. He stood there and stood and waited and 
 waited till he wept from sheer weariness ; but, at 
 last, she came out again in the shape of a lovely
 
 114 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 damsel in gorgeous raiment, and opened the gate for 
 him. " Lead in thy horse," said she, " and eat and 
 rest awhile." So they went into the courtyard, and 
 in the midst of it stood two springs. The lady drew 
 out of one of these, springs a little glass of water, 
 and strewing a handful of oats beside it, said ; 
 " Fasten up thy horse here ! " " What ! " thought 
 he, " for these three days we have had nought to eat 
 or drink, and now she mocks us with a handful of 
 oats ! " Then they went together to the guest- 
 chamber, and she gave him there a little glass of 
 water and a small piece of wheaten bread. " Why, 
 what is this for a hungry man like me ? " thought he. 
 But when he chanced to glance through the window, 
 he saw that the whole courtyard was full of oats 
 and water, and that his horse had already eaten its 
 fill. Then he nibbled his little piece of wheaten cake 
 and sipped his water, and his hunger was immediately 
 satisfied. " Well," said the lady, " hast thou eaten 
 thy fill?" "That I have," he replied. " Then lie 
 down and rest awhile," said she. And the next 
 morning, when he rose up, she said to him : " Give 
 me thy horse, thy armour, and thy raiment, and I'll 
 give thee mine in exchange." Then she gave him 
 her shift and her weapon, and said : " This sword is 
 of such a sort that, if thou do but wave it, all men 
 will fall down before thee ; and as for this shift, when
 
 THE STORY OF UNLUCKY DANIEL. 115 
 
 once tbou hast it on, none will be able to seize thee. 
 And now go on thy way till thou come to an inn, and 
 there they will tell thee that the Tsar of that land is 
 seeking warriors. Go and offer thyself to him, and 
 thou shalt marry his daughter, but tell her not the 
 truth for seven years ! " Then they took leave of 
 each other, and he departed. He came to the inn, 
 and there they asked him whence he came. And 
 when they knew that he came from a strange land, 
 they said to him : "A strange land has attacked our 
 Tsar, and he cannot defend himself, for a mighty 
 warrior has conquered his tsardom and carried off his 
 daughter, and worries him to death. " Show me the 
 way to your Tsar," said Daniel. Then they showed 
 him, and he went. When he came to the Tsar, he 
 said to him : " I will subdue this strange land for 
 thee. All the army I want is a couple of Cossacks, 
 but they must be picked men." Then the heralds 
 went through the tsardom till they had found these 
 two Cossacks, and Daniel went forth with them into 
 the endless steppes, and there he bade them lie down 
 and sleep while he kept watch. And while they 
 slept the army of the strange country came upon 
 them, and cried to Daniel to turn back if he would 
 escape destruction. And then they began to fire 
 with their guns and cannons, and they fired so many 
 balls that the bodies of the two Cossacks were quite
 
 116 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 covered by them. Then Daniel waved his sword and 
 smote, and only those whom his blows did not reach 
 escaped alive. So he vanquished them all, and con- 
 quered that strange land, and came back and married 
 the Tsar's daughter, and they lived happily together. 
 But counsellors from the strange land whispered 
 dark sayings in the ears of the Tsarivna. "What is 
 
 this fellow that thou hast taken to thyself? Who is 
 he, and whence ? Find out for us wherein lies his 
 strength, that we may destroy him and take thee 
 away." Then she began asking him, and he said 
 to her : " Look now ! all my strength is in these 
 gloves." Then she waited till he was asleep, and 
 drew them off him, and gave them to the people
 
 THE STORY OF VN LUCKY DANIEL. 117 
 
 from the strange land. And the next day he went 
 hunting, and the evil counsellors surrounded and shot 
 at him with their darts, and beat him with the 
 gloves ; but it was all in vain. Then he waved his 
 sword, and whomsoever he struck fell to the ground, 
 and he clapped them all in prison. But his wife 
 caressed and wheedled him again, and said : " Nay, 
 but tell me, wherein doth thy strength lie?" "My 
 strength, darling," said he, "lies in my boots." Then 
 she drew off his boots while he slept, and gave them 
 to his enemies. And they fell upon him again as 
 he went out, but again he waved his sword, and as 
 many as he struck fell to the ground, and he put 
 them all in prison. Then his wife wheedled and 
 caressed him the third time. " Nay, but tell me, 
 darling," quoth she, " wherein doth thy strength 
 lie ? " Then he was w T earied with her beseeching, and 
 said to her : " My strength lies in this sword of mine, 
 and in my shirt, arid so long as I have this shirt 
 on, nobody can touch me." Then she caressed and 
 fondled him, and said : " Thou shouldst take a bath, 
 my darling, and well wash thyself. My father 
 always did so." So he let himself be persuaded, and 
 no sooner had he undressed, than she changed all his 
 clothes for others, and gave his sword and his shirt 
 to his enemies. Then he came out of his bath, and 
 immediately they fell upon him, cut him to pieces,
 
 118 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 put him in a sack, placed him on a horse, and let the 
 horse go where it would. So the horse went on and 
 on, and wandered farther and farther, till it came to 
 the old place where he had stayed with the Serpent 
 Lady. And when his benefactress saw him, she said : 
 " Why, if poor unlucky Daniel hasn't fallen into a 
 scrape again." And immediately she took him out 
 of the sack, and fitted his pieces together, and washed 
 them clean, and took healing water from one of 
 the springs, and living water from the other, and 
 sprinkled him all over, and he stood there sound and 
 strong again. "Now, did I not bid thee tell not 
 thy wife the -truth for seven years ? " said she, " and 
 thou wouldst not take heed." And he stood there, 
 and spoke never a word. " Well, now, rest awhile," 
 she continued, "for thou dost need it, and then I'll 
 give thee something else." So the next day she gave 
 him a chain, and said to him : " Listen ! Go to that 
 inn where thou didst go before, -and early next 
 morning, whilst thou art bathing, bid the innkeeper 
 beat thee with all his might on the back with this 
 chain, and so thou wilt get back to thy wife, but tell 
 her not a word of what has happened." So he went 
 to this same inn and passed the night there, and, on 
 the morrow, he called the innkeeper, and said to 
 him : " Look now ! the first time I dip my head in 
 the water, beat me about the back with this chain
 
 THE STORY OF UNLUCKY DANIEL. 119 
 
 as hard as thou canst." So the innkeeper waited till 
 he had ducked his head under the water, and then he 
 thrashed him with the chain, whereupon he turned 
 into a horse so beautiful that it was a delight to look 
 upon it. The innkeeper was so glad, so glad. " So 
 I've got rid of one guest only to get another one," 
 thought he. He lost no time in taking the horse to 
 the fair, and offered it for sale, and among those who 
 saw it was the Tsar himself. " What dost thou ask 
 for it ? " said the Tsar. " I ask five thousand rubles." 
 Then the Tsar counted down the money and took the 
 horse away. When he got to his court, he made a 
 great to-do about his beautiful horse, and cried to his 
 daughter : " Come and see, dear little heart ! what a 
 fine horse I have bought." Then she came forth to 
 look at it ; but the moment she saw it, she cried : 
 " That horse will be my ruin. Thou must kill it on 
 the spot." " Nay, dear little heart ! how can I do 
 such a thing ? >v said the Tsar. " Slay it thou must, 
 and slay it thou shalt ! " cried the Tsarivna. So they 
 sent for a knife, and began sharpening it, when one 
 of the maidens of the court took pity on the horse, 
 and cried : "Oh, my good, my darling horse, so 
 lovely as thou art, and yet to kill thee ! " But the 
 horse neighed and went to her, and said : " Look 
 now ! take the first drop of blood which flows from 
 me, and bury it in the garden." Then they slew the
 
 120 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 horse, but the maiden did as she was told, and took 
 the drop of blood and buried it in the garden. And 
 from this drop of blood there sprung up a cherry- 
 tree ; and its first leaf was golden, and its second leaf 
 was of richer colour still, and its third leaf was yet 
 another colour, and every leaf upon it was different to 
 the others. One day the Tsar went out walking in 
 his garden, and when he saw this cherry-tree he fell in 
 love with it, and praised it to his daughter. " Look ! " 
 said he, " vrhat a beauteous cherry-tree we have in 
 our garden ! Who can tell frcrn whence it sprung ? " 
 But the moment the Tsarivna saw it, she cried : 
 <: That tree will be my ruin ! thou must cut it down." 
 "Nay!" said he, ''how can I cut down the fairest 
 ornament of my garden ? " " Down it must come, 
 and down it shall come ! " replied the Tsarivna. Then 
 they sent for an axe and made ready to cut it down, 
 but the damsel came running up, and said : " Oh, 
 darling little cherry-tree, darling little cherry-tree, 
 so fair thou art ! From a horse hast thou sprung, 
 and now they will fell thee down before thou hast 
 lived a day ! " "Never mind," said the cherry-tree ; 
 " take the first chip that falls from me, and throw it 
 into the water." Then they cut down the cherry- 
 tree ; but the girl did as she was bidden, and threw 
 the first chip from the cherry-tree into the water, 
 and out of it swam a drake so beautiful that it was
 
 THE STORY OF UNLUCKY DANIEL. 121 
 
 a delight to look upon it. Then the Tsar went 
 a-hunting, and saw it swimming in the water, and it 
 was so close that he could touch it with his hand. 
 The Tsar took off his clothes and plunged into the 
 water after it, and it enticed him farther and farther 
 away from the shore. Then the drake swam towards 
 the spot where the Tsar had left his clothes, and 
 when it came up to them it changed into a man 
 and put them on, and behold ! the man was Daniel. 
 Then he called to the Tsar : " Swim hither, swim 
 hither ! " The Tsar swam up, but when he swam 
 ashore Daniel met and killed him, and after that he 
 went back to court in the Tsar's clothes. Then all 
 the courtiers hailed him as the Tsar, but he said : 
 " Where is that damsel who was here just now ? " 
 They brought her instantly before him. " Well," said 
 he to her, " thou hast been a second mother to me, 
 and now thou shalt be my second wife ! " So he 
 lived with her and was happy, but he caused his first 
 wife to be tied to the tails of wild horses and torn to 
 pieces in the endless steppes.
 
 THE SPARROW AND THE BUSH. 
 
 SPARROW once Hew down upon 
 a bush and said : " Little bush, 
 give good little sparrow a 
 swing." " I won't ! " said the 
 little bush. Then the sparrow 
 was angry, and went to the goat 
 and said : " Goat, goat, nibble bush, bush won't 
 give good little sparrow a swing." " I won't ! " said 
 the goat. Then the sparrow went to the wolf and 
 said : " Wolf, wolf, eat goat, goat won't nibble bush, 
 bush won't give good little sparrow a swing." 
 " I won't ! " said the wolf. Then the sparrow went 
 to the people and said : " Good people, kill wolf, 
 wolf won't eat goat, goat won't nibble bush, bush 
 won't give good little sparrow a swing." " We 
 won't ! " said the people. Then the sparrow went to 
 the Tartars : " Tartars, Tartars, slay people, people 
 won't kill wolf, wolf won't eat goat, goat won't 
 nibble bush, bush won't give good little sparrow a
 
 124 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 swing." But the Tartars said : " We won't slay the 
 people ! " and the people said : " We won't kill the 
 wolf!" and the wolf said: "I won't eat the goat!" 
 aud the goat said : "I won't nibble the bush ! " 
 and the bush said : "I won't give the good little 
 sparrow a swing." " Go ! " said the bush, " to the 
 fire, for the Tartars won't slay the people, and the 
 people won't kill the wolf, and the wolf won't eat 
 the goat, and the goat won't nibble the bush, and 
 the bush won't give the dear little sparrow a 
 swing." But the fire also said : " I won't ! " (they 
 were all alike) " go to the water," said he. So 
 the sparrow went to the water and said : " Come 
 water, quench fire, fire won't burn Tartars, Tartars 
 won't slay people, people won't kill wolf, wolf won't 
 eat goat, goat won't nibble bush, bush won't give 
 good little sparrow a swing." But the water also 
 said : " I won't ! " So the sparrow went to the 
 ox and said : " Ox, ox, drink water, water won't 
 quench fire, fire won't burn Tartars, Tartars won't 
 slay people, people won't kill wolf, wolf won't 
 eat goat, goat won't nibble bush, bush won't give 
 little sparrow a swing." " I won't ! " said the ox. 
 Then the sparrow went to the pole-axe and said : 
 " Pole-axe, pole-axe, strike ox, ox won't drink 
 water, water won't quench fire, fire won't burn 
 Tartars, Tartars won't slay people, people won't kill
 
 THE SPARROW AND THE BUSH. 125 
 
 wolf, wolf won't eat goat, goat won't nibble bush, 
 bush won't give little sparrow a swing." " I 
 won't ! " said the pole-axe. So the sparrow went 
 to the worms and said : " Worms, worms, gnaw 
 pole-axe, pole-axe won't strike ox, ox won't drink 
 water, water wx>n't quench fire, fire won't burn 
 Tartars, Tartars won't slay people, people won't kill 
 wolf, wolf won't eat goat, goat won't nibble bush, 
 bush won't give little sparrow a swing." " We 
 won't ! " said the worms. Then the sparrow went 
 to the hen and said : " Hen, hen, peck worms, 
 worms won't gnaw pole-axe, pole-axe won't strike ox, 
 ox won't drink water, water won't quench fire, fire 
 won't burn Tartars, Tartars won't slay people, people 
 won't kill wolf, wolf won't eat goat, goat won't nibble 
 bush, bush won't give little sparrow a swing." 
 " I won't ! " said the hen, " but go to the sparrow- 
 hawk, he ought to give the first push, or why is 
 he called the Pusher 1 ! " So the sparrow went to 
 the sparrow-hawk and said : " Come, pusher, seize 
 hen, hen won't peck worms, worms won't gnaw pole- 
 axe, pole-axe won't strike ox, ox won't drink water, 
 water won't quench fire, fire won't burn Tartars, 
 Tartars won't slay people, people won't kill wolf, wolf 
 won't eat goat, goat won't nibble bush, bush won't 
 give little sparrow a swing." 
 
 1 Shulyak means both sparrow-hawk and push.
 
 126 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 Then the sparrow-hawk began to seize the hen, the 
 hen began to peck the worms, the worms began to 
 gnaw the pole-axe, the pole-axe began to hit 'the ox, 
 the ox began to drink the water, the water began to 
 quench the fire, the fire began to burn the Tartars, 
 the Tartars began to slay the people, the people began 
 to kill the wolf, the wolf began to eat the goat, the 
 goat began to nibble the bush, and the bush cried 
 out 
 
 " Swing away, swing away, swi-i-i-i-ing ! 
 Little daddy sparrow, have your fli-i-i-ing ! "
 
 THE OLD DOG. 
 
 HERE was once a man who had a dog. 
 While the dog was young he was 
 made much of, but w y hen he grew old 
 he was "driven out of doors. So he 
 went and lay outside the fence, and 
 a wolf came up to him and said : " Doggy, why 
 so clown in the mouth ? " " While I was young," 
 said the dog, " they made much of me ; but now 
 that I am old they beat me." The wolf said : " I 
 see thy master in the field ; go after him, and 
 perchance he'll give thee something/' " Nay," said 
 the dog, " they won't even let me walk about the 
 fields now, they only beat me." " Look now," said 
 the wolf, " I'm sorry, and will make things better 
 for thee. Thy mistress, I see, has put her child 
 down beneath that wagon. I'll seize it, and make 
 off with it. Run thou after me and bark, and 
 though thou hast no teeth left, touzle me as much as 
 thou canst, so that thy mistress may see it."

 
 THE OLD DOG. 129 
 
 - 
 So the wolf seized the child, and ran away with it, 
 
 and the dog ran after him, and began to touzle him. 
 His mistress saw it, and made after them with a 
 harrow, crying at the same time : " Husband, hus- 
 band ! the wolf has got the child ! Gabriel, Gabriel ! 
 don't you see ? The wolf has got the child ! " Then 
 the man chased "the wolf, and got back the child. 
 " Brave old dog ! " said he ; "you are old and toothless, 
 and yet you can give help in time of need, and will 
 not let your master's child be stolen." And hence- 
 forth the woman and her husband gave the old dog a 
 large lump of bread every day.
 
 THE FOX AND THE CAT. 
 
 N a certain forest there once lived a 
 fox, and near to the fox lived a man 
 who had a cat that had been a good 
 mouser in its youth, but was now old 
 and half blind. The man didn't want 
 puss any longer, but not liking to 
 kill it, took it out into the forest and 
 lost it there. Then the fox came up and said : " Why, 
 j\ir. Shaggy Matthew ! How d'ye do ! What brings 
 you here ? " " Alas ! " said Pussy, " my master loved 
 me as long as I could bite, but now that I can bite no 
 longer and have left off catching mice and I used 
 to catch them finely once he doesn't like to kill 
 me, but he has left me in the wood where I must 
 perish miserably." " No, dear Pussy ! " said the fox ; 
 " you leave it to me, and I'll help you to get your 
 daily bread." " You are very good, dear little sister 
 foxey ! " said the cat, and the fox built him a little 
 shed with a garden round it to walk about in.
 
 132 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 Now one day the hare came to steal the man's 
 cabbage. " Kreem-kreem-kreem ! " he squeaked. But 
 the cat popped his head out of the window, and when 
 he saw the hare, he put up his back and stuck up 
 his tail and said : " Ft-t-t-t-t-Frrrrrrr ! " The hare 
 was frightened and ran away and told the bear, the 
 wolf, and the wild boar all about it. " Never mind," 
 said the bear, " I tell you what, we'll all four give a 
 banquet, and invite the fox and the cat, and do for 
 the pair of them. Now, look here ! I'll steal the 
 man's mead ; and you, Mr. Wolf, steal his fat-pot ; and 
 you, Mr. Wildboar, root up his fruit-trees ; and you* 
 Mr. Bunny, go and invite the fox and the cat to 
 dinner." 
 
 So they made everything ready as the bear had 
 said, and the hare ran off to invite the guests. He 
 came beneath the window and said : " We invite your 
 little ladyship Foxey-Woxey, together with Mr. Shaggy 
 Matthew, to dinner " and back he ran agnin. " But 
 you should have told them to bring their spoons with 
 them," said the bear. " Oh, what a head I've got ! if 
 I didn't quite forget ! " cried the hare, and back he 
 went again, ran beneath the window and cried : 
 " Mind you bring your spoons ! " " Very well," said 
 the fox. 
 
 So the cat and the fox went to the banquet, and 
 when the cat saw the bacon, he put up his back and
 
 THE FOX AND THE CAT. 133 
 
 stuck out his tail, and cried : " Mee-oo, mee-oo I " 
 with all his might. But they thought he said : 
 " Ma-lo, raa-lo ! " 1 " What ! " said the bear, who 
 was hiding behind the beeches with the other beasts, 
 " here have all we four been getting together all we 
 could, and this pig- faced cat calls it too little ! What 
 a monstrous cat he must be to have such an appe- 
 tite ! " So they were all four very frightened, and 
 the bear ran up a tree, and the others hid where they 
 could. But when the cat saw the boar's bristles 
 sticking out from behind the bushes he thought it 
 was a mouse, and put up his back again and cried : 
 " Ft ! f t ! f t ! Frrrrrrr ! " Then they were more 
 frightened than ever. And the boar went into a bush 
 still further off, and the wolf went behind an oak, and 
 the bear got down from the tree, and climbed up into 
 a bigger one, and the hare ran right away. 
 
 But the cat remained in the midst of all the good 
 things and ate away at the bacon, and the little fox 
 gobbled up the honey, and they ate and ate till they 
 couldn't eat any more, and then they both went home 
 licking their paws. 
 
 1 What a little ! what a little !
 
 THE STRAW OX. 
 
 HERE was once upou a time an old 
 man and an old woman. The old 
 man worked in the fields as a 
 pitch-burner, while the old woman 
 sat at home and spun flax. They 
 were so poor that they could save 
 nothing at all ; all their earnings 
 went in bare food, and when that was gone there was 
 nothing left. At last the old woman had a good 
 idea : " Look now, husband," cried she, " make me a 
 straw ox, and smear it all over with tar." " Why, 
 you foolish woman ! " said he, " w r hat's the good of an 
 ox of that sort?" "Never mind," said she, "you 
 just make it. I know what I am about." What was 
 the poor man to do ? He set to work and made the 
 ox of straw, and smeared it all over with tar. 
 
 The night passed away, and at early dawn the old 
 woman took her distaff, and drove the straw ox out
 
 THE STRAW OX. 135 
 
 into the steppe to graze, and she herself sat clown 
 behind a hillock, and began spinning her flax, and 
 cried : " Graze away, little ox, while I spin my flax ; 
 graze away, little ox, while I spin my flax ! " And 
 while she spun, her head drooped down and she began 
 to doze, and while she was dozing, from behind the 
 dark wood and from the back of the huge pines a 
 bear came rushing out upon the ox and said : " Who 
 are you ? Speak and tell me ! " And the ox said : 
 " A three-year-old heifer am I, made of straw and 
 smeared with tar." " Oh ! " said the bear, " stuffed 
 with straw and trimmed with tar, are you ? Then 
 give me of your straw and tar, that I may patch up my 
 ragged fur again ! " " Take some," said the ox, and 
 the bear fell upon him and began to tear away at the 
 tar. He tore and tore, and buried his teeth in it till 
 he found he couldn't let go again. He tugged and 
 he tugged, but it was no good, and the ox dragged 
 him gradually off goodness knows where. Then the 
 old woman awoke, and there was no ox to be seen. 
 " Alas ! old fool that I am ! " cried she, " perchance it 
 has gone home." Then she quickly caught up her 
 distaff and spinning-board, threw them over her 
 shoulders, and hastened off home, and she saw that 
 the ox had dragged the bear up to the fence, and in 
 she went to her old man. " Dad, dad !" she cried, 
 " look, look ! the ox has brought us a bear. Come
 
 136 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 out and kill it ! " Then the old man jumped up, tore 
 off the bear, tied him up, and threw him in the 
 cellar. 
 
 Next morning, between dark and dawn, the old 
 woman took her distaff and drove the ox into the 
 steppe to graze. She herself sat down by a mound, 
 began spinning, and said : " Graze, graze away, little 
 ox, while I spin my flax ! Graze, graze away, little 
 ox, while I spin my flax ! " And while she spun, her 
 head drooped down and she dozed. And, lo ! from 
 behind the dark wood, from the back of the huge 
 pines, a grey wolf came rushing out upon the ox and 
 said : " Who are you ? come, tell me ! " " I am a 
 three-year-old heifer, stuffed with straw and trimmed 
 with tar," said the ox. " Oh ! trimmed with tar, are 
 you ? Then give me of your tar to tar my sides, that 
 the dogs and the sons of dogs tear me not ! " "Take 
 some." said the ox. And with that the wolf fell 
 upon him and tried to tear the tar off. He tugged 
 and tugged, and tore with his teeth, but could get 
 none off. Then he tried to let go, and couldn't ; 
 tug and worry as he might, it was no good. When 
 the old woman woke, there was no heifer in sight. 
 " Maybe my heifer has gone home ! " she cried ; " I'll 
 go home and see." When she got there she was 
 (istonished, for by the palings stood the ox with the 
 wolf still tugging at it. She ran and told her old
 
 ^4 A-'." '"' lSffi^.'^%i;
 
 138 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 man, and her old man came and threw the wolf into 
 the cellar also. 
 
 On the third day the old woman again drove her 
 ox into the pastures to graze, and sat down by a 
 mound and dozed off. Then a fox came running 
 up. "Who are you?" it asked the ox. "I'm a 
 three-year-old heifer, stuffed with straw and daubed 
 with tar." " Then give me some of your tar to 
 smear my sides with, when those dogs and sons 
 of dogs tear my hide ! " " Take some," said the 
 ox. Then the fox fastened her teeth in him and 
 couldn't draw them out again. The old woman told 
 her old man, and he took and cast the fox into the 
 cellar in the same way. And after that they caught 
 Pussy Swift-foot l likewise. 
 
 So when he had got them all safely, the old man 
 sat down on a bench before the cellar and began 
 sharpening a knife. And the bear said to him : 
 " Tell me, daddy, "what are you sharpening your 
 knife for ? " " To nay your skin off, that I may 
 make a leather jacket for myself and a pelisse for 
 my old woman." "Oh! don't flay me, daddy dear! 
 Rather let me go, and I'll bring you a lot of honey." 
 " Very well, see you do it," and he unbound and 
 let the bear go. Then he sat down on the bench 
 and again began sharpening his knife. And the wolf 
 1 The hare.
 
 THE STRAW OX, 139 
 
 asked him : " Daddy, what are you sharpening your 
 knife for?" "To flay off your skin, that I may 
 make me a warm cap against the winter." " Oh ! 
 don't flay me, daddy dear, and I'll bring you a whole 
 herd of little sheep." " Well, see that you do it," 
 and he let the wolf go. Then he sat down and 
 began sharpening his knife again. The fox put out 
 her little snout and asked him : " Be so kind, dear 
 daddy, and tell me why you are sharpening your 
 knife ! " " Little foxes," said the old man, " have 
 nice skins that do capitally for collars and trimmings, 
 and I want to skin you ! " " Oh ! don't take my 
 skin away, daddy dear, and I will bring you hens and 
 geese." "Very well, see that you do it!" and he 
 let the fox go. The hare now alone remained, and 
 the old man began sharpening his knife on the hare's 
 account. " Why do you do that ? " asked puss, and 
 he replied : " Little hares have nice little soft warm 
 skins, which will make me nice gloves and mittens 
 against the winter ! " " Oh ! daddy dear ! don't flay 
 me, and I'll bring you kale and good cauliflower, if 
 only you let me go ! " Then he let the hare go also. 
 
 Then they went to bed, but very early in the 
 morning, when it was neither dusk nor dawn, there 
 was a noise in the doorway like " Durrrrrr ! " 
 " Daddy ! " cried the old woman, " there's some one 
 scratching at the door, go and see who it is ! " The
 
 140 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 old man went out, and there was the bear carrying 
 a whole hive full of honey. The old man took the 
 honey from the bear, but no sooner did he lie down 
 than again there was another " Durrrrr ! " at the 
 door. The old man looked out and saw the wolf 
 driving a whole flock of sheep into the courtyard. 
 Close on his heels came the fox, driving before him 
 
 geese and hens and all manner of fowls ; and last of 
 all came the hare, bringing cabbage and kale and all 
 manner of good food. And the old man was glad, 
 and the old woman was glad. And the old man sold 
 the sheep and oxen, and got so rich that he needed 
 nothing more. As for the straw-stuffed ox, it stood 
 in the sun till it fell to pieces.
 
 THE GOLDEN SLIPPER. 
 
 HERE was once upon a time an old 
 man and an old woman, and the 
 old man had a daughter, and the 
 old woman had a daughter. And 
 the old woman said to the old 
 man : "Go and buy a heifer, that 
 thy daughter may have something to look after ! " So 
 the old man went to the fair and bought a heifer. 
 
 Now the old woman spoiled her own daughter, but 
 was always snapping at the old man's daughter. Yet 
 the old man's daughter was a good, hard-working girl, 
 while as for the old woman's daughter, she was but 
 an idle slut. She did nothing but sit down all day 
 with her hands in her lap. One day the old woman 
 said to the old man's daughter : " Look now, thou 
 daughter of a dog, go and drive out the heifer to 
 graze ! Here thou hast two bundles of flax. See 
 that thou unravel it, and reel it, and bleach it, and
 
 142 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 bring it home all ready in the evening ! " Then the 
 girl took the flax and drove the heifer out to graze. 
 
 So the heifer began to graze, but the girl sat down 
 and began to weep. And the heifer said to her : 
 " Tell me, dear little maiden, wherefore dost thou 
 weep ? " " Alas ! why should I not weep ? My step- 
 mother has given me this flax and bidden me unravel 
 it, and reel it, and bleach it, and bring it back as 
 cloth in the evening." " Grieve not, maiden ! " sairl 
 the heifer, "it will all turn out well. Lie down 
 to sleep ! " So she lay down to sleep, and when she 
 awoke the flax was all unravelled and reeled and 
 spun into fine cloth, and bleached. Then she drove 
 the heifer home and gave the cloth to her mother- 
 in-law. The old woman took it and hid it away, 
 that nobody might know that the old man's daughter 
 had brought it to her. 
 
 The next day she said to her own daughter : " Dear 
 little daughter, drive the heifer out to graze, and here 
 is a little piece of flax for thee, unravel it and reel it, 
 or unravel it not and reel it not a* thou likest best, 
 but bring it home with thee." Then she drove the 
 heifer out to graze, and threw herself down in the 
 grass, and slept the whole day, and did not even take 
 the trouble to go and moisten the flax in the cooling 
 stream. And in the evening she drove the heifer 
 back from the field and gave her mother the flax.
 
 144 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 " Oh, mammy ! " she said, " my head ached so the 
 whole day, and the sun scorched so, that I couldn't 
 go down to the stream to moisten the flax." " Never 
 mind," said her mother, " lie down and sleep ; it will 
 do for another day." 
 
 And the next day she called the old man's daughter 
 again : " Get up, thou daughter of a dog, and take 
 the heifer out to graze. And here thou hast a bundle 
 of raw flax ; unravel it, heckle it, wind it on to thy 
 spindles, bleach it, weave with it, and make it into 
 fine cloth for me by the evening ! " Then the girl 
 drove out the heifer to graze. The heifer began 
 grazing, but she sat down beneath a willow-tree, and 
 threw her flax down beside her, and began weeping 
 with all her might. But the heifer came up to her 
 and said : " Tell me, little maiden, wherefore dost 
 thou weep ? : ' " Why should I not weep ? " said she, 
 and she told the heifer all about it. " Grieve not ! " 
 said the heifer, " it will all come right, but lie down 
 to sleep." So she lay down and immediately fell 
 asleep. And by evening the bundle of raw:flax was 
 heckled and spun and reeled, and the cloth was 
 woven and bleached, so that one could have made 
 shirts of it straight off. Then she drove the heifer 
 home, and gave the cloth to her step-mother. 
 
 Then the old woman said to herself : " How comes 
 it that this daughter of the son of a dog has done all
 
 THE GOLDEN SLIPPER. 145 
 
 her task so easily ? The heifer must have got it done 
 for her, I know. But I'll put a stop to all this, thou 
 daughter of the son of a dog," said she. Then she 
 went to the old man and said : " Father, kill and cut 
 to pieces this heifer of thine, for because of it thy 
 daughter does not a stroke of work. She drives the 
 heifer out to graze, and goes to sleep the whole day 
 and does nothing." " Then I'll kill it ! " said he. 
 But the old man's daughter heard what he said, and 
 went into the garden and began to weep bitterly. 
 The heifer came to her and said : " Tell me, dear 
 little maiden, wherefore dost thou weep?" "Why 
 should I not weep," she said, " when they want to 
 kill thee ? " "Don't grieve," said the heifer, "it will 
 all come right. When they have killed me, ask thy 
 step-mother to give thee my entrails to wash, and in 
 them thou wilt find a grain of corn. Plant this grain 
 of corn, and out of it will grow up a willow-tree, and 
 whatever thou dost want, go to this willow-tree and 
 ask, and thou shalt have thy heart's desire." 
 
 Then her father slew the ox, and she went to her 
 step-mother and said : " Pry thee, let me have the 
 entrails of the heifer to wa'sh ! " And her step-mother 
 answered : " As if I would let anybody else do such 
 work but thee ! " Then she went and washed them, 
 and sure enough she found the grain of corn, planted 
 it by the porch, trod down the earth, and watered it
 
 146 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 a little. And the next morning, when she awoke, she 
 saw that a willow-tree had sprung out of this grnin 
 of corn, and beneath the willow-tree was a spring of 
 water, and no better water was to be found anywhere 
 in the whole village. It was as cold and as clear 
 as ice. 
 
 When Sunday came round, the old woman tricked 
 her pet daughter out finely, and took her to church, 
 but to the old man's daughter she said : " Look to 
 the fire, thou slut ! Keep a good fire burning and get 
 ready the dinner, and make everything in the house 
 neat and tidy, and have thy best frock on, and all the 
 shirts washed against I come back from church. And 
 if thou hast not all these things done, thou shalt say 
 good-bye to dear life." 
 
 So the old woman and her daughter went to church, 
 and the smart little step-daughter made the fire burn 
 up, and got the dinner ready, and then went to the 
 willow-tree and said : " Willow-tree, willow-tree, come 
 out of thy bark ! Lady Anna, come when I call 
 thee ! " Then the willow-tree did its duty, and shook 
 all its leaves, and a noble lady came forth from it. 
 " Dear little lady, sweet little lady, what are thy 
 commands ? " said she. " Give me," said she, " a 
 grand dress and let me have a carriage and horses, 
 for I would go to God's House ! " And immediately 
 she was dressed in silk and satin, with golden slippers
 
 THE GOLDEN SLIPPER. 
 
 147 
 
 on her feet, and the carriage came up and she went to 
 church. 
 
 When she entered the church there was a great to- 
 do, and every one said : " Oh ! oh ! oh ! Who is it ? 
 Is it perchance some princess or some queen ? for the 
 like of it we have never seen before." Now the 
 
 young Tsarevich chanced to be in church at that 
 time. When he saw her, his heart began to beat. 
 He stood there, and could not take his eyes off her. 
 And all the great captains and courtiers marvelled 
 at and fell in love with her straightway. But who 
 she was, they knew not. When service was over, she
 
 148 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 got up and drove away. When she got home, she 
 took off all her fine things, and put on all her rags 
 again, and sat in the window-corner and watched the 
 folks coming from church. 
 
 Then her step-mother came back too. " Is the 
 dinner ready ? " said she. " Yes, it is ready. "- 
 " Hast thou sewn the shirts ? " " Yes, the shirts are 
 sewn too." Then they sat down to meat, and began 
 to tell how they had seen such a beautiful young lady 
 at church. " The Tsarevich," said the old woman, 
 " instead of saying his prayers, was looking at her 
 all the while, so goodly was she." Then she said to 
 the old man's daughter : " As for thee, thou slut ! 
 though thou hast sewn the shirts and bleached them, 
 thou art but a dirty under- wench ! " 
 
 On the following Sunday the step-mother again 
 dressed up her daughter, and took her to church. 
 But, before she went, she said to the old man's 
 daughter : " See that thou keep the fire in, thou 
 slut ! " and she gave her a lot of work to do. The 
 old man's daughter very soon did it all, and then she 
 went to the willow-tree and said : " Bright spring 
 willow, bright spring willow, change thee, transform 
 thee ! " Then still statelier dames stepped forth from 
 the willow-tree : " Dear little lady, sweet little lady, 
 what commands hast thou to give ? " She told them 
 what she wanted, and they gave her a gorgeous dress,
 
 THE GOLDEN SLIPPER. 149 
 
 and put golden shoes on her feet, and she went to 
 church in a grand carriage. The Tsarevich was again 
 there, and at the sight of her he stood as if rooted to 
 the ground, and couldn't take his eyes from her. 
 Then the people began to whisper : " Is there none 
 here who knows her ? Is there none who knows who 
 such a handsome lady may be I " And they began to 
 ask each other : " Dost thou know her ? Dost thou 
 know her ? " But the Tsarevich said : " Whoever 
 will tell me who this great lady is, to him will I give 
 a sack-load of gold ducats ! " Then they inquired 
 and inquired, and laid all their heads together, but 
 nothing came of it. But the Tsarevich had a jester 
 who was always with him, and used always to jest 
 and cut capers whenever this child of the Tsar was 
 sad. So now, too, he began to laugh at the young 
 Tsarevich and say to him : " I know how to find out 
 who this fine lady is." " How ? " asked the young 
 Tsarevich. "I'll tell thee," said the jester; "smear 
 with pitch the place in church where she is worrr to 
 stand. Then her slipper will stick to it, and she, in 
 her hurry to get away, will never notice that she has 
 left it behind her in church." So the Tsarevich 
 ordered his courtiers to smear the spot with pitch 
 straightway. Next time, when the service was over, 
 she got up as usual and hastened away, but left her 
 golden slippers behind her. When she got home she
 
 150 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 took off her costly raiment and put on her rags, and 
 waited in the window-corner till they came from 
 church. 
 
 When they came from church they had all sorts of 
 things to talk about, and how the young Tsarevich 
 had fallen in love with the grand young lady, and 
 how they were unable to tell him from whence she 
 came, or who she was, and the step-mother hated the 
 old man's daughter all the more because she had done 
 her work so nicely. 
 
 But the Tsarevich did nothing but pine away. 
 And they proclaimed throughout the kingdom : 
 " Who has lost a pair of golden slippers ? " But none 
 could tell. Then the Tsar sent his wise councillors 
 throughout the kingdom to find her. " If ye do not 
 find her," said he, " it will be the death of my child, 
 and then ye also are dead men." 
 
 So the Tsar's councillors went through all the 
 towns and villages, and measured the feet of all the 
 maidens with the golden slippers, and she was to be 
 the bride of the Tsarevich whom the golden slippers 
 fitted. They went to the houses of all the princes, 
 and all the nobles, and all the rich merchants, but it 
 was of no avail. The feet of all the maidens were 
 either too little or too large. Then they hied them 
 to the huts of the peasants. 
 
 They went on and on, they measured and measured,
 
 THE GOLDEN SLIPPER. 151 
 
 and at last they were so tired that they could scarce 
 draw one foot after the other. Then they looked 
 about them and saw a beautiful willow-tree standing 
 by a hut, and beneath the willow-tree was a spring of 
 water. " Let us go and rest in the cool shade," said 
 they. So they went and rested, and the old woman 
 came out of the hut to them. "Hast thou a 
 daughter, little mother ? " said they. " Yes, that I 
 have," said she. "One or two?" they asked. 
 " Well, there is another," said she, " but she is not my 
 daughter, she is a mere kitchen slut, the very look 
 of her is nasty." " Very well," said they, " we will 
 measure them with the golden slippers." " Good ! " 
 cried the old woman. Then she said to her own 
 daughter : " Go, my dear little daughter, tidy thyself 
 up a bit, and wash thy little feet ! " But the old man's 
 daughter she drove behind the stove, and the poor 
 thing was neither washed nor dressed : " Sit there, 
 thou daughter of a dog ! " said she. Then the Tsar's 
 councillors came into the hut to measure, and the 
 old woman said to her daughter : " Put out thy little 
 foot, darling ! " The councillors then measured with 
 the slippers, but they wouldn't fit her at all. Then 
 they said : " Tell us, little mother, where is thy other 
 daughter ? " " Oh, as for her, she is a mere slut, and 
 besides she isn't dressed." "No matter," said they; 
 " where is she ? " Then she came out from behind
 
 152 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 the stove, and her step-mother hustled her and .said : 
 " Get along, thou sluttish hussy ! " Then they 
 measured her with the slippers, and they fitted like 
 gloves, whereupon the courtiers rejoiced exceedingly 
 and praised the Lord. 
 
 "Well, little mother," said they, "we will take 
 this daughter away with us." " What ! take a 
 slattern like that ? Why, all the people will laugh 
 at you !" ''Maybe they will," said they. Then the 
 old woman scolded, and wouldn't let her go. " How 
 can such a slut become the consort of the Tsar's 
 son?" screeched she. "Nay, but she must come!" 
 said they ; " go, dress thyself, maiden ! " " Wait but 
 a moment," said she, " and I'll tire myself as is 
 meet ! " Then she went to the spring beneath the 
 willow-tree, and washed and dressed herself, and she 
 came back so lovely and splendid that the like of it 
 can neither be thought of nor guessed at, but only told 
 of in tales. As she entered the hut she shone like the 
 sun, and her step-mother had not another word to say. 
 
 So they put her in a carriage and drove off, and 
 when the Tsarevich saw her, he could not contain him- 
 self. " Make haste, my father ! " cried he, " and give 
 us thy blessing." So the Tsar blessed them, and they 
 were wedded. Then they made a great feast and 
 invited all the world to it. And they lived happily 
 together, and ate wheat-bread to their hearts' content.
 
 THE IRON WOLF. 
 
 HERE was once upon a time a 
 parson who had a servant, and 
 when this servant had served him 
 faithfully for twelve years and 
 upwards, he came to the parson 
 and said : " Let us now settle our 
 accounts, master, and pay me what thou owest me. I 
 have now served long enough, and would fain have a 
 little place in the wide world all to myself." " Good ! " 
 said the parson. " I'll tell thee now what wage I'll 
 give thee for thy faithful service. I'll give thee this 
 egg. Take it home, and when thou gettest there, 
 make to thyself a cattle-pen, and make it strong ; 
 then break the egg in the middle of thy cattle-pen, 
 arid thou shalt see something. But whatever thou 
 doest, don't break it on thy way home, or all thy luck 
 will leave thee." 
 
 So the servant departed on his homeward way.
 
 154 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 He went on and on, and at last he thought to 
 himself : " Come now, I'll see what is inside this eg 
 of mine ! " So he broke it, and out of it came all 
 sorts of cattle in such numbers that the open steppe 
 became like a fair. The servant stood there in amaze- 
 ment, and he thought to himself : " However in God's 
 world shall I be able to drive all these cattle back 
 again ? " He had scarcely uttered the words when 
 the Iron Wolf came running up, and said to him : 
 " I'll collect and drive back all these cattle into the 
 egg again, and I'll patch the egg up so that it will 
 become quite whole. But in return for that," con- 
 tinued the Iron Wolf, <: whenever thou dost sit down 
 on the bridal bench, 1 I'll come and eat thee." " Well," 
 thought the servant to himself, "a lot of things may 
 happen before I sit down on the bridal bench and he 
 comes to eat me, and in the meantime I shall get all 
 these cattle. Agreed, then," said he. So the Iron 
 Wolf immediately collected all the cattle, and drove 
 them back into the egg, and patched up the egg 
 and made it whole just as it was before. 
 
 The servant went home to the village where he 
 lived, made him a cattle-pen stronger than strong, 
 went inside it and broke the egg, and immediately 
 that cattle-pen was as full of cattle as it could hold. 
 
 1 Posad, or posag, a bench covered with white cloth on which 
 the bride and bridegroom sat down together.
 
 156 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 Then lie took to farming and cattle-breeding, and he 
 became so rich that in the whole wide world there 
 was none richer than he. He kept to himself, and] 
 his goods increased and multiplied exceedingly ; the 
 only thing wanting to his happiness was a wife, but] 
 a wife he was afraid to take. Now near to where he 
 lived was a General who had a lovely daughter, and 
 this daughter fell in love with the rich man. So the 
 General went and said to him : " Come, why don't 
 you marry 1 ? I'll give you my daughter and lots ofj 
 money with her." "How is it possible for me to; 
 marry ? " replied the man ; " as soon as ever I sit 
 down on the bridal bench, the Iron Wolf will come 
 and eat me up." And he told the General all that 
 had happened. " Oh, nonsense !" said the General, 
 " don't be afraid. I have a mighty host, and when 
 the time comes for you to sit down on the bridal 
 bench, we'll surround your house with three strong 
 rows of soldiers, and they won't let the Iron Wolf get 
 at you, I can tell you." So they talked the matter 
 over till he let himself be persuaded, and then they 
 began to make great preparations for the bridal 
 banquet. Everything went off excellently well, and 
 they made merry till the time came when bride and 
 bridegroom were to sit down together on the bridal 
 bench. Then the General placed his men in three 
 strong rows all round the house so as not to let the
 
 THE IROX WOLF. 157 
 
 ron Wolf get in ; and no sooner had the young people 
 
 at down upon the bridal bench, than, sure enough, 
 
 he Iron Wolf came running up. He saw the host 
 
 standing round the house in three strong rows, but 
 
 through all three rows he leaped and made straight 
 
 for the house. But the man, as soon as he saw the 
 
 Iron Wolf, leaped out of the window, mounted his 
 
 horse, and galloped off with the wolf after him. 
 
 A \vay and away he galloped, and after him came 
 the wolf, but try as it would, it could not catch him 
 up anyhow. At last, towards evening, the man 
 stopped and looked about him. and saw that he was 
 in a lone forest, and before him stood a hut. He 
 went up to this hut, and saw an old man and an old 
 woman sitting in front of it, and said to them : 
 " Would you let me rest a little while with you, good 
 people ? " " By all means ! " said they. " There is 
 one thing, however, good people ! " said he, " don't 
 let the Iron Wolf catch me while I am resting with 
 you." " Have no fear of that ! " replied the old 
 couple. We have a dog called Chutko l who can hear 
 a wolf coming a mile oif, and he'll be sure to let us 
 know." So he laid him down to sleep, and was just 
 dropping off when Chutko began to bark. Then the 
 old people awoke him, and said: "Be off! be oft'! 
 for the Iron Wolf is coming." And they gave him 
 1 Hearkener.
 
 158 
 
 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 the clog, and a wheaten hearth-cake as provision by 
 the way. 
 
 So he went on and on, and the dog followed after 
 him till it began to grow dark, and then he perceived 
 another hut in another forest. He went up to that 
 
 hut, and in front of it were sitting an old man and 
 an old woman. He asked them for a night's lodging. 
 " Only," said he, " take care that the Iron Wolf 
 doesn't catch me ! " " Have no fear of that," said 
 they. " We have a dog here called Vazhko, 1 who can 
 1 Heavvsides.
 
 THE IRON WOLF. 159 
 
 hear a wolf nine miles off." So he laid him down 
 and slept. Just before dawn Vazhko began to bark. 
 Immediately they awoke him. " Run ! " cried they, 
 " the Iron Wolf is coming ! " And they gave him 
 the dog, and a barley hearth-cake as provision by the 
 way. So he took the hearth-cake, sat him on his 
 horse, and off he went, and his two dogs followed 
 after him. 
 
 He went on and on. On and on he went till 
 evening, when again he stopped and looked about 
 him, and he saw that he was in another forest, and 
 another little hut stood before him. He went into 
 the hut, and there were sitting an old man and an 
 old woman. " Will you let me pass the night here, 
 good people ? " said he ; " only take care that the 
 Iron Wolf does not get hold of me ! " " Have no 
 fear ! " said they, " we have a dog called Bary, who 
 can hear a wolf coming twelve miles off. He'll let 
 us know." So he lay down to sleep, and early in the 
 morning Bary let them know that the Iron Wolf 
 was drawing nigh. Immediately they awoke him. 
 " Tis high time for you to be off ! " said they. Then 
 they gave him the dog, and a buckwheat hearth-cake 
 as provision by the way. He took the hearth-cake, 
 sat him on his horse, and off he went. So now he had 
 three dogs, and they all three followed him. 
 
 He went on and on, and towards evening he found
 
 160 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 himself in front of another hut. He went into it, 
 and there was nobody there. He went and lay down, 
 and his dogs lay down also, Chutko on the threshold 
 of the room door, Vazhko at the threshold of the 
 house door, and Bary at the threshold of the outer 
 gate. Presently the Iron Wolf came trotting up. 
 Immediately Chutko gave the alarm, Vazhko nailed 
 him to the earth, and Bary tore him to pieces. 
 
 Then the man gathered his faithful dogs around 
 him, mounted his horse, and went back to his own 
 home.
 
 THE THREE BROTHERS. 
 
 'HERE were, once upon a time, 
 three brothers, and the third was 
 a fool! And in their little garden 
 grew golden apple-trees with 
 golden apples, and not far off 
 lived a hog that had taken a fancy 
 to these apples. So the father 
 sent his sons into the garden to 
 guard the trees. The eldest went first, and sat and sat 
 and watched and watched till he was tired of watch- 
 ing, and fell asleep. Then the hog crept in, and 
 dug and dug till he had digged up an apple-tree, 
 which he ate up, and then went his way. The father 
 got up next morning and counted his apple-trees, 
 and one of them was gone. The next night the father 
 sent the second son to watch. He waited and watched 
 till he also fell asleep, and the hog came again and 
 dug up and ate another golden apple-tree and made
 
 162 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 off. The next morning the father got up again and 
 counted his trees, and another was gone. Then the 
 fool said : " Dad, let me go too ! " But the father 
 said: "Oh, fool, fool, wherefore shouldst thou go? 
 Thy wise brethren have watched to no purpose, what 
 canst thou do ? " " Hoity-toity ! " said the fool ; 
 " give me a gun, and I'll go all the same." His father 
 wouldn't give him a gun, so he took it, and went to 
 watch. He placed his gun across his knees and sat 
 down. He sat and sat, but nothing came, nothing 
 came ; he got drowsy, was nodding off, when his gun 
 fell off his knees, and he awoke with a start and 
 watched more warily. At last he heard something 
 and there stood the hog. It began to dig up 
 another tree, when he pulled the trigger and bang ! 
 His brothers heard the sound, came running up, were 
 quite amazed to see a dead boar lying there, and 
 said : " What will become of us now ? " " Let us 
 kill him," said the eldest brother, "and bury him 
 in that ditch, and say that we killed the hog." So 
 they took and slew him, and buried him in the ditch, 
 and took the hog to their father, and said : " While 
 we were watching, this hog came up and began 
 digging, so we killed him and have brought him 
 to you." 
 
 One day a nobleman came by that way, and was 
 surprised to see a beautiful elder-bush growing out
 
 164 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 of the ditch ; so he went up to it, cut off a branch, 
 made him a flute out of it, and began playing upon 
 it. But the flute played of its own accord, and made 
 
 this moan : 
 
 " Play, good master, play, 
 But steal not my heart away ! 
 Me my brothers took and slew, 
 In the ditch my body threw, 
 For that hog shot down by me, 
 That rooted up the tree." 
 
 The nobleman then went on to the inn, and there 
 he found the fool's father. " Such a funny thing has 
 happened to me," said the nobleman. " I went and 
 cut me out a flute from an elder-bush, and lo ! it 
 plays of its own accord ! " Then the father took 
 and tried his hand at it, and it sang : 
 
 " Play, good daddy, play, 
 But don't steal my heart away ! 
 Me my brothers took and slew, 
 In the ditch my body threw, 
 For that hog shot down by me, 
 That rooted up the tree ! " 
 
 The father was so astonished that he bought it, 
 and took it home, and gave it to the mother for her 
 to play upon it, and it sang : 
 
 " Play, good mammy, play, 
 But don't steal my heart away ! 
 Me my brothers took and slew, 
 In the ditch my body threw, 
 For that hog shot down by me, 
 That rooted up the tree ! "
 
 THE THREE BROTHERS. 165 
 
 Then the father gave the flute to his brothers to 
 play upon, but they wouldn't. " Nay, but you 
 must ! " said their father. Then the younger brother 
 took and played upon it : 
 
 " Play, my brother, play, 
 But don't steal my heart away ! 
 Me my brothers took and slew, 
 In the ditch my body threw, 
 For the hog shot down by me, 
 That rooted up the tree ! " 
 
 Then the father gave the flute to the elder brother 
 who had slain him, but he wouldn't take it. " Take 
 it and play upon it ! " roared his father at him. Then 
 he took it and played : 
 
 " Play, my brother, play, 
 But don't steal my heart away ! 
 'Twas thou who didst me slay, 
 And stowed my corpse away, 
 For the hog shot down by me, 
 That rooted up the tree ! " 
 
 " Then it was thou who didst slay him ? " cried 
 the father. What could the elder brother do but 
 confess it ! Then they dug the dead man up, and 
 buried him in the cemetery ; but they tied the elder 
 brother to a wild horse, which scattered his bones 
 about the endless steppe. 
 
 But I was there, and drank wine and mead till my 
 beard was wet.
 
 THE TSAR AND THE ANGEL. 
 
 OMEWHERE, nowhere, in a certain 
 kingdom, in a certain empire, time 
 out of mind, and in no land of 
 ours, dwelt a Tsar who was so 
 proud, so very proud, that he feared 
 neither God nor man. He listened 
 to no good counsel from whithersoever it might come, 
 but did only that which was good in his own eyes, and 
 nobody durst put him right. And all his ministers 
 and nobles grieved exceedingly, and all the people 
 grieved likewise. 
 
 One day this Tsar went to church ; the priest was 
 reading from Holy Scripture, and so he needs must 
 listen. Now there were certain words there which 
 pleased him not. " To say such words to me ! " 
 thought he, " words that I can never forget, though 
 I grow grey-headed." After service the Tsar went 
 home, and bade them send the priest to him. The
 
 THE TSAR AND THE ANGEL, 167 
 
 priest came. " How durst thou read such and 
 such passages to me ? " said the Tsar. " They 
 were written to be read," replied the priest. 
 " Written, indeed ! And wouldst thou then read 
 everything that is written ? Smear those places over 
 with grease, and never dare to read them again, I 
 say ! " " 'Tis not I who have written those w r ords, 
 your Majesty," said the priest ; " nor is it for such as 
 I to smear them over." " What ! thou dost presume 
 to teach me ? I am the Tsar, and it is thy duty to 
 obey me." " In all things will I obey thee, Tsar, 
 save only in sacred things. God is over them, men 
 cannot alter them." " Not alter them I " roared the 
 Tsar ; " if I wish them altered, altered they must be. 
 Strike me out those words instantly, I say, and never 
 dare read them in church again. Dost hear ? " " I 
 dare not," said the priest, " I have no will in the 
 matter." " I command thee, fellow ! " " I dare not, 
 Tsar !"" Well," said the Tsar, "I'll give thee 
 three days to think about it, and on the evening of 
 the fourth day appear before me, and I'll strike thy 
 head from thy shoulders if thou dost not obey me ! " 
 Then the priest bowed low and went home. 
 
 The third day was already drawing to a close, and 
 the priest knew not what to do. It was no great 
 terror to him to die for the faith, but what would 
 become of his wife and children ? He walked about,
 
 168 COSSAOK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 and wept, and wrung his hands : " Oh, woe is me f 
 woe is me ! " At last he lay down on his bed, but 
 sleep he could not. Only towards dawn did he doze 
 off, then he saw in a dream an angel standing at his 
 head. " Fear nothing ! " said the angel. " God hath 
 sent me down on earth to protect thee ! " So early 
 in the morning the priest rose up full of joy and 
 prayed gratefully to God. 
 
 The Tsar also awoke early in the morning, and 
 bawled to his huntsmen to gather together and go 
 a-hunting with him in the forest. 
 
 So away they went hunting in the forest, and it 
 was not long before a stag leaped out of the thicket 
 beneath the very eyes of the Tsar. Off after it went 
 the Tsar ; every moment the stag seemed to be falter- 
 ing, and yet the Tsar could never quite come up 
 with it. Hot with excitement, the Tsar spurred his 
 horse on yet faster. " Gee up ! gee up ! " he cried ; 
 " now we've got him ! " But here a stream crossed 
 the road, and the stag plunged into the water. The 
 Tsar was a good swimmer. " I've got him now. at 
 any rate," thought he. "A little longer, and I shall 
 hold him by the horns." So the Tsar took off his 
 clothes, and into the water he plunged after the stag. 
 But the stag swam across to the opposite bank, and 
 the Tsar was extending his hand to seize him by the 
 horns when there was no longer any stag to be
 
 170 GOSSAOK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 seen. It was the angel who had taken the form of a 
 stag. The Tsar was amazed. He looked about him 
 on every side, and wondered where the stag had 
 gone. Then he saw some one on the other side of 
 the river putting on his clothes, and presently the 
 man mounted his horse and galloped away. The 
 Tsar thought it was some evil-doer, but it was the 
 self-same angel that had now put on the Tsar's 
 clothes and gone away to collect the huntsmen and 
 take them home. As for the Tsar, he remained all 
 naked and solitary in the forest. 
 
 At last he looked about him and saw, far, far 
 away, smoke rising above the forest, and something 
 like a dark cloud standing in the clear sky. " May- 
 be," thought he, " that is my' hunting-pavilion." So 
 he went in the direction of the smoke, and came at 
 last to a brick-kiln. The brick-burners came forth 
 to meet him, and were amazed to see a naked man. 
 "What is he doing here?" they thought. And they 
 saw that his feet were lame and bruised, and his 
 body covered with scratches. " Give me to drink," 
 said he, " and I would fain eat something also." The 
 brick-burners had pity on him ; they gave him an 
 old tattered garment to wear and a piece of black 
 bread and a gherkin to eat. Never from the day of 
 his birth had the Tsar had such a tasty meal. " And 
 now speak, man ! " said they ; " who art thou ? "
 
 THE TSAR AND THE ANGEL. 171 
 
 " I'll tell you who I am," said he, when he had eaten 
 his fill, " I am your Tsar. Lead me to my capital, 
 and there I will reward you ! " " What, thou 
 wretched rogue ! " they cried, " thou dost presume 
 to mock us, thou old ragamuffin, and magnify thyself 
 into a Tsar ! Thou reward us, 
 indeed ! " And they looked at 
 him in amazement and scorn. 
 "Dare to laugh at me again," 
 said he, " and I'll have your 
 heads chopped off ! " For he 
 forgot himself, and thought he 
 was at home. " What ! thou ! " 
 Then they fell upon him and 
 beat him. They beat him and 
 hauled him about most unmer- 
 cifully, and then they drove him 
 away, and off he went bellowing 
 through the forest. 
 
 He went on and on till at 
 last he saw once more a smoke 
 
 rising up out of the wood. Again he thought : 
 " That is surely my hunting-pavilion," and so he 
 went up to it. And towards evening he came to 
 another brick-kiln. There, too, they had pity upon 
 and kindly entreated him. They gave him to eat 
 and to drink. They also gave him ragged hose
 
 172 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 and a tattered shirt, for they were very poor people. 
 They took him to be a runaway soldier, or some 
 other poor man, but when he had eaten his fill and 
 clothed himself, he said to them : " I am your Tsar ! " 
 They laughed at him, and again he began to talk 
 roughly to the people. Then they fell upon him and 
 thrashed him soundly, and drove him right away. 
 And he wandered all by himself through the forest 
 till it was night. Then he laid him down beneath 
 a tree, and so he passed the night, and rising up very 
 early, fared on his way straight before him. 
 
 At last he came to a third brick-kiln, but he did 
 not tell the brick-burners there that he was the Tsar. 
 All he thought of now was how he might reach his 
 capital. The people here, too, entreated him kindly, 
 and seeing that his feet were lame and bruised, they 
 had compassion upon him, and gave him a pair of 
 very, very old boots. And he asked them : " Do ye 
 know by which way I can get to the capital ? " 
 They told him, but it was a long, long journey that 
 would take the whole day. 
 
 So he went the way they had told him, and he 
 went on and on till he came to a little town, and 
 there the roadside sentries stopped him. " Halt ! " 
 they cried. He halted. "Your passport!" 1 "I 
 
 1 This is a good instance of the modern intrusions in these 
 ancient kazki. An angel and a passport in the same tale !
 
 THE TSAR AND THE ANGEL. 173 
 
 have none." " What ! no passport ? Then thou art 
 a vagabond. Seize him ! " they cried. So they 
 seized him and put him in a dungeon. Shortly after 
 they came to examine him, and asked him : " Whence 
 art thou ? " " From such and such a capital/' said 
 he. Then they ordered him to be put in irons and 
 taken thither. 
 
 So they took him back to that capital and put 
 him in another dungeon. Then the custodians came 
 round to examine the prisoners, and one said one 
 thing and one said another, till at last it came to the 
 turn of the Tsar. " Who art thou, old man ? " they 
 asked. Then he told them the whole truth. " Once 
 I was the Tsar," said he, and he related all that had 
 befallen him. Then they were much amazed, for he 
 was not at all like a Tsar. For indeed he had been 
 growing thin and haggard for a long time, and his 
 beard w\is all long and tangled. And yet, for all 
 that, he stood them out that he was the Tsar. So 
 they made up their minds that he was crazy, and 
 drove him away. " Why should we keep this fool 
 for ever," said they, "and waste the Tsar's bread 
 upon him ? " So they let him go, and never did any 
 man feel so wretched on God's earth as did that 
 wretched Tsar. Willingly would he have done any 
 sort of work if he had only known how, but he had 
 never been used to work, so he had to go along
 
 17-t COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 begging his bread, and could scarce beg enough to 
 keep body and soul together. He lay at night at the 
 first place that came to hand, sometimes in the tall 
 grass of the steppes, sometimes beneath a fence. 
 " That it should ever have come to this ! " he 
 sighed. 
 
 But the angel who had made himself Tsar went 
 home with the huntsmen. And no man knew that 
 he was not a Tsar, but an angel. The same evening 
 that priest came to him and said : "Do thy will, 
 Tsar, and strike off my head, for I cannot blot out 
 one word of Holy Scripture." And the Tsar said to 
 him : " Glory be to God, for now I know that there 
 is at least one priest in my tsardom who stands firm 
 for God's Word. I'll make thee the highest bishop in 
 this realm." The priest thanked him, bowed down 
 to the earth, and departed marvelling. "What is 
 this wonder ? " thought he, " that the haughty Tsar 
 should have become so just and gentle." But all 
 men marvelled at the change that had come over the 
 Tsar. He was now so mild and gracious, nor did he 
 spend all his days in the forest, but went about 
 inquiring of his people if any were wronged or 
 injured by their neighbours, and if justice were done. 
 He took count of all, and rebuked the unjust judges, 
 and saw that every man had his rights. And the 
 people now rejoiced as much as they had grieved
 
 THE TSAR AND THE AXGEL. 175 
 
 heretofore, and justice was done in all the tribunals, 
 and no bribes were taken. 
 
 But the Tsar, the real Tsar, grew more and more 
 wretched. Then, after three years, a ukase went forth 
 that on such and such a day all the people were to 
 come together to a great banquet given by the Tsar, 
 all were to be there, both rich and poor, both high 
 and lowly. And all the people came, and the un- 
 happy Tsar came too. And so many long tables were 
 set out in the Tsar's courtyard that all the people 
 praised God when they saw the glad sight. And 
 they all sat down at table and ate and drank, and the 
 Tsar himself and his courtiers distributed the meat 
 and drink to the guests as much as they would, but 
 to the unfortunate Tsar they gave a double portion of 
 everything. And they all ate and drank their fill, 
 and then the Tsar began to inquire of the people 
 whether any had suffered wrong or had not had 
 justice done him. And when the people began to 
 disperse, the Tsar stood at the gate with a bag of 
 money, and gave to every one a grivna, 1 but to the 
 unhappy Tsar he gave three. 
 
 And after three years the Tsar gave another 
 
 banquet, and again entertained all the people. And 
 
 when he had given them both to eat and to drink 
 
 as much as they would, he inquired of them what 
 
 1 About twopence.
 
 176 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 was being done in his tsardom, and again gave a 
 grivna, to each one of them ; but to the unlucky Tsar 
 he gave a double portion of meat and drink and 
 three grivni. 
 
 And again, after three years, he made yet another 
 banquet, and proclaimed that all should come, both 
 rich and poor, both earls and churls. And all the 
 people came and ate and drank and bowed low before 
 the Tsar and thanked him, and made ready to depart. 
 The unlucky Tsar was also on the point of going, 
 when the angel Tsar stopped him, and took him aside 
 into the palace, and said to him : " Lo ! God hath 
 tried thee and chastised thy pride these ten years. 
 But me He sent to teach thee that a Tsar must have 
 regard to the complaints of his people. So thou wast 
 made poor and a vagabond on the face of the earth 
 that thou mightest pick up wisdom, if but a little. 
 Look now, that thou doest good to thy people, and 
 judgest righteous judgment, as from henceforth thou 
 shalt be Tsar again, but I must fly back to God in 
 heaven." And when he had said this he bade them 
 wash and shave him (for his beard had grown right 
 down to his girdle), and put upon him the raiment of 
 a Tsar. And the angel said further : " Go now into 
 the inner apartments. There the courtiers of the 
 Tsar are sitting and making merry, and none will 
 recognize in thee the vagabond old man. May God
 
 THE TSAR AXD THE ANGEL. 177 
 
 help thee always to do good ! " And when the angel 
 had said this he was no more to be seen, and only his 
 clothes remained on the floor. 
 
 Then the Tsar prayed gratefully to God, and went 
 to the merry-making of his courtiers, and from 
 henceforth he ruled his people justly, as the angel 
 had bidden him. 

 
 THE STORY OF IVAN AND THE DAUGHTER 
 
 OF THE SUN. 
 
 HERE were once upon a time four 
 brethren, and three of them 
 remained at home, while the fourth 
 went out to seek for work. This 
 youngest brother came to a 
 strange land, and hired himself 
 out to a husbandman for three gold pieces a year. For 
 three years he served his master faithfully, so, at the 
 end of his time, he departed with nine gold pieces in 
 his pocket. The first thing he now did was to go to a 
 spring, and into this spring he threw three of his gold 
 pieces. " Let us see now," said he, " if I have been 
 honest, they will come swimming back to me." Then 
 he lay down by the side of the spring and went fast 
 asleep. How long he slept there, who can tell ? but at 
 any rate he woke up at last and went to the spring, 
 but there was no sign of his money to be seen.
 
 IVAN AND THE DAUGHTER OF THE SUN. 179 
 
 Then he threw three more of the gold pieces into the 
 spring, and again he lay down by the side of it and 
 slept. Then he got up and went and looked into the 
 spring, and still there was no sign of the money. 
 So he threw in his three remaining gold pieces, and 
 again lay down and slept. The third time he arose 
 and looked into the spring, and there, sure enough, 
 was his money : all nine of the gold pieces were 
 floating on the surface of the water ! 
 
 And now his heart felt lighter, and he gathered up 
 the nine gold pieces and went on his way. On the 
 road he fell in with three katsapi 1 with a laden 
 wagon. He asked them concerning their wares, and 
 they said they were carrying a load of incense. He 
 begged them straightway to sell him this incense. 
 Then they sold it to him for the gold pieces, and 
 when he had bought it and they had departed, he 
 kindled fire and burnt the incense, and offered it up 
 to God as a sweet-smelling sacrifice. Then an angel 
 flew down to him, and said : " Oh, thou that hast 
 offered this sweet-smelling sacrifice to God, what dost 
 thou want for thine own self? Dost thou want a 
 tsardom, or great riches ? Or, perchance, the desire of 
 thy heart is a good wife ? Speak, for God will give 
 thee whatsoever thou desirest." When the man had 
 
 1 Lit. Big billy-goats, the name given by the clean-shaved 
 Euthenians to their hairy neighbours the Russians.
 
 180 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 listened to the angel, he said to him: "Tarry a while! 
 I will go and ask those people who are ploughing 
 yonder hard by." Now those people who were 
 ploughing there were his own brethren, but he did 
 not know that they were his brethren. So he went 
 up and said to the elder brother : " Tell me, uncle, 
 what shall I ask of God ? A tsardom, or great riches, 
 or a good wife ? Tell me, which of the three is the 
 best gift to ask for ? " And his eldest brother said to 
 him : " I know not, and who does know ? Go and 
 ask some one else." So he went to the second 
 brother, who was ploughing a little further on. He 
 asked him the same question, but the man only 
 shrugged his shoulders and said that he didn't know 
 either. Then he went to the third brother, who was 
 the youngest of the three, and also ploughing there. 
 And he asked him, saying: "Tell me, now, which is- 
 the best gift to ask of God : a tsardom, or great 
 riches, or a good wife ? " Arid the third brother said:^ 
 "What a question ! Thou art too young for a tsar-: 
 dom, and great riches last but for a little while ; ask 
 God for a good wife, for if it please God to give thee 
 a good wife, 'tis a gift that will bless thee all thy life 
 long." So he went back to the angel and asked for a 
 good wife. Then he went on his way till he came to 
 a certain wood, and, looking about him, he perceived! 
 that in this wood was a lake. And while he was
 
 182 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 looking at it, three wild doves came flying along and 
 lit down upon this lake. They threw off their 
 plumage and plunged into the water, and then he 
 saw that they were not wild doves, but three fair 
 ladies. They bathed in the lake, and in the mean- 
 time the youth crept up and took the raiment of one 
 of them and hid it behind the bushes. When they 
 came out of the water the third lady missed her 
 clothes. Then the youth said to her : " I know where 
 thy clothes are, but I will not give them to thee 
 unless thou wilt be my wife." " Good ! " cried she, 
 " thy wife will I be." Then she dressed herself, and 
 they went together to the nearest village. When 
 they got there, she said to him : " Now go to the 
 nobleman who owns the land here, and beg him for 
 a place where we may build us a hut." So he went 
 right up to the nobleman's castle and entered his 
 reception-room, and said : " Glory be to God ! " 
 " For ever and ever ! " replied the nobleman. " What 
 dost thou want here, Ivan ? " " I have come, sir, to 
 beg of thee a place where I may build me a hut." 
 "A place for a hut, eh? Good, very good. Go 
 home, and I'll speak to my overseer, and he shall 
 appoint thee a place." So he returned from the 
 nobleman's castle, and his wife said to him : " Go 
 now into the forest and cut down an oak, a young 
 oak, that thou canst span round with both arms."
 
 IV AX AXD THE DAUGHTER OF THE SUN. 183 
 
 So he cut clown such an oak as his wife had told him 
 of, and she built a hut of the oak, for the overseer 
 had come and showed them a place where they might 
 build their hut. But when the overseer returned 
 home he praised loudly to his master the wife of this 
 Ivan. " She is such and such," said he. " Fair she 
 may be," replied the nobleman, " but she is another's." 
 " She need not be another's for long," replied the 
 overseer. " This Ivan is in our hands ; let us send 
 him to see why it is the sun grows so red when he 
 sets." " That's just the same as if you sent him to a 
 place from whence he can never return." " All the 
 better." Then they sent for Ivan, and gave him this 
 errand, and he returned home to his wife, weeping 
 bitterly. Then his wife asked him all about it, and 
 said : " Well, I can tell thee all about the ways of the 
 sun, for I am the sun's own daughter. So now I'll 
 tell thee the whole matter. Go back to this noble- 
 man and say to him that the reason why the sun turns 
 so red as he sets is this : Just as the sun is going 
 down into the sea, three fair ladies rise out of it, and 
 it is the sight of them which makes him turn so red 
 all over ! " So he went back and told them. " Oh- 
 ho ! " cried they, " if you can go as far as that, you 
 may now go a little further ; " so they told him to go 
 to bell and see how it was there. "Yes," said his 
 wife, "I know the road that leads to hell also^very 

 
 184 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 well ; but the nobleman must let his overseer go with 
 thee, or else he never will believe that thou really 
 didst go to hell." So the nobleman told his overseer 
 that he must go to hell too, so they went together ; 
 and when they got there the rulers of hell laid hands 
 upon the overseer straightway. " Thou dog ! " roared 
 they, " we've been looking out for thee for some 
 time ! " So Ivan returned without the overseer, and 
 the nobleman said to him : " Where's my overseer ? " 
 "I left him in hell," said Ivan, "and they said 
 there that they were waiting for you, sir, too."- 
 When the nobleman heard this he hanged himself, 
 but Ivan lived happily with his wife.
 
 THE CAT, THE COCK, AND THE FOX. 
 
 k HEEE was once upon a time a 
 cat and a cock, who agreed to 
 live together, so they built them 
 a hut on a dunghill, and the cock 
 kept house while the cat went 
 foraging for sausages. 
 One clay the fox came running up : " Open the 
 door, little cock ! " cried she. " Pussy told me not 
 to, little fox ! " said the cock. " Open the door, 
 little cock ! " repeated the fox. " I tell you, pussy 
 told me not to, little fox ! " At last, however, the 
 cock grew tired of always saying " No ! " so he 
 opened the door, and in the fox rushed, seized him 
 in her jaws, and ran off with him. Then the cock 
 cried 
 
 " Help ! pussy-pussy ! 
 That foxy hussy 
 Has got me tight 
 With all her might.
 
 186 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 Across her tail 
 
 My legs do trail 
 
 Along the bridge so stony ! " 
 
 The cat heard it, gave chase to the fox, rescued the 
 cock, brought him home, scolded him well, and said : 
 " Now keep out of her jaws in the future, if you don't 
 want to be killed altogether ! " 
 
 Then the cat went out foraging for wheat, so that 
 the cock might have something to eat. He had 
 scarcely gone when the sly she-fox again came 
 creeping up. " Dear little cock ! " said she, " pray 
 open the door ! " " Nay, little fox ! Pussy said 
 I wasn't to." But the fox went on asking and 
 asking till at last the cock let him in. Then the 
 fox rushed at him, seized him by the neck, and ran 
 off with him. Then the cock cried out 
 
 " Help ! pussy-pussy ! 
 That foxy hussy 
 Has got me tight 
 With all her might. 
 Across her tail 
 My legs do trail 
 Along the bridge so stony ! " 
 
 The cat heard it, and again he ran after the fox 
 and rescued the cock, and gave the fox a sound drub- 
 biug. Then he said to the cock : " Now, mind you 
 never let her come in again, or she'll eat you." 
 
 But the next time the cat went out, the she-fox
 
 188 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 came again, and said: "Dear little cock, open the 
 door!" "No, little fox! Pussy said I wasn't 
 to." But the fox begged and begged so piteously 
 that, at last, the cock was quite touched, and 
 opened the door. Then the fox caught him by 
 the throat again, and ran away with him, and the 
 cock cried 
 
 " Help ! pussy-pussy ! 
 That foxy hussy 
 Has got me tight 
 With all her might. 
 Across her tail 
 My legs do trail 
 Along the bridge so stony ! " 
 
 The cat heard it, and gave chase again. He ran 
 and ran, but this time he couldn't catch the fox up ; 
 so he returned home and wept bitterly, because he 
 was now all alone. At last, however, he dried his 
 tears and got him a little fiddle, a little fiddle-bow, 
 and a big sack, and went to the fox's hole and began 
 to play 
 
 " Fiddle-de-dee ! 
 The foxy so wee 
 Had daughters twice two, 
 And a little son too, 
 Called Phil. Fiddle-dee ! 
 Come, foxy, and see 
 My sweet minstrelsy ! " 
 
 Then the fox's daughter said : " Mammy, I'll go
 
 THE CAT, THE COCK, AND THE FOX. 189 
 
 out and see who it is that is playing so nicely ! " So 
 out she skipped, but no sooner did pussy see her 
 than he caught hold of her and popped her into his 
 sack. Then he played again 
 
 " Fiddle-de-dee ! 
 The foxy so wee 
 Had daughters twice two, 
 And a little son too, 
 Called Phil. Fiddle-dee ! 
 Come, foxy, and see 
 My sweet minstrelsy ! " 
 
 Then the second daughter skipped out, and pussy 
 caught her by the forehead, and popped her into his 
 sack, and went on playing and singing till he had 
 got all four daughters into his sack, and the little son 
 also. 
 
 Then the old fox was left all alone, and she waited 
 and waited, but not one of them came back. At last 
 she said to herself : " I'll go out and call them home, 
 for the cock is roasting, and the milk pottage is 
 simmering, and 'tis high time we had something to 
 eat." So out she popped, and the cat pounced upon 
 her, and killed her too. Then he went and drank 
 up all the soup, and gobbled up all the pottage, and 
 then he saw the cock lying on a plate. " Come, 
 shake yourself, cock ! " said puss. So the cock 
 shook himself, and got up, and the cat took the cock
 
 190 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 home, and the dead foxes too. And when they got 
 home they skinned them to make nice beds to lie 
 upon, and lived happily together in peace and plenty. 
 And as they laughed over the joke as a good joke, we 
 may laugh over it too !
 
 THE SERPENT-TSAREVICH AND HIS TWO 
 WIVES. 
 
 HERE was once a Tsaritsa who had 
 no child, and greatly desired one, 
 so the soothsayers said to her : 
 " Bid them catch thee a pike, bid 
 them boil its head and nothing 
 but its head, eat it, and thou shalt 
 see what will happen." So she did so. She ate the 
 pike's head and went about as usual for a whole year, 
 and when the year was out she gave birth to a son 
 who was a serpent. 
 
 And no sooner was he born than he looked about 
 him, and said: "Mammy and daddy! Bid them 
 make me a stone hut, and let there be a little bed 
 there, and a little stove and a fire to warm me, and 
 let me be married in a fortnight ! " So they did as 
 he desired. They shut him up in a stone hut, with 
 a little bed and a little stove and fire to warm him, 
 and in a fortnight he grew quite big, indeed he grew
 
 192 
 
 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 too big for his little bed. " And now," said he, " I 
 want to be married!" So they brought to him all 
 the fair young damsels of the land that he might 
 choose one to be his own true bride. Exceeding fair 
 were all the damsels they brought him, and yet he 
 
 would choose none of them. Now there was an old 
 woman there, who had twelve daughters, and eleven 
 of these daughters they brought to the Serpent- 
 Tsarevich, but not the twelfth. " She is too young ! " 
 said they. Then the youngest daughter said : " Ye 
 fools, not to take me too ! Why, if I were brought to
 
 THE SERPENT-TSAREVICH AND HIS WIVES. 193 
 
 the Serpeut-Tsarevich, lie would make me his bride 
 at once." 
 
 Now this came to the Tsar's ears, and he com- 
 manded them to bring her to him straightway. And 
 the Tsar said to her : " Wilt thou be my son's bride or 
 not ? " And she said : " I will ; but before I go to thy 
 son, give me at once a score of chemises, and a score 
 of linen kirtles, and a score of woollen kirtles, and 
 twenty pairs of shoes twenty of each, I say." So the 
 Tsar gave them to her, and she put on the twenty 
 chemises, and the twenty linen kirtles, and the twenty 
 woollen kirtles, and the twenty shoes, one after the 
 other, and went to see the Serpent-Tsarevich. When 
 she came to the threshold of his hut, she stopped 
 and said : " Hail, Serpent-Tsarevich ! " " Hail, 
 maiden ! " cried he. " Wilt thou be my bride ?" 
 " I will ! " " Then take off one of thy skins ! " cried 
 he. " Yes," she said, " but thou must do the same." 
 So he cast off one of his skins, and she cast off one 
 of her twenty suits of clothes. Then he cried out 
 again : " Cast off another of thy skins, maiden." 
 "Yes," she replied, " but thou must cast off one too ! " 
 So he did so. Nineteen times did he cast off one 
 of his serpent's skins, and nineteen times did she cast 
 off one of her suits of clothes, till at last she had only 
 her every-day suit left, and he had only his human 
 skin left. Then he threw off his last skin also, and 

 
 194 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 it Hew about in the air like a gossamer, whereupon 
 she seized hold of it and threw it into the fire that 
 was burning on the hearth till it was all consumed, 
 and he stood before her no longer a serpent, but a 
 simple Tsarevich. Then they married and lived 
 happily together, but the husband never would go to 
 visit his old father the Tsar, nor would he allow his 
 bride to go near the palace. 
 
 The old Tsar sent for him again and again, but his 
 son would never go. At last the wife was ashamed, 
 and said to her husband one day : " Dear heart ! 
 let me go to thy father ! I will only go for my own 
 pastime, lest he get angry. Why should I not go ? " 
 Then he let her go, and she went to the court of the 
 old Tsar, and took her pastime there. She amused 
 herself finely, and ate and drank her fill of all good 
 things. Now her husband had laid this command 
 upon her : " Go and divert thyself if thou wilt, but if 
 thou tell my father and my mother what has hap- 
 pened to me, and how I have lost my twenty serpent 
 skins, thou shalt never see me more." For they did 
 not know that he was now no longer a serpent, but a 
 simple Tsarevich. She vowed she would never tell ; 
 but for all her promises, she nevertheless told them 
 at last how her husband had lost his twenty serpent 
 skins. Then she enjoyed herself to her heart's con- 
 tent, but when she returned home she found no trace
 
 THE SERPENT-TSAREVICH AND HIS WIVES. 195 
 
 of her husband he had departed to another kingdom 
 in the uttermost parts of the world. 
 
 Then the poor bride sat her down and wept and 
 wept, and when she had no more tears to weep, she 
 went forth into the wide world to seek her husband. 
 She went on till she came to a lonely little house, 
 and she went and begged a night's lodging from the 
 old woman who dwelt there, who was the Mother 
 of the Winds. But the Mother of the Winds would 
 not let her in. " God preserve thee, child ! " said she. 
 " My son is already winging his way hither. In 
 another moment thou wilt hear the rustling of his 
 bones, in another moment he will slay thee, and 
 scatter thy bones to the four winds." But the bride 
 besought the old woman till she had her desire, and 
 the old woman hid her behind a huge chest. A 
 moment afterwards the son of the Mother of the 
 Winds came flying up, and he smelt out the bride, 
 and said : " What's this, mother ? there is an evil 
 smell of Cossack bones about the house!" "No, it 
 is not that," said his mother, " but a young woman 
 has taken shelter here, who says that she is going in 
 search of her husband." " Then, mother, give her 
 the little silver apple, and let her go, for her husband 
 is in another kingdom." So they sent her away with 
 the little silver apple. 
 
 She went on and on till night descended upon her,
 
 196 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 and she came to the lonely abode of another old 
 woman, and begged a night's lodging of her also. But 
 the old woman would not let her in. " My son will 
 be here presently," said she, " and he will slay thee." 
 "Nay, but, granny," said the bride, " I've already 
 stayed the night with such as thou, for I have lodged 
 at the house of the Mother of the Winds." Then the 
 old woman took her in, and hid her, for she was 
 the Mother of the Moon. And immediately after- 
 wards the Moon came flying up. " What is this, 
 little mother ? " cried he. "I smell an evil smell of 
 Cossack bones ! " But she said to him : " Nay, 
 my dear little son, but a young woman has come 
 hither who is obliged to search for her husband 
 because she told his father and mother the truth." 
 Then the Moon said : " 'Twould be as well to let her 
 go on further. Give her the Jittle golden apple, and 
 let her be off as quickly as possible, for her husband 
 is about to marry another wife." So she passed the 
 night there, and in the morning they sent her away 
 with the little golden apple. 
 
 She went on and on. Night again descended upon 
 her, and she came to the house of the Mother of the 
 Sun, and begged her for a night's lodging. But the,] 
 old woman said to her: "I cannot let thee in. Myj 
 son is flying about the world, but he will fly hither . 
 presently, and if he find thee here he will slay thee ! "\
 
 THE SERPENT-TSAREVICH AND HIS WIVES. 197 
 
 Then the bride said: "Nay, but, granny dear, I have 
 already lodged with the like of thee. I have lodged 
 with the Mother of the Winds, and the Mother of the 
 Moon, and they each gave me a little apple." Then 
 the Mother of the Sun also let her in. Immediately 
 afterwards her son, the Sun, came flying up, and he 
 said : " Why, what is this, little mother ? I smell 
 an evil smell of Cossack bones ! " But his mother 
 answered : " A young woman came hither who begged 
 for a night's lodging." She did not tell her son the 
 whole truth, that the bride was in search of her 
 husband, but he knew it already, and said : " Her 
 husband is about to marry another wife. Let her go 
 to the land where now he is, and give her the diamond 
 apple, which is the best and most precoius apple in 
 the whole world, and tell her to hasten on to the 
 house where her husband abides. They won't let her 
 in there, but she must disguise herself as an old 
 woman, and sit down outside in the courtyard, and 
 spread out a cloth and lay upon it her little silver 
 apple, and all the people will come flocking around to 
 see the old woman who is selling apples of silver." 
 So the bride did as the Sun bade her, and went to 
 that distant empire, and the Empress of that empire, 
 whom her husband had married, came to see what 
 she was selling, and said to her : " What dost thou 
 want for thy silver apple ? " And she answered :
 
 198 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 " No money do I want for it. Oh, sovereign lady, 
 all that I require in exchange therefor is that I 
 may pass the night near my husband." Then the 
 Empress took the apple, and allowed her to come 
 into the bedchamber of the Tsarevich to pass the 
 night there ; but first of all she made the Tsarevich so 
 tipsy that he knew nothing, and could speak not a 
 word to her, nor could he even recognize what manner 
 of person his true wife was. Then only did the 
 Empress let her come into the room where her 
 husband lay drunk. And she watched over him, she 
 watched over him the live-long night, and with the 
 dawn she departed. 
 
 The next morning he awoke out of his drunken 
 sleep, and said to himself : " Why, what is this 1 It 
 is just as if my first wife has been weeping over me 
 here, and wetted me with her tears ! " But he told 
 nobody what he thought, nor did he say a word 
 about it to his second wife. " Wait a bit ! " thought 
 he, " to-morrow night I'll not go to sleep. I'll watch 
 and watch till I watch the thing out." 
 
 The next day the faithful wife spread out her little 
 cloth again, and laid upon it her golden apple. The 
 Empress again came that way, went up to her, and 
 said : " Sell me that apple of thine, and I'll give thee 
 for it as many pence as thou canst hold in thy 
 lap ! " But she replied : " Nay, my sovereign lady !
 
 THE SERPENT-TSAREVICH AND HIS WIVES. 199 
 
 money for it I will not take, but let me pass one 
 more night in my own husband's room ! " And the 
 Empress took the apple, and let her sleep there. But 
 first the Empress caressed and kissed her husband 
 into a good humour, and then she made him drunk. 
 And the faithful wife came again, and watched and 
 wept over him and wetted him with her tears, and 
 with the dawn she departed. 
 
 And now she had only one apple left, but that 
 was the diamond apple, the most precious apple in 
 the world. And she said to the Empress : " Let me 
 watch by him for this apple but one night more, 
 and I'll never ask again ! " And she let her. Now 
 this night also her husband was asleep. And his 
 first wife came and immediately began to kiss him 
 on the head, but he said nothing. Then she kissed 
 him again, and at last he awoke and started up, and 
 said : " Who's that ? " " It is I, thy first wife." 
 " How hast thou found thy way hither ? " " Oh, 
 I have been here and there and everywhere. I have 
 lodged with the Mother of the Winds, and the 
 Mother of the Moon, and the Mother of the Sun, 
 and they gave me three apples, and I gave these 
 apples to thy Empress -wife, and she let me watch 
 over thee, and this is the third night that I have 
 watched by thy side." 
 
 Then he came to his right mind, and cried aloud
 
 .200 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 that they should bring in lights, and he saw that 
 his faithful wife was quite an old woman. Then he 
 bethought him, and said : " Was ever the like of this 
 known ? My first and faithful wife goes a-seeking 
 her husband throughout the wide world, while my 
 accursed second wife, Empress though she be, sells 
 her husband for three apples ! " 
 
 Then he bade them give his faithful wife rich 
 garments as much as she would, and she stripped 
 off her disguise, and washed her face and grew 
 young again. But the faithless wife was tied to the 
 tails of four wild horses, and they tore her to pieces 
 in the endless steppes.
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE MOLE. 
 
 XCE upon a time a rich man and a 
 poor man had a field in common, 
 and they sowed it with the same 
 seed at the same time. But God 
 prospered the poor man's labour 
 and made his seed to grow, but 
 the rich man's seed did not grow. 
 Then the rich man claimed that part of the field 
 where the grain had sprung up, and said to the 
 poor man : " Look now ! 'tis my seed that has 
 prospered, and not thine ! " The poor man protested, 
 but the rich man would not listen, but said to 
 him : " If thou wilt not believe me, then, poor man, 
 come into the field quite early to-morrow morning, 
 before dawn, and God shall judge betwixt us." 
 
 Then the poor man went home. But the rich man 
 dug a deep trench in the poor man's part of the field 
 and placed his son in it, and said to him : " Look now,
 
 202 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 my son ; when T come hither to-morrow morning and 
 ask whose field this is, say that it is not the poor 
 man's, but the rich man's." 
 
 Then he well covered up his son with straw, and 
 departed to his own house. 
 
 In the morning all the people assembled together 
 and went to the field, and the rich man cried : " Speak, 
 God ! whose field is this, the rich man's or the poor 
 man's?" 
 
 " The rich man's, the rich man's," cried a voice from 
 the midst of the field. 
 
 But the Lord Himself was amongst the people 
 gathered together there, and He said : " Listen not to 
 that voice, for the field is verily the poor man's." 
 
 Then the Lord told all the people how the matter 
 went, and then He said to the son of the rich man : 
 
 " Stay where thou art, and sit beneath the earth all 
 thy days, so long as the sun is in the sky." 
 
 So the rich man's son became a mole on the spot, 
 and that is why the mole always flies the light of day.
 
 THE TWO PEINCES. 
 
 HERE was once upon a time a Tsar 
 who had two sons, and these sons 
 went a-hunting in the forest and 
 there lost themselves. They wan- 
 dered on and on for twelve 
 weeks, and at the end of the 
 twelve weeks they came to a place 
 where three roads met, and the elder brother 
 said to the younger : " My brother, here our roads 
 part. Thou take the road on that side, and I'll take 
 the road on this." Then the elder brother took a 
 knife and stuck it into the trunk of a maple-tree by 
 the roadside, and said : " Look now, brother, should 
 any blood drip from the blade of this knife it will be a 
 sign that I am perishing, and thou must go and seek me ; 
 but if any blood flow from the handle, it will be a sign 
 that thou art perishing, and I will then go and seek 
 thee." Then the brothers embraced each other and
 
 204 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 parted, and one went in one direction and the other 
 went in the other. 
 
 The elder brother went on and on and on till he came 
 to a mountain so high that there cannot be a higher, 
 and he began climbing it with his dog and his stick. He 
 went on till he came to an apple-tree, and beneath the 
 apple-tree a fire was burning, and he stopped to warm 
 himself, when an old woman came up and said to him : 
 " Dear little gentleman ! dear little gentleman ! tie up 
 that dog lest he bite me." So he took the dog and tied 
 it up, and immediately he was turned to stone, and 
 the dog too, for the old woman was a pagan witch. 
 
 Time passed, and the younger brother came back to 
 the maple-tree by the cross-roads and saw that blood was 
 dripping from the blade of the knife. Then he knew 
 that his brother was perishing, and he went in search 
 of him, and came at last to the high mountain that 
 was higher than all others, and on the top of this 
 mountain there was a little courtyard, and in the 
 courtyard an old woman, who said to him : " Little 
 Prince, what brings thee hither, and what dost thou 
 seek ? " " I seek my brother," said he ; " a whole 
 year has passed since I heard of him, and I know not 
 whether he be alive or dead." Then she said to him : 
 " I can tell thee that he is dead, and it is of no use 
 seeking for him, though thou goest the wide world over. 
 But go up that mountain, and thou wilt come to two
 
 THE T\YO PRINCES. 205 
 
 other mountains opposite to each other, and there 
 thou wilt find an old man, who will put thee on thy 
 way." So he went up the high mountain till he came 
 to two other mountains that were opposite each 
 other, and there he saw two old men sitting, and 
 they asked him straightway : " Little Prince ! little 
 Prince ! whither dost thou go, and what dost thou 
 seek ? " " I am going in search of my brother," said 
 he, " my dear elder brother who is perishing, and I 
 can find him nowhere." Then one of the old men 
 said to him : "If thou canst scale those two moun- 
 tains yonder without falling, I'll give thee all that thou 
 dost want." Then he scaled the two mountains as 
 nimbly as a goat, and the old man gave him a bast 
 rope, three fathoms long, and bade him return to the 
 mountain where was the fire and the old woman who 
 had asked him to stay and warm himself, and bind 
 this old woman with the cord and beat her till she 
 promised to bring his brother back to life again, and 
 not only his brother but a Tsar and a Tsaritsa 1 and a 
 Tsarivna, 2 who were also turned to stone there. " Beat 
 her till she has brought them all to life again," said 
 they. So he took the cord and went back to 
 where the fire was burning. An apple-tree was 
 there, and beneath the apple-tree was the fire, and 
 the old witch came out to him and said : " Little 
 1 The wife of a Tsar. 2 The daughter of a Tsar.
 
 206 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 master ! little master ! let me come and warm myself." 
 " Come along, little mother ! " cried he ; " come and 
 warm thyself and make thyself comfortable." Then 
 she came out, but no sooner had she done so, than he 
 threw the cord around her and began flogging her. 
 " Say," cried he, " what hast thou done with my 
 brother ? " " Oh, dear little master ! dear little master ! 
 let me go, let me go ! I'll tell thee this instant where 
 thy brother is." But he wouldn't listen, but beat 
 her and beat her, and held her naked feet over the 
 fire, and toasted and roasted her till she shrivelled 
 right up. Then he let her go, and she went with him 
 to a cave that was on that mountain, and drew from 
 the depths of it some healing and life-giving water, 
 and brought his brother back to life again, but it was 
 as much as she could do, for she was half-dead herself. 
 Then his brother said to him : " Oh, my dear brother, 
 how heavily I must have been sleeping ! But thou 
 must revive my faithful dog too ! " Then she revived 
 the faithful dog, and she also revived the Tsar and 
 the Tsaritsa and the Tsarivna, who had been turned 
 to stone there. Then they left that place, for they 
 longed to be far away from the mountain where they 
 had all but perished. When they had gone a little 
 distanee, the elder brother bowed to the ground 
 before them, and went on his way alone. 
 
 He went on and on till he came to a city where all
 
 THE TWO PRIXCES. 207 
 
 the people were weeping and all the houses were 
 hung with black cloth. And he said to them : 
 " Why do ye weep, and why are all your houses hung 
 with black ? " And they answered : " Because there's 
 a Dragon here who eats the people, and it has come to 
 such a pass with us that to-morrow we must give him 
 our Princess for dinner." " Nay, but ye shall not do 
 this thing," said he, and, with that, he set out for the 
 cavern where the Dragon lived, and tethered his horse 
 there and slept by the side of the cavern all night. 
 And the next day, sure enough, the Princess was 
 brought to the mouth of the cavern. She came driv- 
 -ing thither in a carriage and four and with a heyduke 
 in attendance. But when the Prince saw her, he 
 came forth to meet her and led her aside and gave 
 her a prayer-book in her hand, and said to her : 
 " Stay here, Princess, and pray to God for me." Then 
 she fell down on her knees and began to pray, and 
 the Dragon popped one of his heads out of the cavern 
 and said : "It is time I had my dinner now, and 
 there's not so much as a breakfast here ! " But the 
 Prince also fell down on his knees and read out of his 
 prayer-book and prayed to God, and said to the 
 Dragon : " Come forth ! come forth I and I'll give 
 thee breakfast and dinner at the same time ! " Then 
 the Dragon darted back again, but when he had 
 waited till midday and still there was neither break-
 
 208 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 fast nor dinner for him, he popped two of his heads 
 out and cried : " Jt is high time I had my dinner, 
 and still there is neither breakfast nor dinner for 
 me ! " -" Come forth, and I'll give thee both at once ! " 
 cried the Prince. Then the Dragon wouldn't wait any 
 longer, but stuck out all his six heads and began to 
 wriggle out of the cavern; but the Prince attacked 
 him with his huge broadsword, a full fathom long, 
 which the Lord had given him, and chopped off all 
 the Dragon's six heads, and the rock fell upon the 
 Dragon's body and crushed it to pieces. Then the 
 Prince gathered up the six dragon-heads and laid 
 them on one side, and cut out the six lolling tongues 
 and tied them in his handkerchief, and told the 
 Princess to go back to her palace, for they could not 
 be married for a year and twelve weeks, and if, by 
 that time, he did not appear, she was to marry 
 another, and with that he departed. Then the coach- 
 man of the Princess came up to the place and saw the 
 six heads of the Dragon, and took them up and said 
 to the Princess : " I will slay thee on the spot if thou 
 dost not swear to me twelve times that thou wilt say \ 
 I slew the Dragon, and wilt take me for thy hus- 
 band ! " Then she swore to it twelve times, for else 
 he would have slain her. So they returned together 
 to the town, and immediately all the black cloth was 
 taken off the houses and the bells fell a-ringing, and
 
 210 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 all the people rejoiced because the coachman had 
 killed the Dragon. " Let them be married at once ! " 
 cried they. 
 
 Meanwhile the King's son went on and on till he 
 came to that town where he had left his brother, and 
 there he found that the Tsar and the Tsaritsa had 
 given his brother the whole tsardorn and the Tsarivna 
 to wife as well, and there he tarried for a time ; but 
 towards the end of a year and twelve weeks he went 
 back to the other city where he had left the Princess, 
 and there he found them making ready for a grand 
 wedding. " What is the meaning of all this ? " asked 
 he. And they answered : " The Tsar's coachman 
 has slain the Dragon with six heads and saved the 
 Princess, and now he is to be married to her." " Good 
 Lord ! " cried he, " and I never saw this Dragon ! 
 What manner of beast was it ? " Then they took him 
 and showed him the heads of the Dragon, and hej 
 cried : " Good Lord ! every other beast hath a tongue, 
 but this Dragon hath none ! " Then they told this to j 
 the coachman who had been made a Prince, and the 
 coachman was very angry and said : " Whoever I 
 maintains that a Dragon has tongues, him will I 
 order to be tied to four wild horses, and they shall! 
 tear him to pieces on the open steppe ! " The Prin- , 
 cess, however, recognized the King's son, but she held] 
 her peace. Then the King's son took out his hand- ;
 
 THE TWO PRINCES. 211 
 
 kerchief, unrolled it, showed them the six tongues, and 
 put each one into one of the six mouths of the 
 Dragon's six heads, and each of the tongues began to 
 speak and bid the Princess say how the matter went. 
 Then the Princess told how she had knelt down and 
 prayed out of the prayer-book while the King's son 
 slew the Dragon, and how the wicked coachman had 
 made her swear twelve times to that which was false. 
 When the Tsar heard this, he immediately gave the 
 Princess his daughter to the King's son, and they 
 asked him what death the wicked coachman should 
 die. And he answered : " Let him be tied to the 
 tails of four wild horses, and drive them into the 
 endless steppes that they may tear him to pieces 
 there, and the ravens and crows may come and pick 
 his bones."
 
 THE UNGRATEFUL CHILDREN AND THE OLD 
 FATHER WHO WENT TO SCHOOL AGAIN. 
 
 NCE upon a time there was an old 
 man. He lived to a great age, 
 and God gave him children whom 
 he brought up to man's estate, 
 and he divided all his goods 
 amongst them. " I will pass my 
 remaining days among my children," thought he. 
 
 So the old man went to live with his eldest son, 
 and at first the eldest son treated him properly, and 
 did reverence to his old father. " 'Tis but meet and 
 right that we should give our father to eat and drink, 
 and see that he has wherewithal to clothe him, and 
 take care to patch up his things from time to time, 
 and let him have clean new shirts on festivals," 
 said the eldest son. So they did so, and at fes- 
 tivals also the old father had his own glass beside 
 him. Thus the eldest son was a good son to his old
 
 THE UNGRATEFUL CHILDREN. 213 
 
 father. But when the eldest son had been keeping 
 his father for some time he began to regret his hos- 
 pitality, and was rough to his father, and sometimes 
 even shouted at him. The old man no longer had 
 his own set place in the house as heretofore, and there 
 was none to cut up his food for him. So the eldest 
 son repented him that he had said he would keep his 
 father, and he began to grudge him every morsel of 
 bread that he put in his mouth. The old man had 
 nothing for it but to go to his second son. It might 
 be better for him there or worse, but stay with his 
 eldest son any longer he could not. So the father 
 went to his second son. But here the old man soon 
 discovered that he had only exchanged wheat for 
 straw. Whenever he began to eat, his second son 
 and his daughter-in-law looked sour and murmured 
 something between their teeth. The woman scolded 
 the old man. " We had as much as we could do 
 before to make both ends meet," cried she, "and now 
 we have old men to keep into the bargain." The old 
 man soon had enough of it there also, and went on to 
 his next son. So one after another all four sons took 
 their father to live with them, and he was glad to 
 leave them all. Each of the four sons, one after the 
 other, cast the burden of supporting him on one of 
 the other brothers. " It is for him to keep thee, 
 daddy ! " said they : and then the other would say :
 
 214 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 " Nay, dad, but it is as much as we can do to keep 
 ourselves." Thus between his four sons he knew not 
 what to do. There was quite a battle among them as 
 to which of them should not keep their old father. 
 One had one good excuse and another had another, 
 and so none of them would keep him. This one had 
 a lot of little children, and that one had a scold for a 
 wife, and this house was too small, and that house was 
 too poor. " Go where thou wilt, old man," said they, 
 "only don't come to us." And the old man, grey, 
 grey, grey as a dove was he, wept before his sons, and 
 knew not whither to turn. What could he do ? En- 
 treaty was in vain. Not one of the sons would take 
 the old man in, and yet he had to be put somewhere. 
 Then the old man strove with them no more, but let 
 them do with him even as they would. 
 
 So all four sons met and took counsel. Time after 
 time they laid their heads together, and at last they 
 agreed among themselves that the best thing the old 
 man could do was to go to school. " There will be a 
 bench for him to sit upon there," said they ; " and he 
 can take something to eat in his knapsack." Then 
 they told the old man about it ; but the old man did 
 not want to go to school. He begged his children 
 not to send him there, and wept before them. " Now 
 that I cannot see the white world," said he, " how can 
 I see a black book ? Moreover, from my youth up-
 
 THE UNGRATEFUL CHILDREN. 215 
 
 wards I have never learnt my letters ; how shall I 
 begin to do so now ? A clerk cannot be fashioned 
 out of an old man on the point of death ! " But there 
 was no use talking, his children said he must go to 
 school, and the voices of his children prevailed against 
 his feeble old voice. So to school he had to go. Now 
 there was no church in that village, so he had to go 
 to the village beyond it to school. A forest lay 
 along the road, and in this forest the old man met a 
 nobleman driving along. When the old man came 
 near to the nobleman's carriage, he stepped out of the 
 road to let it pass, took oif his hat respectfully, and 
 then would have gone on further. But he heard 
 some one calling, and, looking back, saw the nobleman 
 beckoning to him ; he wanted to ask him something. 
 The nobleman then got out of his carriage and asked 
 the old man whither he was going. The old man took 
 off his hat to the nobleman and told him all his 
 misery, and the tears ran down the old man's cheeks. 
 " Woe is me, gracious sir ! If the Lord had left me 
 without kith and kin, I should not complain ; but 
 strange indeed is the woe that has befallen me ! I 
 have four sons, thank God, and all four have houses 
 of their own, and yet they send their poor old father 
 to school to learn ! Was ever the like of it known 
 before ? " So the old man told the nobleman his 
 whole story, and the nobleman was full of compassion
 
 216 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 for the old man. " Well, old man," said he, " 'tis no 
 use for thee to go to school, that's plain. Return 
 home. I'll tell thee what to do so that thy children 
 shall never send thee to school again. Fear not, old 
 man, weep no more, and let not thy soul be troubled ! 
 God shall bless thee, and all will be well. I know 
 well what ought to be done here." So the nobleman 
 comforted the old man, and the old man began to be 
 merry. Then the nobleman took out his purse, it was 
 a real nobleman's purse, with a little sack in the 
 middle of it to hold small change. Lord ! what a 
 lovely thing it was ! The more he looked at it, the 
 more the old man marvelled at it. The nobleman took 
 this purse and began filling it full with something. 
 When he had well filled it, he gave it to the old man. 
 " Take this and go home to thy children," said he, " and 
 when thou hast got home, call together all thy four 
 sons and say to them : My dear children, long long ago, 
 when I was younger than I am now, and knocked about 
 in the world a bit, I made a little money. ' I won't 
 spend it,' I said to myself, ' for one never knows what 
 may happen.' So I went into a forest, my children, 
 and dug a hole beneath an oak, and there I hid my 
 little store of money. I did not bother much about 
 the money afterwards, because I had such good 
 children ; but when you sent me to school I came to 
 this self-same oak, and I said to myself : ' I wonder
 
 THE UNGRATEFUL CHILDREN. 217 
 
 if these few silver pieces have been waiting for their 
 master all this time ! Let us dig and see.' So I dug 
 and found them, and have brought them home to you, 
 my children. I shall keep them till I die ; but after 
 my death consult together, and whosoever shall be 
 found to have cherished me most and taken care of 
 me and not grudged me a clean shirt now and then, 
 or a crust of bread when I'm hungry, to him shall be 
 given the greater part of my money. So now, my 
 dear children, receive me back again, and my thanks 
 shall be yours. You can manage it amongst you, and 
 surely 'tis not right that I should seek a home 
 among strangers ! Which of you will be kind to 
 your old father for money ? " 
 
 So the old man returned to his children with the 
 purse in a casket, and when he came to the village 
 with the casket under his arm, one could see at once 
 that he had been in a good forest? When one comes 
 home with a heavy casket under one's arm, depend 
 upon it there's something in it ! So, no sooner did 
 the old man appear than his eldest daughter-in-law 
 came running out to meet him, and bade him welcome 
 in God's name. " Things don't seem to get on at all 
 without thee, dad ! " cried she, " and the house is 
 quite dreary. Come in and rest, dad," she went on ; 
 " thou hast gone a long way and must be weary." 
 1 /. e. a forest where treasure is hidden.
 
 218 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 Then all the brothers came together, and the old man 
 told them what God had done for him. All their 
 faces brightened as they looked at the casket, and they 
 thought to themselves : " If we keep him we shall 
 have the money." Then the four brothers could not 
 make too much of their dear old father. They took 
 care of him and the old man was happy, but he took 
 heed to the counsel of the nobleman, and never let the 
 casket out of his hand. " After my death you shall 
 have everything, but I won't give it you now, for who 
 knows what may happen ? I have seen already how 
 you treated your old father when he had nothing. It 
 shall all be yours, I say, only wait ; and when I die, 
 take it and divide it as I have said." So the brothers 
 tended their father, and the old man lived in clover, 
 and was somebody. He had his own way and did 
 nothing. 
 
 So the old man was no longer ill-treated by his 
 children, but lived among them like an emperor in his 
 own empire, but no sooner did he die than his children 
 made what haste they could to lay hands upon the 
 casket. All the people were called together and bore 
 witness that they had treated their father well since 
 he came back to them, so it was adjudged that they 
 should divide the treasure amongst them. But first 
 they took the old man's body to church and the casket 
 along with it. They buried him as God commands.
 
 220 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 They made a rich banquet of funeral meats that all 
 might know how much they mourned the old man ; it 
 was a splendid funeral. When the priest got up from 
 the table, the people all began to thank their hosts, 
 and the eldest son begged the priest to say the 
 sorokoust 1 in the church for the repose of the dead 
 man's soul. " Such a dear old fellow as he was ! " 
 said he ; " was there ever any one like him ? Take 
 this money for the sorokoust, reverend father ! " so 
 horribly grieved was that eldest son. So the eldest 
 son gave the priest money, and the second son gave 
 him the like. Nay, each one gave him money for 
 an extra half sorokoust, all four gave him requiem 
 money. " We'll have prayers in church for our father 
 though we sell our last sheep to pay for them," cried 
 they. Then, when all was over, they hastened as fast 
 as they could to the money. The coffer was brought 
 forth. They shook it. There was a fine rattling in- 
 side it. Every one of them felt and handled the 
 coffer. That was something like a treasure ! Then 
 they unsealed it and opened it and scattered the 
 contents and it was full of nothing but glass ! They 
 wouldn't believe their eyes. They rummaged among 
 the glass, but there was no money. It was horrible ! 
 Surely it could not be that their father had dug up a 
 coffer from beneath an oak of the forest and it was 
 1 Prayers lasting forty days.
 
 THE UNGRATEFUL CHILDREN. 221 
 
 full of nothing but glass ! " Why ! " cried the 
 brothers, " our father has left us nothing but glass ! " 
 But for the crowds of people there, the brothers would 
 have fallen upon and beaten each other in their wrath. 
 So the children of the old man saw that their father 
 had made fools of them. Then all the people mocked 
 them : " You see what you have gained by sending 
 your father to school ! You see he learned something 
 at school after all ! He was a long time before he 
 began learning, but better late than never. It 
 appears to us 'twas a right good school you sent him to. 
 No doubt they whipped him into learning so much. 
 Never mind, you can keep the money and the casket!" 
 Then the brothers were full of lamentation and rage. 
 But what could they do ? their father was already 
 dead and buried.
 
 IVAN THE FOOL AND ST. PETER'S FIFE. 
 
 HERE was once upon a time a man 
 who had three sons, and two were 
 clever, but the third, called Ivan, 
 was a fool. Their father divided 
 all his goods amongst them and 
 died, and the three brothers went 
 out into the world to seek their fortunes. Now the 
 two wise brothers left all their goods at home, but Ivan 
 the fool, who had only inherited a large millstone, took 
 it along with him. They went on and on and on till it 
 began to grow dark, when they came to a large forest. 
 Then the wise brothers said : " Let us climb up to 
 the top of this oak and pass the night there, and then 
 robbers will not fall upon us." " But what will this 
 silly donkey do with his millstone "? " asked one of 
 them. " You look to yourselves," said Ivan, " for I 
 mean to pass the night in this tree also." Then the
 
 IVAN THE FOOL AND ST. PETERS FIFE. 223 
 
 wise brothers climbed to the very tip-top of the tree 
 and there sat down, and then Ivan dragged himself 
 up too, and the millstone after him. He tried to get 
 up as high as his brothers, but the thin boughs broke 
 beneath him, so he had to be content with staying 
 in the lower part of the tree on the thicker boughs ; 
 so there he sat, hugging 
 the millstone in his arms. 
 Presently some robbers 
 came along that way, red- 
 handed from their work, 
 and they too prepared to 
 pass the night under the 
 tree. So they cut them 
 down firewood, and made 
 them a roaring fire beneath 
 a huge cauldron, and in this 
 cauldron they began to boil 
 their supper. They boiled 
 and boiled till their mess 
 
 of pottage was ready, and then they all sat down 
 round the cauldron and took out their large ladles, 
 and were just about to fall to in fact they w T ere 
 blowing their food because it was so boiling hot 
 when Ivan let his big millstone plump down into 
 the middle of the cauldron, so that the pottage flew 
 right into their eyes. The robbers were so terrified
 
 224 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 that they all sprang to their feet straightway and 
 scampered off through the forest, forgetting all the 
 booty which they had robbed the merchantmen of. 
 Then Ivan came down from the oak and cried to his 
 brothers : " You come down here and divide the 
 spoil ! " So the wise brothers came down, put all the 
 merchandise on the backs of the robbers' horses, and 
 went home with it ; but the only thing that Ivan 
 was able to secure for himself was a bag of incense. 
 This he immediately took to the nearest churchyard, 
 placed it on the top of a tomb, and began to pound 
 away at it with his millstone. Suddenly St. Peter 
 appeared to him and said : " What art thou doing, 
 good man ? " " I am pounding up this incense to 
 make bread of it." "Nay, good man, I will advise 
 thee better : give me the incense and take from me 
 whatever thou wilt." " Very well, Saint Peter," said 
 the fool ; " thou must give me a little fife, but a fife 
 of such a sort that whenever I play upon it, every one 
 will be obliged to dance." " But dost thou know 
 how to play upon a fife ? " " No, but I can soon 
 learn." Then St. Peter drew forth a little fife from 
 his bosom and gave it to him, and took away the 
 incense, and who can say where he went with it ! 
 But Ivan stood up and gazed at the sky and said : 
 " Look now ! if St. Peter hath not already burnt my 
 incense, and made of it that large white cloud that
 
 226 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 is sailing above my head!" Then he took up his 
 fife and began to play, and the moment he began to 
 play, everything around him began to dance ; the 
 wolves, and the hares, and the foxes, and the bears, 
 nay, the very birds lit down upon the ground and 
 began to dance, and Ivan went on laughing and 
 playing all the time. Even the savage, surly bears 
 danced and danced till their legs tottered beneath 
 them. Then they clutched tight hold of the trees 
 to stop themselves from dancing ; but it was of no 
 use, dance they must. At last Ivan himself was 
 tired, and lay down to rest, and when he had rested 
 a little, he got up again and went on into the 
 town. There all the people were in the bazaars, 
 buying and selling. Some were buying pancakes, 
 others baskets of bright-coloured eggs, others again 
 pitchers of kvas. Ivan began playing on his fife, 
 and forthwith they all fell a-dancing. One man who 
 had a whole basket of eggs on his head danced them 
 into bits, and danced and danced till he looked like 
 the yolk of an egg himself. Those who were asleep 
 got up and gave themselves up to dancing straight- 
 way ; there were some who danced without trousers, 
 and some who danced without smocks or shirts, and 
 there were some who danced with nothing on at all, 
 for dance they must when Ivan began a-playing. The 
 whole town was turned upside down : the dogs, the
 
 IVAN THE FOOL AND ST. PETERS FIFE. 227 
 
 swiue, the cocks and hens, everything that had life 
 came out and danced. At last Ivan was tired, so 
 he left off playing and went into the town to seek 
 service. The parson there took a fancy to him, and 
 said to him : " Good man ! wilt enter my service ? " 
 " That will I, gladly," said Ivan. " How much 
 wages dost thou want by the year then ? " " It won't 
 come dear; five karbovantsya 1 are all I ask." 
 " Good, I agree," said the parson. So he engaged 
 Ivan as his servant, and the next day he sent him out 
 into the fields to tend his cattle. Ivan drove the 
 cattle into the pastures, but he himself perched on 
 the top of a haystack while the cattle grazed. He 
 sat there, and sat and sat till he grew quite dull, and 
 then he said to himself: " I'll play a bit on my fife, 
 I haven't played for a long time." So he began to 
 play, and immediately all the cattle fell a-dancing ; 
 and not only the cattle, but all the foxes, and the 
 hares, and the wolves, and everything in the hedges 
 and ditches fell a-dancing too. They danced and 
 danced till the poor cattle were clean worn out 
 and at the last gasp. In the evening Ivan drove 
 them home, but they were so famished that they 
 tugged at the dirty straw-roofs of the huts they 
 passed, and so got a chance mouthful or two. But 
 Ivan went in and had supper and a comfortable 
 
 1 A karbovanets is about four shillings.
 
 228 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 night's rest afterwards. The next day he again 
 drove the cattle into the pastures. They began 
 grazing till he took out his fife again, when they all 
 fell a-dancing like mad. He played on and on till 
 evening, when he drove the cattle home again, and 
 they were all as hungry as could be, and wearied to 
 death from dancing. 
 
 Now the parson was not a little astonished when 
 he saw his cattle. " Where on earth has he been 
 feeding them ? " thought he ; " they are quite tired 
 out and almost famished ! I'll take care to go myself 
 to-morrow, and see exactly whither he takes them, 
 and what he does with them." On the third day 
 the neatherd again drove the cattle into the pastures, 
 but this time the parson followed after them, and 
 went and hid himself behind the hedge near to which 
 Ivan was watching the cattle graze. There he sat 
 then, and watched to see what the man would do. 
 Presently Ivan mounted on to the haystack and 
 began to play. And immediately all the cattle fell 
 a-dancing, and everything in the hedge, and the 
 parson behind the hedge danced too. Now the 
 hedge was a quickset hedge, and as the parson began 
 capering about in it, he tore to shreds his cassock and 
 his breeches, and his under-coat, and his shirt, and 
 scratched his skin and wrenched out his beard as if 
 he had been very badly shaved, and still the poor
 
 IVAN THE FOOL AND ST. PETER'S FIFE. 229 
 
 parson had to go on dancing in the midst of the 
 prickly hedge till there were great weals and wounds 
 all over his body, and the red blood began to flow. 
 Then the parson saw he was in evil case, and shrieked 
 to his herdsman to leave off playing ; but the herds- 
 man was so wrapped up in his music that he did not 
 hear him ; but at last he looked in the direction of 
 the hedge, and when he saw the poor parson skipping 
 about like a lunatic, he stopped. The parson darted 
 away as fast as his legs could carry him towards the 
 village, and oh ! what a sight he looked as he dashed 
 through the streets ! The people didn't know him, 
 and scandalized that anybody should run about 
 in rags and tatters so that his whole body could 
 be seen began to hoot him. Then the poor man 
 turned aside from the public road, crawled off 
 through the woods, and dashed off through the tall 
 reeds of the gardens, with the dogs after him. For 
 wherever he went they took him for a robber, and 
 hounded on the dogs. At last the parson got home, 
 all rags and tatters, so that when his wife saw him 
 she did not know him, but called to the labourers : 
 " Help, help ! here's a robber, turn him out !" They 
 came rushing up with sticks and cudgels, but he 
 began talking to them, and at last they recognized 
 him, led him home, and he told his wife all about 
 Ivan. The parson's wife was so amazed she could
 
 230 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 scarce believe it. In the evening Ivan drove home 
 the oxen, put them into their stalls, gave them straw 
 to eat, and then came into the house himself to have 
 supper. He came into the house, and the parson said 
 to him : " Come now, Ivan, when thou hast rested 
 a bit, play my wife a little song ! " But as for the 
 parson, he took good care to tie himself first of all to 
 the pillar which held up the roof of the house. Ivan 
 sat down on the ground near to the threshold and 
 began to play. The parson's wife sat down on the 
 bench to listen to him while he played ; but immedi- 
 ately she leaped up from the bench and began to 
 dance, and she danced with such hearty good-will 
 that the place became too small for her. Then the 
 Devil seemed to take possession of the cat too, for 
 pussy leaped from under the stove and began to 
 spring and bound about also. The parson held on 
 and held on to the pillar with all his might, but it 
 was of no use. He had no power to resist ; he let 
 go with his hands, and tugged and tugged till the 
 rope that held him grew slacker and slacker, and then 
 he went dancing round and round the pillar at a 
 furious rate, with the rope chafing his hands and feet 
 all the time. At last he could endure it no longer, 
 and bawled to Ivan to stop. " The deuce is in thee ! " 
 cried he. Then Ivan stopped playing, put his fife 
 into his breast-pocket, and went and lay down to
 
 IVAN THE FOOL AND ST. PETER'S FIFE. 231 
 
 sleep. But the parsou said to his wife : " We must 
 turn away this Ivan to-morrow, for he will be the 
 death of ourselves and our cattle ! " Ivan, however, 
 overheard what the parson said to his wife, and 
 getting up early in the morning, he went straight to 
 the parson, and said to him : " Give me one hundred 
 karbovantsya, and I'll be off; but if you won't give 
 them to me, I'll play and play till you and your wife 
 have danced yourselves to death, and then I'll 'take 
 your place and live at mine ease." The parson 
 scratched himself behind the ears and hesitated ; but 
 at last he thought he had better give the money and 
 be quit of him. So he took the hundred karbovantsya 
 out of his satchel and gave them to Ivan. Then Ivan 
 played them a parting song, till the parson and his 
 wife fell down to the ground, dead beat, with their 
 tongues lolling out of their mouths ; and then he put 
 his fife into his breast-pocket, and wandered forth 
 into the wide world.
 
 THE MAGIC EGG. 
 
 j>HEKE was once upon a time a lark 
 who was the Tsar among the birds, 
 and he took unto himself as his 
 Tsaritsa a little shrew mouse. They 
 had a field all to themselves, which 
 they sowed with wheat, and when the wheat grew 
 up they divided it between them, when they 
 found that there was one grain over ! The mouse 
 said : " Let me have it ! " But the lark said : 
 "No, let me have it!" "What's to be done?" 
 thought they. They would have liked to take counsel 
 of some one, but they had no parents or kinsmen, 
 nobody at all to whom they could go and ask 
 advice in the matter. At last the mouse said : " At 
 any rate, let me have the first nibble ! " The lark 
 Tsar agreed to this ; but the little mouse fastened 
 her teeth in it and ran off into her hole with it, and 
 there ate it all up. At this the Tsar lark was wroth,
 
 THE MAGIC EGG. 233 
 
 and collected all the birds of the air to make war 
 upon the mouse Tsaritsa; but the Tsaritsa called 
 together all the beasts to defend her, and so the war 
 began. Whenever the beasts came rushing out of 
 the wood to tear the birds to pieces, the birds flew 
 up into the trees ; but the birds kept in the air, and 
 hacked and pecked the beasts wherever they could. 
 Thus they fought the whole day, and in the evening 
 they lay down to rest. Now when the Tsaritsa 
 looked around upon her forces, she saw that the ant 
 was taking no part in the war. She immediately 
 went and commanded the ant to be there by evening, 
 and when the ant came, the Tsaritsa ordered her to 
 climb up the trees with her kinsmen and bite off the 
 feathers round the birds' wings. 
 
 Next day, when there was light enough to see by, 
 the mouse Tsaritsa cried : " Up, up, my warriors ! " 
 Thereupon the birds also rose up, and immediately 
 fell to the ground, where the beasts tore them to bits. 
 So the Tsaritsa overcame the Tsar. But there was 
 one eagle who saw there was something wrong, so 
 he did not try to fly, but remained sitting on the 
 tree. And lo ! there came an archer along that 
 way, and seeing the eagle on the tree, he took 
 aim at it ; but the eagle besought him and said : 
 " Do not kill me, and I'll be of great service to 
 thee ! " The archer aimed a second time, but the
 
 234 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 eagle besought him still more and said : " Take me 
 down rather and keep me, and thou shalt see that it 
 will be to thy advantage." The archer, however, 
 took aim a third time, but the eagle began to beg of 
 him most piteously : " Nay, kill me not, but take 
 me home with thee, and thou shalt see what great 
 advantage it will be to thee ! " The archer believed 
 the bird. He climbed up the tree, took the eagle 
 down, and carried it home. Then the eagle said to 
 him : " Put me in a hut, and feed me with flesh till 
 my wings have grown again." 
 
 Now this archer had two cows and a steer, and 
 he at once killed and cut up one of the cows for the 
 eagle. The eagle fed upon this cow for a full year, 
 and then he said to the archer : " Let me go, that I 
 may fly. I see that my wings have already grown 
 again ! " Then the archer let him loose from the 
 hut. The eagle flew round and round, he flew about 
 for half a day, and then he returned to the archer 
 aud said : " I feel I have but little strength in me, 
 slay me another cow ! " And the archer obeyed him, 
 and slew the second cow, and the eagle lived upon 
 that for yet another year. Again the eagle flew 
 round and round in the air. He flew round and 
 about the whole day till evening, when he returned 
 to the archer and said: "I am stronger than I was, 
 but I have still but little strength in me, slay me
 
 THE MAGIC EGG. 235 
 
 the steer also ! " Then the man thought to himself : 
 " What shall I do ? Shall I slay it, or shall I not 
 slay it ? " At last he said : " Well ! I've sacrificed 
 
 more than this before, so let this go too ! " and he 
 took the steer and slaughtered it for the eagle. Then 
 the eagle lived upon this for another whole year
 
 236 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 longer, and after that he took to flight, and flew high 
 up right to the very clouds. Then he flew down 
 ao-ain to the man and said to him : " I thank thee, 
 
 O 
 
 brother, for that thou hast been the saving of me ! 
 come now and sit upon me ! " " Nay, but," said the 
 man, " what if some evil befall me ? " " Sit on me, 
 I say ! " cried the eagle. So the archer sat down 
 upon the bird. 
 
 Then the eagle bore him nearly as high as the big 
 clouds, and then let him fall. Down plumped the 
 man ; but the eagle did not let him fall to the earth, 
 but swiftly flew beneath him and upheld him, and 
 said to him : " How dost thou feel now ? " " I feel," 
 said the man, " as if I had no life in me." Then the 
 eagle replied : " That was just how I felt when thou 
 didst aim at me the first time." Then he said to 
 him : " Sit on my back again ! '* The man did not 
 want to sit on him, but what could he do ? Sit he 
 must. Then the eagle flew with him quite as high 
 as the big clouds, and shook him off", and down he 
 fell headlong till he was about two fathoms from the 
 ground, when the bird again flew beneath him and 
 held him up. Again the eagle asked him : " How 
 dost thou feel ? " And the man replied : "1 feel 
 just as if all my bones were already broken to bits ! " 
 "That is just how I felt when thou didst take aim 
 at me the second time," replied the eagle. " But
 
 THE MAGIC EGG. 237 
 
 now sit on my back once more." The man did so, 
 and the eagle flew with him as high as the small 
 fleecy clouds, and then he shook him off, and down 
 he fell headlong ; but when he was but a hand's- 
 breaclth from the earth, the eagle again flew beneath 
 him and held him up, and said to him : " How dost 
 thou feel now ? " And he replied : " I feel as if I 
 no longer belonged to this world ! " " That is just 
 how I felt when thou didst aim at me the third time," 
 replied the eagle. " But now," continued the bird, 
 " thou art guilty no more. We are quits. I owe 
 thee nought, and thou owest nought to me ; so sit 
 on my back again, and I'll take thee to my master." 
 
 They flew on and on, they flew till they came to 
 the eagle's uncle. And the eagle said to the archer : 
 "Go to my holise, and when they ask thee : ' Hast 
 thou not seen our poor child ? ' reply, ' Give me the 
 magic egg, and I'll bring him before your eyes ! ' ' 
 So he went to the house, and there they said to 
 him : " Hast thou heard of our poor child with thine 
 ears, or seen him with thine eyes, and hast thou 
 come hither willingly or unwillingly ? " And he 
 answered : " I have come hither willingly ! " Then 
 they asked : " Hast thou smelt out anything of our 
 poor youngster ? for it is three years now since he 
 went to the wars, and there's neither sight nor sound 
 of him more ! " And he answered : " Give me the
 
 238 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 magic egg, and I'll bring him straightway before your 
 eyes ! " Then they replied : " 'Twere better we never 
 saw him than that we should give thee the magic 
 egg ! " Then he went back to the eagle and said to 
 him : " They said : ' 'Twere better we never saw him 
 than that we should give thee the magic egg.'" 
 Then the eagle answered : " Let us fly on further ! " 
 
 They flew on and on till they came to the eagle's 
 brother, and the archer said just the same to him as 
 he had said to the eagle's uncle, and still he didn't 
 get the egg. Then they flew to the eagle's father, and; 
 the eagle said to him : " Go up to the hut, and ifj 
 they ask for me, say that thou hast seen me and will* 
 bring me before their eyes." So he went up to the 
 hut, and they said to him: "0 Tsarevich, we heaij 
 thee with our ears and see thee with our eyes, but! 
 hast thou come hither of thine own free will or byi 
 the will of another ? " And the archer answered :l 
 " I have come hither of my own free will ! " Then 
 they asked him : " Hast thou seen our son ? Lo, 
 these four years we have not had news of him. He 
 went off to the wars, and perchance he has been] 
 slain there." And he answered them : " I have seenl 
 him, and if thou wilt give me the magic egg, I will 
 bring him before your eyes." And the eagle's father 
 said to him : " What good will such a thing do thee ? 
 We had better give thee the lucky penny ! " But he
 
 THE MAGIC EGG. 239 
 
 answered : " I don't want the lucky penny, give me 
 the magic egg ! " " Come hither, then ! " said he, 
 " and thou shalt have it." So he went into the hut. 
 Then the eagle's father rejoiced and gave him the 
 egg, and said to him: "Take heed thou dost not 
 break it anywhere on the road, and when thou gettest 
 home, hedge it round and build a strong fence about 
 it, and it will do thee good." 
 
 So he went homewards. He went on and on till 
 a great thirst came upon him. So he stopped at the 
 first spring he came to, and as he stooped to drink he 
 stumbled and the magic egg was broken. Then he 
 perceived that an ox had come out of the egg and 
 was rolling away. He gave chase to the ox, but 
 whenever he was getting close to one side of it, the 
 other side of it got further away from him. Then 
 the poor fellow cried : "I shall do nothing with it 
 myself, I see." At. that moment an old she-dragon 
 came up to him and said : " What wilt thou give me, 
 man, if I chase this ox back again into the egg 
 for thee ? " And the archer replied : " What can I 
 give ? " The dragon said to him : " Give me what 
 thou hast at home without thy will and wit ! "- 
 " Done ! " said the archer. Then the dragon chased 
 the ox nicely into the egg again, patched it up 
 prettily and gave it into the man's hand. Then the 
 archer went home, and when he got home he found
 
 240 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 a son had been born to him there, and his son said 
 to him : " Why didst thou give me to the old she- 
 dragon, dad ? But never mind, I'll manage to live 
 in spite of her." Then the father was very grieved 
 for a time, but what could he do ? Now the name of 
 this son was Ivan. 
 
 So Ivan lost no time in going to the dragon, and 
 
 the dragon said to him : " Go to my house and do 
 me three tasks, and if thou dost them not, I'll devour 
 thee." Now round the dragon's house was a large 
 meadow as far as the eye could reach. And the 
 dragon said to him : " Thou must in a single night 
 weed out this field and sow wheat in it, and reap the 
 wheat and store it, all in this very night ; and thou
 
 THE MAGIC EGG. 241 
 
 must bake me a roll out of this self-same wheat, and 
 the roll must be lying ready for me on my table in 
 the morning." 
 
 Then Ivan went and leaned over the fence, and his 
 heart within him was sore troubled. Now near to 
 him there was a post, and in this post was the 
 dragon's starveling daughter. So when he came 
 thither and fell a- weeping, she asked him : " Where- 
 fore dost thou weep ? " And he said : " How can 
 I help weeping ? The dragon has bidden me do 
 something I can never, never do ; and what is more, 
 she has bidden me do it in a single night." " What 
 is it, pray ? " asked the dragon's daughter. Then he 
 told her. " Not every bush bears a berry ! " cried 
 she. " Promise to take me to wife, and I'll do all she 
 has bidden thee do." He promised, and then she said 
 to him again : " Now go and lie down, but see that 
 thou art up early in the morning to bring her her 
 roll" Then she went to the field, and before one 
 could whistle she had cleaned it of weeds and 
 harrowed it and sown it with wheat, and by dawn 
 she had reaped the wheat and cooked the roll and 
 brought it to him, and said: "Now, take it to her 
 hut and put it on her table." 
 
 Then the old she-dragon awoke and came to the 
 door, and was amazed at the sight of the field, which 
 was now all stubble, for the corn had been cut. Then
 
 242 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 she said to Ivan : " Yes, thou hast done the work 
 well. But now, see that thou doest my second task." 
 Then she gave him her second command. " Dig up 
 that mountain yonder and let the Dnieper flow past 
 the site of it, and there build a store-house, and in 
 the store-house stack the wheat that thou hast reaped, 
 and sell this wheat to the merchant barques that sail 
 by, and everything must be done by the time I get 
 up early next morning ! " Then he again went to 
 the fence and wept, and the maiden said to him : 
 " Why dost thou weep ? " and he told her all that 
 the she-dragon had bidden him do. " There are lots 
 of bushes, but where are the berries ? Go and lie 
 down, and I'll do it all for thee." Then she whistled, 
 and the mountain was levelled and the Dnieper 
 flowed over the site of it, and round about the 
 Dnieper store-houses rose up, and then she came and 
 woke him that he might go and sell the wheat to the 
 merchant barques that sailed by that way, and when 
 the she-dragon rose up early in the morning she was 
 amazed to see that everything had been done which 
 she had commanded him. 
 
 Then she gave him her third command : " This 
 night thou must catch the golden hare, and bring it 
 to me by the morning light." Again he went to the 
 fence and fell a-weeping. And the girl asked him : 
 "Why art thou weeping?" He said to her: "She
 
 THE MAGIC EGG. 243 
 
 has ordered me to catch her the golden hare." "Oh, 
 oh ! " cried the she-dragon's daughter, " the berries 
 are ripening now ; only her father, the Devil, knows 
 how to catch such a hare as that. Nevertheless, I'll 
 go to a rocky place I know of, and there perchance 
 we shall be able to catch it." So they went to this 
 rocky place together, and she said to him : " Stand 
 over that hole. I'll go in and chase him out of the 
 hole, and thou catch him as he comes out ; but mind, 
 whatever comes out of the hole, seize it, for it will be 
 the golden hare." 
 
 So she went and began beating up, and all at once 
 out came a snake and hissed, and he let it go. Then 
 she came out of the hole and said to him : " What ! 
 has nothing come out ? " " Well," said he, " only a 
 snake, and I was afraid it would bite me, so I let it 
 go." "What hast thou done?" said she; "that was 
 the very hare itself. Look now ! " said she, " I'll go 
 in again, and if any one comes out and tells you that 
 the golden hare is not here, don't believe it, but hold 
 him fast." So she crept into the hole again and 
 began to beat for game, and out came an old woman, 
 who said to the youth : " What art thou poking 
 about there for ? " And he said to her : " For the 
 golden hare." She said to him : " It is not here, for 
 this is a snake's hole," and when she had said this 
 she went away. Presently the girl also came out
 
 244 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 and said to him : " What ! hast them not got the 
 hare ? Did nothing come out, then ? " " No," said 
 he, " nothing but an old woman who asked me what 
 I was seeking, and I told her the golden hare, and 
 she said : ' It is not here,' so I let her go." Then the 
 girl replied : " Why didst thou not lay hold of her ? 
 for she was the very golden hare itself, and now thou 
 never wilt catch it unless I turn myself into a hare 
 and thou take and lay me on the table, and give me 
 into my mother's, the she-dragon's hands, and go 
 away, for if she find out all about it she will tear the 
 pair of us to pieces." 
 
 So she changed herself into a hare, and he took 
 and laid her on the table, and said to the she-dragon : 
 " There's thy hare for thee, and now let me go 
 away ! " She said to him : " Very well be off ! " 
 Then he set off running, and he ran and ran as hard 
 as he could. Soon after, the old she-dragon dis- 
 covered that it was not the golden hare, but her own 
 daughter, so she set about chasing after them and 
 destroying them both, for the daughter had made 
 haste in the meantime to join Ivan. But as the she- 
 dragon couldn't run herself, she sent her husband, 
 and he began chasing them, and they knew he was 
 coming, for they felt the earth trembling beneath his 
 tread. Then the she-dragon's daughter said to Ivan : 
 " I hear him running after us. I'll turn myself into
 
 THE MAGIC EGG. 245 
 
 standing wheat and thee into an old man guarding 
 me, and if he ask thee : ' Hast thou seen a lad and 
 a lass 'pass by this way ? ' say to him : ' Yes, they 
 passed by this way while I was sowing this 
 wheat ! ' " 
 
 A little while afterwards the she-dragon's husband 
 came flying up. " Have a lad and a lass passed by 
 this way ? " said he. " Yes," replied the old man, 
 " they have." " Was it long ago ? " asked the she- 
 dragon's husband. "It was while this wheat was 
 being sown," replied the old man. " Oh ! " thought 
 the serpent, " this wheat is ready for the sickle, they 
 couldn't have been this way yesterday," so he turned 
 back. Then the she-dragon's daughter turned her- 
 self back into a maiden and the old man into a 
 youth, and off they set again. But the dragon 
 returned home, and the she-dragon asked him : 
 " What ! hast thou not caught them or met them 
 on the road ? " " Met them, no ! " said he. " I 
 did, indeed, pass on the road some standing wheat 
 and an old man watching it, and I asked the old 
 man if he had seen a lad and a lass pass by that 
 way, and he said : ' Yes, while this wheat was being 
 sown,' but the wheat was quite ripe for the sickle, 
 so I knew it was a long while ago and turned 
 back." " Why didst thou not tear that old man and 
 the wheat to pieces ? " cried the she-dragon ; " it was
 
 246 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 they ! Be off after them again, and mind, this time 
 tear them to pieces without fail." 
 
 So the dragon set off after them again, and they 
 heard him coming from afar, for the earth trembled 
 beneath him, so the damsel said to Ivan : " He's 
 coming again, I hear him ; now I'll change myself 
 into a monastery, so old that it will be almost falling to 
 pieces, and I'll change thee into an old black monk at 
 the gate, and when he comes up and asks: 'Hast thou 
 seen a lad and a lass pass this way 1 ?' say to him: 'Yes, 
 they passed by this way when this monastery was 
 being built/" Soon afterwards the dragon came flying 
 past, and asked the monk : " Hast thou seen a lad 
 and a lass pass by this way ? " " Yes," he replied, 
 " I saw them what time the holy fathers began to 
 build this monastery." The dragon thought to him- 
 self : " That was not yesterday ! This monastery has 
 stood a hundred years if it has stood a day, and won't 
 stand much longer either," and with that he turned 
 him back. When he got home, he said to the she- 
 dragon, his wife : " I met a black monk who serves in 
 a monastery, and I asked him about them, and he 
 told me that a lad and a lass had run past that way 
 when the monastery was being built, but that was not 
 yesterday, for the monastery is a hundred years old 
 at the very least." " Why didst thou not tear the 
 black monk to pieces and pull down the monastery ?
 
 THE MAGIC EGG. 247 
 
 for 'twas they. But I see I must go after them 
 myself, thou art no good at all." 
 
 So off she set and ran and ran, and they knew she 
 was coming, for the earth quaked and yawned beneath 
 her. Then the damsel said to Ivan : " I fear me 'tis 
 all over, for she is coming herself ! Look now ! I'll 
 change thee into a stream and myself into a fish a 
 perch." Immediately after the she-dragon came up 
 and said to the perch : " Oh, oh ! so thou wouldst run 
 away from me, eh ! " Then she turned herself into a 
 pike and began chasing the perch, but every time she 
 drew near to it, the perch turned its prickly fins 
 towards her, so that she could not catch hold of it. 
 So she kept on chasing it and chasing it, but finding 
 she could not catch it, she tried to drink up the 
 stream, till she drank so much of it that she burst. 
 
 Then the maiden who had become a fish said to 
 the youth who had become a river : " Now that we 
 are alive and not dead, go back to thy lord-father 
 and thy father's house and see them, and kiss them 
 all except the daughter of thy uncle, for if thou kiss 
 that damsel thou wilt forget me, and I shall go to the 
 land of Nowhere." So he went home and greeted 
 them all, and as he did so he thought to himself : 
 "Why should I not greet my uncle's daughter like 
 the rest of them ? Why, they'll think me a mere 
 pagan if I don't ! " So he kissed her, and the moment
 
 248 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 he did so lie forgot all about the girl who had saved 
 him. 
 
 So he remained there half-a-year, and then be- 
 thought him of taking to himself a wife. So they 
 betrothed him to a very pretty girl, and he accepted 
 her and forgot all about the other girl who had saved 
 him from the dragon, though she herself was the 
 she-dragon's daughter. Now the evening before the 
 wedding they heard a young damsel crying Shishki l 
 in the streets. They called to the young damsel to 
 go away, or say who she was, for nobody knew her. 
 But the damsel answered never a word, but began to 
 knead more cakes, and made a cock-dove and a hen- 
 dove out of the dough and put them down on the 
 ground, and they became alive. And the hen- dove 
 said to the cock-dove : " Hast thou forgotten how I 
 cleared the field for thee, and sowed it with wheat, 
 and thou mad'st a roll from the corn which thou 
 gavest to the she -dragon?" But the cock-dove 
 answered : " Forgotten ! forgotten ! " Then she said 
 to him again : " And hast thou forgotten how I dug 
 away the mountain for thee, and let the Dnieper now 
 by it that the merchant barques might come to thy 
 store-houses, and that thou might'st sell thy wheat to 
 the merchant barques ? " But the cock-dove replied : 
 " Forgotten ! forgotten ! " Then the hen-dove said to 
 1 Wedding-cakes of the shape of pine-cones.
 
 THE MAGIC EGG. 249 
 
 him again : " And hast thou forgotten how we two 
 went together in search of the golden hare ? Hast 
 thou forgotten me then altogether ? " And the cock- 
 dove answered again : " Forgotten ! forgotten ! " 
 Then the good youth Ivan bethought him who this 
 damsel was that had made the doves, and he took 
 her to his arms and made her his wife, and they lived 
 happily ever afterwards.
 
 THE STORY OF THE FORTY-FIRST BROTHER. 
 
 HERE was once upon a time an old 
 man who had forty-one sons. Now 
 when this old man was at the point 
 of death, he divided all he had 
 amongst his sons, and gave to each 
 of the forty a horse ; but when he came to the 
 forty-first he found he had no more horses left, 
 so the forty-first brother had to be content with a 
 foal. When their father was dead, the brothers 
 said to each other : " Let us go to Friday and 
 get married ! " But the eldest brother said : " No, 
 Friday has only forty daughters, so one of us 
 would be left without a bride." Then the second 
 brother said : " Let us go then to Wednesday 
 Wednesday has forty-one daughters, and so the whole 
 lot of us can pair off with the whole lot of them." 
 So they went and chose their brides. The eldest 
 brother took the eldest sister, and the youngest the
 
 THE STORY OF THE FORTY-FIRST BROTHER. 251 
 
 youngest, till they were all suited. And the youngest 
 brother of all said : " I'll take that little damsel who 
 is sitting on the stove in the corner and has the nice 
 kerchief in her hand." Then they all drank a 
 bumper together to seal the bargain, and after that 
 the forty-one bridegrooms and the forty-one brides 
 laid them down to sleep side by side. But the 
 youngest brother of all said to himself: "I will 
 bring my foal into the room." So he brought in the 
 foal, and then went to his bed-chamber and laid him 
 down to sleep also. Now his bride lay down with 
 her kerchief in her hand, and he took a great fancy 
 to it, and he begged and prayed her for it again and 
 again, until at last she gave it to him. Now, when 
 Wednesday thought that all the people were asleep, 
 he went out into the courtyard to sharpen his sabre. 
 Then the foal said : " Oh, my dear little master, come 
 here, come here ! " He came, and the foal said to 
 him : " Take off the night-dresses of the forty sleeping 
 bridegrooms and put them on the forty sleeping brides, 
 and put the night-dresses of the brides on the bride- 
 grooms, for a great woe is nigh ! " And he did so. 
 When Wednesday had sharpened his sabre he came into 
 the room and began feeling for the stiff collars of the 
 bridegrooms' night-dresses, and straightway cut off 
 the forty heads above the collars. Then he carried 
 off the heads of his forty daughters .in a bunch (for
 
 252 
 
 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 the brides now had on the night-dresses of their 
 bridegrooms), and went and lay down to sleep. Then 
 the foal said : " My dear little father ! awake the bride- 
 grooms, and we'll set off." So he awoke the bride- 
 grooms and sent them on before, while he followed after 
 on his own little nag. They trotted on and on, and 
 at last the foal said to him : " Look behind, and see 
 
 whether Wednesday is not pursuing." He looked 
 round : " Yes, little brother," said he, " Wednesday 
 is pursuing!" "Shake thy kerchief then!" said 
 the foal. He shook his kerchief, and immediately a 
 vast sea was between him and the pursuer. Then 
 they went on and on till the foal said to him again : 
 " Look behind, and see if Wednesday is still pur-
 
 THE STORY OF THE FORTY-FIRST BROTHER. 253 
 
 suing ! " He looked round : " Yes, little brother, he 
 is pursuing ! " " Wave thy handkerchief on the left 
 side ! " said the foal. He waved it on the left side, 
 and immediately between them and the pursuer stood 
 a forest so thick that not even a little mouse could 
 have squeezed through it. Then they went on still 
 further, till the foal said again : " Look behind, and 
 see whether Wednesday is still pursuing ! " He 
 looked behind, and there, sure enough, was Wednesday 
 running after them, and he was not very far off 
 either. "Wave thy kerchief!" said the foal. He 
 waved his kerchief, and immediately a steep mountain 
 oh, so steep ! lay betwixt them. They went on 
 and on, until the foal said again : " Look behind, 
 is Wednesday still pursuing ? " So he looked behind 
 him and said : " No, now he is not there." Then 
 they went on and on again, and soon they were 
 not very far from home. Then the youngest brother 
 said: "You go home now, but I am going to seek a 
 bride ! " So he went on and on till he came to a 
 place where lay a feather of the bird Zhar. " Look ! " 
 cried he, "what I've found!" Bub the foal said to 
 him : " Pick not up that feather, for it will bring thee 
 evil as well as good ! " But his master said : " Why, 
 1 should be a fool not to pick up a feather like that ! " 
 So he turned back and picked up the feather. Then 
 he went on further and further, until he came to a clay
 
 254: COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 hut. He went into this clay hut, and there sat an 
 old woman. " Give me a night's lodging, granny ! " 
 said he. " I have neither bed nor light to offer thee," 
 said she. Nevertheless he entered the hut and put 
 the feather on the window-corner, and it lit up the 
 whole hut. So he went to sleep. But the old 
 woman ran off to the Tsar, and said to him : "A 
 certain man has come to me and laid a certain feather 
 on the window-sill, and it shines like fire ! " Then 
 the Tsar guessed that it was a feather of the bird 
 Zhar, and said to his soldiers : " Go and fetch that 
 man hither!" And the Tsar said to him: "Wilt 
 thou enter my service?" "Yes," he replied, "but 
 you must give me all your keys." So the Tsar gave 
 him all the keys and a hut of his own to live in 
 besides. But one day the Tsar said to his servants : 
 " Boil me now a vat of milk ! " So they boiled it. 
 Then he took off his gold ring, and said to the man : 
 " Thou didst get the feather of the bird Zhar, get 
 me also this golden ring of mine out of the vat of 
 boiling milk!" "Bring hither, then, my faithful 
 horse," said he, " that he may see his master plunge 
 into the vat of boiling milk and die ! " So they 
 brought his horse, and, taking off his clothes, he 
 plunged into the vat, but as he did so the horse 
 snorted so violently that all the boiling milk leaped 
 up in the air, and the man seized the ring and gave

 
 256 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 it back to the Tsar. Now when the Tsar saw that 
 the man had come out of the vat younger and hand- 
 somer than ever, he said : " I'll try and fish up the 
 ring in like manner." So he flung his ring into the 
 vat of boiling milk and plunged after it to get it. 
 The people waited and waited and wondered and 
 wondered that he was so long about it, and at last 
 they drained off the milk and found the Tsar at the 
 bottom of the vat boiled quite red. Then the man 
 said : " Now, Tsaritsa, thou art mine and I am thine." 
 And they lived together happily ever afterwards.
 
 THE STORY OF THE UNLUCKY DAYS. 
 
 T the end of a village on the 
 verge of the steppe dwelt two 
 brothers, one rich and the other 
 poor. One day the poor brother 
 came to the rich brother's house 
 and sat down at his table ; but 
 the rich brother drove him away 
 and said : " How durst thou sit at my table ? Be 
 off! Thy proper place is in the fields to scare 
 away the crows ! " So the poor brother went into 
 the fields to scare away the crows. The crows all 
 flew away when they saw him, but amongst them 
 was a raven that flew back again and said to him : 
 " man ! in this village thou wilt never be able to 
 live, for here there is neither luck nor happiness for 
 thee, but go into another village and thou shalt do 
 well ! " Then the man went home, called together 
 his wife and children, put up the few old clothes that
 
 258 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 still remained in his wardrobe, and went on to the next 
 village, carrying his water-skin on his shoulders. On 
 and on they tramped along the road, but the Unlucky 
 Days clung on to the man behind, and said : " AVhy 
 dost thou not take us with thee ? we will never leave 
 thee, for thou art ours ! " So thev went on with him 
 
 till they came to a river, and the man, who was thirsty, 
 went down to the water's edge for a drink. He un- 
 did his water-skin, persuaded the Unlucky Days to 
 get into it, tied it fast again and buried it on the 
 bank close by the river. Then he and his family 
 went on further. They w r ent on and on till they 
 came to another village, and at the very end of it
 
 260 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 was an empty hut the people who had lived there 
 had died of hunger. There the whole family 
 settled down. One day they were all sitting down 
 there when they heard something in the mountain 
 crying : " Catch ' hold ! catch hold, catch hold ! " 
 The man went at once into his stable, took down 
 the bit and reins that remained to him, and climbed up 
 into the mountain. He looked all about him as he 
 went, and at last he saw, sitting down, an old goat 
 with two large horns it was the Devil himself, but 
 of course he didn't know that. So he made a lasso 
 of the reins, threw them round the old goat, and 
 began to drag it gently down the mountain side. He 
 dragged it all the way up the ladder of his barn, 
 when the goat disappeared, but showers and showers t 
 of money came tumbling through the ceiling. He 
 collected them all together, and they filled two large 
 coffers. Then the poor man made the most of his 
 money, and in no very long time he was well-to-do. 
 Then he sent some of his people to his rich brother, 
 and invited him to come and live with him. The 
 rich brother pondered the matter over. " Maybe he 
 has nothing to eat," thought he, "and that is why he 
 sends for me." So he bade them bake him a good 
 store of fat pancakes, and set out accordingly. On 
 the way he heard that his brother had grown rich, 
 and the further he went the more he heard of his
 
 THE STORY OF THE UNLUCKY DAYS. 261 
 
 brother's wealth. Then he regretted that he had 
 brought all the pancakes with him, so he threw them 
 away into the ditch. At last he came to his brother's 
 house, and his brother showed him first one of the 
 coffers full of money and then the other. Then envy 
 seized upon the rich brother, and he grew quite green 
 in the face. But his brother said to him : " Look 
 now ! I have buried a lot more money in a water-skin, 
 hard by the river ; you may dig it up and keep it if 
 you like, for I have lots of my own here ! " The rich 
 brother did not wait to be told twice. Off he went to 
 the river, and began digging up the water-skin straight- 
 way. He unfastened it with greedy, trembling hands ; 
 but he had no sooner opened it than the Unlucky 
 Days all popped out and clung on to him : " Thou art 
 ours ! " said they. He went home, and when he got 
 there he found that all his wealth was consumed, and 
 a heap of ashes stood where his house had been. So 
 he went and lived in the same place that his brother 
 had lived, and the Unlucky Days lived with him ever 
 afterwards.
 
 THE WONDROUS STORY OF IVAN GOLIK l 
 AND THE SERPENTS. 
 
 OMEWHERE, nowhere, in another 
 kingdom, in the empire of Thrice-ten, 
 lived whether 'twas a Tsar and a 
 Tsaritza, or only a Prince and a 
 Princess, I know not, but anyhow 
 they had two sons. One day this 
 prince said to his sons: "Let us go down to the 
 sea-shore and listen to the songs of the sea-folk ! " 
 So they went. Now the prince wanted to test the 
 wits of his two sons ; he wanted to see which of the 
 twain was fit for ruling his empire, and which should 
 stand aside and make way for better men. So they 
 went on together till they came to where three oaks 
 stood all in a row. . The prince looked at the trees, 
 and said to his eldest son : " My dear son, what 
 wouldst thou make of those trees ? " 
 1 Xaked.
 
 IVAN GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS. 263 
 
 " What would I make of them, dear father ? I 
 would make me good barns and store-houses out of 
 them. I would cut them down and plane the timber 
 well, and goodly should be the planks I should make 
 of them." 
 
 " Good, my son ! " replied the prince, " thou wilt 
 make a careful householder." 
 
 Then he asked his younger son : " And what wouldst 
 thou make out of these oaks, my son ? " 
 
 " Well, dear father," said he, " had I only as much 
 power as will, I would cut down the middle oak, lay 
 it across the other two, and hang up every prince 
 and every noble in the wide world." 
 
 Then the prince shook his head and was silent. 
 
 Presently they came to the sea, and all three stood 
 still and looked at it, and watched the fishes play. 
 Then, suddenly, the prince caught hold of his younger 
 son, and pitched him right into the sea. " Perish ! " 
 cried he, " for 'tis but just that such a wretch as thou 
 shouldst perish ! " 
 
 Now, just as the father pitched his younger son 
 into the sea, a great whale-fish was coming along and 
 swallowed him, and into its maw he went. There 
 he found wagons with horses and oxen harnessed to 
 them, all of which the fish had also gobbled. So he 
 went rummaging about these wagons to see w T hat was 
 in them, and he found that one of the wagons was
 
 264 
 
 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 full of tobacco-pipes and tobacco, and flints and steels. 
 So he took up a pipe, filled it with tobacco, lit it, and 
 began to smoke. He smoked out one pipe, filled 
 another, and smoked that too ; then he filled a third, 
 and began smoking that. At last the smoke inside 
 
 the whale made it feel so uncomfortable that it opened 
 its mouth, swam ashore, and went asleep on the beach. 
 Now some huntsmen happened to be going along the 
 beach at that time, and one of them saw the whale, 
 and said : " Look, my brethren ! we have been hunting 
 jays and crows and shot nothing, and lo ! what a
 
 IVAN GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS. 265 
 
 monstrous fish lies all about the shore ! Let us shoot 
 it!" 
 
 So they shot at it and shot at it, and then they fell 
 upon it with their axes and began to cut it to pieces. 
 They cut and hacked at it till suddenly they heard 
 something calling to them from the middle of the 
 fish : " Ho ! my brothers ! hack fish if you like, but 
 hack not that flesh which is full of Christian blood ! " 
 
 They fell down to the ground for fright, and were 
 like dead men, but the prince's younger son crept out 
 of the hole in the fish that the huntsmen had made, 
 went out upon the shore, and sat down. He sat down 
 there quite naked, for all his clothes had rotted and 
 dropped off inside the fish. Maybe he had been a 
 whole year in the whale without knowing it, and he 
 thought to himself: "How shall I now manage to 
 live in the wide wide world ? " 
 
 Meanwhile the elder brother had become a great 
 nobleman. His father had died, and he was lord 
 over his whole inheritance. Then, as is the w r ont 
 of princes, he called together his senators and his 
 servants, and they counselled their young prince to 
 marry ; so out he went to seek a bride, and a great 
 retinue followed after him. They went on and on till 
 they came to where a naked man was sitting. Then 
 the prince said to one of his servants : " Go and see 
 what manner of man that is ! "
 
 266 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 So the servant went up to the man, and said : "Hail ! " 
 
 " Hail to thee ! " 
 
 "' Who art thou, pry thee ?" 
 
 " I am Ivan Golik. Who art thou ? " 
 
 " 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 w r eut 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
 
 IVAN GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS. 267 
 
 said : " Thanks to thee, Ivan Golik, thou hast saved 
 my host from perishing ; I will save thine also." 
 
 Thea 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 
 set 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
 
 268 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 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 them- 
 selves 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."
 
 IVAN GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS. 269 
 
 " 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 
 clost thou weep, 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, 
 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
 
 270 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 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
 
 IVAN GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS. 271 
 
 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 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 a heroic voice, 
 and whistled with a heroic whistle, till the whole sea 
 was troubled as by a storm. Then the two pike he 
 had thrown back into the sea came swimming to the 
 shore. "Why dost thou call us, Ivan Golik ? "" 
 said they. 
 
 "Why should I not call you? The serpent flew 
 over the sea early yesterday morning and dropped in 
 his daughter's ring. Search for it everywhere. If
 
 272 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 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 
 Doming ! " 
 
 " 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 thce, but 
 to her from whom thou didst take it."
 
 IVAN GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS. 273 
 
 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 dauo-hters, 
 
 * O 
 
 and said, as he drew off the ring, " To which of you 
 does this belong ? " 
 
 Then the youngest daughter blushed and said : 
 
 a rn I ?> 
 
 lo me ! 
 
 " If it be thine, take it, for I sounded all the depths 
 of the sea in searching for it." 
 
 All the others laughed, but the youngest daughter 
 thanked him. 
 
 Then they all went to dine. After dinner the 
 serpent said to him, in the presence of all the guests : 
 '* Well, prince, now that thou hast dined and rested, 
 to thy tasks again ! I have a bow of one hundred 
 poods 1 in weight. If thou canst bend this bow in 
 the presence of these my guests, thou shalt have my 
 daughter ! " 
 
 When dinner was over they all lay down to rest, 
 but the prince hastened off as quickly as he could to 
 Ivan Golik, and said : " Now indeed it is all over witb 
 us, for he has given me such and such a task." 
 
 1 A pood = forty pounds.
 
 274 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 " Simpleton ! " cried Ivan Golik, " when the)' bring 
 forth this bow, look at it, and say to the serpent : I 
 should be ashamed to bend a bow that the least of 
 my servants can bend ! Then call me, and I'll bend 
 the bow so that none other will be able to bend it 
 again." 
 
 "With that the prince went straight off to the 
 serpent again, and the serpent commanded and they 
 brought the bow, together with an arrow weighing 
 fifty poods. When the prince saw it, he was like to 
 have died of fright ; but they put the bow down in 
 the middle of the courtyard, and all the guests came 
 out to look at it. The prince walked all round the 
 bow and looked at it. " Why," said he, " I would not 
 deign to touch a bow like that. I'll call one of my 
 servants, for any one of them can bend such a bow as 
 that!" 
 
 Then the serpent looked at the prince's servants one 
 after the other, and said : " Well, let them try ! " 
 
 " Come forward thou, Ivan Golik ! " cried the 
 prince. 
 
 And the prince said to him : " Take me up that 
 bow and bend it ! " 
 
 Ivan Golik took up the bow, placed the arrow 
 across it, and drew the bow so that the arrow split into 
 twelve pieces and the bow burst. Then the prince 
 said : " Did I not tell you ? and was I to put myself
 
 IVAN GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS. 275 
 
 to shame by touching a bow that one of my servants 
 can draw ? " 
 
 After that Ivan Golik returned to his fellow 
 servants, and put the pieces of the broken bow behind 
 his shin bone ; but the prince returned with the 
 serpents into the guest-chamber, and they all rejoiced 
 because he had done his appointed task. But the 
 serpent whispered something in the ear of his 
 youngest daughter, and she went out, and he after 
 her. They remained outside a long time, and then 
 the serpent came in again, and said to the prince : 
 " There is no time for anything more to-day, but we'll 
 begin again early to-morrow morning. I have a horse 
 behind twelve doors ; if thou canst mount it, thou 
 shalt have my daughter." 
 
 Then they made merry again till evening and lay 
 down to sleep, but the prince went and told Golik. 
 Golik listened to the prince, and said : " Now thou 
 knowest, I suppose, why I took up those pieces of the 
 broken bow, for I could see what was coming. When 
 they lead forth this horse, look at it and say : I will 
 not mount that horse lest I put myself to shame. 'Tis 
 with the horse as with the bow, any one of my 
 servants can mount it ! But that horse is no horse at 
 all, but the serpent's youngest daughter ! Thou must 
 not sit upon her back, but I will trounce her finely." 
 
 Early in the morning they all arose, and the prince
 
 276 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 went to the serpent's house to greet them all, and 
 there he saw twenty of the serpent's daughters, but 
 where was the twenty-first ? Then the serpent got 
 up and said : " Well, prince, now let us come down 
 into the courtyard ; they'll soon bring out the horse, 
 and we'll see what thou dost make of it." 
 
 So they all went out and saw two serpents bringing 
 out the horse, and it was as much as the pair of them 
 could do to hold its head, so fierce and strong it was. 
 They led it out in front of the gallery, and the prince 
 walked round it and looked at it. Then said he : 
 " What ! did you not say you would bring out a 
 horse f Why, this is no horse, but a mare. I will not 
 sit on this mare, for 'twould be to my shame. I will 
 call one of my servants, and he shall mount her." 
 
 " Good ! " said the serpent, " let him try ! " 
 
 The prince called forth Ivan Golik : " Sit on that 
 mare," said he, " and trot her about ! " 
 
 Ivan mounted the mare, and the two serpents let 
 go. She carried him right up among the clouds, and 
 then down again upon the ground she came, with a 
 ringing of hoofs that made the earth tremble. But 
 Ivan Golik took out a fragment of the broken bo\v, 
 fifty pounds in weight, and trounced her finely. She 
 reared and bucked and carried him hither and thither, 
 but he flogged her between the ears without ceasing. 
 So when she saw that all her prancing and curveting
 
 278 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 was in vain, she fell to piteously beseeching him, and 
 cried : " Ivan Golik ! Ivan Golik ! beat me not, and 
 I'll do all thy behests!" 
 
 " I have nothing to do with thee at all," said he, 
 " but when thou dost come up to the prince, fall 
 down before him, and stretch out thy legs towards 
 him ! " 
 
 At this she bethought her for a long time. " Well," 
 cried she at last, " it must be so, there is no doing 
 anything with thee ! " So she carried him all over the 
 courtyard, fell down before the prince, and stretched 
 out her legs towards him. 
 
 Then said the prince : " Thou seest what a sorry 
 jade it is ! And ye would have had me mount such 
 a mare ! " 
 
 At this the serpent was full of shame, but there 
 was nothing to be said or done. So they went into the 
 garden and sat them down to dinner. The youngest 
 daughter met them there, and they greeted her. The 
 prince could not refrain from looking at her, so fair 
 was she, and now she seemed fairer than ever. Then 
 they sat down and ate, and when the meal was over 
 the serpent said : " Well, prince, after dinner I'll 
 bring all my daughters into the courtyard, and if 
 you can find out the youngest, you may be happy 
 together." 
 
 So after dinner the serpent bade his daughters go
 
 I VAX GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS. 279 
 
 and dress themselves, but the prince took counsel of 
 Ivan Golik. Ivan whistled, and immediately the gnat 
 came flying up. He told the gnat all about it, and 
 the gnat said : " Thou didst help me, so now I will 
 help thee. When the serpent brings out his daughters, 
 let the prince keep his eyes open, for I will fly on her 
 head. Let him walk round them once, and I will fly 
 round them too. Let him walk round them a second 
 time, and I will fly round them twice also. Let him 
 walk round them a third time, and then I'll settle 
 on her nose, and she will not be able to endure my 
 bite, but will strike at me with her right hand." 
 And with these words the gnat flew off" into the 
 house. 
 
 Soon afterwards the serpent sent for the prince. 
 He went, and there in the courtyard stood the twenty- 
 one daughters. They were as like as peas, their 
 faces, their hair, and their raiment were exactly the 
 same. He looked and looked, but could not tell one 
 from the other. He walked round them the first 
 time, but there was no sign of the gnat. He walked 
 round them the second time, and the gnat came and 
 lit upon her head. Henceforth he never took his 
 eyes off the gnat, and when he had begun to walk 
 round the twenty-one daughters for the third time, 
 the gnat sat on the nose of the youngest, and began 
 to bite her. She brushed it off with her right hand,
 
 280 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 whereupon the prince said : " She is mine ! " and led 
 her to the serpent. 
 
 The serpent was amazed, but said : " Since thou 
 hast found out thy bride, we'll wed thee to-day, and 
 all be merry together." 
 
 So they made them merry, and that very evening 
 the young couple got their bridal crowns. And they 
 feasted and fired guns, and what else did they not 
 do ? But as they were going to bed, Ivan Golik took 
 the prince aside, and said to him : " Now, prince, see 
 that we go home to-morrow, for they mean us no good 
 here. And now, listen to me ! I beg thee tell not 
 thy wife the truth of the matter for seven years. 
 However caressing she may be, thou shalt not let her 
 ears know the truth, for if thou dost tell her the truth, 
 both thou and I shall perish ! " 
 
 " Good ! " said he. "I will not tell my wife the 
 truth." 
 
 Next morning the young men arose and went to 
 the serpent, and the prince took leave of his father-in- 
 law, and said he must be going home. 
 
 " But why off so soon ? " said the serpent. 
 
 " Nay, but I must go," said he. 
 
 Then the serpent gave the youth a banquet, and 
 they sat down and ate and made merry, and after 
 that he departed to his own tsardom. And the prince 
 thanked Ivan Golik for all that he had done for him,
 
 IVAN GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS. 281 
 
 and made him the first of his counsellors. Whatever 
 Ivan Golik said was performed throughout the realm, 
 while the Tsar had only to sit on his throne and do 
 nothing. 
 
 So the young prince dwelt with his wife for a year 
 
 or two, and in the third year a son was added to 
 them, and the heart of the prince was glad. Now 
 one day he took his little son in his arms, and said : 
 " Is there anything in the wide world that I like 
 better than this child ? " When the princess saw that 
 the heart of her spouse was tender, she fell a-kissing
 
 282 COSSACK FAIRY TALES, 
 
 and caressing him, and began asking him all about 
 the time when they were first married, and how he 
 had been able to do her father's commands. And 
 the prince said to her : " My head would long ago 
 have been mouldering on the posts of thy father's 
 palace had it not been for Ivan Golik. 'Twas he who 
 did it all and not I." 
 
 Then she was very wroth. But she never changed 
 countenance, and shortly afterwards she went out. 
 
 Ivan Golik was sitting in his own house at his ease, 
 when the princess came flying in to him. And imme- 
 diately she drew out of the ground a handkerchief 
 with gold borders, and no sooner had she waved this 
 serpentine handkerchief, than Ivan fell asunder into 
 two pieces. His legs remained where they were, but 
 his trunk with his head disappeared through the roof, 
 and fell seven miles away from the house. And as 
 he fell he cried : " Oh, accursed one ! did I not charge 
 thee not to confess ! Did I not implore thee not to 
 tell thy wife the truth for seven years ! And now I 
 perish and thou also ! " 
 
 He raised his head and found himself sitting in a 
 wood, and there he saw an armless man pursuing a 
 hare. He pursued and pursued it, but though he 
 caught it up, he couldn't catch it, for he had no arms. 
 Then Ivan Golik caught it and they fell out about it. 
 The armless one said : "The hare is mine !" "No,"
 
 IVAN GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS. 283 
 
 said Ivan Golik, " it is mine ! " So they quarrelled 
 over it, but as one had no legs and the other had no 
 arms, they couldn't hurt one another. At last the 
 armless one said : " What is the use of our quarrelling ? 
 Let us pull up that oak, and whichever of us pitches it 
 farthest shall have the hare." 
 
 " Good ! " said Legless. 
 
 Then Armless kicked Legless up to the oak, and 
 Legless pulled it up and gave it to Armless. Then 
 Armless lay down on the ground and kicked the oak 
 with his feet three miles off. But Legless threw it 
 seven miles. Then Armless said : " Take the hare 
 and be my elder brother ! " 
 
 So they became brothers, and made a wagon 
 between them, and fastened ropes to it, and while 
 Armless dragged it along Legless drove it. On 
 they went till they came to a town where a Tsar 
 lived. There they went up to the church, and 
 planted themselves with their wagon in the place 
 of beggars, and waited till the Tsarivna came up. 
 And the Tsarivna said to her court lady : " Take 
 this money, and give it to those poor cripples." 
 
 The lady w T as about to go with it when Legless 
 said : " Nay, but let the Tsarivna give it to us with 
 her own hands." 
 
 Then the Tsarivna took the money from her court 
 lady and gave it to Legless. But he said to her:
 
 284 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 " Be not angry, but tell me, now, wherefore art thou 
 so yellow ? " 
 
 " God made me so," answered she, and then she 
 sighed. 
 
 " No," replied Legless. " I know why thou art 
 so yellow. But I can make thee once more just 
 as God made thee." 
 
 Now the Tsar had heard them speaking, and the 
 words of the cripples moved him strangely. So 
 he had the armless man and the legless man in the 
 wagon brought to him, and said to them : " Do as 
 you are able." 
 
 But Legless said : " Tsar ! let the Tsarivna 
 speak the truth, and confess openly how she became 
 so vile ! " 
 
 Then the father turned to his daughter, and she 
 confessed and said : " The serpent flew to me, and 
 drew my blood out of my breast." 
 
 " When did he fly to thee ? " they asked. 
 
 "Just before dawn, when the guards were sleep- 
 ing, he came flying down my chimney. In he came 
 flying, and lay down beneath the cushions of my 
 couch." 
 
 " Stop ! " cried Legless ; " we'll hide in the straw 
 in thy room, and when the serpent comes flying in 
 again, thou must cough and wake us." 
 
 So they hid them in the straw, and just as the
 
 IVAN GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS. 285 
 
 guards had ceased knocking at the doors as they went 
 their rounds, sparks began to flash beneath the straw 
 roof, and the Tsarivna coughed. They rushed up 
 to her, and saw the serpent already nestling beneath 
 the cushions. Then the Tsarivna leaped out of bed ; 
 but Armless lay down on the floor and kicked Leg- 
 less on to the cushions, and Legless took the serpent 
 in his arms and began to throttle it. " Let me 
 go ! let me go ! " begged the serpent, " and I'll 
 never fly here again, but will renounce my tithes." 
 
 But Legless said : " That is but a small thing. 
 Thou must carry us to the place of healing-waters, 
 that I may get back my legs and my brother here 
 his arms." 
 
 " Catch hold of me," said the serpent, " and I'll 
 take you, only torture me no more." 
 
 So Legless clung on to him with his arms and 
 Armless with his feet, and the serpent flew away 
 with them till he came to a spring. " There's your 
 healing- water ! " cried he. 
 
 Armless wanted to plunge in" straightway, but 
 Legless shrieked : " Wait, brother ! Hold the serpent 
 tight with your legs while I shove a dry stick into 
 the spring, and then we shall see whether it really 
 is healing- water." 
 
 So he shoved a stick in, and no sooner had it 
 touched the water than it was consumed as though
 
 286 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 by fire. Then the pair of them, in their rage, fell 
 upon that false serpent and almost killed him. 
 They beat him and beat him till lie cried for mercy. 
 "Beat me no more!" cried he; "the spring of 
 healing- water is not very far off!" Then he took 
 them to another spring. Into this they also dipped 
 a dry stick, and immediately it burst into flower. 
 Then Armless leaped into the spring and leaped 
 out again with arms, whereupon he pitched in 
 Legless, who immediately leaped out again with 
 legs of his own. So they let the serpent go, first 
 making him promise never to fly to the Tsarivna 
 again, and then each thanked the other for his 
 friendship, and so they parted. 
 
 But Ivan Golik went again to his brother, the 
 prince, to see what had become of him. " I wonder 
 what the princess has done to him ? " thought he. 
 So he went towards that tsardom, and presently he 
 saw, not very far from the roadside, a swineherd 
 tending swine ; he was tending swine, but he him- 
 self sat upon a tomb. " I'll go and ask that 
 swineherd what he's doing there," thought Ivan 
 Golik. 
 
 So he went up to the swineherd, and, looking 
 straight into his eyes, recognized his own brother. 
 And the swineherd looked at him, and recognized 
 Ivan Golik. There they stood for a long time look-
 
 IVAN GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS. 2S7 
 
 ing into each other's eyes, but neither of them 
 spoke a word. At last Ivan Golik found his voice : 
 " What ! " cried he. " Is it thou, prince, who 
 art feeding swine ? Thou art rightly served ! Did 
 I not bid thee, ' Tell not thy wife the truth for 
 seven years ' ? " 
 
 At this the prince flung himself down at the 
 other's feet, and cried : "Oh, Ivan Golik ! forgive 
 me, and have mercy ! " 
 
 Then Ivan Golik raised him up by the shoulders 
 and said : " 'Tis well for thee that thou art still 
 in God's fair world ! Yet wait a little while, and 
 thou shalt be Tsar again ! " 
 
 The prince thereupon asked Ivan Golik how he 
 had got his legs back again, for the princess had 
 told him how she had cut Ivan Golik in two. Then 
 Ivan Golik confessed to him that he was his younger 
 brother, and told him the whole story of his life. 
 So they embraced and. kissed each other, and then 
 the prince said : " 'Tis high time I drove these 
 swine home, for the princess doesn't like being 
 kept waiting for her tea." 
 
 " Well," said Ivan Golik, " we'll drive them back 
 together.'' 
 
 " The worst of it, brother, is this," said the prince. 
 " Dost thou see that accursed pig that leads the 
 others ? Well, he will go only up to the gate of
 
 288 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 the stye, and there he stands fast as if rooted to 
 the ground, and until I kiss his bristles he will not 
 move from the spot. And all the time the princess 
 and the serpents are sitting in the gallery at tea, and 
 they look on and laugh ! " 
 
 But Ivan Golik said : " It needs must be so ! 
 Kiss it again to-day, and to-morrow thou shalt 
 kiss it no more ! " 
 
 Then they drove the swine up to the gates, and 
 Ivan Golik looked to see what would happen. He 
 saw the princess sitting in the gallery with six 
 serpents drinking tea, and the accursed pig stuck 
 fast in the gate, and stretched out its legs and 
 wouldn't go in. The princess looked on and said : 
 " Look at my fool driving the swine, and now he 
 is going to kiss the big boar!" 
 
 So the poor fellow stooped down and kissed its 
 bristles, and the pig ran grunting into the court- 
 yard. Then the princess said : " Look ! he has 
 picked up from somewhere an under-herdsman to 
 help him ! " 
 
 The prince and Ivan Golik drove the pigs into 
 their stye, and then Ivan Golik said : " Brother, 
 get me twenty poods of hemp and twenty poods of 
 pitch, and bring them to me in the garden." And 
 he did so. Then Ivan Golik made him a huge whip 
 of the twenty poods of hemp and the twenty poods
 
 IVAN GOLIK AND THE SERPENTS. 289 
 
 of tar. First he twined tightly a pood of hemp, 
 and tarred it well with a pood of pitch; round 
 this he plaited another pood of hemp, and tarred 
 that also with another pood of pitch, till he had 
 used up the whole forty. By midnight his task 
 was done, and then he laid him down to sleep. 
 But the prince had gone to sleep long before in 
 the pig-sty. 
 
 Early in the morning they rose up again, and 
 Ivan Golik said to him: "Up till to-day thou hast 
 been a swineherd, and after to-day thou shalt be a 
 prince again ; but first let us drive the swine into 
 the field." 
 
 " Nay, but," said the prince, " the princess has 
 not yet come out upon the balcony to drink tea 
 with the serpents, and see me kiss the pig before 
 it goes out, as is her wont." Ivan Golik said to 
 him : " We will drive the swine out this time, too, 
 but it will not be thou but I who shall kiss the big 
 boar." 
 
 "Good ! " said the prince. 
 
 And now the time came for the swine to be 
 driven away, and the princess came out on the 
 balcony to drink tea. They took the swine out 
 of the sty, and the pair of them drove the beasts 
 before them. When they reached the gate the 
 leading pig stuck fast in the gateway, and wouldn't
 
 290 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. 
 
 budge an inch. The princess and the- serpents grinned 
 and looked on, but Ivan Golik nicked his heroic 
 whip, and struck the pig one blow that made it 
 fly to pieces. Then all the serpents wriggled off 
 as fast as they could. But she, the accursed one, 
 was in no way frightened, but caught Ivan by the 
 hair of his head. He, however, caught her also 
 by her long locks, and flicked her with his whip 
 till he had flicked all the serpent-blood out of 
 her, and she walked the earth in human guise. So 
 she cast off her serpent nature, and lived happily 
 with her husband. And that's the end of the 
 kazka. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Kicharct Clay * Sons, Limited, London # Bungay.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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