Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales Part 10

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 sh.o.r.e, 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 n.o.bleman. His father had died, and he was lord over his whole inheritance. Then, as is the wont 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!"

So the servant went up to the man, and said, "Hail!"

"Hail to thee!"

"Who art thou, prythee?"

"I am Ivan Golik.[29] Who art thou?"

[29] Naked.

"We are from such and such a land, and we are going with our prince to seek him a bride."

"Go, tell thy prince that he must take me with him, for he'll make no good match without me."

So the messenger returned to the prince and told him. Then the prince bade his servants open his trunk and take out a shirt and pantaloons and all manner of raiment, whereupon the naked man went into the water and washed, and after that he dressed himself. Then they brought him to the prince, and he said to him, "If you take me with you, you must all obey me. If you listen to me, you shall remain in the land of Russia; but if not, you shall all perish."

"Be it so!" said the prince, and he bade all his suite obey him.

They went on and on till they overtook the hosts of the mice. The prince wanted to go hunting after the mice, but Ivan Golik said, "Nay, step aside and give place to the mice, so that not a single one of them lose a single hair!"

So they turned aside, and the mice swept by in their hosts, but the hindmost mouse turned round and said, "Thanks to thee, Ivan Golik, thou hast saved my host from perishing; I will save thine also."

Then they went on farther, and lo! the gnat was marching with his host, and so vast was it that no eye could take it all in. Then the lieutenant-general of the gnats came flying up and said, "Oh, Ivan Golik! let my host drink of thy blood. If thou dost consent, 'twill be to thy profit; but if thou dost not consent, thou shalt not remain in the land of Russia."

Then he stripped off his shirt and bade them tie him up so that he could not beat off a single gnat, and the gnats drank their fill of him and flew off again.

After that they went along by the seash.o.r.e till they came to a man who had caught two pike. Then Ivan Golik said to the prince, "Buy those two pike of the man, and let them go into the sea again."

"But wherefore?"

"Ask not wherefore, but buy them!"

So they bought the pike, and let them go into the sea again. But as they swam away, the pike turned round and said, "We thank thee, Ivan Golik, that thou hast not let us perish, and it shall be to thy weal and welfare!"

Swiftly they moved on their way, but the story that tells thereof moves still swifter. They went on and on, for more than a month maybe, till they came to another land and to another tsardom, to the Empire of Thrice-ten. And the serpent was the Tsar of that tsardom. Vast were his palaces, iron railings surrounded his courtyards, and the railings were covered with the heads of various warriors; only on the twenty huge pillars in front of the gate were there no heads. As they drew nigh, deadly fear oppressed the heart of the prince, and he said to Ivan, "Mark me, Ivan! those pillars yonder are meant for _our_ heads!"--"That remains to be seen," replied Ivan Golik.

When they arrived there, the serpent at first treated them hospitably as welcome guests. They were all to come in and make merry, he said, but the prince he took to his own house. So they ate and drank together, and the thoughts of their hearts were joyous. Now the serpent had twenty-one daughters, and he brought them to the prince, and told him which was the eldest, and which the next eldest, down to the very last one. But it was the youngest daughter of all that the prince's fancy fed upon more than on any of the others. Thus they diverted themselves till evening, and in the evening they made ready to go to sleep. But the serpent said to the prince, "Well, which of my daughters dost thou think the loveliest?"

"The youngest is the most beautiful," said the prince, "and her will I wed."

"Good!" said the serpent, "but I will not let thee have my daughter till thou hast done all my tasks. If thou doest my tasks, thou shalt have my daughter; but if thou doest them not, thou shalt lose thy head, and all thy suite shall perish with thee."

Then he gave him his first task: "In my barn are three hundred ricks of corn; by the morning light thou shalt have threshed and sifted them so that stalk lies by stalk, chaff by chaff, and grain by grain."

Then the prince went to his own place to pa.s.s the night there, and bitterly he wept. But Ivan Golik saw that he was weeping, and said to him, "Why dost thou weep, O prince?"

"Why should I not weep, seeing the task that the serpent has given me is impossible?"

"Nay, weep not, my prince, but lie down to sleep, and by the morning light it will all be done!"

No sooner had Ivan Golik left the prince than he went outside and whistled for the mice. Then the mice a.s.sembled round them in their hosts: "Why dost thou whistle, and what dost thou want of us, O Ivan Golik?" said they.

"Why should I not whistle, seeing that the serpent has bidden us thresh out his barn by the morning light, so that straw lies by straw, chaff by chaff, and grain by grain?"

No sooner did the mice hear this than they began scampering all about the barn! There were so many of them that there was not room to move.

They set to work with a will, and long before dawn it was quite finished. Then they went and awoke Ivan Golik. He went and looked, and lo! all the chaff was by itself, and all the grain was by itself, and all the straw by itself! Then Ivan bade them be quite sure that there was not a single grain remaining in a single ear of corn. So they scampered all about, and there was not a mouse which did not look under every stalk of straw. Then they ran up to him, and said, "Fear not! there is not a single loose grain anywhere. And now we have requited thee thy service, Ivan Golik, farewell!"

Next morning the prince came to seek Ivan, and marvelled to find that everything had been done as the serpent had commanded. So he thanked Ivan Golik, and went off to the serpent. Then they both went together, and the serpent himself was amazed. He called to his twenty-one daughters to search the ears of corn well to see whether one single grain might not be found therein, and his daughters searched and searched, but there was not a single loose grain to be found. Then said the serpent, "'Tis well, let us go! We will eat and drink and make merry till evening, and in the evening I will give thee thy to-morrow's task." So they made merry till evening, and then the serpent said, "Early this morning, my youngest daughter went bathing in the sea and lost her ring in the water. She searched and searched for it, but could find it nowhere. If thou canst find it to-morrow, and bring it hither while we are sitting down to meat, thou shalt remain alive; if not, 'tis all over with thee!"

The prince returned to his own people and fell a-weeping. Ivan Golik perceived it, and said to him, "Wherefore dost thou weep?"

"For such and such a reason," said he; "dost thou not see that I am ruined?"

Then said Ivan Golik, "The serpent lies. He himself it was who took his daughter's ring and flew over the sea early this morning, and dropped it in the water. But lie down and sleep! I myself will go to the sea to-morrow, haply I may find the ring."

So, very early next morning, Ivan Golik went down to the sea. He shouted with an heroic voice, and whistled with an heroic whistle, till the whole sea was troubled by a storm. Then the two pike he had thrown back into the sea came swimming to the sh.o.r.e. "Why dost thou call us, O Ivan Golik?" said they.

"Why should I not call you? The serpent flew over the sea early yesterday morning and dropped in it his daughter's ring. Search for it everywhere. If you find it, I shall remain alive, but if you find it not, know that the serpent will remove me from the face of the earth!"

Then they swam off and searched, nor was there a single corner of the sea where they searched not. Yet they found nothing. At last they swam off to their mother, and told her what a great woe was about to befall. Their mother said to them, "The ring is with me. I am sorry for him, and still more sorry for you, so you may have it." And with that she drew off the ring, and they swam with it to Ivan Golik, and said, "Now we have requited thy service. We have found it, but 'twas a hard task."

Then Ivan Golik thanked the two pike and went on his way. He found the prince weeping, for the serpent had already sent for him twice, and there was no ring. The moment he saw Ivan Golik he sprang to his feet, and said, "Hast thou the ring?"

"Yes, here it is! But look! the serpent himself is coming!"

"Let him come!"

The serpent was already on the threshold as the prince was going out.

They ran against each other with their foreheads, and the serpent was very angry. "Where's the ring?" cried he.

"There it is! But I will not give it to thee, but to her from whom thou didst take it."

The serpent laughed. "Very good!" said he, "but now let us go to dinner, for my guests are many, and we have been waiting for thee this long time."

So they went. The prince arrived at the house, where eleven serpents were sitting down to dinner. He saluted them, and then went on to the daughters, and said, as he drew off the ring, "To which of you does this belong?"

Then the youngest daughter blushed and said, "To 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[30] weight. If thou canst bend this bow in the presence of these my guests, thou shalt have my daughter!"

[30] A pood = forty pounds.