The Russian Story Book 15

The Russian Story Book 15

"For a good reason," returned the young lord; "I could not eat your

cakes, for the upper crust has a flavour of pine wood, while the

lower tastes of clay, so that I knew at once that your ovens are

built of brick and your oven brooms are made of pine twigs. But in

our palace in India the Glorious the ovens of my lady mother, which

are under her own care, are made of hard glazed tiles, while her

oven brooms are of silk dipped in honey dew. If a man eats one of my

mother's cakes he leaves no crumb behind, and his whole desire is to

eat more. Your wines taste of damp and their flavour is foul. But my

mother's wine-cellars and their contents are the wonder of India the

Glorious. She has wines which saw the dawn of history, and these are

kept in casks of silver with hoops of gold, which are hung on chains

of brass in bricked-out caves of forty fathoms' depth; and from these

great caves run open pipes underground to let in the fresh sweet air

from the plain; and when the strong winds play about the open ends of

these pipes the silver casks swing to and fro and make a murmur like

that of snowy birds playing upon the bosom of a peaceful lake. So

we have wine which cannot be described but must be tasted, and if a

man drinks one cup thereof he leaves no drop behind, for there are

no dregs in this liquor, and his whole desire is to drink more.

 

"As for the embroidered garments of my lady mother, the store in her

presses and cupboards cannot be valued. At all times the sewing women

are busy, stitching, stitching, stitching, and when one group grows

weary, another takes up the work. My lady mother's under-robe is set

with precious stones, while the bodice is of cloth of gold; her cap

is covered with fair seed pearls with jewels of marvellous lustre and

priceless value set in front, and as for myself I wear a dress one day,

but woe unto my body-servant if I see it again. Your horses are fed on

frozen oats, but ours are regaled on fine Turkish wheat. Beneath our

palace are twelve deep cellars filled with ruddy gold, white silver,

and fine seed pearls, and the contents of one cellar alone would be

sufficient to buy up the whole of Kiev town and Chernigof as well."

 

At last Vladimir was a little moved. "I wish that Churilo the Exquisite

were here, for he would know how to reply to your boasting." Even as

he spoke the white oaken doors of the banquet-hall were flung open,

and Churilo the Exquisite entered with a graceful bow to North,

South, East, and West, and especially to Prince Vladimir, but not

at all to Diuk from India the Glorious. But that young man was not

thereby abashed.

 

"I have heard," he said, "even in far-away India, the fame of

Churilo's beauty, and truly Rumour was no lying wench, for his face

is like the rosebud for redness and his neck like the driven snow for

whiteness. But Rumour lied when she praised his courtesy; for he has

not learnt how to salute his betters."

 

Then the face of Churilo grew redder than the full-blown rose, and

he cried in anger: "Braggart and boaster, son of a slave. Let us

lay a wager of roubles, a wager of thirty thousand. For the space of

three years you and I shall live in Kiev, and upon every single day of

the year each shall wear fresh clothes of the richest, and upon every

single day ride a horse of a different hue. And the wager shall pass to

him whom all men acclaim as the most glorious. This can I do to uphold

the honour of the court of Prince Vladimir, the Fair Sun of Kiev."

 

"It is easy for you to wager such a sum and to propose such a test,"

said Diuk somewhat wearily, "for you live at home where your clothes

presses and your stables are full; but I am far from home and have

only one travelling suit which is foul from the mire of the dirty

ways of Kiev town. But I accept your wager."

 

Then the young lord sat down at the oaken table and called for a

parchment scroll on which he wrote a letter and a list, a letter and

a list for his lady mother far away in India the Glorious. Having

rolled the scroll and sealed it he went out into the court where

Rough-Coat stood pawing the ground impatiently, and placed it in

one of the saddle-bags. "Haste thee home," he said in the quivering

ear of the faithful steed, "home to India the Glorious, and when you

reach the palace of my lady mother neigh loudly so that all may hear."

 

They saw the good steed while Diuk spoke in his quivering ear, but

they did not see him when he had finished speaking--there was only a

wreath of smoke on the open boundless plain, and he was gone. And when

the good steed came to the palace of his master he neighed loudly,

and the lady mother came out upon the ivory steps holding the railing

of ruddy gold with her right hand and her own heart with her left,

for she saw the empty saddle of Rough-Coat, and thought instantly of

the worst. But the horse neighed again with a joyful note, and when

the grooms felt in the saddle-bag they found the scroll which they

gave to their mistress on bended knee.

 

Holding herself proudly erect, she read the words which Diuk had

written, and the colour came back to her face and the light of love

to her eyes. "The foolish boy has boasted as I warned him that he

must not do, for there is no need for one to boast whose splendour is

beyond doubt or rival. But I must do what I can to redeem his pledged

word--and it may be that his precious life is endangered." Then she

unbound her golden keys and taking with her a band of sewing maidens,

she unlocked the doors of spacious wardrobes, and packed changes of

lawn and silken raiment sufficient for three years and three days,

and so as to afford three changes for each day; and though the number

of garments was so great the weight of the bales were not too heavy

a burden for Rough-Coat, so fine was the texture of lawn and silk,

each garment having stood the test of being drawn through a finger

ring before it was embroidered with gold or silver or fine seed pearls.

 

When Rough-Coat was duly loaded, the lady mother threw an old and

much-worn garment over all and said:

 

"Haste to my precious son, good Rough-Coat, and warn him of your

coming with a neigh."

 

Before long the young Lord Diuk and Churilo the Exquisite began their

strange contest, riding about Kiev town in new garments and upon a

fresh horse every day. Churilo ordered great herds of horses to be

driven into Kiev from Chernigof, and took much pains to select one

of different hue every morning; but Diuk anointed Rough-Coat each

morning with dew and so changed the colour of its coat. For three

years this peaceful warfare lasted, and then on Easter morning the two

combatants went to early Mass and stood in the porch of the cathedral

side by side, but not too close together.

 

The garments of Churilo the Exquisite were slashed with ruddy burning

gold and with white gleaming silver. In place of buttons he had clasps

made in the likeness of handsome youths with loops fashioned in the

semblance of lovely maidens. So high were the insteps of his slippers

of green morocco that swallows swooping to the earth might easily

pass under them, while their tips were as sharp as the shoemaker's

awl. His cap was of softest down overshadowing his eyes in front and

his white neck behind. His over-mantle flung back in youthful vanity

was of sables of the richest gloss.

 

But his opponent stood by his side in the worn garment which his lady

mother had placed on the back of Rough-Coat to protect the bales from

the weather; only, beneath this beggar's robe shone jewels on his

footgear of value greater than that of all Kiev, except for the gems

upon the statues of the Virgin and the Saints in the great cathedral.

 

Vladimir came and looked at the young men, while Churilo fingered his

clasps and loops as if to draw attention to their exquisite fashioning;

but Diuk looked straight ahead as if he saw right across the open

steppe to the palace of his lady mother in India the Glorious.

 

Then the Prince spoke in tones of quiet judgment:

 

"To our mind," he said, "the young Lord Diuk from India the Glorious

has forfeited his wager; for such inventions as these clasps and

loops have never been equalled in the eyes of men."

 

"The value of the wager," cried Diuk, "is nothing to me, but for my

renown I am jealous enough." Then he threw his worn garment aside

and stood forth in apparel so wondrous that all the watchers fell to

the earth, stunned with the sight of its shining beauty. At the fore

peak of his cap shone the sun like ruddy gold; at the back was the

moon with shining silver rays; between the two points shone a light

as from pearls heaped up in the darkness.

 

Then he fingered the clasps in front of his embroidered doublet which

were fashioned in the shape of singing birds, and at the touch of

his caressing fingers the birds began to sing. He pulled the loops

at the edges of his coat which were fashioned in the shape of lions

and dragons, and at the touch of his caressing fingers they began to

crawl and leap and hiss and roar. When he had finished the whole of

the company, including Churilo the Exquisite, lay prone upon the floor.

 

Vladimir was the first to rise, and he gasped out with his hand to

his forehead: "The wager and the renown are yours, goodly youth. Now

cover up your birds and beasts with a garment to which my people are

more accustomed." And Diuk did so; whereupon the people recovered

from their stupefied astonishment and began to praise Diuk for having

outdone Churilo the Exquisite in the ingenuity and richness of his

apparel. And the victor spent the thirty thousand roubles on green

wine for the applauding crowds, which made them applaud him still

more loudly.

 

Now Churilo the Exquisite was a young man of determination, and even

this defeat did not quench his spirit or his ingenuity. As soon as

he had recovered himself he approached Diuk once again and said with

great respect:

 

"My Lord Diuk, let us make another wager of another kind. Let us

prove whose horse can leap the broad stream of Mother Dnieper,

which measures two miles across, and let our heads be the stake;

the winner to cut off the head of the loser."

 

"I have only my travelling nag with me," said Diuk, "but I accept

the challenge." Then he went to Rough-Coat in the stable and told

the good horse in what danger he stood of losing his head.

 

"That is well," said Rough-Coat, in the speech of Holy Russia, "for

not only will I leap over Mother Dnieper, but I will carry you an

even distance upon the farther shore. I belong to a heroic family,

and my eldest brother is Cloudfall, the shaggy bay steed ridden by

Ilya of Murom the Old Cossáck, while my second brother bears Nikitich

upon his adventures, but my youngest brother is the steed of Churilo

the Exquisite."

 

Without loss of time Diuk saddled Rough-Coat and rode far out across

the open plain with Churilo by his side, riding step by step but not

too near. Behind them flocked a great crowd of mighty heroes of Holy

Russia, as well as of the townsfolk of Kiev, who had come to watch the

manly contest, which was much more to their taste than an exhibition of

clothing and decoration, however ingenious and splendid they might be.

 

At last they came to the shore of broad Mother Dnieper, and both the

combatants stood for a moment with their hands to their foreheads

gazing out across the deep water to discover a possible landing-place

on the farther bank. Then said Churilo the Exquisite:

 

"Do thou leap first, Lord Diuk."

 

"Nay," answered the other, "do thou leap first, and when we leap

together in India, then will I take the lead."

 

So Churilo put his horse to the stream. The younger brother of

Rough-Coat left the shore with a courageous leap, but came down with a

great splash in mid-stream. Then Diuk put his horse to the stream. The

younger brother of Cloudfall left the shore with a courageous leap,

cleared the river and an even space on the farther shore, and then

turning quickly leapt back again; and as Rough-Coat soared across

the broad bosom of Mother Dnieper, Diuk stooped and caught Churilo

by his yellow curls.

 

On the banks of the stream the victor prepared to cut off the head

of the Exquisite; but all the ladies, young and not quite so young,

lovely and not quite so lovely, who had come out from Kiev, implored

him to spare the life of the young man. So Diuk merely gave him a

mighty kick and said:

 

"Go, Exquisite, to the women to whom you owe your life, and stay with

them; for the men of Holy Russia, to say naught of India the Glorious,

have no need of such as you."

 

Churilo the Exquisite had not yet parted with the whole of his

ingenuity, and he turned to Prince Vladimir:

 

"My Lord," he said, "if this young man is a truth-teller, let us

send talesmen who can compute and count to India the Glorious, to

make lists of all his boasted possessions in treasure and goods and herds and flocks."