The Russian Story Book 23

The Russian Story Book 23

Golden Tress sat down upon this throne and composed herself,

as if she were expecting a visitor. "In a short time," she said,

"Whirlwind will fly home. Come and hide beneath my purple robe so

that he may not be able to see you, and when he enters and runs to

try to embrace me reach out your hand, which is now a hand of heroic

strength, and seize his club. He will rise high and ever higher,

but do not therefore release your hold upon his club. He will fly

out of the window in the roof, and will carry you over seas and

over precipices, but do not in dizziness release your hold upon his

club. After a while Whirlwind will grow weak and will return to this

palace and go down to the cellar, but do not release your hold upon

his club. He will drink of the water in the tub on the right hand,

but see that you drink meanwhile of the water in the other tub.

 

"When he has drunk well, he will grow weak, and then you must take his

sharp sword from his girdle and hew off his head with it. As soon as

his head falls to the ground you will hear voices behind you crying,

'Strike again, strike again.' But these will be the voices of tempters,

and your answer to them must be, 'A hero's hand strikes once to kill,

but never once to maim.'"

 

Ivan had scarcely disposed himself under the flowing purple robe

which swept down upon the green and translucent base of the throne

of Golden Tress, when suddenly the room grew dark and everything

within it trembled and creaked. Whirlwind flew to his castle, and

no one saw his form until he struck the courtyard stones. Then he

became a goodly young man with a changeful restless face, and strode

quickly into the castle carrying his club with a flourish, until he

came before the emerald throne.

 

"Tfu, Tfu, Tfu," he said, sniffing disgustedly. "There is an odour

of Russia here. Have you had visitors?"

 

"I cannot tell why you should think so," said Golden Tress. Then

Whirlwind came forward and held out his arms to embrace the mother

of Ivan, but with a quick movement the heroic youth stretched out his

hand and seized his club. "I'll eat you," cried Whirlwind in a passion

of anger, and Ivan replied, "Well, either you will or you won't."

 

With a piercing shriek Whirlwind turned and mounted quickly upward. He

passed with a howl through the open window in the roof, and then

his form was changed, but what it was now no one knew or was able to

describe, for as often as any one opened eyes to look at him he filled

them with dust and water; if any one sniffed him he made them sneeze;

if any one tried to lay hands upon him he buffeted them in the chest

and turned them about like weather vanes, all the while crying out,

"What is my shape?" Only pigs could see him and knew of what shape

he was and they had no powers of description.

 

It was well for Ivan that in this furious flight he kept a firm hold on

Whirlwind's club, for as he rushed on over the world he kept shrieking,

"I will smash you! I will lay you low! I will drown you!" But as

his club was firmly held he was powerless to give a knock-down blow,

and presently, wearied out with his own fury, he grew weak and began

to sink. Then he turned homeward, and alighted gently and wearily

upon the stones of the courtyard, where he became a young man with a

restless peevish face, listlessly bearing his club, which would have

trailed upon the ground if the heroic hand of Ivan had not upheld

it. He made what speed he could to the cellar, and at once took a

deep draught of the water of weakness, while Ivan, dropping the club,

ran to the water of strength, of which he drank long and contentedly,

and so became the first mighty hero in the whole white world.

 

Seeing that Whirlwind had now become weak to extremity he took his

sharp sword from his girdle and cut off his head with it. Then from

behind him he heard voices crying, "Strike again, strike again, or

he will come to life." "No," cried Ivan in a heroic voice which in

spite of himself seemed to echo throughout the world. "A hero's hand

strikes once to kill, but never once to maim." Then without loss of

time he made a fire, burned the body of Whirlwind as well as the head,

and scattered his ashes from the ramparts of the castle to North,

South, East, and West.

 

Then Golden Tress was glad and embraced her son. "Now let us eat,"

she said, "and then go home together. It is very wearisome here--for of

what use is a throne of a single emerald if there are no people? What

are fine couches and sideboards and flagons and furniture if there

is no love?"

 

"Are there not even servants to wait upon you?" asked Ivan. "How are

you served?"

 

"You will see in a moment," was the reply. "Think of dinner." So

Ivan thought of the nicest dinner he could imagine--thick soup,

white fish with pink sharp sauce, meat, potatoes and spinach with

rich brown gravy, iced pudding and apples and nuts for dessert--and

before he could have written out the list all these things were upon

the sideboard where they kept hot until they were needed, all of

course except the pudding which stayed outside upon the window-sill

to keep cool.

 

But with all this there was no sound, not even the cheerful clatter

of plates or the chink of a jug upon a tumbler, for the plates came

floating singly through the air and settled down quietly before

the diners, while the wine rose from the bottom of the glasses as

you have seen it do at the conjuror's. Ivan and his mother ate in

silence, and the young man was surprised to find the meal somewhat

disappointing. His lovely mother watched him closely with a wise

smile upon her face. "When we get home," she promised herself, "he

shall have hot cakes fresh from the oven with plenty of butter and--I

shall make them myself." Then she laughed inwardly and sniffed gently

through her delicate nostrils as if she smelt the kitchen smell of

newly made bread and cakes, and that is better even than a throne of

a single emerald or a couch with a cover of sable skins lined with

softest silk from Samarcand.

 

When mother and son had rested for a while and talked of many things,

Golden Tress enquiring particularly how the stoves were drawing in

the palace of the Great White Tsar, the young man said, "Mother,

let us go home now, for it is time, and besides, under the mountains

my brothers are waiting for me. And on the way I must rescue three

Tsaritzas who are living in the castles of Whirlwind the Whistler."

 

In a short time mother and son were ready for the journey, and though

the castle was full of untold treasure they carried away with them

not even a diamond of the size of a pin point. But they carried as

many linen sheets as they could bear, not for vanity of housewifery

but for a useful purpose. After a long journey they came to the Golden

Tsaritza, Elena the Beautiful, and led her forth, asking her to carry

with her as many linen sheets as she could comfortably bear. In a

similar manner they led forth the Silver Tsaritza and the Copper

Tsaritza, and these also brought linen sheets for the device which

Ivan had designed.

 

When they came to the top of the precipice they tore the sheets into

broad strips, knotted them together, and made a long linen rope of

them; and by means of this stout rope, one end of which they fastened

to the trunk of a lofty pine which had seen the dawn of history, they

let themselves down to the plain below, first the Copper Tsaritza, then

the Silver Tsaritza, then the Golden Tsaritza, Elena the Beautiful,

and last of all Golden Tress, the Tsaritza of the Great White Tsar.

 

Now the two elder brothers of Ivan were standing below, waiting and

watching, and when they saw the lovely ladies step daintily one after

the other upon the earth they said to each other:

 

"Let us leave Ivan up there and let us take the three lovely maidens

and our mother to our father, and tell him that we rescued them from

Whirlwind the Whistler."

 

"Right and just," said Peter quickly, "I will take the Golden Tsaritza,

Elena the Beautiful, for myself, and you, Vasily, take the Silver

Tsaritza for yourself, and we will give the Copper Tsaritza to some

general."

 

Meanwhile Golden Tress was looking steadily up the face of the

precipice, waiting impatiently for Ivan to come down by the ladder of

linen. But the two brothers ran forward, seized the linen, pulled it

and tore it away. And when Ivan heard it snap near the trunk of the

great pine, he sat down and in spite of his strength and manliness

wept so sorely, and for such a long time, that his tears made a

cascade down the face of the precipice, where the ladder of linen

had wavered in the breeze.

 

Then he arose somewhat refreshed and relieved, and turning back

walked aimlessly through the Copper Kingdom, the Silver Kingdom, and

the Golden Kingdom, but he met no living person. Then he came to the

Diamond Kingdom, but even here he met no living person. He was now

weary almost to death, and in the midst of wealth untold yearned for

the sound of a human voice. In the Diamond Palace, from which he had

rescued his mother, he wandered disconsolate not knowing what to do

when, all at once, he saw a whistle lying on the window ledge. He took

it up, and, being a good musician, began to play a tune, but as soon

as he had sounded only one note Lame and Crooked stood before him,

who seemed to be bowing all the time.

 

"What is your pleasure?" he asked.

 

"Get a bed ready," said Ivan, and as soon as the words were spoken

the bed stood near him with the pillows smoothed and the quilt turned

down a little, so as to show the sheets of the finest linen. Ivan

crept into the bed, in which he found a warming pan, settled down

cosily and was soon in a deep sleep. After a time, the exact length of

which does not matter, he awoke refreshed and whistled again. Before

he could say Elena, Lame and Crooked stood before him.

 

"What is your pleasure?" he asked.

 

"Can everything be done, then?" asked Ivan.

 

"Everything is possible," was the reply. "Whoever blows that whistle

has everything done for him. As we served Whirlwind the Whistler

before, so now we are glad to serve the man who conquered him by

bracing himself with draughts of the water which comes from the

stinging East. It is only necessary to keep the whistle by you at

all times."

 

"Well, then," said Ivan, "let me be in my own city this very moment."

 

He had no sooner spoken than he found himself in his own city, and

standing in the middle of the market square. As he stood looking

around him a jolly old shoemaker came up and Ivan said to him,

"Where are you going, my good man?"