The Russian Story Book 29

The Russian Story Book 29

The stormy night passed, another day dawned fair and peaceful, but

still Sadko was not bidden to a merry feast. So he went again to

the shore of the lake, again a storm arose, and again he returned to

Novgorod in haste and disquiet.

 

The stormy night passed, another day dawned fair and peaceful, but

even yet Sadko was not bidden to a merry feast. So he went again to

the shore of the lake, again a storm arose, but this time the heart of

Sadko grew stout, and he went on with his playing though his fingers

trembled sorely. Then the Water Tsar arose from the lake and said

to Sadko:

 

"We thank you, Sadko the Musician, for your diversion, for the sweet

sounds of your harp came down to the ears of the worshipful guests at

my banquet; and I am at a loss, Sadko, for means of granting reward

to you.

 

"But go back, Sadko, to Novgorod the Great, where to-morrow you shall

be called to a merry feast, at which many merchants of Novgorod

shall be present. Now when they have eaten well and drunk better,

they will begin to boast. One shall brag of his good horse as if it

were another Cloudfall; another of the great deeds of his youth as if

Svyatogor were puny beside him; a third of the beauty of his young

wife as if she were another Golden Tress; and a fourth, a wise man,

of the goodness of his aged father and the tenderness of his mother.

 

"Then boast in your own turn, Sadko, and say: 'I know something which

is known to none of this worshipful company. I know that there are

in Lake Ilmen fishes with golden fins.' Then they will argue with

you and say that such fishes do not exist, but you must wager your

head upon the truth of your word, in return for their pledge of all

their shops and their precious wares.

 

"Then you shall buy a net of the finest silk, not for youthful

vanity, but for strength, and come and cast it into the waters of

Lake Ilmen. You must cast the net three times in the lake, and at

each cast I will place within it a fish with fins of gold. So shall

you win your wager, even the rich shops of Novgorod, and become

Sadko the Rich Guest. But in wealth forget not your sweet playing,

nor the golden tones of your harp of maple-wood."

 

Then the Water Tsar vanished from Sadko's sight.

 

The harper went back to Novgorod the Great, and it all happened as

the Water Tsar had spoken up to the time when the boasters had said

their say. Then one of them said to Sadko:

 

"Why do you sit there, musician, and utter never a single word of

boasting?"

 

"What shall I boast of?" asked Sadko. "I have no treasure except the

golden tones of my harp of maple-wood. But there is one thing I know

right well; there are in Ilmen Lake fishes with fins of gold."

 

"You lie, Sadko," cried the merchants. But Sadko said:

 

"I will wager my head against all the wealth of your shops."

 

"It is done," said they, and at once they went down to Lake Ilmen,

Sadko carrying a net of fine silk, not for youthful vanity but for

strength; and it all fell out as the Water Tsar had promised. Then the

merchants gave Sadko the treasures they had wagered, and he took to

trading. He prospered well, for he did not forget his sweet playing

nor the golden tones of his harp of maple-wood, and so wherever he

went he was welcomed among the merchants of distant lands and won

great profit thereby. In a short time he married a beautiful young

wife, and built a palace of white stone, wherein all things were

heavenly. His young wife moved among treasures of which even Elena

the Beautiful would have been envious.

 

After a while Sadko made a merry feast, to which he invited a great

company, including the brave heroes Laka and Thoma. Now when they

had eaten well and drunk better they began to boast. One bragged of

his good horse as if it were a second Cloudfall; another of the great

deeds of his youth as if Svyatogor were puny beside him; a third of

the beauty of his young wife as if she were another Golden Tress;

and a fourth, a wise man, of the goodness of his aged father and the

tenderness of his mother.

 

Then Sadko, not to be outdone, boasted of his wealth, and swore to

buy up all the wares of the shops of Novgorod, both good and bad,

day after day, until there should not be any more for sale in all

that city of busy traders. And upon his oath he named a great wager

of countless treasure.

 

The next day he sent his servants to the markets of Novgorod, who

bought up all the wares, both good and bad. On the second day the

markets were full again, but Sadko sent his servants, who bought up all

the wares, both good and bad. On the third day he found the markets

full of precious merchandise from Moscow, and felt a merchant's

pride in the enterprise of his city; and he made a pause while he

went home, sat down in his own chamber and softly played upon his

harp of maple-wood, which seemed to speak the golden tones of wisdom.

 

"If you buy all these goods from Moscow," it seemed to whisper,

"others will flow into Novgorod the Great from far away across the

sea; and even Sadko the Rich Guest cannot buy all the treasures of

the whole white world. Sadko is rich but Novgorod the Great is still

richer. Yield your wager and venture forth upon the merchant path

of lake and river and broad grey sea where the Water Tsar will be

your friend."

 

Then Sadko yielded his wager, which was an enormous sum of gold,

and built a great fleet of thirty-three red ships with sails of fair

white linen. The prows of these scarlet vessels were in the likeness of

fearful dragons, whose eyes were precious jacinths, whose brows were

Siberian sables and whose ears were the dark-brown skins of Siberian

foxes. Soon these ships were filled with the rich wares of Novgorod,

and Sadko sailed away to Lake Ladoga and thence into the Neva and

through that river to the deep-blue sea. At the ports upon the shore

he sold his wares, making great gain and filling many casks of forty

buckets with red gold, white silver, and fair seed pearls. Then they

sailed away with Sadko in the Falcon ship which was ever foremost

and the finest in all that scarlet fleet.

 

But suddenly the blue sea turned to grey and the ships, now almost

black in the shadow, halted and stood still. The waves rose like

mountains, the sails flapped, the ships began to rock while men

whispered of Whirlwind the Whistler and said that surely Ivan the

son of Golden Tress had not killed him.

 

Then Sadko, the Rich Guest, shouted from his ship:

 

"Ho, there, my brave mariners! I hear the voice of the mighty Water

Tsar, to whom we have paid no tribute. Cast into the waters a cask

of red gold." And they did so, but still the dark-red ships rocked,

the waves beat, the sails tore, and the hearts of the mariners longed

for Novgorod the Great.

 

Again Sadko the Rich Guest shouted from his ship:

 

"Ho there, my brave mariners! A cask of red gold is but a small

gift for the Water Tsar. Cast into the waves a cask of fine seed

pearls." And they did so, but still the dark-red ships rocked, the

waves beat, the sails tore, and the hearts of the mariners longed

for Novgorod the Great.

 

Once again Sadko the Rich Guest shouted from his ship:

 

"Ho, there, my brave mariners! It is plain that the Water Tsar asks

the tribute of a living man. Make therefore slips of alder-wood and

let each man write his name upon his own lot and cast them all into

the dark-grey sea, and the lots of all who are to see their homes once

again shall float. But that man among us whose lot sinketh shall be

cast into the sea." Then the command of Sadko was obeyed, but Sadko's

lot was a bunch of hop flowers. And all the lots swam like ducks,

but the bunch of hop flowers sank like a stone.

 

Yet again Sadko the Rich Guest shouted from his ship: "Those lots

were not just. Make other lots of willow-wood and try again." Then the

command of Sadko was obeyed, but Sadko's lot was a piece of blue steel

from Damascus, wondrously wrought and heavy in weight. And all the lots

swam like wild ducks, but the piece of blue steel sank like a stone.

 

Then Sadko said, "It is plain that the Water Tsar asks for Sadko

himself." So he told his servants to fetch him his massive inkstand,

his swan-quill pen, and his paper, and they did so. Whereupon Sadko

seated himself in his folding chair at his table of oak and began

to apportion his goods. He gave much to God's churches, much for the

improvement of choir singing, much to the poor, and much to his young

wife, and the remainder of his goods he divided among his faithful

mariners.

 

Having done this in due order he wept and said to those about him:

 

"Ho, my brave mariners! Place an oaken plank upon the heaving dark-grey

sea upon which I shall journey; and fill a bowl with red gold, another

with white silver and a third with fine seed pearls and place them upon

the plank." After that Sadko took in his right hand an iron image of

a saint of God, and in his left hand his harp of maple-wood. He wore

a mantle of rich sables over all, and he stepped upon the oaken plank

and was borne away upon the waves while the dark-red ships sped on

and flew as if they had been ravens over the field of the slain.

 

Now as his strange raft floated turbulently upon the surface of the

water, Sadko at first was greatly terrified, but after a while he fell

into a gentle sleep, and when he awoke he was in the crystal kingdom of

the Water Tsar. He looked about him and saw the red sun burning though

it gave no heat, and he saw also before him a palace of white stone

in which sat the Water Tsar with a head like a heap of yellow hay.

 

"Welcome, Sadko, the Rich Guest of Novgorod," he said. "You have long

sailed upon the waters, but have paid no tribute to the Water Tsar. I

have sent for you that you may solve this riddle which is a matter

of dispute between me and my Tsaritza. Which is now of greatest worth

in Russia, gold or silver or damascened steel?"

 

"Gold and silver are of great worth in Russia," said Sadko, "but

damascened steel is of great value also. For without gold and silver

a man may contrive to live, but without the ore of iron no man can

live at ease."

 

"What do you hold in your right hand and in your left?" asked the

Water Tsar.

 

"In my right hand is a holy image," replied Sadko, "and in my left

my harp of maple-wood."

 

"I am told," said the Water Tsar, whose memory must, of course, have

been washed quite clean each day by living in the sea, "that you are,

in spite of your trading, a master player upon the harp. Play for me

upon your harp of maple-wood."

 

Sadko at once commenced to finger his harp, and forgetting all his

trading and golden prosperity--perhaps the water washed his memory

clean also--he played such music as the sea fairies with the pink

conch shells could not surpass. Then he struck up a merry dance-tune,

and at once the Tsar rose from his throne and began to jump about,

beating time with the skirts of his royal robe and swinging his

mantle of white fleece round him like an encircling cloud, while

above all gleamed his hair as yellow as a bunch of hay. At the sound

a troop of lovely sea fairies, clad in transparent garments of the most beautiful colours, joined in a choral dance, while strange sea creatures squatted and leapt about the oozy floor of the ocean sea.