The Russian Story Book 33

The Russian Story Book 33

Guided by his brother, the blind man stooped to the spring of healing

water and bathed the hollow sockets of his eyes. Then eyeballs came

into them as they had been before, but they could not see. So he

sprinkled them next with living water and they were made sound and

useful as they had been before.

 

The brothers thanked the wicked Baba-Yaga and gave her a gift in

exchange for her help and her whistle of which Nikita had need,

but she grunted and said, "I could, and I would, and I did because

I must." Then she went off to her cottage and the restored men took

their way to the city of the Terrible Tsar for Nikita had another

bright idea. In a field outside the palace they found the Terrible

Tsar herding pigs, whereupon Nikita began to blow on the whistle and

the pigs began to dance, for their ancestors had come from the herd of

the wicked Baba-Yaga. Yelena the Haughty Beauty saw what was happening

from the window, but she did not laugh, for she was not a woman of

that kind. She only rose in all her haughty beauty and gave a stern

command to her servants to take a bunch of rods and beat the pig-herd

and the two strangers who were standing near him. At once the guards

ran out and brought them to the castle to give them the punishment

they deserved for their lack of gravity. This was just what Nikita

desired, for he ran forward and seizing Yelena by her lily-white

hands in a grasp no man or woman could ever resist, he cried:

 

"Now, Terrible Tsar, what shall I do with the Terrible Tsaritza?"

 

"Send her home," said the poor worried monarch, "out of my sight." So

they sent her away to her own castle, where she spent all her time

in admiring her beauty in the mirror until she died of dulness. But

Nikita was made chief minister, and Timothy a general, and the Terrible

Tsar did whatever they wished him to do from that day forward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PEERLESS BEAUTY THE CAKE-BAKER

 

 

In a far-off land lived a Tsar and a Tsaritza who had one son,

whom they named Ivan. They were very glad when he was born, and

placed him in a beautiful oaken cradle among pillows of the softest

down, covering him with a little eider-down quilt of silk from

Samarcand. The pillow on which rested his little head was ornamented

with drawn-thread work and all was cosy and comfortable, but try

as they would the nurse-maidens--and they were pretty ladies of the

highest degree--could not rock Ivan Tsarevich to sleep. Softly they

sang and sweetly they crooned, but the young prince roared lustily,

tossed off the coverlet, kicked out the pillow, and beat the sides

of the cradle with his little fists.

 

At last the nurse-maidens lost all patience and they cried out to the

Tsar, "Little Father, Little Father, come and rock your own son." So

the Tsar sat down by the side of the cradle, placed his great toe

upon the rocker, and said:

 

"Sleep, little son, sleep, sleep, sleep. Soon you will be a man, and

then I will get you Peerless Beauty as a bride. She is the daughter

of three mothers, the granddaughter of three grandmothers, and the

sister of nine brothers."

 

He made this promise once only, and it had such a soothing effect upon

the restless Tsarevich that he went to sleep and continued sleeping

for three days and three nights, during which time the nurse-maidens

sat and praised his beauty among themselves. But they ceased talking

as soon as he woke up again, for now he cried more loudly than ever,

tossed off the coverlet, kicked out the pillow, and beat the sides

of the cradle with his little fists.

 

Once again the nurse-maidens tried to console him and to rock him to

sleep, for they loved and admired him best in his slumbers; but he

refused to sleep, and they were forced to call out, "Little Father,

Little Father, come and rock your own son."

 

The Tsar came once more to the cradle of his son and made the wonderful

promise, whereupon the child fell asleep again and slept for three

days and three nights.

 

But when he woke up he was as naughty as before, and for a third time

the nurse-maidens had to call in the help of the Little Father.

 

When the Tsarevich awoke the third time he stood upon his cradle and

said, "Bless me, Little Father, for I am going to my wedding."

 

"My dear son," said the Tsar in great wonderment, "you are altogether

only nine days old. How can you marry?"

 

"That shall be as it is," said the Tsarevich, "and if you will not

give me your blessing I fear I must marry without it."

 

"Well, well," said the Tsar, "may all good go with you." Then he was

not in the least surprised to see his son step down from the cradle

a full-grown youth of goodly shape, call for clothes suitable to his

age--they were all ready to hand--and then go forth to the stable. On

the way across the courtyard he met an old man who looked at him

and said:

 

"Young man, where are you going?"

 

"Mind your own business," said the young prince. But when he had

gone forward a little he stopped and said to himself, "That was a

mistake. Old people know many useful things." So he turned again and

went after the old man.

 

"Stop, stop, grandfather," he said, "what was the question which you

put to me?"

 

"I asked you," said the ancient, "where you were going, and now I add

to my question. Are you going there of your own free will or against

your will?"

 

"I am going of my own free will," said the Tsarevich, "and twice

as much against my will. I was in my cradle when my father came to

me and promised to get me Peerless Beauty as a bride. She is the

daughter of three mothers, the granddaughter of three grandmothers,

and the sister of nine brothers. So I suppose I must go to seek her."

 

"You are a courteous youth," said the old man, "and deserve to take

advantage of the knowledge of the aged. You cannot go on foot to seek

out Peerless Beauty, for she lives at the edge of the white world at

the place where the sun peeps up. It is called the Golden Kingdom of

the East."

 

"What shall I do?" asked the Tsarevich, thrusting his hands into his

belt and standing with feet wide apart. "I have no horse of mettle

or whip of silk for such a ride."

 

"Why, your father has thirty horses of the best," said the old man,

"and the trouble with you will be to make a wise choice. Go to the

stables and tell the grooms to take the thirty to bathe in the deep

blue sea. When they come to the shore you will see one of them push

forward into the water up to its neck and drink. When this happens

watch with care to see if the waves rise high and break in foam upon

the beach. If so, take that horse, for it will bear you safely to

the edge of the white world and to the place where the sun peeps up,

which is called the Golden Kingdom of the East."

 

"Thanks and thanks again, good grandfather," said the Tsarevich, who

went on to the stables and selected his heroic steed in the manner

described by the old man. On the following morning the Tsarevich

was preparing this horse for the journey when it turned its head and

spoke to him in the speech of Holy Russia:

 

"Ivan Tsarevich," it said, "fall down upon the lap of moist Mother

Earth and I will push you three times." The youth was so much

astonished to hear the horse speak that he found it no difficult matter

to fall down. Then the horse pushed him once and pushed him a second

time, but after that it looked at the youth for a little time and said,

"That will suffice, for if I push you a third time moist Mother Earth

will not be able to bear you." So the Tsarevich rose to his feet,

saddled his horse, and set out. His father and those about him saw

him as he mounted, but they did not see him as he rode. It was only

a smoke wreath on the open boundless plain and he was gone. Far, far

away he rode until the day grew short and the long night came on. As

the darkness fell the rider came to a house as large as a town, with

rooms each as big as a village. At the great door he got down from his

horse and tied the bridle to a copper ring in the door-post. Then he

went into the first room and said to an old woman whom he found there:

 

"May God be good to this house. I should be glad to be permitted to

spend the night here."

 

"Where are you journeying?" asked the old woman.

 

"That is not the first question," said the Tsarevich. "Give me food

to eat and wine to drink, then put me next into a warm sleeping

chamber. In the morning ask me whether I have slept in peace and

then ask where I may be journeying." And the old woman did so, just

as the Tsarevich had said.

 

Next morning she asked him the second question and he replied,

"I was in my cradle when my father came to me and promised to get me

Peerless Beauty as a bride. She is the daughter of three mothers, the

granddaughter of three grandmothers, and the sister of nine brothers."

 

"Good youth," said the old woman, "I am nearly seventy years of age,

but of Peerless Beauty I have never heard. But farther on the way

lives my elder sister. Perhaps she knows." Then Ivan Tsarevich went

out of the great house, and, after taking courteous leave of the

old woman, rode far away across the open steppe. All day he rode,

and as night was coming on he came to a second house as large as

a town, with each room as large as a village. He dismounted from

his horse, tied the bridle to a silver ring in the door-post, and

asked an old woman whom he met in the first room if he might have

a night's lodging. And here it happened as it had happened before,

only the old woman was eighty years of age.

 

"Farther on the road," she said, "lives my elder sister and she

has givers of answers. The first givers of answers are the fishes

and other dwellers in the heaving restless sea; the second givers

of answers are the wild beasts of the dark forests; and the third

givers of answers are the birds of the open air. Whatever is in the

whole white world is obedient to the will of my elder sister."

 

Once again Ivan Tsarevich set out and came to a house where he tied

his horse to a golden ring, and was received by an old, old woman

who screamed at him in a voice like a flock of peacocks:

 

"O you man of boldness, why have you tied your horse to a golden ring

when an iron ring would be too good for you?"

 

"Patience, good grandmother," said the Tsarevich gently, "it is easy

to loose the bridle and tie the horse to another ring."

 

"Ah, my good youth," said the old woman gently, and as one would speak

to a child, "did I frighten you? Sit down now on the bench and take

food and drink." Ivan did so, and then without being asked he told

the old woman where he was going and what was his quest.

 

"Go to your rest," she said shortly. "In the morning I will call my givers of answers."