The Magic Egg · page 21 2101I'll go in and chase him out of the hole, and do thou catch him as he comes out; but mind, whatever comes out of the hole, seize it, for it will be the golden hare."102So she went and began beating up, and all at once out came a snake and hissed, and he let it go.103Then she came out of the hole and said to him, "What! has nothing come out?"--"Well," said he, "only a snake, and I was afraid it would bite me, so I let it go."--"What hast thou done?" said she; "that was the very hare itself.104Look now!" said she, "I'll go in again, and if any one comes out and tells you that the golden hare is not here, don't believe it, but hold him fast."105So she crept into the hole again and began to beat for game, and out came an old woman, who said to the youth, "What art thou poking about there for?"--And he said to her, "For the golden hare."--She said to him, "It is not here, for this is a snake's hole," and when she had said this she went away.106Presently the girl also came out and said to him, "What! hast thou not got the hare?107Did nothing come out then?"--"No," said he, "nothing but an old woman who asked me what I was seeking, and I told her the golden hare, and she said, 'It is not here,' so I let her go."--Then the girl replied, "Why didst thou not lay hold of her? for she was the very golden hare itself, and now thou never wilt catch it unless I turn myself into a hare and thou take and lay me on the table, and give me into my mother's, the she-dragon's hands, and go away, for if she find out all about it she will tear the pair of us to pieces."108So she changed herself into a hare, and he took and laid her on the table, and said to the she-dragon, "There's thy hare for thee, and now let me go away!"109She said to him, "Very well--be off!"110Then he set off running, and he ran and ran as hard as he could.111Soon after, the old she-dragon discovered that it was not the golden hare, but her own daughter, so she set about chasing after them to destroy them both, for the daughter had made haste in the meantime to join Ivan.112But as the she-dragon couldn't run herself, she sent her husband, and he began chasing them, and they knew he was coming, for they felt the earth trembling beneath his tread.113Then the she-dragon's daughter said to Ivan, "I hear him running after us.114I'll turn myself into standing wheat and thee into an old man guarding me, and if he ask thee, 'Hast thou seen a lad and a lass pass by this way?' say to him, 'Yes, they passed by this way while I was sowing this wheat!'"115A little while afterward the she-dragon's husband came flying up. "116Have a lad and a lass passed by this way?" said he. "117Yes," replied the old man, "they have."--"Was it long ago?" asked the she-dragon's husband.--"It was while this wheat was being sown," replied the old man.--"Oh!" thought the dragon, "this wheat is ready for the sickle, they couldn't have been this way yesterday," so he turned back.118Then the she-dragon's daughter turned herself back into a maiden and the old man into a youth, and off they set again.119But the dragon returned home, and the she-dragon asked him, "What! hast thou not caught them or met them on the road?"--"Met them, no!" said he. "120I did, indeed, pass on the road some standing wheat and an old man watching it, and I asked the old man if he had seen a lad and a lass pass by that way, and he said, 'Yes, while this wheat was being sown,' but the wheat was quite ripe for the sickle, so I knew it was a long while ago and turned back."--"Why didst thou not tear that old man and the wheat to pieces?" cried the she-dragon; "it was they!121Be off after them again, and mind, this time tear them to pieces without fail."122So the dragon set off after them again, and they heard him coming from afar, for the earth trembled beneath him, so the damsel said to Ivan, "He's coming again, I hear him; now I'll change myself into a monastery, so old that it will be almost falling to pieces, and I'll change thee into an old black monk at the gate, and when he comes up and asks, 'Hast thou seen a lad and a lass pass this way?' say to him, 'Yes, they passed by this way when this monastery was being built.'"123Soon afterward the dragon came flying past, and asked the monk, "Hast thou seen a lad and a lass pass by this way?"--"Yes," he replied, "I saw them what time the holy fathers began to build this monastery."124The dragon thought to himself, "That was not yesterday!125This monastery has stood a hundred years if it has stood a day, and won't stand much longer either," and with that he turned him back.126When he got home, he said to the she-dragon, his wife, "I met a black monk who serves in a monastery, and I asked him about them, and he told me that a lad and a lass had run past that way when the monastery was being built, but that was not yesterday, for the monastery is a hundred years old at the very least."--"Why didst thou not tear the black monk to pieces and pull down the monastery? for 'twas they.127But I see I must go after them myself, thou art no good at all."128So off she set and ran and ran, and they knew she was coming, for the earth quaked and yawned beneath her.129Then the damsel said to Ivan, "I fear me 'tis all over, for she is coming herself!130Look now!131I'll change thee into a stream and myself into a fish--a perch."132Immediately after the she-dragon came up and said to the perch, "Oh, oh! so thou wouldst run away from me, eh!"133Then she turned herself into a pike and began chasing the perch, but every time she drew near to it, the perch turned its prickly fins toward her, so that she could not catch hold of it.134So she kept on chasing it and chasing it, but finding she could not catch it, she tried to drink up the stream, till she drank so much of it that she burst.135Then the maiden who had become a fish said to the youth who had become a river, "Now that we are alive and not dead, go back to thy lord-father and thy father's house and see them, and kiss them all except the daughter of thy uncle, for if thou kiss that damsel thou wilt forget me, and I shall go to the land of Nowhere."136So he went home and greeted them all, and as he did so he thought to himself, "Why should I not greet my uncle's daughter like the rest of them?137Why, they'll think me a mere pagan if I don't!"138So he kissed her, and the moment he did so he forgot all about the girl who had saved him.139So he remained there half a year, and then bethought him of taking to himself a wife.140So they betrothed him to a very pretty girl, and he accepted her and forgot all about the other girl who had saved him from the dragon, though she herself was the she-dragon's daughter.141Now the evening before the wedding they heard a young damsel crying _Shishki_[28] in the streets.142They called to the young damsel to go away, or say who she was, for nobody knew her.143But the damsel answered never a word, but began to knead more cakes, and made a cock-dove and a hen-dove out of the dough and put them down on the ground, and they became alive.144And the hen-dove said to the cock-dove, "Hast thou forgotten how I cleared the field for thee, and sowed it with wheat, and thou mad'st a roll from the corn which thou gavest to the she-dragon?"--But the cock-dove answered, "Forgotten! forgotten!"--Then she said to him again, "And hast thou forgotten how I dug away the mountain for thee, and let the Dnieper flow by it that the merchant barques might come to thy store-houses, and that thou mightst sell thy wheat to the merchant barques?"145But the cock-dove replied, "Forgotten! forgotten!"--Then the hen-dove said to him again, "And hast thou forgotten how we two went together in search of the golden hare?146Hast thou forgotten me then altogether?"--And the cock-dove answered again, "Forgotten! forgotten!"147Then the good youth Ivan bethought him who this damsel was that had made the doves, and he took her to his arms and made her his wife, and they lived happily ever afterward.148[28] Wedding-cakes of the shape of pine-cones.149THE STORY OF THE FORTY-FIRST BROTHER150There was once upon a time an old man who had forty-one sons.151Now when this old man was at the point of death, he divided all he had among his sons, and gave to each of the forty a horse; but when he came to the forty-first he found he had no more horses left, so the forty-first brother had to be content with a foal.152When their father was dead, the brothers said to each other, "Let us go to Friday and get married!"--But the eldest brother said, "No, Friday has only forty daughters, so one of us would be left without a bride."--Then the second brother said, "Let us go then to Wednesday--Wednesday has forty-one daughters, and so the whole lot of us can pair off with the whole lot of them."153So they went and chose their brides.154The eldest brother took the eldest sister, and the youngest the youngest, till they were all suited.155And the youngest brother of all said, "I'll take that little damsel who is sitting on the stove in the corner and has the nice kerchief in her hand."156Then they all drank a bumper together to seal the bargain, and after that the forty-one bridegrooms and the forty-one brides laid them down to sleep side by side.157But the youngest brother of all said to himself, "I will bring my foal into the room."158So he brought in the foal, and then went to his bedchamber and laid him down to sleep also.159Now his bride lay down with her kerchief in her hand, and he took a great fancy to it, and he begged and prayed her for it again and again, until at last she gave it to him.160Now, when Wednesday thought that all the people were asleep, he went out into the courtyard to sharpen his sabre.161Then the foal said, "Oh, my dear little master, come here, come here!"162He came, and the foal said to him, "Take off the night-dresses of the forty sleeping bridegrooms and put them on the forty sleeping brides, and put the night-dresses of the brides on the bridegrooms, for a great woe is nigh!"163And he did so.164When Wednesday had sharpened his sabre he came into the room and began feeling for the stiff collars of the bridegrooms' night-dresses, and straightway cut off the forty heads above the collars.165Then he carried off the heads of his forty daughters in a bunch (for the brides now had on the night-dresses of their bridegrooms), and went and lay down to sleep.166Then the foal said, "My dear little father! awake the bridegrooms, and we'll set off."167So he awoke the bridegrooms and sent them on before, while he followed after on his own little nag.168They trotted on and on, and at last the foal said to him, "Look behind, and see whether Wednesday is not pursuing."169He looked round: "Yes, little brother," said he, "Wednesday _is_ pursuing!"--"Shake thy kerchief then!" said the foal.170He shook his kerchief, and immediately a vast sea was between him and the pursuer.171Then they went on and on till the foal said to him again, "Look behind, and see if Wednesday is still pursuing!"--He looked round. "172Yes, little brother, he _is_ pursuing!"--"Wave thy handkerchief on the left side!" said the foal.173He waved it on the left side, and immediately between them and the pursuer stood a forest so thick that not even a little mouse could have squeezed through it.checked by a teacher174Then they went on still farther, till the foal said again, "Look behind, and see whether Wednesday is still pursuing!"--He looked behind, and there, sure enough, was Wednesday running after them, and he was not very far off either.--"Wave thy kerchief!" said the foal.175He waved his kerchief, and immediately a steep mountain--oh, so steep!--lay betwixt them.176They went on and on, until the foal said again, "Look behind, is Wednesday still pursuing?"--So he looked behind him and said, "No, now he is not there."177Then they went on and on again, and soon they were not very far from home.178Then the youngest brother said, "You go home now, but I am going to seek a bride!"179So he went on and on till he came to a place where lay a feather of the bird Zhar. "180Look!" cried he, "what I've found!"--But the foal said to him, "Pick not up that feather, for it will bring thee evil as well as good!"--But his master said, "Why, I should be a fool not to pick up a feather like that!"181So he turned back and picked up the feather.182Then he went on farther and farther, until he came to a clay hut.183He went into this clay hut, and there sat an old woman. "184Give me a night's lodging, granny!" said he.--"I have neither bed nor light to offer thee," said she.185Nevertheless he entered the hut and put the feather on the window-corner, and it lit up the whole hut.186So he went to sleep.187But the old woman ran off to the Tsar, and said to him, "A certain man has come to me and laid a certain feather on the window-sill, and it shines like fire!"188Then the Tsar guessed that it was a feather of the bird Zhar, and said to his soldiers, "Go and fetch that man hither!"189And the Tsar said to him, "Wilt thou enter my service?"--"Yes," he replied, "but you must give me all your keys."190So the Tsar gave him all the keys and a hut of his own to live in besides.191But one day the Tsar said to his servants, "Boil me now a vat of milk!"192So they boiled it.193Then he took off his gold ring, and said to the man, "Thou didst get the feather of the bird Zhar, get me also this golden ring of mine out of the vat of boiling milk!"--"Bring hither, then, my faithful horse," said he, "that he may see his master plunge into the vat of boiling milk and die!"194So they brought his horse, and, taking off his clothes, he plunged into the vat, but as he did so the horse snorted so violently that all the boiling milk leaped up in the air and the man seized the ring and gave it back to the Tsar.195Now when the Tsar saw that the man had come out of the vat younger and handsomer than ever, he said, "I'll try and fish up the ring in like manner."196So he flung his ring into the vat of boiling milk and plunged after it to get it.197The people waited and waited and wondered and wondered that he was so long about it, and at last they drained off the milk and found the Tsar at the bottom of the vat boiled quite red.198Then the man said, "Now, Tsaritsa, thou art mine and I am thine."199And they lived together happily ever afterward.1 2← previousThe Two Princes, part 2next →The Story of the Unlucky Days, part 1↑ back to Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk TalesThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg29672/24/page/2/