The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (e novels for free .txt) 📖
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get home, don’t let the Baba Yaga set eyes on you, but go into the
stable and hide behind the mangers. There you will find a sorry
colt rolling in the muck. Do you steal it, and at the dead of night
ride away from the house.’
Prince Ivan arose, slipped into the stable, and lay down behind
the mangers, while the Baba Yaga was storming away at her mares
and shrieking:
`Why did ye come back?’
`How could we help coming back? There came flying bees in
countless numbers from all parts of the world, and began stinging
us on all sides till the blood came!’
The Baba Yaga went to sleep. In the dead of the night Prince
Ivan stole the sorry colt, saddled it, jumped on its back, and galloped
away to the fiery river. When he came to that river he
waved the handkerchief three times on the right hand, and suddenly,
springing goodness knows whence, there hung across the river, high
in the air, a splendid bridge. The Prince rode across the bridge and
waved the handkerchief twice only on the left hand; there remained
across the river a thin, ever so thin a bridge!
When the Baba Yaga got up in the morning the sorry colt was
not to be seen! Off she set in pursuit. At full speed did she fly
in her iron mortar, urging it on with the pestle, sweeping away her
traces with the broom. She dashed up to the fiery river, gave a
glance, and said, `A capital bridge!’ She drove on to the bridge,
but had only got half-way when the bridge broke in two, and the
Baba Yaga went flop into the river. There truly did she meet with
a cruel death!
Prince Ivan fattened up the colt in the green meadows, and it
turned into a wondrous steed. Then he rode to where Marya
Morevna was. She came running out, and flung herself on his
neck, crying:
`By what means has God brought you back to life?’
`Thus and thus,’ says he. `Now come along with me.’
`I am afraid, Prince Ivan! If Koshchei catches us you will
be cut in pieces again.’
`No, he won’t catch us! I have a splendid heroic steed now;
it flies just like a bird.’ So they got on its back and rode away.
Koshchei the Deathless was returning home when his horse
stumbled beneath him.
`What art thou stumbling for, sorry jade? Dost thou scent any
ill?’
`Prince Ivan has come and carried off Marya Morevna.’
`Can we catch them?’
`God knows! Prince Ivan has a horse now which is better
than I.’
`Well, I can’t stand it,’ says Koshchei the Deathless. `I will
pursue.’
After a time he came up with Prince Ivan, lighted on the
ground, and was going to chop him up with his sharp sword.
But at that moment Prince Ivan’s horse smote Koshchei the Deathless
full swing with its hoof, and cracked his skull, and the Prince
made an end of him with a club. Afterwards the Prince heaped up
a pile of wood, set fire to it, burnt Koshchei the Deathless on the
pyre, and scattered his ashes to the wind. Then Marya Morevna
mounted Koshchei’s horse and Prince Ivan got on his own, and they
rode away to visit first the Raven, and then the Eagle, and then
the Falcon. Wherever they went they met with a joyful greeting.
`Ah, Prince Ivan! why, we never expected to see you again.
Well, it wasn’t for nothing that you gave yourself so much trouble.
Such a beauty as Marya Morevna one might search for all the
world over—and never find one like her!’
And so they visited, and they feasted; and afterwards they went
off to their own realm.[3]
[3] Ralston.
THE BLACK THIEFAND KNIGHT OF THE GLEN.
IN times of yore there was a King and a Queen in the south of
Ireland who had three sons, all beautiful children; but the
Queen, their mother, sickened unto death when they were yet very
young, which caused great grief throughout the Court, particularly
to the King, her husband, who could in no wise be comforted.
Seeing that death was drawing near her, she called the King to her
and spoke as follows:
`I am now going to leave you, and as you are young and in
your prime, of course after my death you will marry again. Now
all the request I ask of you is that you will build a tower in an
island in the sea, wherein you will keep your three sons until they
are come of age and fit to do for themselves; so that they may not
be under the power or jurisdiction of any other woman. Neglect not
to give them education suitable to their birth, and let them be
trained up to every exercise and pastime requisite for king’s sons to
learn. This is all I have to say, so farewell.’
The King had scarce time, with tears in his eyes, to assure her
she should be obeyed in everything, when she, turning herself in
her bed, with a smile gave up the ghost. Never was greater
mourning seen than was throughout the Court and the whole
kingdom; for a better woman than the Queen, to rich and poor,
was not to be found in the world. She was interred with great
pomp and magnificence, and the King, her husband, became in
a manner inconsolable for the loss of her. However, he caused
the tower to be built and his sons placed in it, under proper
guardians, according to his promise.
In process of time the lords and knights of the kingdom counselled
the King (as he was young) to live no longer as he had done,
but to take a wife; which counsel prevailing, they chose him a rich
and beautiful princess to be his consort—a neighbouring King’s
daughter, of whom he was very fond. Not long after, the Queen
had a fine son, which caused great feasting and rejoicing at the
Court, insomuch that the late Queen, in a manner, was entirely
forgotten. That fared well, and King and Queen lived happy
together for several years.
At length the Queen, having some business with the hen-wife,
went herself to her, and, after a long conference passed, was taking
leave of her, when the hen-wife prayed that if ever she should come
back to her again she might break her neck. The Queen, greatly
incensed at such a daring insult from one of her meanest subjects,
demanded immediately the reason, or she would have her put to death.
`It was worth your while, madam,’ says the hen-wife, `to pay me
well for it, for the reason I prayed so on you concerns you much.’
`What must I pay you?’ asked the Queen.
`You must give me,’ says she, `the full of a pack of wool, and I
have an ancient crock which you must fill with butter, likewise a
barrel which you must fill for me full of wheat.’
`How much wool will it take to the pack?’ says the Queen.
`It will take seven herds of sheep,’ said she, `and their increase
for seven years.’
`How much butter will it take to fill your crock?’
`Seven dairies,’ said she, `and their increase for seven years.’
`And how much will it take to fill the barrel you have?’ says
the Queen.
`It will take the increase of seven barrels of wheat for seven
years.’
`That is a great quantity,’ says the Queen; `but the reason
must be extraordinary, and before I want it, I will give you all you
demand.’
`Well,’ says the hen-wife, `it is because you are so stupid that
you don’t observe or find out those affairs that are so dangerous
and hurtful to yourself and your child.’
`What is that?’ says the Queen.
`Why,’ says she, `the King your husband has three fine sons he
had by the late Queen, whom he keeps shut up in a tower until
they come of age, intending to divide the kingdom between them,
and let your son push his fortune; now, if you don’t find some
means of destroying them; your child and perhaps yourself will be
left desolate in the end.’
`And what would you advise me to do?’ said she; `I am
wholly at a loss in what manner to act in this affair.’
`You must make known to the King,’ says the hen-wife, `that
you heard of his sons, and wonder greatly that he concealed them
all this time from you; tell him you wish to see them, and that it
is full time for them to be liberated, and that you would be desirous
he would bring them to the Court. The King will then do so, and
there will be a great feast prepared on that account, and also
diversions of every sort to amuse the people; and in these sports,’ said
she, `ask the King’s sons to play a game at cards with you, which
they will not refuse. Now,’ says the hen-wife, `you must make a
bargain, that if you win they must do whatever you command them,
and if they win, that you must do whatever they command you
to do; this bargain must be made before the assembly, and here
is a pack of cards,’ says she, `that I am thinking you will not
lose by.’
The Queen immediately took the cards, and, after returning the
hen-wife thanks for her kind instruction, went back to the palace,
where she was quite uneasy until she got speaking to the King in
regard of his children; at last she broke it off to him in a very
polite and engaging manner, so that he could see no muster or
design in it. He readily consented to her desire, and his sons were
sent for to the tower, who gladly came to Court, rejoicing that they
were freed from such confinement. They were all very handsome,
and very expert in all arts and exercises, so that they gained the
love and esteem of all that had seen them.
The Queen, more jealous with them than ever, thought it an age
until all the feasting and rejoicing was over, that she might get
making her proposal, depending greatly on the power of the hen-wife’s cards. At length this royal assembly began to sport and play
at all kinds of diversions, and the Queen very cunningly challenged
the three Princes to play at cards with her, making bargain with
them as she had been instructed.
They accepted the challenge, and the eldest son and she played
the first game, which she won; then the second son played, and
she won that game likewise; the third son and she then played the
last game, and he won it, which sorely grieved her that she had not
him in her power as well as the rest, being by far the handsomest
and most beloved of the three.
However, everyone was anxious to hear the Queen’s commands
in regard to the two Princes, not thinking that she had any ill
design in her head against them. Whether it was the hen-wife
instructed her, or whether it was from her own knowledge, I cannot
tell; but she gave out they must go and bring her the Knight of
the Glen’s wild Steed of Bells, or they should lose their heads.
The young Princes were not in the least concerned, not knowing
what they had to do; but the whole Court was amazed at her
demand, knowing very well that it was
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