her everything; and the witch ordered the dun cow to be slain.
“You must be mad, woman,” said the Tsar, “it’s quite a young heifer and so beautiful!”
“I tell you,” said the stepmother, “it must be done”; and the old Tsar consented.
But Márya Tsarévna asked him: “Father, do at least give me a little tiny bit out of the cow!”
The old man gave her the piece, and she planted it; and a bush with sweet berries grew up, with little birds singing on it, singing songs fit for kings and peasants.
Now Iván Tsarévich had heard of Márya Tsarévna, went to her stepmother, laid a bowl on the table, and said: “Whichever of the maidens brings me the bowl full of berries, I will marry.”
So the mother sent One-eye to get the berries. But the birds drove her away from the bush and almost pecked out her one eye; and so with Two-eyes and Three-eyes. At last Márya Tsarévna had to go. Márya Tsarévna took the bowl and gathered the berries, and the little birds helped her in the task. When she got home she put the bowl on the table and bowed down to Iván Tsarévich. So Iván Tsarévich took Márya Tsarévna to be his wife, and they celebrated a merry wedding and lived a happy life.
But, after a while, Márya Tsarévna bore a son. She wanted to show him to her father, and, together with her husband, went to visit him. Then the stepmother turned her into a goose, and decked her eldest daughter as though she were the wife of Iván Tsarévich. And Iván Tsarévich returned home.
The old man, who tended the children, got up early in the morning, washed himself clean, took the child on his arm and went out to the field, to the bush in the field. Grey geese were flying over it.
“Geese, ye grey ones, where is the baby’s mother?”
“In the next flock!”
Then the next flock came by.
“Geese, ye grey ones, where is the baby’s mother?”
Then the baby’s mother came to them, threw off her feathers, and gave her little child the breast, and began weeping:
“For this one day I may come, and tomorrow, but the next day I must fly away over the woods and over the hills.”
The old man went back home, and the boy slept all day long, until next morning, and did not wake up. The false wife was angry with him for taking the child into the fields where it must be much too cold.
But next morning the old man again got up very early, washed himself clean, and took the child into the field. Iván Tsarévich followed him secretly and hid in the bush. Then the grey geese began soaring by.
“Geese, ye grey ones, where is the baby’s mother?”
“In the next flock!”
Then the next flock came by.
“Geese, ye grey ones, where is the baby’s mother?”
Then the baby’s mother came to them, threw off her feathers, and gave her little child the breast, and began weeping: “For this one day I may come, but tomorrow I must fly away over the woods and over the hills.”
Then she asked: “What do I smell there?” and wanted to put on her feathers again, but could not find them anywhere.
Iván Tsarévich had burnt them. He seized hold of Márya Tsarévna, but she turned first into a frog, then into a lizard, and into all sorts of insects, and last of all into a spindle. Iván Tsarévich took the spindle and broke it in halves, threw the dull end behind him and the sharp one in front; and his beautiful young wife stood in front of him, and they went home.
Then the daughter of the witch cried out: “The destroyer and the wicked woman have come.”
But Iván Tsarévich assembled all the Princes and the boyárs, and he asked them: “With which wife shall I live?”
They said: “With the first.”
But he answered, “My lords, whichever wife leaps quickest to the door shall remain with me.”
So the witch’s daughter climbed up at once, but Márya Tsarévna clung on. Then Iván Tsarévich took his gun and shot the substitute wife, and lived happy ever after with Márya Tsarévna.
A Tale of the Dead
One day a peasant was going by night with pots on his head. He journeyed on and on, and his horse became tired and came to a spot in front of God’s acre. The peasant ungirded the horse, set it to graze, but he could not get any sleep. He lay down and lay down, suddenly the grave began opening under him, and he felt it and leaped to his feet. Then the grave opened and the corpse with the coffin lid got out, with his white shroud on; got out and ran up to the church door, laid the coffin lid at the gate and himself went into the village.
Now this peasant was a bold fellow: so he took the coffin lid and set it by his teléga, and went to see what would come of it. Very soon the corpse came back, looked about him and could not find the coffin lid anywhere, and began to hunt for it. And at last he came up to the peasant, and said, “Give me my coffin lid, or else I will smash you to atoms.”
“What are you bragging for?” answered the peasant, “I will break you up into little bits.”
“Do, please, give it me, dear good man,” asked the corpse.
“Well, I will give it you if you will tell me where you have been and what you have done.”
“Oh, I have been in the village, and I there slew two young lads!”
“Well, tell me how to revive them.”
The corpse had no choice, so he answered, “Cut off the left lappet from my shroud and take it with you. When you come to the house where the lads have died, scatter hot sparks into a pot and put the piece of my shirt there, then close the
