Just about then the Princess had an idea that she would go abroad in the streets, and she went with her attendants and maids of honour, and for the sake of the holy festival went to give alms to the poor; she gave to them all but forgot the poor peasant. Then he said to himself:
“At the pike’s good pleasure,
Of God’s good treasure—
let the Tsarévna bear a child.” And at the word that very instant the Tsarévna became pregnant, and in ten months she bore a son.
Then the Tsar began to ask her, “Do acknowledge with whom you have been guilty.”
Then the Tsarévna wept and swore in every way that she had been guilty with nobody. “I do not know myself,” she said, “why the Lord has chastised me.”
The Tsar asked, but found nothing out.
Soon a boy was born who grew not by days but by hours; and at the end of a week he could already talk. So the Tsar summoned all the boyárs and the senators from every part of the kingdom to show them the youth, but none of them acknowledged that he was the father.
“No,” the boy answered, “none of them is my father.”
Then the Tsar bade the maids of honour and attendants take him up to every courtyard, through all the streets, and to show him to all manner of people. So the attendants and maids of honour took the youth through all the courtyards, through all the streets they went. But the boy said nothing.
At last they came to the poor peasant’s hut. As soon as the boy saw that peasant, he at once stretched out his little hands and said “Tyátya, Tyátya!” Then they told the Emperor of this, and they summoned the poor man into the palace, and the Tsar began to inquire of him, “Acknowledge on oath, is this your boy?”
“No, he is God’s son.”
Then the Tsar was angry and married the poor man to the Princess, and after the wedding he set them both with the child in a big tub, smeared it with tar, and sent it out into the open sea. So the tub sailed on the open sea, and the boisterous winds carried and bore it to a distant shore. When the poor man heard that the water no longer moved under them, he said:
“At the pike’s good pleasure,
At God’s good measure—
let the barrel rest on a dry spot.”
So the barrel turned round and got on to a dry spot, and they went on, following their eyes. And they went on and on, on and on, and they had nothing to eat or drink. The Princess was utterly exhausted and had pined away to a shadow, and she could hardly stand on her legs.
“Now,” said the poor man, “do you know what hunger and thirst are?”
“Yes, I do,” said the Princess.
“Well, this is what the poor have to endure. Yet you would not give me alms on Easter Day.” Then the poor man said:
“At the pike’s good pleasure,
Of God’s good treasure—
let there be here a rich palace, the finest in all the world, with gardens and ponds and all sorts of pavilions.”
As soon as he had spoken a rich palace appeared; faithful henchmen ran out of it and carried them in their hands, led them into the white stone rooms, and they sat down at the oaken tables with chequered linen on them. It was marvellously decorated, was this palace. On the table everything was ready, wine and sweets and made dishes. The poor man and the Tsarévna ate and drank at their will, rested them, and went for a walk into the garden.
“Everything is beautiful here,” said the Princess; “the only thing still lacking is to see the birds upon our ponds.”
“Wait, you shall have birds as well,” answered the poor man, and he said at once:
“At the pike’s good pleasure,
At God’s good measure—
let twelve ducks and one drake swim on the pond, and let them have one feather of gold and another of silver, and let the drake have a diamond tuft on his forehead!” And lo and behold, on the water there were twelve ducks and one drake swimming; one feather was of gold and one feather was of silver, and the drake had a diamond tuft on his forehead.
So there the Princess and her husband lived without grief or moil, and their son grew up a big lad and began to feel in himself a giant’s strength. And he asked leave of his father and mother to go out into the white world and to seek himself a bride. They gave him leave to go, and said, “Go, my son.”
So he saddled his knightly horse and set out on his road and way. And as he journeyed on he met an old woman who said, “Hail, Russian prince, where do you wish to go?”
“I am going, babushka,50 to seek a bride, but I do not know where I am to find her.”
“Stay, I will tell you, my child. Do you go beyond the ocean into the thrice-tenth kingdom; there there is a king’s daughter so fair, that, if you go through all the world, you will never find anyone more beautiful.”
So the good youth thanked the woman, went to the seashore, hired a boat, and sailed to the thrice-tenth land. He sailed, maybe far, maybe near, maybe long, maybe short—the tale is soon told but the deed is not soon done—and he at last arrived
