Fairy Tales of the Slav Peasants and Herdsmen
chamberlain, then recovering his presence of mind he shook hands with
the fisherman.
"Your good health, my friend. By what happy fortune do you return safe
and sound to my court? The chamberlain told me that through your own
carelessness you had fallen out of the tower window; in truth, we
mourned you as dead."
"I should not have fallen out of the window if I had not been thrown
down by your chamberlain; there is the traitor. I only escaped death
through God's help, and I have just come to the palace in my air-car."
The king made a pretence of being angry with the guilty chamberlain,
and ordered his guards to take him away to the donjon cell; then, with
pretended friendship, he embraced the fisherman and led him to his own
apartments. All the while he was thinking and thinking what he could
do to get rid of him. The idea of having him, a mere peasant and one
of his own subjects, for a son-in-law was most repugnant to him, and
hurt his kingly pride. At last he said, "The chamberlain will most
certainly be punished for his crime. As for you, who have twice been
my saviour, you shall be my son-in-law. Now the customs observed at
court demand that you should send your bride a wedding gift, a jewel,
or some other trifle of value. When this has been observed I promise
to give my blessing on the marriage, and may you both be happy and
live long."
"I have no jewel worthy of the princess's acceptance. I might have
given her as much gold as she wished, but your chamberlain took my
magic golden ring from me."
"Before insisting upon its return something else might be done. I
thoroughly appreciate the value of your marvellous flying carpet--why
should not we both sit on it and make an excursion to the Valley of
Diamonds? There we can obtain stones of the finest water, such as no
one in the world has ever possessed. Afterwards we will return here
with your wedding present for my daughter."
The king then opened the window, and the fisherman, spreading out his
carpet, repeated the magic words.
Thus they took flight into the air, and after travelling one or two
hours began to descend at their destination. It was a valley
surrounded on all sides by rocks so steep and so difficult of access,
that, except by God's special grace, no mortal man imprisoned there
could possibly escape. The ground was strewn with diamonds of the
finest quality. The king and fisherman found it easy to make a large
collection, picking and choosing, gathering and arranging them upon
the carpet. When they had put together all there was room for, the
king sat down, and pointing to a large diamond shining at a little
distance, said to the fisherman, "There is yet a more splendid one by
the stream yonder; run, my son-in-law, and bring it here, it would be
a pity to leave it."
The man went for it, while the king, taking advantage of his absence
to pronounce the magic words, seated himself on the carpet, which
lifted itself up, and floating like an air-car above the forest and
under the clouds, descended by one of the palace windows.
His joy knew no bounds, for he now found himself not only free from
his enemies and rid of the embarrassing presence of the fisherman, but
also the possessor of the richest and most beautiful collection of
diamonds in the world;--by his orders they were put away in the caves
of the royal treasure-house, and with them the magic ring and the
flying carpet.
Meantime the fisherman had returned with the diamond, and had stood
aghast to see the carpet vanishing away in the distance.
Wounded at the ingratitude and indignant at the perversity of a prince
for whom he had done so much, he burst into tears.
And, indeed, he had good reason to weep. For he had but to look at the
enormous height of the polished rocks to be convinced of the
impossibility of climbing them. The vegetation, too, was so scanty
that it could only provide him with food for a very short time. He saw
but two courses open to him: either to die from starvation, or to be
devoured by the monstrous serpents that crawled about in great
numbers. Night was now coming on, and the poor fellow was obliged to
plan some way of escaping the frightful reptiles which were leaving
their hiding-places. At last he climbed up a tree, the highest he
could find, and there, with his magic cap on and his club in his hand,
passed the night without even closing his eyes.
Next morning when the sun rose the serpents went back to their holes,
and the fisherman got down from his tree feeling stiff with cold and
very hungry. For some time he walked about the valley in search of
food, turning over the diamonds now so useless to him. There he found
a few worthless mushrooms, and with such poor food as berries and
sorrel leaves, and the water of the valley stream for drink, he lived
for some days.
One night when he went to sleep it happened that his cap came off and
fell to the ground, whereupon all the reptiles of the place
immediately gathered round him. Aroused by their hisses, he awoke to
find himself surrounded on all sides and almost in reach of their
stings. He immediately seized his club, and had scarcely begun to
repeat the magic formula before the weapon set to work to destroy the
snakes, while the rocks resounded right and left with the blows. It
was as if the monsters were being covered with boiling water, and the
noise they made was like that produced by a flock of birds overtaken
by a storm. They roared and hissed and twisted themselves into a
thousand knots, gradually disappearing one by one. Then the club
returned of its own accord to the fisherman's hands, while he returned
thanks to God for having delivered him from such a horrible death. At
that moment there appeared upon the top of a steep rock his friend,
the old man. Overcome with joy at the sight of him, the fisherman
called out, "Save me! come to me, my divine protector."
The old man spread out his arms towards him, and having blessed him
drew him up, saying, "Now you are free again, hasten to save your
king, his daughter your bride, and their kingdom. After he had left
you in the valley as food for serpents he was punished for his great
crimes by the return of the enemy, who again laid siege to the
capital. This happened at the very moment when he was surrounded by
his guests, and was boasting of his possession of the air-car, the
magic golden ring, and the rest of his evilly acquired riches.
"His foes had consulted Yaga, a wicked sorceress; she advised them to
obtain the help of Kostey the magician, who promised his aid in
carrying off the princess. When he came he fell in love with the
beautiful maiden at first sight, and determined to marry her himself.
In order to bring this about he threw the king, the courtiers, and all
the inhabitants of the land into a heavy sleep. Then he bore off the
princess to his own palace, where she has been shut up and ill-treated
because she refuses to have anything to do with him. His castle is
situated at the very end of the world, to the west. There is nothing
to hinder you from taking possession of your carpet and ring, they are
hidden in the king's treasure-house. Then go with your cap and club
and conquer Kostey, rescue the princess, and deliver the king and his
subjects."
The fisherman would have thrown himself at the old man's feet to pour
out his gratitude, but he suddenly vanished. So he thanked God for all
His mercies, put on his invisible cap, and taking his club, made his
way towards the capital.
At the end of three days he entered the royal city. All the
inhabitants were sleeping the enchanted sleep, from which they were
powerless to rouse themselves. The fisherman went straight to the
royal treasure-house, took the magic ring and carpet, then seating
himself upon the latter and repeating the magic words, away he went
like a bird, over rustling forests and under clouds, floating across
the blue sky.
After some days of travel he alighted in Kostey's courtyard. Without a
moment's delay he folded up his carpet, put the magic cap on his head,
and with club in hand entered Kostey's room. There, to his
astonishment, stood the magician himself, admiring the wondrous beauty
of the princess. For she was perfectly beautiful; eye had never seen
nor ear heard of such loveliness. With a low bow full of pride and an
ironical smile he was saying to her: "Beauteous princess, you have
sworn a most solemn oath to marry none but that man who can solve your
six riddles. It is in vain that I strive to guess them. Now there are
only two courses open to you: either to release yourself from your
vow, putting the riddles aside and consenting to be my wife; or to
persist in your vow and thus deliver yourself up to my anger, which
you will bitterly regret. I give you three minutes to decide."
Upon hearing these threats the fisherman trembled with rage, and in a
low voice whispered the magic words to his club.
This good weapon did not wait for the order to be repeated, but with
one bound came down full upon Kostey's forehead. Stunned for a moment
by the violence of the blow, the terrible creature rolled upon the
ground. Sparks like fireworks sprang from his eyes, and the noise as
of a hundred mills seemed to go through his head. Any ordinary mortal
would never have opened his eyes again, but Kostey was immortal.
Getting on his feet he pulled himself together, and tried to find out
who had thus attacked him. Then the club began to hit him again, and
the sound thereof was like unto blows on an empty vault. It seemed to
the magician as if showers of boiling water were being poured upon
him. He twisted himself about in awful convulsions, and would have
liked to bury himself in his palace walls and be turned to stone.
At last, crippled with wounds, he began to hiss like a serpent, and
springing forwards breathed upon the princess, filling the air with
the poisonous blast.
The maiden tottered and fell, as if dead. Kostey changed himself into
a wreath of smoke, and floating out of the window, disappeared in a
hurricane.
The fisherman, still invisible, carried the princess into the
courtyard of the castle, hoping that the fresh air might restore her
to consciousness. He laid her upon the grass, his heart throbbing with
hope and fear, and waited anxiously. Suddenly a raven and his
nestlings, attracted by the sight of a dead body, and not being able
to see the fisherman, came by croaking. The parent bird said to his
young ones:
"Come, children, sharpen claws and beak, krak, krak,
For here's a feast not far to seek, krak, krak,
This young girl's corse so white and sleek, krak, krak."
One small bird at once settled down on the princess, but the fisherman
seized it and took off his cap, so that he could be seen.
"Fisherman," said the father raven, "let go my dear birdling and I
will give you anything you want."
"Then bring me some of the Life-Giving Water."
The raven flew away and returned in about an hour, carrying in his
beak a tiny bottle of the water. Then he again begged to have his
nestling back.
"You shall have it as soon as I have proved that the water is of the
right sort."
So saying, he sprinkled the pale face of the princess. She sighed,
opened her eyes, and blushing at the sight of a stranger, got up and
said, "Where am I? Why, how soundly I have slept!"
"Lovely princess, your sleep might have lasted for ever."
Then he told her his story, how he had been thrown into the river,
abandoned in the Valley of Diamonds, and so on, relating at full
length all the marvellous events that had taken place.
She listened attentively, then, thanking him for all he had done for
her, placed her hand in his and said, "In the garden behind the palace