Byliny Book: Hero Tales of RussiaHarrison, Marion Chilton
General
Byliny Book: Hero Tales of Russia
Harrison, Marion Chilton
Byliny; Legends -- Russia (Federation)
“O Ilyá of Múrom, we beg thee to make Nightingale the Robber roar like
an aurochs, and make the villain whistle like a nightingale, and make
the robber-dog howl like a dog.”
And Ilyá spoke to the Prince and said:
“O Vladímir, Prince of royal Kiev! Nightingale’s lips are now sealed
together and his mouth is filled with dried blood, for my arrow went
through his right eye and it came out by the left ear. Pray let a bowl
of strong drink be poured out for him—a bowl weighing half a
hundredweight, a bowl holding four gallons, and let it be given to
Nightingale.”
And they poured him out a bowl of strong drink—a bowl weighing half a
hundredweight, a bowl holding four gallons; and they took it to
Nightingale the Robber. He took the bowl in one hand, drank off the
bowl of strong drink at one draught, and spoke these words:
“Pour out another bowl of strong beer—a bowl weighing half a
hundredweight, a bowl holding four gallons, and pour out a third bowl
of sweet mead—a bowl weighing half a hundredweight, a bowl holding four
gallons.”
And they poured out a bowlful of strong beer, and they poured out a
bowlful of sweet mead and brought both to Nightingale the Robber. He
took the bowl with one hand and drank off the bowlful at one draught.
And then Nightingale the Robber was drunken, and Ilyá of Múrom said to
him:
“Now, Nightingale! Roar, thou robber, like an aurochs; whistle, O
villain, like a nightingale; and howl, O dog, like a dog.”
And Nightingale the Robber roared like an aurochs, the villain whistled
like a nightingale, and the robber-dog howled like a dog.
Princes and nobles all lay for dead, but Vladímir the Prince of royal
Kiev stood up straight and went up to Ilyá, for the Prince had a boon
to ask:
“Silence Nightingale the Robber, lest he whistle again like a
nightingale, and my nobles leave me here alone.”
VI.
THE THREE WAYS.
One day Ilyá set off on his good horse for a ride. He rode a long way
through the open plain till he came to the Burning Stone. Three lengths
beyond the stone there were three paths leading this way and that from
the Burning Stone, and upon the stone was written:
“Who goes by the first path will be killed.
Who goes by the second path will find marriage.
Who goes by the third path will become rich.”
He stopped to consider:
“By which path shall I go? Why should a bold hero want to be rich? Why
should I want to marry? I will take the way to be killed.”
So he took that way and rode on for three hours, and he rode three
hundred miles, and then he came to a hill, and at that hill, that high
hill, brigands began to come up, and there came up forty thousand
brigands. They began to defy our bold hero, and the brave Cossack spoke
and hailed them:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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