Russian Fairy Tales from the Skazki of PolevoiPolevoi, P. (Petr)
General
Russian Fairy Tales from the Skazki of Polevoi
Polevoi, P. (Petr)
Fairy tales -- Russia; Tales -- Russia
When the three days had passed, the miller and the orphan appeared
in court, and told the court the answers to the riddles. Now the
Tsar chanced to be on the bench at that time, and the answers of the
orphan so pleased him that he ordered that the cause between them
should be given in his favour, and that the miller should be driven
with shame from the court. After that the Tsar said to the orphan:
"Didst thou hit upon these answers thyself, or did some one else
tell thee?"--"To tell the truth, they are not my own; the lovely
damsel taught me these answers."--"She has taught thee well too,
sage indeed must she be. Go to her and tell her in my name that if
she be so wise and sensible she must appear before me to-morrow:
neither on foot nor on horseback, neither naked nor clothed, and
with a present in her hand that is no gift. If she accomplish this
I will reward her as becomes a Tsar, and make her higher than the
highest." Again the orphan went out of the town, and again he fell
a-fretting, and he said to himself: "Why, I don't even know how and
have no idea where to find this lovely damsel; what sort of a task is
this that I am bidden to give her?" No sooner had he thought this than
the sage and lovely damsel again passed by that way. The orphan told
her how his guesses had pleased the Tsar, and how he wanted to see the
damsel himself and have proof of her wisdom, and how he had promised
to reward her. The damsel thought a bit, and then said to the orphan:
"Fetch me a long-bearded billy-goat, and a big net for catching fish,
and catch me a pair of sparrows. To-morrow morning we'll meet here,
and if I get a reward from the Tsar, I'll share it equally with thee."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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