Russian Folk-TalesAfanas'ev, A. N. (Aleksandr Nikolaevich)
General
Russian Folk-Tales
Afanas'ev, A. N. (Aleksandr Nikolaevich)
Folklore -- Russia
And so once more they flew on, until they came to another sea. And the
eagle shook the Tsar off into the middle of the sea, and the Tsar was
wetted up to his waist, but the eagle supported him by his wing and
asked him, “Why, Tsar my master, why are you frightened?”
“I was frightened,” said the Tsar, “and I was thinking, it may be you
are never going to drag me out.”
And again they flew on, and they arrived at the third sea, and the eagle
threw the Tsar into the great depths, and he was immersed in the water
up to his very neck. Again, the third time the eagle held him by the
wing and asked him, “Why, Tsar my master, why are you frightened?”
“I was,” said the Tsar, “I was thinking if only you would rescue me!”
“Now, Tsar my master, you have learned the fear of death. All this shall
be for you in the past, and shall be an old tale. You may recollect how
I was sitting on the oak and you wished to kill me. Three times you took
up your gun to shoot me, but I asked you to spare me; and I was thinking
in my mind, may you not destroy me but have pity and take me to
yourself!”
So he then flew across thrice-nine lands, for a very long flight. And
the eagle said, “Come and see, Tsar my master, what is over us and what
is under us.”
And the Tsar looked: “Over us,” he said, “is the sky, and under us the
earth.”
“Look once more: what is there on the left and right-hand sides?”
“On the right-hand side there is an open field and on the left-hand side
there is a house.”
“We will fly there,” said the eagle; “there my youngest sister lives.”
So they flew straight to the courtyard, and the sister came to meet them
and received her brother, seated him on an oaken table; but she would
not look on the Tsar—she left him outside in the courtyard and she let
the fleet dogs out to feed on him.
But the eagle was very angry, and he leaped up from the table, laid hold
on the Tsar and flew, yet farther. So they flew and flew, and the eagle
said to the Tsar, “Look, what is there behind us?”
So the Tsar turned round and looked, and said, “Behind us there is a
beauteous house.”
Then the eagle said to him, “It is the house of my youngest sister that
glitters: she would not receive you, but gave you for food to the fleet
hounds.”
So they flew and flew on, and the eagle asked him again, “Look, Tsar my
master, what is there over us, and what under us?”
“Over us the sky and under us the earth.”
“Look, what is there on the right-hand, and what is there on the left?”
“On the right-hand side there is the open field, and on the left-hand
side there stands a house.”
“There my younger sister lives; we will fly there and be her guests.”
So they came down to the open courtyard, and the younger sister came and
received her brother, and she seated him on an oaken stool, but she left
the Tsar in the courtyard, and she released the fleet hounds on him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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