Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov (Penguin Classics)

by Unknown

  And he rode through open steppe till he came to the pillar with the inscription.

  Here Ivan Tsarevich thought, ‘Is not this an honour? I have travelled down unknown roads. I have fulfilled my father’s wishes. Now I shall search for my brother, Dmitry Tsarevich!’

  And so, in search of his brother, he set off down the road where his horse would eat well but he himself would go hungry.

  And he came to green meadows. And he saw a huge house there, and he rode up to it. He rode through the gate, stabled his horse and gave it fresh white barley. His brother’s horse from the tsar’s stables recognized the new guest and neighed for all it was worth. Ivan Tsarevich walked up to the fine-turned columns and climbed the gilded staircase. A beautiful woman came down to meet him. She invited him to her chamber and seated him at her table.

  She gave him food and drink and all kinds of delicacies. After he had eaten, she showed the young man where he could rest. She wanted him to lie next to the wall, but he wanted her to lie there herself. They argued long. In the end Ivan Tsarevich seized her round her belly and threw her against the wall. The self-turning bed turned right over – and down into a deep dungeon flew the beautiful woman.

  ‘A new companion!’ called out those already imprisoned in this dungeon. ‘God has granted us a new companion!’

  ‘Tear her limb from limb!’ called out Ivan Tsarevich. ‘This woman was your undoing!’

  The prisoners seized her. One tore off an arm; another a leg; another her head.

  Then Ivan Tsarevich let down a rope, and he gave the young men their freedom. When he saw his brother Dmitry, he took him by his white hands and his golden breast. He kissed him on his sweet lips and called him his dear brother Dmitry Tsarevich. He gave him food and drink, then rode off with him towards their city.

  They came into open steppe. Ivan Tsarevich was overwhelmed by a deep and irresistible sleep. For nine days and nine nights he had ridden without sleeping, eating or drinking. And so he and his brother put up their white tents and rested.

  Ivan Tsarevich slept without waking.

  On the third day Dmitry Tsarevich stole the apples of youth, the water of life and his brother’s knapsack. And off he rode to their father’s realm.

  Ivan Tsarevich awoke. There was nothing to be seen. He mounted his fine horse and rode to the border of his father’s realm. Then he took off the Circassian saddle and the plaited bridle and said, ‘Run out into the fields, Sivka-Burka! Rest in the fields, my grey-brown one! Rest until I need you again!’

  Ivan Tsarevich went back on foot to his city. There he passed his time in the taverns, drinking with whoever he found there.

  In the meantime the tsar received Dmitry Tsarevich with great honour, with dancing and revelry.

  Three years passed, but what’s quick to say takes many a day. And then the Tsar Maiden sailed up to the city. In the middle of the night, in the hour after midnight, she began to fire on the city with guns and cannons. She demanded the surrender of whoever was guilty.

  The tsar didn’t know what to do. Which criminal should he surrender?

  The tsar gathered his counsellors. ‘Counsellors and boyars, let us think! Do we have here some criminal we should surrender?’

  ‘Merciful sovereign, if it please you, we can give counsel. Has Fyodor Tsarevich not perhaps made mischief in foreign lands? Has he not perhaps committed a crime in some other realm?’

  And so Fyodor Tsarevich was delivered to the ship. Marya the Fair, Marya of the Long Tress of Hair saw him coming. She ordered a gangplank to be lowered, and for it be spread with red cloth. And there were two beautiful little boys running about the ship, and they called out, ‘Mama! Mama! Our Papa’s coming!’

  ‘No, children,’ she answered. ‘It’s not your father; it’s your eldest uncle.’

  Then she gave orders to her men: ‘Seize this fellow and stretch him out on the deck. Hack three strips from his back and strip three strips from below his hips. Let him learn not to plough another man’s ground! And then – throw him back on shore!’

  Once again she began to bombard the city day and night, with guns and cannons. She demanded the surrender of whoever was guilty.

  And the tsar gathered his counsellors. ‘Is there some criminal here in our realm? Is there someone we should surrender?’

  ‘If it please you, your Highness, send Dmitry Tsarevich. Perhaps he is the guilty man!’

  And so the tsar sent his second son to the ship. A gangplank was lowered, and it was spread with red cloth. The two little boys ran up to their mother and said, ‘Mama! Mama! Our Papa’s coming!’

  ‘No, children,’ she answered. ‘It’s not your father; it’s your second uncle.’

  Then she gave orders to her men: ‘Seize this fellow by his white hands and stretch him out on the deck. Hack three strips from his back and strip three strips from below his hips. Let him learn not to plough another man’s ground! And then – throw him back on shore!’

  Once again she began to fire on the city, with guns and cannons, and to demand the surrender of whoever was guilty.

  And once again the tsar gathered his counsellors. ‘Well, counsellors, who among us has done wrong? Give me advice and counsel.’

  And one of them was bold enough to answer, ‘Your Imperial Highness, it is your Majesty who is at fault.’ And he went on to say, ‘Ivan the Layabout is also a tsarevich. He too is your son. It does not befit me to say this, but he hangs about the inns and taverns and tells all kinds of lies and tall stories and passes them off as high wisdom.’

  ‘Search for him straight away,’ commanded the tsar, ‘and bring him to me. Perhaps it is he who has committed a crime!’

  They searched all over the city for him. They searched for him in the inns and taverns, and they searched for him outside the city walls. In the end they found the layabout tsarevich and summoned him to his father’s presence. And he appeared before his father in a ragged uniform, and this greatly angered his father.

  ‘Are you trying to escape the blame, Ivan Tsarevich? Is this not your crime? Answer for your deeds – so we may live once more in peace!’

  Ivan answered boldly, ‘What is this trifle for which no one but me can answer?’

  No one could answer him.

  Ivan set off towards the ship. He did not take the cleanest path. Instead, he walked through mud and dirt. But no one on the ship asked why. A gangplank was lowered, and it was covered with red cloth. And the two little boys ran up to their mother: ‘Mama! Mama! Isn’t this our very own dear Papa?’

  And the Tsar Maiden replied, ‘Children, take him by his white hands! Take him by his gold breast! This is your own dear Papa, your own true father!’

  And Marya the Fair, Marya of the Long Tress of Hair, took him by his white hands and called him her betrothed husband.

  ‘By your own seed, by the seed you have sown, I wish to enter into lawful marriage with you!’

  And they began to celebrate. His father invited Ivan Tsarevich to a feast and paid him great honour. And Ivan Tsarevich recounted all his deeds and all that had happened to him. And he also asked for his father’s blessing, his father’s eternal blessing, on his lawful marriage with the Tsar Maiden.

  ‘My thoughts and my powers were enough, and I obtained both the water of life and the water of death, in order that you, our father, should become still younger – and may God grant you many years of health! And I also ask you to release me so I can go with the Tsar Maiden to the tsardom under the sun – for I will not reign here!’

  And he rode away into the tsardom under the sun, and he lives well and happily there, and he wishes long-lasting peace for both himself and his children.

  As I have heard this tale, so I have told this tale.

  Ivan Mareson

  It began with an old man and an old woman. They grew more and more poor, till they had neither bread nor flour. All they had left was their mare. And so the old woman said to her old man, ‘We must slaughter our mare!’

  �
�How will we fetch firewood then?’

  ‘God willing, we’ll fetch it ourselves.’

  And so they agreed to slaughter their mare.

  Just then some crows happened to be flying by. And the old couple’s hut was hardly a hut at all. It was all too like this hut of our own – roofed by the sky, fenced by the stars.

  The first crow said, ‘Krr! Your master wants to kill you, mare!’

  The middle crow said, ‘Mare! If you have any sense at all, escape!’

  The last crow said, ‘Don’t waste time. They’re going to kill you. Jump out of the yard. Run where your eyes look!’

  The mare did not think for long. She jumped out of the yard and ran off into the dark forest.

  She ran and she ran till she came to a glade. There she ate a little, then went on further.

  She saw a large cloth. A man, a dead Tungus,1 was lying on it. The mare took a bite from the knee of this Tungus. She took a bite from his right knee and fell pregnant by him.

  She wandered about till her time came. Then she gave birth to a son. And she gave him a name – Ivan Mareson. And she gave him her blessing: ‘Make yourself a bow and arrow, my child. Go hunting – but when night comes, stand your arrow in the ground. Then I’ll know that you’re alive. But if your arrow is not standing, then I will go and search for your bones.’

  Ivan said farewell to the mare. He made himself a bow and arrow and went off hunting, to fill his belly. He walked and walked until he came to a glade. There in the glade was a tree stump, and a man was walking around it.

  He went up to the man and said, ‘God save you, young warrior!’

  ‘I thank you.’

  ‘What are you looking for?’

  ‘I’ve lost an arrow.’

  Ivan looked around. Standing in the ground, not far away, was an arrow.

  ‘What’s your name?’ asked Ivan Mareson.

  ‘Ivan Sunson.’

  ‘Allow me to be your comrade,’ said Ivan Mareson.

  ‘I’ll be glad of a comrade. You be the elder brother, Ivan Mareson, and I’ll be the younger brother.’

  They went off hunting together. They wandered and wandered until they came to a glade. There in the glade was a tree stump, and a man was walking around it.

  Ivan Mareson went up to the man and, just as he had done before, he said, ‘God save you, young warrior!’

  ‘I thank you for your kind words.’

  ‘What are you looking for, young warrior?’

  ‘I’ve lost an arrow.’

  Ivan Mareson looked and looked.

  ‘Here you are,’ he said. ‘Here’s your arrow. And what is your name, young warrior?’

  ‘I’m Ivan Moonson.’

  ‘Will you join us and be our comrade?’

  ‘I’ll be glad of comrades.’

  And Ivan Moonson went on to say, ‘You be the eldest brother, Ivan Mareson. Let Ivan Sunson be the middle brother, and I, Moonson, will be the youngest.’

  They decided to make their home where they were. They built a yurt for themselves there in the glade.

  Then they began hunting birds and beasts of all kinds, heaping up furs and feathers. Before nightfall they all three stood their arrows in the ground. Come morning, they found that someone had decorated their arrows.

  Ivan Mareson got to his feet and said, ‘Well, brothers, we’re in trouble. Someone’s making fun of us.’ And he said to his youngest brother, ‘Well, Ivan Moonson, you stay on guard tonight. Find out who’s coming to our yurt.’

  Night fell. Ivan Moonson was on guard. The others lay down in the yurt to sleep. Ivan Moonson sat there on the floor until midnight. Then he wanted to sleep. He hadn’t seen anyone. At midnight he lay down under the furs and fell fast asleep – and so he didn’t see anything at all.

  In the morning the eldest brother got up and saw that the arrows had been decorated again.

  ‘Well, brother, well, Ivan Moonson, did you see anyone in the night?’

  ‘I saw no one at all.’

  ‘Well, you’re certainly not much use as a guard, Ivan Moonson! Well, brother, well, Ivan Sunson, it’s your turn next. You stay on guard this coming night!’

  Come evening, they stood their bare arrows in the ground.

  Ivan Sunson was on guard. He sat there on the floor. He sat and sat, but he didn’t see anyone. At midnight he got under the heap of feathers, quickly warmed up and fell fast asleep – and so he didn’t see anyone at all.

  In the morning the other two brothers got up. Ivan Mareson checked the arrows. They had been decorated in many colours, more beautifully than ever.

  ‘Well, brother, well, Ivan Sunson, did you see anyone in the night?’

  ‘I saw no one at all.’

  ‘You’re certainly not much of a guard, Ivan Sunson!’

  The third night set in. ‘Well, brothers,’ said Ivan Mareson, ‘you two are certainly no use as guards. Go into the yurt and lie down to sleep. Tonight it’s my turn to be on guard. How much longer can we be made to look like fools?’

  He sat there, and he sat there. It was close to midnight. Ivan Mareson lay down under the furs. He heard a noise. In flew three spoonbills.

  They struck against the ground and turned into fair maidens. Each bent over her arrow, and they began to laugh. ‘This,’ said one, ‘is the arrow of my sweetheart.’ ‘And this,’ said the second, ‘is my sweetheart’s arrow.’ ‘And this arrow,’ said the third, ‘belongs to my sweetheart.’

  Then Ivan Mareson quietly crept up to their birdskins and wings and hid them away in his pocket. The maidens all went on laughing and embroidering until morning, until it was time for them to fly away.

  They leaped to their feet and hurried to put on their birdskins and wings. But there was nothing there.

  ‘Oh sisters,’ they said in the Russian tongue. ‘We’re done for. Yes, it seems we were led here by fate.’

  ‘Who is guilty of this?’ asked Marfida Tsarevna. ‘If you are older than us, be our father. If you are younger than us, be a brother to us. If you are our own age, be my betrothed.’

  From the heap of furs, Ivan Mareson asked, ‘Is your word spoken in good faith?’

  ‘A royal word is not spoken three times. It is spoken but once.’

  Ivan climbed out from under the furs.

  Well, he was very handsome, but she was more handsome still. She fell in love with him, and he fell still more in love with her. In only a moment they were holding hands. Then they exchanged golden rings, and then they kissed. He said, ‘Love me, and I shall love you!’ And she replied, ‘But don’t you have comrades here? I have sisters.’

  Ivan woke his brothers: ‘Hey, brothers! Get up, you sleepy grouse!’

  The brothers got up and went outside.

  ‘Well, brothers, when you were on guard, you never saw our visitors. But I’ve found myself a betrothed, and I’ve found comrades for you too.’

  And just as Ivan had done, so did his two brothers each take a betrothed and exchange rings with her. And they all went on living in the same yurt.

  They all slept in the yurt, and then, come morning, the men would leave their women to look after the household while they themselves went out hunting.

  All of a sudden Ivan Mareson realized that something was the matter with the women – and, above all, with his own woman: she was fading and withering. He said to his brothers, ‘Brothers, someone must be visiting our women. They’re looking all sad.’

  And then he noticed some burrows dug under the yurt. He had no trust in his brothers, so he sent them out hunting. ‘You go out hunting today,’ he said to them. ‘I’ll stay on guard here at home.’

  At noon the brothers set off.

  Ivan Mareson stayed on guard.

  Out crept a fiery serpent. He went into the yurt and began sucking the women’s breasts. That was how the serpent was tormenting the women and drying them up. Ivan drew his stout bow, loosed a tipped arrow and shot the serpent right in his chest.

  The serpent fell from Iv
an’s betrothed. From the breast of Ivan’s betrothed he fell straight back into his burrow. But first, in the Russian tongue, he said ‘Wait for me, Ivan Mareson. In three days’ time I’ll be back with a fiery cloud.’2

  The brothers returned from their hunting. Ivan Mareson said, ‘Brothers, for three days and nights we must make bows and arrows. I have found our adversary. But I failed to kill him properly – I only wounded him. He’s promised to come back in three days’ time with a fiery cloud.’

  And so for three days and nights they made bows and arrows. They went on working until the last moment. Then Ivan Mareson said, ‘Ivan Moonson, go and see if there’s a storm cloud coming this way.’

  Ivan Moonson went outside. He said, ‘Oh, brothers! There’s a black cloud rising up from the earth.’

  Not long after this, Ivan Mareson sent out Ivan Sunson.

  Ivan Sunson went outside. He said, ‘Oh, brothers! There’s a huge cloud. It’s drawing closer and closer.’

  Not long after this Ivan Mareson went outside. There overhead stood the black cloud.

  And so the battle began. The brothers battled and battled – and felled one third of the cloud. And Ivan Moonson also lay felled. Two-thirds of the cloud remained. The brothers battled and battled – and felled one half of the cloud. And Ivan Sunson also lay felled. But there remained one half of the cloud – a host of unclean spirits. Ivan Mareson battled and battled. He felled a third of the cloud – and then he too lay felled. And then the women were seized and taken away by what still remained of the cloud.

  The mare was wandering about the forest. She remembered her son and ran to look for his arrow. She galloped headlong to the place of the battle. She found the arrow. It had fallen over.

  ‘My son must have died,’ she thought. And she made her way between the dead heads. She walked on and on, and then she found her son’s head and his body. She gave them a lick, turned round and gave them a kick – and they grew together. She gave her son another lick, turned round and gave him another kick – and her son gave a sudden start. She gave him a third lick, a third kick – and her son got to his feet.

  ‘Oh, Mama!’ he said. ‘I’ve been sleeping a long time. Now quicken my comrades, Mamasha. Quicken Ivan Sunson and Ivan Moonson.’