Book Name:

Russian Folk-Tales

[1] Once upon a time there was a king who was a widower. He had twelve daughters: each was fairer than the others. Every night these princesses went where nobody knew: it was only for twenty-four hours, and they always wore out a new pair of shoes. Now the king had no shoes ready for them, and he wanted to know where they went at night and what they did. So he made a feast ready, and he summoned all the kings and korolévichi, [2] all the boyérs, and the merchants and the simple folk, to it, and he asked them, "Can any of you guess this riddle? Whoever guesses it I will give him my beloved daughter as a wife and a half of my kingdom as a dowry."

No one was able to find out where the princesses went at night. Only one poor nobleman cried out, "Your kingly Majesty, I will find out!"

"Very well; go and find out."

So then the poor nobleman began pondering and saying to himself, "What have I done? I have undertaken to find out, and I don't know myself. If I don't find out now, possibly the king will put me under arrest."

So he went out of the palace beyond the city, and went on and on, and at last he met an old woman on the road who asked him, "What are you thinking of, doughty youth?"

And he answered, "How should I, Bábushka [grandmother], not become thoughtful? I have undertaken to discover for the king where his daughters go by night."

"Oh, this is a difficult task, but it can be done. Here, I will give you the cap of invisibility; with that you cannot be seen. Now, remember, when you go to sleep the princesses will pour a sleeping-draught out for you: you turn to the wall and pour it into the bed and do not drink it."

So the poor nobleman thanked the old woman and returned to the palace. Nighttime approached and they gave him a room next to that in which the princesses slept. So he lay on the bed and began to keep watch. Then one of the princesses brought sleeping-drugs in wine and asked him to drink her health. He could not refuse, and so he took the goblet, turned to the wall, and poured it into the bed. At midnight the princesses went to look whether he was asleep or not. Then the poor nobleman pretended to be as sound asleep as a log, and himself kept a keen look out for every noise.

"Now, sisters, our watchman has gone to sleep: it is time we set out on our promenade: it is time."

So they all put on their best clothes, and the elder sister went to her bedside, moved the bed, and an entrance into the subterranean realm instantly opened up beneath, leading to the home of the Accursed Tsar.

They all went down a flight of stairs, and the poor nobleman quietly got off his bed, put on the cap of invisibility, and followed them. He, without noticing, touched the youngest princess's dress: she was frightened and said to her sisters, "O my sisters, somebody has stepped on my dress. This is a foretokening of woe."

"Nonsense; it does not mean anything of the sort!"

So they all went down the flight of steps into a grove, and in that grove there were golden flowers. Then the poor nobleman broke off and plucked a single sprig, and the entire grove rustled.

"Oh, sisters," said the youngest sister, "some unfortunate thing is injuring us. Did you hear how the grove rustled?"

"Do not fear; this is the music in the Accursèd Tsar's realm."

So they went into the Tsar's palace. He, with his lacqueys, met them; music sounded; and they began dancing: and they danced until their shoes were worn thin. Then the Tsar bade wine to be served to his guests. The poor nobleman took a single goblet from under his nose, poured out the wine, and put the cup into his pocket.

At last the rout was over, and the princesses bade farewell to their cavaliers, promised to come another night, turned back home, undressed and lay down to sleep.

Then the king summoned the poor nobleman, and asked him, "Did you keep watch on my daughters?"

"Yes, I did, your Majesty."

"Where did they go?"

"Into the subterranean realm, to the Accursèd Tsar, where they danced all night long."

So the king summoned his daughters, and began cross- examining them. "Where do you go at night?"

So the princesses tried a feint: "We have not been anywhere."

"Were you not with the Accursèd Tsar? There is this poor nobleman who can turn evidence on you. He is able to convict you."

"What do you mean, bátyushka? [3] He can convict us when all night he slept the sleep of the dead?"

Then the poor nobleman brought the golden flower out of his pocket, and the goblet, and said, "There is the testimony."

What could they do? The princesses had to acknowledge their guilt, and the king bade the entrance to the subterranean realm be slated up. And he married the poor nobleman to the youngest daughter, and they lived happily ever after.

Comments:

[1] The underworld is the home of magic. This charm, to be said by a soldier going to the wars, may be of interest.

"Beneath the sea, the sea of Khvalýnsk [the Caspian], there stands a house of bronze, and in that house of bronze the fiery serpent is enchained, and under the fiery serpent lies the seven pud [A Russian weight. Thirty-six pounds avoirdupois.] key from the castle of the Prince, the Prince Vladímir, and in the princely castle, the castle of Vladímir, are laid the knightly trappings of the knights of Nóvgorod, of the youthful war-men.

"On the broad Vólga, on the steep-set banks, the princely swan swims from the Prince's courtyard. I will capture that swan, I will seize it, I will grasp it. (I will say) 'Thou, oh swan, fly to the sea of Khvalýnsk, [The old name of the Caspian] peck the fiery snake to death, gain the seven pud key, the key from the earth of Prince Vladímir.' In my power it is not to fly to the sea of Khvalýnsk; in my power it is not to peck to death the fiery snake; nor with my legs may reach the seven pud key. There is on the sea, on the ocean on the island of Buyán, the eldest brother of all the crows, anc he will fly to the sea of Khvalýnsk, he will peck to death the fiery snake, he will gain the seven pud key; but the crow is held back by the evil witch of Kíev. In the standing wood, in the grey-clad forest, stands a little hut, not thatched, not wattled and, in the little hut, lies the evil witch of Kíev. I will go tc the standing forest, the dreamy wood, I will enter in at the hut of the evil witch of Kíev.

"Thou, oh evil witch of Kíev, bid thy crow fly over the sea of Khvalýnsk, to the house of bronze; bid him peck the fiery snake, bid him gain the seven pud key. She was grim, and she clove to her crow, the evil witch of Kíev. In my old age I cannot roam to the sea, to the ocean, to the isle of Buyán, to the Black Crow. Do thou bid, by my enchanting words, the crow gain me the seven pud key.

"The crow has smitten the house of bronze, has pecked the fiery snake to death, has gained the seven pud key.

"With that key I will unlock the princely castle, the castle of Vladímir, I will gain the knightly gear, the trappings of the knights of Nóvgorod, of the youthful war-men; and in that gear the arquebus cannot fell me, the shots cannot hit me, the warriors and champions, the hosts of Tatary and Kazán cannot hurt me.

"I invoke the servant, a man, a fighter, in the host, who goeth to war with these my potent words.

                    "My words die down,

                    My deeds they crown."

[Kazan was the last stronghold of the Tatars. It was stormed in 1549.]

 

Buyán is a kind of fairy hill like the Tir n'an og of the Irish folk-tales, the land of youth, and cannot probably be assigned to any physical geography. Most probably the mythical Isle of Buyán is the reminiscence of the Isle of Rúgen. The whole of the Pomeranian coast from Lúbeck to the Memel was, prior to its conquest by the Saxons and the Brandenburgers, a Slavonic district, and the Isle of Rúgen, in especial, the promontory of Arcona, a seat of the most highly developed Slavonic pagan ritual: Saxo Grammaticus has conserved us full details. Considering the intimate association of the mysterious stone Alátyr (probably meaning amber) with Buyán: and the fact that Buyán is a Slav translation of the Old Slav name Ruyán, the wind-swept isle [cf. English rough, German rauh, etc.]; also taken the specific references in the magic charms in connection with the facts recorded by the Scandinavian chroniclers, there seems to be little doubt that the Isle of Buyán is a folk-tale shadow of the old place of Pagan pilgrimage, contaminated, of course, with other fantastic elements.

[2] Korolévich. King's son. Koról, king.

[3] Father in a general sense, meaning anybody older. Otéts is father, meaning the relationship of father and son.

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