IVAN THE BOHATYR

There was once a poor peasant who had two sons. One was a healthy young man but the other had weak legs from birth and could not walk.

Harvest time came, everyone went out to the fields, and only the sick son was left at home. By and by an old man with a long white beard suddenly came into the hut and asked to be given something to drink.

"I would be glad to do it, Grandpa, but I cannot get up," said the young man.

"Do as I tell you!" the old man cried.

And so stern was his voice that Ivan, for that was the young man's name, forgot about his ailment, and, getting out of bed, went to fetch the old man some beer. He brought a whole quart, and the old man took a sip and then told Ivan to drink the rest. Ivan did so, and the old man asked him if he felt that he had grown any stronger.

"I feel I have become so strong that were you to give me something to lean on I think I could turn the world upside down!" Ivan said.

"You are far too strong, my lad!" said the old man. "Go and fetch me some more beer."

Ivan brought more beer, and the old man told him to drink it.

"How strong do you feel now?" he asked.

"Only half as strong as I. was before," Ivan replied.

"That should be enough for you or for any man!" said the old man and he left the hut and went away.

Ivan was left alone, and so restless did he feel that it was oil he could do to force himself to stay in the hut.

"It is high time I helped my father," said he to himself. "He fed me and cared for me for more years than I like to think of!"

And off he went to see the landlord.

"Will you let me have your barn with all the grain in it if I carry it on my back from where it is now to another place?" he asked.

The landlord stared at him in disbelief.

"Who are you?" he asked. "Are you mad that you want to carry a barn on your back?"

"I am Ivan, the son of a peasant," he said, "and if you promise to give me the barn I will be as good as my word."

"Very well! Carry the barn on your back, and it's yours!" laughed the landlord.

Ivan went home, and as soon as his father was back from the field he begged him to make a round of all the houses in the village and ask for all the rope his neighbors could spare, for, said he, he needed it to move the landlord's barn. The father was as much surprised by what Ivan said as by his suddenly being able to use his legs, but he did as he asked and spent the evening going from house to house and getting him the rope he wanted. And in the morning Ivan wound it into a coil, threw the coil over his shoulder, and set out for the barn. As soon as he got there, he began tying the barn round and round with rope and he looked for all the world like a spider spinning his web.

The steward saw him and ran to tell the landlord about him.

"What am I to do with the lad?" he asked. "He says you told him he could do it."

"So I did!" said the landlord with a laugh. "But I think I'll go and see for myself what he's about."

He came up to him just as Ivan had finished tying the last of the rope round the barn.

"Take the barn wherever you want, it'll be yours if you can do it!" said he.

Ivan stooped, slipped in under the web of rope, and, lifting the barn onto his shoulders, stood up. Then, the villagers watching him open-mouthed, he marched to his father's vegetable garden and set the barn down on the ground. His father would now have enough grain to last him for many a year!

The smile that had been on the lord's face left it. He had lost his barn and his grain with it, and there was nothing to be done about it!

And Ivan bade his father goodbye and said that he was off to see the world and test his strength.

And taking along a seven-pood ram that he had asked a blacksmith to forge for him, he set out on his way.

He walked and he walked and he was crossing a forest when he saw a rabbit running toward him. He was about to kill him, but the rabbit said:

"Have mercy on me, Ivan, and do not kill me, and I will give you a son of mine who will serve you faithfully and be of great help to you.”

And Ivan spared the rabbit, took the rabbit's son and went on.

By and by he met a fox and was about to kill him, but the fox begged him to spare his life and promised to have his son go with him and serve him.

And Ivan spared the fox, took the fox's son and went on.

After that he met a wolf who gave him one of his sons, and then a bear who gave him one of his. Ivan now had four animals to serve him and he went on again to see the world.

He walked and he walked and he came to a crossroads where stood a post inscribed with the following words:

"Go to the right, and you will be happy; go to the left, and you will prosper; go straight ahead, and you will die."

He went straight ahead, and he had only walked a little way when he met several people hurrying toward him.

"Go back and don't follow this road!" they cried. "We only did because we cannot read and didn't know any better. A fearful six-headed Dragon dwells farther on, and a man is brought him daily for him to eat. They are taking a maid to him today, a princess, for he said he was sick of eating only men."

"I think I'll go on just the same," Ivan said.

On he went, he walked and he walked, and there were human bones scattered about everywhere, the farther he went the more.

By and by he came to what looked like a huge stone mountain with a narrow cleft in it and he was not there very long before he saw a coach drive up. The coachman unharnessed the horses and made off in haste.

Ivan came up to the coach, and lo! — seated in it and weeping bitterly was a princess. Ivan spoke to her, and she was glad that she was not there alone and threw back the kerchief that covered her face. But when she saw bones lying about everywhere she fell back in a faint.

The sun was beginning to set when a harsh creaking sound came from the mountain, and the cleft widened. Ivan clasped his seven-pood ram and hid near the cleft, and when one of the Dragon's six heads emerged from it he struck it with the ram and smote it off. He cut off the rest of the Dragon's heads in this same way and then he cut the tongues out from them and wrapped them in a kerchief. By then, so tired was he that he lay down and fell asleep, and his four animal friends did the same.

On the following morning the coachman came for the coach, and lo! — there was the princess sleeping peacefully in it, and stretched out asleep at the foot of the mountain, the Dragon's six heads behind him, a strange youth.

The coachman did not think long. He killed the youth, and, taking the Dragon's heads for himself, woke the princess.

"The Dragon killed this youth," he told her, "and he was about to kill you, but I came just in time and cut off his six heads. I have saved your life, and you and I will soon be married."

And away he rode with her for her father's palace.

The four animals woke, and there was their master lying beside them dead. What were they to do? They thought about it, and, recalling that in a nearby forest there was a magic spring whose water could heal, they ran there. They brought back some of the water and sprinkled it over their master, and he came to life at once and it was as if he had been no more than asleep. He looked around him, and lo! — the princess was gone and so were the Dragon's heads, and only the kerchief with the Dragon's tongues in it lay where he had left it. So he took the kerchief and set out for the town where the princess lived.

He found the streets of the town full of people rejoicing that the Dragon was dead. They said that it was the coachman who had killed him and saved the princess and that they would soon be man and wife.

Ivan and his four friends made straight for the palace, and the sight of the animals frightened the townsfolk who made way for them.

Ivan came into the palace, and it was already teeming with people who had gathered for the princess's wedding. The coachman sat next to the king, with the princess, her eyes red with weeping, beside him.

Ivan went up to the king, stood before him and said: "The man seated beside you is a villain and a liar. It was I who killed the Dragon!"

"It's you who are the liar!" the coachman cried. "I have the Dragon's heads with me, and that proves who killed him!"

"And where are the tongues?" asked Ivan.

They all rushed over to see, and lo! — the heads were without tongues.