IVAN THE DRAGON KILLER

Long, long ago, in times of old, there was a fearful dragon who kept coming to a certain village and eating up the village folk. At last came the day when only one old man was left alive, and the dragon said to himself:

"I'll leave him till tomorrow and have him for breakfast."

Now, on that very day a poor youth happened to be passing through the village, and he knocked at the door of the old man's hut and begged to be put up for the night.

"Are you tired of living?" the old man asked.

"Why do you say such a thing?" the youth returned.

The old man told him about the dragon who had eaten up all the village folk and was coming the following day to eat him up, and the youth said:

"He won't eat you, he'll choke on you!"

The following morning the dragon came flying to the village and said:

"Good! Yesterday there was only one man, and today there are two."

"Take care you don't choke on us before eating us!" the youth said.

The dragon looked at him in surprise.

"Is it that you think you are stronger than I?" he asked.

"I not only think so, I know so!"

"You—strong? I don't believe it. Just see what I can do!"

And taking a stone, the dragon squeezed it so hard that it crumbled to dust.

"That's nothing!" said the youth. "Try squeezing it so that water pours out of it."

He picked up a piece of newly-made cottage cheese that had been wrapped in cloth to dry and resembled a stone and squeezed it, and the water ran out of it.

"That's the way to do it!" he said.

"Yes, I see now that you are strong!" the dragon said. "Come and be my friend."

"All right, if you do as I say!"

They made for the dragon's house together, and the dragon asked the youth what his name was.

"They call me Ivan the Dragon Killer!" the youth replied.

This frightened the dragon half out of his wits. "What if he should kill me!" he thought.

Dinnertime came, and the dragon said:

"Go and fetch a bullock for us to cook for dinner,Ivan!"

Off went Ivan to where the dragon's herd was grazing and began tying the bullocks together by their tails. The dragon waited patiently and then came running to see what was taking him so long.

"What are you doing, Ivan?" he asked.

"I don't want to bother with one bullock, it'll save trouble to take them all home at once!" Ivan replied.

"A plague on you! Why, at this rate you'll leave me without a herd!" the dragon cried.

•He killed a bullock, skinned it, and, dragging the carcass and skin home, gave the skin to Ivan.

"Here, take this skin and bring me some water in it!" he said.

Ivan took the skin and it was all he could do to carry it. He let it down into the well, but could not drag it out again, so he made himself a spade and began digging up the ground around the well.

"A plague on you!" the dragon cried, and, terrified by Ivan's great strength, dragged the skin of water home himself.

"Go and fetch some firewood," he said to Ivan. "Just pull one dry oak tree up out of the ground, that'll be enough."

Ivan pretended to be angry.

"Not me! I'm not going to bother with one measly oak tree!" he said. "You should have told me to fetch twenty at least!"

The dragon cooked dinner and began gobbling it up, but Ivan, who knew that once the dragon saw how little he ate he would guess him to be far from strong, made no move to join him. It was only when the dragon had eaten most of the meat and there was practically nothing left in the pot that he sat down at the table and helped himself to a few spoonfuls.

"That wasn't enough!" said he.

"Let's go to my mother's, she'll make us some dumplings!" the dragon said.

"Let's!" said Ivan, thinking to himself: "Now, that will be the end of me!"

They came to the dragon's mother's house, and standing there waiting to be eaten were at least twenty barrels of dumplings!

Ivan and the dragon sat down at the table, and the dragon began swallowing one dumpling after another, but Ivan only pretended to be eating and kept stuffing the dumplings into his bosom and pockets. The twenty barrels were soon empty, and the dragon got up and said:

"Let's twist round a stone to see which of us is the stronger!"

"Let's!" Ivan agreed.

They found a large stone in a field, and the dragon gave it such a twist that the sparks flew from it!

"That's nothing!" Ivan said. "You should have twisted it so as to make water run out of it."

He clasped the stone and pressed it to himself, and lo! — the dumplings in his pocket were crushed, and water was forced out of them.

"See? That's the way to do it!" he said.

The dragon shook with fright.

"Come, Ivan, let's see which of us can whistle the louder!" said he. And he whistled so hard that the trees bent to the ground.

"What shall I do now?" Ivan asked himself.

He looked about, and, seeing a piece of iron lying on the ground, said:

"Shut your eyes tight, dragon, I am going to whistle so loud that your eyes might pop out of your head!"

The dragon shut his eyes, and Ivan picked up the piece of iron and gave the dragon such a blow that he squirmed in pain.

"You were right, my eyes nearly popped out of my head!" the dragon said.

And so terrified was he of Ivan that he hated the thought of living in the same house with him and built himself a separate one on the edge of the village. After that he and his mother put their heads together and began to think how to do Ivan to his death.

"Let us burn down his house and him with it!" said they.

But Ivan overheard them and hid outside.

They burnt down his hut, and he at once came to where it had been. He stood there and pretended to be brushing ashes from his clothes.

The dragon saw him and stood flabbergasted.

"What—you are still alive, Ivan!" he cried.

"Why shouldn't I be!" Ivan said. "But I wasn't very comfortable at night, I think a flea bit me."

"I had better keep away from Ivan, even fire and flame are nothing to him!" said the dragon to himself, and away he went and was never again seen in those parts.

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