There was once a man who had a wife and two small children, Ivanko and Mariyka. They were very happy together, but it was not to be for long, for the wife died. The man sorrowed and grieved and told himself that he would never marry again. For nine years  he lived alone with his children, but then he took a servant into the house, a neighbor of theirs who had sometimes visited him in the past. He offered to marry the woman, but she would have none of it and said:

         "How can I marry you, and you with two children!"

         "What can I do, I can't kill them, can I!" the man said. 

         "Have I told you to kill them? No! What you must do is take them to the forest and leave them there," she counseled. The man did   as the woman said, and took children deep into the forest.

         "Stay here and I'll go and chop some wood," he said.

         He walked off a little way, and, tying a large branch to an oak tree so it would strike the tree every time the wind swayed it and  make the children think he was chopping wood, went home. But the children were not that small and they remembered the road along which their father had led them. They sat there and waited for him, but when he didn't return, decided to go home. 

         It was dark when they reached their house. They looked in through the window and saw their father and the woman he wanted to marry seated at the table together. The children were afraid to enter, but, hearing their father say, "Oh, God what are my poor little  orphans doing in the forest!", called out:  

       "We are here, Father!"

       The woman heard them and went away at once, saying to the man before she left:

       "Take them to the forest again tomorrow or I won't marry you!"

       On the next day the man took the children even deeper into the forest. He lit a fire and said:

      "Sit here beside the fire and warm yourselves. I'll go and look around and will soon return."

      The children sat there till nighttime, but he didn't come back so they went to look for the road. Round and round they walked for a long time, but didn't find it and returned to where the fire was still burning. They were hungry by then, and Ivanko said to Mariyka:

      "I will watch over the fire and see that it doesn't go out, and you go and look for something to eat."

      The girl did as he said, but found nothing save some horseradish, which was hard to eat without bread. Ivanko took one root and put it into the fire.

      "Let it roast a bit, perhaps that will make it a little less better," he said

      Then, being very tired, they lay down on the ground side by side their legs together and their heads at opposite ends, and fell fast asleep. In the middle of the night a bear came up to them, and, seeing before him what he thought was a strange two-headed creature, took to his heels in fright. And it was the same with a wolf and with the many other animals who happened to be passing by. They were all frightened and ran away without harming the children.

      The children got up early, washed and were about to move on when Ivanko suddenly remembered the horseradish he had put in the fire. He raked away the ashes, and instead of the horseradish there was a loaf of bread there, and a beautiful loaf it was! They began eating it, but no matter how much of it the ate the loaf remained whole. They sat out on their way and roamed the forest, but they could not find the road that would take them home.

     A long time passed, and they kept wandering from forest to forest. One day they came to a field and lat down on the grass to warm themselves in the sun and rest, and Ivanko glanced about him and saw a sycamore tree growing nearby. It was over fifty feet high but had only three branches. A gun and a short hung near its top.

       "Those things would come in very handily if only I could get at them!" he thought.

        He looked up again and saw that written on the short in letters of gold were the following words:

       "He who takes the short will become the strongest hot in one but in seven lands; he who takes the gun and the seven bullets hidden under the tree will bring down a third of the world with a single shot; he who takes the sword will slay all foes save those he wishes to spare."

      "It can't be true! Only a fool could have written that," Ivanko said to his sister. But he began climbing the tree all the same. It took him four hours to get halfway up, and when he had climbed higher still it was as if some strange force was forcing him upwards. He reached the tree branches, rested, and taking the short, gun and sword, climbed down again. 

      "You don't know how strong I am now Mariyka, stronger than any man not in one but in seven lands!" he said. They walked on and soon came upon an old beech tree that was nearly five feet thick.

      "I can pull this tree out by the roots!" Ivanko said. He touched its trunk, and the tree swayed and sagged.

      "Don't brother, it might fall!" Mariyka cried. But Ivanko had already taken hold of the tree with both hands. He gave it a pull, and it came out of the ground, and then he turned it upside down and held it with its roots in the air. Nothing seemed too heavy for him. He lifted his sister and carried her in one hand.   

      On and on they walked, across dark, dense forests, when a light suddenly shone ahead. It glowed and flickered and as they moved up closer they saw that it came from within a stone. Ivanko kicked the stone and it crumbled to dust and there beneath it was a staircase that led underground. 

      They went down the stairs and found themselves in front of a door, Ivanko broke it down with a single blow, and they came face to face with a pretty young girl. Something that smelled nice was cooking on the stove behind her, and the girl offered to feed them.

"I'm sure you must be hungry." she said.

      They thanked her and said they were, but when they began to eat she told them to hurry as the house belonged to twelve robbers who would kill them if they found them there.

      "We have nowhere to go ," Ivanko said. "Our own father left us to die in the forest."

      All of a sudden the earth began to quake and to tremble, and there were the twelve robbers at the door. They saw that it was broken and began to think what to do.

      "Only someone very strong could have smashed the door," they said. "Perhaps we should leave the house and everything in it and go away?"

      "We don't want to lose all our gold and silver," said the eldest of the robbers, "I think we should go inside and have a look." They walked in, and seeing that was no one there but a young boy and a girl, hung their guns on the wall and sat down to eat their supper. 

      "Fetch me some beer, lads!" said the eldest of them.

      Three of the robbers jumped down into the cellar and brought back three barrels of beer. The eldest robber now turned to Ivanko.

      "If you want to stay alive you must drink a barrel of beer," he said. 

      "Drink one yourself first, I want to see how you do it," Ivanko replied. The robber, who was very strong, struck the barrel with one finger, and the top flew off. He lifted the barrel and drained it and turned to Ivanko.   

      "It's your turn now!" he said.

      Ivanko got to his feet. Here ached for the second barrel and struck its side with his little finger, and lo! - the hoops burst, and the beer ran over the floor. The robbers snatched their guns and rushed at Ivanko.

      "Hands up!" they cried. Ivanko laughed. He pulled out his sword and cut off the heads of eleven robbers at one stroke! But the twelfth, the eldest of them, was sly, and although Ivanko had done nothing more but slice off one of his ears, dropped to the floor and pretended to be dead. And Ivanko thought that he was indeed dead and dragged him off into an empty room together with the rest. Then locked the door and decided to look over the rest of the house, and he went from room to room, examining each with interest. The first room he came to was full of gold, the second one held all the clothes anyone could ever think of wearing, and the third , bread, flour, bacon, and other foods - everything in fact save maybe bird's milk.        

      Having looked through the house, Ivanko found the girl who had helped his sister and himself and asked her who she was and what she was doing in the robbers house. 

      "I'm a princess, the daughter of a tsar," the girl replied. "The robbers seized me and carried me of with them. I have been here for six years."

      "Well, you can go home now," Ivanko said. "You'll find your way, won't you?" The girl thanked him and went away, and Ivanko said to his sister:

      "Here are the keys to all the rooms, and if there is anything there you want, you can have it." But he didn't give her the key to the room where he had put the dead robbers. 

      His sister left, and Ivanko went out for a look at the forest. He felt very strong, could not for the life of him sit still, and, thinking thathe had killed all twelve robbers, feared no one. 

      No sooner was he out of the house than the eldest of the robbers, the only one left alive, crept to the door to the room where Ivanko had dragged him. 

     "Mariyka! Can you hear me, Mariyka?" he called. 

      "What do you want?" the girl called back.

      "Please fetch me some water from the well and pour it in through the key hole."

      Mariyka did as he asked, and no sooner had she poured in the water than the lock snapped open. The robber washed his ear, and the water being living water, the ear healed and was whole again. 

      "How would you like to have me for a husband, Mariyka?" asked the robber.

      "I would very much," she replied.

      "Well, we can't get married unless you agree to do away with your brother. Pretend to be ill and tell him when he comes back that you think you would get well again only if you ate of the flesh of a wolf cub. He will try to get it for you and be killed by the wolves."  Now, in front of the cave grew a pear tree that, be it summer or winter, would burst into bloom the moment a stranger came near. The robber glanced out just then, and, seeing that the pear tree was covered with blossoms, knew that someone was coming and at once darted back into the room where he had been left by Ivanko.

      Ivanko came in and found his sister in bed moaning as if in pain.

      "What is wrong, Mariyka?"

      "I'm ill, my brother, very ill," she said. "But I know I would get well again if I ate of the flesh of a wolf cub. Ivanko hurried to the forest and soon saw an old she-wolf with five cubs. He loaded his gun and was about to shoot one of them when the she-wolf said:

      "Please, Ivanko, do not kill my cub but take him to your sister. She will refuse to eat of his flesh, and you must do then is comb him out and set him free." Ivanko did as she told him, and it all turned out as she had said.

      Some time passed, and the robber said to Mariyka:

      "Tell your brother that you would like to eat of the flesh of a bear cub."

      She did as he told her, and Ivanko set out for the forest again. Seeing an old she-bear there walking with her cubs, he took aim and was about to shoot one of them when the bear said:

      "Please, Ivanko, do not kill my cub but take him to your sister. She will refuse to eat of this flesh, and what you must then do is comb him out and set him free."

      Ivanko took the cub and set out for home, and when the robber saw that the pear tree was covered with blossoms he knew that not succeeded in getting rid of him.

      "Your brother is alive, Mariyka!" he cried. After that he got her to send Ivanko after many different animals, but Ivanko always came back. The robber then thought up a new plan and told himself that if Ivanko remained alive this time too he would never be able to do him to his death.

      "Tell Ivanko to fetch you some water from the spring that flows between two mountains," he said to Mariyka. "Those mountains have a way of drawing together, and as he bends down to get the water he will be crushed."

      Mariyka did as he asked, and Ivanko went off to fetch the water. But it was noon when he got to the spring and a time when the mountains stood still so that he was able to get the water and bring it back to his sister without mishap. But the robber thought of yet another way of getting rid of him and said to Mariyka:

      "There are twelve mills beyond the mountain where human bones are ground into flour. Tell Ivanko to go there and fetch you some, and he will not come back, for the doors to the mills will close behind him as soon as he steps inside and not open again for twenty years."

      Morning came, and Ivanko set out for the mills to fetch Mariyka the flour she asked for. The road was long so he made himself a reed pipe and played it as he walked. He played so well that by the time he got to the mills, all the animals that lived in the neighboring forests, lured by the music, had gathered round him. They followed him inside, and so many were they that the door would not close. Ivanko filled one of his pockets with flour, came out the way he had come in and went home.  

      The pear was in blossom again, and the robber said to Mariyka:

      "Thins look bad! Ivanko, a plague on him, is back again. So here's my last advice to you. As soon as he comes in tell him you are much better and say that you have a bath filled with milk ready for him to bathe in. The bath will make him drowsy and as soon as you are sure that he had fallen asleep you must bind his hands with a rope plaited of horsehair. After that whistle once, and I will come."

      Ivanko came inside, and Mariyka said to him:

      "My dear brother, my beloved brother, I am quite well now and have a bath filled with fresh milk ready for you to bathe in. I want to repay you for all you have done for me."

      Feeling drowsy after his bath, Ivanko was soon asleep. She then bound his hands with a rope of horse hair and whistled once, and the robber came running. He seized Ivanko's magic shirt, which lay beside him, and put it on, and at once became as strong as Ivanko had been. Then he woke him and said that he would now decide how he was to die, but Mariyka felt sorry for Ivanko and begged the robber not to kill him. The robber spared the youth's life, but he put out his eyes and then carried him, blind as he was, to the forest and threw him down a well. And though Ivanko was unhurt, he could not climb out no matter how hard he tried

      Now, it was just about then that some loggers came to the forest and started chopping trees. After a while, feeling tired, they sent a young helper of theirs to fetch some water, and the lad took a pail and went looking for a well. He soon found one, but, hearing someone splashing in it, was frightened half out of his wits and ran back to his friends. Seeing him without a pail, the loggers were very angry.   

      "Where did you leave the pail?" they shouted.

      "In the well. There's a devil sitting in it!" the youth said. The men snatched their axes and made for the well in great haste.

      "We have nothing to fear," said they. There are so many of us and we can deal with the devil as he deserves!" They said this again as they heard the well, and Ivanko heard them and cried out:

      "Wait, don't kill me! I'm not a devil but a man!"

      The loggers heard him and came up to the well. They pulled out Ivanko, took him to a hut in the forest and fed  and dressed him. For three years Ivanko lived in the hut, and the loggers took turns bringing him food and drink. One day he said to himself:

      "These men are poor and forced to work very hard. I cannot remain here and be a burden to them any longer."

      He left the hut and set out through the forest, but it was not long before he walked into a swamp. He felt himself being sucked in, and when he tried to pull out his legs, felt headlong into the water. But luckily for him it was living water, and before he knew it he had got back his eyes and could see again! He returned to the hut, and taking a saw and a hook, went out again and set to work sawing trees in the forest.   

      For six years he labored, giving everything he earned during the first three save the little he needed to live on to the men who had cared for him when he was blind, and saving his earnings during the last three. Altogether, counting the three years before he had got back his sight, he spent a whole nine years with the loggers. But when the tenth year came round he left the forest and struck out alone along the road.     

      On and on he walked and after a time came to a crossroads where sat an old man who was a hundred and fifty years old at least by the looks of him.   

      "Would you like to change clothes with me, Grandpa?" Ivanko asked.

      "Stop making fun of me!" said the old man. "Do you think I was never young like you?"

      "I mean what I said, I wasn't trying to make fun of you!"

      The old man gave his clothes to Ivanko and put on his, and then he took a small flask of water from under a tree stump. And no sooner had he sprinkled himself with the water than he turned young again!

      "I with I had some water that would turn me old!" Ivanko said. The old man brought out another flask, he sprinkled Ivanko with the water that was in it, and the youth at once become fifty years older.   

      "You are young now, Grandpa, and do not need the young-giving water anymore that will make you any younger, so why don't you give it to me?" said Ivanko. The old man gave him both flasks, and Ivanko decided to go to see his sister. He came to the robber's house and was surprised to see it standing above ground now and not below as it had been before. There was a fenced-in courtyard around it, and Ivanko stood at the gate, which was locked, and called in his old man's voice to those inside to open it.  

      Mariyka came out of the house, let him in and gave him some food, and Ivanko, whom she didn't recognize, said he wanted to do something for her in return. He brought water and firewood and cleaned out the barn, and Mariyka told him that he could spend the night in the house if he liked.

      Evening came, and the robber, who had been out pasturing cattle, returned, bearing a bull's carcass on his back. He came into the house and was surprised to see an old man, a stranger, stretched out on the bench. 

      "Who is that?"

      "An old beggar. You'll wake him if you speak so loudly," Mariyka replied.

      They had supper and sat drinking and playing cards till well past midnight, and, being quite drunk by then, went to bed. Ivanko lay there but he didn't sleep. The shirt he had on was as full of holes as a sieve, and he could see through it into the room. He kept his eyes on Mariyka and the robber and as soon as they were asleep crept up to the robber's bed and took away the shirt, sword and gun of which he had been robbed. He then put on the shirt and sprinkled himself with the youth-giving water, and lo! - become very strong and  handsome. After that he woke the couple, and, now that he was young again, they knew him and were very frightened.        

      "I won't touch you, never fear, despite what you did to me," he said. His pipe lay in a corner of the room, and the sight of it reminded him of the animals that followed him into the mill. He put the pipe to his lips and began to play, and they all came running to him again. 

      "Please, Ivanko our Tsar, let us deal with the robber in our own way!" said the bear. Ivanko hooded his head, and the animals pounced on the robber and tore him to shreds. Mariyka wept and cried, for she was alone now, but Ivanko left her there and set out with his animal friends to see the world. 

      One day soon after, hearing of a great drought brought on a certain town by a dragon who had closed all the wells, he made his way there.

      It was very hot, and Ivanko stopped at an inn and asked for two barrels of bear. And the innkeeper, who said that they were too heavy for him to lift, opened his cellar door and told him to help himself. Ivanko went down into the cellar and drained both barrels and then he asked the innkeeper to tell him what was new in the town.     

      "Didn't you hear about the drought? the innkeeper asked. "It's the dragon, curse him, that's to blame for it all! I had to give three of my daughters to him in return for some water, and the princess herself is to be delivered to him tomorrow. And she has only been back with her father the king for some ten years, for before then a gang of robbers kept her captive." Ivanko looked up in surprise. The princess, he saw, could be none other then the girl he had found in the robber’s den and who owed her rescue to him.   

      "Take me to the dragon!" he said. And the innkeeper, though he trembled with fear and was loath to face the dragon, did as Ivanko asked. But as soon as they got to the well the youth told him that he could go and himself sat down on it and waited for the princess to arrive. 

      Now, there was a Gypsy in the town who had been entrusted with the task of delivering his victims to the dragon, and Ivanko looked up and saw him driving the royal coach with the princess in it. The princess recognized Ivanko from afar and burst into tears. The Gypsy stopped the coach and was about to push the princess into the well, but before he could do it Ivanko leapt onto the foot board, and the coach sank to its axles onto the ground.

      "Do not be afraid, Princess, I'll save you from the dragon!" said Ivanko, and he called to the dragon in mocking tones: "Don't keep the maid waiting, Your Lordship!" 

      The dragon's twelve heads rose above the well, and Ivanko waved his sword and cut then off! The princess was free now, and the Gypsy put her in the coach and drove off with her. A river lay between them and the town, and as they were crossing it they saw that it was filling slowly with water.   

      Knowing that the princess's savior would be richly rewarded, the Gypsy stopped the coach and made the frightened girl promise to tell everyone that it was he who had killed the dragon and to marry him without delay. And Ivanko , who knew nothing about this, went back to his siter's house. He looked at the two barrels he had left there, and, seeing that the robbers barrel was full of tears while his own stood empty, knew that his sister cared for him far less than she did for the robber. There was nothing more for him to do there, so he returned to the selfsame town and stopped at the selfsame inn. 

      "I have good news for you this time!" the innkeeper said. "We have water again now! And who do you think we have to thank for it? The Gypsy! For it was he who killed the dragon and saved the princess." And he added: "She is marrying tomorrow, they say." All of Ivanko's animal friends were with him and heard this, and the rabbit said: 

      "Please, Ivanko, our Tsar, let me go and look at the bride and groom!" Ivanko said that he could do as he wanted, and as the princess had warned the guards not to stop any animal from entering the palace, the rabbit had no trouble getting in. He hopped up to the princess and saton her knee while she fed and petted him and then asked the musicians to play two dance tunes for him.

      Now, the Gypsy was seated on a mound of cushions so high that his head nearly touched the ceiling, but when the rabbit started to dance two of the cushions slipped from under him. 

      The rabbit returned to Ivanko, and then the fox asked to go to the wedding. She too got into the palace without any trouble and asked the musicians to play for her, and as she was dancing, two more cushions slipped from under Gypsy. 

      The next to ask Ivanko's permission to go to the wedding was the wolf, and though Ivanko, who feared that he might misbehave there, was hesitant at first, he gave in the end.

      When the guards saw the wolf at the palace door they took to their heels. But the princess greeted him with a smile ang gave him food and drink. The wolf ate and drank and then he asked the musicians to play two dance tunes for him and began to dance. Round and round he danced, and when he was close to the Gypsy, rushed up to him and bit off both his legs! But the Gypsy roared that this would not stop him from marrying the princess. The wolf returned to Ivanko and told him of all that had happened.  

      "Let us all go there now," said Ivanko.

      He and his animal friends went to the palace, and when the princess saw Ivanko she was overjoyed and rushed into his arms. She told father everything, but the animals didn't wait for her to finish, and, pouncing on the Gypsy, tore him to pieces.

      It was Ivanko now who was to marry the princess and it was he who sat on the mound og cushions, and, being a kind-hearted youth, he asked that his sister be invited to the wedding.

      The sister came, but as soon as Ivanko and the princess were married, she locked up Ivanko's animal friends in the palace shed. Then she slipped a pitchfork into Ivanko's bed, and it pierced his heart and killed him. There was much sorrowing and weeping in the palace, but Ivanko's animal friends sat locked in the shed and could not get out. 

      Three days passed, and the bear said:

      "Let us tear down the walls, friends! Something must have happened to Ivanko our Tsar or we would not have been kept locked in here without food and water for three days." They tore down the walls and rushed to the palace, but who should they see there but Ivanko lying in a coffin of gold, with the princess weeping over him.

      The bear at once hung two flasks round the fox's neck, and the fox went and fetched some healing water. They sprinkled Ivanko with it, but what was their grief when this didn't help and he lay there as before and did not move. They took off his clothes then and saw a pitchfork sticking in his side. The bear pulled it out and washed out the wound with some living water, and only then did Ivanko come back to life.  

      "Oh, what a long sleep I have had!" he cried.

      "Your sister deserves an even longer one!" said the bear.

      His animal friends told him what she had done, and Ivanko said that they were to do as they liked with her. So they pounced on her and tore her to pieces!