Why does he even try? Poor foolish Ivan! He keeps coming back for Marya Morevna. It’s easy work for me to get her back from him. Just ask my steed. Ask him how fast he can run to catch them! He’ll tell you: “It is possible to sow wheat, to wait till...
My two older brothers think I’m a fool and a simpleton. But our father has become very anxious because some beast has been getting into his deer-park and killing animals every night. Nobody knows who’s doing it but my father suspects the Norka. If it is...
My son WILL marry Princess Martha, make no mistake about it. I’m WATER. I ALWAYS GET MY WAY! Fetch my messenger! You know the one I mean. He’s bigger than a nail, and his beard is a foot and a half long. He’ll tell her that if she doesn’t show...
The old man ordered us to fly after the fugitives who were escaping the underworld. The young couple were crossing a great plain and we could see them clearly, running hand in hand with a red light flashing around them. Suddenly though, we couldn’t see them. They...
My parents were peasants, and though we lived roughly, they were good people. We never went without. When I was old enough to understand where I came from, my parents told me that I was the son of a king. My peasant parents had given their daughter to the king in...
Perhaps I tried too hard to please my neighbors. I was too kind. I created false expectations, rivalries and the jealousies. The long and the short is, I was always at war. Shortly after I married, I lost a hard battle and we had to retreat behind the walls of my...
Be careful what you pursue, because what you pursue might be pursuing you! I found that out when the stag I had been chasing, suddenly stopped running and turned into a big, lanky man. “Well,” he said, “It’s a good thing I’ve got you now....
Would you believe it? He promised his dying father that he would marry somebody else, and he’s gone and done just that! His father controlled him right to the very end. I will not have our bond severed. My father is going to help me find eleven girls in the...
I heard that there was a madman in the market, asking if anyone had patience to sell. Patience? How curious! I wanted to see the fellow, so my attendants went and brought him to me. “My master wants patience as a present for his daughter,” said the madman....
Oh, that pair! How furious they made me! I couldn’t grab them. They ran from me. They tangled me up in a forest. Then they threw a lake between us. They slowed me down, sure, but they didn’t stop me! I reached the castle, climbed up over the garden wall,...
