Tzar Saltan
In ancient days, long before our
time, in a certain Tzardom of a realm far beyond the blue sea-ocean, there was
a Tzar, young in years, named Saltan, who was so handsome and so clever that
songs were sung and tales told of him, and beautiful maidens everywhere dreamt
of him at night. Minded to rule his Tzardom well, he used to wander forth at
dusk in all four directions of his capital, in order to see and hear, and thus
he perceived much good and much evil and saw many strange sights. One evening,
as he passed the house of a rich merchant, he saw through the window three
lovely damsels, the merchant's daughters, sitting at their needlework, and
drawing near he overheard their conversation.
The eldest said: " If the Tzar
were to wed me, I would grind flour so fine that the like of the bread I would
bake from it could not be found in the whole world."
The Tzar, hearing, thought:
"That would be good bread truly; however, the bread I eat now is not so bad."
The second said: "If the Tzar
were to wed me, I would weave for him a kaftan of gold and silver thread, so
that he would shine like the Glowing Bird."
"That would be good weaving,
indeed," thought the Tzar; "though little enough need have I for such
a splendid coat."
Then the youngest daughter, who was
named Marfa, said: "As for me, if the Little Father Tzar became my
husband, I know how neither to spin nor to weave, but I would bear him seven
hero-sons like bright falcons, that should be the comeliest in his Tzardom; and
their legs should be golden to the knee and their arms silver to the elbow, and
in their hair should be little stars."
Tzar Saltan, listening, was well
pleased with this speech. "Glad would I be to be the father of seven such
sons," he said to himself; and returning to his Palace, he summoned his
Boyars and Court Ministers, and despatched them to the house of the merchant to
bring his youngest daughter, whom he purposed to make his Tzaritza. He ordered
a great festival and spread tables of oak, at which all the folk of the Tzardom
ate, drank and made merry.
On the third day he and the
merchant's daughter were married, and slept on an ivory bed, and began to live
together, soul with soul, in all joy and contentment. The two elder daughters
of the merchant, however, were envious; one sulked over her oven and the other
wept over her loom, and both hated their sister because the Tzar had preferred
her over them.
Now there was war in those days and
whether after a long time or a short time, it became necessary for Tzar Saltan
to take the field. Tzaritza Marfa wept long and would not be comforted; so
before he departed he sent for her two sisters to remain with her until his
return. And they, although they hated their sister, pretending great love for
her, came at once to the Palace.
So the Tzar mounted his good horse
and bidding his wife care for herself for his sake, rode away to the fight.
It befell when the Tzar had been
three months absent that three babes were born to his Tzaritza‹ such lovely
little sons that their like cannot be told or described, but can only be
imagined, and each had legs golden to the knee, arms silver to the elbow, and
little stars in his hair set close together. And Tzaritza Marfa sent to her
husband a fleet messenger to tell him of their birth.
Her sisters, however, kept back the
messenger and sent another in his place with this message: " Thy Tzaritza,
our sister, who boasted that she would bear thee Princes of gold and silver,
hath borne thee now neither sons nor daughters, but instead, three wretched
little kittens."
Then they bribed the nurses and
attending women, took from the Tzaritza, while she slept, the three boybabies,
and put in their jewelled cradles three kittens. As for the beautiful children,
they gave them to a Baba-Yaga, and the cruel old witch put them into an
underground room, in a forest, under a crooked oak-tree, whose entrance was
closed by a great flat stone.
When the Tzar heard the words of the
messenger, he was greatly angered. He sent orders to throw the kittens into the
sea-ocean, and was minded also to kill his wife. This, however, he could not
bear to do, so much did he love her. "I will forgive this fault," he
said to himself. " Perchance she may yet give me sons fit for a
Tzar."
He returned at length to his
Tzardom, and lived with his wife happily as before, till there was held a great
hunt on the open steppe, and he rode away to kill wild geese and swans. And
scarce had he been gone three days, when two more sons were born to his wife,
the Tzaritza Marfa - such lovely babes that one could not look sufficiently at
them, - and each had legs golden to the knee, arms silver to the elbow, and
little stars in his hair clustering close together.
The Tzaritza sent in haste for a
nurse, and the senant, as it happened, met on his way the old witch.
"Where dost thou haste so fast ?" she asked him.
"Not far," he replied.
"Tell me instantly," said
the Baba-Yaga, grinding her teeth, "or it will be the worse for thee
!"
" Well," said the servant,
" if thou must know, I go to fetch a nurse to the Palace, for two
hero-sons have just been born to our mistress, the Tzaritza."
" Take me as nurse,"
commanded the witch.
" That I dare not," the
servant replied, " lest the Tzar, on his return, strike my head from off
my shoulders."
" Obey me," snarled the
Baba-Yaga, "or meet a worse fate this instant !"
The servant, trembling for his life,
returned with the old witch, who, as soon as she came in to the Tzaritza Marfa,
took from her, while she slept, the two lovely babes, put in their place under
the sable coverlet two blind puppies, and carried the children to the
underground room in the forest. Having done this, she told the two sisters,
who, hastening to the Palace, bribed the serving-women and despatched a
messenger to the Tzar to say: " Our sister, thy Tzaritza, who boasted that
she would bear thee Tzareviches of silver and gold, hath borne thee now neither
sons nor daughters, but instead two miserable little puppies."
When the messenger brought him this
message, the Tzar's anger waxed hot. He ordered the puppies to be thrown into
the sea-ocean, and would have slain his wife but for his great love. However,
after his anger had softened, he said to himself: " This second fault also
I will pass over. Perchance even yet she will bear me sons fit for a
Tzar." And, returning to his capital, he lived happily with her as before.
It happened at length that the Tzar
went to a distant Tzardom to pay a visit of ceremony, and this time he set a
strong guard about the Palace, with strict command to allow no one whatever to
go in or out. When he had been absent six month, two more babes were born to
the Tzaritza - sons of a loveliness that is known only in a tale, with legs
golden to the knee, arms silver to the elbow, and with little stars in their
hair. And the Tzaritza, deeming herself safe by reason of the guard about the
Palace, bade them peal all the bells for joy.
Hearing the rejoicing, the sisters
guessed what had occurred, and sent at once for the Baba-Yaga, who by a witch's
charm caused a deep sleep to fall upon all the guardsmen so that each slumbered
where he stood, and she herself entered the Palace. When the Tzaritza saw her,
however, she hid one of the babes, whom she had narmed Guidon, in her sleeve,
so that the Baba-Yaga, though she carried away the other, did not see it.
In place of the babe, the old witch
left a piece of wood, and the sisters, as before, bribed the attendants, and
sent a messenger to the Tzar to say: "Thy Tzaritza, our sister, who
boasted that she would bear thee sons of gold and silver, hath borne thee now
neither son nor daughter, neither is it a frog nor a snake, but a little log of
wood."
When the Tzar heard this message, he
well-nigh lost his senses in the violence of his rage. After his anger had
somewhat subsided, he ordered the log of wood to be thrown into the sea-ocean,
and sent a letter to his Prime Minister, bidding him call together his Boyars
and Princes of all the Realm to consider the matter on his return.
The messenger rode back with the
royal letter, but the two wicked sisters met him on his way, and by stealth
stole the letter from his pocket and put in its place another, which read:
" I, Tzar Saltan, bid my Boyars without delay to seize the Tzaritza, put
her into a chest bound with iron, and cast it into the deepest abyss of the
sea-ocean."
The messenger delivered the letter,
and at once the Boyars came to the Tzaritza and told her the cruel decree. They
pitied her and wept with her, but there was nothing to be done, since the
Tzar's will was law, and the same day, with the babe still hidden in her
sleeve, she was put into a chest bound with iron, and it was thrown into the
wide sea-ocean.
Soon after the Tzar returned, ready,
so great was his love, to forgive his wife a third time. But it was then too
late, and, thinking that the Tzaritza was drowned, he at length married the
elder of the two sisters, and brought them both to live in his Palace.
Whether the chest floated a long
time or a short time in the sea-ocean, on smooth water or rough water, the
little Guidon, who had been hidden in the Tzaritza's sleeve, was growing like
wheat-flour when new yeast is added to it, not by days but by hours, until at
length he began to speak.
" Little mother," he said,
" I have not room enough. Let me stretch myself !"
"Nay, little soul," she
answered. "I hear no sound of the waves lapping on the sand. The water is
deep beneath us. If thou dost stretch we shall be drowned."
The chest floated on and on, and at
length its bottom began to scratch against hard pebbles. Then the little boy
said: "We touch something, little mother. May I stretch myself
?"
She gave him pemmission, and he
began to stretch himself, and so strong and sturdy was he that the iron bands
broke asunder and the chest fell to pieces. Looking about them, they saw that
they were on an island, which had a high hill, sloping down to a green field,
surrounded by a forest. The mother and her son crossed the field and entered
the forest, searching for a path that should lead them to some habitation. They
found none, however, and were about to retum wearied to the meadow, when
Tzarevich Guidon came upon a purse lying on the ground.
Opening it, they found a flint and
steel, and were glad, thinking that with a fire they could protect themselves
against cold and wild beasts. Tzarevich Guidon struck the flint and steel
together, when instantly there appeared a sharp axe and a huge hammer.
" Here we are, Master,"
said the axe and hammer. " By God's blessing, by the Order of the Pike,
what command wilt thou be pleased to lay upon us ?"
" Build us a Palace to live
in," answered Guidon, " and fetch us food and drink."
At once the axe flew at the trees
and began to chop, square, and sharpen them, and the hammer to pound them into
the earth for a foundation; and while the Tzaritza and the Tzarevich watched,
there began to rise on the edge of the forest a Palace of white stone, with
battlemented walls, more splendid than has ever been seen in any Tzardom,
richer than can be guessed or imagined, whose like can neither be told in a
tale or written with a pen. They entered it, and found therein whatever the
soul could ask.
Now, before many days it befell that
a ship came sailing that way, and the shipmen wondered greatly to see there, on
what had been an uninhabited island, a stately Palace, with golden domes and
walls of white stone, and they landed to see this marvel.
The Tzaritza met them and made them
her guests, giving them food and drink to their hearts' desire.
" O merchants," she said,
" in what trade are ye concerned, and whither sail ye from here ?"
They answered: " We have traded
in the skins of sables and black foxes in foreign marts; now we sail to the
east, to the Tzardom of Tzar Saltan the Glorious."
" A happy voyage to you,"
said the Tzaritza, " and give a greeting from me to Tzar Saltan."
The merchants re-embarked and sailed
to the Tzardom of Tzar Saltan, who called them to be his guests; and they came
before him, where he sat sad-faced on his golden throne, with his new wife and
her sister by his side. As they sat at table the Tzar said: "O merchants
and tradesmen! Have ye voyaged far, and to what lands went ye ? Is it well or
ill across the blue sea-ocean ? And what new wonder is there in the white world
?"
The shipmen replied: " O Tzar's
Majesty ! We travelled over all the world, and were on our way hither when we
saw a new wonder more marvellous than any. There has been of old time in the
sea-ocean an island, without inhabitants, save they were wizards or wild
beasts. It had a great flat meadow on which grew a single oaktree, and about it
was a dense forest. So hath it always been; yet but now, as we came to it, we
found there a splendid Palace, with towers whose tops were golden, and with
green gardens about it. In it dwells a beautiful Tzaritza and a Tzarevich, and
the Tzarevich has legs golden to the knee, and arms silver to the elbow, and in
his hair are little stars.
We landed there, and the Tzaritza
entertained us royally, and sent a greeting to thee."
Tzar Saltan wondered greatly to
hear, and said: " As God lets me live, I will visit this wonderful island
and see it with my own eyes." But his wicked wife and her younger sister,
not wishing him to go, began to sneer.
"A Palace on an island! What is
that to be compared to a marvel of which I can tell thee ?"
"What marvel is that ?"
asked the Tzar.
She answered: " Across three
times nine countries, in the thirtieth Tzardom, there is a green garden, and in
the garden is a mill which grinds of itself: It winnows the grain and throws
the chaff a hundred versts away. By the mill stands a golden column, and up and
down the column climbs a learned cat. As it goes up it sings songs, and as it
comes down it tells stories."
Hearing of this new wonder, the Tzar
gave up his purpose to visit the island.
The merchants, having loaded their
ship with other goods, sailed on a second voyage, and, passing the Tzaritsa's
island, cast anchor, and were again entertained; and they recounted there how
Tzar
Saltan had desired to sail thither
till his wife had told him of the mill, the golden column, and the
story-telling cat.
As soon a~s they had made their
farewells and sailed away, Tzarevich Guidon took from the purse the flint and
steel, and struck them sharply together, and immediately the axe and the hammer
appeared, saying: " Here we are, thy servants ! By God's blessing, by the
Order of the Pike, what I dost thou bid us do ?"
" I will have, near this
Palace," said the Tzarevich, a mill which grinds and winnows of itself and
throws the chaff a hundred versts away. By it must be a column of gold on which
climbs a cat, telling tales and singing songs."
At once the axe and hammer
disappeared, and, next morning, when he went to his balcony, the Tzarevich saw
that the garden, the mill, the golden column, and the clever cat had all been
brought as he had commanded.
He caused his servants, the axe and
hammer, to build by the column a crystal summer-house, in which the cat should
live, and each day the Tzaritza and Tzarevich Guidon amused themselves by
listening to its songs and stories.
Time passed, and again the ship
returned from her voyage, and the merchants wondered to see the new marvels.
They landed, and the Tzaritza, meeting them, bade them enter and taste of her
hospitality. She gave them honey to eat and i milk to drink, and treated them
so handsomely that they scarce knew themselves for pleasure. " O
tradesmen," she asked them, " what do ye barter, and whither sail ye
from here ?"
" We have bartered carpets and
stallions from the Don around the whole world," they answered. " Now
we sail to the eastward, to the Tzardorm of Tzar Saltan the Mighty."
"A good journey to you,"
said the Tzaritza. " Bear to Tzar Saltan greeting from my son, Tzarevich
Guidon."
The merchants spread sail and
voyaged to the Tzardom of Tzar Saltan, and a second time he summoned them to
bear him company. And as they ate and drank in his sumptuous hall, he asked
them: " O tradesmen and mariners, doubtless ye have traversed the whole
earth. What have ye seen, and what news do ye bear ? And is there any new
marvel in the white world ?"
They answered: " O mighty Tzar
Saltan !
we have truly visited many countries
and seen many strange things, but the most wonderful is this. When we were thy
guests before, we told thee of an island on which, bare and uninhabited of old,
we found a splendid Palace with a beautiful Tzaritza and a brave Tzarevich. On
this sailing we passed again that way and put in at the island, and now beside
the Palace of white stone there is a green garden with a mill that grinds and
winnows of itself and casts the chaff a hundred versts away. Beside it is a
golden column on which a cat climbs continually up and down, singing songs and
telling tales. And there is a summer-house of crystal in which the cat lives.
The Tzaritza showed us these wonders and her son the Tzarevich Guidon sends a
greeting to thee."
When Tzar Saltan heard this, again
was he seized with a desire to see the island, but, as before, his evil wife
and her sister sneered and the wife said:
" A rare thing in truth!
Thinkest thou the mill and cat are so wonderful ? What, indeed, are they beside
a marvel of which I know ?"
" What is that?" asked the
Tzar.
She answered: " Across three
times nine lands, in the thirtieth Tzardom, there is a wood and in the wood a
fir-tree. On the tree lives a squirrel, cracking nuts with his teeth. These are
not ordinary nuts, for their shells are of gold and the kernels of emerald. He
who owns this wonder is the richest Tzar in all the world, for his wealth never
ceases to increase until it cannot be reckoned."
And, deeming this an even greater
marvel, Tzar Saltan again laid by his purpose to visit the island.
The merchants filled their ship with
new merchandise and set sail for distant lands and, passing the island again,
were welcomed by Tzaritza Marfa and Tzarevich Guidon, to whom they recounted
their visit to Tzar Saltan. Nor did they fail to tell how he had purposed to
sail thither until he had heard of the fir-tree, the squirrel and the nuts of
gold and emerald.
When they had departed, Tzarevich
Guidon struck together his flint and steel, and the axe and hammer, appearing,
said: "Master, we are here! By God's blessing, by the Order of the Pike,
what wilt thou that we accomplish ?"
" Plant me here," said the
Tzarevich, " a fir-tree. On it let there be a squirrel which cracks with
its teeth nuts whose shells are of gold and their kernels of emerald."
The axe and hammer disappeared and
next day, when he arose, the Tsarevich found all done as he had commanded. He
bade them build a summer-house of crystal for the squirrel to live in, and the
golden shells and emeralds he put into the Palace treasury till the wealth
could not be reckoned.
It befell at length that the
merchants' ship returned from its voyage and cast anchor at the island. The
Tzaritza met and welcomed them, giving them to eat and drink till for rich
feasting they scarce remembered their names. " O shipmen and
merchants," she said, " what merchandise do ye bear and whither fare
ye from here ? "
They answered: " We are laden
with steel swords and with precious armour which we have traded through the
whole world, and our way is eastward, to the Tzardom of Tzar Saltan the
Magnificent."
" A fair wind to you,"
said the Tzaritza. " Carry my greeting, and that of my son Guidon,
to Tzar Saltan."
So they sailed on to the Tzar's dominions
and a third time were summoned to his presence and feasted; and before they
left him he said: " O merchants and travellers, in all your wayfaring what
new sights have ye seen ? And is there any fresh marvel in the white
world?"
" O Tzar's majesty!" they
replied. " We told thee before of the island with its Palace, its
selfgrinding mill, its golden column and its learned cat, On this voyage also
we visited it and were entertained right royally. And now, in addition to the
other wonders we recounted, there is there a firtree, on which sits a squirrel,
cracking with its teeth nuts, whose shells are gold and whose kernels are
emerald. The squirrel lives in a crystal summerhouse and the gold and emeralds
are piled in the Palace treasury till it overflows with such riches that the
like is surely not to be seen in the whole world. The noble Tzarevich Guidon showed us these
things, and we bear to thee a greeting from him and from the Tzaritza, his
mother."
The Tzar was astonished to hear of
this and said to his wife: " In truth, the wonders of which thou hast told
me are all to be found in this surpassing island. Canst thou recall any
marvel to match this ? "
She
answered spitefully: " That is not so hard. There is in a dense forest,
under a crooked oaktree, a great flat stone which covers an underground room,
and in the room are six Tzareviches, more beautiful than can be told. Each has
legs golden to the knee, arms silver to the elbow, and in his hair are little
stars. A witch keeps them
hidden, and there lives in the white world no man clever enough to find them
out or to learn who they are."
Tzar Saltan, hearing, was silent,
thinking of his dead wife and of her promise to bear him such hero-sons. He
dismissed- the merchants with rich gifts and they bought goods to fill their
ships and sailed away again on the wide sea-ocean.
In time they touched at the island
of Tzaritza Marfa, and being entertained, recounted to her their visit to Tzar
Saltan's Court and told how, for a third time, he had purposed to voyage
thither, until his wife had told of the underground room, and of the six Tzareviches
with legs golden, arms of silver, and with stars in their hair.
When the shipmen had departed on
their way, Tzaritza Marfa told Tzarevitch Gsuidon the story of her life with
Tzar Saltan and what she had suffered at the hands of her wicked sisters.
"These six Tzareviches,"
she said, " whom the witch hides in the forest, are surely none other than
my own dear sons and thy little brothers. Let us depart to search for
them."
So the Tzarevich struck together his
flint and steel and bade the axe and hammer build a ship which would fly either
on land or sea and which should take them to the witch's forest. Next morning
all was ready, and they straightway embarked and sailed over the sea-ocean, and
over the open steppe to the edge of the forest, where the Baba-Yaga had hidden
the stolen Princes.
Whether the journey was long or
short, whether it took a twelvemonth or a day, they found the crooked oak-tree
and the Tzarevich lifted the great flat stone and they entered the underground
room. They looked here and there and presently saw six little soiled
shirts lying on chairs. The Tzaritza took them, washed them clean, rinsed,
wrung and hung them to dry. Six little plates sat on a table unwashed. She
washed them all and dried them and swept the floor. Hearing a noise outside,
she said: " Someone is coming. Let us hide behind the stove."
They hid themselves, and the six
Tzareviches entered, all with legs golden to the knee, arms to the elbow, and
with little stars in their hair. They saw how the room had been swept
and the plates and shirts made clean, and were glad. " Show thyself,"
they cried, "thou who hast washed and tidied our house. If thou art a beautiful girl, thou shalt be our
little sister, and if thou art a Tzaritza, thou shalt be our little mother!"
Then Tzaritza Marfa showed herself,
and the six Tzareviches ran to her, and she took them in her arms and kissed
and caressed them and told them who they were - that she was indeed their
mother and Tzarevich Guidon their little brother. She brought them from the
forest to the magic ship, and it sailed with them like a white swan, over the
open steppe and the blue sea-ocean to the Tzaritsa's island, to her Palace of
white stone, and there they began to live happily together.
Now when its voyage was finished,
the ship of the merchants came back from the ends of the world and put in at
the island.
The Tzaritza welcomed them and she
and her seven sons gave them such feasts and amusements that for delight they
would have remained there for ever. "O merchant-travellers," she
asked them, " in what cargoes do ye traffic, and whither go ye from here
?"
" We have sailed about the
whole world," they answered, " with goods of every sort that
tradesmen carry, and from here our course lies eastward to the Tzardom of Tzar
Saltan the Splendid."
"Fair weather to you," she
said, ``and take a greeting to Tzar Saltan from me and from these my seven
sons."
The ship departed, and when it was
come to the Tzardom of Tzar Saltan, he made the merchants yet again his guests.
And as they ate and drank and made merry, he said to them: " O
tradesmen and farjourneying adventurers, ye have sailed to the uttermost lands.
11Vhat strange thing have ye
seen, and is there any new wonder in the white world ?"
"O great Tzar Saltan !"
they replied, "thou didst hear from us before of the island in the blue
sea-ocean, of its Tzaritza and her Tzarevich, and their Palace of white stone,
with the marvels there to be seen.
On
our way hither we again stopped there, and now the lady hath with her not one
Tzarevich but seven, so handsome that we know no words to tell thee of them,
and each has legs golden to the knee, and arms silver to the elbow, and in
their hair are little stars set close together. And when we departed the Tzaritza sent to thee
greeting from herself and these seven sons."
When the merchants spoke thus the
wicked wife of Tzar Saltan opened her mouth to speak, but the Tzar rose up and
silenced her.
" Tell me no more of thy
marvels," he said to her. " What am I, a Tzar or a child ?" And
having dismissed the merchants with presents, he sent for his Ministers and
Boyars and bade a fleet to be prepared, and that same day set sail for the
island.
Tzarevich Guidon, sitting with his
brothers at the window, saw the ships of Tzar Saltan coming over the blue
sea-ocean, and called to his mother, " See, our little father is
coming!" He went to meet him and brought him into the Palace to the
Tzaritza.
Seeing her, Tzar Saltan recognized
her, and his breath stopped and his face flowed with tears. He kissed her and
embraced his seven sons and all began to weep and rejoice together.
When they had spent some days in
such happiness, they went aboard the ships and sailed back to Tzar Saltan's
realm. He summoned his Ministers and Boyars, his Princes and Judges, and they
condemned his evil wife, and she and her sister were put into a chest barred
and bound with iron, and the chest was thrown into the sea-ocean. But God did
not protect them as He had protected the Tzaritza and her son, for they sank at
once into the lowest abyss and were drowned.
But Tzar Saltan and Tzaritza Marfa,
with the seven Tzareviches, lived always together in brightfaced joy, and
increased in all good things. And Tzaritza Marfa was as beautiful in her
old age as she had been in her youth.
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