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罗马尼亚

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Once upon a time, a long while ago, when the very flies wrote upon the
walls more beautifully than the mind can picture, there lived an Emperor
and an Empress who had three sons, and a very beautiful garden alongside
their palace. At the bottom of this garden there grew an apple-tree,
entirely of gold from the top to the bottom. The Emperor was wild with
joy at the thought that he had in his garden an apple-tree, the like of
which was not to be found in the wide world. He used to stand in front
of it, and poke his nose into every part of it, and look at it again and
again, till his eyes nearly started out of his head. One day he saw this
tree bud, blossom, and form its fruit, which began to ripen before him.
The Emperor twisted his moustache, and his mouth watered at the thought
that the next day he would have a golden apple or two on his table, an
unheard-of thing up to that moment since the world began.

Day had scarcely begun to dawn next morning, when the Emperor was
already in the garden to feast his eyes to the full on the golden
apples; but he almost went out of his mind when, instead of the ripened
golden apples, he saw that the tree was budding anew, but of apples
there was no sign. While he stood there he saw the tree blossom, the
blossoms fall off, and the young fruit again appear.

At this sight his heart came back to him again, and he joyfully awaited
the morrow, but on the morrow also the apples had gone--goodness knows
where! The Emperor was very wroth. He commanded that the tree should be
strictly guarded, and the thief seized; but, alas! where were they to
find him?

The tree blossomed every day, put forth flowers, formed its fruit, and
towards evening the fruit began to ripen. But in the middle of the night
somebody always came and took away the fruit, without the Emperor’s
watchers being aware of it. It was just as if it were done on purpose.
Every night, sure enough, somebody came and took the apples, as if to
mock at the Emperor and all his guards! So though this Emperor had the
golden apple-tree in his garden, he not only never could have a golden
apple on his table, but never even saw it ripen. At last the poor
Emperor took it so to heart that he said he would give up his throne to
whosoever would catch and bind the thief.

Then the sons of the Emperor came to him, and asked him to let them
watch also. Great was the joy of the Emperor when he heard from the
mouth of his eldest son the vow he made to lay hands upon the thief. So
the Emperor gave him leave, and he set to work. The eldest son watched
the first night, but he suffered the same disgrace that the other
watchers had suffered before him.

On the second night the second son watched, but he was no cleverer than
his brother, and returned to his father with his nose to the earth.

Both the brothers said that up to midnight they had watched well enough,
but after that they could not keep their feet for weariness, but fell
down in a deep sleep, and recollected nothing else.

The youngest son listened to all this in silence, but when his big
brothers had told their story, he begged his father to let _him_ watch
too. Now, sad as his father was at being unable to find a valiant
warrior to catch the thief, yet he burst out laughing when he heard the
request of his youngest son. Nevertheless, he yielded at last, though
only after much pressing, and now the youngest son set about guarding
the tree.

When the evening had come, he took his bow, and his quiver full of
arrows, and his sword, and went down into the garden. Here he chose out
a lonely place, quite away from wall and tree, or any other place that
he might have been able to lean against, and stood on the trunk of a
felled tree, so that if he chanced to doze off, it might slip from under
him and awake him. This he did, and when he had fallen two or three
times, sleep forsook him, and weariness ceased to torment him.

Just as it was drawing nigh to dawn, at the hour when sleep is sweetest,
he heard a fluttering in the air, as if a swarm of birds was
approaching. He pricked up his ears, and heard something or other
pecking away at the golden apples. He pulled an arrow from his quiver,
placed it on his bow, and drew it with all his might--but nothing
stirred. He drew his bow again--still there was nothing. When he had
drawn it once more, he heard again the fluttering of wings, and was
conscious that a flock of birds was flying away. He drew near to the
golden apples, and perceived that the thief had not had time to take all
of them. He had taken one here, and one there, but most of them still
remained. As now he stood there he fancied he saw something shining on
the ground. He stooped down and picked up the shining thing, and, lo and
behold! it was two feathers entirely of gold.[1]

When it was day he plucked the apples, placed them on a golden salver,
and with the golden feathers in his hat, went to find his father. The
Emperor, when he saw the apples, very nearly went out of his mind for
joy; but he controlled himself, and proclaimed throughout the city that
his youngest son had succeeded in saving the apples, and that the thief
was discovered to be a flock of birds.

Boy-Beautiful now asked his father to let him go and search out the
thief; but his father would hear of nothing but the long-desired apples,
which he was never tired of feasting his eyes upon.

But the youngest son of the Emperor was not to be put off, and
importuned his father till at last the Emperor, in order to get rid of
him, gave him leave to go and seek the thief. So he got ready, and when
he was about to depart, he took the golden feathers out of his cap, and
gave them to his mother, the Empress, to keep for him till he returned.
He took raiment and money for his journey, fastened his quiverful of
arrows to his back, and his sword on his right hip, and with his bow in
one hand and the reins in the other, and accompanied by a faithful
servant, set off on his way. He went on and on, along roads more and
more remote, till at last he came to a desert. Here he dismounted, and
taking counsel with his faithful servant, hit upon a road that led to
the east. They went on a good bit further, till they came to a vast and
dense wood. Through this tangle of a wood they had to grope their way
(and it was as much as they could do to do that), and presently they
saw, a long way off, a great and terrible wolf, with a head of steel.
They immediately prepared to defend themselves, and when they were
within bow-shot of the wolf, Boy-Beautiful put his bow to his eye.

The wolf seeing this, cried: “Stay thy hand, Boy-Beautiful, and slay me
not, and it will be well for thee one day!” Boy-Beautiful listened to
him, and let his bow fall, and the wolf drawing nigh, asked them where
they were going, and what they were doing in that wood, untrodden by the
foot of man. Then Boy-Beautiful told him the whole story of the golden
apples in his father’s garden, and said they were seeking after the
thief.

The wolf told him that the thief was the Emperor of the Birds, who,
whenever he set out to steal apples, took with him in his train all the
birds of swiftest flight, that so they might strip the orchards more
rapidly, and that these birds were to be found in the city on the
confines of this wood. He also told them that the whole household of the
Emperor of the Birds lived by the robbing of gardens and orchards; and
he showed them the nearest and easiest way to the city. Then giving
them a little apple most lovely to look upon, he said to them: “Accept
this apple, Boy-Beautiful! Whenever thou shouldst have need of me, look
at it and think of me, and immediately I’ll be with thee!”

Boy-Beautiful took the apple, and concealed it in his bosom, and bidding
the wolf good-day, struggled onwards with his faithful servant through
the thickets of the forest, till he came to the city where the
robber-bird dwelt. All through the city he went, asking where it was,
and they told him that the Emperor of that realm had it in a gold cage
in his garden.

That was all he wanted to know. He took a turn round the court of the
Emperor, and noted in his mind all the ramparts which surrounded the
court. When it was evening, he came thither with his faithful servant,
and hid himself in a corner, waiting till all the dwellers in the palace
had gone to rest. Then the faithful servant gave him a leg-up, and
Boy-Beautiful, mounting on his back, scaled the wall, and leaped down
into the garden. But the moment he put his hand on the cage, the Emperor
of the Birds chirped, and before you could say boo! he was surrounded by
a flock of birds, from the smallest to the greatest, all chirping in
their own tongues. They made such a noise that they awoke all the
servants of the Emperor. They rushed into the garden, and there they
found Boy-Beautiful, with the cage in his hand, and all the birds
darting at him, and he defending himself as best he could. The servants
laid their hands upon him, and led him to the Emperor, who had also got
up to see what was the matter.

“I am sorry to see thee thus, Boy-Beautiful,” cried the Emperor, for he
knew him. “If thou hadst come to me with good words, or with entreaties,
and asked me for the bird, I might, perhaps, have been persuaded to give
it to thee of my own good-will and pleasure; but as thou hast been taken
hand-in-sack, as they say, the reward of thy deed according to our laws
is death, and thy name will be covered with dishonour.”

“Illustrious Emperor,” replied Boy-Beautiful, “these same birds have
stolen the golden apples from the apple-tree of my father’s garden, and
therefore have I come all this way to lay hands on the thief.”

“What thou dost say may be true, Boy-Beautiful, but I have no power to
alter the laws of this land. Only a signal service rendered to our
empire can save thee from a shameful death.”

“Say what that service is, and I will venture it.”

“Listen then! If thou dost succeed in bringing me the saddle-horse in
the court of the Emperor my neighbour, thou wilt depart with thy face
unblackened, and thou shalt take the bird in its cage along with thee.”

Boy-Beautiful agreed to these conditions, and that same day he departed
with his faithful servant.

On reaching the court of the neighbouring Emperor he took note of the
horse and of all the environs of the court. Then as evening drew near,
he hid with his faithful servant in a corner of the court which seemed
to him to be a safe ambuscade. He saw the horse walked out between two
servants, and he marvelled at its beauty. It was white, its bridle was
of gold set with gems inestimable, and it shone like the sun.

In the middle of the night, when sleep is most sweet, Boy-Beautiful bade
his faithful servant stoop down, leaped on to his back, and from thence
on to the wall, and leaped down into the Emperor’s courtyard. He groped
his way along on the tips of his toes till he came to the stable, and
opening the door, put his hand on the bridle and drew the horse after
him. When the horse got to the door of the stable and sniffed the keen
air, it sneezed once with a mighty sneeze that awoke the whole court. In
an instant they all rushed out, laid hands on Boy-Beautiful, and led him
before the Emperor, who had also been aroused, and who when he saw
Boy-Beautiful knew him at once. He reproached him for the cowardly deed
he had nearly accomplished, and told him that the laws of the land
decreed death to all thieves, and that he had no power against those laws. Then Boy-Beautiful told him of
the theft of the golden apples by the birds, and of what the
neighbouring Emperor had told him to do. Then said the Emperor: “If,
Boy-Beautiful, thou canst bring me the divine Craiessa,[2] thou mayest
perhaps escape death, and thy name shall remain untarnished.”
Boy-Beautiful risked the adventure, and accompanied by his faithful
servant set off on his quest. While he was on the road, the thought of
the little apple occurred to him. He took it from his bosom, looked at
it, and thought of the wolf, and before he could wipe his eyes the wolf
was there.

“What dost thou desire, Boy-Beautiful?” said he.

“What do I desire, indeed!--look here, look here, look here, what has
happened to me! Whatever am I to do to get out of this mess with a good
conscience?”

“Rely upon me, for I see I must finish this business for thee.” So they
all three went on together to seek the divine Craiessa.

When they drew nigh to the land of the divine Craiessa they halted in
the midst of a vast forest, where they could see the Craiessa’s dazzling
palace, and it was agreed that Boy-Beautiful and his servant should
await the return of the wolf by the trunk of a large tree. The proud
palace of the divine Craiessa was so grand and beautiful, and the style
and arrangement thereof so goodly, that the wolf could scarce take his
eyes therefrom. But when he came up to the palace he did what he could,
and crept furtively into the garden.

And what do you think he saw there? Not a single fruit-tree was any
longer green. The stems, branches, and twigs stood there as if some one
had stripped them naked. The fallen leaves had turned the ground into a
crackling carpet. Only a single rose-bush was still covered with leaves
and full of buds, some wide open and some half closed. To reach this
rose-bush the wolf had to tread very gingerly on the tips of his toes,
so as not to make the carpet of dry leaves crackle beneath him; and so
he hid himself behind this leafy bush. As now he stood there on the
watch, the door of the dazzling palace was opened, and forth came the
divine Craiessa, attended by four-and-twenty of her slaves, to take a
walk in the garden.

When the wolf beheld her he was very near forgetting what he came for
and coming out of his lair, though he restrained himself; for she was so
lovely that the like of her never had been and never will be seen on the
face of the whole earth. Her hair was of nothing less than pure gold,
and reached from top to toe. Her long and silken eyelashes seemed
almost to put out her eyes. When she looked at you with those large
sloe-black eyes of hers, you felt sick with love. She had those
beautifully-arched eyebrows which look as if they had been traced with
compasses, and her skin was whiter than the froth of milk fresh from the
udder.

After taking two or three turns round the garden with her slaves behind
her, she came to the rose-bush and plucked one or two flowers, whereupon
the wolf who was concealed in the bush darted out, took her in his front
paws, and sped down the road. Her servants scattered like a bevy of
young partridges, and in an instant the wolf was there, and put her, all
senseless as she was, in the arms of Boy-Beautiful. When he saw her he
changed colour, but the wolf reminded him that he was a warrior and he
came to himself again. Many Emperors had tried to steal her, but they
had all been repulsed.

Boy-Beautiful had compassion upon her, and he now made up his mind that
nobody else should have her.

When the divine Craiessa awoke from her swoon and found herself in the
arms of Boy-Beautiful, she said: “If _thou_ art the wolf that hath
stolen me away, I’ll be thine.” Boy-Beautiful replied: “Mine thou shalt
be till death do us part.”

So they made a compact of it, and they told each other their stories.

When the wolf saw the tenderness that had grown up between them he said:
“Leave everything to me, and your desires shall be fulfilled!” Then they
set out to return from whence they had just come, and, while they were
on the road, the wolf turned three somersaults and made himself exactly
like the divine Craiessa, for you must know that this wolf was a
magician.

Then they arranged among themselves that the faithful servant of
Boy-Beautiful should stand by the trunk of a great tree in the forest
till Boy-Beautiful returned with the steed. So on reaching the court of
the Emperor who had the steed, Boy-Beautiful gave him the made-up divine
Craiessa, and when the Emperor saw her his heart died away within him,
and he felt a love for her which told in words would be foolishness.

“Thy merits, Boy-Beautiful,” said the Emperor, “have saved thee this
time also from a shameful death, and now I’ll pay thee for this by
giving thee the steed.” Then Boy-Beautiful put his hand on the steed and
leaped into the jewelled saddle, and, reaching the tree, placed the
divine Craiessa in front of him and galloped across the boundaries of
that empire.

And now the Emperor called together all his counsellors and went to the
cathedral to be married to the divine Craiessa. When they got to the
door of the cathedral, the pretended Craiessa turned a somersault three
times and became a wolf again, which, gnashing its teeth, rushed
straight at the Emperor’s retinue, who were stupefied with terror when
they saw it. On coming to themselves a little, they gave chase with
hue-and-cry: but the wolf, take my word for it! took such long strides
that not one of them could come near him, and joining Boy-Beautiful and
his friends went along with them. When they drew nigh to the court of
the Emperor with the bird, they played him the same trick they had
played on the Emperor with the horse. The wolf changed himself into the
horse, and was given to the Emperor, who could not contain himself for
joy at the sight of it.

After entertaining Boy-Beautiful with great honour, the Emperor said to
him: “Boy-Beautiful, thou hast escaped a shameful death. I will keep my
imperial word and my blessing shall always follow thee.” Then he
commanded them to give him the bird in the golden cage, and
Boy-Beautiful took it, wished him good-day, and departed. Arriving in
the wood where he had left the divine Craiessa, his horse, and his
faithful servant, he set off with them for the court of his father.

But the Emperor who had received the horse commanded that his whole host
and all the grandees of his empire should assemble in the plain to see
him mount his richly-caparisoned goodly steed. And when the soldiers
saw him they all cried: “Long live the Emperor who hath won such a
goodly steed, and long live the steed that doth the Emperor so much
honour!”

And, indeed, there was the Emperor mounting on the back of the horse,
but no sooner did it put its foot to the ground than it flew right away.
They all set off in pursuit, but there was never the slightest chance of
any of them catching it, for it left them far behind from the first.
When it had got a good way ahead the pretended horse threw the Emperor
to the ground, turned head over heels three times and became a wolf, and
set off again in full flight, and ran and ran till it overtook
Boy-Beautiful. Then said the wolf to him: “I have now fulfilled all thy
demands. Look to thyself better in future, and strive not after things
beyond thy power, or it will not go well with thee.” Then their roads
parted, and each of them went his own way.

When he arrived at the empire of his father the old Emperor came out to
meet his youngest son with small and great as he had agreed. Great was
the public joy when they saw him with a consort the like of whom is no
longer to be found on the face of the earth, and with a steed the
excellence whereof lives only in the tales of the aged. When he got
home Boy-Beautiful ordered a splendid stable to be made for his good
steed, and put the bird-cage in the terrace of the garden. Then his
father prepared for the wedding, and after not many days Boy-Beautiful
and the divine Craiessa were married; the tables were spread for good
and bad, and they made merry for three days and three nights. After that
they lived in perfect happiness, for Boy-Beautiful had now nothing more
to desire. And they are living to this day, if they have not died in the
meantime.

And now I’ll mount my steed again and say an “Our Father” before I go.

[1] Compare the incident of the Bird Zhar in my _Russian Fairy Tales_.
[2] Queen.