Sweet Mikailo Ivanovich the Rover

Fair Sun Vladimir made a great and notable feast to his nobles and heroes. And when all had eaten and drunk thek fill, Prince Vladimir paced the banquet-hall, waved his right hand, and distributed service to his knights, to Ilyá of Múrom, Dobrynya Nikitich, and sweet Mikáilo Ivanovich. He poured out a cup of green wine, and gave to each sweet mead, saying:

"Taste now a cup of green wine, and serve me, your Prince, with perfect loyalty. Do thou, Old Cossack, Ilyá of Múrom, the chiefest of our Russian heroes, render a great service. Go thou to the Golden Horde, slay all infidels, both great and small, sparing none. Thou, young Dobrynya, must go to the glorious blue sea, and conquer it, and add territory to Holy Russia. Sweet Mikáilo the Rover shall be intrusted with a great mission — he shall go to the black halls in Podólia the crafty, and collect the gifts and tribute for the years that are past, and for this year — for twelve years and for half a year."

So these three heroes rode forth to the Levanídof oak, and swore brotherhood. Ilyá was the eldest brother, Mikáilo the next, and young Dobrynya the youngest. Then they made a covenant, that he who should first return should await the other two at that oak. With that they parted, riding different ways.

When Mikáilo was come to the famous black horde, he demanded the gifts and tribute due, — twelve swans, twelve white falcons, and a writing of submission.

But the men of Podólia assembled, and would not surrender the gifts and tribute. Then Mikáilo the Rover waxed very wroth, threw back his heroic shoulders, and began to kill and to destroy, so that the men of Podólia yielded and fetched the tribute.

So Mikáilo departed thence, and wandered by the blue sea, past warm and peaceful bays, shooting swans and geese. As he turned to leave the precipitous shore, he gazed out upon the quiet bay, and beheld a white swan floating there. Through her feathers she was all gold, and her head was covered with red gold, studded with fair round pearls.

Then Mikáilo drew from his bow-case his stout bow, from his quiver a burning arrow, grasped his bow in his left hand, the arrow.in his right, and laid the arrow to the silken cord. As he drew the stout bow to his ear, with the burning arrow of seven ells, the cord twanged, the horns of the great bow creaked, and he would have let fly. But the white swan besought him:

"Ai, Mikáilo Ivanovich the Rover, shoot not the white swan, else shalt thou have no luck for evermore!"

Then the swan rose over the blue sea upon her white wings, flew to the shore, and turned into a beauteous maiden. Mikáilo went to her, took her by her little white hands, by her golden ring, and would fain have kissed her upon her sugar mouth.

But the fair maid said: "Kiss me not, Mikáilo Rover, for I am of infidel race, Márya, Princess of Podólia, and unbaptized. If thou wilt take me to glorious Holy Russia, to famous Kief town the royal, I will go to mother church of God, and receive the Christian faith. Then will we take the golden crowns, and then also shalt thou kiss me if thou wilt." So they set out.

Ilyá of Múrom was come first to the Levanídof oak, and had brought with him gold in bulk like to a rick of hay. Next came young Dobrynya, and his gold was likewise like unto a hay-rick. The last to come was sweet Mikáilo the Rover, and not one copper coin brought he, but only sweet Márya, the White Swan of Podólia. Then spoke his brothers in arms:

"Hast thou been led astray by woman's wiles, Mikáilo Rover, that thou bringest hither no treasure? With what face wilt thou present thyself in

Kief?" But Mikáilo answered them that he would go straightway to Kief with his White Swan, and without red gold.

When they were come to Kief town, Ilyá and Dobrynya flung down their vast heaps of treasure, but Mikáilo led sweet Márya by the hand.

"How may I reward thee for this thy service?" quoth Vladimir of royal Kief "Shall I give the villages with their hamlets, cities with their suburbs, or countless golden treasure I"

"None of these do I require," said Mikáilo; "for whatsoever thou mightest bestow upon me, that should I squander in drink. Better will it be to give me an ukase with thy royal red seal, that I may go to all the pot-houses and drinking-houses, and drink green wine without payment, — that money be never required of me." Then Prince Vladimir gave Mikáilo that ukase with his fair seal gladly, and said:

"I sent them forth to find brides, but these two youths understood me not, — they coveted gold and silver. In our Holy Russian land, a race of young heroes is more precious than either silver or gold."

Then spoke sweet Mikáilo the Rover to Marinushka the White Swan: "Let us wed."

"Nay, not so, Mikáilo Rover," she replied, "but under one condition. Let us take a great and solemn oath that when either one of us shall die, the other shall go, living, into the grave with the dead, and there abide for the space of three months."

This oath they took, and were married in God's church. Then they began to live, and take their pleasure; and sweet Mikáilo went about from pot-house to pot-house, drinking green wine, — here a cup, there half a bucket, and again a bucket and a half.

— Again spoke Prince Vladimir to Mikáilo the Rover: "Lo! Bukár, king of the land beyond the sea, hath sent to demand tribute and gifts for twelve years, and if I give them not, he will come and destroy our royal Kief."

Quoth Mikáilo: "Write thou a scroll to that king beyond the sea: write that thou hast despatched the gifts and tribute by Mikáilo Ivanovich the Rover. But I will go without tribute."

So he went to Tzar Bukár in the kingdom beyond the sea, and saluted him. And Bukár inquked:

"Whence comest thou, good youth, from what land or horde?"

"From Kief town I come, young Mikáilo Ivanovich the Rover. I bring thee gifts and tribute for twelve years from that Fair Sun, Prince Vladimir."

"Where are these gifts and tribute?"

"All were sent in copper coin, and the carts broke down upon the road; the men are even now mending them."

"How divert ye yourselves with such joy in Russia?" asked Tzar Bukár.

"We play with ashen checkers upon boards of oak."

"Let us play at ashen checkers," quoth Bukár.

So they began to play. Tzar Bukár staked the gifts and tribute, and Mikáilo E.over staked his good steed and his turbulent head — and lost. Then they played another bout, and again Tzar Bukár staked the tribute, adding the good steed and the turbulent head. Mikáilo staked Márya the White Swan and his own mother — and won. Then Bukár waxed wroth, and staked the half of his kingdom, and Mikáilo staked the tribute. As Mikáilo won this game, the oaken doors were opened wide, and Ilyá of Múrom the Old Cossack strode in and spoke:

"My brother in arms, thou knowest not the evil fortune that hath befallen thee. Thou sittest here gaming and taking thy pleasure, while Márya the White Swan, thy young wife, Lieth dead in Kief town."

When sweet Mikáilo heard that, he sprang up, and hurled the chess-board full at the oaken door, so that the door and its framework flew outward.

"Take thou half the goods and kingdom of Tzar Bukár in this land beyond the sea, my brother in arms," said he, "and rule thou whilst I go home to Kief." Then quickly, quickly, very, very quickly, with speed, he rode to Kief town, to his palace of white stone. There he hired craftsmen, and they made him a spacious coffin of oak, wherein two might stand, or sit, or lie.

When this was done, he made provision of food and green wine for three months. And he fashioned for himself three pair of pincers and three rods of iron, and took his seat in the coffin with the dead body.

"Why take ye the rods and pincers?" asked Vladimir.

"That the dragons of the under-world may not crawl into the coffin and gnaw my white body."

They drew the White Swan's body to the grave on a sledge, with sweet Mikáilo alive beside it.

Then they lowered the coffin into the deep mound, and also his good steed with his rich trappings, and covered them with ruddy yellow sand. Three months did Mikáilo the Rover sit therein.

After that, a Dragon of the under-world crawled to the white oak coffin with her brood, pressed upon it, and the hoops began to burst asunder. Mikáilo sprang to his nimble feet. A second and yet a third time did the Dragon press, and thereupon the coffin yawned widely.

When that beast espied sweet Mikáilo, she rejoiced that she should have a living man to satisfy her hunger, as well as the dead body.

But Mikáilo seized the Dragon with his iron pincers, and began to smite her with the iron rods, and to cry: "Ai, thou Dragon of the under-world! Fetch me the waters of life and death to revive my young wife."

"Loose me, sweet Mikáilo Rover," the Dragon made answer, "and I will fly to the blue sea, and fetch thee those waters, to revive thy Russian beauty, in three years."

But he ceased not to belabor her stoutly, and without mercy; and she promised to fetch the waters in two years. Yet ceased he not until she had sworn to fetch them within three hours.

Then said he: "Give me as hostage, one of thy little Dragons." And when she gave it, he set his heel upon the little serpent, and crushed it to dust.

"Why hast thou destroyed my child X" the Dragon asked.

"Fetch me the waters," answered Mikáilo, "and I will revive thy child together with my young wife."

Then she made haste and fetched the waters, and sweet Mikáilo essayed them first upon the little dragon; — the first time he sprinkled it, the dragon flew together, at the second sprinkling it moved, at the third, it crawled forth from the coffin.

Then he sprinkled his Russian beauty, Márya the White Swan. First her blood played, then she moved, and at last sat upright in the coffin, and spoke: "Long have I slept, and suddenly arisen."

— It was on Sunday, when the nobles, princes, and mighty heroes were coming from the mass. Mikáilo shouted with full strength of his head, so that damp mother earth quaked, the waters were troubled with sand, Prince Vladimir's lofty palace rocked to and fro with the shout, and the nobles and heroes spoke among themselves: "Is not this a marvel, brothers, on land and sea?"

But Ilyá of Múrom made answer: "No marvel is it, nor monster issuing from the waters, or from some distant land. But the hero within the bosom of the earth is wearied of the dead body. Take, therefore, implements of iron, remove the yellow sands, and reach the coffin of white oak."

So they delved, and sweet Mikáilo the Rover came forth, leading his young wife by the sleeve.

Great fame of this heroic young woman went abroad throughout all lands and hordes. Never had such a beauty dwelt under the fair red sun. At the fame of her beauty came forty Tzars, Kings and Princes to the Sorochinsky mountains, and wrote a cartel in haste: "If the Fair Sun Prince Vladimir yield not that young heroic woman Without conflict or great battle, and in good will, then will we destroy all Kief town."

Thereupon came Prince Vladimir to Mikáilo: "Sweet Mikáilo Rover," he said, "destroy not my whole kingdom, I pray thee, for the sake of one woman. Deliver up thy young heroic wife, without conflict or great battle."

"Nay, Fair Sun Prince Vladimir," sweet Mikáilo made answer. "Deliver up thine own fair Princess Apráxia. But my wife I will not give with my own good will."

Then he disguised himself in woman's apparel, laid on his good steed his great battle-sword, his sharp blade, and rode forth to the Sorochinsky mountains. When he was come near to those Tzars and Kings, he pitched a tent of fair linen, shook down fine white Turkish wheat before his good steed, and lay down to sleep.

The Tzars and Princes sent an ambassador to inquire who had adventured so near them, and Mikáilo made answer:

"Márya the White Swan hath come to wed with the forty Tzars, Kings and Princes."

Then all those royal suitors donned their richest raiment, mounted their best steeds, and rode to the pavilion of linen.

"Foolish are ye, ye forty Tzars, Kings and Princes," quoth sweet Mikáilo. "I cannot marry all. Grant me therefore to shoot arrows, and he who first returneth with one shall have me."

To this they all agreed, and Mikáilo shot forty arrows, — some into the brushwood, some into the water: — and was it a light task to find them?

When the first Tzar fetched an arrow, Mikáilo struck off his head, and hid it in the pavilion, and so he did likewise with the second and the third, until all were slain, and not one of the forty royal suitors was left alive.

Then sweet Mikáilo rode back to Kief town, and his brothers in arms met him there, but not his young heroic wife. Mikáilo inquired of them where she was, and they replied: "Tzar Vakraméy Vakraméevich came hither, and carried off thy young wife to the Volhynian land."

Forthwith rode sweet Mikáilo in pursuit, eating not, drinking not, dismounting not from his good steed. When he came to Volhynia town, Márya espied him, and came forth to greet him with a kovsh of the liquor of forgetfulness.

"Ai, sweet Mikáilo Rover," said she: "I can neither eat nor drink nor live without thee. But woman's hair is long, her wits are short. Whither they lead us, there we must needs go, and Prince Vladimir gave me against my will. But now drain a bowl of the liquor of health, and thou shalt be yet stronger than of yore, Rover." So Mikáilo drained that bowl of the wine of oblivion, and fell unconscious there.

Then the White Swan went to Vakraméy Vakraméevich, and spoke this word: "Ai, Tzar Vakraméy, do what thou wilt with this man who is as dead."

But he spat in her eye: "One tree doth not make a dark forest, nor is one man a host on the open plain!"

Nevertheless she was distrustful, and took Mikáilo by his yellow curls, dragged him forth upon the open plain, swung him about her head, and flung him over her shoulder.

"Where stood sweet Rover Mikáilo, there henceforth let a white stone stand," she said. "Let it fly over the earth for the space of three years, and after that let it sink through the damp earth!" And sweet Mikáilo was turned into a stone straightway.

His brothers in arms, remembering sweet Mikáilo, grew weary with longing for him, and said: "Let us go, brothers, to the Volhynian land, to inquire whether our brother be slain or captive there." So they put on the weeds of wandering psalm-singers, threw pouches over their shoulders, took staves of forty poods, and set out.

As they journeyed to the Volhynian land, an aged man came to meet them in the way, and said:

"Take me with you as your comrade." And they did so, and came to the land of Volhynia, to Tzar Vakraméy.

There they beat upon the earth with their staves, and begged alms. The White Swan looked forth from the little lattice window, and perceived that the psalm-singers were come from Kief town, and that the third was a strange man, and said: "Ai, Tzar Vakraméy! summon these pilgrims into thy palace, feed them well, and give them wine until they are well drunken, and gold at thy desire."

So Tzar Vakraméy called them in; and the Russian heroes inquired of Márya the White Swan, where their brother in arms might be, sweet Rover Mikáilo.

"I grieve sore for sweet Mikáilo the Rover," she made answer; "but I know not where he is."

Then she gave them great alms, and much food and drink, so that they were intoxicated, and lay upon the floor. But the aged man ate not, drank not; and when Márya the White Swan sent twelve knights to kill the psalm-singers, that aged pilgrim brandished his staff, and slew them all, leaving not one alive.

When Tzar Vakraméy saw that his whole kingdom could not stand against that one pilgrim, he pondered what might chance when the other two should wake. So he went in haste to his deep vaults, took gold, silver, and fair round pearls, and gave to those psalm-singers; and the next morning they set out for Kief town.

As they journeyed, they came to a stone; and the aged pilgrim said: "I must leave you, brothers. Let us divide our possessions on this stone." Then he began to part the alms into four lots, whereat Ilyá could not restrain his restive heart, but spoke: "For whom is that fourth lot, thou stranger pilgrim?"

Said the wandering psalm-singer, the stranger: "It shall belong to him who shall raise this stone, and cast it over his shoulder, so that, falling upon the damp earth, it shall burst asunder."

Ilyá of Múrom sprang forward, grasped the stone, and raised it to his knees, — and sank to his knees in the damp earth. "Is this the devil or God's might, that is in this stone?" quoth he.

Then Dobrynya essayed to lift it, and could not so much as make a space for the air to pass beneath it. But the aged psalm-singer put his little hand beneath the stone, raised it to his shoulder, and as he flung it, he conjured it: "Break, stone! and let sweet Mikáilo the Rover appear in thy stead!"

Out sprang Mikáilo, crying, "Fy, fee, brothers! how long I have slept!"

Then spoke the aged pilgrim; "Mikáilo, when thou art come to Kief town, burn a candle to Saint Mikóla. And fare ye well now, ye mighty Russian heroes! pray to Mikóla of Mozhaisk, and he will raise you from the blue sea!" Therewith he vanished, leaving the money with them, and they saw not whither he went.

Rover Mikáilo took leave straightway of his brothers in arms, and returned to the land of Volhynia, and entered the spacious court of Tzar Vakraméy's palace,- and shouted in a heroic voice.

White Swan Márya heard that cry, and spoke to Tzar Vakraméy: "My former husband is come," then ran out to Mikáilo with a bowl of wine.

"Ai, sweet Mikáilo Rover!" she said, "without my hero I cannot live. It was not I, but Tzar Vakraméy, who imprisoned thee within that white and burning stone. But take now this bowl of wine in one hand, and empty it at a draught, and we will go to Kief town to courteous Prince Vladimir."

Now Mikáilo was susceptible to wine and woman's charms. He took the bowl, and quaffed the liquor, and where he drank, there he fell down in a stupor.

Then Márya the "White Swan seized him by his yellow curls, and dragged him to a deep dungeon, and there made him fast to the wall with nails through his hands and feet. Yet a fifth nail for his heroic heart was lacking, and Márya ran to the bazaar to buy one.

While she was gone, Anna the Fair, sister to Tzar Vakraméy, took a little serving-maid, and went to view the Russian hero; and as she looked, she loved. Mikáilo's stupor was already passed, and he began to entreat her to set him free.

"Take me for thy wife," she made answer, "and I will save thee from vain death."

And he swore to her, "If thou wilt but save me, I will sever the turbulent head of Márya the White Swan, and take the golden crown with thee."

Then she drew out the spikes with her fingernails, took in haste a Tatar chosen for his stature, hair and beauty, and fastened him to the wall in Mikáilo's stead, took sweet Mikáilo under her cloak of black sables, and led him across the spacious court. Tzar Vakraméy espied her, and inquired:

"What hast thou there beneath thy cloak?"

"I took a little maid with me," she answered, "to view the Russian hero, and she is frightened. I have her beneath my cloak, and am leading her to mine own chamber, to comfort her."

Márya the Swan returned with her nail, and perceived not that it was a Tatar in the dungeon, and not her husband.

When fair Anna had brought sweet Mikáilo to her lofty tower, she dressed his bleeding wounds with herbs for three months, and healed them, then asked: "Hast thou thy strength as of yore?"

And sweet Mikáilo made answer: "If I had but my suit of chain mail, my great battle-sword, and my good steed, I should not fear your Tzar Vakraméy."

"There was once a hero among us in past years," quoth Anna the Fair, "and to this day none in our kingdom can wear his armor, nor wield his brand, nor guide his good steed."

Then Mikáilo told her what she must do; and she lay as though ailing, and sent word to Tzar Vakraméy that some one should be sent to heal her. When the leech came she said:

"I slept, and dreamed that if I might but don a coat of mail, and ride a heroic steed over the open plain, it would be well with me once more."

So the good steed of that hero of past years was led forth; and Rover Mikáilo arrayed himself in woman's garb, laid the coat of mail upon the horse, grasped the bridle, and led him forth behind the city wall. There he put on the coat of mail, armed himself, and mounting leaped the wall, and came to Tzar Vakraméy's palace.

When White Swan Márya saw him, she said to Tzar Vakraméy: "Lo! my former husband is alive again: pour him a cup of green wine, and mingle the herb of sleep therein."

This Vakraméy did; and when Márya presented it to Rover Mikáilo, beseeching him to drink it, and return with her to Kief, he would, have done her bidding. But Anna the Fair thrust herself out of the lattice window to the girdle, and shrieked in a piercing voice: "Drink not, sweet Rover Mikáilo! Remember thine oath. If thou drink that wine, thou hast lost thyself forever."

Thereupon he dashed aside the cup, drew his sword of damascened steel, and cut off the head of Márya the White Swan.

Vakraméy also he would have slain, but that his sister begged for his life. So he left Vakraméy in possession of his kingdom, took the Princess Anna the Most Fair, and went to Kief town, to courteous Prince Vladimir. There they were married, and lived in happiness. And sweet Mikáilo Ivanovich the Rover built a church to Saint Mikóla of Mozhaisk.