Vasily Buslaevich, the Brave of Novgorod

In glorious Nóvgorod the Great, dwelt old Buslai for the space of ninety years. He dwelt in peace with Nóvgorod, challenging it not, and had no dispute with the men thereof. At length he died, being full of years, and left great possessions, a widow, and an amiable son, young Vasiliushka Buslaevich, the child of his old age.

When Vasiliushka had attained to seven years, his mother sent him to learn to read and write. In this he succeeded well, likewise in church singing: in all Nóvgorod the Glorious there was no singer equal to him. Then he began to roam the city, to loiter in princely courts, to consort with foolish fellows and many pot-house sots, and to jest in rude fashion with noble and princely children. When he plucked at a hand, it was torn away from the shoulder; each foot he pulled dropped off with the leg attached; heads at his touch spun round like buttons; when he knocked two or three children together, they lay as dead.

Then came people from the Princes of Nóvgorod to the very honorable widow, to make complaint of her son; and they besought her to put a stop to his crippling the children. Thereupon she reprimanded and upbraided Vasily, weeping bitterly the while:

"My sweet child," she said, "why goest thou about Nóvgorod making cripples? At thy age thy father had not a hundred rubles in his pocket, but he had a brave body-guard. — But thou hast neither brother nor brave guards, and thou wilt never be able to settle matters with any one."

Vasily liked not this word, and ascended to his lofty tower. There he sat himself down in his folding-chair, and wrote many a scroll with speed, and wisely were the words ordered therein: "Whoso will eat savory viands all ready to hand, drink green wine without price, and wear flowered raiment of divers hues, let him repair to Vaska's court."

Then he bound these scrolls to stout arrows, and shot them into Nóvgorod. As the men of Nóvgorod came from church, they gathered them up in the streets and lanes; and some who could read chancing there, they looked upon the scrolls, and interpreted them: "Vasily commandeth us to an honorable feast."

Young Vasily Buslaevich made ready for his guests. He rolled a cask of green wine of forty buckets from his vaults, and set it in the midst of his court, and took to himself a cudgel of red elm.

"Whosoever shall lift in one hand a cup of this wine, in weight a pood and a half, and shall quaff it at a breath, and shall likewise withstand a blow from my red elm upon his turbulent head, he shall make one of my brave body-guard," quoth Vasily.

That night he slept in his lofty tower, on a bed of down laid upon a little couch of smoothed planks.

The next morning, very early, the honorable widow Avdótya Vasilievna paced her palace, and looked out upon her spacious court-yard; and lo! it was black with the assembled host. In haste she went to her dear son, and said:

"Thou sleepest, Vasiliushka, and takest thine ease, and knowest not the evil that standeth even now at thy gates. Lo! a force black as the raven is in thy court."

Vasily, when he heard that, sprang quickly to his nimble feet, grasped his red elm in his white hands, and went forth into the spacious court.

"Ai, Vasiliushka Buslaevich!" cried the men of Nóvgorod, "we stand now within thy court, and are minded to devour all thy viands, drink up all thy liquors, wear out all thy flowered garments, and drag forth thy golden treasure."

But this discourse pleased not Vasily. He leaped forth into the court, grasped his red elm more firmly, and began to brandish it. Where he swung it a lane appeared, where he drew it back, an alley; and he slew the men of Nóvgorod like a thunderstorm, so that they lay dead in heaps. And Vasily returned again to his lofty, golden-crowned tower.

Then came Kóstya New-trader, took a cup of green wine, raised it with one hand, drained it at a single draught. Thereupon Vasily sprang forth from the new hall, grasping his red elm, and smote Kóstya a deadly blow; but the chid stood firm and moved not, the black curls on his turbulent head waved not, the full cup in his hand was not spilled.

"Is my strength less than of old?" quoth Vasily: "doth not my red elm serve me as of yore?"

And lo! a little stone lay there, white and burning: on this he essayed his strength — and the stone was shivered to atoms.

"Ai, Kóstya New-trader!" he cried, "be thou of my brave body-guard, and enter now my palace of white stone."

Then came Lame Potányshka, lifted the great cup in one hand, drained off the green wine at a breath, and when he had withstood Vasily 's stern assault he likewise became one of the body-guard; and in like manner also, Kómushka the Hunchback.

These three went not forth from the new hall.

"Enter now my palace of white stone," quoth Vasily. "There we will quaff sweet liquors, and eat sugar viands; and there is none in Nóvgorod whom we must fear."

Thus did Vasily choose his brave body-guard, and chose these three, no more.

After that, Vasily made an honorable feast for the men of Nóvgorod. But when they came to it, he gave meat and drink to his guards, and gave neither meat, drink, nor honor to the men of Nóvgorod.

So when the men of Nóvgorod perceived that things were not well with them they said: "Cursed be thou, Vasily Buslaevich! We have come at thy bidding, yet have neither fared sumptuously, nor worn fine apparel. Therefore is eternal strife engendered." Then they took counsel together, and said:

"Children! let us turn Vasiliushka into a laughing-stock: let us make an honorable feast for Vasily, and let us not bid him to it — this miserable little Vasily!"

So they made their feast. And when Vasily heard of it, he said: "My lady mother, I shall go to that feast."

Avdótya Vasilievna, that honorable widow, would have dissuaded him. "My dear chid," she spoke, "there is room for the guest who is bidden, but not for him who is unbidden."

Nevertheless Vasily hearkened not to his mother's counsel. He took his brave body-guard, and went to the feast. He asked no leave of the gate-keepers, nor yet of the lackeys at the doors, but entered straight the banquet-hall. He set his right foot in the hall, his left on the oaken table in the great corner, and flung himself on the wall-bench in the comer by the oven, stretching out his right hand and his right foot.

The guests all came to the oven-comer; and Vasily moved to the comer by the door, and stretched out his left hand and left foot. Thereupon the guests went to the new hall, and some fled to their homes in terror.

Then Vasily went to the oaken tables with his body-guard, and all the guests assembled again, and said: "Though thou hast taken thy seat in the great corner, Vasily Buslaevich, yet art thou an unbidden guest, while we are bidden."

Thereto Vasily made answer: "Though I be an unbidden guest, where I am placed, there will I sit; and what cometh under my hand, that will I eat and drink."

The red sun declined to even, the feast waxed mirthful; all the guests grew drunken and merry, and began to make great brags. Thereupon Vasily, with drunken and stupid mind, laid a great wager, even his turbulent head, that he would go on the morrow to the bridge over the Vólkof, and there, with the sole aid of his good guard, hold his own against all Nóvgorod.

When he left the feast, and returned home to his princely palace with drooping head, and eyes fixed on the ground, his mother inquired the cause of his sadness.

"Did they pass thee with the cup, or did some drunken churl jeer at thee?"

Vasily could make no reply, but his brave body-guard told her all. Then Avdótya Vasilievna put her shoes in haste upon her bare feet, cast her mantle of sables upon one shoulder, took her golden keys, and went to her deep vaults. There she heaped a bowl with red gold, another with pure silver, and yet a third with fair round pearls, and came to the honorable feast. She crossed herself as prescribed, did reverence in courteous wise, and said:

"Hail, ye men of Nóvgorod! Forgive now Vasily his fault."

But they refused to accept her gifts, or to pardon Vasily. "If the Lord help us to take Vasily, we will ride his good steeds, wear his flowered garments, and squander his golden treasure. We will pardon him when we shall have cut off his head!"

Then Avdótya Vasilievna went home in grief and sadness, scattering the red gold, pure silver, and fair round pearls over the open plain, saying: "Not this is dear to me, but the turbulent head of my beloved son, young Vasily Buslaevich!"

So when she was come to her own dwelling, she gave Vasily to drink of the cup of forgetfulness, led him to a deep dungeon, and locked him securely therein. Then she loosed his good steed in the open plain, and hid his red-elm cudgel of forty poods, his sharp sword, and heroic garments.

Early the next morning, Vasily's brave troop took their stand by the Vólkof river, and began to contend with the men of Nóvgorod.

AU that day they fought without eating; a second day and night they fought without drinking, and yet a third day without pausing to rest.

In the mean while Vasily slept, and took his ease, knowing naught of the evil that was come upon them. But a brave, black-visaged handmaiden, who went with her oaken buckets and her maple yoke to the stream for fresh water, beheld the evil case of the bold youths. She seized her yoke, and began to brandish it, and slew four hundred men therewith. Then she ran very quickly, and came to the dungeon, and cried:

"Sleepest thou. Vasily, and wilt not waken? Upon yon Vólkof bridge thy brave guards stand up to their knees in blood, and captive, their heads broken with whips, their hands bound with their girdles."

Thereupon Vasily entreated the black-visaged maid: "Release me from this dungeon, and I will give thee golden treasure as much as thou desirest."

So she undid the door, breaking the lock with her maple yoke, and let Vasily out into the white world. And since he could not find his warlike harness, his mace and sharp spear, he wrenched the iron axle from a cart which stood near by (its length was two fathoms, and its weight forty poods), — threw it over his heroic shoulder, and said:

"I thank thee, damsel, that thou didst not let my brave body-guard perish. I will reckon with thee hereafter, but now I must not tarry," and therewith departed.

When he came to the Vólkof bridge, and found all as the maiden had told him, he shouted:

"Ai, my brave body-guard! Ye have breakfasted, now let me dine. 'Twas not I, brothers, who betrayed ye, but my own mother. Go now, my well-beloved brothers, and rest, while I play with these children."

Then he began to stride about upon the bridge, brandishing his axle, and the men of Nóvgorod fell in heaps before him. The princes perceived that their pitiless inevitable fate was come upon them, and that Vasily would leave no man alive of all Nóvgorod, and so went with the Voivóda and the Elder to his lady mother, and spoke this word:

"Ai, thou honorable widow, Avdótya Vasilievna! Curb thy dear child, young Vasily Buslaevich; soften his heroic heart, that he may leave but a handful of our men alive." But she replied:

"I dare not, ye princes of Nóvgorod. I have done him grievous wrong, in that I confined him in a deep dungeon. But my dear child hath a godfather, the Ancient Pilgrim, who dwelleth in the Sergiei monastery. He hath great power; ask him."

So the princes went to the Ancient Pilgrim, and told him all; and he sorrowed greatly, but made ready to go. He leaped into the lofty belfry, tore down the great bell of St. Sophia, in weight three thousand poods, and set it on his head, as a good cap. When he set out for the Vólkof bridge, he leaned upon the clapper for a staff, and the bridge bent beneath him as he went.

Straight up to Vasily's clear eyes he strode, and spoke: "My godchild! Restrain thy heroic heart; spare at least a remnant of these men."

But Vasily's heroic heart grew hot at this speech.

"Ai, my godfather!" quoth he. "If I gave thee no egg at Easter-tide, yet take thou this red one now at Peter's day. Christ is arisen!"

Thereupon he smote the Ancient Pilgrim upon the great bell of Sophia, with his axle; and after that one blow, the Pilgrim's praise was sung.

But Vasily seized the great clapper, and continued to slay the men of Nóvgorod. At length the princes prevailed upon his mother to make

. The Easter greeting in Russia. ' He was dead.

intercession for them. So she arrayed herself in a robe of black, threw a cloak of sables about her shoulders, set a helmet on her turbulent head, and went to her dear child. The old woman was wise, and approached him not from before, but crept up behind him, fell upon his mighty shoulders, and entreated him. Vasily dropped his arms, the axle fell from his hands to damp mother earth, and he said:

"Fair lady mother! thou art a cunning old woman and a wise! Thou hast known how to break my great power, by coming upon me from behind; for if thou hadst approached me from before, I should not have spared thee, my lady mother, but should have slain thee in the stead of a man of Nóvgorod."

Then came the Princes, the Voivóda, and the Elders of Nóvgorod, and fell at Vasily's feet, and prayed him to be their guest.

And they besought him also to gather up the bodies of the slain, and give them to damp mother earth; for the waters of the Vólkof ran blood for a full verst.

Vasily gave command that all this should be done, and went to the banquet, but felt ill at ease there, and so returned to his palace of white stone, to his lady mother, and his brave body-guard.

There he lived at ease, healing the wounds of his good guards, and restoring them to their strength of former days.

By glorious Nóvgorod the Great, and on famous Ilmen Lake, swam and floated a gray drake, and dived like a fearless duck: — there floated the red ship of young Vasily Buslaevich, and thereon Vasily and his brave troop. Kóstya held the helm, little Potányshka stood on the prow, and Vasily paced the vessel, uttering these words: "My bright body-guard and brave, all my good youths and bold! Set our vessel against Ilmen, and sail to Nóvgorod."

With anchors they caught the shore, threw out gangways to the bank, and Vasily went to his lordly court, followed by his brave troop, leaving but a watch behind.

When he came to his lady mother, he wound about her like a convolvulus vine, and besought her great blessing to go to Jerusalem town with his band; there to pray the Lord, to worship at the holy of holies, to visit the grave of the Lord, and bathe in the Jordan river.

"Ai, my dear child," his mother made answer, "if thou goest for a good purpose, I will give thee my great blessing, but if thou goest to rob, I will not give it; and may the damp earth not bear Vasily!"

Stone softeneth in the fire, steel melteth in the glow, her mother's heart gave way: she gave Vasily stores of bread, and far-reaching weapons.

"Defend thy turbulent head, Vasily!" she said.

Then in haste he assembled his good youths, and when they had taken leave of his widowed mother, they embarked on their scarlet vessel, raised the delicate linen sails, and ran out upon Lake Ilmen.

They had sailed a second day, and e'en a second week, when there came to meet them mariner guests.

Hail, Vasily Buslaevich! "they said." Whither, O youth, art thou pleased to journey? "

"I journey, O mariners," Vasily made answer, "an unwilling way. In my youth I killed and stole much: in my old age I must save my soul. Inform me, good youths, the straight way to the holy city of Jerusalem."

Then they told him that the straight way demanded a seven weeks' journey, and the way about, a year and a half. But upon the glorious Caspian sea was a stout barrier; for the chieftains of the Cossacks, three thousand in number, made their lair on the Island of Kuminsk, robbing barks and galleons, destroying scarlet ships.

"I believe neither dream nor vision," quoth Vasily; "I trust in my red elm alone: haste now, my children, by the straight way!"

When Vasily espied a lofty mountain, he ran quickly in to the steep shores, and ascended that Sorochinsky hill, and after him flew his brave troop.

At mid-ascent, an empty human skull lay in the road, and human bones; Vasily spurned them from the path, whereupon the skull addressed him: "Hey, Vasily Buslaevich! Why dost thou cast me aside? I was no worse than thou, O youth! And I know how to defend myself. On this Sorochinsky mountain, where lieth this empty skull of a youth, shall lie likewise the head of Vasily."

Vasily spat and passed on. "Either the Enemy speaketh in thee, thou skull, or an unclean spirit!" he said, and proceeded up the mountain. On the very peak thereof stood a stone, three full fathoms broad; across it only an axe might be hurled: its length was three arshins and a quarter; and on it was written this inscription, "He who shall solace himself at this stone, and divert himself by leaping along this stone, shall break his turbulent head."

This Vasily believed not, and began to divert himself with his brave guards, by leaping across the stone. Nevertheless, lengthwise they did not dare to leap.

At length they descended from the Sorochinsky mountains, embarked again upon their scarlet ships, spread their sails of fine linen, and ran across the Caspian sea to that barrier to shipping where the robber Cossacks with their aged chieftains held their stand. At the landing stood a hundred men; nevertheless, young Vasily approached, cast out landing-stages upon the steep shore, and sprang to land, leaning upon his red elm.

Then all the bold and goodly youths, the guard, were terrified, and did not long await his coming, but fled to the chieftains of the Cossacks.

The atamans sat, marvelling not, and said:

"We have defended this isle these thirty years past, and have beheld no great terror. 'Tis young Vasily Buslaevich who cometh with falcon flight, and youthful daring."

Vasily and his band strode up to the Cossack chiefs, and stood in a single ring. Then Vasily bowed low, and spake this word: "Hail, ye Cossack chieftains! Tell me now the straight road to the holy city of Jerusalem."

Said the atamans: "Ho, Vasily Buslaevich! We pray thee to eat bread with us at one table."

And Vasily refused not, but sat with them at one table.

When they poured out green wine, he grasped the cup in one hand, and emptied it at a single draught: — and the measure of the cup was a bucket and a half. Thereat the chieftains marvelled greatly, for they could not drink so much as half a bucket. And when they had broken bread, Vasily betook himself once more to his scarlet ships; and the chieftains gave him gifts — a bowl of red gold, a bowl of pure silver, and a third bowl of fair round pearls. For these Vasily returned thanks, and did them reverence, craving a guide to Jerusalem. This they refused not, but having given him a young guide they took their leave of him.

Then Vasily and his brave troop hoisted their sails of fine linen, and ran out upon the Caspian sea. When they came to Jordan river, they threw out strong anchors, and landing-stages upon the precipitous banks; and Vasily and his bold youths entered Jerusalem town.

He came to the cathedral church, served a mass for his mother's health, and for himself, and a mass with service for the soul of his father and all his family. On the next day was celebrated a service with prayers for the bold good youths, who from their young years up had slain and stolen much. Vasily prayed before the holy of holies, bathed in Jordan, reckoned with the popes and deacons, gave gold without stint to the aged people who depended on the church, and embarked again with his band on his scarlet ships.

Then the guards bathed in Jordan river, and an aged crone came to them, and said:

"Wherefore bathe ye naked in Jordan? None must bathe naked therein save only Vasily Buslaevich! For Jesus Christ the Lord himself bathed in Jordan river. And ye shall lose your great chieftain, Vasily Buslaevich."

"Our Vasily will not believe that, either in dream or vision," said they.

A little space thereafter, Vasily came to his men, and gave order that the ships should be sent out of the mouth of the Jordan river.

So they sailed across the Caspian sea, and came to the Island of Kuminsk where he bowed before the Cossack captains. With them he talked not much, when they inquired if he had journeyed in safety to Jerusalem; but gave into their hands a writing which laid many labors upon them, and held a service with prayers for the youths. Then those Cossack chieftains bade Vasily to eat with them; but he consented not, and taking leave of them shortly, set out upon the Caspian for Nóvgorod.

When they had sailed a week, and yet a second, Vasily espied the Sorochinsky mountain, and was fain to view it once again. So they ran up to it, threw out their landing-stages, and began to ascend.

On the summit lay the stone with its inscription, which Vasily believed not. And after he had made merry and diverted himself with his body-guard, leaping across the stone, he was minded to essay a leap lengthwise. He leaped but a quarter way, and falling, was killed upon the stone. And where the empty skull had lain, there they buried Vasily.

Then his good body-guard sailed home to Nóvgorod, and coming to his mother, the honorable widow, they did homage, and laid a letter in her hand. When she had read it, she wept, and said: "Ai, ye bold and goodly youths! There is nothing now which I may do for ye. — Yet go ye into my deep vaults, and take golden treasure without stint."

So the black - visaged handmaiden led them thither, and when they had taken a little gold they came and gave thanks to Avdótya Vasilievna for her hospitality, in that she had fed, clothed, and shod the good youths. Then she commanded that a cup of green wine should be given to each, and when they had drunk it, they bowed low before her.

And after that, the good youths went their way, each youth wheresoever he listed.