Old Peters Russian Tales | Page 9

Russia have kept the silver saucer and the transparent
apple, so that, whenever they wish, they can see everything that is
going on all over Russia. Perhaps even now the Tzar, the little
father--God preserve him!--is spinning the apple in the saucer, and

looking at us, and thinking it is time that two little pigeons were in bed.
* * * * *
"Is that the end?" said Vanya.
"That is the end," said old Peter.
"Poor shepherd boy!" said Maroosia.
"I don't know about that," said old Peter. "You see, if he had married
the little pretty one, and had to have all the family to live with him, he
would have had them in a hut like ours instead of in a great palace, and
so he would never have had room to get away from them. And now,
little pigeons, who is going to be first into bed?"

SADKO.
In Novgorod in the old days there was a young man--just a boy he
was--the son of a rich merchant who had lost all his money and died.
So Sadko was very poor. He had not a kopeck in the world, except
what the people gave him when he played his dulcimer for their
dancing. He had blue eyes and curling hair, and he was strong, and
would have been merry; but it is dull work playing for other folk to
dance, and Sadko dared not dance with any young girl, for he had no
money to marry on, and he did not want to be chased away as a beggar.
And the young women of Novgorod, they never looked at the
handsome Sadko. No; they smiled with their bright eyes at the young
men who danced with them, and if they ever spoke to Sadko, it was just
to tell him sharply to keep the music going or to play faster.
So Sadko lived alone with his dulcimer, and made do with half a loaf
when he could not get a whole, and with crust when he had no crumb.
He did not mind so very much what came to him, so long as he could
play his dulcimer and walk along the banks of the little[1] river
Volkhov that flows by Novgorod, or on the shores of the lake, making
music for himself, and seeing the pale mists rise over the water, and

dawn or sunset across the shining river.
"There is no girl in all Novgorod as pretty as my little river," he used to
say, and night after night he would sit by the banks of the river or on
the shores of the lake, playing the dulcimer and singing to himself.
Sometimes he helped the fishermen on the lake, and they would give
him a little fish for his supper in payment for his strong young arms.
And it happened that one evening the fishermen asked him to watch
their nets for them on the shore, while they went off to take their fish to
sell them in the square at Novgorod.
[Footnote 1: The Volkhov would be a big river if it were in England,
and Sadko and old Peter called it little only because they loved it.]
Sadko sat on the shore, on a rock, and played his dulcimer and sang.
Very sweetly he sang of the fair lake and the lovely river--the little
river that he thought prettier than all the girls of Novgorod. And while
he was singing he saw a whirlpool in the lake, little waves flying from
it across the water, and in the middle a hollow down into the water.
And in the hollow he saw the head of a great man with blue hair and a
gold crown. He knew that the huge man was the Tzar of the Sea. And
the man came nearer, walking up out of the depths of the lake--a huge,
great man, a very giant, with blue hair falling to his waist over his
broad shoulders. The little waves ran from him in all directions as he
came striding up out of the water.
Sadko did not know whether to run or stay; but the Tzar of the Sea
called out to him in a great voice like wind and water in a storm,--
"Sadko of Novgorod, you have played and sung many days by the side
of this lake and on the banks of the little river Volkhov. My daughters
love your music, and it has pleased me too. Throw out a net into the
water, and draw it in, and the waters will pay you for your singing. And
if you are satisfied with the payment, you must come and play to us
down in the green palace of the sea."

With that the Tzar of the Sea went down