should certainly have ordered his horse
a feed of corn after fasting so long.]

KING LONGBEARD

A story about King Berendey; his son Prince Ivan; about the cunning of the
immortal King Koshchey, and about the wisdom of his daughter, Princess
Mary.

Once upon a time there lived King Berendey, called Longbeard, for his beard
reached far below his knees. He lived very happily with his wife the queen,
but God gave no children to them, and this grieved the king very much.

The king had to visit his kingdom. He bade farewell to his queen, and
stayed away for a long time. At the end of the visit on a very warm
afternoon, when he was approaching his capital, he decided to stop for a
rest in the meadow. He felt very thirsty and wanted some cold water to
drink, but there was no water around. What should he do? He was all dried
up with thirst. So the king decided to ride all over the meadow, perhaps
he would strike a spring. And sure enough, he soon found a well.

Hurriedly he jumped down from his horse, and looked into the well. It was
full of water to the brim, and upon its surface there was floating a golden
cup. The king reached his hand after the cup, but he could not grasp it.
The cup swam away from his reach. He grasped impatiently at the amber
handle now with his right hand, now with his left; but the handle, quickly
turning to the left or to the right, as if but mocking the king, could not
be caught. What was the matter? The king waited until the cup stood up
again straight in the water, grasped it at once from the right and the
left, but in vain! Slipping out from his hands like a fish, the cup dived
straight to the bottom, and again it was swimming on the surface as if
nothing had happened.

"Now wait," thought King Longbeard, "I will drink without you," and
stretching himself upon the grass, he began to drink with eagerness the
cold spring water, forgetting about his beard, which was drowned in the
water.

When he had drunk enough, he wanted to raise his head, but he could not do
it: somebody was holding the king's beard and did not want to let it go.
Leaning upon the fence of the well, he tried to get himself loose, shook
himself, turned his head, but all was in vain; he could not free his beard.
"Let me go," cried he. No answer. Only a terrible monster looked up to him
from the bottom, two big eyes shining like emeralds; the widely open mouth
queerly smiling, two rows of shining pearly teeth, and a red