if it had been a bridge or a road. As he stepped on it the whale said,
'Do tell me where you are going.'

'I am going to the Serpent King.'

And the whale begged: 'Think of me and say to the king: "The poor whale
has been lying three years across the strait, and men and horses have
nearly trampled his back into his ribs. Is he to lie there much longer?"'

'I will remember,' said Vassili, and he went on.

He walked, and walked, and walked, till he came to a great green meadow.
In the meadow stood a large and splendid castle. Its white marble walls
sparkled in the light, the roof was covered with mother o' pearl,
which shone like a rainbow, and the sun glowed like fire on the crystal
windows. Vassili walked in, and went from one room to another astonished
at all the splendour he saw.

When he reached the last room of all, he found a beautiful girl sitting
on a bed.

As soon as she saw him she said: 'Oh, Vassili, what brings you to this
accursed place?'

Vassili told her why he had come, and all he had seen and heard on the
way.

The girl said: 'You have not been sent here to collect rents, but for
your own destruction, and that the serpent may devour you.'

She had not time to say more, when the whole castle shook, and a
rustling, hissing, groaning sound was heard. The girl quickly pushed
Vassili into a chest under the bed, locked it and whispered: 'Listen to
what the serpent and I talk about.'

Then she rose up to receive the Serpent King.

The monster rushed into the room, and threw itself panting on the bed,
crying: 'I've flown half over the world. I'm tired, VERY tired, and want
to sleep--scratch my head.'

The beautiful girl sat down near him, stroking his hideous head, and
said in a sweet coaxing voice: 'You know everything in the world. After
you left, I had such a wonderful dream. Will you tell me what it means?'

'Out with it then, quick! What was it?'

'I dreamt I was walking on a wide road, and an oak tree said to me: "Ask
the king this: Rotten at the roots, half dead, and yet green stands the
old oak. Is it to stand much longer on the earth?"'

'It must stand till some one comes and pushes it down with his foot.
Then it will fall, and under its roots will be found more gold and
silver than even Mark the Rich has got.'

'Then I dreamt I came to a river, and the old ferryman said to me: "For
thirty year's the ferryman has rowed to and fro. Will the tired old man
have to row much longer?"'