to
show its close connection with flame or light,[371] and its appearance
corresponds with its designation. Its feathers blaze with silvery or
golden sheen, its eyes shine like crystal, it dwells in a golden cage.
In the depth of the night it flies into a garden, and lights it up as
brightly as could a thousand burning fires. A single feather from its
tail illuminates a dark room. It feeds upon golden apples which have
the power of bestowing youth and beauty, or according to a Croatian
version, on magic-grasses. Its song, according to Bohemian legends,
heals the sick and restores sight to the blind. We have already seen
that, as the Phoenix, of which it seems to be a Slavonic counterpart,
dies in the flame from which it springs again into life, so the
_Zhar-Ptitsa_ sinks into a death-like slumber when the day dawns, to
awake to fresh life after the sunset.

One of the skazkas[372] about the _Zhar-Ptitsa_ closely resembles the
well-known German tale of the Golden Bird.[373] But it is a
"Chap-book" story, and therefore of doubtful origin. King Vuislaf has
an apple-tree which bears golden fruits. These are stolen by a
_Zhar-Ptitsa_ which flies every night into the garden, so he orders
his sons to keep watch there by turns. The elder brothers cannot keep
awake, and see nothing; but the youngest of the three, Prince Ivan,
though he fails to capture the bird, secures one of its tail-feathers.
After a time he leaves his home and goes forth in search of the bird.
Aided by a wolf, he reaches the garden in which the _Zhar-Ptitsa_
lives, and succeeds in taking it out of its golden cage. But trying,
in spite of the wolf's warning, to carry off the cage itself, an alarm
is sounded, and he is taken prisoner. After various other adventures
he is killed by his envious brothers, but of course all comes right in
the end. In a version of the story which comes from the Bukovina, one
of the incidents is detailed at greater length than in either the
German or the Russian tale. When the hero has been killed by his
brothers, and they have carried off the _Zhar-Ptitsa_, and their
victim's golden steed, and his betrothed princess--as long as he lies
dead, the princess remains mute and mournful, the horse refuses to
eat, the bird is silent, and its cage is lustreless. But as soon as he
comes back to life, the princess regains her spirits, and the horse
its appetite. The _Zhar-Ptitsa_ recommences its magic song, and its
cage flashes anew like fir