She bade him sit at the table, and gave him food and brought him a little flask of the water of strength.
"Strong you are," says she, "but not strong enough for what is before you. Drink this, and your strength will be greater than it is; for you will need all the strength you have and can win, if you are to rescue us and live."
Sunrise looked in her sweet eyes, and drank the water of strength in a single draught, and felt gigantic power forcing its way throughout his body.
"Now," thought he, "let come what may."
Instantly a violent wind rushed through the copper palace, and the Princess trembled.
"The snake that holds me here is coming," says she. "He is flying hither on his strong wings."
She took the great hand of the bogatir in her little fingers, and drew him to another room, and hid him there.
The copper palace rocked in the wind, and there flew into the great hall a huge snake with three heads. The snake hissed loudly, and called out in a whistling voice,—
"I smell the smell of a Russian soul. What visitor have you here?"