As soon as Koshchéi went off to the hunt, Vassilissa Kirbítyevna took the goat and adorned it with ribbons and bells, and gilded its horns. Koshchéi saw the goat; again he laughed. “Oh, the woman is simple; her hair is long, but her wit is short!”
“My death is far from here. On the sea, on the ocean, is an island; on that island stands an oak; under the oak is buried a chest; in the chest is a hare, in the hare a duck, in the duck an egg, and in the egg my death,” said he, and flew away.
Vassilissa Kirbítyevna told all this to Ivan Tsarevich. They took supplies and went to find Koshchéi’s death. Whether they travelled long or short, they ate all their provisions and began to be hungry.
A dog with her whelps happened in their way. “I will kill her,” said Bulat the hero; “there is nothing else to eat.”
“Do not kill me,” said the dog, “do not make my children orphans, and I will serve thee myself.”
“Well, God be with thee.”
They went farther. On an oak was an eagle with eaglets. Said Bulat the hero: “I will kill the eagle.”
“Kill me not,” said the eagle, “make not my children orphans; I will serve thee myself.”
“Let it be so; live to thy health.”
They came to the ocean sea wide; on the shore a lobster was crawling. Said Bulat the hero: “I will kill it with a blow.”