The old servant said nothing, but sought for the body and found it. “O thou my master and friend!” cried he, weeping. “Didst thou not feel the approach of those murderers, thou who didst terrify thousands so many times?” As he was weeping he turned, and through an opening saw the eyes of the key-bearer, Anval. “O thou enemy, why art thou looking?” called he then. “Give me some garment to cover my lord’s body, O thou heretic!” “Be off!” called out Anval; “dogs will eat up that body.” “Give this body to dogs! Remember, O reprobate, in what [[105]]clothes thou didst come to Prince Andrei; now thou art in velvet and cloth with gold threads in it, while thy lord is lying dead here, and naked. Even such as thou art, throw out to me something to cover my master.”
Anval threw out an upper garment and a piece of carpet. Kuzma covered the body, wrapped it in the carpet and carried it on his shoulders to the church, but no one would open the door to him. “Do not come with him here,” said they. At that moment all near were either on the side of Andrei’s enemies or in dread of them. Kuzma put down the body before the door and cried, stooping over it: “Thou my master, thou, O strong prince, thy lowest servants do not regard thee. Thou, O my master, who didst conquer the Balgars, and gain immense countries, art not admitted to the church which was built by thee. We are here at the door of it, I living and thou dead, and no one will admit us.”
The body lay there two days, wrapped in the carpet and guarded continually by Kuzma. In Vladimir the people were waiting in dread of the future. Those were two evil days, opened by murder and robbery in Bogolyuboff, and succeeded by violence from Andrei’s enemies. Every treasure was carried off, all that their hands could lay hold of. If any servant was faithful, he was slain without mercy. In neighboring villages they killed those who held office from Andrei, or were known to be friends of his. They raised riots to excite evil passions and help men to forget themselves. But many of those who committed such deeds were afraid, and with reason, that punishment would strike them from Vladimir.
That which failed the Vladimir men, namely courage, and which had to come, if it came, from some other source, came from the clergy, and began in the Golden-domed Church of Vladimir. The chief priest there was Mikulets, that same priest who in Vyshgorod had care of the holy image, and later assisted in bringing it to Vladimir. After consulting with other priests, Mikulets, arrayed in his robes, bore the sacred image of the Mother of God through the city. A procession followed him. The conspirators were dumb and complete quiet reigned in Vladimir. The people recovered their minds at once, and all joined the clergy, who had great power, for the common people were with them. After that men talked on the street and in other places about the need of burying Prince Andrei with honor, of bringing his body from [[106]]Bogolyuboff and placing it in the Golden-domed Church which he had erected. The moment that this was decided upon, the citizens formed a guard for protection. Seeing this, the conspirators lost all courage.
In Bogolyuboff also the clergy now showed the bravery and the decision necessary to meet the blind insolence of those insurgent and riotous boyars, who thought that because they had had the upper hand for a moment they would have it forever. On the third day Arsenie, an abbot, took action. “Is our prince,” said he, “to lie before the church door unconsidered, guarded by Kuzma? Open the door, and I will chant the sacred words over the body. I will place it in the coffin myself, if no man will help me. God will then have mercy and make an end of this disorder. Men will come from Vladimir to bear hence the coffin with reverence.” Andrei’s body was put in a coffin, and placed in front of the altar, and all the people of the city wept and sang in the sacred service.
On the sixth day the men of Vladimir asked of the clergy a burial the most imposing and majestic that could be given. It was arranged that the clergy of Bogolyuboff, in complete church array, with crosses and emblems, were to follow behind the coffin, and with them Kuzma, the old servant who had sat two days and nights before the church door, guarding the body of his master. The clergy of Vladimir were to meet them between the two places.
When the Vladimir people met the procession, they were shown the highest honor. The Bogolyuboff men, ready to receive them, stood around the coffin, and those who had been appointed to take the coffin received it and moved on toward the city with awe, and with great weeping. The road was thronged with a multitude of persons, filled with reverence. All came forward to make the sign of the cross and look at the coffin as it was borne toward its resting-place. No man could restrain his tears, as he wailed, “O our friend, art thou gone from us, thou who built the Golden-domed Church of the Holy Mother? Art thou gone from us?”
Every man held it his duty to make the sign of the cross and repeat a prayer for the soul of Andrei. Day and night continued those prayers, which people thought it a privilege to say over the body of their prince, and the prayers offered by the Vladimir people, and by a multitude of pilgrims from all parts of that northern region in behalf of the victim, continued to increase for a long time. [[107]]From that day to this the people who wish to pray for Andrei are not decreasing in number. To our time, in the chief church of Vladimir on the right side, as one enters the northern door, stands the coffin of Andrei, and near it on the wall is his portrait. Six miles from Vladimir is a single church, which marks the site of Bogolyuboff. There also stands a part of the stone building in which Andrei lived, some of the walls with their heavy arches, and the stone column behind which the prince stood when his murderers gave him the last blow.
A gloomy tradition is preserved among the people, touching the assassins and their punishment. The Kutchkas and Anval were hanged, and fifteen men were decapitated. Andrei’s princess, who it was thought had had knowledge of the plot, was sewed up alive in a canvas bag and put into a basket holding stones sufficient to sink it. That done, a cloth was wrapped around the basket and this cloth sewed together securely. The basket was then thrown into the lake, and it vanished immediately.
The following legend has immortalized the history of Andrei’s death. Near Vladimir is a dark, swampy lake. In that weird lake is a spot which the people call “Floating Island.” On that island are seen dark patches, which move hither and thither when the wind blows. Every anniversary of Andrei Bogolyuboff’s murder, noises like groans are said to come forth from the depths of that lake, now known as Foul Water—into this foul water the basket containing Andrei’s false princess was thrown, and into it were hurled also the murderers’ bodies.