And King Kálin, the dog, sent an envoy to royal Kiev town and gave him a letter to deliver, and he said to the envoy:
“When thou goest to royal Kiev town thou wilt be an ambassador in Kiev town to the glorious Prince Vladímir. Therefore go to the broad courtyard of the Prince’s palace, and dismount not, but ride in on thy good steed. After thou hast ridden through the courtyard, then get down off thy steed and go to the palace of white stone, and into the great hall of white stone and into the dining hall. Go not humbly, but walk in with a flourish through the five doors and take not thy cap from thy head; but go up to the oaken table and stand opposite Prince Vladímir and place the letter upon the golden table before him, and speak to Prince Vladímir and say:
“O Prince Vladímir of royal Kiev town! Take this letter which is sent to thee, and look at what is written in the letter and see what is impressed upon it. Clean all thy arrow-straight streets and the Courts of the Prince in all the town of Kiev, and in all the broad streets and alleys of the princedom place sweet strong drinks, cask by cask standing close together, for those who stand by the dog, King Kálin, with his mighty warriors, in thy town of Kiev.” [[56]]
Prince Vladímir of royal Kiev took the letter sent to him, broke the seal and looked at what was written therein, and he saw what was in the letter: that he was commanded to clean the arrow-straight streets and the great Courts of the Prince, and to place sweet strong drinks in all the broad streets and all the alleys of the princedom.
Then Vladímir, the Prince of royal Kiev, saw that this was no small matter, but a great one, and he sat down in his writing-chair and a humble letter wrote he.
“Thou dog, King Kálin! Give me the space of three years, give me three years and three months, three months and also three days, that I may clean the arrow-straight streets and the great Courts of the Prince, and make sweet strong drinks and place them in the town of Kiev and in all the broad streets and in in all the alleys of the glorious princedom.”
The Prince sent off this humble letter to that dog, King Kálin. And the dog, King Kálin gave him the space of three years, three years and three months, three months and three days. And day after day the rain it rained, and week after week it ran like a river, and the time went by—the three years and three months and three days; and then came the dog, King Kálin. Came beneath the town of Kiev with his great army.
ДА ТАМЪ СТАРЫИ КАЗАКЪ ДА ИЛЬѦ МУРОМЄЦЪ.
Then Prince Vladímir of royal Kiev began to walk up and down, and tears of grief flowed from his bright [[59]]eyes. With a kerchief of silk the Prince wiped his eyes, and he spoke these words: