Marko lived for a month with his son-in-law and treated him and his daughter most kindly; from his face nobody could have thought that he nourished evil thoughts against him in his heart. One day Marko called Vasily to him and said to him: “Go to the land of Thrice-nine, in the Empire of Thrice-ten, to Tsar Zmy[2]; twelve years ago he built a palace on my land. Thou therefore take rent from him for all the twelve years, and get news from him concerning my twelve ships, which have been wrecked about his kingdom for the last three years, and have left no trace behind them.” Vasily dared not gainsay his father-in-law, but prepared for his journey, took leave of his young wife, took a sack of sweetmeats as provision by the way, and set out.
He went on and on, and whether it was long or short, far or near, matters not, but anyhow at last he heard a voice which said: “Vasily the Luckless, whither art thou going? is thy journey far?”—Vasily looked around him on all sides and answered: “Who called me? speak!”—“’Tis I, the old leafless oak, and I ask thee whither art thou going, and is thy journey far?”—“I am going to Tsar Zmy to collect arrears of rent for the last twelve years.” And again the oak said to him: “If thou arrivest in time, think of me and ask him: here the old leafless oak has been standing all these three hundred years, and is withered and rotten to the very root—how much longer must he be tormented in this wide world?” Vasily listened attentively, and then went further. He came to a river and sat in the ferry-boat, but the old ferryman looked at him and said: “Is thy journey before thee a long one, Vasily the Luckless?”—Vasily told him. “Well,” said the ferryman, “if thou art in time, remember me, and say to him I have been ferrying here all these thirty years; how much longer, I should like to know, shall I have to go backwards and forwards?”—“Good!” said Vasily, “I will say so.”
He went on to the straits of the sea, and across the straits a whale-fish was lying stretched out, and a road marked out by posts went across its back, and people passed to and fro there. When Vasily stepped on to the whale, the whale-fish spoke to him with a man’s voice and said: “Whither art thou going, Vasily the Luckless, and is thy journey far?” Vasily told it everything, and the whale-fish said again: “If thou art in time, remember me; the poor whale-fish has been lying across this sea these three years, and a road marked out by posts goes across its back, and horse and foot trample into its very ribs, and it has no rest night or day; how much longer, pray, is it to lie here?”—“Good!” said Vasily, “I will say so,” and went on further.
Vasily went on and on, and he came to a broad green meadow. In the meadow stood a gigantic palace; the white marble walls glistened, the roof shone like a rainbow, and was covered with mother-of-pearl, and the crystal windows burned like fire in the sun. Vasily entered the palace; he went from room to room, and marvelled at the indescribable wealth of them. He went into the last room of all, and saw a lovely damsel sitting on a bed. When she saw Vasily, she cried: “Is it Vasily the Luckless that has fallen into this accursed place?” Vasily told her everything, and why he had come, and what had befallen him in the way. And the damsel said to Vasily: “Not to take tribute wast thou sent here, but as food for the serpent, and to thine own destruction.” Scarcely had she spoken these words than the whole palace trembled, and there was clanging and a banging in the courtyard. The damsel shoved Vasily into a coffer beneath the floor, locked him in, and whispered: “Listen to what I say to the Serpent.” And with that she went to meet Tsar Serpent.
A monstrous serpent rolled into the room, and straightway got on to the bed and said: “I have been flying over the Russian land; I’m frightfully tired, and I want to go to sleep.” The lovely damsel flattered him and said: “Everything is known to thee, O Tsar, and without thee I cannot interpret a very hard dream I have dreamed: wilt thou interpret it for me?”—“Well, out with it, quick!”—“I dreamt I was going along a road, and an oak tree cried to me, ‘Ask the Tsar how long I am to stand here’!”—“It will stand till some one comes and kicks it with his foot, and then it will be rooted out and fall, and beneath it is a great quantity of gold and silver: Marko the Rich himself has not got as much.”—“But then I dreamed that I came to a river, and the ferryman on the ferry-boat said to me: ‘Shall I ferry here long’?”—“’Tis his own fault. Let him put the first who comes to him on the ferry-boat, and push him with the ferry-boat away from the shore, and he will change places with him, and ferry for evermore.”—“And after that I came in my dreams to the sea, and crossed over it on a whale-fish, and it said to me: ‘Ask the Tsar how long I am to be here!’”—“He must lie there till he has cast up the twelve ships of Marko the Rich, then he may go into the water, and his body will grow again.”
All this the serpent said, and then turned over on its other side and fell a-snoring so loudly that all the crystal windows in the palace rattled. Then the damsel let Vasily out of the coffer, opened the garden-gate for him, and showed him the way. Vasily thanked her, and began his return journey.
He came to the straits of the sea where the whale-fish lay, and the whale-fish asked: “Did he say anything about me?”—“Take me over to the other side, and I’ll tell thee.” When he had crossed over, he said to the whale-fish: “Thou must bring up again the twelve ships of Marko the Rich, which thou swallowed three years ago.” The whale-fish cleared its throat and brought up again all the ships quite whole and not a bit hurt, and in its joy leaped about so in the water that Vasily the Luckless, who was standing on the bank, suddenly found himself up to his knees in the sea. He went on further and came to the ferry. “Hast thou spoken about me to Tsar Serpent?” asked the ferryman. “I have; ferry me over first, and I’ll tell thee.” And as soon as he had crossed over, he said to the ferryman: “Whoever comes to thee after me, seat him in the ferry-boat and shove him from the bank, and he will have to ferry in thy place for ever and ever, but thou wilt be as free as the air.” After that, Vasily came to the old leafless oak, kicked it with his foot, and the oak rolled over and the roots sprang out of the ground, and beneath the roots and beneath the stump there was gold and silver and precious stones without number. Vasily looked about him, and lo! up to the very place were sailing the twelve ships of Marko the Rich, the selfsame which the whale-fish had brought up; and in the foremost ship, in the very stern, stood the selfsame old men who had met Vasily when he had the letter to Marko the Rich, and saved him from destruction. And the old men said to Vasily: “Dost thou not see, Vasily, how the Lord has blessed thee?” And they got off the ship and went their way. And the sailors put all the gold and silver in the ships, and went home by sea.
Marko the Rich was more furious than ever. He bade them saddle his horse, and hastened off to Tsar Serpent to the land of Thrice-ten; he wanted to arrange matters with Tsar Serpent himself. When he came to the river, he got on to the ferry-boat, but the ferryman pushed him away from the shore, and there Marko remained as ferryman ever after, and there he is ferrying still. But Vasily the Luckless lived with his wife and mother-in-law, and was happy and prosperous and kind to the poor, and gave them meat and drink and clothed them, and disposed of all the wealth of Marko the Rich.
The End.