“Is my strength waning?” cried Vasily in despair, and then as if to test it he raised the club again and brought it down upon a white and burning stone which lay at his feet. The hard stone was shivered to atoms and Vasily laughed grimly, as he turned to the New Trader.
“Drain off the green wine at a breath,” he commanded, and the young man did so. “Hail, New Trader!” cried Vasily the Turbulent, “you shall be of my bodyguard from this day forward.”
Then there entered the hall two young men of the town, one of whom was known as the Lame and the other as the Hunchback, and in spite of their infirmities these two stood the severe tests of Vasily and were admitted to his bodyguard.
In this strange manner did Vasily the Turbulent choose his brave bodyguard of three men only, three men and no more.
“Enter now my palace of white stone,” said the hero, “and there we will feast on the best that my larders can afford; and while we eat together I will tell you how I shall entertain the men of Novgorod.”
The four heroes sat down to the white tables and Vasily sat in the great corner. They were waited upon by the black-browed maiden, and when the meal was nearly over Vasily unfolded his plan for his next banquet. His bodyguard laughed gently as they heard of his purpose; and the next day they went out into Novgorod to invite the leading men to come and partake of the hospitality of Vasily the Turbulent. They came in a great crowd and found the tables prepared for a banquet, being filled with dishes and huge cups, but there was only one waiting-maid, the girl of the black brows, to attend upon this great company.
As soon as the guests were seated and Vasily had taken his place in the big corner, the black-browed maid brought steaming dishes and foaming tankards and placed them before her master and his bodyguard, but she placed neither food nor drink before the men of Novgorod, who were very hungry, for the wind was keen and the world was white. Now when the citizens saw that they were mocked by Vasily and his bodyguard, and even by the black-browed servant maid, they were spitefully angry and cursed their host and his men, but this only made the four jokers laugh the louder; whereupon the guests arose and crowded out into the snow-covered courtyard rather more hungry than when they came in.
“We will not forget this vile insult,” piped one small citizen in a mantle of marten skins with a collar of sables; “why, my neighbour was full of spleen because of my invitation to the lord’s castle, and when the story is known his pity and scorn will be much worse to bear than his spleen. But we shall repay Vasily in his own bad coin. Let us make such a feast as the citizens of Novgorod have never seen before, and we will not send Vasily an invitation.”
“That is a good thought,” said two stout citizens, and they all went home with their heads so high in the air that some of them slipped down on the way upon some slides that certain wicked boys—who would assuredly never grow up to be councillors—had made in the roadway. In a few days the feast was prepared and the invitations were issued, but there was no bidding for Vasily and his contemptible bodyguard.
It was impossible that the preparations for the banquet should escape the vigilance of Vasily, and indeed the merchants agreed that it would be well if he did hear of it. “Otherwise,” said one of them, who had made a great fortune by buying and selling rags and bones, “how can he be humbled, for, look you, neighbours, if he does not know of the feast he will not miss our invitation.”