Ivashko waited; a second flock flew past, and he again cried imploringly:
Oh, my swans and geese!
Take me on your pinions,
Bear me to my father and my mother,
To the cottage of my father and my mother,
There to eat, and drink, and live in comfort.
“Let those in the rear carry you!” said the birds.
Again Ivashko waited. A third flock came flying up, and he cried:
Oh, my swans and geese!
Take me on your pinions,
Bear me to my father and my mother,
To the cottage of my father and my mother,
There to eat, and drink, and live in comfort.
And those swans and geese took hold of him and carried him back, flew up to the cottage, and dropped him in the upper room.
Early the next morning his mother set to work to bake pancakes, baked them, and all of a sudden fell to thinking about her boy. “Where is my Ivashko?” she cried; “would that I could see him, were it only in a dream!”
Then his father said, “I dreamed that swans and geese had brought our Ivashko home on their wings.”
And when she had finished baking the pancakes, she said, “Now, then, old man, let’s divide the cakes: there’s for you, father! there’s for me! There’s for you, father! there’s for me.”
“And none for me?” called out Ivashko.