Then the son came and accused the poor man of having crushed his father to death, and asked the judge for justice. The poor man took up the stone again, and showed it as before to the judge, who fancied that the man would perhaps give him for this charge another hundred roubles. So he ordered the son to stand on the bridge while the poor man passed under it; and that the son should in like manner leap down upon the poor man and crush him.
So the poor brother came to the rich one to fetch the horse without a tail, according to the judge’s sentence, and to keep it until the tail grew again. The rich man was very loth to give up the horse, and instead, made him a present of five roubles, three bushels of corn, and a milch goat, and thus they settled their quarrel.
So then the poor man went to the merchant to take his wife away from him, and the merchant offered him fifty roubles, a cow with her calf, a mare with her foal, and five measures of grain, which he willingly accepted.
Then the poor man went to the son and said: “Come, the judge has said that you must place yourself on the bridge while I stand under it, and you must throw yourself down on me and kill me.” Then the son thought to himself: “Who knows but that, if I throw myself from the bridge, I may, perhaps, instead of falling on this man, dash myself to pieces.” So he tried to make peace with the poor man, and gave him two hundred roubles, a horse, and five measures of corn.
But the judge Shemyaka sent his servant to the poor man to ask for the three hundred roubles. The poor man showed him the stone and said: “If the judge had not decided in my favour I should have killed him.” So the servant went back to the judge and told him what the poor man had said; whereat the judge, overjoyed, exclaimed: “Heaven be thanked that I decided in this man’s favour!”
STORY OF PRINCE PETER WITH THE GOLDEN KEYS, AND THE PRINCESS MAGILENE
IN France there once lived a high-born Prince named Volchvan, with his wife Petronida; and they had an only son named Peter. Now, Prince Peter had in his youth a great inclination for knightly prowess and deeds of war; and, when he came of age, he sighed after nothing so much as chivalrous feats. But it happened that at this time a knight named Ruiganduis arrived there from the kingdom of Naples, who, observing Peter’s bravery, said: “Prince Peter, there is a King in Naples who has a beautiful daughter named Magilene, and this King rewards richly all those knights who do battle in behalf of his daughter.”
Then Peter went to his father and mother and begged for their blessing that he might travel to the kingdom of Naples to learn there knightly feats, but especially to see the beauty of the King’s daughter Magilene. So they dismissed Prince Peter with great sorrow, exhorting him to make friendship with good men only; then, giving him three golden rings with precious stones and a gold chain, they dismissed him in peace.