Prince Ivan thanked the little old man and followed the ball of yarn. It rolled on and he came after. In an open field he met a bear. Prince Ivan took aim and was about to kill it, but the bear spoke in a human voice: "Do not kill me, Prince Ivan, for you may have need of me someday."
Prince Ivan spared the bear's life and went on farther. Suddenly he saw a drake flying overhead. He took aim with his bow, but the drake said in a human voice, "Do not kill me, Prince Ivan, for you may have need of me someday."
He spared the drake and went on. A hare came running by. Again Prince Ivan snatched his bow to shoot it, but the hare said in a human voice, "Do not kill me, Prince Ivan, for you may have need of me someday."
So he spared the hare and went on. He came to the blue sea and saw a pike lying on the sandy beach gasping for breath. "Ah, Prince Ivan," said the pike, "take pity on me and throw me back into the blue sea."
So he threw the pike into the sea and walked on along the shore. By and by the ball of yarn rolled into a forest, and there stood a little hut on hen's feet, turning round and round. "Little hut, little hut, turn your back to the trees and your face to me, please."
The hut turned its face to him and its back to the trees. Prince Ivan walked in, and there, sitting in the corner, was Baba-Yaga, the witch with a broom and a switch, a bony hag with a nose like a snag. When she saw him she said, "Ugh, ugh, Russian blood, never met by me before, now I smell it at my door. Who comes here? Where from? Where to?"
"You might give me meat and drink and a steam bath before asking questions," retorted Prince Ivan. So Baba-Yaga gave him a steam bath, gave him meat and drink, and put him to bed. Then Prince Ivan told her he was seeking his wife, Vasilisa the Wise. |
