Kotharian Lightning

From the folklore of the Slavs

A prince and princess once lived together. They had three sons: two sensible and one a blockhead. The prince had a park full of animals of all descriptions. Into this park penetrated a big beast – Norka by name, and did much damage: every night it ate up some of the animals. The prince, do what he would, could not destroy it: so at last he called his three sons and said:

“The one of you who succeeds in killing Norka, the beast, shall have half of my kingdom.”

So the eldest made an attempt; as soon as night came, he took his arms and went; but instead of going to the pack of animals, he turned aside into a tavern, and tippled and boozed all night long. Only at sunrise did he realize that he was too late. Abashed he stood before his father and confessed that he had done nothing. The next day the second song did the same: the father scolded and scolded and at last ceased.

And now, on the third day, it was the turn of the youngest son. All laughed at him, for he was a blockhead, and they thought that he would do nothing. But he took his armour and went straight to the pack of wild beasts, and sat upon a thorn-bus, that, as soon as he began to doze off, the thorns might wake him, and so he might awake. And now midnight returned; and lo! The ground collapsed, and Norka, the beast, ran right through the fence into the park – and a huge beast it was. The prince, perceiving this, rose, crossed himself and went straight for the beast. It turned back; the prince followed; but perceiving that he could not catch it upon foot, he ran off to the stable, took his best thre-year-old, and gave chase: and so he caught up the beast, and began to fight it. They fought and fought. The prince gave the beast three cuts. But now both of them were exhausted, and lay down to rest. As soon as the prince dozed off, the beast got up and fled. The horse woke the prince, and he perceived that the beast had fled.

Having caught it up, they again began to fight. This time too, the prince wounded the beast three times; and again they lay down to rest. The beast fled; the prince caught it up, and again inflicted three wounds: but the fourth time, when he had almost caught it up, the beast ran to a big white stone, raised it, and hid away into the underworld, saying to the prince,

“If you mean to destroy me, you will have to come here to do it.”

The prince rode home and related to his father what had happened, and bade him to order a rope of raw hide to be plaited long enough to reach into that underworld. The father did so. When the rope was ready, the prince summoned his brothers, collected some servants and all that was necessary for a whole year, and rode off to the sport where the beast had disappeared under the stone. Arrived there, they set up their court and made merry. Meantime, they made their preparations, and the younger brother said to the elders:

“Come, my brothers! Who will raise the stone?”

Neither of them could move it; but when he took hold of it, it flew away, away, and grew bigger and bigger, till it was a mountain. Having raised the stone, he said again to his brothers:

“And now, who will descend into the underworld to fight with Norka, the beast?”

But neither had pluck enough.

He, laughing at their chicken-heartedness, said: “Well! Brothers, take care of yourselves up aloft, and let me down into the underworld; only do not leave this spot, and when I tug the rope, haul me up again.”

His brothers let him down, and waited. Having reached the underworld, the prince set off. He trudged on and on, and perceived a richly caparisoned horse approach. It said to him:

“Welcome, Prince Ivan! I have long been waiting for you.”

He mounted, and they rode away; on and on he went, looking about him, until, behold! A court all of copper. He rode into the courtyard, tied up his steed, and entered the apartments. There a dinner was prepared; he sat down, dined, and then went into a bedroom: there was a bed in it, and he lay down to rest. And lo! A girl came, more lovely than ever was even thought or spoken of, such as exists only in fairy stories, and she said:

“Whoever announces himself at my home, if he is old, will be my father; if middle-aged, my brother; and if young, my beloved husband. And if if it be a lady who comes, if she is old, she will be my grandmother; if middle-aged, my mother; and if young, my sister.”

He came out, and she, when she saw him, was delighted and said:

“What! Prince Ivan, my future beloved husband! What has brought you hither?”

He explained the why and the wherefore.

She said: “The beast you wanted to kill is my brother. He is now staying with my second sister, who lives not far from here, in her court of silver. I tended the three wounds you inflicted on him.”

And so, after this, they drank, guzzled, and had a good time of it. Then the prince said good-bye, and rode on tot he second sister’s, who lived in a court of silver, and she also received him hospitably. She then informed him that her brother was at her youngest sister’s. He hied off to the youngest sister, who lived in a court of gold. She said that her brother was just then sleeping by the blue sea; and besides this gave him strong water to drink and a two-handed sword, and said that it would cut off her brother’s head at a blow. On hearing that, the prince rode off and reached the blue sea. Lo and behold! There was Norka asleep on a stone, in the middle of the sea, and when he snored you could hear it seven miles off, as the wave beats. Ivan crossed himself, rode up to him, and smote his head with the sword. The head flew off with a bound, exclaiming, “That is the end of me!” and then rolled into the sea.

Having killed the beast, the prince returned and took all three sisters with him, to carry them to the upper world; for they all loved him and did not wish to be left behind. Each transformed her court into an egg. They instructed him how to transform these eggs into courts and vice versa, gave him the eggs, and went to the place where they were to be hauled up to our world. When they came to the cable, the prince arranged the young ladies, and then pulled it. Then he swung it to and fro, and his brothers drew it up. When they had half drawn it up and saw such astonishingly beautiful young ladies, they went apart and said,

“Let us lower the cable, draw up our brother, and then cut the rope. He will be killed and leave us these beauties to marry.”

And so, having thus agreed to do, they let down the cable. But their blockhead brother was up to snuff, and guessed what his brothers had in mind to do; so he took a stone, placed it in position, and then tugged the string. His brothers hauled the rope up and then cut the rope. The stone fell and was broken to pieces. He burst out crying and went his way.

On and on went our prince. And lo! A tempest arose, the lightning flashed, the thunder roared, and rain fell in torrents. He went to a tree to take shelter under it, and observed that in the tree were some small birds, all dripping wet; he took off his cloak to cover them with it; and himself sat under the tree. Now a bird flew to a tree, and such a large one that the world around grew pitch black. It had been dark to begin with, now it grew darker and darker. It was the mother of the birdies whom the prince had covered with his mantle. Having flown to the nestlings and observed that her little ones were muffled up, she said:

“Who has thus covered my birdies?” And then observing the prince, she said, “It is you that have done it. My blessings upon you! Whatever you desire, ask it of me and I will do it for you.”

He said, “Take me away to the upper world.”

She said, “Make a large ark, drive all sorts of animals into it, and toss it hither; and pour water into the other half of it that I may have wherewithal to nourish myself.”

The prince did everything. That bird then took the ark on her shoulders – the prince being seated astride of it – and flew away with it. Having flown, now much, now little, she brought him to our world again, took leave of him, and flew away; and he went and settled with a boy’s tailor. He was so tattered and torn, and so changed, that no one would have recognized in him the lost prince. He stopped at the tailor’s as the tailor’s apprentice; and one day the prince began to enquire of this and that, and how things were going on in the principality.

“Oh!” said the tailor, “our two princes have brought from the other world three marriageable young ladies, and want to marry them. They demand, as their dowry, that all sorts of stuffs be sewn on to them, such as they had in their netherworld, and without a yard measure. The father of the princes has called all the master tailors, but no one can do anything.”

Having heard everything, the prince said, “Go, worthy fellow, to the father of the princes and say that you can provide everything from your business.”

The goodman said, “How can I provide such stuffs, when I am only an ordinary tailor of the common people?”

The prince said, “Go, worthy friend; I will be responsible for everything.”

So the good fellow went. The princes’ father was glad to have found at least one master tailor, and gave him as much money as he required. The tailor took his leave and returned home.

And the prince said to him, “Well, say your prayers and go to bed; to-morrow everything shall be in readiness.”

He did as his apprentice told him, and went to sleep.

Midnight had come again. The prince rose, went outside the town into the fields, took out of his wallet those eggs which the young ladies had given him, and according to their instructions transformed them into courts. He entered; chose from each various stuffs, came out, transformed the courts into eggs again, and went home. Arrived there, he hung the various cloths on the loom and went to sleep. The goodman woke early, and saw all those wonderful woven goods hanging there, such as he had never seen before, all sparkling with gold and silver and brilliants. He was delighted; took the goods and brought them to the princes’ father. The two princesses, when they recognized them as the draperies of that other world, looked at one another and held their tongues, perceiving that Prince Ivan was on the upper world again. The goodman sold them these draperies and went home; but did not find his beloved apprentice; he had gone and settled with the shoemaker, and dispatched him, too, to the prince and did as follows. He went round to all the master tailors, and they all blessed him, for through his means they made their fortunes with the prince.

After the prince-apprentice had gone the round of all the master tailors, the princesses attained the goal of their desires: all their draperies were just as in the other world; only they bitterly lamented that their dear young prince came not. However, they could not longer hand back; they must marry, willy-nilly. When all were gathered together for the wedding, the youngest daughters said:

“Allow me, father, to go in person and give alms to the beggars.”

She went and began to distribute alms, scrutinizing them closely. She went up to one, and, as she was about to give him his trifle, observed the ring that she had given the prince in the other world, as well as the rings of her sisters. She seized him by the hand, drew him into the hall, and said to the monarch,

“Lo! Here is he who brought us out of the netherworld. His brothers,” said she, “forbade us to mention that he was alive, and threatened to kill us if we said a word.”

The monarch was very angry with his two elder sons, and chastened them as he best knew how; and after that they festively celebrated three weddings.

I was there, too, and tippled meed, but none passed my lips; it only trickled down my beard.

Source:

Russian and Bulgarian Folk-Lore Stories, A.W. Strickland, 1907