Page:RussianFolkTales Afanasev 368pgs.djvu/262

246 "Look, what is there on the right-hand, and what is there on the left?"

"On the right-hand side there is the open field, and on the left-hand side there stands a house."

"There my younger sister lives; we will fly there and be her guests."

So they came down to the open courtyard, and the younger sister came and received her brother, and she seated him on an oaken stool, but she left the Tsar in the courtyard, and she released the fleet hounds on him.

And the eagle was angry, leaped up from the table, laid hold on the Tsar and flew with him yet farther; and they flew on and on, and the eagle said to the Tsar, "Look, what is there behind us?" "Behind us there is a beauteous house."

"It is the house of my younger sister that glitters," said the eagle. "Now we will fly where my mother and eldest sister live."

So they flew thither, and the mother and eldest sister were ever so glad to see them, and they received the Tsar with honour and affection.

"Now, Tsar my master," said the eagle, "come and rest with us, and afterwards I will give you a ship, and I will repay you all I ate up whilst I was with you; and go home with God's aid." So he gave the Tsar a ship and two coffers, one was red and the other green. And he said, "Take heed, do not open the coffers until you reach home: open the red coffer in the back courtyard and the green coffer in the front courtyard."

So the Tsar took the two coffers, bade farewell to the eagle, and went on the blue sea: and he went on and he arrived at an island, where the ship stopped. He got out on the shore, and he remembered the two coffers, and began to wonder what was in them, and why the eagle had bidden him not to open them; and he thought and thought, and his patience gave way. He so badly