Page:RussianFolkTales Afanasev 368pgs.djvu/38



Prince Vladímir had many henchmen and serfs in the city of Kíev, and amongst them there was Danílo the Unfortunate, the noble. And on Sundays Prince Vladímir used to give all his servants goblets filled with wine, but Danílo good hard blows; and on great feast days every one was sated, but Danílo had nothing.

On the eve of Easter Sunday Prince Vladímir summoned Danílo the Unfortunate, and he gave him eighty score of sable skins, and he bade him sew a shúba for the feast: the sable skins were not prepared, and the buttons had not been moulded, and the buttonholes had not been made. In the buttons he was bidden mould the wild beasts of the wood and to sew into the buttonholes all the seabirds.

Danílo the Unfortunate loathed the task, so he hurled it away, and he went outside. He went out on his road and way, and shed tears. An old woman came to meet him. "Look, Danílo," she said, "do not rend yourself asunder: why are you crying, Danílo the Unfortunate?"

"Oh, you old fatty " he exclaimed, "shivers and shakes, quivers and quakes! Be off! this has nothing to do with you!" Then he went on a little way and thought, "Why did I bid her remove?" So he approached her again and said, "Bábushka, little dove, forgive me: this is my trouble. Prince Vladímir has given me eighty score of sable skins, of which I am to make a shuba in the morning. If only the buttons had been moulded and the silken buttonholes sewn! But