Page:Russian Wonder Tales.djvu/275

Rh "It was given me by my wife," he replied.

"Then thou hast wedded our little sister!" they exclaimed, and led him to their mother, where she sat in a silver chair. To her he recounted how he had won his wife and how they had lived happily together till the Tzar had sent him on his present quest, and how she had given him the crystal ball that had brought him thither.

The old mother said: "My dear son-in-law, I have lived nine-tenths of my life on this earth, and I, indeed, know of Muzhichek, the forest monster, but where he lives I cannot tell, and never have I heard of his servant Schmat-Razum. Perhaps, however, I may discover for thee where he may be found." Then going to a balcony which overlooked the land, she cried with a piping voice: "Harken, all ye fowls and flying things, ye bees and insects! Come to me!" And immediately there came flying to her from every side all manner of birds and insects till the sky was dark with them. Then she cried: "O ye, my friends, who fly everywhere in all four directions, have ye by chance heard tell of Schmat-Razum?" And the birds and insects answered with one voice: "No, we have not heard of him."

She dismissed them to their bowers and coverts,