Page:Russian Wonder Tales.djvu/315

Rh birds whose flocks he had seen, and alighting near him, it spoke to him with a human voice.

"Thou didst have pity on my fledglings, Ivashko Medvedko," it said, "and in return for this I will serve thee a service. Ask of me what thou wilt."

"If thou art able," replied Little Bear's-Son, "take me out into the white world."

"It is a hard service," said the bird, "but there is a way I know and I will carry thee. The journey, however, will take three months. Go now into the forest and snare much game and twist a wicker basket and fill it. Mount my back with this and whenever I turn my head as I fly, feed me."

Little Bear's-Son did as he was bidden. He made a great basket, filled it with game and mounted with it to the back of the huge bird, which at once rose into the air and flew away like a hurricane. It flew day after day, without stopping. As often as it turned its head, he fed it with some of the game from the basket, and when it had flown for three months and the basket was almost empty, it carried him out into the white world, set him down in a grassy meadow, bade him farewell and flew away.

Whether it was a long way or a short way, Little Bear's-Son came at length to his own Tzardom and to the forest wherein stood the house that he and