Page:Russian Wonder Tales.djvu/337

Rh Wassily the Unlucky gave the whale-fish his promise and rode on till he came to a green meadow on which stood a great Palace of white stone. No sentries were on guard at the gate nor any watchman at the door, and he left his horse to graze on the meadow and entered.

Within the Palace all was still and he saw no one. He went through one room after another, finding each more beautiful than the last, till he came to the inmost chamber of all, and here, sitting on a chair, he found a beautiful damsel weeping.

"Health to thee, lovely maiden!" he said.

"And to thee," she answered. "But what manner of man art thou? How didst thou come into this dreadful place? Knowest thou not that this is the abode of Tzar Zmey, the Serpent-Tzar, who devours a man at every meal?"

Wassily the Unlucky told her his errand, whereat the girl exclaimed: "Well that thou hast seen me first! Thou hast been sent here not to fetch money from him, but in order that he may devour thee. Never mind, I shall save thy life. But tell me, by what road didst thou travel and what didst thou see on thy way?"

So he related to her how he had met the ferry-man and the whale-fish and what each had asked,