Page:The Russian story book, containing tales from the song-cycles of Kiev and Novgorod and other early sources.djvu/165

 wine, and they ate of the fine wheaten cakes baked by the mother of the young Lord Diuk, and left no crumb behind. When they were well satisfied, the lady mother showed them her son's horses; and they took parchment and tried to count up their value in roubles, but the figures confused their eyes and vexed them so that they gave up the task. Then she showed them the shoes of her son; and they took parchment again and tried to tell the tale of their value, but once more they gave up in despair. After that she led them to the wine-cellars and to the treasury of trappings for horses with the same result. At last Nikitich said: "Leave us here, seated before this single saddle ornamented with all the jewels of India, and let us compute the value of it alone." The lady graciously gave her consent; and they stayed three years over their task of computation, but at the end of that time they had not finished one tenth of the work.

Then they sent a message to Vladimir which ran:

"Sell Kiev for parchment and Chernigof for ink, and then we shall perhaps be able to make a beginning of computing the possessions of the young Lord Diuk."

When Vladimir had read this message he set out with a great company for India the Glorious, and Diuk went in his train; and when they came to the palace of the lady mother, they found that not one-tenth of its splendour had been told to them.

As they stood there, three men came before them whose forms were withered up like shavings; and