Page:The Russian story book, containing tales from the song-cycles of Kiev and Novgorod and other early sources.djvu/171

 poppy, and slung over their shoulders the beggars' wallets of black velvet embroidered in thread of red gold and set with fine seed pearls, while on their heads they placed the pilgrims' caps. With curving staves of walrus tusks in their hands, they set out upon their way, travelling by day in the light of the glorious sun, and at night in the radiance which came from the jewels set thickly in their shoes of fine leather. So they passed onward from town to town and from city to city until they came to Kiev.

In the open plain near the city they met Prince Vladimir hunting the martens, black sables, white swans, grey geese, and downy ducks, and as the royal party drew near to them the pilgrims shouted: "Vladimir, Fair Sun of Kiev, give alms to the wandering pilgrims. Not a pittance but a royal gift will we take from such as you, even a noble benefaction of forty thousand roubles." Then the Prince lifted his hand to stay the hunt, and dismounting from his horse, greeted the holy pilgrims with the reverence which he paid to the Saints, and begged them to sing in his hearing the sweetest of the holy songs, even the psalm of Elena, which he was longing to hear.

So the one-and-forty pilgrims placed their staves in damp Mother Earth and hung their wallets upon them. Then standing in a circle they sang the sweetest of the holy songs, even the psalm of Elena; and as the sound welled upward to the heavens the bosom of moist Mother Earth heaved and trembled as if with mingled joy and grief, the pine trees shook