Page:The Russian story book, containing tales from the song-cycles of Kiev and Novgorod and other early sources.djvu/233

 lips, and she said eagerly, holding her hands forward, "Ah, is it you, my dear, dear son? How have you found out the place of my concealment?"

"That is so and so and by the way and matterless," said Ivan. "Suffice it to say that I have come to fetch you home."

"But, my dear, dear son," said Golden Tress, "that will be indeed a hard matter for you. In these mountains the king of all is mighty Whirlwind, whom all the spirits of the air obey. It was he who bore me away, and it is against him that you must fight. Come quickly to the cellar."

Golden Tress stepped with the step of youthfulness down from the emerald throne, and taking her son by the hand led him down a dark stairway into the cellar beneath the palace.

Now in the cellar there were two tubs of water, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Golden Tress led Ivan forward and said to him, "Drink from the tub on your right hand." Ivan drank and drank deeply while his beautiful mother watched him closely, and when he was finished she asked, "Well, what strength is in thee?" "I am so strong," said the youth, "that I could turn over the whole castle with one hand."

"Drink again," said Golden Tress, very quietly. Ivan drank again and drank deeply.

"What strength is in thee now?" asked his mother.

"I am so strong," said he, "that, if I wished, I could turn the whole world over."