By the Pike’s Will

Once there lived a poor peasant. However hard he toiled and worked, he had nothing. “Ah,” he thought, “what a bitter lot is mine! I wear myself out on my farm…

Once there lived a poor peasant. However hard he toiled and worked, he had nothing. “Ah,” he thought, “what a bitter lot is mine! I wear myself out on my farm all day, yet any moment I may have to die of hunger. My neighbour lies on his side all his life, and what happens? He has a great farm, and profits flow straight into his pocket. It seems I have displeased God. I shall pray from morning till night; perhaps the Lord will take pity on me.” He began praying to God. He went hungry for whole days, but still he prayed. Easter came, and the bells rang for matins. The poor man thought, “Everyone will be breaking their fast, and I have not a morsel! I shall at least fetch some water and sip it instead of cabbage soup.” He took a little bucket and went to the well. As soon as he lowered it into the water, an enormous pike was caught in it. The man rejoiced: “Now I too can celebrate the feast! I shall make fish soup and enjoy a good dinner.” The pike spoke to him in a human voice:

“Set me free, good man, and I shall make you happy. Whatever your heart desires, you shall have. Just say, ‘By the pike’s will and God’s blessing, let such-and-such appear,’ and it will appear at once!”

The poor man threw the pike into the well, went into his cottage, sat at the table and said:

“By the pike’s will and God’s blessing, let the table be laid and dinner ready!”

All at once, from who knows where, every kind of food and drink appeared on the table. He would not have been ashamed to offer it to the tsar himself! The poor man crossed himself. “Glory to you, Lord! Now I have something to break my fast with.” He went to church, stood through matins and the liturgy, then returned and broke his fast. After eating and drinking, he went outside the gate and sat on a bench.

Just then the princess decided to walk through the streets. She went with her nurses and attendants, giving alms to the poor in honour of Christ’s feast. She gave something to everyone but forgot this one peasant. So he said to himself:

“By the pike’s will and God’s blessing, let the princess conceive and bear a son!”

At those words the princess became pregnant that very moment, and nine months later she bore a son. The tsar began questioning her.

“Confess,” he said. “With whom have you sinned?”

The princess wept and swore every way she could that she had sinned with no one:

“I do not know myself why the Lord has punished me!”

However much the tsar questioned her, he learnt nothing.

Meanwhile the boy grew not by the day but by the hour. After a week he could already speak. The tsar summoned boyars and councillors from all over his realm and showed them to the boy: would he recognise one of them as his father? No, the boy kept silent and called no one Father. The tsar ordered the nurses and attendants to carry him through every yard and street and show him to people of every rank, married and unmarried. They carried the child from yard to yard and street to street. On and on they went, and he remained silent. At last they came to the poor peasant’s hut. As soon as the boy saw him, he stretched out his little arms and cried:

“Papa, Papa!”

They reported this to the sovereign and brought the poor man to the palace. The tsar began questioning him:

“Tell me the honest truth: is this your child?”

“No, he is God’s!”

The tsar grew angry and had the poor man married to the princess. After the wedding, he ordered that they and the child be put into a large barrel, sealed in with tar and set adrift on the open sea.

The barrel floated across the sea. Fierce winds carried it and cast it upon a distant shore. The poor man heard that the water no longer rocked beneath them and spoke these words:

“By the pike’s will and God’s blessing, barrel, fall apart on dry land!”

The barrel fell apart. They climbed out onto dry ground and walked wherever their eyes led them. They walked and walked, with nothing to eat or drink. The princess grew utterly weak and could barely put one foot before the other.

“Well,” the poor man asked, “do you now know what hunger and thirst are like?”

“I do,” the princess replied.

“That is how the poor suffer, and yet you would not give me even a little alms on Christ’s feast day!”

Then the poor man said:

“By the pike’s will and God’s blessing, let a magnificent palace stand here, finer than any in the whole world, with gardens, ponds and every kind of outbuilding!”

Scarcely had he spoken when a splendid palace appeared. Faithful servants ran out, took them by the arms and led them into white-stone halls. They seated them at oak tables covered with patterned tablecloths. The rooms were wonderfully furnished and decorated, and everything was ready on the tables: wines, sweets and dishes of food. The poor man and the princess ate and drank, rested, then went for a walk in the garden.

“Everything here would be lovely,” said the princess, “if only there were birds on our ponds.”

“Wait, there shall be birds too!” answered the poor man, and at once he said:

“By the pike’s will and God’s blessing, let twelve ducks swim upon this pond, with a drake as the thirteenth bird. Let each of them have one feather of gold and the next of silver, and let the drake have a diamond crest upon his head!”

Look! Twelve ducks and a drake were swimming on the water, one feather gold and the next silver. On the drake’s head was a diamond crest.

So the princess lived with her husband without sorrow or care, while her son grew and grew. He grew tall, felt great strength within him and began asking his father and mother to let him travel the wide world in search of a bride. They gave him leave:

“Go, son, with God!”

He saddled a mighty hero’s horse, mounted and set out on his journey. On the road he met a very old woman:

“Greetings, Russian prince! Where are you bound?”

“I am going to seek a bride, Grandmother, but where to look I do not know myself.”

“Wait, child, I shall tell you. Go across the sea to the far-off thirtieth kingdom. There is a princess there so beautiful that you could ride around the whole world and never find her equal!”

The fine young man thanked the old woman, rode to the harbour, hired a ship and sailed to the thirtieth kingdom.

Whether he sailed long or briefly, a tale is quickly told but deeds take longer: he reached that kingdom, presented himself to its king and asked for his daughter’s hand. The king said:

“You are not the only one seeking my daughter. We have another suitor, a mighty warrior. If I refuse him, he will lay waste to my whole kingdom.”

“And if you refuse me, I will lay it waste!”

“What are you saying? Better measure your strength against his. Whichever of you wins shall have my daughter.”

“Agreed! Invite all the tsars and princes, kings and princes, to watch a fair fight and celebrate a wedding.”

Messengers were sent in every direction. Before a year had passed, tsars and princes, kings and princes, had assembled from all the neighbouring lands. Among them came the tsar who had sealed his own daughter in a tarred barrel and cast her out to sea. On the appointed day, the warriors met in mortal combat. They fought and fought; the earth groaned beneath their blows, the forests bent and the rivers heaved. The princess’s son overcame his opponent and struck off his head.

The king’s boyars ran up, took the fine young man by the arms and led him into the palace. The next day he married the princess. When the wedding feast was over, he invited all the tsars and princes, kings and princes, to visit his father and mother. They all rose together, fitted out ships and sailed across the sea. The princess and her husband received their guests with honour, and feasting and merriment began again. The tsars and princes, kings and princes, gazed at the palace and gardens in wonder. Nowhere had they seen such wealth. Most of all they admired the ducks and the drake: one duck alone was worth half a kingdom! After feasting, the guests decided to return home. Before they reached the harbour, swift messengers came running after them:

“Our master asks you to come back. He wishes to hold a secret council with you.”

The tsars and princes, kings and princes, returned. Their host stepped forward and said:

“Is this how decent people behave? One of my ducks is missing! No one but you could have taken it!”

“Why do you slander us?” replied the tsars and princes, kings and princes. “This is disgraceful! Search everyone at once. If you find the duck on anyone, do with him as you see fit. But if you do not, off with your head!”

“Very well, I agree,” said the host. He went along the row and began searching them. When the turn came of the princess’s father, he quietly said:

“By the pike’s will and God’s blessing, let a duck be tied beneath the skirt of this tsar’s caftan!”

He lifted the caftan, and there beneath its skirt was a duck, tied fast, one feather gold and the next silver. All the other tsars and princes, kings and princes, laughed aloud:

“Ha, ha, ha! So that is how it is! Even tsars have taken to stealing!”

The princess’s father swore by all the saints that theft had never entered his thoughts. How the duck had got there, he did not know himself.

“Tell us another! It was found on you, so you alone are guilty.”

Then the princess came out, ran to her father and revealed that she was the very daughter he had married to a poor man and put into a tarred barrel:

“Father! You did not believe my words then. Now you have learnt for yourself that someone may seem guilty while being innocent.”

She told him how everything had happened. After that, they all lived together, prospering and keeping misfortune at bay.