The Tale of the Three Princes

In a certain kingdom, in a certain land, there lived a king. He had three sons: Prince Vasily, Prince Fyodor and Prince Ivan.

“My dear children,” their father said to them, “you can see that I am old. Yet I hear that beyond thrice-nine lands, in the thrice-tenth kingdom, in the land beneath the sun, there are waters of life and death, and an apple tree whose apples can make even an old person young. How might we obtain that water and those apples?”

Prince Vasily ordered his horse saddled and set out. Whether he rode long or briefly, near or far—a tale is soon told, but a deed takes longer—he came among such mountains, chasms and impassable forests that he began to fear losing his way. He turned back and told his father that he had found the land beneath the sun nowhere. Prince Fyodor set out, and the same thing happened to him.

Then the youngest brother, Prince Ivan, decided to try his luck. He took a new road, rode on and on, and saw a hut standing on chicken legs. Inside it was Baba Yaga. Yaga asked him where he was going and whether he went willingly or under compulsion.

“Partly because I must,” Prince Ivan answered, “but twice as much because I wish to!” And he told her where he was bound and why.

Baba Yaga gave him a fresh horse and sent him to her sister. She too exchanged his horse and sent him to the third sister, who, on learning his errand, led the prince into her stable and said:

“Here is a horse for you. Ride this one and leave yours with me. And here is the road to the land where the waters of life and death and the youth-restoring apples are to be found. You can enter only at night. There you will see a high wall: leap over it and ride straight to the garden gate. In the garden you will find the tree that bears the youth-restoring apples, and beside it two wells, one with the water of life and one with the water of death. But on your way back, take care that your horse does not catch any of the strings stretched to the wall.”

Prince Ivan did everything as she had said. He leaped over the wall and entered the garden, picked the youth-restoring apples and filled little bottles with the waters of life and death. But as he turned back, he failed to take care: his horse caught the strings while jumping over the wall. Bells rang, drums beat and cannons fired throughout the city; everyone was alarmed. The Tsar-Maiden, who owned both the apples and the waters of life and death, ordered her horse saddled and at once pursued Prince Ivan, but she did not catch him. Prince Ivan took a fresh horse from each Baba Yaga. When the Tsar-Maiden came to the first Yaga, she asked about him:

“Have you seen a man of such-and-such a description anywhere, Baba Yaga?”

“I have not,” Yaga answered, and began urging the Tsar-Maiden to stay with her and rest after such a long journey.

The Tsar-Maiden stayed with Baba Yaga for a whole day and a whole night. The same happened at the homes of Yaga’s other two sisters. By the time the Tsar-Maiden began gaining on Prince Ivan, he had already entered his own country.

“You are lucky, prince,” the Tsar-Maiden said, “that you did not fall into my hands. But just wait: I shall come and visit you!”

Prince Ivan arrived home, took out the little bottles of the waters of life and death, laid the youth-restoring apples on a dish and presented them all to his father. The king was delighted, ate several apples and grew young again. They began living happily and making merry. One day the king thought to look out of the window and saw a tent pitched in his reserved meadow. At once he sent someone to find out who had dared pitch a tent in the royal meadow. Inside the tent was the Tsar-Maiden, and she said:

“I have come to demand that the king hand over whichever of his sons is guilty. If he does not, I shall lay waste to the whole city.”

Prince Ivan went to her.

“What shall I do with you?” she said. “Since you were bold enough to steal my wondrous water and youth-restoring apples, I wish to be your wife.”

The prince married the Tsar-Maiden and went to live in her kingdom.