Ivan Popyalof

Ivan Popyalof

IVAN POPYALOF.[74]

Once upon a time there was an old couple, and they had three

sons. Two of these had their wits about them, but the third

was a simpleton, Ivan by name, surnamed Popyalof.

For twelve whole years Ivan lay among the ashes from the

stove; but then he arose, and shook himself, so that six poods

of ashes[75] fell off from him.

Now in the land in which Ivan lived there was never any

day, but always night. That was a Snake's doing. Well, Ivan

undertook to kill that Snake, so he said to his father, "Father,

make me a mace five poods in weight." And when he had got

the mace, he went out into the fields, and flung it straight up in

the air, and then he went home. The next day he went out into

the fields to the spot from which he had flung the mace on high,

and stood there with his head thrown back. So when the mace

fell down again it hit him on the forehead. And the mace

broke in two.

Ivan went home and said to his father, "Father, make me

another mace, a ten pood one." And when he had got it he

went out into the fields, and flung it aloft. And the mace went

flying through the air for three days and three nights. On the

fourth day Ivan went out to the same spot, and when the mace

came tumbling down, he put his knee in the way, and the mace

broke over it into three pieces.

Ivan went home and told his father to make him a third

mace, one of fifteen poods weight. And when he had got it, he

went out into the fields and flung it aloft. And the mace was

up in the air six days. On the seventh Ivan went to the same

spot as before. Down fell the mace, and when it struck Ivan's

forehead, the forehead bowed under it. Thereupon he said,

"This mace will do for the Snake!"

So when he had got everything ready, he went forth with

his brothers to fight the Snake. He rode and rode, and presently

there stood before him a hut on fowl's legs,[76] and in that

hut lived the Snake. There all the party came to a standstill.

Then Ivan hung up his gloves, and said to his brothers, "Should

blood drop from my gloves, make haste to help me." When he

had said this he went into the hut and sat down under the

boarding.[77]

Presently there rode up a Snake with three heads. His

steed stumbled, his hound howled, his falcon clamored.[78] Then

cried the Snake:

"Wherefore hast thou stumbled, O Steed! hast thou howled,

O Hound! hast thou clamored, O Falcon?"

"How can I but stumble," replied the Steed, "when under

the boarding sits Ivan Popyalof?"

Then said the Snake, "Come forth, Ivanushka! Let us

try our strength together." Ivan came forth, and they began to

fight. And Ivan killed the Snake, and then sat down again

beneath the boarding.

Presently there came another Snake, a six-headed one, and

him, too, Ivan killed. And then there came a third, which had

twelve heads. Well, Ivan began to fight with him, and lopped

off nine of his heads. The Snake had no strength left in him.

Just then a raven came flying by, and it croaked:

"Krof? Krof!"[79]

Then the Snake cried to the Raven, "Fly, and tell my wife

to come and devour Ivan Popyalof."

But Ivan cried: "Fly, and tell my brothers to come, and

then we will kill this Snake, and give his flesh to thee."

And the Raven gave ear to what Ivan said, and flew to his

brothers and began to croak above their heads. The brothers

awoke, and when they heard the cry of the Raven, they hastened

to their brother's aid. And they killed the Snake, and then,

having taken his heads, they went into his hut and destroyed

them. And immediately there was bright light throughout the

whole land.

After killing the Snake, Ivan Popyalof and his brothers set

off on their way home. But he had forgotten to take away his

gloves, so he went back to fetch them, telling his brothers to

wait for him meanwhile. Now when he had reached the hut

and was going to take away his gloves, he heard the voices of

the Snake's wife and daughters, who were talking with each

other. So he turned himself into a cat, and began to mew

outside the door. They let him in, and he listened to everything

they said. Then he got his gloves and hastened away.

As soon as he came to where his brothers were, he mounted

his horse, and they all started afresh. They rode and rode;

presently they saw before them a green meadow, and on that

meadow lay silken cushions. Then the elder brothers said,

"Let's turn out our horses to graze here, while we rest ourselves

a little."

But Ivan said, "Wait a minute, brothers!" and he seized

his mace, and struck the cushions with it. And out of those

cushions there streamed blood.

So they all went on further. They rode and rode; presently

there stood before them an apple-tree, and upon it were gold

and silver apples. Then the elder brothers said, "Let's eat an

apple apiece." But Ivan said, "Wait a minute, brothers; I'll

try them first," and he took his mace, and struck the apple-tree

with it. And out of the tree streamed blood.

So they went on further. They rode and rode, and by and

by they saw a spring in front of them. And the elder brothers

cried, "Let's have a drink of water." But Ivan Popyalof

cried: "Stop, brothers!" and he raised his mace and struck

the spring, and its waters became blood.

For the meadow, the silken cushions, the apple-tree, and the

spring, were all of them daughters of the Snake.

After killing the Snake's daughters, Ivan and his brothers

went on homewards. Presently came the Snake's Wife flying

after them, and she opened her jaws from the sky to the earth,

and tried to swallow up Ivan. But Ivan and his brothers threw

three poods of salt into her mouth. She swallowed the salt,

thinking it was Ivan Popyalof, but afterwards--when she had

tasted the salt, and found out it was not Ivan--she flew after

him again.

Then he perceived that danger was at hand, and so he let

his horse go free, and hid himself behind twelve doors in the

forge of Kuzma and Demian. The Snake's Wife came flying

up, and said to Kuzma and Demian, "Give me up Ivan Popyalof."

But they replied:

"Send your tongue through the twelve doors and take him."

So the Snake's Wife began licking the doors. But meanwhile

they all heated iron pincers, and as soon as she had sent her

tongue through into the smithy, they caught tight hold of her

by the tongue, and began thumping her with hammers. And

when the Snake's Wife was dead they consumed her with fire,

and scattered her ashes to the winds. And then they went

home, and there they lived and enjoyed themselves, feasting

and revelling, and drinking mead and wine.

I was there, too, and had liquor to drink; it didn't go into

my mouth, but only ran down my beard.[80]

The skazka of Ivan Buikovich (Bull's son)[81] contains a variant of

part of this story, but the dragon which the Slavonic St. George kills

is called, not a snake, but a Chudo-Yudo.[82] Ivan watches one night

while his brothers sleep. Presently up rides "a six-headed Chudo-Yudo"

which he easily kills. The next night he slays, but with more

difficulty, a nine-headed specimen of the same family. On the third

night appears "a twelve-headed Chudo-Yudo," mounted on a horse "with

twelve wings, its coat of silver, its mane and tail of gold." Ivan

lops off three of the monster's heads, but they, like those of the

Lernæan Hydra, become re-attached to their necks at the touch of their

owner's "fiery finger." Ivan, whom his foe has driven into the ground

up to his knees, hurls one of his gloves at the hut in which his

brothers are sleeping. It smashes the windows, but the sleepers

slumber on and take no heed. Presently Ivan smites off six of his

antagonist's heads, but they grow again as before.[83] Half buried in

the ground by the monster's strength, Ivan hurls his other glove at

the hut, piercing its roof this time. But still his brothers slumber

on. At last, after fruitlessly shearing off nine of the Chudo-Yudo's

heads, and finding himself embedded in the ground up to his armpits,

Ivan flings his cap at the hut. The hut reels under the blow and its

beams fall asunder; his brothers awake, and hasten to his aid, and the

Chudo-Yudo is destroyed. The "Chudo-Yudo wives" as the widows of the

three monsters are called, then proceed to play the parts attributed

in "Ivan Popyalof" to the Snake's daughters.

"I will become an apple-tree with golden and silver apples," says the

first; "whoever plucks an apple will immediately burst." Says the

second, "I will become a spring--on the water will float two cups, the

one golden, the other of silver; whoever touches one of the cups, him

will I drown." And the third says, "I will become a golden bed;

whoever lies down upon that bed will be consumed with fire." Ivan, in

a sparrow's form, overhears all this, and acts as in the preceding

story. The three widows die, but their mother, "an old witch,"

determines on revenge. Under the form of a beggar-woman she asks alms

from the retreating brothers. Ivan tenders her a ducat. She seizes,

not the ducat, but his outstretched hand, and in a moment whisks him

off underground to her husband, an Aged One, whose appearance is that

of the mythical being whom the Servians call the Vy. He "lies on an

iron couch, and sees nothing; his long eyelashes and thick eyebrows

completely hide his eyes," but he sends for "twelve mighty heroes,"

and orders them to take iron forks and lift up the hair about his

eyes, and then he gazes at the destroyer of his family. The glance of

the Servian Vy is supposed to be as deadly as that of a basilisk, but

the patriarch of the Russian story does not injure his captive. He

merely sends him on an errand which leads to a fresh set of

adventures, of which we need not now take notice.

In a third variant of the story,[84] they are snakes which are killed

by the hero, Ivan Koshkin (Cat's son), and it is a Baba Yaga, or Hag,

who undertakes to revenge their deaths and those of their wives, her

daughters. Accordingly she pursues the three brothers, and succeeds in

swallowing two of them. The third, Ivan Koshkin, takes refuge in a

smithy, and, as before, the monster's tongue is seized, and she is

beaten with hammers until she disgorges her prey, none the worse for

their temporary imprisonment.

We have seen, in the story about the Chudo-Yudo, that the place

usually occupied by the Snake is at times filled by some other magical

being. This frequently occurs in that class of stories which relates

how three brothers set out to apprehend a trespasser, or to seek a

mother or sister who has been mysteriously spirited away. They usually

come either to an opening which leads into the underground world, or

to the base of an apparently inaccessible hill. The youngest brother

descends or ascends as the case may be, and after a series of

adventures which generally lead him through the kingdoms of copper, of

silver, and of gold, returns in triumph to where his brothers are

awaiting him. And he is almost invariably deserted by them, as soon as

they have secured the beautiful princesses who accompany him--as may

be read in the following (South-Russian) history of--