University of Virginia Library

Vasily the Drunkard and Tzar Batyg

FROM beneath the cross Levanidof,[1] from beneath
the birch so white, issued forth two
aurochs, and three aurochs, and roamed
past Kief town.

By Kief they beheld a wondrous marvel, a
marvellous wonder: a damsel came forth, weeping
bitterly, and bearing in her hands the book of
the Holy Gospel. And as she read, she wept in
twofold measure.

Then the aurochs went to their mother: "Hail,
mother aurochs!" said they; "we have been to
Kief town, and beheld a marvel:" and they told
her of the damsel.

"Foolish aurochs are ye, little children!" quoth
mother aurochs. "That was no damsel weeping
sore, but the city wall lamenting, for she hath
foreseen ill fortune for Kief. Tzar Batyg[2] is come
with his son, his son-in-law, and with his learned
scribe. His son's host numbereth forty thousand;
the host of his son-in-law, forty thousand; and the
learned scribe's no less."

—Batyg marched to Kief town, pitched his
white pavilions, and demanded of Prince Vladimir
an adversary in single combat.

Now, it chanced by evil fortune, that the best of
the heroes were not in Kief town. Ilya had been

despatched to the Latinsky land to buy heroic
steeds, Dobrynya to the Cherkessian country for
saddles, and Alyosha to the Sorochinsky land for
wheat.

But there dwelt in Kief in those days a hero
and good youth, Vasily Ignatievich by name,
who abode in the imperial pot-house. He had
squandered in drink his wife's dowry and all his
possessions.

"Ho there, ye princes and nobles!" quoth
Prince Vladimir; "summon Vasily Ignatievich
hither to me."

Then the nobles went to the royal pot-house,
and sought out Vasily, and addressed to him these
words:

"Ho there, little Vasily the Drunkard! Why
dost thou lie there naked on the oven, without a
thread? Nothing knowest thou, nor carest. Tzar
Batyg hath come upon us, and is now before Kief.
The dog hath written to our Prince, and maketh
boast: `I will burn and rase Kief town, I will
dissolve God's churches in smoke, I will take
captive the Prince and his Princess.' And us, the
princes and nobles, he will seethe in a kettle."

Then Vasily slipped down from the oven, barred
up the pot-house, making all very fast, tore from
the princes and nobles all their fair apparel,
wrenched out a door-post, and belaboured the
men upon their naked ribs, pursuing them even
to the royal court.

When Vladimir looked on them he smiled, and
said: "Ho, my princes and nobles; have ye drunk
or gamed?"

"Little father! Prince Vladimir," they made
answer, "we have neither drunk nor gamed, but
Vasily the Drunkard hath done us this dishonour."

"Ah, ye stupid nobles and senseless!" quoth

Vladimir, "ye have not appeased the youth, but
irritated him."

Then Vladimir went himself to the royal pot-house,
prayed before the Wonder-working holy
picture, saluted on all four sides, with a special
reverence to Vasily, and spoke to him in the words
of the princes and nobles.

"Fetch me a little cup of drunkenness, little
father, Prince Vladimir!" quoth Vasily, "the cup
from which drinketh Ilya of Murom."

—Now Ilya's cup held six buckets and a half;
but he drained it dry.

"Fetch yet another cup for health, little father;
the one from which drinketh Dobrynya Nikitich."

And that cup, of four buckets and a half, Vasily
drained also; and yet a third, the cup of Alyosha,
of two buckets and a half.

Then Vasily said: "Now I may sit my horse,
and wield my sword of ninety poods."

Thereupon he went forth upon the city wall, and
from the angle tower thereon he shot an arrow
which slew three of Batyg's best heads—his son,
his son-in-law, and his cunning scribe.

Tzar Batyg had fleet horses and good, and he
sent swift messengers to Kief town, demanding
that the offender be delivered up to him forthwith.
But Kief town is not small; a falcon may not fly
about it in a summer's day, nor a little bird soar
across—and the guilty man could not be found.

Vasily mounted his good steed, and clad in warlike
array, with his Tatar spear, his sword of ninety
poods, his stout bow, and gilded arrows, sallied
forth before the face of Batyg.

"Hail, Tzar Batyg!" he said. "Wilt thou
receive me as thy comrade? We will take Kief
together, we will burn and destroy it, and God's
temples we will turn to dust."

Tzar Batyg was beguiled with his speech; and
when Vasily asked for forty thousand men to take
Kief, he gave them gladly. Then Vasily rode
forth into the open plain with this host, made a
turn to the right, unsheathed his sword of ninety
poods, and cut down and slew them to the last
man.

Then he returned again to the face of Batyg.

"Forgive this my first fault," he said; "I have
lost that host of forty thousand. But I have spied
out Kief town and viewed it, where the gates are
open and unbarred."

So Tzar Batyg gave him another band of forty
thousand, and forty forties of black sables, besides
gold and silver without measure.

Again Vasily rode to the open plain; and having
cut down and slain his host, he returned to Batyg
craving pardon and yet another troop.

Tzar Batyg gave them, and rich presents likewise;
but when Vasily had slain these men also,
Batyg took a spyglass and viewed the glorious
open plain, and beheld the evil deed.

Then he assembled his good steeds, and returned
to his own country, and swore an oath never more
to lay siege to Kief town, for in Kief was no lack
of heroes.

And from that day forth they began to sing the
Song of Vasily, which shall be sung for evermore.