University of Virginia Library

Danilo the Huntsman and his Wife

In Kief town the Fair Sun Prince Vladimir
held a feast, great, honourable, and merry.
And when the throng of princely nobles and
mighty heroes had eaten half their fill, and were
half drunken with wine, they began to boast
among themselves. One vaunted his wealth,
another his foreign merchandise, another his style
of living or his estates, his prowess or his young
wife.

Then spoke our father Prince Vladimir:

"Aï, all ye my princely nobles, and heroes
mighty! ye are all married, while I alone go
unwed. Know ye not where I may find a bride
with whom to hold sweet converse, of whom I may
make boast in banquet hall and bower, to whom
ye may pay homage?"

Putyatin Putyatovich made answer: "Prince
Vladimir, little father! take to thyself the bride
of Danilo the Huntsman. For I have journeyed
much in foreign lands, have viewed many princesses,
and proved their understandings. One was
fair of face, but lacked wit; the wit of another
exceeded her beauty. Yet never found I so fair a
woman, and so fitting, as the bride of Danilo the
Huntsman, Vasilisa Mikulichna. She is fair of
face, and of good understanding: she knoweth
well how to read and write the Russian tongue,

and is learned likewise in the legends of saints and
in church-singing. None is more meet to be our
Princess and our mother."

This word displeased Vladimir greatly, and he
said: "Where was it ever seen or heard that a
woman should be taken from a living husband?"
And he commanded that Putyatin should be
executed.

But the man was crafty, and slipped aside:
"Ho, little father, Prince Vladimir," he cried;
"wait! hang me not in haste; command me to
speak yet a word." So Vladimir commanded
him.

"Let us send Danilo on some distant service,
from which there is no return, to the Island of
Buyan.[1] Command him to slay the fierce beast
with blue feathers and bristly hide, and to take
out its heart.—Let us send him afar on the open
plain, to the Levanidof meadow, to the thundering
spring: command him to take the white-throated
bird, and fetch it hither to thy royal banquet, to
slay the fierce lion, and bear him hither."

Prince Vladimir liked this counsel well; but
Ilya of Murom, the Old Kazák, spoke up, and
said: "Little father, Prince Vladimir! if thou
slay the bright falcon, yet shalt thou not capture
the white swan!"

But this speech angered Prince Vladimir, and
he set Ilya in a deep dungeon.

Then he called Danilo, and commanded him to
go upon this quest. And Danilo went forth from
the richly spread tables of oak, the sweet viands
and honeyed drinks, mounted his good steed in the
spacious court, and rode homeward.

His young wife Vasilisa in her lofty castle
watched him as he came, and saw that he went

not merrily: his turbulent head drooped low, his
clear eyes were bent upon damp mother earth.
When she had inquired of him whether Prince
Vladimir had duly honoured him with cup and seat
at the feast, he answered that he had had the
highest seat at the board, and the cup had come to
him first of all.

"But woman's intrigues have wrought my ruin,"
he said. "Fetch me now my little quiver with a
hundred and fifty darts." Nevertheless she gave
him the great quiver with full three hundred,
whereat he reproved her: "Thou art ill-taught.
Why art thou thus disobedient? Fearest thou me
not?"

But Vasilisa was not angry, and said: "My
hope, my heart's friend, young Danilo the Huntsman!
a spare dart may prove of service to thee."

So the good youth journeyed to the Isle of
Buyan. When he espied the fierce beast, he
grasped his stout bow firmly, fitted a gilded arrow
to the silken cord, slew the beast, and took out
his heart and liver. Then he sat down to eat
bread, and carve the white swan. And as he
looked toward Kief town, he beheld not white
snows gleaming nor black clouds gathering fast,
but a Russian host flashing black and white
against Danilo. Then shed he burning tears, and
said: "Of a truth, I am greatly out of favour with
Prince Vladimir! and my service he requireth
not."

With that Danilo seized his sharp sword, and
cut down the Russian host to a man. And after
a little space, he looked again towards Kief town:
—'twas not two fierce beasts coursing over the
open plain, nor yet two damp oaks quivering; but
two great heroes riding, Nikita, Danilo's own
brother, and Dobrynya, his brother in arms.

When Danilo saw that, he wept bitterly, and
spoke: "Of a truth, the Lord is wroth with me,
and Prince Vladimir greatly displeased: for when
was it ever heard or seen that brother should be
sent to contend against brother?"

Thereupon he caught up his sharp spear, thrust
the butt-end into the damp earth, and fell upon
the point; and as it pierced his white breast,
Danilo closed his clear eyes for ever.

When the heroes came to him, they wept sore,
and turned back, and told Prince Vladimir: "Bold
Danilo is dead."

Then Vladimir collected a great following,
seated himself in a golden chariot, and went to
Danilo's dwelling. When he was come thither,
he entered the lofty tower, and kissed Vasilisa's
sugar mouth.

But Vasilisa said: "Little father, Prince Vladimir,
kiss not my red mouth, without my friend
Danilo."

But Vladimir commanded her: "Don thy fairest
apparel, thy wedding robes."

This she did, then took a sharp knife, and said:

"Grant me now, Prince Vladimir, to look upon
my dear friend, and to take leave of his white
body."

So Vladimir permitted her, and sent with her
two heroes. And, when she went to look, lo!
they were making the coffin.

"Make it wide, ye master carpenters," quoth
Vasilisa, "that his heroic bones may have space
to turn!"

And to the two heroes she said:

"Go now, ye heroes, and say to Prince Vladimir,
that he must not leave my body upon the
open plain, but must lay it with the body of my
dear friend Danilo the Huntsman."

Upon that, she took her sharp knife, pierced her
white breast, and closed her clear eyes.

The two heroes wept, and returning, told all to
Prince Vladimir.

Then Vladimir released Ilya of Murom from the
dungeon, and kissed him on the temple. "Well
hast thou spoken, thou Old Kazák, Ilya of
Murom!" he said, and graciously bestowed upon
him a mantle of sables. But to Putyatin he gave
a kettle of pitch.[2]