ENG0_127_Kupecheskaja_Doch_i_Sluzhanka.txt

 There was once a very wealthy merchant who had a marvelously beautiful daughter. 
 
 This merchant carried goods to various provinces, 
 and one day he came to a certain kingdom and brought precious cloths to the king as a gift. 
 The king said to him: 
 "Why can I not find a bride for myself?" 
 
 The merchant answered: 
 "I have a beautiful daughter, and she is so clever that no matter what a man is thinking, she can guess it." 
 
 The king immediately wrote a letter and called his guards. 
 
 "Go to that merchant's house," he told them, "and deliver this letter to the merchant's daughter." 
 The letter said: 
 
 "Make ready to get married." 
 
 The merchant's daughter took the letter, burst into tears, and prepared to go, taking also her maidservant; 
 
 and no one could distinguish this maid from the merchant's daughter, they were so like each other. 
 
 They dressed in dresses that were alike and went to the king for the marriage. 
 
 The maid was full of spite, and said: 
 
 "Let us take a walk on the island." 
 
 They went to the island; 
 
 
 
 there the maidservant gave the merchant's daughter sleeping potions, cut out her eyes, and put them in her pocket. 
 
 Then she came to the guards and said: 
 
 "Gentlemen of the guard, my maidservant has gone to sea." 
 
 They answered: 
 
 "We need only you, we have no use for that peasant girl." 
 
 
 They went to the king; 
 
 he married the maid at once, and they began to live together. 
 
 The king thought to himself: 
 
 "The merchant must have cheated me; 
 
 
 
 she cannot be a merchant's daughter. 
 
 Why is she so ignorant? 
 
 She does not know how to do anything." 
 
 
 
 Meanwhile the merchant's daughter recovered from the illness that her maid had brought upon her. 
 
 She could not see; 
 
 she could only hear and she heard an old man tending cattle. 
 
 She said to him: 
 
 "Where are you, grandfather?" 
 
 "I live in a little hut." 
 
 "Please take me into your hut." 
 
 The old man took her in. 
 
 She said to the old man: 
 
 
 "Little grandfather, drive out the cattle." 
 
 He heeded her and drove away the cattle. She sent the old man to a shop, saying: 
 
 
 "Get velvet and silk on credit." 
 
 
 
 The old man went; 
 
 
 none of the wealthy merchants would give him goods on credit but a poor shopkeeper gave him some. 
 
 He brought the velvet and silk to the blind maiden. 
 
 She said to him: 
 
 "Little grandfather, lie down to sleep. 
 
 
 As for me, day and night are one and the same." 
 
 And she began to sew a royal crown of velvet and silk; 
 
 
 she embroidered such a beautiful crown that it was a pleasure to behold it. 
 
 Next morning the blind maiden roused the old man and said: 
 
 "Go and take this to the king, and for payment accept only an eye. 
 
 And fear not, no matter what they do to you." 
 The old man went to the palace with the crown. 
 
 
 Everyone admired it and wanted to buy it from him, but the old man asked for an eye in payment. 
 
 
 Straightway the king was told that he was asking for an eye. 
 
 The king came out, was delighted with the crown, and began to bargain for it, but the 61d man 
 
 still asked for an eye.
 
 The king began to curse and threatened to put him in prison; 
 
 
 but no matter what the king said, the old man held his ground. 
 
 Then the king cried to his guards: 
 
 "Go and cut out an eye from a captive soldier." 
 
 Just then his wife, the queen, rushed out, took an eye from her pocket, and gave it to the king. 
 
 The king was overjoyed. 
 
 
 "Ah, you have helped me out, little queen!" 
 
 
 he said, and gave the eye to the old man, who took it, left the palace, and returned to his hut. 
 
 
 The blind maiden asked him: 
 
 "Did you get my eye, little grandfather?" 
 
 
 He said: 
 
 "I did." 
 
 
 She took it from him, went outside at twilight, spat upon it, put it into its socket, 
 and was able to see once more. 
 
 
 Then again she sent the old man to the shops, giving him money, 
 and asked him to pay what he owed for the silk and velvet and to bring more velvet and gold thread. 
 
 
 He got what he needed from the poor shopkeeper and brought these things to the merchant's daughter. 
 
 
 She sat down to sew another crown, finished it, and sent the old man to the same king. 
 
 
 "Do not take anything," she told him, "but an eye. 
 
 And if you are asked where you got this crown, answer only: 'God gave it to me.'"
 
 
 
 
 The old man came to the palace. 
 
 
 There everyone was amazed, for although the first crown was beautiful, the second was even lovelier. 
 
 The king said: "I will buy it from you at any price." 
 
 "Give me an eye," said the old man. 
 
 The king at once ordered a guard to cut away an eye from a prisoner; 
 
 
 but his wife again gave him an eye. 
 
 
 
 The king was overjoyed and thanked her, saying: 
 
 "Ah, little mother, you have been a great help to me!" 
 
 The king asked the old man: "Where do you get these crowns?" He answered: 
 
 "God gives them to me." 
 
 And he left the palace. He came to his hut and gave the eye to the blind maiden. 
 
 She again went outside at twilight, spat on the eye, put it in its socket, and could see with both eyes. 
 
 She lay down to sleep in the hut, but upon awakening she suddenly found herself in a glass house 
 and began to live in magnificent style. 
 
 
 The king went to see this marvel, wondering who had built such a fine house. 
 
 He drove into the yard and the merchant's daughter was delighted. 
 
 She received him hospitably and bade him sit down at table. 
 
 He feasted there and upon leaving asked 
 
 
 
 the maiden to come to see him. He returned to his palace and said to his queen: 
 
 "Ah, little mother, what a house there is in such and such a place! And what a maiden there is in it! 
 
 No matter what one is thinking, she knows it." 
 
 The queen guessed who it was and thought to herself: 
 
 "It must be the same maiden whose eyes I cut out." 
 
 The king again went to visit the maiden, and the queen was full of spite. 
 
 The king came, feasted, and invited her to his palace. 
 
 She began to make ready and said to the old man: 
 
 "Farewell! Here is a chest of money; 
 
 you will never reach its bottom, it will always be full. 
 
 You will go to sleep in this glass house, but you will awaken in your old hut. 
 
 Now I am going to make a visit. 
 
 I shall not be alive tomorrow; 
 
 I shall be killed and cut into little pieces. 
 
 Arise in the morning, make a coffin, gather my remains, and bury them." 
 
 
 
 The old man wept for her. 
 
 Soon the guards came, seated her in a carriage, and drove away. 
 
 They brought her to the king's palace, and the queen did not even look at her; 
 
 she wanted to shoot her on the spot. 
 
 She went out into the courtyard and said to the guards: 
 
 "When you bring this maiden home, cut her into little pieces at once, take out her heart, and bring it to me."
 
 They took the merchant's daughter home and talked to her glibly, 
 but she knew what they wanted to do and said to them: 
 
 "Cut me up quickly." 
 
 They cut her in pieces, took out her heart, buried her in the ground, and returned to the palace. 
 
 The queen came out to meet them, took the heart, rolled it up into an egg, and put it in her pocket. 
 
 The old man went to sleep in a glass house but awoke in a hut and burst into tears. 
 
 He wept and wept, then he set about his appointed task.
 
 He made a coffin and went to seek the maiden;
 
 he found her in the earth, dug her up, gathered all the pieces, put them in the coffin, 
  and buried them in his own land. 
  
  
  The king did not know of all this, so he went again to visit the merchant's daughter. 
  
  When he arrived at the place, there was no house, no maiden; 
  
  but at the spot where she was buried a garden had grown. 
  
  He returned to the palace and told the queen: 
  
  "I drove and drove, but I found neither house nor maiden, only a garden." 
 
 When the queen heard this she went into the courtyard and said to the guards:
 
 "Go and cut that garden down." 
 
 They came to the garden and began to cut it but it turned into stone. 
 
 The king longed to see the garden again and went to that place. 
 
 When he came he beheld a boy there-and what a handsome boy he was! 
 
 "Surely some lord went for a drive and lost him here," he thought. 
 
 He took the boy to his palace and said to his queen: 
 
 "Mind you, little mother, do not maltreat him.
 
 "Meanwhile the boy began to cry and there was no way of appeasing him: 
 
 no matter what they gave him, he kept on crying. 
 
 Then the queen took from her pocket the egg she had made from the maiden's heart and gave it to the boy; 
 
 he ceased crying and began to skip around the rooms. 
 
 "Ah, little mother," said the king to the queen, "you have made him happy." 
 
 The boy ran to the yard and the king ran after him; 
 
 the boy ran into the street and the king ran into the street; 
 
 the boy ran to the field and the king ran to the field; 
 
 the boy ran to the garden and the king ran to the garden. 
 
 There the king saw the maiden and was overjoyed. 
 
 She said to him: 
 
 "I am your bride, the merchant's daughter, and your queen is my maidservant." 
 
 They went to the palace. 
 
 The queen fell at her feet. 
 
 "Forgive me," she said. 
 
 "You have never forgiven me," said the merchant's daughter.
 
 Once you cut out my eyes, and then you ordered me cut in little pieces." 
 
 The king said: "Guards, cut out her eyes and let her be dragged by a horse over the field." 
 
 The maidservant's eyes were cut out, she was tied to a horse, and dragged to her death over the open field. 
 
 And the king began to live happily with the young queen and to prosper. 
 
 The king always delighted in her and dressed her in gold.