it happened that Koshchei the Deathless was not at home.
"Let us go, Marya Morevna!" he said.
"Oh, Prince Ivan, he will overtake us!" she replied.
"Let him overtake us then. At any rate we shall have spent a sweet hour together."
They got ready and started off.
Koshchei the Deathless was on his way home, and his good horse stumbled under him.
"What is the matter with you, you hungry jade? What makes you stumble? or do you scent some misfortune?"
"Prince Ivan has come after Marya Morevna and has taken her off with him."
"Well, we can overtake them, can't we?"
"You can sow barley and wait till it has grown, till it is harvested, till it is ground, till it is brewed into beer, till it has made people drunk, and they have slept it off, before you will catch them. But if you are going to do it, we had better make haste."
Koshchei galloped away and overtook Prince Ivan.
"I told you once that you should never see Marya Morevna, no matter how much you might wish to!" he exclaimed.
