Page:The Russian Garland of Fairy Tales.djvu/234

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RUSSIAN GARLAND

last he came to a field where an immense army lay slain. Then he cried with a loud voice: Is there here no man still alive?" Immediately a man stood up and said: "My lord, Yaroslav Lasarevich, whom dost thou seek?" "I want a living man," said Yaroslav; and then he enquired to whom the army belonged, and who had slain it. "The army," replied the man, "belonged to Feodul the Dragon Tsar, and it has been slain by Prince Ivan the Russian knight, who sued for the hand of Feodul's daughter, the Princess Kandaula Feodulavna; and, as he would not give her of his free will, Ivan sought to take her by force." Thereupon Yaroslav asked how far distant this Russian knight was; and the man replied: "Yaroslav Lasarevich, he has gone too far for you to reach him; ride round the army, and you will see the footsteps of Prince Ivan." So Yaroslav rode round the army, and saw the tracks of the bounding of the steed; for wherever he had struck his hoofs, large heaps of earth were thrown up. He followed the track until he came to another slain army: here he cried with a loud voice: "Is there not one living man here who has survived the battle?" Then up rose a man and said: "My lord, Yaroslav Lasarevich, one steed is better than another, and one youth surpasses another." Yaroslav

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