Page:RussianFolkTales Afanasev 368pgs.djvu/346

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330
RUSSIAN FOLK-TALES

took Bába Yagá by her hair. So they fared into the deepest part of the slumberous forest, and she there showed them a well and said: "This is the healing water that renders life."

"Take care, Katomá, do not make a mistake. If she deceives us this time we may not be able to repair it all our life long."

So Katomá broke off a twig. It had hardly fallen into the water before it flamed up.

"Ah! that was a further deceit of yours!"

So the two knights made ready to throw Bába Yagá into the fiery brook. But she still prayed for mercy as before, and swore a great oath she would not deceive any more.

"Really and truly I will show you the right water!"

So the two knights were ready once more to adventure it, and Bába Yagá took them to another well. Katomá broke off a dry twig from the tree and threw it into the well. The twig had hardly fallen into the water before it sprouted up and became green and blue. "This water is right," said Katomá, so the blind man washed his eyes and could at once see. And he put the cripple into the water, and his legs grew on to him.

Then they were both very glad, and said, "Now we are healthy, we will again talk of our own rights; but we must first settle our account with Bába Yagá. If we now forgive her, we shall get no good thereby, for she will strive ever against us all her life." So they took her back to the fiery brook and threw her into it, and she was burned to death.

Katomá then married the merchant's daughter, and all three went back into the kingdom of Anna Tsarévna the Fair to free Iván Tsarévich. They went into the capital, and there he met them with his herd of cows.

"Stay, herd," said Katomá, "whither are you driving the cattle?"