RUSSIAN GARLAND
broom, laying about him right and left, and knocking them down by twos and threes. When Marcobrun's nobles saw this sport they rushed upon Bova, ten or more at once; but he took them as they came, and overthrew them all. Thereat the other knights were enraged, and attacked Bova, two hundred in a body, and tried to ride him down. Still Bova flinched not, but slew them all, one after another, to the number of two hundred thousand men.
When the King's daughter saw this from her window, she went to her father and said: "My gracious father, command your servant Anhusei to return. He has ridden forth to see the sports of Marcobrun's nobles; but they are engaged against him, and are attacking him with great fury. It were a shame to let him be slain: he is still but a young child, and has little strength." So King Sensibri Andronovich instantly sent to Bova, and ordered him to return to the city.
Bova obeyed the command, rode back to the city, lay down to sleep, and slept for nine days and nine nights. Meanwhile the powerful Tsar and knight Lukoper came to the Armenian kingdom: his head was as large as a beer-barrel, his eyebrows were a span apart, his shoulders an arrow's length broad, and he was as tall as a journey. Never before had such a powerful knight been heard of; and
82
