The Soldier’s Midnight Watch.[366]
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Ralston, William Ralston Shedden
Once upon a time there was a Soldier who served God and the great Gosudar for fifteen years, without ever setting eyes on his parents. At the end of that time there came an order from the Tsar to grant leave to the soldiers—to twenty-five of each company at a time—to go and see their families. Together with the rest our Soldier, too, got leave to go, and set off to pay a visit to his home in the government of Kief. After a time he reached Kief, visited the Lavra, prayed to God, bowed down before the holy relics, and then started again for his birthplace, a provincial town not far off. Well, he walked and walked. Suddenly there happens to meet him a fair maiden who was the daughter of a merchant in that same town; a most remarkable beauty. Now everyone knows that if a soldier catches sight of a pretty girl, nothing will make him pass her by quietly, but he hooks on to her somehow or other. And so this Soldier gets alongside of the merchant’s daughter, and says to her jokingly—
“How now, fair damsel! not broken in to harness yet?”
“God knows, soldier, who breaks in whom,” replies the girl. “I may do it to you, or you to me.”
So saying she laughed and went her way. Well, the Soldier arrived at home, greeted his family, and rejoiced greatly at finding they were all in good health.
Now he had an old grandfather, as white as a lun, who had lived a hundred years and a bit. The Soldier was gossiping with him, and said:
“As I was coming home, grandfather, I happened to meet an uncommonly fine girl, and, sinner that I am, I chaffed her, and she said to me:
“‘God knows, soldier, whether you’ll break me in to harness, or I’ll break you.’”
“Eh, sirs! whatever have you done? Why that’s the daughter of our merchant here, an awful witch! She’s sent more than one fine young fellow out of the white world.”
“Well, well! I’m not one of the timid ones, either! You won’t frighten me in a hurry. We’ll wait and see what God will send.”
“No, no, grandson!” says the grandfather. “If you don’t listen to me, you won’t be alive to-morrow!”
“Here’s a nice fix!” says the Soldier.
“Yes, such a fix that you’ve never known anything half so awful, even when soldiering.”
“What must I do then, grandfather?”
“Why this. Provide yourself with a bridle, and take a thick aspen cudgel, and sit quietly in the izba—don’t stir a step anywhere. During the night she will come running in, and if she manages to say before you can ‘Stand still, my steed!’ you will straightway turn into a horse. Then she will jump upon your back, and will make you gallop about until she has ridden you to death. But if you manage to say before she speaks, ‘Tprru! stand still, jade!’ she will be turned into a mare. Then you must bridle her and jump on her back. She will run away with you over hill and dale, but do you hold your own; hit her over the head with the aspen cudgel, and go on hitting her until you beat her to death.”
The Soldier hadn’t expected such a job as this, but there was no help for it. So he followed his grandfather’s advice, provided himself with a bridle and an aspen cudgel, took his seat in a corner, and waited to see what would happen. At the midnight hour the passage door creaked and the sound of steps was heard; the witch was coming! The moment the door of the room opened, the Soldier immediately cried out—
“Tprru! stand still, jade!”
The witch turned into a mare, and he bridled her, led her into the yard, and jumped on her back. The mare carried him off over hills and dales and ravines, and did all she could to try and throw her rider. But no! the Soldier stuck on tight, and thumped her over the head like anything with the aspen cudgel, and went on treating her with a taste of the cudgel until he knocked her off her feet, and then pitched into her as she lay on the ground, gave her another half-dozen blows or so, and at last beat her to death.
By daybreak he got home.
“Well, my friend! how have you got on?” asks his grandfather.
“Glory be to God, grandfather! I’ve beaten her to death!”
“All right! now lie down and go to sleep.”
The Soldier lay down and fell into a deep slumber. Towards evening the old man awoke him—
“Get up, grandson.”
He got up.
“What’s to be done now? As the merchant’s daughter is dead, you see, her father will come after you, and will bid you to his house to read psalms over the dead body.”
“Well, grandfather, am I to go, or not?”
“If you go, there’ll be an end of you; and if you don’t go, there’ll be an end of you! Still, it’s best to go.”
“But if anything happens, how shall I get out of it?”
“Listen, grandson! When you go to the merchant’s he will offer you brandy; don’t you drink much—drink only a moderate allowance. Afterwards the merchant will take you into the room in which his daughter is lying in her coffin, and will lock you in there. You will read out from the psalter all the evening, and up to midnight. Exactly at midnight a strong wind will suddenly begin to blow, the coffin will begin to shake, its lid will fall off. Well, as soon as these horrors begin, jump on to the stove as quick as you can, squeeze yourself into a corner, and silently offer up prayers. She won’t find you there.”
Half an hour later came the merchant, and besought the Soldier, crying:
“Ah, Soldier! there’s a daughter of mine dead; come and read the psalter over her.”
The Soldier took a psalter and went off to the merchant’s house. The merchant was greatly pleased, seated him at his table, and began offering him brandy to drink. The Soldier drank, but only moderately, and declined to drink any more. The merchant took him by the hand and led him to the room in which the corpse lay.
“Now then,” he says, “read away at your psalter.”
Then he went out and locked the door. There was no help for it, so the Soldier took to his psalter and read and read. Exactly at midnight there was a great blast of wind, the coffin began to rock, its lid flew off. The Soldier jumped quickly on to the stove, hid himself in a corner, guarded himself by a sign of the cross, and began whispering prayers. Meanwhile the witch had leapt out of the coffin, and was rushing about from side to side—now here, now there. Then there came running up to her countless swarms of evil spirits; the room was full of them!
“What are you looking for?” say they.
“A soldier. He was reading here a moment ago, and now he’s vanished!”
The devils eagerly set to work to hunt him up. They searched and searched, they rummaged in all the corners. At last they cast their eyes on the stove; at that moment, luckily for the Soldier, the cocks began to crow. In the twinkling of an eye all the devils had vanished, and the witch lay all of a heap on the floor. The Soldier got down from the stove, laid her body in the coffin, covered it up all right with the lid, and betook himself again to his psalter. At daybreak came the master of the house, opened the door, and said—
“Hail, Soldier!”
“I wish you good health, master merchant.”
“Have you spent the night comfortably?”