A certain king grew very old and lost his sight. One day he heard that far, far away, at the ends of the earth, was a garden with apples of youth and a spring with the water of life. If an old man were to eat of the apples, he would grow young again, and if the water were rubbed on a blind man's eyes he would regain his sight. The king had three sons. So he sent his eldest son off on horseback to bring an apple and some water from the garden, for the king longed to regain his youth and sight. The son mounted his horse and set off for the distant land. On the way he saw a signpost pointing to three different paths. It said: "Take the first and your horse will be fed, but you will go hungry? Take the second and you will die, take the third and your horse will go hungry, but you will be fed."
He thought hard and took the third path. On he rode until he saw a fine house standing on a plain. He rode up to it, unbolted the gate and galloped into the courtyard without doffing his cap or bowing his head. The mistress of the house, a widow not advanced in years, called the young man to her: "Hail, dear guest!" She led him into the house, sat him down at the table and gave him food and mead in abundance. So the young man ate and drank his fill and lay him down to sleep on the bench. Then mistress of the house said: "What self-respecting young fellow will spend the night on his own. Get you to the bed of my daughter, the fair Dunya."
He did so gladly.
"Snuggle up closer, my dear, and we be warmer," Dunya said to him. He moved towards her and fell through the bed into a place where he was made to thresh damp rye and could not escape. The king waited in vain for his eldest son to return and at last up hope.
Then the king sent his second son to bring him an apple and some water. He took the same path and shared the same fate as his eldest brother. The king waited in vain for his second son to return and wept bitterly.
Then the youngest son begged his father to let him go the garden. His father would not agree and said: "It would be the end of you. Your elder brothers have perished, and you, a mere stripling, would perish in half the time."
But he beseeched his father, vowing to do better than his brothers. So after a while his father gave him his blessing and off he went. On the way to the widow's house everything happened just as it had to his elder brothers. He rode up to the house, dismounted, knocked at the gate and asked if he could spend the night. The mistress of the house greeted him joyfully as before, saying: "Hail, unexpected guest."
She sat him down at the table and served him all manners of food and drink. When he had eaten his fills and made to lie down on the bench, she said to him: "No self-respecting young man sleeps alone. Get you to the of my fair Dunya."
But he said: "No, mistress. That's not for a travelling man. He can kip down anywhere. How about heating up the bathhouse and letting me take your Dunya in there."
So the mistress heated up the bathhouse as hot as could be and sent him in with the fair Dunya. Now Dunya was as cunning as her mother. She sent him in first, then locked the door and stayed outside in the lobby. But the young man forced open the door and locked Dunya in there. He had three switches, one of iron, one of lead and one of copper. And he began to bit Dunya with them. She begged for mercy, but he said: "Tell me, wicked Dunya, what have you done with my brothers?"
She told him that they were threshing damp rye in the cellar, so he let her go. Then he went into the house, tied some ladders together and brought up the brothers. He bade them go home, but they were ashamed to show their faces to the king, for they had been in the fair Dunya's bed and were good for nothing. So off they went, wandering through field and forest.
But the young prince continued on his way until he cam to a house where a fair maid sat weaving towels. He went inside and said to her: ""May the good Lord help you, fair maid!" To which she replied: "Thank you kindly, young man. Are you on an errand passing the time of day?"
"I'm on an errand, fair maid," said the young man. "I must go far, far away to the end of the earth to fetch the apples of youth and the water of life for my blind and aged father from the garden there."
Then she said to him: "You've bitten off more than you can chew, trying to get to that garden. Still, if go you must, my other sister lives on the way there, so drop in to see her. She knows more that I and will tell you what to do."
So off he went until he reached the other sister. As with the first, he greeted her and told her who he was and whither he was bound. She bade him leave his horse with her and ride off on her two-winged steed to her elder sister who would tell him what to do: how to reach the garden and get the apples and water. Then off he rode again until he came to the elder sister. She gave him her four-winged steed and bade him: "Take care, for in that garden lives our aunt, a terrible witch. When you ride up to the garden do not spare my horse. Drive him on and he will jump straight over the wall. But make sure he does not brush the wall, for on it there are strings of little bells. The strings will sound, the bells will ring, the witch will wake up and you will never escape her. She has a horse with six wings. Be sure to cut that horse's tendons, so she cannot chase you on it."
He did everything as she said. He jumped over the wall on his horse. The horse's tail brushed a string very lightly. The strings sounded and the little bells rang softly. The witch woke up, but could not hear the voices of the strings and bells properly, so she yawned and went back to sleep. And the valiant prince galloped away with the apple of youth and the water of life. On the way he dropped in to the sisters, changed horses and sped off home on his own. Early next morning the witch saw that someone had stolen the apple and water from the garden. She mounted her six-winged steed straightaway, rode to her first niece and asked her: "Has anyone passed by here?"
Her niece replied: "A valiant knight rode past, but that was long ago."
She galloped on and asked her second and third nieces, and they told her likewise. So on she rode and almost caught up the valiant prince, but he reached his land and no longer her. She dared not follow him there. And could only dart him an evil glance and cry in a voice hoarse with spite: "No need to look so pleased with yourself, you thieving rogue. You've managed to escape from me, but your brothers will get you, just wait and see!"
Having cast this spell on him, she rode off home.
Our fine fellow was riding along, when he saw his vagabond brothers sleeping in a field. Not wishing to wake them, he left his horse to graze, lay down beside them and fell asleep. They woke up, saw their brother had returned, stealthily removed the apple of youth from his jacket and threw him into an abyss. Down he fell for three days until he landed in a dark underworld. Wherever he went people were weeping bitterly. When he asked the cause of their sorrow, they told him that their King's only daughter, the beautiful princess Polyusha, was going to be taken to the dragon tomorrow to be eaten up. In their land they had to give a maid to the seven-headed dragon once a month, that was the law! And now it was the princess's turn. So the valiant prince found out all about it, then went to the king himself and said: "I will save your daughter from the dragon, Sire, but you must do what I ask of you afterwards."
The king was overjoyed and promised to do anything he asked and to give him his daughter's hand in marriage.
Next day they took the beautiful princess Polyusha down to the sea, to the three-walled fortress, and the prince went with her. He took an iron rod weighing five poods (about 80 kilos). The two of them were left there to wait for the dragon. While they were waiting they chatted about this and that. He told her about his adventure and that he had the water of life. Then he said to the beautiful princess Polyusha: "Comb my hair. If I fall asleep and the dragon comes, hit me with my iron rod, otherwise you won't be able to wake me up!" And he put his head in her lap. She began to comb his hair and he fell asleep. The dragon flew up and hovered over the princess. She tried to wake the prince by shaking him, not wanting to hit him hard as he had bade her. When he did not wake, she began to weep, a tear fell upon his face and he started up, with a shout: "Oh, you have burnt me with something!"
The dragon made a drive at them. The prince picked up his five-pood rod and swung it round, knocking off five of the dragon's heads. With another blow he cut off the other two, then buried the heads under the wall and threw the body into the sea.
But a big burly fellow who had seen all this crept out from behind the wall, cut off the prince's head and threw him into the sea, bidding the Princess Polyusha tell her father, the king, that it was he who had saved her. If she did not say so, he would kill her. There was nothing for it. Polyusha wept bitterly, and off they went to her father. The king met them, and she told him that the big burly fellow had saved her. The king was overjoyed and ordered the wedding to take place. Guests came from far and wide, kings and princes, eating, drinking and making merry. Only the princess was sad. She hid in a corner by the barn, weeping bitter tears for her valiant prince. Then he had the idea of asking her father to send fishermen down to the sea to fish, and she went with them. When they pulled in their net it was full of fish! She looked and said: "No, my fish is not there!"
They pulled in another net and there was head and body of the prince. Polyusha ran up quickly, found the flack with the water of life in his jacket, put the head on the body, sprinkled it with the water, and he come to life again. She told him how the hateful burly fellow wanted to marry her. The prince comforted her and told her to go home. He would take care of everything.
So the prince went to the king's palace where the drunken guests were dancing and singing. He said he could play all sorts of songs. They liked it so much, that they praised him to the skies. Then he played such a sad song that they began to cry. Then the prince asked prince asked the king who had rescued his daughter. The king said it was the burly fellow.
"In that case let's go to the fortress with all the guests, Sire. If he can pull out the dragon's heads, I will believe he rescued Princess Polyusha."
So they all went down to the fortress. The burly fellow pulled and pulled, but he could not pull out a single head. He hadn't the strength. The prince pulled them out in a twinkling. Then the princess told the truth about who had rescued her. When they all realized that it was the prince who had rescued the king's daughter, they tied the burly fellow to a horse's tail and dragged him over hill and dale.
The king wanted the prince to marry his daughter, but the prince said: "No, Sire, I want nothing but to go up from the underworld. I have not yet finished my father's errand. He is waiting for me the water of life to cure his blindness."
The king did not know how to send the prince up from the underworld. The princess would not be parted from her rescuer and wanted to go up with him. She told her father that they had a big bird who could carry them up, provided it had enough food for the journey.
So Polyusha bade them kill an ox for the bird. Then they bade the king farewell, climbed onto the bird's back and flew up to the sunlight. When they gave the bird a lot to eat, it carried them up more quickly. Soon it had gobbled up the whole ox. Now they were afraid it would carry them down again. There was nothing for it, so Polyusha cut off a piece of her thigh and gave it to the bird. Then the bird flew up into the sunlight and said: ""You have fed me well all the way, but that last was the sweetest I have ever tasted."
Polyusha showed her where the morsel was from and the bird gasped with amazement and coughed up the slice. Then the prince placed it back, sprinkled it with the water of life and the princess's thigh was whole again.
At last they arrived at the palace. The king met them, overwhelmed with joy. The prince saw that his father had regained his youth from the apple but was still blind. So he straightaway rubbed his eyes with the water of life, and the king began to see again. He kissed the valiant prince and the beautiful princess from the dark underworld. Then the prince told him how his brothers had taken away the apple and cast him into the underworld. The brothers were so afraid that they jumped into the river. But the valiant prince married Polyusha and they had a fine wedding feast. I there did dine and drank mead wine with cabbage aplenty, but now my mouth's empty!

(Translated by K.M.Cook-Horujy)