Episode 1: All-Wise Helen

Welcome to Episode 1 of Public Domain Radio: Mythology and Folklore. 

Today I am reading a story from Skazki: Tales and Legends of Old Russia by Ida Zeitlin with illustrations by Theodore Nadejen. This book was published in 1926 which puts it in the public domain in the United States. You can find the book online at Hathi Trust. 

The book contains 13 stories, and the story I will be reading is called All-Wise Helen. You can listen to the embedded audio file below, or with this audio link.

Laura Gibbs · Public Domain Radio Episode 1 : All-Wise Helen

ALL-WISE HELEN

In ancient days, in a strange tsardom but not in ours — a soldier stood guard at night by an old stone tower. Twenty paces forward he marched and twenty back, and saw nothing save the starry sky over his head and the black earth under his feet. And the door of the tower was sealed with a bronze seal, and of what lay beyond he knew no more than you. 

But one night, in the ninth year of his watch, at the hour of midnight, he heard a great cry from within the tower and he paused in his march and hearkened, and again he heard the cry and yet a third time. And he made the sign of the Lord and said, "God defend me from evil! Who are you that calls?" 

"A demon lying these thirty years in foul captivity." 

"Why do you cry to me?"

"To break the seal, good youth, and set me free. Serve me in this, and I will be your bondsman all your days. If you should be in need, think but upon my name and I will do for you what fiends may do." 

And the soldier broke the bronze seal and opened wide the door, and the demon sped forth like the lightning from heaven and vanished in a whirlwind. But the soldier repented him of his folly, thinking, "What I have done is ill done, for I have flung away mine honor at a fiend's asking, whom I am as like to see again as to see mine own ears. I will tarry here no longer to be flogged through the ranks for a traitor, but take my good leave now while yet I may." And the soldier cast sword and buckler from him, and went where his eyes looked. 

He journeyed for a day and a second and a third, and found neither food to feed his hunger nor water to slake his thirst. And at length his weary limbs would bear him no farther, and he sank down by the wayside and bemoaned his lot. "Search the four corners of the world, you will not find a fool to equal me. Nine years I served in loyalty and faith, and had no care save to burnish my sword and eat what God in His wisdom provided. Now am I free, and likely to starve in my freedom. And this for you, you fiend of darkness, be you forevermore accursed." 

And out of nowhere the demon appeared before him, and said, "Health to you, soldier, and a good end. Why are you downcast?" 

"Shall I be merry that my strength is spent, or rejoice that I perish for lack of food?"

"'Tis an ill soon mended," and the demon darted to and fro and placed before the soldier meat and wine, and he ate and drank till for rich feasting he scarce could remember his name. 

And the demon said, "If you will serve a demon, go with me to my palace. There you shall feast from dawn to dusk and sleep on the feathers of a swan. Only this service will I ask of you — to guard my daughters and protect them from evil." 

And the soldier said, "I will go with you," and the demon bore him beneath his wing across thrice nine kingdoms and the thirtieth kingdom, and in the thirty-third a palace arose, and it was fashioned of black marble and its golden domes gleamed under the sun. And the three fair daughters of the demon came forth to greet him. And the demon embraced them each in turn and said, "My children, I cannot bide with you to guard you from evil, for my duties summon me forth at all seasons. Take then this soldier to be your bodyguard and your protector. Comfort him with meat and drink, clothe him in fine garments and do all things according to his bidding, for he is a man of wisdom and has served the tsar." And once more he embraced his daughters and flew abroad to find what mischief he could do. For a demon knows not peace, but prowls about the earth seeking whom he may confound and whom he may tempt from the path of righteousness to the path of sin. 

But as for the soldier, the maidens drew him into the palace and brought clear water and bathed his hands, and laid him to rest on a silken couch hung all about with glowing tapestries. And so he lived in the palace of the demon, and the daughters of the demon did all things according to his bidding, and so sweetly did the days succeed one another that he would gladly have lived thus for a thousand years. 

But bitter follows upon sweet, and so it was that the heart of the soldier presently grew troubled, for he saw that each night when the moon was high, the three maidens left the house of their father and went forth and came not before the dawn, but where they went or to what end he knew not. And he questioned them, saying, "Where do you go each night when the moon is high?" 

And they flouted him and mocked him and answered, "Wherever we want." 

And the soldier thought, "Is it so, my children? Then will I read this riddle by my wit." And when night came, he lay down upon his couch and made as if to slumber, but slumbered not and bided there his hour. And when the moon was high he left his couch, stealing to the chamber where the maidens slept, and with his knife he made an opening in the oaken door and knelt and peered within. And he saw that they spread upon the ground a carpet of many colors and, clasping hand in hand, they trod upon it and straightway were transformed into white pigeons and beat their wings and flew into the night. And the soldier gazed after them in wonder and thought, "What if I too should tread upon this carpet!" And he entered the chamber and trod upon the carpet and straightway he became a yellow bird, and flew away through the window and the three white pigeons flew before him. 

And when they had journeyed neither a little way nor a long way, they reached a broad green meadow in the midst of which stood a golden throne. And from the four corners of the earth came great birds and small birds and all that lie between, and the heavens were dark with the beat of their wings. And the yellow bird sat in a juniper bush and peered forth with one eye. And presently a light shone in the west, and grew brighter and ever brighter, and a golden chariot appeared drawn by four fiery dragons, and a maiden sat therein and she was so fair as to shame the sun and the stars when they looked on her. And she descended from her chariot and mounted the golden throne, and the birds fluttered about her and came to rest on her head and neck and shoulders, and a tiny fledgeling nestled in her bosom. And she taught them the ways of magic, and how they might circle the globe in the space of a heartbeat, and how they might restore life to the lifeless by the waters of healing. And when the moon had set, she entered her chariot and was borne swiftly from sight. 

And the three white pigeons flew to the palace of the demon, and behind them flew the yellow bird. And the pigeons struck the magic carpet with their rosy feet and became three beautiful maidens, and he that followed struck the carpet and was changed before their eyes into a goodly soldier. And the maidens gazed in wonder and cried, "Where have you come from?" 

And he answered, "I come from a green meadow, where under the full moon a maiden fairer than the sun and stars teaches the ways of magic." 

"Then you are blessed beyond all other men, for none before has seen what you have seen and lived to tell of it. Know this is Helen, potent in charms and mysteries, and had she looked into her book of wonders and learned of your great daring, her dragons would have torn you limb from limb and burned you in the flame they breathe from out their nostrils. Therefore take heed, rash soldier, and if your liking be still to wear your head upon your shoulders, go no more to that green meadow nor look again upon the face of All-Wise Helen." 

But the soldier's ears were sealed to the words of the maiden. And the day passed and the night came, and when the moon was high, the yellow bird flew to the green meadow and sat again behind the juniper. And his eyes and his heart were filled with the beauty of Helen, and he could look neither to the right nor to the left but only upon her face. And when the moon set and she entered her chariot and was borne from sight, he flew out from the juniper bush and followed after. And they came to the palace of Helen, whose walls were wrought with the wonders of magic and whose portals were guarded by two giants. And the giants bore her from the chariot through the halls of the palace to her lofty bedchamber, and laid her upon her silken couch, and left her to slumber. 

But in a green willow beneath her window, the yellow bird sat and sang so plaintively that her heart grew heavy with woe, and peace and sleep were driven from her side. And she summoned her waiting-woman and said, "Go to the green willow and bring to me the little bird that sings beneath my window." 

And the maiden placed a drop of honey on her lips that he might sip of it and called to him, but when she would have seized him in her hand, he hopped from branch to branch and would not suffer her to take him. And Helen left her chamber and went into the garden, and when she put forth her white hand, the bird let fall his wings, and lay therein as in his mother's nest. And she rejoiced in the love that the little bird bore her, and carried him to her chamber and placed him in a cage of gold and hung it in the window. 

And there he sang so blithely that all his brethren, listening to his song, made answer from the garden and the field, and all the air was sweet with the call of birds. 

And when the moon was high, Helen was borne by her fiery dragons to the far green meadow and with the dawn she returned again to the palace. And she entered her chamber, and doffed her bodice of shining jewels, and lay down on her couch and slept. And the bird gazed upon her beauty and thought, "Let me kiss the lips of my beloved and, if need be, die." And he flew from the cage and struck the carpet at Helen's feet, and became a comely youth. And he kissed her lips that were fragrant as the honey of bees, and she flung her white arm above her head and cried as in a dream, "Let him beware who kisses Helen's lips." 

But the folly of a lover is without reason, and as wide as the heavens and as deep as the deep blue sea, and he paid no heed to her cry but kissed her lips again, and again she flung her arm above her head and cried as in a dream, "Let him beware who kisses Helen's lips." 

And yet a third time he kissed her on the lips, then struck the carpet and became a bird and flew into the cage. And Helen awoke, crying, "What treachery is here?" And she opened the book of wonders and found therein the words, "Ask of him whom you have warmed in your hand, and cherished in your heart, and harbored in your chamber." And she went to the cage and cried, "Come forth, vile bird, for I would see you for what you are." And the bird flew forth and struck the carpet and stood before her, a comely youth. And Helen said, "Pray God He may forgive your sins, but for this last your head shall pay the cost." 

And the soldier answered, "I am content." 

Then the maiden clapped her hands and the giants appeared, and she said, "Let the scaffold be built beneath my window, and let the headsman prepare himself to slay my enemy."  And the scaffold was built, and the headsman stood beside it with his gleaming axe, and the soldier laid his neck upon the block. 

And Helen stood in her chamber window, holding a white kerchief in her hand, and the headsman swung the axe above his head and waited for the signal. But before the kerchief fell from Helen's hand, the soldier cried, "Helen, a boon! A boon before I diel" 

"What boon, rash youth?" 

"To sing once more! Then let the axe descend!" 

"Sing, then, but quickly!" 

And the soldier sang. He sang of his love and of his sorrow, and so sweet was his song, and so disconsolate, that the heart of Helen grew as wax within her, and she could not choose but weep for pity and for grief. And the soldier finished his song and laid his neck again upon the block. But Helen said, "I give you for your song ten golden hours wherein to find some corner of the earth hidden from me and from my magic art. If you succeed, then will I wed you. If not, your doom is sealed forevermore." 

And the soldier went forth from the garden and into the dense green forest, and sat him down upon a stone and bowed his head upon his hands and wept. And he thought, "Had I but left you, evil spirit, to languish in your tower!" 

And straightway the demon stood before him, and said, "I come at your call, little brother. Wherein can I serve you?" 

And the soldier answered, "In nothing, save you can find that corner of the earth where Helen's magic art has no avail." 

"Who knows till he has tried?" said the demon, and he struck the earth and became an eagle, and he said to the soldier, "Mount upon my back, and I will carry you beyond the power of Helen's magic art." And the soldier mounted on the eagle's back, and he soared aloft into the blue sky, and the earth was as a grain of dust and straightway was no more. And they mounted ever higher beyond the rainclouds and the clouds of storm, and five hours passed away. 

And Helen opened her book of wonders, and laughed aloud and called to them, saying, "Mighty are your wings, O lord of birds, but mightier the power of All-Wise Helen. Fly down again! You cannot hide from me!" And the eagle flew down to earth, and the soldier said, "How will you help me now?" And the demon smote him upon the thigh, and in the soldier's place there lay a pin and in the demon's place sat a silken mouse. And the mouse seized the pin between his teeth, and sped through the halls of the palace and found the book of wonders and laid the pin between its magic leaves. 

And five hours passed away, and Helen took the book of wonders and looked within. But all the leaves were silent, and though she turned them back and forth, she found no aid nor any word of that for which she sought. And a great rage seized upon her, and she flung the book upon the flames that leaped in the white stove, but the little pin fell from its pages and struck the ground and lo! the soldier stood before her. 

And Helen the Beautiful laid her hand in his, and said, "You have outwitted me, and won me to your wife." And they tarried not, but were wedded straightway and lived together in love until their days were ended. 

THE END