John Gardner - In the Suicide Mountains

“Early next morning Vasily prayed to God, took some biscuits in his knapsack, and set out. He walked the road for a long time or a short time, a long way or a short, let wise men judge; and as he was traveling he heard a voice at the side of the road saying: ‘Vasily the Luckless, where are you bound?’ Vasily looked around him on all sides and said: ‘Who is calling me?’ ‘I, the oak, am asking you where you are going.’ ‘I am going to King Dragon to collect rent for twelve years.’ The oak said: ‘If you arrive in time, remember to ask how much longer the oak must stand after standing for three hundred winters.’

“Vasily listened carefully and continued on his journey. He came to a river and sat in a ferryboat. The old ferryman asked him: ‘Where are you bound, my friend?’ Vasily told him what he had told the oak. And the ferryman requested him to ask King Dragon how much longer he would have to ferry, for he had been ferrying for thirty winters. ‘I shall ask him,’ said Vasily. He went on and reached the sea. A whale lay stretched out across the sea and people were walking and driving over her. When Vasily stepped on the whale, she said, ‘Vasily the Luckless, where are you bound?’ Vasily told her what he had told the ferryman and the oak, and the whale said, ‘If you arrive in time, remember to ask how much longer I must lie here stretched across the sea, for people on foot and people on horseback have worn down my body to my ribs.’

“Vasily promised to ask and went on. He came to a green meadow; in the meadow stood a palace. Vasily entered the palace and went from room to room. Each was more splendid than the last. He went into the farthest room and found a lovely maiden sitting on the bed and weeping bitterly. When she saw Vasily, she rose up, kissed him, and said, ‘Who are you and how did you happen to come to this accursèd place?’ Vasily showed her the letter and told her that Marco the Rich had ordered him to collect twelve years’ rent from King Dragon. The maiden threw the letter into the stove and said to Vasily, ‘Fool, you have been sent here not to collect rent but as dragon’s food. But tell me, what roads did you take? Did you see or hear anything on your way?’ Vasily told her about the oak, the ferryman, and the whale. They had no sooner finished talking than the earth and the palace began to rumble. The maiden put Vasily into a chest under the bed and said to him, ‘Now listen to my conversation with the dragon.’ And saying this she went out to meet her lord.

“When King Dragon entered the room, he said: ‘Why is there a Russian smell here?’ The maiden said: ‘How could a Russian smell get here? You have been flying over Russia and the smell is in your nostrils.’ The dragon said: ‘I am terribly exhausted. Pick the lice in my head.’ And he lay down. The maiden said to him: ‘King, what a dream I had while you were away! I was going along a road, and an oak cried to me: ‘Ask the king how long I must stand here!’ ‘It will stand,’ said King Dragon, ‘until someone comes and kicks it with his foot; then it will be uprooted and will fall, and beneath it there is gold and silver — Marco the Rich does not have as much.’

“The maiden went on: ‘And then I dreamed that I came to a river and the ferryman asked me how long he would have to ferry.’ ‘Let him put on the ferryboat the first man who comes to him, and push the boat away from the shore — and this man will ferry forever, and the ferryman can go home.’ ‘And then I dreamed that I walked across the sea on a whale, and she asked me how long she would have to lie there.’ ‘She shall lie there till she vomits up the twelve ships of Marco the Rich; then she will go down into the water and her flesh will grow again.’ When King Dragon had said this, he fell sound asleep.

“The maiden let Vasily out of the chest and advised him thus: ‘Do not tell the whale that she must vomit up the twelve ships of Marco the Rich until you have crossed to the other side. Likewise, when you come to the ferryman, do not tell him what you have heard until you have crossed the river. And when you come to the oak, kick it toward the east, and you will discover countless riches.’ Vasily the Luckless thanked the maiden and went away.

“He came to the whale and she asked: ‘Did he say anything about me?’ ‘He did. As soon as I cross I shall tell you.’ When Vasily had crossed over, he said: ‘Vomit up the twelve ships of Marco the Rich.’ The whale vomited up the ships and they sailed forth, wholly unscathed; and Vasily the Luckless found himself in water up to his knees. Then he came to the ferryman, who asked: ‘Did you speak about me to King Dragon?’ ‘I did,’ said Vasily. ‘First, ferry me over.’ When he had crossed, he said to the ferryman: ‘Whoever comes to you first, put him on the ferryboat and push it away from the shore; he will ferry forever, and you can go home.’

“Vasily the Luckless came to the oak, kicked it toward the east with his foot, and the oak fell. Beneath it he found gold and silver and precious stones without number. Vasily looked back and lo and behold, the twelve ships that had been thrown up by the whale were sailing straight to shore. And the ships were commanded by the same old man whom Vasily had met when he was carrying the letter of Marco the Rich to his wife. The old man said to Vasily: ‘This, Vasily, is what the Lord has blessed you with.’ Then he got off his ship and went his way.

“The sailors transported the gold and silver to the ships and then set out with Vasily the Luckless. Marco the Rich was told that his son-in-law was coming with twelve ships and that King Dragon had rewarded him with countless riches.

“Marco grew furious, hearing that what he desired had not yet come to pass. He had his carriage harnessed and set out to drive to King Dragon’s palace and upbraid him. He came to the ferryman and sat in the ferryboat; the ferryman pushed it away from the shore, and Marco remained to ferry forever. But Vasily the Luckless came home to his wife and mother-in-law, began to live with them and gain increasing wealth, helped the poor, gave food and drink to beggars, and took possession of all the vast treasure of Marco the Rich.”

When the abbot finished telling his story he smiled and stood up, as if thinking of going to his bed now; but instead, with his head bowed, his right hand pushed inside his flowing left sleeve and his left hand pushed inside his flowing right sleeve, as he always stood except when he was praying, he walked over to the high, arched window that looked out at the stars above Suicide Leap; or perhaps it was the Leap itself he looked at, thinking about what the three of them had told him earlier. By the starlight one could see that his lips were trembling — it was quite pronounced — and one noticed that his head was slightly drawn in, like a turtle’s or a chicken’s, as if something had made him wince. He gave an abrupt headshake, as if in argument with himself; but precisely what the abbot might be thinking not even Chudu the Goat’s Son, who was half asleep anyway, with his pipe in his fist and his hat on his knees, could guess.

Prince Christopher the Sullen, still leaning on the mantel, toying with his brandy glass, said thoughtfully, glumly, “It’s an interesting story. Yet one thing I don’t understand, father.”

“Yes?” said the abbot, turning from the window for a moment to scrutinize the prince. Armida, too, was watching Prince Christopher, for whatever she might think about poems and stories, she loved the sad shine she’d seen in the prince’s eyes while he was listening.

“I don’t understand why you’ve told it to us.”

“Ah, that,” said the abbot.

The fire in the hearth had died down to red coals, and there was no longer any sound of life outside the stone-walled room. The walls and beams had settled into blackness, so that the night sky beyond the high window was now brighter than where they sat. It was like looking out (Armida thought) from a funeral crypt, after everything has been decided; and the abbot’s voice, for all its gentleness and kindness, was like some nagging, troublesome memory calling a ghost back, making things difficult again, confusing. She was inclined to rise to it, for the sake of the prince. For the sake of the prince she would happily reconsider everything. As for the dwarf, though he smelled like old laundry in an abandoned chickenhouse where there was garbage on the floor and the body of a cat, she would not be heartbroken if he should kill himself; but all the same it would be a loss to the world, there was no denying that; an incalculable loss, like the death of the last redwood. She tapped her lips with her fingertip, musing.