238 COSSACK FAIRY TALES.

magic egg, and I'll bring him straightway before your
eyes !”—Then they replied: “ ’Twere better we never
saw him than that we should give thee the magic
egg!”—Then he went back to the eagle and said to
him: “They said: ‘’TI'were better we never saw him
than that we should give thee the magic egg,’”—
Then the eagle answered: “‘ Let us fly on further !”
They flew on and on till they came to the eagle’s
brother, and the archer said just the same to him as
he had said to the eagle’s uncle, and still he didn’t
get the egg. Then they flew to the eagle’s father, and
the eagle said to him: “Go up to the hut, and if
they ask for me, say that thou hast seen me and will
bring me before their eyes.”—So he went up to the
hut, and they said to him: ‘‘O Tsarevich, we hear
thee with our ears and see thee with our eyes, but
hast thou come hither of thine own free will or by
the will of another ?”—-And the archer answered :
“T have come hither of my own free will!’—Theu
they asked him: “Hast thou seen our son? Lo,
these four years we have not had news of him. He
went off to the wars, and perchance he has been
slain there.’—And he answered them: “I have seen
him, and if thou wilt give me the magic egg, I will
bring him before your eyes.”—And the eagle’s father
said to him: “ What good will such a thing do thee ?
We had better give thee the lucky penny !”—But he