276 COSSACK FAIRY TALES.

went to the serpent’s house to greet them all, and
there he saw twenty of the serpent’s daughters, but
where was the twenty-first? Then the serpent. got
up and said: “ Well, prince, now let us come down
into the courtyard ; they'll soon bring out the horse,
and we'll see what thou dost make of it.”

So they all went out and saw two serpents bringing
out the horse, and it was as much as the pair of them
could do to hold its head, so fierce and strong it was.
They led it out in front of the gallery, and the prince
walked round it and looked at it. Then said he:
“What! did you not say you would bring out a
horse? Why, this isno horse, but a mare. I will not
sit on this mare, for ’twould be to my shame. I will
call one of my servants, and he shall mount her.”

“Good!” said the serpent, ‘let him try!”

The prince called forth Ivan Golik: “Sit on that
mare,” said he, “and trot her about!”

Ivan mounted the mare, and the two serpents let
go. She earried him right up among the clouds, and
then down again upon the ground she came, with a
ringing of hoofs that made the earth tremble. But
Ivan Golik took out a fragment of the broken bow,
fifty pounds in weight, and trounced her fincly. She
reared and bucked and carried him hither and thither,
but he flogged her between the ears without ceasing.
So when she saw that all her prancing and curveting