142 SLAV TALES

And, indeed, he had good reason to weep. For he had
but to look at the enormous height of the polished rocks to
be convinced of the impossibility of climbing them. The
vegetation, too, was so scanty that it could only provide him
with food for a very short time. He saw but two courses
open to him: either to die from starvation, or to be devoured
by the monstrous serpents that crawled about in great numbers.
Night was now coming on, and the poor fellow was obliged to
plan some way of escaping the frightful reptiles which were
leaving their hiding-places. At last he climbed up a tree, the
highest he could find, and there, with his magic cap on and
his club in his hand, passed the night without even closing
his eyes.

Next morning when the sun rose the serpents went back
to their holes, and the fisherman got down from his tree
feeling stiff with cold and very hungry. For some time he
walked about the valley in search of food, turning over the
diamonds now so useless to him. There he found a few
worthless mushrooms, and with such poor food as _ berries
and sorrel leaves, and the water of the valley stream for
drink, he lived for some days.

One night when he went to sleep it happened that his cap
came off and fell to the ground, whereupon all the reptiles of
the place immediately gathered round him. Aroused by their
hisses, he awoke to find himself surrounded on all sides and
almost in reach of their stings. He immediately seized his
club, and had scarcely begun to repeat the magic formula
before the weapon set to work to destroy the snakes, while the
rocks resounded right and left with the blows. It was as if
the monsters were being covered with boiling water, and the