t were better
to climb up the tree and bring him down alive." So he climbed up the
tree and brought down the lad, and they nurtured him and gave him the
name of Tremsin. They brought up Tremsin until he became a youth, and
then they gave him a horse, set him upon it, and said to him, "Now go
out into the wide world and search for thy father and thy mother!" So
Tremsin went out into the wide world and pastured his steed on the
vast steppes, and his steed spoke to him and said, "When we have gone
a little farther, thou wilt see before thee a plume of the Bird
_Zhar_[12]; pick it not up, or sore trouble will be thine!" Then they
went on again. They went on and on, through ten tsardoms they went,
till they came to another empire in the land of Thrice Ten where lay
the feather. And the youth said to himself, "Why should I not pick up
the feather when it shines so brightly even from afar?" And he went
near to the feather, and it shone so that the like of it cannot be
expressed or conceived or imagined or even told of in tales. Then
Tremsin picked up the feather and went into the town over against him,
and in that town there lived a rich nobleman. And Tremsin entered the
house of this nobleman and said, "Sir, may I not take service with
thee as a labourer?"--The nobleman looked at him, and seeing that he
was comely and stalwart, "Why not? Of course thou mayst," said he. So
he took him into his service. Now this nobleman had many servants, and
they curried his horses for him, and made them smart and glossy
against the day he should go a-hunting. And Tremsin began to curry his
horse likewise, and the servants of the nobleman could not make the
horses of their master so shining bright as Tremsin made his own
horse. So they looked more closely, and they perceived that when
Tremsin cleaned his horse he stroked it with the feather of the Bird
Zhar, and the coat of the good steed straightway shone like burnished
silver. Then those servants were filled with envy, and said among
themselves, "How can we remove this fellow from the world? We'll
saddle him with a task he is unable to do, and then our master will
drive him away."--So they went to their master and said, "Tremsin has
a feather of the Bird Zhar, and he says that if he likes he can get
the Bird Zhar itself." Then the nobleman sent for Tremsin and said to
him, "O Tremsin! my henchmen say that thou canst get the Bird Zhar if
thou dost choose."--"Nay, but I cannot," replied Tremsi