e, and bought kerchiefs and scarves and spread them out gaily,
and made great store of wine and brandy in bottles and flasks. Then
Tremsin rode toward the tents, and while he was on the way his horse
said to him, "Now when I go to graze, do thou lie down and feign to
sleep. Then the thrice-lovely Nastasia will appear and say, 'What for
thy wares?' but do thou keep silence. But when she begins to taste of
the wine and the brandy, then she will go to sleep in the tent, and
thou canst catch her easily and hold her fast!" Then Tremsin lay down
and feigned to sleep, and forth from the sea came the thrice-lovely
Nastasia, and went up to the tents and asked, "Merchant, merchant,
what for thy wares?" But he lay there, and moved never a limb. She
asked the same thing over and over again, but, getting no answer, went
into the tents where stood the flasks and the bottles. She tasted of
the wine. How good it was! She tasted of the brandy. That was still
better. So from tasting she fell to drinking. First she drank a
little, and then she drank a little more, and at last she went asleep
in the tent. Then Tremsin seized the thrice-lovely Nastasia and put
her behind him on horseback, and carried her off to the nobleman. The
nobleman praised Tremsin exceedingly, but the thrice-lovely Nastasia
said, "Look now! since thou hast found the feather of the Bird Zhar,
and the Bird Zhar herself, since also thou hast found me, thou must
now fetch me also my little coral necklace from the sea!" Then Tremsin
went out to his faithful steed and wept sorely, and told him all about
it. And the horse said to him, "Did I not tell thee that grievous woe
would come upon thee if thou didst pick up that feather?" But the
horse added, "Come! weep not! after all 'tis not a task, but a
trifle." Then they went along by the sea, and the horse said to him,
"Let me out to graze, and then keep watch till thou seest a crab come
forth from the sea, and then say to him, 'I'll catch thee.'"--So
Tremsin let his horse out to graze, and he himself stood by the
sea-shore, and watched and watched till he saw a crab come swimming
along. Then he said to the crab, "I'll catch thee."--"Oh! seize me
not!" said the crab, "but let me get back into the sea, and I'll be of
great service to thee."--"Very well," said Tremsin, "but thou must get
me from the sea the coral necklace of the thrice-lovely Nastasia," and
with that he let the crab go back into the sea again. Then the crab
calle