o he mounted his horse and
set off. Presently he came to a little thicket, and immediately a
she-wolf came out. Then Protius ran her down and Nedviga held her
fast, and the little Tsar milked her and let her go. And the she-wolf
looked round and said, "Well for thee, little Tsar Novishny, that thou
hast let me go. Methought thou wouldst not let me go alive. For that
thou hast let me go, I'll give thee, little Tsar Novishny, a
wolf-whelp."--Then she said to the little wolf, "Thou shalt serve this
dear little Tsar as though he were thine own dear father." Then the
little Tsar went back, and now there were with him two dogs and a
little wolf-whelp that trotted behind them.

Now the serpent and the false sister saw him coming from afar, and
three dogs trotting behind him. And the serpent said to her, "What a
sly, wily one it is! He has added another watch-dog to his train! Lie
down, and make thyself out worse than ever, and ask bear's milk of
him, for the bears will tear him to pieces without doubt." Then the
serpent turned himself into a needle, and she took him up and stuck
him in the wall. Meanwhile the brother dismounted from his horse and
came with his dogs and the wolf to the hut, and the dogs began
snuffing at the needle in the wall. And his sister said to him, "Tell
me, why dost thou keep these big dogs? They let me have no rest." Then
he called to the dogs, and they sat down. And his sister said to him,
"I dreamed a dream, my brother. I saw thee go and search and fetch me
from somewhere bear's milk, and I drank of it, and my health came back
to me."--"I will fetch it," said her brother.

But first of all he laid him down to sleep. Nedviga lay at his head,
and Protius at his feet, and _Vovchok_[10] by his side. So he slept
through the night, and at dawn he arose and mounted his good steed and
hied him thence. Again they came to a little thicket, and this time a
she-bear came out. Protius ran her down, Nedviga held her fast, and
the little Tsar milked her and let her go. Then the she-bear said,
"Hail to thee, little Tsar Novishny; because thou hast let me go, I'll
give thee a bear-cub." But to the little bear she said, "Obey him as
though he were thine own father." So he set off home, and the serpent
and his sister saw that four were now trotting behind him. "Look!"
said the serpent, "if there are not four running behind him! Shall we
never be able to destroy him? I tell thee what. Ask him to get thee
hare's milk;