Serpents and Stairways

Chapter IV - Part 3

"There was once in a faraway kingdom a wise hunter. And the hunter had but one daughter, Alena, bright as the sun. He taught Alena his trade—how to tell pyrite from gold and truth from lies, how to live and how to take life. And she learnt so well that no one in the whole kingdom could be called her equal.

'One skill I cannot teach you, my daughter,' her father said, 'the beasts' tongue. But in our kingdom, no one knows it.'

'Where can I learn this tongue, father?' she asked, but he had no answer.

Years passed and it was time for Alena to marry. Tales of the fair maiden had long travelled the lands, and so, from every corner of the earth came suitors asking for her hand. To choose the one who was the bravest and most cunning she thought of hard trials.

On the first day she asked them to hunt and to bring back a trophy of unheard worth. Lots of riches have the suitors brought to her feet—sable furs, deer antlers, outlandish birds and wild horses, but nothing was to Alena's liking. And then, a red fox sneaked between the brave fellows. It stepped up to the girl and lay at her feet a shining star—like hounds bring prey to their masters—and then said in a human voice 'O fair maiden, I bring you regards of my master—the Forest's Lord. In time, he'll come to your father to ask for your hand, but, for now, let no one follow me.'

And it made Alena awfully curious who this Forest's Lord was, and whether he was fine or not. She wished to run after the fox, but held herself still.

For the following trial Alena wanted to see who of her suitors was the best at woodcraft. She led them into a forest and left them—whoever made it back would pass. She waited for a day, another, and the third—no one had found their way from the depths: by animals torn or led astray. But at the end of the fourth day, Alena looked and saw a red fox stepping out of the forest, her suitors behind it—safe and well. It brought them to her and said, 'O fair maiden, I bring you regards of my master—the Forest's Lord. Soon, he'll come himself to your father to ask for your hand, but now let no one follow me.'

Even worse was her wonder. But she was clever, she knew not to break the rule, but to come up with a trial that only the Forest Lord himself would pass. 'All of you are worthy men, and it is hard to choose the best of you,' said she on the next day, 'and for that, my new trial is harder than the last. The one I'll marry must, no later than till sunset, prove to me that he speaks the beasts' tongue.'

The men murmured, for not one of them knew this tongue. Till the very sunset they argued and gasped, but suddenly parted, when the sun was about to touch the forest's peaks, and in front of them stepped a red fox. It struck the ground with its tail four times, and turned into a beautiful young fellow with red hair and eyes dark as obsidian. He whistled—and the birds came. Stomped—and animals gathered. Sang—and the fish jumped from the rivers, welcoming him.

'You made me appear, o maiden,' he said after proving his skill, 'made me against my will. If only you waited a little longer, we could have been together for ages endless. But now—farewell. You'll only find me when you wear through four pairs of iron boots, when you grind through four iron staffs, when you bite through four iron breads.' And turning into a red fox, ran away, leaving only a comb behind him. For a long time Alena grieved for the Forest's Lord—so beautiful he was she didn't want to even think about her other suitors. And on the fourth day she went into the fields, sat on a stone, unmade her braids, started combing her hair and crying. All of a sudden, the comb fell from her hand and turned into a dark bone forest. Alena took four pairs of iron boots, four iron staffs and four iron breads, and set out.

And when she had chewed through the breads, worn through the boots and ground through the staffs, she saw in the depths of the woods a tall house, built out of animal bones, with a skull on its roof. She stepped inside it, and forty fine fellows met her, all similar in face—Forest Lord's brothers.