The Immortal

The good fellow looked down sadly, hugging the top of a huge, mast-like pine tree with his arms and legs. It shivered again from the blow to its trunk.

"Come down quickly now" - Morosely beckoned Koschei the Deathless with a finger, and struck the thin, bony trunk of the tree again - the pine shook again. "Alright, I won't beat you to death - just give a lesson, something heavy - and go home" - Koschei shook the pine trunk again - "come down, you fool - or it will be worse!"

"And I won't even think about it" - shouted the good fellow from the top of the pine, grabbing the trunk a little higher. "Who knew you could fell ancient pines with one hand? All fairy tales say - there's a breathless one, and a breathless one, a bony and frail one, maybe only death keeps further away and hidden more cleverly, so heroes can't reach. Well, I, the first guy in the village, decided to seek fame and wealth. And now - I won't come down at all!"

"And who do you think invented those fairy tales?" - sneered Koschei - "listen to such tales again, and a good fellow will come to fight the breathless one, and here I am! Come down, I say" - with another strike of his bony hand on the pine trunk, it swayed so much that the good fellow couldn't hold on and fell down like a stone.

But he didn't hit the ground - he didn't have time; Koschei caught him in midair by the collar and easily, with one hand, brought him face to face. The good fellow's legs helplessly dangled a few spans above the grass.

"So why did you come to the castle on the bald mountain?" - Koschei asked - "it can't be that you want to fight me. Then you would bang your sword on the main gates and shout a hero's call, as if cursed. Come out, let's fight. And what did you do?" - Koschei shook the good fellow, causing his head to wobble - "climbed through the open basement window, and now rummaging through the stone cellars? Did you want gold and silver, which I keep here?"

"So fairy tales do say that you are dying" - the good fellow protested - "why do you need so much then? I would need just a dozen chervonets to build a good house, start a farm, and have a joyful wedding - love with the village elder's daughter, the youngest."

"Well, yes" - Koschei chuckled softly - "all fairy tales say - I am dying. But don't forget" - his eyes suddenly flashed blue for a moment, and he shook the struggling good fellow again - "who invented all those fairy tales, many centuries ago. Image - a serious thing, built over years."

The good fellow pondered and looked downcast.

"So, there is no gold or silver after all? Oh, I am such a fool."

"Why not - of course, there is gold, silver, and treasure chests with precious stones" - Koschei said, pointing with his bony finger at a dark, gothic-style castle standing on the very top of a thirty-rod hill, bald even from grass, in the distance - "but what would I build all this for? Any village thief would find it in no time. Now. In the cellars."

The good fellow sighed heavily and looked hopefully at Koschei:

"Maybe you will let me go, huh? I didn't find anything - didn't steal anything?"

Koschei smirked mysteriously and set him on his feet; then beckoned him into the castle:

"Alright, poor hero, come visit me - I'll serve you lingonberry tea, with gingerbread, and you can chat while we drink tea - I live alone here, sometimes there's no one to talk to. And a dozen chervonets - fine, I will give you; I won't be stingy with tea" - and again, for some reason, he chuckled.

The tea drinking lasted until dawn.

The sun was already rising when the good fellow was pounding on the shutters of the house where the village elder and his family lived. They creaked open, and the elder's daughter, yawning, looked out the window - the very youngest one.

"What a joy" - the good fellow exclaimed - "I was with Koschei, and now we have a dozen gold chervonets - to have a joyful wedding and raise a farm."

"Show me" - the girl asked curiously.

"I can't now" - the good fellow shrugged - "he, the cunning one, didn't give me the keys, only inside. Well, in a day or two, ours will be - but I won't go to Koschei on the bald mountain a second time in my life."

"Inside - what do you mean?" - the girl asked in surprise - "to swallow it, you mean?"

"On the contrary" - the good fellow admitted, and his face turned bright red. A couple of days, he would have to eat standing up.

And don't go stealing!