There was once a young tracker boy. He was talented at the art, spending long hours in the forest grazing his fingers over seemingly meaningless branches, following the paw prints even as they were swallowed by stormy winters. One winter night, on the icy plains of Tsibeya, he had tracked a herd of wild deer. But these were otherworldly, dancing by the aurora lights, their moon-like pelts swaying dolcely in the biting winds. A stag approached with all his glittering splendor and in a language strange, much like a melody, he greeted the young tracker. The brilliant creature dipped it's head in a bow. The tracker drew the reins strapped on his belt, slipping it on the muzzle smoothly. At the touch of it's hide, he felt warmth and coolness combine with each other, the wisdom of the world as silky as his fur. He ushered the stag on his sled, and it pulled him through a blizzard as if it were a summer meadow from his past.
After many months, he presented the delicate beast to the king. The Dark King, pale with unnerving stony eyes expressed a microscopic satisfaction but was quick to demand, "Boy, you have retrieved a stag of Morozova's legendary herd therefore you would have no issue in presenting before me the scales of the sea whip Nickoleye, in the depths of his coral palace you shall find a princess divine. She will be my bride." He narrowed his eyes,"Or the punishment will be death." He stumbled out of the palace in shock. The guards had prepared him a quaint vessel, where only the stag and the tracker were aboard. Each row was like a heaving a thousand waves.
Watching his master reduced to such despair, the stag spoke to him again.
"For the dragon that haunts the northern true sea was once a prince, sing to him the songs of joy which he has forgotten."
"And what of the princess?"
"Sing to her too. Oaths and ballads of love from which she is deprived. Let her taste the foreign kvas which I carry with me and she will be intoxicated by nightfall. Then, cut my great antlers and fashion a colar so she cannot escape back to the murky depths, forever bound by the maker."
And so, though feeling utterly ridiculous, he sang,
"O, prince emerge!
Have you forgotten the beauty of the rising sun,
the clouds so gentle in thy loving eyes?
Or the banquets abundant with wild boars juicy and pheasant delight?
Brewed with such consistency were the kvas swirling in your diamond flask.
Dear prince, emerge from thy scaly form!"
And with a great torrent of water, the sea whip thrusted itself upwards. It glided across the sky like a white ribbon, slowly to fall and stand on the white horses of the ocean. He slipped out of his reptilian skin to reveal a handsome prince, with golden hair and hazel eyes but honestly to the tracker he had the smirk of a scallywag.
"This is a disappointment. I expected a beautiful maiden. You know, give them a joy ride. High possibility of drowning..."
"I would like some scales from thy garb."
"What makes you think I will give it to you, Orestev?"
"What would you want in exchange?"
"A flask of kva or two, you don't get them here unless you sink the occasional merchant ship. You can probably tell why they stopped."
He threw two flasks, but left the rest for the princess. Nickoleye caught them, then unsheathed his golden dagger to remove some scales off the back of his hide and tossed it back to him. Then he shrugged his dragon skin back on.
"If you seek the princess, a little fair warning," he grinned, "she boils trackers like you for breakfast."
And with that he plummeted back into the sea. The tracker shivered. What type of monster is this "princess"? Together, the tracker and the stag sat of their rocking boat, watching the sun submerged into the immense vastness of the true sea. The tracker sang again,
"Oh great beauty,
though I have never seen you face,
But I would very much desire to,
To kiss those cherries called lips
To hold thee in sweet embrace." Silence droned across the waters. He didn't know what else to do. To row back would mean he would have to face death. To stay at sea forever would be a longer more sufferable way to end this life. But suddenly a colossal touch was a-gleaming. As the tracker squinted his eyes, he saw it was not fire but the princess, standing by his white stag.
The tracker bowed,"My lady, please accept this drink." With two hands he presented a flask of kva, but subtly shivering with embarrassment from staring too long upon her smiling face. He blushed. The princess giggled with amusement and took a delicate sip from the flask. So they talked and laughed throughout the night as lovers do. Even as she laid sleeping, the tracker boy watched over her with tender eyes placing the antler collar around her neck and, regrettably rowed back to shore.
The Dark King courted the princess, but she remained unswayed. Though that tracker boy had attained trophies of two creatures of legend, it was not enough. For she demanded the firebird. Only then would she marry the king. The tracker was once again disturbed. Sadly, he begged his stag for wisdom. He replied, "Spread corn across the fields, then the firebird would come to feed." He did so, spending a long afternoon in the windy fields, cold sweat falling from his brow. Suddenly, he saw a glimpse of flame in the sky parallel to the sun. The tracker ran. There he saw the firebird enjoying the yellow maize. He secured a cage over it, and carried it's golden plumage back to the king.
The Dark King looked to his queen on the throne. She bowed her head in submission, leering at the tracker boy. She arose and demanded, "My first order as queen is that the tracker will be dumped in boiling water." The Dark King nodded in agreement. He ordered his guards to throw him in a cell with the stage. That night he sobbed,
"O woe to me!
Curse that dragon Nickoleye and his bad humor!
I thought that night, on the boat
she spoke to me as if she did love me too,
I am a fool." The stag's head also drew back in defeat.
The princess herself had concocted the brew in which the tracker would be thrown into that morning. At his final moments, with guards either side he confessed to the princess on the dais, "if my dearest were to despise me so much as to boil me, so be it. Princess, I still love you with the strength of the beating heart."
She looked away. The boy's heart broke. He plunged into the cauldron. But once inside he felt no scalding pain or burns, it was cool despite the bubbling and flames beneath. The princess stood in anticipation, the Dark King unsure if what to make from her expression. The tracker emerged, water sluicing off his new body. His flesh was tanned and glowing, muscles tight and tense, his face chiseled and handsome. The boy had turned into a man. The Dark King was outraged. He dived into the cauldron, then he was reduced to dust. The princess and the tracker embraced. They ruled the kingdom justly till the end of their days.