ABSTRACT
In the times of the prince, of Bright-Sun Vladimir, there appeared near Kiev a terrible serpent and he took from the people a considerable tribute: from each household a beautiful maiden, from each chimney a berry, and when he had taken the maiden from the particular household, he would devour her, and memory of her would go cold. In such a pitiable time, sadness made all equal: be he householder or shooter, or trader or boyar, or mayor or even the tsar and grand prince himself—all were equal, none could avoid this fate, which was to be subject to the cannibal serpent, to humble oneself with a beautiful daughter, and on whomever the lot fell, that was the tribute.
