"Lovely maiden! for the love of heaven, Wilt thou give me one cup of cooling water? For a fiery fever glows within me; From my steed I dare not rise, fair maiden! For my steed, he hath a trick of evil-- Twice he will not let his rider mount him."
Warm and earnest was the maiden's pity, And, with gentle voice, she thus addressed him: "Nay! not so--not so, thou unknown warrior! Harsh and heavy is Ressava's water; Harsh and heavy e'en for healthful warriors; How much worse for fever-sickening tired ones! Wait, and I a cup of wine will bring thee."
Swiftly tripp'd the maiden to her dwelling; With a golden cup of wine return'd she, Which she reach'd to Theodore of Stalatch. Out he stretch'd his hand; but not the wine cup, But the maiden's hand, he seized, and flung her, Flung her on his chestnut steed behind him: Thrice he girt her with his leathern girdle, And the fourth time with his sword-belt bound her; And he bore her to his own white dwelling.
Once upon a time when a certain hunter went to the mountains to hunt, there came toward him a ram with golden fleece. The hunter took his rifle to shoot it, but the ram rushed at him and, before he could fire, pierced him with its horns and he fell dead. A few days later some of his friends found his body; they knew not who had killed him and they took the body home and interred it. The hunter's wife hung up the rifle on the wall in her cottage, and when her son grew up he begged his mother to let him take it and go hunting. She, however, would not consent, saying: "You must never ask me again to give you that rifle! It did not save your father's life, and do you wish that it should be the cause of your death?"
One day, however, the youth took the rifle secretly and went out into the forest to hunt. Very soon the same ram rushed out of a thicket and said: "I killed your father; now it is your turn!" This frightened the youth, and ejaculating: "God help me!" he pressed the trigger of his rifle and, lo! the ram fell dead.
The youth was exceedingly glad to have killed the golden-fleeced ram, for there was not another like it throughout the land. He took off its skin and carried the fleece home, feeling very proud of his prowess. By and by the news spread over the country till it reached the Court, and the king ordered the young hunter to bring him the ram's skin, so that he might see what kind of beasts were to be found in his forests. When the youth brought the skin to the king, the latter said to him: "Ask whatever you like for this skin, and I will give you what you ask!" But the youth answered: "I would not sell it for anything."