himself possessed. He tried to tempt her by offering to make her Queen if she would embroider for him alone, but she refused saying she never wanted to leave her village. Because of this last insult to his ego he turned Maryushka into a Firebird, and himself into a great black Falcon, picked her up in his talons, and stole her away from her village. To leave a memory of herself with her village forever she shed her feathers onto the land below. As the last feather fell Maryushka died in the falcon's talons. The glowing rainbow feathers were magic and remain undimmed, but show their colors only to those who love beauty and seek to make beauty for others. Irina Zheleytova translates another version, The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa. In this version a king's archer is on a hunt and runs across a firebird's feather. The archer's horse warns the archer not to touch it, as bad things will happen. The archer ignores the advice and takes it to bring back to the king so he will be praised and rewarded. When the king is presented with the feather he demands the entire firebird or the death of the archer. The archer weeps to his horse, who instructs him to put corn on the fields in order to capture the firebird. The firebird comes down to eat, allowing the archer to capture the bird. When the king is presented with the firebird he demands that the archer fetch the Princess Vassilissa so the king may marry her; otherwise, the archer will be killed. The archer goes to the princess' lands and drugs her with wine to bring her back to the king. The king is pleased and rewards the archer; however, when the princess awakes and realizes she is not home she begins to weep. If she is to be married she wants her wedding dress, which is under a rock in the middle of the Blue Sea. Once again the archer weeps to his horse and fulfills his duty to his king and brings back the dress. The princess is stubborn and refuses to marry the king even with her dress until the archer is dipped in boiling water. The archer begs to see his horse before he is boiled and the horse puts a spell on the archer to protect him from the water. The archer comes