And again they flew on, and they arrived at the third sea, and the eagle threw the Tsar into the great depths, and he was immersed in the water up to his very neck. Again, the third time the eagle held him by the wing and asked him, “Why, Tsar my master, why are you frightened?”

“I was,” said the Tsar, “I was thinking if only you would rescue me!”

“Now, Tsar my master, you have learned the fear of death. All this shall be for you in the past, and shall be an old tale. You may recollect how I was sitting on the oak and you wished to kill me. Three times you took up your gun to shoot me, but I asked you to spare me; and I was thinking in my mind, may you not destroy me but have pity and take me to yourself!”

So he then flew across thrice-nine lands, for a very long flight. And the eagle said, “Come and see, Tsar my master, what is over us and what is under us.”

And the Tsar looked: “Over us,” he said, “is the sky, and under us the earth.”