a little fish for his supper in payment for his strong young arms.

And it happened that one evening the fishermen asked him to watch
their nets for them on the shore, while they went off to take their
fish to sell them in the square at Novgorod.

[Footnote 1: The Volkhov would be a big river if it were in England,
and Sadko and old Peter called it little only because they loved it.]

Sadko sat on the shore, on a rock, and played his dulcimer and sang.
Very sweetly he sang of the fair lake and the lovely river--the little
river that he thought prettier than all the girls of Novgorod. And
while he was singing he saw a whirlpool in the lake, little waves
flying from it across the water, and in the middle a hollow down into
the water. And in the hollow he saw the head of a great man with blue
hair and a gold crown. He knew that the huge man was the Tzar of the
Sea. And the man came nearer, walking up out of the depths of the
lake--a huge, great man, a very giant, with blue hair falling to his
waist over his broad shoulders. The little waves ran from him in all
directions as he came striding up out of the water.

Sadko did not know whether to run or stay; but the Tzar of the Sea
called out to him in a great voice like wind and water in a storm,--

"Sadko of Novgorod, you have played and sung many days by the side of
this lake and on the banks of the little river Volkhov. My daughters
love your music, and it has pleased me too. Throw out a net into the
water, and draw it in, and the waters will pay you for your singing.
And if you are satisfied with the payment, you must come and play to
us down in the green palace of the sea."