Vassili looked about him, and, seeing no one, called out: 'Who
spoke to me?'

'I did; this old wide-spreading oak. Tell me where you are
going.'

'I am going to the Serpent King to receive twelve years' rent
from him.'

'When the time comes, remember me and ask the king: "Rotten to
the roots, half dead but still green, stands the old oak. Is it
to stand much longer on the earth?" '

Vassili went on further. He came to a river and got into the
ferryboat. The old ferryman asked: 'Are you going far, my
friend?'

'I am going to the Serpent King.'

'Then think of me and say to the king: "For thirty years the
ferryman has rowed to and fro. Will the tired old man have to
row much longer?" '

'Very well,' said Vassili; 'I'll ask him.'

And he walked on. In time he came to a narrow strait of the sea
and across it lay a great whale over whose back people walked and
drove as if it had been a bridge or a road. As he stepped on it
the whale said, 'Do tell me where you are going.'