Ivan’s mother took him to the cellar of the castle. There, there were two tubs of water - one on the right and the other on the left.
Nastasya, Golden Tress asked her son to drink from the right tub once. “How do you feel now?” The Tsaritsa asked her son.
Iva Tsarevich felt powerful and turned to the Tsaritsa. “I feel strong enough to overturn the entire castle.”
The Tsaritsa asked Ivan to drink from the tub on the right hand tub once more. After that, Ivan felt strong enough to turn the entire world.
Then the Tsaritsa asked Ivan to interchange the tubs and told Ivan the reason. “The tub on the right hand will give you immense strength and the tub on the left will make you weak. Whirlwind always drinks the tub on the right hand after coming here. Now that you have interchanged it, it means that Whirlwind cannot be as strong as you.”
Then the Tsaritsa asked Ivan to hide under her purple robe because Whirlwind was to come to the place very soon and the Tsaritsa also gave clear instructions to Ivan on what to be done when Whirlwind came there.
“Grab the club with Whirlwind’s hands and never let it go, no matter what happens. That will weaken Whirlwind and he will come to the castle to drink from the tub. Be careful of which tub you drink from, at that time. After that, grab Whirlwind’s sword and strike him only once and no matter what do not strike him more than once.”
Ivan had barely hidden under the robe when the entire castle grew dark and everything shook.
Whirlwind flew inside the castle and he entered the castle with a club in his hands.
Adapted from Russian Folktales
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