“There is no girl in all Novgorod as pretty as my little river,” he used to say, and night after night he would sit by the banks of the river or on the shores of the lake, playing the dulcimer and singing to himself.

Sometimes he helped the fishermen on the lake, and they would give him 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.”

With that the Tzar of the Sea went down again into the waters of the lake.  The waves closed over him with a roar, and presently the lake was as smooth and calm as it had ever been.

Sadko thought, and said to himself:  “Well, there is no harm done in casting out a net.”  So he threw a net out into the lake.

He sat down again and played on his dulcimer and sang, and when he had finished his singing the dusk had fallen and the moon shone over the lake.  He put down his dulcimer and took hold of the ropes of the net, and began to draw it up out of the silver water.  Easily the ropes came, and the net, dripping and glittering in the moonlight.

“I was dreaming,” said Sadko; “I was asleep when I saw the Tzar of the Sea, and there is nothing in the net at all.”

And then, just as the last of the net was coming ashore, he saw something in it, square and dark.  He dragged it out, and found it was a coffer.  He opened the coffer, and it was full of precious stones—­green, red, gold—­gleaming in the light of the moon.  Diamonds shone there like little bundles of sharp knives.