Pushkin - I want to be a sea empress -

Poetry by Alexander Pushkin

'Go back, bow down to the fish.
I don't want to be a mighty tsaritsa,
I want to be a sea empress;
I want to live in the Ocean-Sea
with the golden fish as my servant
to bring me whatever I ask for.'

The old man did not dare say a word;
he was too frightened to open his mouth.
Off he went towards the blue sea.
Raging there was a black storm!
Waves were flinging up spray;
angry waves were crashing and howling.
He called out to the golden fish
and the fish swam up and asked him,
'What is it, old man, what do you need?'
The old man bowed to the fish and said,
'Have mercy on me, Sovereign Fish!
What am I to do with the wretched woman?
She no longer wants to be a tsaritsa,
she wants to be a sea empress.

She wants to live in the Ocean-Sea
with you as her faithful servant
to bring her whatever she asks for.'
Not a word did the fish reply.
She just slapped her tail on the water
and dived deep into the blue sea.
The old man waited and waited
But that was all the answer he got.
He went back — to a hut made of mud.
His old woman was sitting outside it;
And before her lay a broken washtub.


Music by AI and Agni_Agnelli