“But I just came from there,” said Ivan.

“Along the way,” the czar maiden said to him, “pay your respects in my emerald chambers.  Ask why my mother, the moon, has hidden her bright face from me for three days and three nights and why my golden brother, the sun, turns at such foggy heights.”  Ivan went to the hayloft where his friend lay.

“Why are you not happy?” asked the little horse.  Ivan related his latest calamity. “You go to sleep,” it replied. “In the morning we will go to the ocean.”

Freeing the whale-fish. The next day Ivan put three onions in his pocket, dressed a little more warmly, and sat on his little horse.  Together they set out on a long journey.  They traveled to the ocean, where the miraculous whale-fish lay stretched across the sea.  A village was on its back. Men plowed a field on his snout, and between his eyes boys played about.  Sighing sadly, the whale asked, “Where are you going?”

“To the sun,” replied the little horse.

“Please ask the sun how much longer I will be punished this way and for what sin do I suffer?”

Ivan agreed, bid farewell to the earth, and flew into the sky. “This is the capital of the heavens!” said the little horse. “At night the sun sleeps here, and for half the day the moon stops by for solitude.” They flew into the yard of the palace.  Ivan stepped off and went to the chambers of the moon.

“Hello, dear moon,” said Ivan. “I bring you greetings from afar.  Your daughter wants to know why you have hidden your face from her for three days and three nights and why her brother turns at such foggy heights.”

“What good news!” replied the moon. “I have mourned because we lost the czar maiden. That is why I have walked in a dark cloud for three days and nights.  That is why my son has turned at such foggy heights.  Is she well, my dear czar maiden? Is she sick or sorely saddened?”

“All is well,” Ivan said. “The czar plans to marry her.”