“Aha, you tremble!  Obey Russian strength!  Take me to Ludmila.”

Chernomor flies and in an instant finds himself among his terrible mountains.  Ruslan takes the sword he found near the head and cuts off Chernomor’s beard.  “Know our kind!”  he says cruelly and sticks the gray hair on his helmet.  Ruslan stuffs the dwarf into a pack behind his saddle and hurries to the top of the steep mountain.

With a joyous soul he walks alone among the majestic temples and garden, but doesn’t find a thing.  The poison of desperate love soon flows in his blood.  Now violent and terrible, the knight destroys everything with his sword: The pavilions and groves fall; trees and bridges plunge into the waves; a steppe is created everywhere!  With swings to the left and right he cuts the empty air.  Suddenly, an accidental blow knocks off Chernomor’s hat and Ludmila appears in the net.  Ruslan falls to his knees, tears open the net, and kisses the hands of his faithful friend, but the maiden sleeps.

Grief again tears him to pieces, but the voice of the virtuous Finn says, “Take heart!  In holy Kiev the princess will awaken from her charmed sleep.”  Ruslan, enlivened by this news, sets out with Ludmila in his arms and the dwarf stowed behind his saddle.

Little Red Riding Hood encounters the wolf

On the dark shores of a stream, Ruslan stops his steed.  A fisherman on the quiet-flowing river sails to the shore near his humble cabin.  Out of the hut runs a young maiden with a slender figure, flowing hair, calm eyes, and bare shoulders.  They embrace beside the cool water, and a time of lighthearted leisure envelops them.

Who does Ruslan recognize in the happy fisherman?  The Khazar khan, Ratmir.  The hero approaches and asks, “Why did you leave the sword that you praised?”

“My friend,” answers the fisherman, “the pernicious apparition of martial glory bored my soul.  Love and peaceful oak groves are a hundred times more pleasant to the heart.  I have forgotten everything, even you Ludmila.”

“I am very glad!” Ruslan says, but it is time for the hero to be on his way.