Three heroes

It was a quiet summer evening—the 13th of July, mid-July. The sun was slowly setting, painting the sky in warm honey tones. Three heroes were returning to Kyiv after yet another heroic deed. The road was smooth, but not boring: Alyosha Popovich, as always, was fooling around without restraint—sometimes tumbling in the saddle, sometimes letting go of the reins and waving his arms, imitating birds, sometimes suddenly breaking into a dance. Ilya Muromets and Dobrynya Nikitich merely exchanged glances and sighed quietly. They had long since grown accustomed to their younger comrade's antics, but sometimes they still caught themselves thinking that with him, even a long journey flew by.

When the heroes entered Kyiv, they first went to Prince Vladimir to hand over the silver they had mined to the treasury and report on their service. The prince praised them, poured them a glass of mead, and after a brief conversation, the heroes went home to rest.

Meanwhile, in the prince's spacious library, filled with scrolls and leather-bound books, Julius the Horse (the famous talking horse attached to the librarian) sat in a comfortable chair at the table. An open book lay before him—a philosophical treatise on the meaning of life. Julius read leisurely, occasionally nodding thoughtfully, and simultaneously engaged in conversation with his old friend, Moses the Donkey, who stood nearby, lazily chewing clover.