human
We are aware that you gallant sea merchants cross all the big waters and see many wonderful things. My desire is to ask you about something, and you must give a straightforward answer without any deceit or evasion.
gpt
So be it, mighty Tsar Archidei Aggeivitch,
human
Well, then, can you tell me if somewhere in an empire or kingdom, or among great princes, there is a maiden as beautiful and wise as I myself, Tsar Archidei; an illustrious maiden who would be a proper wife for me, a suitable Tsaritza for my country?
gpt
Indeed, I once heard that yonder beyond the great sea, on an island called Buzan, there is a great country; and the sovereign of that land has a daughter named Helena, a princess very beautiful, not less so, I dare say, than thyself. And wise she is, too; a wise man once tried for three years to guess a riddle that she gave, and did not succeed.
human
How far is that island, pray tell, and where are the roads that lead to it?
gpt
The island is not near, answered the old merchant.
human
If one chooses the wide sea he must journey ten years. Besides, the way to it is not known to us. Moreover, even suppose we did know the way, it seems that the Princess Helena is not a bride for thee.
gpt
How dost thou dare to speak such words, thou, a long-bearded buck?
human
Thy will be done, but think for thyself. Suppose thou shouldst send an envoy to the island of Buzan. He would require ten long years to go there, ten years equally long to come back, and so his journey would require fully twenty years. By that time a most beautiful princess would grow old--a girl's beauty is like the swallow, a bird of passage; it lasts not long.
gpt
Well, he said to the merchant guests,
human
Let me ride into the wide fields, he said;