The bell "The Snake Princess"

“One day a Cossack rode by the way and drove into a dense forest; in that forest there is a haystack on a thaw. The Cossack stopped to rest a little, lay down beside him and lit a pipe; smoked, smoked and did not see how he dropped a spark into the hay. The Cossack mounted his horse and set off; he had not taken ten steps when a flame broke out and illuminated the whole forest. The Cossack looked back, looked — a haystack was burning, and a red girl was standing in the fire and talking in a loud voice:
— Cossack, good man! Save me from death.
— How can I save you? There are flames all around, there is no way to approach you.
— Put your pike in the fire, I'll get out of it.
The Cossack thrust his pike into the fire, and turned away from the great heat.
Immediately the red maiden turned into a snake, climbed onto a pike, slid onto the Cossack's neck, wrapped herself around his neck three times and took the tail in her teeth.
The Cossack was scared; he would not figure out what to do or how to be.
The snake was saying in a human voice:
— Don't be afraid, good fellow! Carry me around your neck for seven years and search for the tin kingdom, and when you come to that kingdom, stay and live there for another seven years without a way out. You will serve this service, you will be happy!”