{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_32217/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_32217","id":"gutenberg_32217","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32217","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales -- Czechoslovakia"],"text":"Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sam W. and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was\nproduced from images generously made available by The\nInternet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nIllustration captions in braces {like this} have been added by the\ntranscriber for the convenience of the reader.\n\n\n\n\n               CZECHOSLOVAK\n               FAIRY TALES\n\n\n                RETOLD BY\n             PARKER FILLMORE\n\n   WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND DECORATIONS BY\n               JAN MATULKA\n\n\n       [Illustration: {Two birds}]\n\n\n                 NEW YORK\n       HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY\n\n\n\n\n           COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY\n             PARKER FILLMORE\n\n        PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY\n        THE QUINN & BODEN COMPANY\n              RAHWAY, N. J.\n\n\n\n\n  [Illustration: _Zloboha in Dobrunka's Clothes_\n      Page 192]\n\n\n\n\n                  To\n         MISS MARJORIE RAHLSON\n\n\n\n\nNOTE\n\n\nThis rendering of some of the old Czechoslovak tales is not offered as\na literal translation or a scholarly translation. I have retold the\nstories in a way that I hope will please American children. I have\ntried hard to keep the flavor of the originals but have taken the\nliberty of a short cut here and an elaboration there wherever these\nhave seemed to me to make the English version clearer and more\ninteresting.\n\nI have gone to Czech, Slovakian, and Moravian sources. All these\nstories appear in many versions in the different folklore collections\nmade by such native writers as Erben, Nemcova, Dobsinsky, Rimavsky,\nBenes-Trebizsky, Kulda. They represent the folk-tale in all stages of\nits development from the bald narrative of _The Bird with the Golden\nGizzard_ which Kulda reports with phonographic exactness, to Nemcova's\nmore elaborate tale, _Prince Bayaya_, which is really a mosaic of two\nor three simpler stories. I have included _Katcha and the Devil_ for\nthe sake of its keen humor, which is particularly Czech in character;\n_The Betrothal Gifts_ to show how a story common to other countries is\nmade most charmingly local by giving it a local background; _The\nThree Golden Hairs_ to contrast it with a famous German variant which\nit seems to me is much inferior to the Slavic version; and several\nfine stories of the prince gone off on adventures which in common with\nthe folk-tales of all Europe show a strong Oriental influence.\n\nIn the transliteration of proper names I have not followed\nconsistently any one method, but for each individual name have made\nwhat seemed to be the best selection from the various possible\nspellings. Until transliteration from the Slavic languages has become\nstandardized this, I am sure, is permissible and even advisable.\n\nIn the preparation of this volume I have made heavy draughts upon the\nscholarship and patience of my Czech friends, Mrs. Jan Matulka and Mr.\nVladimir Jelinek. I beg them to accept my thanks. I am also deeply\ngrateful to Mr. A. B. Koukol, who did me the favor of reading the\nfinal sheets. Lastly I wish to express my appreciation of the Webster\nBranch of the New York Public Library, which has gathered together\nwhat is probably the most complete collection of Czechoslovak\nliterature in America, and one particularly rich in folklore and\nchildren's books.\n\n                                                       P. F.\n    August, 1919\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: {A house and barn}]\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                  PAGE\n\n    LONGSHANKS, GIRTH, AND KEEN: The Story of Three\n      Wonderful Serving Men                                          1\n\n    THE THREE GOLDEN HAIRS: The Story of a Charcoal-Burner's\n      Son Who Married a Princess                                    21\n\n    THE FLAMING HORSE: The Story of a Country Where the Sun\n      Never Shines                                                  41\n\n    THE THREE CITRONS: The Story of a Prince Who Climbed the\n      Glass Hill                                                    55\n\n    PRINCE BAYAYA: The Story of a Magic Horse                       77\n\n    KATCHA AND THE DEVIL: The Story of a Clinging Vine              99\n\n    THE BETROTHAL GIFTS: The Story of Kubik and the Frog           113\n\n    GRANDFATHER'S EYES: The Story of Three Wicked Yezinkas         129\n\n    RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE AND CHINK-CHINK-CHINK: The Story\n      of Long Beard, the Dwarf, and the Two Sisters                141\n\n    THE BIRD WITH THE GOLDEN GIZZARD: The Story of Two\n      Brothers                                                     155\n\n    THE WOOD MAIDEN: The Story of Betushka and the Golden\n      Birch Leaves                                                 163\n\n    THE GOLDEN SPINNING-WHEEL: The Story of King Dobromil\n      and the Good Dobrunka                                        177\n\n    THE GOLDEN GODMOTHER: The Story of Poor Lukas                  205\n\n    THE GOLDEN DUCK: The Story of Prince Raduz and the\n      Faithful Ludmila                                             219\n\n    THE STORY THAT NEVER ENDS                                      241\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: {A serpent}]\n\nFULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                                  PAGE\n\n    Zloboha in Dobrunka's Clothes                       _Frontispiece_\n\n    Music Played                                                    72\n\n    When the Boys Had Grown into Handsome Youths                    80\n\n    Kubik Greeting His Old Father                                  126\n\n    Alike in Feature but Utterly Different in Disposition          179\n\n\n\n\nLONGSHANKS, GIRTH, AND KEEN\n\nTHE STORY OF THREE WONDERFUL SERVING MEN\n\n[Illustration: {An older bearded man and a bird}]\n\n\nLONGSHANKS, GIRTH, AND KEEN\n\nThere was once an aged king who had an only son. One day he called the\nprince to him and said: \"My dear son, you know that ripe fruit falls\nin order to make room for other fruit. This my old head is like ripe\nfruit and soon the sun will no longer shine upon it. Now before I die\nI should like to see you happily married. Get you a wife, my son.\"\n\n\"I would, my father, that I could please you in this,\" the prince\nanswered, \"but I know of no one who would make you a worthy\ndaughter-in-law.\"\n\nThe old king reached into his pocket, drew out a golden key, and\nhanded it to the prince. He said:\n\n\"Go up into the tower to the very top. There look about you and when\nyou have decided what you like best of all you see, come back and tell\nme.\"\n\nThe prince took the key and at once mounted the tower. He had never\nbefore gone to the very top and he had never heard what was there. He\nwent up and up until at last he saw a small iron door in the ceiling.\nHe opened this with the golden key, pushed it back, and entered a\nlarge circular hall. The ceiling was blue and silver like the heavens\non a bright night when the stars shine, and the floor was covered with\na green silken carpet. There were twelve tall windows set in gold\nframes, and on the crystal glass of each window a beautiful young girl\nwas pictured in glowing colors. Every one of them was a princess with\na royal crown upon her head. As the prince looked at them it seemed to\nhim that each was more lovely than the last, and for the life of him\nhe knew not which was the loveliest. Then they began to move as if\nalive, and they smiled at the prince and nodded, and looked as if they\nwere about to speak.\n\nSuddenly the prince noticed that one of the twelve windows was covered\nwith a white curtain. He pulled the curtain aside and there without\nany question was the most beautiful princess of them all, clothed in\npure white, with a silver girdle and a crown of pearls. Her face was\ndeathly pale and sad as the grave.\n\nFor a long time the prince stood before this picture in utter\namazement and as he looked at it a pain seemed to enter his heart.\n\n\"This one I want for my bride,\" he said aloud, \"this one and no\nother.\"\n\nAt these words the maiden bowed, flushed like a rose, and then\ninstantly all the pictures disappeared.\n\nWhen the prince told his father what he had seen and which maiden he\nhad chosen, the old king was greatly troubled.\n\n\"My son,\" he said, \"you did ill to uncover what was covered and in\ndeclaring this, your choice, you have exposed yourself to a great\ndanger. This maiden is in the power of a black magician who holds her\ncaptive in an iron castle. Of all who have gone to rescue her not one\nhas ever returned. However, what's done is done and you have given\nyour word. Go, then, try what fortune has in store for you, and may\nHeaven bring you back safe and sound.\"\n\nSo the prince bade his father farewell, mounted his horse, and rode\nforth to find his bride. His first adventure was to lose his way in a\ndeep forest. He wandered about some time not knowing where to turn\nwhen suddenly he was hailed from behind with these words:\n\n\"Hey, there, master, wait a minute!\"\n\nHe looked around and saw a tall man running toward him.\n\n\"Take me into your service, master,\" the tall man said. \"If you do you\nwon't regret it.\"\n\n\"What is your name,\" the prince asked, \"and what can you do?\"\n\n\"People call me Longshanks because I can stretch myself out. I'll show\nyou. Do you see a bird's nest in the top of that tall fir? I'll get it\ndown for you and not by climbing the tree either.\"\n\nSo saying he began to stretch out and his body shot up and up until he\nwas as tall as the fir tree. He reached over and got the nest and\nthen, in a shorter time than it had taken him to stretch out, he\nreduced himself to his natural size.\n\n\"You do your trick very well,\" the prince said, \"but just now a bird's\nnest isn't of much use to me. What I need is some one to show me the\nway out of this forest.\"\n\n\"H'm,\" Longshanks said, \"that's an easy enough matter.\"\n\nAgain he began to stretch himself up and up and up until he was three\ntimes as tall as the highest pine in the forest. He looked around and\nsaid: \"Over there, in that direction, is the nearest way out.\"\n\nThen he made himself small again, took the horse by the bridle, walked\nahead, and in a short time they emerged from the forest.\n\nA broad plain stretched out before them and beyond it they could see\ntall gray rocks that looked like the walls of a great city and\nmountains overgrown with forests.\n\nLongshanks pointed off across the plain and said: \"There, master, goes\na comrade of mine who would be very useful to you. You ought to take\nhim into your service too.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the prince, \"call him here that I may find out what\nsort of a fellow he is.\"\n\n\"He is too far away to call,\" Longshanks said. \"He wouldn't hear my\nvoice and if he did he would be a long time in reaching us, for he has\nmuch to carry. I had better step over and get him myself.\"\n\nAs he said this, Longshanks stretched out and out until his head was\nlost in the clouds. He took two or three strides, reached his comrade,\nset him on his shoulder, and brought him to the prince.\n\nThe new man was heavily built and round as a barrel.\n\n\"Who are you?\" the prince asked. \"And what can you do?\"\n\n\"I am called Girth,\" the man said. \"I can widen myself.\"\n\n\"Let me see you do it,\" the prince said.\n\n\"Very well, master,\" said Girth, beginning to puff out, \"I will. But\ntake care! Ride off into the forest as fast as you can!\"\n\nThe prince did not understand the warning, but he saw that Longshanks\nwas in full flight, so he spurred his horse and galloped after him.\n\nIt was just as well he did, for in another moment Girth would have\ncrushed both him and his horse, so fast did he spread out, so huge did\nhe become. In a short time he filled the whole plain until it looked\nas though a mountain had fallen upon it.\n\nWhen the plain was entirely covered, he stopped expanding, heaved a\ndeep breath that shook the forest trees, and returned to his natural\nsize.\n\n\"You made me run for my life!\" the prince said. \"I tell you I don't\nmeet a fellow like you every day! By all means join me.\"\n\nThey went across the plain and as they neared the rocks they met a man\nwhose eyes were bandaged with a handkerchief.\n\n\"Master,\" said Longshanks, \"there is my other comrade. Take him into\nyour service, too, and I can tell you you won't regret the bread he\neats.\"\n\n\"Who are you?\" the prince asked. \"And why do you keep your eyes\nbandaged? You can't see where you're going.\"\n\n\"On the contrary, master, it is just because I see too well that I\nhave to bandage my eyes. With bandaged eyes I see as well as other\npeople whose eyes are uncovered. When I take the handkerchief off, my\nsight is so keen it goes straight through everything. When I look at\nanything intently it catches fire, and if it can't burn, it crumbles\nto pieces. On account of my sight I'm called Keen.\"\n\nHe untied the handkerchief, turned to one of the rocks opposite, and\ngazed at it with glowing eyes. Soon the rock began to crumble and fall\nto pieces. In a few moments it was reduced to a heap of sand. In the\nsand something gleamed like fire. Keen picked it up and handed it to\nthe prince. It was a lump of pure gold.\n\n\"Ha, ha!\" said the prince. \"You are a fine fellow and worth more than\nwages! I should be a fool not to take you into my service. Since you\nhave such keen eyes, look and tell me how much farther it is to the\nIron Castle and what is happening there now.\"\n\n\"If you rode there alone,\" Keen answered, \"you might get there within\na year, but with us to help you, you will arrive this very day. Our\ncoming is not unexpected, either, for at this very moment they are\npreparing supper for us.\"\n\n\"What is the captive princess doing?\"\n\n\"She is sitting in a high tower behind an iron grating. The magician\nstands on guard.\"\n\n\"If you are real men,\" the prince cried, \"you will all help me to free\nher.\"\n\nThe three comrades promised they would.\n\nThey led the prince straight through the gray rocks by a defile which\nKeen made with his eyes, and on and on through high mountains and deep\nforests. Whatever obstacle was in the way one or another of the three\ncomrades was able to remove it.\n\nBy late afternoon they had crossed the last mountain, had left behind\nthem the last stretch of dark forest, and they saw looming up ahead of\nthem the Iron Castle.\n\nJust as the sun sank the prince and his followers crossed the\ndrawbridge and entered the courtyard gate. Instantly the drawbridge\nlifted and the gate clanged shut.\n\nThey went through the courtyard and the prince put his horse in the\nstable, where he found a place all in readiness. Then the four of them\nmarched boldly into the castle.\n\nEverywhere--in the courtyard, in the stables, and now in the various\nrooms of the castle--they saw great numbers of richly clad men all of\nwhom, masters and servants alike, had been turned to stone.\n\nThey went on from one room to another until they reached the banquet\nhall. This was brilliantly lighted and the table, with food and drink\nin abundance, was set for four persons. They waited, expecting some\none to appear, but no one came. At last, overpowered by hunger, they\nsat down and ate and drank most heartily.\n\nAfter supper they began to look about for a place to sleep. It was\nthen without warning that the doors burst open and the magician\nappeared. He was a bent old man with a bald head and a gray beard that\nreached to his knees. He was dressed in a long black robe and he had,\ninstead of a belt, three iron bands about his waist.\n\nHe led in a beautiful lady dressed in white with a silver girdle and a\ncrown of pearls. Her face was deathly pale and as sad as the grave.\nThe prince recognized her instantly and sprang forward to meet her.\nBefore he could speak, the magician raised his hand and said:\n\n\"I know why you have come. It is to carry off this princess. Very\nwell, take her. If you can guard her for three nights so that she\nwon't escape you, she is yours. But if she escapes you, then you and\nyour men will suffer the fate of all those who have come before you\nand be turned into stone.\"\n\nThen when he had motioned the princess to a seat, he turned and left\nthe hall.\n\nThe prince could not take his eyes from the princess, she was so\nbeautiful. He tried to talk to her, asking her many questions, but she\nmade him no answer. She might have been marble the way she never\nsmiled and never looked at any of them.\n\nHe seated himself beside her, determined to stay all night on guard in\norder to prevent her escape. For greater security Longshanks stretched\nhimself out on the floor like a strap and wound himself around the\nroom the whole length of the wall. Girth sat in the doorway and puffed\nhimself out until he filled that space so completely that not even a\nmouse could slip through. Keen took his place by a pillar in the\nmiddle of the hall.\n\nBut, alas, in a few moments they all grew heavy with drowsiness and in\nthe end slept soundly all night long.\n\nIn the morning in the early dawn the prince awoke and with a pain in\nhis heart that was like a blow from a dagger, he saw that the princess\nwas gone. Instantly he aroused his men and asked them what was to be\ndone.\n\n\"It's all right, master, don't worry,\" said Keen as he took a long\nlook through the window. \"I see her now. A hundred miles from here is\na forest, in the midst of the forest an ancient oak, on the top of the\noak an acorn. The princess is that acorn. Let Longshanks take me on\nhis shoulders and we'll go get her.\"\n\nLongshanks picked Keen up, stretched himself out, and set forth. He\ntook ten miles at a stride and in the time it would take you or me to\nrun around a cottage, here he was back again with the acorn in his\nhand. He gave it to the prince.\n\n\"Drop it, master, on the floor.\"\n\nThe prince dropped the acorn and instantly the princess appeared.\n\nAs the sun came over the mountain tops the doors slammed open and the\nmagician entered. A crafty smile was on his face. But when he saw the\nprincess the smile changed to a scowl, he growled in rage, and bang!\none of the iron bands about his waist burst asunder. Then he took the\nprincess by the hand and dragged her off.\n\nThat whole day the prince had nothing to do but wander about the\ncastle and look at all the strange and curious things it contained.\nIt seemed as if at some one instant all life had been arrested. In one\nhall he saw a prince who had been turned into stone while he was\nbrandishing his sword. The sword was still uplifted. In another room\nthere was a stone knight who was taken in the act of flight. He had\nstumbled on the threshold but he had not yet fallen. A serving man sat\nunder the chimney eating his supper. With one hand he was reaching a\npiece of roast meat to his mouth. Days, months, perhaps years had gone\nby, but the meat had not yet touched his lips. There were many others,\nall of them still in whatever position they happened to be when the\nmagician had cried: \"Be ye turned into stone!\"\n\nIn the courtyard and the stables the prince found many fine horses\novertaken by the same fate.\n\nOutside the castle everything was equally dead and silent. There were\ntrees but they had no leaves, there was a river but it didn't flow,\nand no fish could live in its waters. There wasn't a singing bird\nanywhere, and there wasn't even one tiny flower.\n\nIn the morning, at noon, and at supper-time the prince and his\ncompanions found a rich feast prepared for them. Unseen hands served\nthem food and poured them wine.\n\nThen after supper, as on the preceding night, the doors burst open\nand the magician led in the princess, whom he handed over to the\nprince to guard for the second night.\n\nOf course the prince and his men determined to fight off drowsiness\nthis time with all their strength. But in spite of this determination\nagain they fell asleep. At dawn the prince awoke and saw that the\nprincess was gone.\n\nHe jumped up and shook Keen by the shoulder.\n\n\"Wake up, Keen, wake up! Where is the princess?\"\n\nKeen rubbed his eyes, took one look out of the window, and said:\n\n\"There, I see her. Two hundred miles from here is a mountain, in the\nmountain is a rock, in the rock a precious stone. That stone is the\nprincess. If Longshanks will carry me over there we'll get her.\"\n\nLongshanks put Keen on his shoulder, stretched himself out until he\nwas able to go twenty miles at a stride, and off he went. Keen fixed\nhis glowing eyes on the mountain and the mountain crumbled. Then the\nrock that was inside the mountain broke into a thousand pieces and\nthere was the precious stone glittering among the pieces.\n\nThey picked it up and carried it back to the prince. As soon as he\ndropped it on the floor the princess reappeared.\n\nWhen the magician came in and found her there, his eyes sparkled with\nanger, and bang! the second of his iron bands cracked and burst\nasunder. Rumbling and growling he led the princess away.\n\nThat day passed as the day before. After supper the magician brought\nback the princess and, looking fiercely at the prince, he sneered and\nsaid: \"Now we'll see who wins, you or I.\"\n\nThis night the prince and his men tried harder than ever to stay\nawake. They didn't even allow themselves to sit down but kept walking.\nAll in vain. One after another they fell asleep on their feet and\nagain the princess escaped.\n\nIn the morning the prince, as usual, was the first to awake. When he\nsaw the princess was gone, he aroused Keen.\n\n\"Wake up, Keen!\" he cried. \"Look out and tell me where the princess\nis.\"\n\nThis time Keen had to look long before he saw her.\n\n\"Master, she is far away. Three hundred miles from here there is a\nblack sea. At the bottom of that sea is a shell. In that shell is a\ngolden ring. That ring is the princess. But don't be worried, master,\nwe'll get her. This time let Longshanks take Girth as well as me, for\nwe may need him.\"\n\nSo Longshanks put Keen on one shoulder and Girth on the other. Then he\nstretched himself out until he was able to cover thirty miles at a\nstride. When they reached the black sea Keen showed Longshanks where\nto reach down in the water for the shell. Longshanks reached down as\nfar as he could but not far enough to touch bottom.\n\n\"Wait, comrades, wait a bit,\" said Girth. \"Now it's my turn to help.\"\n\nWith that he puffed himself out and out as far as he could. Then he\nlay down on the beach and began drinking up the sea. He drank it in\nsuch great gulps that soon Longshanks was able to reach bottom and to\nget the shell. Longshanks took out the ring and then, putting his\ncomrades on his shoulders, started back for the castle. He was not\nable to go fast, for Girth, with half the sea in his stomach, was very\nheavy. At last in desperation Longshanks turned Girth upside down and\nshook him and instantly the great plain upon which he emptied him\nturned into a huge lake. It was all poor Girth could do to scramble\nout of the water and back to Longshanks' shoulder.\n\nMeanwhile at the castle the prince was awaiting his men in great\nanxiety. Morning was breaking and still they did not come. As the\nfirst rays of the sun shot over the mountain tops the doors slammed\nopen and the magician stood on the threshold. He glanced around and\nwhen he saw that the princess was not there he gave a mocking laugh\nand entered.\n\nBut at that very instant there was the crash of a breaking window, a\ngolden ring struck the floor, and lo! the princess! Keen had seen in\ntime the danger that was threatening the prince and Longshanks had\nhurled the ring through the window.\n\nThe magician bellowed with rage until the castle shook and then, bang!\nthe third iron band burst asunder and from what had once been the\nmagician a black crow arose and flew out of the broken window and was\nnever seen again.\n\nInstantly the beautiful princess blushed like a rose and was able to\nspeak and to thank the prince for delivering her.\n\nEverything in the castle came to life. The prince with the uplifted\nsword finished his stroke and put the sword into its scabbard. The\nknight who was stumbling fell and jumped up holding his nose to see\nwhether he still had it. The serving man under the chimney put the\nmeat into his mouth and kept on eating. And so every one finished what\nhe had been doing at the moment of enchantment. The horses, too, came\nto life and stamped and neighed.\n\nAround the castle the trees burst into leaf. Flowers covered the\nmeadows. High in the heavens the lark sang, and in the flowing river\nthere were shoals of tiny fish. Everything was alive again, everything\nhappy.\n\nThe knights who had been restored to life gathered in the hall to\nthank the prince for their deliverance. But the prince said to them:\n\n\"You have nothing to thank me for. If it had not been for these, my\nthree trusty servants, Longshanks, Girth, and Keen, I should have met\nthe same fate as you.\"\n\nThe prince set out at once on his journey home with his bride and his\nthree serving men. When he reached home the old king, who had given\nhim up for lost, wept for joy at his unexpected return.\n\nAll the knights whom the prince had rescued were invited to the\nwedding which took place at once and lasted for three weeks.\n\nWhen it was over, Longshanks, Girth, and Keen presented themselves to\nthe young king and told him that they were again going out into the\nworld to look for work. The young king urged them to stay.\n\n\"I will give you everything you need as long as you live,\" he promised\nthem, \"and you won't have to exert yourselves at all.\"\n\nBut such an idle life was not to their liking. So they took their\nleave and started out again and to this day they are still knocking\naround somewhere.\n\n\n\n\nTHE THREE GOLDEN HAIRS\n\nTHE STORY OF A CHARCOAL-BURNER'S SON WHO MARRIED A PRINCESS\n\n[Illustration: {A stag}]\n\n\nTHE THREE GOLDEN HAIRS\n\nThere was once a king who took great delight in hunting. One day he\nfollowed a stag a great distance into the forest. He went on and on\nuntil he lost his way. Night fell and the king by happy chance came\nupon a clearing where a charcoal-burner had a cottage. The king asked\nthe charcoal-burner to lead him out of the forest and offered to pay\nhim handsomely.\n\n\"I'd be glad to go with you,\" the charcoal-burner said, \"but my wife\nis expecting the birth of a child and I cannot leave her. It is too\nlate for you to start out alone. Won't you spend the night here? Lie\ndown on some hay in the garret and tomorrow I'll be your guide.\"\n\nThe king had to accept this arrangement. He climbed into the garret\nand lay down on the floor. Soon afterwards a son was born to the\ncharcoal-burner.\n\nAt midnight the king noticed a strange light in the room below him. He\npeeped through a chink in the boards and saw the charcoal-burner\nasleep, his wife lying in a dead faint, and three old women, all in\nwhite, standing over the baby, each holding a lighted taper in her\nhand.\n\nThe first old woman said: \"My gift to this boy is that he shall\nencounter great dangers.\"\n\nThe second said: \"My gift to him is that he shall go safely through\nthem all, and live long.\"\n\nThe third one said: \"And I give him for wife the baby daughter born\nthis night to the king who lies upstairs on the straw.\"\n\nThe three old women blew out their tapers and all was quiet. They were\nthe Fates.\n\nThe king felt as though a sword had been thrust into his heart. He lay\nawake till morning trying to think out some plan by which he could\nthwart the will of the three old Fates.\n\nWhen day broke the child began to cry and the charcoal-burner woke up.\nThen he saw that his wife had died during the night.\n\n\"Ah, my poor motherless child,\" he cried, \"what shall I do with you\nnow?\"\n\n\"Give me the baby,\" the king said. \"I'll see that he's looked after\nproperly and I'll give you enough money to keep you the rest of your\nlife.\"\n\nThe charcoal-burner was delighted with this offer and the king went\naway promising to send at once for the baby.\n\nA few days later when he reached his palace he was met with the joyful\nnews that a beautiful little baby daughter had been born to him. He\nasked the time of her birth, and of course it was on the very night\nwhen he saw the Fates. Instead of being pleased at the safe arrival of\nthe baby princess, the king frowned.\n\nThen he called one of his stewards and said to him: \"Go into the\nforest in a direction that I shall tell you. You will find there a\ncottage where a charcoal-burner lives. Give him this money and get\nfrom him a little child. Take the child and on your way back drown it.\nDo as I say or I shall have you drowned.\"\n\nThe steward went, found the charcoal-burner, and took the child. He\nput it into a basket and carried it away. As he was crossing a broad\nriver he dropped the basket into the water.\n\n\"Goodnight to you, little son-in-law that nobody wanted!\" the king\nsaid when he heard what the steward had done.\n\nHe supposed of course that the baby was drowned. But it wasn't. Its\nlittle basket floated in the water like a cradle, and the baby slept\nas if the river were singing it a lullaby. It floated down with the\ncurrent past a fisherman's cottage. The fisherman saw it, got into his\nboat, and went after it. When he found what the basket contained he\nwas overjoyed. At once he carried the baby to his wife and said:\n\n\"You have always wanted a little son and here you have one. The river\nhas given him to us.\"\n\nThe fisherman's wife was delighted and brought up the child as her\nown. They named him Plavachek, which means a little boy who has come\nfloating on the water.\n\nThe river flowed on and the days went by and Plavachek grew from a\nbaby to a boy and then into a handsome youth, the handsomest by far in\nthe whole countryside.\n\nOne day the king happened to ride that way unattended. It was hot and\nhe was thirsty. He beckoned to the fisherman to get him a drink of\nfresh water. Plavachek brought it to him. The king looked at the\nhandsome youth in astonishment.\n\n\"You have a fine lad,\" he said to the fisherman. \"Is he your own son?\"\n\n\"He is, yet he isn't,\" the fisherman answered. \"Just twenty years ago\na little baby in a basket floated down the river. We took him in and\nhe has been ours ever since.\"\n\nA mist rose before the king's eyes and he went deathly pale, for he\nknew at once that Plavachek was the child that he had ordered drowned.\n\nSoon he recovered himself and jumping from his horse he said: \"I need\na messenger to send to my palace and I have no one with me. Could this\nyouth go for me?\"\n\n\"Your majesty has but to command,\" the fisherman said, \"and Plavachek\nwill go.\"\n\nThe king sat down and wrote a letter to the queen. This is what he\nsaid:\n\n\"Have the young man who delivers this letter run through with a sword\nat once. He is a dangerous enemy. Let him be dispatched before I\nreturn. Such is my will.\"\n\nHe folded the letter, made it secure, and sealed it with his own\nsignet.\n\nPlavachek took the letter and started out with it at once. He had to\ngo through a deep forest where he missed the path and lost his way. He\nstruggled on through underbrush and thicket until it began to grow\ndark. Then he met an old woman who said to him:\n\n\"Where are you going, Plavachek?\"\n\n\"I'm carrying this letter to the king's palace and I've lost my way.\nCan you put me on the right road, mother?\"\n\n\"You can't get there today,\" the old woman said. \"It's dark now. Spend\nthe night with me. You won't be with a stranger, for I'm your old\ngodmother.\"\n\nPlavachek allowed himself to be persuaded and presently he saw before\nhim a pretty little house that seemed at that moment to have sprung\nout of the ground.\n\nDuring the night while Plavachek was asleep, the old woman took the\nletter out of his pocket and put in another that read as follows:\n\n\"Have the young man who delivers this letter married to our daughter\nat once. He is my destined son-in-law. Let the wedding take place\nbefore I return. Such is my will.\"\n\nThe next day Plavachek delivered the letter and as soon as the queen\nread it, she gave orders at once for the wedding. Both she and her\ndaughter were much taken with the handsome youth and gazed at him with\ntender eyes. As for Plavachek he fell instantly in love with the\nprincess and was delighted to marry her.\n\nSome days after the wedding the king returned and when he heard what\nhad happened he flew into a violent rage at the queen.\n\n\"But,\" protested the queen, \"you yourself ordered me to have him\nmarried to our daughter before you came back. Here is your letter.\"\n\nThe king took the letter and examined it carefully. The handwriting,\nthe seal, the paper--all were his own.\n\nHe called his son-in-law and questioned him.\n\nPlavachek related how he had lost his way in the forest and spent the\nnight with his godmother.\n\n\"What does your godmother look like?\" the king asked.\n\nPlavachek described her.\n\nFrom the description the king recognized her as the same old woman who\nhad promised the princess to the charcoal-burner's son twenty years\nbefore.\n\nHe looked at Plavachek thoughtfully and at last he said:\n\n\"What's done can't be undone. However, young man, you can't expect to\nbe my son-in-law for nothing. If you want my daughter you must bring\nme for dowry three of the golden hairs of old Grandfather Knowitall.\"\n\nHe thought to himself that this would be an impossible task and so\nwould be a good way to get rid of an undesirable son-in-law.\n\nPlavachek took leave of his bride and started off. He didn't know\nwhich way to go. Who would know? Everybody talked about old\nGrandfather Knowitall, but nobody seemed to know where to find him.\nYet Plavachek had a Fate for a godmother, so it wasn't likely that he\nwould miss the right road.\n\nHe traveled long and far, going over wooded hills and desert plains\nand crossing deep rivers. He came at last to a black sea.\n\nThere he saw a boat and an old ferryman.\n\n\"God bless you, old ferryman!\" he said.\n\n\"May God grant that prayer, young traveler! Where are you going?\"\n\n\"I'm going to old Grandfather Knowitall to get three of his golden\nhairs.\"\n\n\"Oho! I have long been hunting for just such a messenger as you! For\ntwenty years I have been ferrying people across this black sea and\nnobody has come to relieve me. If you promise to ask Grandfather\nKnowitall when my work will end, I'll ferry you over.\"\n\nPlavachek promised and the boatman took him across.\n\nPlavachek traveled on until he came to a great city that was in a\nstate of decay. Before the city he met an old man who had a staff in\nhis hand, but even with the staff he could scarcely crawl along.\n\n\"God bless you, old grandfather!\" Plavachek said.\n\n\"May God grant that prayer, handsome youth! Where are you going?\"\n\n\"I am going to old Grandfather Knowitall to get three of his golden\nhairs.\"\n\n\"Indeed! We have been waiting a long time for just such a messenger as\nyou! I must lead you at once to the king.\"\n\nSo he took him to the king and the king said: \"Ah, so you are going on\nan errand to Grandfather Knowitall! We have an apple-tree here that\nused to bear apples of youth. If any one ate one of those apples, no\nmatter how aged he was, he'd become young again. But, alas, for twenty\nyears now our tree has borne no fruit. If you promise to ask\nGrandfather Knowitall if there is any help for us, I will reward you\nhandsomely.\"\n\nPlavachek gave the king his promise and the king bid him godspeed.\n\nPlavachek traveled on until he reached another great city that was\nhalf in ruins. Not far from the city a man was burying his father, and\ntears as big as peas were rolling down his cheek.\n\n\"God bless you, mournful grave-digger!\" Plavachek said.\n\n\"May God grant that prayer, kind traveler! Where are you going?\"\n\n\"I'm going to old Grandfather Knowitall to get three of his golden\nhairs.\"\n\n\"To Grandfather Knowitall! What a pity you didn't come sooner! Our\nking has long been waiting for just such a messenger as you! I must\nlead you to him.\"\n\nSo he took Plavachek to the king and the king said to him: \"So you're\ngoing on an errand to Grandfather Knowitall. We have a well here that\nused to flow with the water of life. If any one drank of it, no matter\nhow sick he was, he would get well. Nay, if he were already dead, this\nwater, sprinkled upon him, would bring him back to life. But, alas,\nfor twenty years now the well has gone dry. If you promise to ask\nGrandfather Knowitall if there is help for us, I will reward you\nhandsomely.\"\n\nPlavachek gave the king his promise and the king bid him godspeed.\n\nAfter that Plavachek traveled long and far into a black forest. Deep\nin the forest he came upon a broad green meadow full of beautiful\nflowers and in its midst a golden palace glittering as though it were\non fire. This was the palace of Grandfather Knowitall.\n\nPlavachek entered and found nobody there but an old woman who sat\nspinning in a corner.\n\n\"Welcome, Plavachek,\" she said. \"I am delighted to see you again.\"\n\nHe looked at the old woman and saw that she was his godmother with\nwhom he had spent the night when he was carrying the letter to the\npalace.\n\n\"What has brought you here, Plavachek?\" she asked.\n\n\"The king, godmother. He says I can't be his son-in-law for nothing. I\nhave to give a dowry. So he has sent me to old Grandfather Knowitall\nto get three of his golden hairs.\"\n\nThe old woman smiled and said: \"Do you know who Grandfather Knowitall\nis? Why, he's the bright Sun who goes everywhere and sees everything.\nI am his mother. In the morning he's a little lad, at noon he's a\ngrown man, and in the evening an old grandfather. I will get you three\nof the golden hairs from his golden head, for I must not be a\ngodmother for nothing! But, my lad, you mustn't remain where you are.\nMy son is kind, but if he comes home hungry he might want to roast you\nand eat you for his supper. There's an empty tub over there and I'll\njust cover you with it.\"\n\nPlavachek begged his godmother to get from Grandfather Knowitall the\nanswers for the three questions he had promised to ask.\n\n\"I will,\" said the old woman, \"and do you listen carefully to what he\nsays.\"\n\nSuddenly there was the rushing sound of a mighty wind outside and the\nSun, an old grandfather with a golden head, flew in by the western\nwindow. He sniffed the air suspiciously.\n\n\"Phew! Phew!\" he cried. \"I smell human flesh! Have you any one here,\nmother?\"\n\n\"Star of the day, whom could I have here without your seeing him? The\ntruth is you've been flying all day long over God's world and your\nnose is filled with the smell of human flesh. That's why you still\nsmell it when you come home in the evening.\"\n\nThe old man said nothing more and sat down to his supper.\n\nAfter supper he laid his head on the old woman's lap and fell sound\nasleep. The old woman pulled out a golden hair and threw it on the\nfloor. It twanged like the string of a violin.\n\n\"What is it, mother?\" the old man said. \"What is it?\"\n\n\"Nothing, my boy, nothing. I was asleep and had a wonderful dream.\"\n\n\"What did you dream about, mother?\"\n\n\"I dreamt about a city where they had a well of living water. If any\none drank of it, no matter how sick he was, he would get well. Nay, if\nhe were already dead, this water, sprinkled on him, would bring him\nback to life. For the last twenty years the well has gone dry. Is\nthere anything to be done to make it flow again?\"\n\n\"Yes. There's a frog sitting on the spring that feeds the well. Let\nthem kill the frog and clean out the well and the water will flow as\nbefore.\"\n\nWhen he fell asleep again the old woman pulled out another golden hair\nand threw it on the floor.\n\n\"What is it, mother?\"\n\n\"Nothing, my boy, nothing. I was asleep again and I had a wonderful\ndream. I dreamt of a city where they had an apple-tree that bore\napples of youth. If any one ate one of those apples, no matter how\naged he was, he'd become young again. But for twenty years the tree\nhas borne no fruit. Can anything be done about it?\"\n\n\"Yes. In the roots of the tree there is a snake that takes its\nstrength. Let them kill the snake and transplant the tree. Then it\nwill bear fruit as before.\"\n\nHe fell asleep again and the old woman pulled out a third golden hair.\n\n\"Why won't you let me sleep, mother?\" he complained, and started to\nsit up.\n\n\"Lie still, my boy, lie still. I didn't intend to wake you, but a\nheavy sleep fell upon me and I had another wonderful dream. I dreamt\nof a boatman on the black sea. For twenty years he has been ferrying\nthat boat and no one has offered to relieve him. When will he be\nrelieved?\"\n\n\"Ah, but that boatman is the son of a stupid mother! Why doesn't he\nthrust the oar into the hand of some one else and jump ashore himself?\nThen the other man would have to be ferryman in his place. But now let\nme be quiet. I must get up early tomorrow morning and go and dry the\ntears which the king's daughter sheds every night for her husband, the\ncharcoal-burner's son, whom the king has sent to get three of my\ngolden hairs.\"\n\nIn the morning there was again the rushing sound of a mighty wind\noutside and a beautiful golden child--no longer an old man--awoke on\nhis mother's lap. It was the glorious Sun. He bade his mother farewell\nand flew out by an eastern window.\n\nThe old woman turned over the tub and said to Plavachek: \"Here are the\nthree golden hairs for you. You also have Grandfather Knowitall's\nanswers to your three questions. Now good-by. As you will need me no\nmore, you will never see me again.\"\n\nPlavachek thanked his godmother most gratefully and departed.\n\nWhen he reached the first city the king asked him what news he\nbrought.\n\n\"Good news!\" Plavachek said. \"Have the well cleaned out and kill the\nfrog that sits on its spring. If you do this the water will flow again\nas it used to.\"\n\nThe king ordered this to be done at once and when he saw the water\nbeginning to bubble up and flow again, he made Plavachek a present of\ntwelve horses, white as swans, laden with as much gold and silver as\nthey could carry.\n\nWhen Plavachek came to the second city and the king of that city asked\nhim what news he brought, he said:\n\n\"Good news! Have the apple tree dug up. At its roots you will find a\nsnake. Kill the snake and replant the tree. Then it will bear fruit as\nit used to.\"\n\nThe king had this done at once and during the night the tree burst\ninto bloom and bore great quantities of fruit. The king was delighted\nand made Plavachek a present of twelve horses, black as ravens, laden\nwith as much riches as they could carry.\n\nPlavachek traveled on and when he came to the black sea, the boatman\nasked him had he the answer to his question.\n\n\"Yes, I have,\" said Plavachek, \"but you must ferry me over before I\ntell you.\"\n\nThe boatman wanted to hear the answer at once, but Plavachek was firm.\nSo the old man ferried him across with his twelve white horses and his\ntwelve black horses.\n\nWhen Plavachek was safely landed, he said: \"The next person who comes\nto be ferried over, thrust the oar into his hand and do you jump\nashore. Then the other man will have to be boatman in your place.\"\n\nPlavachek traveled home to the palace. The king could scarcely believe\nhis eyes when he saw the three golden hairs of Grandfather Knowitall.\nThe princess wept again, not for sorrow this time but for joy at her\nbridegroom's return.\n\n\"But, Plavachek,\" the king gasped, \"where did you get these beautiful\nhorses and all these riches?\"\n\n\"I earned them,\" said Plavachek proudly. Then he related how he helped\none king who had a tree of the apples of youth and another king who\nhad a well of the water of life.\n\n\"Apples of youth! Water of life!\" the king kept repeating softly to\nhimself. \"If I ate one of those apples I should become young again! If\nI were dead the water of life would restore me!\"\n\nHe lost no time in starting out in quest of the apples of youth and\nthe water of life. And do you know, he hasn't come back yet!\n\nSo Plavachek, the charcoal-burner's son, became the king's son-in-law\nas the old Fate foretold.\n\nAs for the king, well, I fear he's still ferrying that boat across the\nblack sea!\n\n\n\n\nTHE FLAMING HORSE\n\nTHE STORY OF A COUNTRY WHERE THE SUN NEVER SHINES\n\n[Illustration: {A horse}]\n\n\nTHE FLAMING HORSE\n\nThere was once a land that was dreary and dark as the grave, for the\nsun of heaven never shone upon it. The king of the country had a\nwonderful horse that had, growing right on his forehead, a flaming\nsun. In order that his subjects might have the light that is necessary\nfor life, the king had this horse led back and forth from one end of\nhis dark kingdom to the other. Wherever he went his flaming head shone\nout and it seemed like beautiful day.\n\nSuddenly this wonderful horse disappeared. Heavy darkness that nothing\ncould dispel settled down on the country. Fear spread among the people\nand soon they were suffering terrible poverty, for they were unable to\ncultivate the fields or do anything else that would earn them a\nlivelihood. Confusion increased until the king saw that the whole\ncountry was likely to perish. In order then, if possible, to save his\npeople, he gathered his army together and set out in search of the\nmissing horse.\n\nThrough heavy darkness they groped their way slowly and with\ndifficulty to the far boundaries of the kingdom. At last they reached\nthe ancient forests that bordered the neighboring state and they saw\ngleaming through the trees faint rays of the sunshine with which that\nkingdom was blessed.\n\nHere they came upon a small lonely cottage which the king entered in\norder to find out where he was and to ask directions for moving\nforward.\n\nA man was sitting at the table reading diligently from a large open\nbook. When the king bowed to him, he raised his eyes, returned the\ngreeting, and stood up. His whole appearance showed that he was no\nordinary man but a seer.\n\n\"I was just reading about you,\" he said to the king, \"that you were\ngone in search of the flaming horse. Exert yourself no further, for\nyou will never find him. But trust the enterprise to me and I will get\nhim for you.\"\n\n\"If you do that, my man,\" the king said, \"I will pay you royally.\"\n\n\"I seek no reward. Return home at once with your army, for your people\nneed you. Only leave here with me one of your serving men.\"\n\nThe king did exactly as the seer advised and went home at once.\n\nThe next day the seer and his man set forth. They journeyed far and\nlong until they had crossed six different countries. Then they went on\ninto the seventh country which was ruled over by three brothers who\nhad married three sisters, the daughters of a witch.\n\nThey made their way to the front of the royal palace, where the seer\nsaid to his man: \"Do you stay here while I go in and find out whether\nthe kings are at home. It is they who stole the flaming horse and the\nyoungest brother rides him.\"\n\nThen the seer transformed himself into a green bird and flew up to the\nwindow of the eldest queen and flitted about and pecked until she\nopened the window and let him into her chamber. When she let him in,\nhe alighted on her white hand and the queen was as happy as a child.\n\n\"You pretty thing!\" she said, playing with him. \"If my husband were\nhome how pleased he would be! But he's off visiting a third of his\nkingdom and he won't be home until evening.\"\n\nSuddenly the old witch came into the room and as soon as she saw the\nbird she shrieked to her daughter: \"Wring the neck of that cursed\nbird, or it will stain you with blood!\"\n\n\"Why should it stain me with blood, the dear innocent thing?\"\n\n\"Dear innocent mischief!\" shrieked the witch. \"Here, give it to me and\nI'll wring its neck!\"\n\nShe tried to catch the bird, but the bird changed itself into a man\nand was already out of the door before they knew what had become of\nhim.\n\nAfter that he changed himself again into a green bird and flew up to\nthe window of the second sister. He pecked at it until she opened it\nand let him in. Then he flitted about her, settling first on one of\nher white hands, then on the other.\n\n\"What a dear bird you are!\" cried the queen. \"How you would please my\nhusband if he were at home. But he's off visiting two-thirds of his\nkingdom and he won't be back until tomorrow evening.\"\n\nAt that moment the witch ran into the room and as soon as she saw the\nbird she shrieked out: \"Wring the neck of that wretched bird, or it\nwill stain you with blood!\"\n\n\"Why should it stain me with blood?\" the daughter answered. \"The dear\ninnocent thing!\"\n\n\"Dear innocent mischief!\" shrieked the witch. \"Here, give it to me and\nI'll wring its neck!\"\n\nShe reached out to catch the bird, but in less time than it takes to\nclap a hand, the bird had changed itself into a man who ran through\nthe door and was gone before they knew where he was.\n\nA moment later he again changed himself into a green bird and flew up\nto the window of the youngest queen. He flitted about and pecked until\nshe opened the window and let him in. Then he alighted at once on her\nwhite hand and this pleased her so much that she laughed like a child\nand played with him.\n\n\"Oh, what a dear bird you are!\" she cried. \"How you would delight my\nhusband if he were home. But he's off visiting all three parts of his\nkingdom and he won't be back until the day after tomorrow in the\nevening.\"\n\nAt that moment the old witch rushed into the room. \"Wring the neck of\nthat cursed bird!\" she shrieked, \"or it will stain you with blood.\"\n\n\"My dear mother,\" the queen answered, \"why should it stain me with\nblood--beautiful innocent creature that it is?\"\n\n\"Beautiful innocent mischief!\" shrieked the witch. \"Here, give it to\nme and I'll wring its neck!\"\n\nBut at that moment the bird changed itself into a man, disappeared\nthrough the door, and they never saw him again.\n\nThe seer knew now where the kings were and when they would come home.\nSo he made his plans accordingly. He ordered his servant to follow him\nand they set out from the city at a quick pace. They went on until\nthey came to a bridge which the three kings as they came back would\nhave to cross.\n\nThe seer and his man hid themselves under the bridge and lay there in\nwait until evening. As the sun sank behind the mountains, they heard\nthe clatter of hoofs approaching the bridge. It was the eldest king\nreturning home. At the bridge his horse stumbled on a log which the\nseer had rolled there.\n\n\"What scoundrel has thrown a log here?\" cried the king angrily.\n\nInstantly the seer leaped out from under the bridge and demanded of\nthe king how he dared to call him a scoundrel. Clamoring for\nsatisfaction he drew his sword and attacked the king. The king, too,\ndrew sword and defended himself, but after a short struggle he fell\nfrom his horse dead. The seer bound the dead king to his horse and\nthen with a cut of the whip started the horse homewards.\n\nThe seer hid himself again and he and his man lay in wait until the\nnext evening.\n\nOn that evening near sunset the second king came riding up to the\nbridge. When he saw the ground sprinkled with blood, he cried out:\n\"Surely there has been a murder here! Who has dared to commit such a\ncrime in my kingdom!\"\n\nAt these words the seer leaped out from under the bridge, drew his\nsword, and shouted: \"How dare you insult me? Defend yourself as best\nyou can!\"\n\nThe king drew, but after a short struggle he, too, yielded up his life\nto the sword of the seer.\n\nThe seer bound the dead king to his horse and with a cut of the whip\nstarted the horse homewards.\n\nThen the seer hid himself again under the bridge and he and his man\nlay there in wait until the third evening.\n\nOn the third evening just at sunset the youngest king came galloping\nhome on the flaming steed. He was hurrying fast because he had been\ndelayed. But when he saw red blood at the bridge he stopped short and\nlooked around.\n\n\"What audacious villain,\" he cried, \"has dared to kill a man in my\nkingdom!\"\n\nHardly had he spoken when the seer stood before him with drawn sword\ndemanding satisfaction for the insult of his words.\n\n\"I don't know how I've insulted you,\" the king said, \"unless you're\nthe murderer.\"\n\nWhen the seer refused to parley, the king, too, drew his sword and\ndefended himself.\n\nTo overcome the first two kings had been mere play for the seer, but\nit was no play this time. They both fought until their swords were\nbroken and still victory was doubtful.\n\n\"We shall accomplish nothing with swords,\" the seer said. \"That is\nplain. I tell you what: let us turn ourselves into wheels and start\nrolling down the hill and the wheel that gets broken let him yield.\"\n\n\"Good!\" said the king. \"I'll be a cartwheel and you be a lighter\nwheel.\"\n\n\"No, no,\" the seer answered quickly. \"You be the light wheel and I'll\nbe the cartwheel.\"\n\nTo this the king agreed. So they went up the hill, turned themselves\ninto wheels and started rolling down. The cartwheel went whizzing into\nthe lighter wheel and broke its spokes.\n\n\"There!\" cried the seer, rising up from the cartwheel. \"I am victor!\"\n\n\"Not so, brother, not so!\" said the king, standing before the seer.\n\"You only broke my fingers! Now I tell you what: let us change\nourselves into two flames and let the flame that burns up the other\nbe victor. I'll be a red flame and do you be a white one.\"\n\n\"Oh, no,\" the seer interrupted. \"You be the white flame and I'll be\nthe red one.\"\n\nThe king agreed to this. So they went back to the road that led to the\nbridge, turned themselves into flames, and began burning each other\nmercilessly. But neither was able to burn up the other.\n\nSuddenly a beggar came down the road, an old man with a long gray\nbeard and a bald head, with a scrip at his side and a heavy staff in\nhis hand.\n\n\"Father,\" the white flame said, \"get some water and pour it on the red\nflame and I'll give you a penny.\"\n\nBut the red flame called out quickly: \"Not so, father! Get some water\nand pour it on the white flame and I'll give you a shilling!\"\n\nNow of course the shilling appealed to the beggar more than the penny.\nSo he got some water, poured it on the white flame and that was the\nend of the king.\n\nThe red flame turned into a man who seized the flaming horse by the\nbridle, mounted him and, after he had rewarded the beggar, called his\nservant and rode off.\n\nMeanwhile at the royal palace there was deep sorrow for the murdered\nkings. The halls were draped in black and people came from miles\naround to gaze at the mutilated bodies of the two elder brothers which\nthe horses had carried home.\n\nThe old witch was beside herself with rage. As soon as she had devised\na plan whereby she could avenge the murder of her sons-in-law, she\ntook her three daughters under her arm, mounted an iron rake, and\nsailed off through the air.\n\nThe seer and his man had already covered a good part of their journey\nand were hurrying on over rough mountains and across desert plains,\nwhen the servant was taken with a terrible hunger. There wasn't\nanything in sight that he could eat, not even a wild berry. Then\nsuddenly they came upon an apple tree that was bending beneath a load\nof ripe fruit. The apples were red and pleasant to the sight and sent\nout a fragrance that was most inviting.\n\nThe servant was delighted. \"Glory to God!\" he cried. \"Now I can feast\nto my heart's content on these apples!\"\n\nHe was already running to the tree when the seer called him back.\n\n\"Wait! Don't touch them! I will pick them for you myself!\"\n\nBut instead of picking an apple, the seer drew his sword and struck a\nmighty blow into the apple tree. Red blood gushed forth.\n\n\"Just see, my man! You would have perished if you had eaten one apple.\nThis apple tree is the eldest queen, whom her mother, the witch,\nplaced here for our destruction.\"\n\nPresently they came to a spring. Its water bubbled up clear as crystal\nand most tempting to the tired traveler.\n\n\"Ah,\" said the servant, \"since we can get nothing better, at least we\ncan take a drink of this good water.\"\n\n\"Wait!\" cried the seer. \"I will draw some for you.\"\n\nBut instead of drawing water he plunged his naked sword into the\nmiddle of the spring. Instantly it was covered with blood and blood\nbegan to spurt from the spring in thick streams.\n\n\"This is the second queen, whom her mother, the witch, placed here to\nwork our doom.\"\n\nPresently they came to a rosebush covered with beautiful red roses\nthat scented all the air with their fragrance.\n\n\"What beautiful roses!\" said the servant. \"I have never seen any such\nin all my life. I'll go pluck a few. As I can't eat or drink, I'll\ncomfort myself with roses.\"\n\n\"Don't dare to pluck them!\" cried the seer. \"I'll pluck them for\nyou.\"\n\nWith that he cut into the bush with his sword and red blood spurted\nout as though he had cut a human vein.\n\n\"This is the youngest queen,\" said the seer, \"whom her mother, the\nwitch, placed here in the hope of revenging herself on us for the\ndeath of her sons-in-law.\"\n\nAfter that they proceeded without further adventures.\n\nWhen they crossed the boundaries of the dark kingdom, the sun in the\nhorse's forehead sent out its blessed rays in all directions.\nEverything came to life. The earth rejoiced and covered itself with\nflowers.\n\nThe king felt he could never thank the seer enough and he offered him\nthe half of his kingdom.\n\nBut the seer replied: \"You are the king. Keep on ruling over the whole\nof your kingdom and let me return to my cottage in peace.\"\n\nHe bade the king farewell and departed.\n\n\n\n\nTHE THREE CITRONS\n\nTHE STORY OF A PRINCE WHO CLIMBED THE GLASS HILL\n\n[Illustration: {A castle on top of a hill}]\n\n\nTHE THREE CITRONS\n\nOnce upon a time there was an aged king who had an only son. One day\nhe called the prince to him and said: \"My son, you see that my head is\nwhite. Soon I shall be closing my eyes and you are not yet settled in\nlife. Marry, my son, marry at once so that I can bless you before I\ndie.\"\n\nThe prince made no answer but he took the king's words to heart and\npondered them. He would gladly have done as his father wished but\nthere was no young girl upon whom his affections were set.\n\nOne day when he was sitting in the garden, wondering what to do, an\nold woman suddenly appeared before him.\n\n\"Go,\" she said, \"to the top of the Glass Hill, pluck the Three\nCitrons, and you will get a wife in whom your heart will delight.\"\nWith that she disappeared as mysteriously as she had come.\n\nHer words went through the prince's soul like a bright dart. Instantly\nhe determined, come what might, to find the Glass Hill and to pluck\nthe Three Citrons. He told his father his intention and the old king\nfitted him out for the journey and gave him his blessing.\n\nFor a long time the prince wandered over wooded mountains and desert\nplains without seeing or even hearing anything of the Glass Hill and\nthe Three Citrons. One day, worn out with his long journey, he threw\nhimself down in the shade of a wide-spreading linden tree. As his\nfather's sword, which he wore at his side, clanked on the ground,\ntwelve ravens began cawing from the top of the tree. Frightened by the\nclanking of the sword, they raised their wings and flew off.\n\nThe prince jumped to his feet. \"Those are the first living creatures I\nhave seen for many a day. I'll go in the direction they have taken,\"\nhe said to himself, \"and perhaps I'll have better luck.\"\n\nSo he traveled on and after three days and three nights a high castle\ncame in view.\n\n\"Thank God!\" he exclaimed, pushing joyfully ahead. \"I shall soon have\nhuman companionship once more.\"\n\nThe castle was built entirely of lead. The twelve ravens circled above\nit and in front of it stood an old woman leaning on a long leaden\nstaff. She was a Yezibaba. Now you must know that a Yezibaba is an\nugly old witch with a hooked nose, a bristly face, and long scrawny\nhands. She's a bad old thing usually, but sometimes, if you take her\nfancy, she's kind.\n\nThis time when she looked the prince over she shook her head at him in\na friendly way.\n\n\"Yi, yi, my boy, how did you get here? Why, not even a little bird or\na tiny butterfly comes here, much less a human being! You'd better\nescape if life is dear to you, or my son, when he comes home, will eat\nyou!\"\n\n\"No, no, old mother, don't make me go,\" begged the prince. \"I have\ncome to you for advice to know whether you can tell me anything about\nthe Glass Hill and the Three Citrons.\"\n\n\"No, I have never heard a word about the Glass Hill,\" Yezibaba said.\n\"But wait until my son comes. He may be able to tell you something.\nYes, yes, I'll manage to save you somehow. Go hide under the besom and\nstay there until I call you.\"\n\nThe mountains rumbled and the castle trembled and Yezibaba whispered\nto the prince that her son was coming.\n\n\"Phew! Phew! I smell human meat! I'll eat it!\" shouted Yezibaba's son\nwhile he was still in the doorway. He struck the ground with his\nleaden club and the whole castle shook.\n\n\"No, no, my son, don't talk that way. It's true there is a pretty\nyouth here, but he's come to ask you about something.\"\n\n\"Well, if he wants to ask me something, let him come out and ask.\"\n\n\"Yes, my son, he will, but only when you promise me that you will do\nnothing to him.\"\n\n\"Well, I won't do anything to him. Now let him come out.\"\n\nThe prince hidden under the besom was shaking like an aspen leaf, for\nwhen he peeped through the twigs he saw an ogre so huge that he\nhimself would reach up only to his knees. Happily the ogre had\nguaranteed his life before Yezibaba ordered him out.\n\n\"Well, well, well, you little June bug!\" shouted the ogre. \"What are\nyou afraid of? Where have you been? What do you want?\"\n\n\"What do I want?\" repeated the prince. \"I have been wandering in these\nmountains a long time and I can't find what I'm seeking. So I've come\nto you to ask whether you can tell me something about the Glass Hill\nand the Three Citrons.\"\n\nYezibaba's son wrinkled his forehead. He thought for a moment and\nthen, lowering his voice a little, he said: \"I've never heard of any\nGlass Hill around here. But I tell you what you do: go on to my\nbrother in arms who lives in the Silver Castle and ask him. Maybe\nhe'll be able to tell you. But I can't let you go away hungry. That\nwould never do! Hi, mother, bring out the dumplings!\"\n\nOld Yezibaba placed a large dish on the table and her giant son sat\ndown.\n\n\"Well, come on! Eat!\" he shouted to the prince.\n\nWhen the prince took the first dumpling and bit into it, he almost\nbroke two of his teeth, for the dumpling was made of lead.\n\n\"Well,\" shouted Yezibaba's son, \"why don't you eat? Doesn't the\ndumpling taste good?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes, very good,\" said the prince, politely, \"but just now I'm not\nhungry.\"\n\n\"Well, if you're not hungry now you will be later. Put a few in your\npocket and eat them on your journey.\"\n\nSo, whether he wanted them or not, the prince had to put some leaden\ndumplings into his pocket. Then he took his leave of Yezibaba and her\nson and traveled on.\n\nHe went on and on for three days and three nights. The farther he\nwent, the more inhospitable became the country. Before him stretched a\nwaste of mountains, behind him a waste of mountains with no living\ncreature in sight.\n\nWearied with his long journey, he threw himself on the ground. His\nsilver sword clanked sharply and at its sound twenty-four ravens\ncircled above him, cawed in fright, and flew away.\n\n\"A good sign!\" cried the prince. \"I'll follow the ravens again!\"\n\nSo on he went as fast as his legs could carry him until he came in\nsight of a tall castle. It was still far away, but even at that\ndistance it shone and flashed, for it was built of pure silver.\n\nIn front of the castle stood an old woman, bent with age, and leaning\non a long silver staff. This was the second Yezibaba.\n\n\"Yi, yi, my boy!\" she cried. \"How did you get here? Why, not even a\nlittle bird or a tiny butterfly comes here, much less a human being.\nYou'd better escape if life is dear to you, or my son, when he comes\nhome, will eat you!\"\n\n\"No, no, old mother, he won't eat me. I bring greetings from his\nbrother of the Leaden Castle.\"\n\n\"Well, if you bring greetings from the Leaden Castle you are safe\nenough. Come in, my boy, and tell me your business.\"\n\n\"My business? For a long time, old mother, I've been looking for the\nGlass Hill and the Three Citrons, but I can't find them. So I've come\nto ask you whether you could tell me something about them.\"\n\n\"No, my boy, I don't know anything about the Glass Hill. But wait\nuntil my son comes. Perhaps he can help you. In the meantime hide\nyourself under the bed and don't come out until I call you.\"\n\nThe mountains rumbled and the castle trembled and the prince knew that\nYezibaba's son was coming home.\n\n\"Phew! Phew! I smell human meat! I'll eat it!\" bellowed the mighty\nfellow. He stood in the doorway and banged the ground with his silver\nclub until the whole castle shook.\n\n\"No, no, my son,\" said Yezibaba, \"don't talk that way! A pretty little\nchap has come bringing you greetings from your brother of the Leaden\nCastle.\"\n\n\"Well, if he's been at the Leaden Castle and came to no harm, he'll\nhave nothing to fear from me either. Where is he?\"\n\nThe prince slipped out from under the bed and stood before the ogre.\nLooking up at him was like looking at the top of the tallest pine\ntree.\n\n\"Well, little June bug, so you've been at my brother's, eh?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the prince. \"See, I still have the dumplings he gave me\nfor the journey.\"\n\n\"I believe you. Well, what do you want?\"\n\n\"What do I want? I came to ask you whether you could tell me something\nabout the Glass Hill and the Three Citrons.\"\n\n\"H'm, it seems to me I used to hear something about them, but I\nforget. I tell you what you do: go to my brother of the Golden Castle\nand ask him. But wait! I can't let you go away hungry. Hi, mother,\nbring out the dumplings!\"\n\nYezibaba brought the dumplings on a large silver dish and put them on\nthe table.\n\n\"Eat!\" shouted her son.\n\nThe prince saw they were silver dumplings, so he said he wasn't hungry\njust then, but he'd like to take some with him for the journey.\n\n\"Take as many as you want,\" shouted the ogre. \"And give my greetings\nto my brother and my aunt.\"\n\nSo the prince took some silver dumplings, made suitable thanks, and\ndeparted.\n\nHe journeyed on from the Silver Castle three days and three nights,\nthrough dense forests and over rough mountains, not knowing where he\nwas nor which way to turn. At last all worn out he threw himself down\nin the shade of a beech tree to rest. As the sword clanked on the\nground, its silver voice rang out and a flock of thirty-six ravens\ncircled over his head.\n\n\"Caw! Caw!\" they croaked. Then, frightened by the sound of the sword,\nthey flew away.\n\n\"Praise God!\" cried the prince. \"The Golden Castle can't be far!\"\n\nHe jumped up and started eagerly off in the direction the ravens had\ntaken. As he left a valley and climbed a little hill he saw before him\na beautiful wide meadow in the midst of which stood the Golden Castle\nshining like the sun. Before the gate of the castle stood a bent old\nYezibaba leaning on a golden staff.\n\n\"Yi, yi, my boy,\" she cried to the prince, \"how did you get here? Why,\nnot even a little bird or a tiny butterfly comes here, much less a\nhuman being! You'd better escape if life is dear to you, or my son,\nwhen he comes home, will eat you!\"\n\n\"No, no, old mother, he won't eat me, for I bring him greetings from\nhis brother of the Silver Castle!\"\n\n\"Well, if you bring greetings from the Silver Castle you are safe\nenough. Come in, my boy, and tell me your business.\"\n\n\"My business, old mother? For a long time I've been wandering over\nthese wild mountains in search of the Glass Hill and the Three\nCitrons. At the Silver Castle they sent me to you because they thought\nyou might know something about them.\"\n\n\"The Glass Hill? No, I don't know where it is. But wait until my son\ncomes. He will advise you where to go and what to do. Hide under the\ntable and stay there till I call you.\"\n\nThe mountains rumbled and the castle trembled and Yezibaba's son came\nhome.\n\n\"Phew! Phew! I smell human meat! I'll eat it!\" he roared. He stood in\nthe doorway and pounded the ground with his golden club until the\nwhole castle shook.\n\n\"No, no, my son,\" said Yezibaba, \"don't talk that way! A pretty little\nfellow has come bringing you greetings from your brother of the Silver\nCastle. If you won't harm him, I'll call him out.\"\n\n\"Well, if my brother didn't do anything to him, I won't either.\"\n\nSo the prince crawled out from under the table and stood before the\ngiant. It was like standing beneath a high tower. He showed the ogre\nthe silver dumplings as proof that he had been at the Silver Castle.\n\n\"Well, well, well, my little June bug,\" shouted the monstrous fellow,\n\"tell me what it is you want! I'll advise you if I can! Don't be\nafraid!\"\n\nSo the prince told him the purpose of his journey and asked him how to\nget to the Glass Hill and pluck the Three Citrons.\n\n\"Do you see that blackish lump over yonder?\" the ogre said, pointing\nwith his golden club. \"That is the Glass Hill. On that hill stands a\ntree. From that tree hang the Three Citrons which send out fragrance\nfor seven miles around. You will climb the Glass Hill, kneel beneath\nthe tree, and reach up your hands. If the citrons are destined for you\nthey will fall into your hands of their own accord. If they are not\ndestined for you, you will not be able to pluck them no matter what\nyou do. As you return, if you are hungry or thirsty, cut open one of\nthe citrons and you will have food and drink in plenty. Go now with\nGod's blessing. But wait! I can't let you go away hungry! Hi, mother,\nbring out the dumplings!\"\n\nYezibaba set a large golden dish on the table.\n\n\"Eat!\" her son shouted. \"Or, if you are not hungry just now, put some\nin your pocket and eat them on the way.\"\n\nThe prince said that he was not hungry but that he would be glad to\ntake some of the golden dumplings with him and eat them later. Then he\nthanked the ogre most courteously for his hospitality and advice and\ntook his leave.\n\nHe trudged quickly on from hill to dale, from dale to hill again, and\nnever stopped until he reached the Glass Hill itself. Then he stood\nstill as if turned into stone. The hill was high and steep and smooth\nwith not so much as a scratch on its surface. Over its top spread out\nthe branches of the magic tree upon which hung the Three Citrons.\nTheir fragrance was so powerful that the prince almost fainted.\n\n\"Let it be as God wills!\" he thought to himself. \"But however the\nadventure is to come out, now that I'm here I must at least make the\nattempt.\"\n\nSo he began to claw his way up the smooth glass, but he hadn't gone\nmany yards before his foot slipped and down he went so hard that he\ndidn't know where he was or what had happened to him until he found\nhimself sitting on the ground.\n\nIn his vexation he began to throw away the dumplings, thinking that\nperhaps their weight had dragged him down. He took one and threw it\nstraight at the hill. Imagine his surprise to see it fix itself firmly\nin the glass. He threw a second and a third and there he had three\nsteps on which he was able to stand with safety!\n\nThe prince was overjoyed. He threw dumpling after dumpling and each\none of them became a step. First he threw the leaden ones, then the\nsilver ones, and last of all the golden ones. On the steps made in\nthis way he climbed higher and higher until he had reached the very\nsummit of the hill. Then he knelt under the magic tree, lifted up his\nhands, and into them the Three Citrons dropped of their own accord!\n\nInstantly the tree disappeared, the Glass Hill sank until it was lost,\nand when the prince came to himself there was neither tree nor hill to\nbe seen, but only a wide plain.\n\nDelighted with the outcome of his adventure, the prince turned\nhomewards. At first he was too happy even to eat or drink. By the\nthird day his stomach began to protest and he discovered that he was\nso hungry that he would have fallen ravenously upon a leaden dumpling\nif he had had one in his pocket. But his pocket, alas, was empty, and\nthe country all about was as bare as the palm of his hand.\n\nThen he remembered what the ogre of the Golden Castle had told him and\nhe took out one of the Three Citrons. He cut it open, and what do you\nsuppose happened? Out jumped a beautiful maiden fresh from the hand\nof God, who bowed low before him and exclaimed:\n\n\"Have you food ready for me? Have you drink ready for me? Have you\npretty clothes ready for me?\"\n\n\"Alas, beautiful creature,\" the prince sighed, \"I have not. I have\nnothing for you to eat or to drink or to put on.\"\n\nThe lovely maiden clapped her hands three times, bowed before him, and\ndisappeared.\n\n\"Ah,\" said the prince, \"now I know what kind of citrons you are! I'll\nthink twice before opening one of you again!\"\n\nOf the one he had opened he ate and drank his fill, and so refreshed,\nwent on. He traveled three days and three nights and by that time he\nbegan to feel three times hungrier than before.\n\n\"God help me!\" thought he. \"I must eat something! There are still two\ncitrons and if I cut open one there would still be one left.\"\n\nSo he took out the second citron, cut it in two, and lo, a maiden\ntwice as beautiful as the first stood before him. She bowed low and\nsaid:\n\n\"Have you food ready for me? Have you drink ready for me? Have you\npretty clothes ready for me?\"\n\n\"No, lovely creature, I haven't! I haven't!\"\n\nThe maiden clapped her hands thrice, bowed before him, and\ndisappeared.\n\nNow there was only one citron left. The prince took it in his hand,\nlooked at it, and said: \"I won't cut you open until I'm safe at home\nin my father's house.\"\n\nHe took up his journey again and on the third day he came to his\nnative town and his father's castle. He had been gone a long time and\nhow he ever got back he didn't know himself.\n\nTears of joy rained down the old king's cheeks.\n\n\"Welcome home, my son, welcome a hundred times!\" he cried, falling on\nthe prince's neck.\n\nThe prince related the adventures of his journey and they at home told\nhim how anxiously they had awaited his return.\n\nOn the next day a great feast was prepared. All the nobles in the land\nwere invited. The tables were spread with food and drink the most\nexpensive in the world and many rich dresses embroidered in gold and\nstudded with pearls were laid out.\n\nThe guests assembled, seated themselves at the tables, and waited.\nMusic played and when all was ready, the prince took the last citron\nand cut it in two. Out jumped a beautiful creature, three times\nlovelier than the others.\n\n\"Have you food ready for me?\" she cried. \"Have you drink ready for me?\nHave you pretty clothes ready for me?\"\n\n\"I have indeed, dear heart!\" the prince answered. \"I have everything\nready for you!\"\n\nHe led her to the gorgeous clothes and she dressed herself in them and\nevery one present marveled at her great beauty.\n\nSoon the betrothal took place and after the betrothal a magnificent\nwedding.\n\nSo now the old king's wish was fulfilled. He blessed his son, gave\nover the kingdom to him, and not long afterwards he died.\n\nThe first thing that faced the young king after his father's death was\na war which a neighboring king stirred up against him. So the young\nking had to bid farewell to the bride whom he had won so dearly and\nlead his men to battle. In order that nothing happen to the queen in\nhis absence, he built a golden throne for her in the garden beside the\nlake. This throne was as high as a tower and no one could ascend it\nexcept those to whom the queen let down a silken cord.\n\n  [Illustration: _Music Played_]\n\nNot far from the king's castle lived the old woman who, in the first\nplace, had told him about the Three Citrons. She knew well enough how\nthe young king had won his bride and she was deeply incensed that he\nhad not invited her to the wedding and in fact had not even thanked\nher for her good advice.\n\nNow this old woman had a gipsy for servant whom she used to send to\nthe lake for water. One day when this gipsy was filling her pitcher,\nshe saw in the lake a beautiful reflection. She supposed it was a\nreflection of herself.\n\n\"Is it right,\" she cried out, \"that so lovely a creature as I should\ncarry water for that old witch?\"\n\nIn a fury she threw the pitcher on the ground and broke it into a\nhundred pieces. Then she looked up and discovered that it wasn't her\nown reflection she had seen in the water but that of the beautiful\nqueen.\n\nAshamed of herself, she picked up the broken pitcher and went home.\nThe old woman, who knew beforehand what had happened, went out to meet\nher with a new pitcher.\n\n\"It's no matter about the pitcher,\" the old woman said. \"Go back to\nthe lake and beg the lovely lady to let down the silken cord and pull\nyou up. Tell her you will comb her hair. When she pulls you up, comb\nher hair until she falls asleep. Then stick this pin into her head.\nAfter that you can dress yourself up in her clothes and sit there like\na queen.\"\n\nIt was easy enough to persuade the gipsy. She took the pitcher and the\npin and returned to the lake.\n\nAs she drew water she gazed at the lovely queen.\n\n\"Oh, how beautiful you are!\" she whined, leering up at the queen with\nan evil eye. \"How beautiful you are! Aye, but you'd be a hundred times\nmore beautiful if you but let me comb out your lovely hair! Indeed, I\nwould so twine those golden tresses that your lord would be\ndelighted!\"\n\nWith words like these she beguiled and coaxed the queen until she let\ndown the silken cord and drew the gipsy up. Once on the throne, the\nwicked gipsy combed out the golden tresses and plaited them and\narranged them until the queen fell sound asleep. Then the gipsy took\nthe pin and stuck it into the queen's head. Instantly a beautiful\nwhite dove flew off the golden throne and not a trace was left of the\nlovely queen except her rich clothing. The gipsy dressed herself in\nthis, sat in the queen's place, and gazed down into the lake. But in\nthe lake no lovely reflection showed itself, for even in the queen's\nclothes the gipsy remained a gipsy.\n\nThe young king waged a successful war against his enemies and made\npeace. Scarcely had he got home when he hurried to the garden to see\nwhether anything had happened to his heart's delight. Who can express\nin words his astonishment and horror when instead of his beautiful\nwife he saw the evil gipsy!\n\n\"Ah, my dearest one, how you have changed!\" he murmured and tears\nflowed down his cheeks.\n\n\"Yes, my dear, I have changed, I know I have,\" the gipsy answered. \"It\nwas grief for you that has broken me.\"\n\nShe tried to fall on his neck but the king turned quickly away and\nleft her.\n\nFrom that time forth he had no peace but day and night he mourned the\nlost beauty of his wife and nothing consoled him.\n\nGrieving in this way and thinking always the same sad thoughts, he was\nwalking one day in the garden when suddenly a beautiful white dove\nflew down from a high tree and alighted on his hand. She looked up at\nhim with eyes as mournful as his own.\n\n\"Ah, my poor dove,\" the king said, \"why are you so sad? Has your mate\nalso changed?\"\n\nAs he spoke he stroked the dove gently on the back and on the head.\nOn the head he felt a little lump. He blew aside the feathers and\ndiscovered the head of a pin. He pulled out the pin and instantly the\nsad dove changed into his own beautiful wife.\n\nShe told him what had happened to her, how the gipsy had deceived her\nand stuck the pin into her head. The king had the gipsy and the old\nwitch caught at once and burnt at the stake.\n\nFrom that time on nothing happened to mar the king's happiness,\nneither the plots of his enemies nor the spite of evil people. He\nlived in love and peace with his beautiful wife and he ruled his\nkingdom wisely. In fact he's ruling it still if he hasn't died.\n\n\n\n\nPRINCE BAYAYA\n\nTHE STORY OF A MAGIC HORSE\n\n[Illustration: {A two-headed dragon}]\n\n\nPRINCE BAYAYA\n\nWhile the king of a distant country was off at the wars, his wife, the\nqueen, gave birth to twin sons. There was great rejoicing throughout\nthe court and immediately messengers were despatched to the king to\ncarry him news of the happy event.\n\nBoth boys were well and vigorous and shot up like little trees. The\none who was about a moment the older was the hardier of the two. Even\nas a toddling child he was forever playing in the courtyard and\nstruggling to climb on the back of a horse that had been given him\nbecause it was just his own age.\n\nHis brother, on the other hand, liked better to play indoors on the\nsoft carpets. He was always tagging after his mother and never went\noutdoors except when he followed the queen into the garden. For this\nreason the younger prince became the mother's favorite.\n\nThe boys were seven years old before the king returned from the wars.\nHe looked at his sons with pride and joy and he said to the queen:\n\n\"But which is the older and which is the younger?\"\n\nThe queen, thinking that the king was asking in order to know which\nwas the heir to the throne, slipped in her favorite as the older. The\nking, of course, did not question his wife's word and so, thereafter,\nhe always spoke of the younger one as his heir.\n\nWhen the boys had grown into handsome youths, the older one wearied of\nlife at home and of hearing his brother always spoken of as the future\nking. He longed to go out into the world and seek adventures of his\nown. One day as he was pouring out his heart to the little horse that\nhad been his companion from infancy, much to his amazement the horse\nspoke to him with a human voice and said:\n\n\"Since you are not happy at home, go out into the world. But do not go\nwithout your father's permission. I advise you to take no one with you\nand to mount no horse but me. This will bring you good luck.\"\n\nThe prince asked the horse how it happened that he could talk like a\nhuman being.\n\n\"Don't ask me about that,\" the horse said, \"for I can't tell you. But\nI wish to be your friend and counselor and I will be as long as you\nobey me.\"\n\n  [Illustration: _When the Boys Had Grown into Handsome Youths_]\n\nThe prince promised to do as the horse advised. He went at once to his\nfather to beg his leave to ride out into the world. At first his\nfather was unwilling to let him go but his mother gave her permission\nat once. By dint of coaxing he finally won his father's consent. Of\ncourse the king wanted the prince to set forth in a manner befitting\nhis rank with a great company of men and horses. But the prince\ninsisted that he wished to go unattended.\n\n\"Why, my dear father, do I need any such retinue as you suggest? Let\nme have some money for the journey and let me ride off alone on my own\nlittle horse. This will give me more freedom and less trouble.\"\n\nAgain he had to argue with his father for some time, but at last he\nsucceeded in arranging everything to his liking.\n\nThe day of parting came. The little horse stood saddled at the castle\ngate. The prince bade farewell to his parents and his brother. They\nall wept on his neck and at the last moment the queen's heart misgave\nher for the deceit she had practised and she made the prince solemnly\npromise that he would return home within a year or at least send them\nword of his whereabouts.\n\nSo the prince mounted his little horse and off they trotted. The horse\nwent at a surprising pace for an animal that was seventeen years old,\nbut of course you have guessed before this that he was no ordinary\nhorse. The years had not touched him at all. His coat was as smooth as\nsatin and his legs were straight and sound. No matter how far he\ntraveled he was always as fresh as a fawn.\n\nHe carried the prince a great distance until they came in sight of the\ntowers of a beautiful city. Then the horse left the beaten track and\ncrossed a field to a big rock.\n\nWhen they reached the rock, the horse kicked it with his hoof three\ntimes and the rock opened. They rode inside and the prince found\nhimself in a comfortable stable.\n\n\"Now you will leave me here,\" the horse said, \"and go on alone to the\nnearby town. You must pretend you are dumb and be careful never to\nbetray yourself. Present yourself at court and have the king take you\ninto his service. When you need anything, no matter what it is, come\nto the rock, knock three times, and the rock will open to you.\"\n\nThe prince thought to himself: \"My horse certainly knows what he's\nabout, so of course I'll do exactly as he says.\"\n\nHe disguised himself by bandaging one eye and making his face look\npale and sallow. Then he presented himself at court and the king,\npitying his youth and his affliction of dumbness, took him into his\nservice.\n\nThe prince was capable and quick at affairs and it wasn't long before\nthe king gave over to him the management of the household. His advice\nwas asked in matters of importance and all day long he hurried about\nthe castle going from one thing to another. If the king needed a\nscribe, there wasn't a cleverer one anywhere than the prince.\nEverybody liked him and everybody was soon calling him Bayaya, because\nthose were the only sounds he made.\n\nThe king had three daughters, each more beautiful than the other. The\noldest was called Zdobena, the second Budinka, and the youngest\nSlavena.\n\nThe prince loved to be with the three girls and as he was supposed to\nbe dumb and in his disguise was very ugly, the king made no objection\nto his spending his days with them. How could the king possibly think\nthat there was any danger of Bayaya's stealing the heart of one of the\nprincesses? They liked him, all three of them, and were always taking\nhim with them wherever they went. He wove garlands for them, spun\ngolden thread, picked them flowers, and drew them designs of birds\nand flowers for their embroidery. He liked them all, but he liked the\nyoungest one best. Everything he did for her was done a little better\nthan for the others. The garlands he wove her were richer, the designs\nhe drew for her were more beautiful. The two older sisters noticed\nthis and laughed, and when they were alone they teased Slavena.\nSlavena, who had a sweet and amiable disposition, accepted their\njoking without retort.\n\nBayaya had been at the court some time when one morning he found the\nking sitting sad and gloomy over his breakfast. So by signs he asked\nhim what was the matter.\n\nThe king looked at him and sighed. \"Is it possible, my dear boy,\" he\nsaid, \"that you don't know what's the matter? Don't you know the\ncalamity that threatens us? Don't you know the bitter three days that\nare at hand for me?\"\n\nBayaya, alarmed by the seriousness of the king's manner, shook his\nhead.\n\n\"Then I'll tell you,\" said the king, \"although you can be of no help.\nYears ago three dragons came flying through the air and alighted on a\ngreat rock near here. The first was nine-headed, the second\neighteen-headed, and the third twenty-seven-headed. At once they laid\nwaste the country, devouring the cattle and killing the people. Soon\nthe city was in a state of siege. To keep them away we placed all the\nfood we had outside the gates and in a short time we ourselves were\nstarving. In desperation I had an old wise woman called to court and\nasked her was there any way to drive these monsters from the land.\nAlas for me, there was a way and that way was to promise the awful\ncreatures my three beautiful daughters when they reached womanhood. At\nthat time my daughters were only small children and I thought to\nmyself many things might happen in the years before they grew up. So,\nto relieve my stricken land, I promised the dragons my daughters. The\npoor queen died at once of grief, but my daughters grew up knowing\nnothing of their fate. As soon as I made the monstrous bargain, the\ndragons flew away and until yesterday were never again heard of. Last\nnight, a shepherd, beside himself with terror, brought me the news\nthat the dragons are again settled in their old rock and are sending\nout fearful roars. Tomorrow I must sacrifice to them my oldest child,\nthe day after tomorrow my second child, and the day after that my\nyoungest. Then I shall be left a poor lonely old man with nothing.\"\n\nThe king strode up and down and tore his hair in grief.\n\nIn great distress Bayaya went to the princesses. He found them dressed\nin black and looking ghastly pale. They were sitting in a row and\nbewailing their fate most piteously. Bayaya tried to comfort them,\ntelling them by signs that surely some one would appear to rescue\nthem. But they paid no heed to him and kept on moaning and weeping.\n\nGrief and confusion spread throughout the city, for every one loved\nthe royal family. Every house as well as the palace was soon draped in\nblack and the sound of mourning was heard on every side.\n\nBayaya hurried secretly out of the city and across the field to the\nrock where his magic horse was stabled. He knocked three times, the\nrock opened, and he entered.\n\nHe stroked the horse's shining mane and kissed his muzzle in greeting.\n\n\"My dear horse,\" he said, \"I have come to you for advice. Help me and\nI shall be happy forever.\"\n\nSo he told the horse the story of the dragons.\n\n\"Oh, I know all about those dragons,\" the horse answered. \"In fact, it\nwas that you might rescue the princesses that I brought you here in\nthe first place. Early tomorrow morning come back and I will tell you\nwhat to do.\"\n\nBayaya returned to the castle with such joy shining in his face that\nif any one had noticed him he would have been severely rebuked. He\nspent the day with the princesses trying to comfort and console them,\nbut in spite of all he could do they felt only more terrified as the\nhours went by.\n\nThe next day at the first streak of dawn he was at the rock.\n\nThe horse greeted him and said: \"Lift up the stone under my trough and\ntake out what you find there.\"\n\nBayaya obeyed. He lifted the stone and under the stone he found a\nlarge chest. Inside the chest he found three beautiful suits of\nclothing, with caps and plumes to match, a sword, and a horse's\nbridle. The first suit was red embroidered in silver and studded with\ndiamonds, the second was pure white embroidered in gold, and the third\nwas light blue richly embroidered with silver and studded with\ndiamonds and pearls.\n\nFor all three suits there was but one mighty sword. Its blade was\nbeautifully inlaid and its scabbard shone with precious stones. The\nhorse's bridle was also richly jeweled.\n\n\"All three suits are for you,\" the horse said. \"For the first day,\nput on the red one.\"\n\nSo Bayaya dressed himself in the red suit, buckled on his sword, and\nthrew the bridle over the horse's head.\n\n\"Have no fear,\" the horse said as they left the rock. \"Cut bravely\ninto the monster, trusting to your sword. And remember, do not\ndismount.\"\n\nAt the castle heartbroken farewells were being taken. Zdobena parted\nfrom her father and her sisters, stepped into a carriage, and\naccompanied by a great multitude of her weeping subjects was slowly\ndriven out of town to the Dragon Rock. As they neared the fatal spot\nthe princess alighted. She took a few steps forward, then sank to the\nearth in a faint.\n\nAt that moment the people saw galloping toward them a knight with a\nred and white plume. In a voice of authority he ordered them to stand\nback and leave him to deal alone with the dragon. They were glad\nenough to lead the princess away and they all went to a hill near by\nfrom which they could watch the combat at a safe distance.\n\nNow there was a deep rumbling noise, the earth shook, and the Dragon\nRock opened. A nine-headed monster crawled out. He spat fire and\npoison from all his nine mouths and cast about his nine heads, this\nway and that, looking for his promised prey. When he saw the knight he\nlet out a horrible roar.\n\nBayaya rode straight at him and with one blow of his sword cut off\nthree of his heads. The dragon writhed and enveloped Bayaya in flames\nand poisonous fumes. But the prince, undaunted, struck at him again\nand again until he had cut off all nine heads. The life that still\nremained in the loathsome body, the horse finished with his hoofs.\n\nWhen the dragon had perished the prince turned and galloped back the\nway he had come.\n\nZdobena looked after him, wishing she might follow him to thank him\nfor her deliverance. But she remembered her poor father sunk in grief\nat the castle and she felt it was her duty to hurry back to him as\nquickly as she could.\n\nIt would be impossible to describe in words the king's joy when\nZdobena appeared before him safe and uninjured. Her sisters embraced\nher and wondered for the first time whether a deliverer would rise up\nfor them as well.\n\nBayaya capered happily about and assured them by signs that he was\ncertain they, too, would be saved. Although the prospect of the morrow\nstill terrified them, yet hope had come to them and once or twice\nBayaya succeeded in making them laugh.\n\nThe next day Budinka was led out. As on the day before, the unknown\nknight appeared, this time wearing a white plume. He attacked the\neighteen-headed dragon and, after valiant conflict, despatched him.\nThen before any one could reach him, he turned and rode away.\n\nThe princess returned to the castle, grieving that she had not been\nable to speak to the knight and express her gratitude.\n\n\"You, my sisters,\" Slavena said, \"were backward not to speak to him\nbefore he rode off. Tomorrow if he delivers me I shall kneel before\nhim and not get up until he consents to return with me to the castle.\"\n\nJust then Bayaya began laughing and chuckling and Slavena asked him\nsharply what was the matter. He capered about and made her understand\nthat he, too, wanted to see the knight.\n\nOn the third day Slavena was taken out to the Dragon Rock. This time\nthe king also went. The heart of the poor girl quaked with terror when\nshe thought that if the unknown knight failed to appear she would be\nhanded over to the horrible monster.\n\nA joyous shout from the people told her that the knight was coming.\nThen she saw him, a gallant figure in blue with a blue and white plume\nfloating in the wind. As he had killed the first dragon, and the\nsecond dragon, so he killed the third although the struggle was longer\nand the little horse had much to do to stand up against the poisonous\nfumes.\n\nInstantly the dragon was slain, Slavena and the king rushed up to the\nknight and begged him to return with them to the castle. He scarcely\nknew how to refuse, especially when Slavena, kneeling before him,\ngrasped the edge of his tunic and looked up at him so bewitchingly\nthat his heart melted and he was ready to do anything she asked.\n\nBut the little horse took matters into his own hands, reared up\nsuddenly, and galloped off before the knight had time to dismount.\n\nSo Slavena, too, was unable to bring the knight back to the castle.\nThe king and all the court were greatly disappointed but their\ndisappointment was swallowed up in their joy that the princesses had\nbeen so miraculously saved.\n\nShortly after this another disaster threatened the king. A neighboring\nking of great power declared war against him. The king sent far and\nwide and summoned together all the nobles of the land. They came, and\nthe king when he had laid before them his cause promised them the\nhands of his three beautiful daughters in return for their support.\nThis was indeed an inducement and every young noble present swore his\nallegiance and hurried home to gather his forces.\n\nTroops poured in from all sides and soon the king was ready to set\nforth.\n\nHe handed over the affairs of the castle to Bayaya and also intrusted\nto him the safety of the three princesses. Bayaya did his duty\nfaithfully, looking after the castle and planning diversions for the\nprincesses to keep them happy and cheerful.\n\nThen one day he complained of feeling sick, but instead of consulting\nthe court physician, he said he would go himself to the fields and\nhunt some herbs. The princesses laughed at his whim but let him go.\n\nHe hurried to the rock where his horse was stabled, knocked three\ntimes, and entered.\n\n\"You have come in good time,\" the horse said. \"The king's forces are\nweakening and tomorrow will decide the battle. Put on the white suit,\ntake your sword, and let us be off.\"\n\nBayaya kissed his brave little horse and put on his white suit.\n\nThat night the king was awake planning the morrow's battle and\nsending swift messengers to his daughters instructing them what to do\nin case the day went against him.\n\nThe next morning as the battle joined an unknown knight suddenly\nappeared among the king's forces. He was all in white. He rode a\nlittle horse and he wielded a mighty sword.\n\nHe struck right and left among the enemy and he caused such havoc that\nthe king's forces were instantly heartened. Gathering around the white\nknight they fought so valiantly that soon the enemy broke and\nscattered and the king won a mighty victory.\n\nThe knight himself was slightly wounded on the foot. When the king saw\nthis he jumped down from his horse, tore off a piece of his own cape,\nand bound up the wound. He begged the knight to dismount and come with\nhim to a tent. But the knight, thanking him, refused, spurred his\nhorse, and was gone.\n\nThe king nearly wept with disappointment that the unknown knight to\nwhom he was under one more obligation had again ridden off without so\nmuch as leaving his name.\n\nWith great rejoicing the king's forces marched home carrying vast\nstores of booty.\n\n\"Well, steward,\" said the king to Bayaya, \"how have the affairs of\nthe household gone in my absence?\"\n\nBayaya nodded that everything had gone well, but the princesses\nlaughed at him and Slavena said:\n\n\"I must enter complaint against your steward, for he was disobedient.\nHe said he was sick but he would not consult the court physician. He\nsaid he wanted to go himself and get some herbs. He went and he was\ngone two whole days and when he came back he was sicker than before.\"\n\nThe king looked at Bayaya to see if he was still sick. Bayaya shook\nhis head and capered about to show the king that he was all right.\n\nWhen the princesses heard that the unknown knight had again appeared\nand saved the day they were unwilling to become at once the brides of\nany of the nobles, for they thought the knight might perhaps come\ndemanding one of them.\n\nAgain the king was in a quandary. All the various nobles had helped\nhim valiantly and the question now arose to what three of them would\nthe princesses be awarded. After much thought the king hit upon a plan\nwhich he hoped would decide the matter to the satisfaction of them\nall. He called a meeting of the nobles and said:\n\n\"My dear comrades in arms, you remember that I promised the hands of\nmy daughters to those of you who would support me in battle. All of\nyou gave me valiant support. Each of you deserves the hand of one of\nmy daughters. But, alas, I have only three daughters. To decide\ntherefore which three of you my daughters shall marry I make this\nsuggestion: let all of you stand in the garden in a row and let each\nof my daughters throw down a golden apple from a balcony. Then each\nprincess must wed the man to whom her apple rolls. My lords, do you\nall agree to this?\"\n\nThe nobles all agreed and the king sent for his daughters. The\nprincesses, still thinking of the unknown knight, were not\nenthusiastic over this arrangement, but not to shame their father\nthey, too, agreed.\n\nSo each of the girls, dressed in her loveliest, took a golden apple in\nher hand and went up to a balcony.\n\nBelow in the garden the nobles stood in a row. Bayaya, as though he\nwere a spectator, took his place at the end of the line.\n\nFirst Zdobena threw down her apple. It rolled straight to the feet of\nBayaya but he turned quickly aside and it rolled on to a handsome\nyouth who snatched it up with joy and stepped from the line.\n\nThen Budinka threw her apple. It, too, rolled to Bayaya but he\ncleverly kicked it on so that it seemed to roll straight to the feet\nof a valiant lord who picked it up and then looked with happy eyes at\nhis lovely bride.\n\nLast Slavena threw her apple. This time Bayaya did not step aside but\nwhen the apple rolled to him he stooped and picked it up. Then he ran\nto the balcony, knelt before the princess, and kissed her hand.\n\nSlavena snatched away her hand and ran to her chamber, where she wept\nbitterly to think she would have to marry Bayaya instead of the\nunknown knight.\n\nThe king was much disappointed and the nobles murmured. But what was\ndone was done, and could not be undone.\n\nThat night there was a great feast but Slavena remained in her chamber\nrefusing to appear among the guests.\n\nIt was moonlight and from the rock in the field the little horse\ncarried his master for the last time. When they reached the castle\nBayaya dismounted. Then he kissed his faithful friend farewell, and\nthe little horse vanished.\n\nSlavena still sat in her chamber, sad and unhappy. When a maidservant\nopened the door and said that Bayaya wished to speak to her, the\nprincess hid her face in the pillows.\n\nPresently some one took her by the hand and when she raised her head\nshe saw standing before her the beautiful knight of her dreams.\n\n\"Are you angry with your bridegroom that you hide from him?\" he asked.\n\n\"Why do you ask me that?\" Slavena whispered. \"You are not my\nbridegroom. Bayaya is my bridegroom.\"\n\n\"I am Bayaya. I am the dumb youth who wove you garlands. I am the\nknight who saved you and your sisters from death and who helped your\nfather in battle. See, here is the piece of your father's cape with\nwhich he bound up my wounded foot.\"\n\nThat this was so was joy indeed to Slavena. She led the white knight\ninto the banquet hall and presented him to the king as her bridegroom.\nWhen all had been explained, the king rejoiced, the guests marveled,\nand Zdobena and Budinka looked sideways at each other with little\ngasps of envy.\n\nAfter the wedding Bayaya rode away with Slavena to visit his parents.\nWhen he reached his native town the first news he got was of the death\nof his brother. He hurried to the castle to comfort his parents. They\nwere overjoyed at his return, for they had long ago given him up for\ndead.\n\nAfter a time Bayaya succeeded to the kingdom. He lived long and\nprospered and he enjoyed unclouded happiness with his wife.\n\n\n\n\nKATCHA AND THE DEVIL\n\nTHE STORY OF A CLINGING VINE\n\n[Illustration: {The devil}]\n\n\nKATCHA AND THE DEVIL\n\nThere was once a woman named Katcha who lived in a village where she\nowned her own cottage and garden. She had money besides but little\ngood it did her because she was such an ill-tempered vixen that\nnobody, not even the poorest laborer, would marry her. Nobody would\neven work for her, no matter what she paid, for she couldn't open her\nmouth without scolding, and whenever she scolded she raised her shrill\nvoice until you could hear it a mile away. The older she grew the\nworse she became until by the time she was forty she was as sour as\nvinegar.\n\nNow as it always happens in a village, every Sunday afternoon there\nwas a dance either at the burgomaster's, or at the tavern. As soon as\nthe bagpipes sounded, the boys all crowded into the room and the girls\ngathered outside and looked in the windows. Katcha was always the\nfirst at the window. The music would strike up and the boys would\nbeckon the girls to come in and dance, but no one ever beckoned\nKatcha. Even when she paid the piper no one ever asked her to dance.\nYet she came Sunday after Sunday just the same.\n\nOne Sunday afternoon as she was hurrying to the tavern she thought to\nherself: \"Here I am getting old and yet I've never once danced with a\nboy! Plague take it, today I'd dance with the devil if he asked me!\"\n\nShe was in a fine rage by the time she reached the tavern, where she\nsat down near the stove and looked around to see what girls the boys\nhad invited to dance.\n\nSuddenly a stranger in hunter's green came in. He sat down at a table\nnear Katcha and ordered drink. When the serving maid brought the beer,\nhe reached over to Katcha and asked her to drink with him. At first\nshe was much taken back at this attention, then she pursed her lips\ncoyly and pretended to refuse, but finally she accepted.\n\nWhen they had finished drinking, he pulled a ducat from his pocket,\ntossed it to the piper, and called out:\n\n\"Clear the floor, boys! This is for Katcha and me alone!\"\n\nThe boys snickered and the girls giggled hiding behind each other and\nstuffing their aprons into their mouths so that Katcha wouldn't hear\nthem laughing. But Katcha wasn't noticing them at all. Katcha was\ndancing with a fine young man! If the whole world had been laughing at\nher, Katcha wouldn't have cared.\n\nThe stranger danced with Katcha all afternoon and all evening. Not\nonce did he dance with any one else. He bought her marzipan and sweet\ndrinks and, when the hour came to go home, he escorted her through the\nvillage.\n\n\"Ah,\" sighed Katcha when they reached her cottage and it was time to\npart, \"I wish I could dance with you forever!\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the stranger. \"Come with me.\"\n\n\"Where do you live?\"\n\n\"Put your arm around my neck and I'll tell you.\"\n\nKatcha put both arms about his neck and instantly the man changed into\na devil and flew straight down to hell.\n\nAt the gates of hell he stopped and knocked.\n\nHis comrades came and opened the gates and when they saw that he was\nexhausted, they tried to take Katcha off his neck. But Katcha held on\ntight and nothing they could do or say would make her budge.\n\nThe devil finally had to appear before the Prince of Darkness himself\nwith Katcha still glued to his neck.\n\n\"What's that thing you've got around your neck?\" the Prince asked.\n\nSo the devil told how as he was walking about on earth he had heard\nKatcha say she would dance with the devil himself if he asked her. \"So\nI asked her to dance with me,\" the devil said. \"Afterwards just to\nfrighten her a little I brought her down to hell. And now she won't\nlet go of me!\"\n\n\"Serve you right, you dunce!\" the Prince said. \"How often have I told\nyou to use common sense when you go wandering around on earth! You\nmight have known Katcha would never let go of a man once she had him!\"\n\n\"I beg your Majesty to make her let go!\" the poor devil implored.\n\n\"I will not!\" said the Prince. \"You'll have to carry her back to earth\nyourself and get rid of her as best you can. Perhaps this will be a\nlesson to you.\"\n\nSo the devil, very tired and very cross, shambled back to earth with\nKatcha still clinging to his neck. He tried every way to get her off.\nHe promised her wooded hills and rich meadows if she but let him go.\nHe cajoled her, he cursed her, but all to no avail. Katcha still held\non.\n\nBreathless and discouraged he came at last to a meadow where a\nshepherd, wrapped in a great shaggy sheepskin coat, was tending his\nflocks. The devil transformed himself into an ordinary looking man so\nthat the shepherd didn't recognize him.\n\n\"Hi, there,\" the shepherd said, \"what's that you're carrying?\"\n\n\"Don't ask me,\" the devil said with a sigh. \"I'm so worn out I'm\nnearly dead. I was walking yonder not thinking of anything at all when\nalong comes a woman and jumps on my back and won't let go. I'm trying\nto carry her to the nearest village to get rid of her there, but I\ndon't believe I'm able. My legs are giving out.\"\n\nThe shepherd, who was a good-natured chap, said: \"I tell you what:\nI'll help you. I can't leave my sheep long, but I'll carry her\nhalfway.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said the devil, \"I'd be very grateful if you did!\"\n\nSo the shepherd yelled at Katcha: \"Hi, there, you! Catch hold of me!\"\n\nWhen Katcha saw that the shepherd was a handsome youth, she let go of\nthe devil and leapt upon the shepherd's back, catching hold of the\ncollar of his sheepskin coat.\n\nNow the young shepherd soon found that the long shaggy coat and Katcha\nmade a pretty heavy load for walking. In a few moments he was sick of\nhis bargain and began casting about for some way of getting rid of\nKatcha.\n\nPresently he came to a pond and he thought to himself that he'd like\nto throw her in. He wondered how he could do it. Perhaps he could\nmanage it by throwing in his greatcoat with her. The coat was so loose\nthat he thought he could slip out of it without Katcha's discovering\nwhat he was doing. Very cautiously he slipped out one arm. Katcha\ndidn't move. He slipped out the other arm. Still Katcha didn't move.\nHe unlooped the first button. Katcha noticed nothing. He unlooped the\nsecond button. Still Katcha noticed nothing. He unlooped the third\nbutton and kerplunk! he had pitched coat and Katcha and all into the\nmiddle of the pond!\n\nWhen he got back to his sheep, the devil looked at him in amazement.\n\n\"Where's Katcha?\" he gasped.\n\n\"Oh,\" the shepherd said, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb, \"I\ndecided to leave her up yonder in a pond.\"\n\n\"My dear friend,\" the devil cried, \"I thank you! You have done me a\ngreat favor. If it hadn't been for you I might be carrying Katcha till\ndoomsday. I'll never forget you and some time I'll reward you. As you\ndon't know who it is you've helped, I must tell you I'm a devil.\"\n\nWith these words the devil vanished.\n\nFor a moment the shepherd was dazed. Then he laughed and said to\nhimself: \"Well, if they're all as stupid as he is, we ought to be able\nfor them!\"\n\nThe country where the shepherd lived was ruled over by a dissolute\nyoung duke who passed his days in riotous living and his nights in\ncarousing. He gave over the affairs of state to two governors who were\nas bad as he. With extortionate taxes and unjust fines they robbed the\npeople until the whole land was crying out against them.\n\nNow one day for amusement the duke summoned an astrologer to court and\nordered him to read in the planets the fate of himself and his two\ngovernors. When the astrologer had cast a horoscope for each of the\nthree reprobates, he was greatly disturbed and tried to dissuade the\nduke from questioning him further.\n\n\"Such danger,\" he said, \"threatens your life and the lives of your two\ngovernors that I fear to speak.\"\n\n\"Whatever it is,\" said the duke, \"speak. But I warn you to speak the\ntruth, for if what you say does not come to pass you will forfeit your\nlife.\"\n\nThe astrologer bowed and said: \"Hear then, oh Duke, what the planets\nforetell: Before the second quarter of the moon, on such and such a\nday, at such and such an hour, a devil will come and carry off the two\ngovernors. At the full of the moon on such and such a day, at such and\nsuch an hour, the same devil will come for your Highness and carry you\noff to hell.\"\n\nThe duke pretended to be unconcerned but in his heart he was deeply\nshaken. The voice of the astrologer sounded to him like the voice of\njudgment and for the first time conscience began to trouble him.\n\nAs for the governors, they couldn't eat a bite of food and were\ncarried from the palace half dead with fright. They piled their\nill-gotten wealth into wagons and rode away to their castles, where\nthey barred all the doors and windows in order to keep the devil out.\n\nThe duke reformed. He gave up his evil ways and corrected the abuses\nof state in the hope of averting if possible his cruel fate.\n\nThe poor shepherd had no inkling of any of these things. He tended his\nflocks from day to day and never bothered his head about the\nhappenings in the great world.\n\nSuddenly one day the devil appeared before him and said: \"I have\ncome, my friend, to repay you for your kindness. When the moon is in\nits first quarter, I was to carry off the former governors of this\nland because they robbed the poor and gave the duke evil counsel.\nHowever, they're behaving themselves now so they're to be given\nanother chance. But they don't know this. Now on such and such a day\ndo you go to the first castle where a crowd of people will be\nassembled. When a cry goes up and the gates open and I come dragging\nout the governor, do you step up to me and say: 'What do you mean by\nthis? Get out of here or there'll be trouble!' I'll pretend to be\ngreatly frightened and make off. Then ask the governor to pay you two\nbags of gold, and if he haggles just threaten to call me back. After\nthat go on to the castle of the second governor and do the same thing\nand demand the same pay. I warn you, though, be prudent with the money\nand use it only for good. When the moon is full, I'm to carry off the\nduke himself, for he was so wicked that he's to have no second chance.\nSo don't try to save him, for if you do you'll pay for it with your\nown skin. Don't forget!\"\n\nThe shepherd remembered carefully everything the devil told him. When\nthe moon was in its first quarter he went to the first castle. A great\ncrowd of people was gathered outside waiting to see the devil carry\naway the governor.\n\nSuddenly there was a loud cry of despair, the gates of the castle\nopened, and there was the devil, as black as night, dragging out the\ngovernor. He, poor man, was half dead with fright.\n\nThe shepherd elbowed his way through the crowd, took the governor by\nthe hand, and pushed the devil roughly aside.\n\n\"What do you mean by this?\" he shouted. \"Get out of here or there'll\nbe trouble!\"\n\nInstantly the devil fled and the governor fell on his knees before the\nshepherd and kissed his hands and begged him to state what he wanted\nin reward. When the shepherd asked for two bags of gold, the governor\nordered that they be given him without delay.\n\nThen the shepherd went to the castle of the second governor and went\nthrough exactly the same performance.\n\nIt goes without saying that the duke soon heard of the shepherd, for\nhe had been anxiously awaiting the fate of the two governors. At once\nhe sent a wagon with four horses to fetch the shepherd to the palace\nand when the shepherd arrived he begged him piteously to rescue him\nlikewise from the devil's clutches.\n\n\"Master,\" the shepherd answered, \"I cannot promise you anything. I\nhave to consider my own safety. You have been a great sinner, but if\nyou really want to reform, if you really want to rule your people\njustly and kindly and wisely as becomes a true ruler, then indeed I\nwill help you even if I have to suffer hellfire in your place.\"\n\nThe duke declared that with God's help he would mend his ways and the\nshepherd promised to come back on the fatal day.\n\nWith grief and dread the whole country awaited the coming of the full\nmoon. In the first place the people had greeted the astrologer's\nprophecy with joy, but since the duke had reformed their feelings for\nhim had changed.\n\nTime sped fast as time does whether joy be coming or sorrow and all\ntoo soon the fatal day arrived.\n\nDressed in black and pale with fright, the duke sat expecting the\narrival of the devil.\n\nSuddenly the door flew open and the devil, black as night, stood\nbefore him. He paused a moment and then he said, politely:\n\n\"Your time has come, Lord Duke, and I am here to get you!\"\n\nWithout a word the duke arose and followed the devil to the\ncourtyard, which was filled with a great multitude of people.\n\nAt that moment the shepherd, all out of breath, came pushing his way\nthrough the crowd, and ran straight at the devil, shouting out:\n\n\"What do you mean by this? Get out of here or there'll be trouble!\"\n\n\"What do _you_ mean?\" whispered the devil. \"Don't you remember what I\ntold you?\"\n\n\"Hush!\" the shepherd whispered back. \"I don't care anything about the\nduke. This is to warn you! You know Katcha? She's alive and she's\nlooking for you!\"\n\nThe instant the devil heard the name of Katcha he turned and fled.\n\nAll the people cheered the shepherd, while the shepherd himself\nlaughed in his sleeve to think that he had taken in the devil so\neasily.\n\nAs for the duke, he was so grateful to the shepherd that he made him\nhis chief counselor and loved him as a brother. And well he might, for\nthe shepherd was a sensible man and always gave him sound advice.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BETROTHAL GIFTS\n\nTHE STORY OF KUBIK AND THE FROG\n\n[Illustration: {A frog}]\n\n\nTHE BETROTHAL GIFTS\n\nA farmer who had three sons was much troubled in his mind as to how he\nshould leave his property. \"My farm is too small to divide,\" he kept\nthinking to himself. \"If I divide it into three equal parts and give\neach of my sons one part, they will all be poor cottagers, and yet, if\nI give it all to one son, I shall be unjust to the other two. My\ngrandfather always said that it is a father's duty to treat all his\nchildren alike and I'm sure I don't want to depart from his\nteachings.\"\n\nAt last he called his sons together and said: \"I have hit upon a plan\nwhereby fate shall decide which of you shall be my heir. You must all\ngo out into the world and find brides, and he who brings back as a\nbetrothal gift the most beautiful ring shall have the farm.\"\n\nThe sons agreed to this plan and the next day they all set out in\ndifferent directions in quest of brides.\n\nNow the youngest son, whose name was Kubik, was not considered as\nbright as his brothers, for he was kind to beggars and he never drove\na hard bargain. His brothers often laughed at him and his father\npitied him, for he thought that Kubik was too gentle to make his way\nin the world.\n\nKubik's path took him into a deep forest. He walked on and on until\nsuddenly a little frog hopped up in front of him and said:\n\n\"Where are you going, Kubik?\"\n\nNow Kubik had never in all his life heard of a frog that could talk.\nAt first he was frightened but even so he was too polite not to answer\na civil question. So he told the frog about his father and the farm\nand the quest for betrothal gifts upon which he and his brothers were\nbound.\n\nThe frog listened and when he was finished she said: \"Come with me,\nKubik, and my daughter, Kachenka, will give you a more beautiful ring\nthan any your father or brothers have ever seen.\"\n\nKubik hesitated, but at last not to hurt the frog's feelings he\nagreed. \"But if your daughter Kachenka looks like you,\" he thought to\nhimself, \"Heaven help me, for she'll be a pretty dear price to pay for\na farm!\"\n\nThe frog led him to a deep valley at one side of which rose a high\nrocky cliff that was honey-combed with caverns. The frog hopped into\none of these and called out:\n\n\"Kachenka, my child, where are you? Here is Kubik come to woo you and\nto beg a betrothal gift. Bring out your little box of rings.\"\n\nInstantly a second frog appeared dragging a heavy jewel casket.\nKachenka, alas, was a hundred times uglier than her mother. Her legs\nwere crooked, her face was all covered with spots, and when she spoke\nher voice was hoarse and croaking.\n\nFor a moment Kubik shivered and turned away in disgust, but only for a\nmoment until he remembered that it wasn't Kachenka's fault that she\nwas a frog.\n\nThe two frogs put the casket before him and opened it and Kubik saw\nthat it was filled with a collection of the rarest and most beautiful\nrings in the world.\n\n\"Make your own choice, Kubik,\" the old frog said.\n\nKubik selected as plain a ring as there was, for he was ashamed to\ntake one of the handsomest.\n\n\"Not that one!\" the old frog said, \"unless you want your brothers to\nlaugh at you.\"\n\nThereupon she herself picked out the ring that had the biggest diamond\nof them all, wrapped it up carefully in paper, and handed it to Kubik.\n\n\"Now hurry home,\" she said, \"for your brothers are already there and\nyour father is waiting for you.\"\n\nAs soon as Kubik reached home the farmer called his three sons\ntogether and demanded to be shown their betrothal gifts.\n\nAll the eldest son had was a common brass ring.\n\n\"Um,\" the farmer said, shaking his head. \"Well, put it away for a\nkeepsake.\"\n\nThe second son showed a silver ring that was worth a few cents more.\n\n\"A little better,\" the old man mumbled, \"but not good enough for a\nfarmer. Put it away for a keepsake. And now,\" he said, turning to his\nyoungest son, \"let us see what Kubik has brought from his promised\nbride.\"\n\nThey all looked at Kubik, and Kubik blushed as he felt in his pocket\nfor the little package.\n\n\"Ho, ho!\" his brothers laughed. \"Kubik has such a fine ring that he\nhas to keep it wrapped up.\"\n\nBut when he opened the paper they stopped laughing, and well they\nmight, for there was a great diamond that sparkled and blazed until it\nseemed that the sun was shining in the room.\n\n\"Kubik!\" the farmer cried when at last he found his voice, \"where did\nyou get that ring? You must have stolen it, you wicked boy!\" And\nwithout waiting to hear what Kubik had to say, he reached for a whip\nand trounced the poor lad to within an inch of his life. Then he took\nthe ring and hid it carefully away.\n\n\"Now, my boys,\" he said to his sons, \"you will all have to make\nanother trial. This time ask of your promised brides the gift of an\nembroidered kerchief and he who brings back the most beautiful\nkerchief shall be my heir.\"\n\nSo the next day the three sons again started out, each in a different\ndirection.\n\nKubik thought to himself: \"I won't go the way I went yesterday or I\nmay meet that old frog again and then, when I get home, the only prize\nI'll get will be another beating.\"\n\nSo he took a different path but he hadn't gone far before the old frog\nhopped up in front of him.\n\n\"What's the matter, Kubik?\" she asked.\n\nAt first Kubik didn't want to tell her but she questioned him and\nfinally, not to seem rude, he told her about the beating his father\nhad given him on account of Kachenka's ring and about the new quest\nfor embroidered kerchiefs upon which his father was now sending him\nand his brothers.\n\n\"Now don't think any more about that whipping,\" the old frog advised\nhim. \"And as for an embroidered kerchief, why, Kachenka is the very\ngirl for that! She will give you one that will make your brothers open\ntheir eyes!\"\n\nKubik wasn't sure that he wanted to accept another of Kachenka's\ngifts, but the old frog urged him and at last he agreed. So again they\ntook the path to the rocky cliff. The old frog called her daughter out\nas before and presently Kachenka appeared dragging a chest that was\nfilled with the most wonderful of kerchiefs, all of fine silk and all\nrichly embroidered and so large that they were more like shawls than\nkerchiefs.\n\nKubik reached in and took the first that came to hand.\n\n\"Tut, tut!\" the old frog said. \"That's no way to select a kerchief.\"\n\nThen she herself picked out the biggest and the most richly\nembroidered of them all and wrapped it up in paper. She gave it to\nKubik and said:\n\n\"Now hurry home, for your brothers are already there and your father\nis waiting for you.\"\n\nAs soon as Kubik reached home the farmer called his three sons\ntogether and demanded to be shown their betrothal gifts.\n\nAll the eldest one had was a small cheap kerchief of no value\nwhatever.\n\n\"Um,\" the farmer said, shaking his head. \"Well, put it away for a\nkeepsake.\"\n\nThe kerchief of the second had cost a few cents more.\n\n\"A little better,\" the old man mumbled. \"Perhaps it's good enough for\na farmer. And now,\" he said, turning to his youngest son, \"let us see\nwhat Kubik has brought from his promised bride.\"\n\nThey all looked at Kubik, and Kubik blushed as he pulled out a parcel\nfrom under his shirt.\n\n\"Ho, ho!\" his brothers laughed. \"Kubik has such a fine kerchief that\nhe has to keep it wrapped up in paper!\"\n\nBut when Kubik opened the paper they stopped laughing, and well they\nmight, for there was a silken kerchief so big that it could have\ncovered the whole room and so richly embroidered that any princess in\nthe world would have been proud to own it.\n\n\"Kubik!\" the farmer cried when at last he was able to speak, \"where\ndid you get that kerchief? You must have stolen it, you wicked boy!\"\nAnd without waiting to hear what Kubik had to say, he reached down the\nwhip again and trounced the poor boy to within an inch of his life.\nThen he took the kerchief and hid it carefully away.\n\n\"Now, my sons,\" he said, \"you will all have to make another trial.\nBut this time it will not be for a ring or a kerchief. This time bring\nhome your brides and he whose bride is the most beautiful shall be my\nheir.\"\n\nSo the next day the three sons again started out, each in a different\ndirection.\n\n\"I don't want to see Kachenka again,\" poor Kubik said to himself.\n\"Twice I've brought back the best betrothal gift and each time I've\ngot a beating for it. I wonder what they would say if I brought home a\nfrog for a bride! Then they would have something to laugh at!\"\n\nSo he took a different path through the forest but again he hadn't\ngone far before the old frog hopped up in front of him. This time\nKubik turned and ran. The old frog called after him but the louder she\ncalled the faster he ran.\n\nHe ran on and on until suddenly a great snake stopped him. The snake\nreared high its head, then dropped into a coil. Again it reared up and\nswayed from side to side threatening to strike if Kubik went on. So\nKubik saw that fate was determined that he should marry a frog and\nreluctantly he turned back.\n\nThe snake led him to the cliff, where the old frog greeted him kindly\nand thanked the snake for his faithful service.\n\nPoor Kubik! He was very tired and very unhappy. When you come to think\nof it, who wouldn't be unhappy at the prospect of being united for\nlife to a frog?\n\nKubik was so tired that presently he fell asleep and it was just as\nwell he did, for at least in dreams he could forget his troubles.\n\nThe next morning when he woke and rubbed his eyes, he found himself\nlying on a soft feather bed, white as snow, in a splendid room with\ndecorations that were fit for a king. A fine silken shirt lay spread\nout on a chair beside the bed and beyond the chair was a stand with a\nsilver basin. When he got up attendants came running in carrying\nclothes of richly woven cloth of gold. They dressed Kubik and they\ncombed his hair until they had him looking like a young prince. Then\nthey brought him breakfast and there was cream with the coffee and I\nwould have you know that this was only the second time in his life\nthat Kubik had ever had cream with his coffee!\n\nKubik did not know what to think of it all. His head went round and\nround. When he looked out the window he saw no trace of cliff or\ncaverns or forest. Instead he saw a big town with streets and houses\nand people going to and fro.\n\nPresently music began to play under the window, a great crowd gathered\nand soon attendants came in to escort Lord Kubik out. As he reached\nthe castle gate, the people cheered and a coach and six drove up. Two\nladies were in it, a mother and daughter, both dressed in beautiful\nsilks. They alighted from the coach and when they saw Kubik they\nsmiled and came toward him with outstretched hands.\n\n\"You don't know us, do you, Kubik?\" the older lady said. \"I was that\nold frog who coaxed you to the cliff and this, my beautiful daughter,\nwas the other little frog, the very ugly one, that you feared you\nwould have to take home to your father's house as your bride. You see,\nKubik, we were all under an evil enchantment. Many years ago a wicked\nmagician brought ruin on us and our kingdom. He changed our subjects\ninto snakes and us into frogs and turned our fine city into a rocky\ncliff. Nothing could break the enchantment until some one should come\nand ask a betrothal gift from my daughter. We lived in the forest for\nyears and years and all those years I begged all the people who\nwandered by to help us but they only trod on us or turned away from us\nin disgust. You, Kubik, were the first not to scorn us for our ugly\nlooks. By this you broke the evil spell that held us and now we are\nall free. As a reward you shall marry my daughter, the Princess\nKachenka, and be made king!\"\n\nThen the old queen took Kubik by the hand and led him to the royal\ncoach, where she made him sit between her and the princess. Music\nplayed and the people cheered, and in this style they drove to Kubik's\nnative village and to his father's house.\n\nThe old man was in the yard chopping firewood and his older sons were\nhelping him. They, too, had brought home their brides, plain country\ngirls from poor farms, and at that moment they were all awaiting\nKubik's arrival.\n\n\"Look, father,\" the oldest son cried, \"some fine folk are turning in\nhere!\"\n\n\"We're not behind in our taxes, are we?\" the second son asked.\n\n\"Hush!\" the old man whispered. \"I have nothing to fear. My affairs are\nall in good order.\"\n\nHe put his cap respectfully under his arm and stood bareheaded and\nboth his sons followed his example.\n\nThe coach drove straight into the yard and a handsome young lord and\ntwo beautiful ladies alighted. The handsome young lord greeted the\nold man and his sons and they bowed and scraped and pressed their hats\nunder their arms tighter and tighter.\n\nThen they all stepped into the old kitchen that was black with the\nsmoke of many years and the handsome young lord sat down on the bench\nbehind the table as though that was where he always sat. The two\nbrothers and their brides shrank back against the oven and held their\nbreath.\n\nThen the handsome young lord said to the old man: \"Don't you know me?\"\n\n\"Where could I ever have seen your lordship?\" the farmer asked,\nhumbly. He kept bobbing so low it was a wonder he didn't bump his head\nagainst the floor.\n\n\"And do neither of your sons know me? I think these are your sons,\naren't they?\"\n\nThe farmer kept on bowing and the two sons looked down, too\nembarrassed to speak.\n\nAt length the handsome young lord said: \"What, don't you know your own\nson, Kubik, whom you used to beat for stealing when he showed you his\nbetrothal gifts?\"\n\nAt that the old man looked at him closely and cried out: \"Bless my\nsoul, I believe it is our Kubik! But who could recognize the\nboy!... And is this his bride? That settles it! Kubik shall have the\nfarm! Kubik has brought home the most beautiful bride!\"\n\n  [Illustration: _Kubik Greeting His Old Father_]\n\n\"Kubik doesn't need the farm,\" the old queen said, \"nor will you need\nit any longer nor your other sons. You will all come home with us to\nour kingdom over which Kubik is now king. And may God grant you many\nyears to live on in peace and quiet.\"\n\nThe farmer was overjoyed at this arrangement. He embraced his son, and\nhis son's bride, and his son's royal mother-in-law.\n\nHe gave his farm to the poorest man in the village and then he and his\nsons accompanied Kubik back to his kingdom. There he lived long in\npeace and comfort enjoying the thought that good fortune had come to\nthem all on account of his determination not to divide the farm.\n\nThe poor man who inherited the farm prayed for him and his sons every\nnight and never tired of telling the story of how Kubik became a king\nand his brothers courtiers.\n\nSo for many years the memory of Kubik was kept green. Now people are\nbeginning to forget him, so I thought it was time that I tell his\nstory again.\n\n\n\n\nGRANDFATHER'S EYES\n\nTHE STORY OF THREE WICKED YEZINKAS\n\n[Illustration: {A goat}]\n\n\nGRANDFATHER'S EYES\n\nOnce upon a time there was a poor boy whom everybody called Yanechek.\nHis father and mother were dead and he was forced to start out alone\nin the world to make a living. For a long time he could find nothing\nto do. He wandered on and on and at last he came to a little house\nthat stood by itself near the edge of the woods. An old man sat on the\ndoorstep and Yanechek could see that he was blind, for there were\nempty holes where his eyes used to be.\n\nSome goats that were penned in a shed near the house began bleating\nand the old man said:\n\n\"You poor things, you want to go to pasture, don't you? But I can't\nsee to drive you and I have no one else to send.\"\n\n\"Send me, grandfather,\" Yanechek said. \"Take me as your goatherd and\nlet me work for you.\"\n\n\"Who are you?\" the old man asked.\n\nYanechek told him who he was and the old man agreed to take him.\n\n\"And now,\" he said, \"drive the goats to pasture. But one thing,\nYanechek: don't take them to the hill over there in the woods or the\nYezinkas may get you! That's where they caught me!\"\n\nNow Yanechek knew that the Yezinkas were wicked witches who lived in a\ncave in the woods and went about in the guise of beautiful young\nwomen. If they met you they would greet you modestly and say something\nlike \"God bless you!\" to make you think they were good and kind and\nthen, once they had you in their power, they would put you to sleep\nand gouge out your eyes! Oh, yes, Yanechek knew about the Yezinkas.\n\n\"Never fear, grandfather, the Yezinkas won't get me!\"\n\nThe first day and the second day Yanechek kept the goats near home.\nBut the third day he said to himself: \"I think I'll try the hill in\nthe woods. There's better grass there and I'm not afraid of the\nYezinkas.\"\n\nBefore he started out he cut three long slender switches from a\nblackberry bramble, wound them into small coils, and hid them in the\ncrown of his hat. Then he drove the goats through the woods where\nthey nibbled at leaves and branches, beside a deep river where they\npaused to drink, and up the grassy slopes of the hill.\n\nThere the goats scattered this way and that and Yanechek sat down on a\nstone in the shade. He was hardly seated when he looked up and there\nbefore him, dressed all in white, stood the most beautiful maiden in\nthe world. Her skin was red as roses and white as milk, her eyes were\nblack as sloe berries, and her hair, dark as the raven's wing, fell\nabout her shoulders in long waving tresses. She smiled and offered\nYanechek a big red apple.\n\n\"God bless you, shepherd boy,\" she said. \"Here's something for you\nthat grew in my own garden.\"\n\nBut Yanechek knew that she must be a Yezinka and that, if he ate the\napple, he would fall asleep and then she would gouge out his eyes. So\nhe said, politely: \"No, thank you, beautiful maiden. My master has a\ntree in his garden with apples that are bigger than yours and I have\neaten as many as I want.\"\n\nWhen the maiden saw that Yanechek was not to be coaxed, she\ndisappeared.\n\nPresently a second maiden came, more beautiful, if possible, than the\nfirst. In her hand she carried a lovely red rose.\n\n\"God bless you, shepherd boy,\" she said. \"Isn't this a lovely rose? I\npicked it myself from the hedge. How fragrant it is! Will you smell\nit?\"\n\nShe offered him the rose but Yanechek refused it.\n\n\"No, thank you, beautiful maiden. My master's garden is full of roses\nmuch sweeter than yours and I smell roses all the time.\"\n\nAt that the second maiden shrugged her shoulders and disappeared.\n\nPresently a third one came, the youngest and most beautiful of them\nall. In her hand she carried a golden comb.\n\n\"God bless you, shepherd boy.\"\n\n\"Good day to you, beautiful maiden.\"\n\nShe smiled at Yanechek and said: \"Truly you are a handsome lad, but\nyou would be handsomer still if your hair were nicely combed. Come,\nlet me comb it for you.\"\n\nYanechek said nothing but he took off his hat without letting the\nmaiden see what was hidden in its crown. She came up close to him and\nthen, just as she was about to comb his hair, he whipped out one of\nthe long blackberry switches and struck her over the hands. She\nscreamed and tried to escape but she could not because it is the fate\nof a Yezinka not to be able to move if ever a human being strikes her\nover the hands with a switch of bramble.\n\nSo Yanechek took her two hands and bound them together with the long\nthorny switch while she wept and struggled.\n\n\"Help, sisters! Help!\" she cried.\n\nAt that the two other Yezinkas came running and when they saw what had\nhappened they, too, began to weep and to beg Yanechek to unbind their\nsister's hands and let her go.\n\nBut Yanechek only laughed and said: \"No. You unbind them.\"\n\n\"But, Yanechek, how can we? Our hands are soft and the thorns will\nprick us.\"\n\nHowever, when they saw that Yanechek was not to be moved, they went to\ntheir sister and tried to help her. Whereupon Yanechek whipped out the\nother two blackberry switches and struck them also on their soft\npretty hands, first one and then the other. After that they, too,\ncould not move and it was easy enough to bind them and make them\nprisoners.\n\n\"Now I've got the three of you, you wicked Yezinkas!\" Yanechek said.\n\"It was you who gouged out my poor old master's eyes, you know it\nwas! And you shall not escape until you do as I ask.\"\n\nHe left them there and ran home to his master to whom he said: \"Come,\ngrandfather, for I have found a means of restoring your eyes!\"\n\nHe took the old man by the hand and led him through the woods, along\nthe bank of the river, and up the grassy hillside where the three\nYezinkas were still struggling and weeping.\n\nThen he said to the first of them: \"Tell me now where my master's eyes\nare. If you don't tell me, I'll throw you into the river.\"\n\nThe first Yezinka pretended she didn't know. So Yanechek lifted her up\nand started down the hill toward the river.\n\nThat frightened the maiden and she cried out: \"Don't throw me into the\nriver, Yanechek, and I'll find you your master's eyes, I promise you I\nwill!\"\n\nSo Yanechek put her down and she led him to a cave in the hillside\nwhere she and her wicked sisters had piled up a great heap of\neyes--all kinds of eyes they were: big eyes, little eyes, black eyes,\nred eyes, blue eyes, green eyes--every kind of eye in the world that\nyou can think of.\n\nShe went to the heap and picked out two eyes which she said were the\nright ones. But when the poor old man tried to look through them, he\ncried out in fright:\n\n\"I see nothing but dark treetops with sleeping birds and flying bats!\nThese are not my eyes! They are owls' eyes! Take them out! Take them\nout!\"\n\nWhen Yanechek saw how the first Yezinka had deceived him, without\nanother word he picked her up, threw her into the river, and that was\nthe end of her.\n\nThen he said to the second sister: \"Now you tell me where my master's\neyes are.\"\n\nAt first she, too, pretended she didn't know, but when Yanechek\nthreatened to throw her likewise into the river, she was glad enough\nto lead him back to the cave and pick out two eyes that she said were\nthe right ones.\n\nBut when the poor old man tried to look through them, again he cried\nout in fright: \"I see nothing but tangled underbrush and snapping\nteeth and hot red tongues! These are not my eyes! They are wolves'\neyes! Take them out! Take them out!\"\n\nWhen Yanechek saw how the second Yezinka had deceived him, without\nanother word he picked her up, and threw her also into the river, and\nthat was the end of her.\n\nThen Yanechek said to the third sister: \"Now you tell me where my\nmaster's eyes are.\"\n\nAt first she, too, pretended she didn't know, but when Yanechek\nthreatened to throw her likewise into the river, she was glad enough\nto lead him to the cave and pick out two eyes that she said were the\nright ones.\n\nBut when the poor old man tried to look through them, again he cried\nout in fright: \"I see nothing but swirling waters and flashing fins!\nThese are not my eyes! They are fishes' eyes! Take them out! Take them\nout!\"\n\nWhen Yanechek saw how the third Yezinka had deceived him, without\nanother word he was ready to serve her as he had served her sisters.\nBut she begged him not to drown her and she said:\n\n\"Let me try again, Yanechek, and I'll find you the right eyes, I\npromise you I will!\"\n\nSo Yanechek let her try again and from the very bottom of the heap she\npicked out two more eyes that she swore were the right ones.\n\nWhen the old man looked through them, he clapped his hands and said:\n\"These are my own eyes, praise God! Now I can see as well as ever!\"\n\nAfter that the old man and Yanechek lived on happily together.\nYanechek pastured the goats and the old man made cheeses at home and\nthey ate them together. And you may be sure that the third Yezinka\nnever showed herself again on that hill!\n\n\n\n\nRATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE AND CHINK-CHINK-CHINK\n\nTHE STORY OF LONG BEARD, THE DWARF, AND THE TWO SISTERS\n\n[Illustration: {A cottage}]\n\n\nRATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE AND CHINK-CHINK-CHINK\n\nThere was once a poor man whose wife died leaving him a daughter. The\nlittle girl's name was Lenka. She was a good little girl, cheerful and\nobedient and very industrious, and she did all she could to make her\nfather comfortable.\n\nAfter some time the man married again. His second wife also had a\nlittle girl just Lenka's age. Her name was Dorla. Dorla was a lazy,\nill-natured child, always quarreling and bickering. Yet her mother\nthought Dorla was perfect and she was always praising her to her\nhusband.\n\n\"See what a good child my Dorla is,\" she would say to him. \"She works\nand spins and never says a cross word. Very different from your\ngood-for-nothing Lenka who always breaks everything she touches and\ndoes nothing in return for all the good food she eats!\"\n\nShe never stopped nagging and scolding her poor stepchild and\ncomplaining about her to her husband. Lenka was patient and went on\nquietly doing what was right, and she was always polite to her\nstepmother, and kind to her ill-natured stepsister.\n\nShe and Dorla used to go to spinning bees together. Dorla would play\nand waste her time and hardly fill one spindle. Lenka always worked\nindustriously and usually filled two or three spools. Yet, when the\ntwo girls got home, the mother always took Dorla's half-filled spindle\nand said to the father: \"See what beautiful yarn my Dorla spins!\" She\nwould hide Lenka's spools and say: \"Your Lenka did nothing but play\nand waste her time!\"\n\nAnd before other people she talked the same way, pretending Dorla did\neverything that she didn't do and saying that good industrious Lenka\nwas lazy and good-for-nothing.\n\nOne night when the two girls were walking home together from a\nspinning bee, they came to a ditch in the road. Dorla jumped quickly\nacross and then reached back her hand and said:\n\n\"My dear sister, let me hold your spindle. You may fall and hurt\nyourself.\"\n\nPoor Lenka, suspecting nothing unkind, handed Dorla her full spindle.\nDorla took it and ran home and then boasted to her mother and her\nstepfather how much she had spun.\n\n\"Lenka,\" she said, \"has no yarn at all. She did nothing but play and\nwaste her time.\"\n\n\"You see,\" said the woman to her husband. \"This is what I'm always\ntelling you but you never believe me. That Lenka of yours is a lazy,\ngood-for-nothing girl who expects me and my poor daughter to do all\nthe work. I'm not going to stand her in the house any longer. Tomorrow\nmorning out she goes to make her own way in the world. Then perhaps\nshe'll understand what a good home she's had with me!\"\n\nThe poor man tried to defend Lenka but his wife would hear nothing.\nLenka must go and that was all there was to it.\n\nEarly the next morning while it was still dark the woman started Lenka\noff. She gave her a sack that she said was full of good meal and\nsmoked meat and bread. But instead of meal she put in ashes, instead\nof smoked meat straw, and instead of bread stones.\n\n\"Here is meal and smoked meat and bread for your journey,\" she said.\n\"You will be a long time finding any one who will be as good to you as\nI have been! Now be off with you and never let me see you again! Let\nyour father put you out in service if he can!\"\n\nThe poor man put his ax on his shoulder and started off with Lenka. He\nhad no place to take her and he hardly knew what to do. He led her off\ninto the mountains, where he built her a little two-room hut. He was\nashamed to tell her that he was going to leave her alone, so he said\nto her:\n\n\"You stay here, my dear child, while I go farther into the forest and\ncut you some firewood.\"\n\nBut instead of cutting her firewood, he hung his mallet on a beech\ntree and whenever the wind blew, the mallet made a knocking sound. All\nafternoon poor little Lenka hearing the knock-knock of the mallet\nthought to herself: \"There is my dear father chopping wood for me!\"\n\nWhen evening came and he hadn't returned, Lenka went out to find him,\nbut all she could find was the mallet going knock-knock on the tree.\nThen the poor girl realized that her father had deceived her but she\nforgave him, for she knew that it was her stepmother's fault.\n\nShe went back to the little hut to get her supper, but when she opened\nthe sack her stepmother had given her, instead of meal and smoked meat\nand bread, she found only ashes and straw and stones. Then indeed did\nLenka feel deserted and sitting down she cried with loneliness and\nhunger.\n\nWhile she was crying an old beggar with a long beard came into the\nhut.\n\n\"God grant you happiness, my child,\" he said.\n\n\"May He grant you the same, old father,\" Lenka said, standing up and\nbowing politely.\n\n\"Thank you, my child, thank you. And now will you be so kind as to\nwash my face and give me a bite of supper?\"\n\n\"Indeed, old father, I'd gladly wash your face and give you food, but\nthere's no water here and nothing to carry it in. And as for food, my\nstepmother filled the sack with ashes, straw, and stones.\"\n\n\"That's nothing, my child. Just go behind the hut and you will find a\nspring.\"\n\nLenka went and there, sure enough, was a clear bubbling spring and on\nthe ground beside it a bucket. She filled the bucket and carried it\nback to the hut.\n\nAs she entered the door she could hardly believe her eyes, for on the\nwall she saw a row of shining plates, big plates and little plates,\nand cups, and everything else that ought to be in a kitchen. The old\nbeggar had started a fire, so Lenka at once put on water to boil.\n\n\"Look in the sack,\" the beggar said.\n\nLenka untied the sack again and here it was full of fine meal and\nbread and smoked meat!\n\nSo now Lenka lost no time in preparing a good supper. Then she washed\nthe old beggar's face and hands and together they ate. After supper\nLenka spread out her ragged clothes on the floor of the inner room and\nput the beggar in there for the night. She herself stretched out on\nthe kitchen bench. It was a hard bed but Lenka made no complaint and\npresently she fell asleep.\n\nAt midnight there was a knocking at the door and a voice called out:\n\n    \"_A man am I\n    Six inches high,\n    But a long, long beard\n    Hangs from my chin.\n    Open the door\n    And let me in!_\"\n\nLenka jumped down and opened the door and there before her stood a\ntiny dwarf with a long beard. He was Long Beard who lived in the\nmountains and of whom Lenka had often heard stories.\n\nHe came in dragging after him a heavy bag of golden ducats.\n\n\"I was that old beggar,\" he said, \"whose face you washed and with whom\nyou shared your supper. These ducats are to reward you for your\nkindness. Now go into your bedroom and lie down comfortably.\"\n\nAs he said this he vanished.\n\nLenka went into her bedroom and there, instead of her few rags on the\nfloor, was a fine feather bed and coverlets and a painted chest full\nof clothes. Lenka lay down on the feather bed and instantly fell\nasleep.\n\nOn the third day her father came, supposing by that time Lenka had\neither died of hunger or been devoured by wild beasts. At least, he\nthought, he would gather together her bones.\n\nBut when he reached the hut he rubbed his eyes in surprise. Instead of\nthe rough hut, there was a pretty little cottage and instead of a\nhandful of bones there was a happy girl singing away at her spinning.\n\n\"My daughter, my daughter!\" he cried. \"How are you?\"\n\n\"Very well, dear father. You couldn't have found a better place for\nme.\"\n\nShe told him how happy she was and how pleasantly she passed the\ntime, spinning and singing and working. Then she took a table-cloth\nand filled it with golden ducats and gave it to him.\n\nSo he went away very happy, thanking God for the good fortune that had\ncome to Lenka.\n\nAs he neared home, the old dog that lay at the door said to the\nstepmother:\n\n\"Bow-wow, mistress, here comes the master. It's chink-chink the money\nbefore him and chink-chink the money behind him!\"\n\n\"Not so, old dog!\" the stepmother cried. \"It's rattle-rattle bones\nbefore him and rattle-rattle bones behind him!\"\n\nNow when the man came into the cottage, he said: \"Wife, give me a\nbasket and let me empty this table-cloth.\"\n\n\"What!\" she cried. \"Do you expect me to give you a basket for your\ndaughter's bones?\"\n\nBut he began to chink the golden ducats and then she got a basket fast\nenough.\n\nWhen she had all the ducats safely put away she said:\n\n\"Isn't it just like you to find a place like that for your Lenka! But\nwhat have you ever done for my poor Dorla? Tomorrow you will take her\nout into the world and find a good place for her!\"\n\nSo she got ready for Dorla a fine new bed and stylish clothes and as\nmuch good food as she could carry. The next day the man took Dorla out\ninto the mountains and built her a little hut of two rooms.\n\nDorla sat in the hut and thought about the good supper she was going\nto cook for herself.\n\nIn the evening the same old beggar came and said to her:\n\n\"May God grant you happiness, my child. Won't you please wash my\nface?\"\n\n\"Wash your face, indeed!\" cried Dorla in a rage. \"This is what I'll do\nto you!\" And she took a stick and drove the old beggar away.\n\n\"Very well!\" he muttered. \"Very well! Very well!\"\n\nThen Dorla cooked herself a fine supper. After she had eaten every\nbite of it herself, she lay down on the bed and went soundly to sleep.\n\nAt midnight Long Beard knocked at the door and called out:\n\n    \"_A man am I\n    Six inches high,\n    But a long, long beard\n    Hangs from my chin.\n    Open the door\n    And let me in!_\"\n\nThen Dorla was very frightened and she hid in the corner. Long Beard\nbroke open the door and he caught Dorla and he shook her out of her\nskin. It served her right, too, for she was a wicked, spiteful girl\nand she had never been kind to anybody in her life.\n\nLong Beard left her bones in a heap on the floor, and he hung her skin\non the nail at the back of the door. Then he put her grinning skull in\nthe window.\n\nOn the third day Dorla's mother gave her husband a brand new\ntable-cloth and said:\n\n\"Go now and see how my Dorla is getting on. Here is a table-cloth for\nthe ducats.\"\n\nSo the man took the table-cloth and went to the mountains. As he came\nnear the hut, he saw something in the window that looked like grinning\nteeth. He said to himself:\n\n\"Dorla must be very happy to be smiling at me from this distance.\"\n\nBut when he reached the hut all he found of Dorla was a heap of bones\non the floor, the skin hanging on the nail behind the door, and the\nskull grinning in the window.\n\nWithout a word he gathered the bones into the table-cloth and started\nback.\n\nAs he neared home the old dog said:\n\n\"Bow-wow, mistress, here comes the master and it's rattle-rattle\nbefore him and rattle-rattle behind him.\"\n\n\"Not so, old dog!\" cried the woman. \"It's chink-chink before him, and\nchink-chink behind him!\"\n\nBut the old dog kept on barking and saying:\n\n\"No, no, bow-wow, it's rattle-rattle before him and rattle-rattle\nbehind him!\"\n\nIn a rage the woman took a stick and beat the dog.\n\nThen the man stepped into the cottage and at once his wife brought out\na basket for the ducats. But when he shook out the table-cloth there\nwas only the rattle-rattle of bones.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BIRD WITH THE GOLDEN GIZZARD\n\nTHE STORY OF TWO BROTHERS\n\n[Illustration: {Three wading birds}]\n\n\nTHE BIRD WITH THE GOLDEN GIZZARD\n\nThere was once a poor man who had a large family. He was so poor that\nhe had nothing to feed the children. For three days they had had no\nfood. On the third day as the father was out cutting osiers he saw,\nsitting in a bush, a small bird that shone like gold.\n\n\"If I could snare that bird,\" he thought to himself, \"and take it\nhome, the children would be amused and perhaps forget they were\nhungry.\"\n\nSo he caught the bird and carried it home and, sure enough, the\nchildren were so delighted that for two days they didn't cry for food.\n\nOn the third day the bird laid a golden egg. The oldest boy took the\negg to the goldsmith to sell it. The goldsmith examined it and said:\n\n\"I don't believe I have money enough to buy this egg.\"\n\n\"Just give me some bread,\" the boy said. \"That will be enough.\"\n\nThe goldsmith gave him two loaves of bread, one under each arm, and\nfilled his pockets with golden ducats. So for once the whole family\nhad all it could eat and still there was money left over.\n\nTwo days later the bird laid another golden egg which the boy carried\nto the goldsmith and sold for the same price.\n\nNow the goldsmith had a son who said he would like to see this\nwonderful bird. So he went home with the boy. He looked the bird over\nvery carefully and under its wings he discovered an inscription that\nno one else had seen. The inscription read:\n\n    _Whoever eats my heart will become king._\n\n    _Whoever eats my gizzard will find under his head each\n    morning a heap of golden ducats._\n\nThe youth went home and told his father about the strange inscription.\nThey talked the matter over and at last decided that it would be well\nfor the young man to marry the poor man's oldest daughter provided he\ncould get the golden bird as dowry.\n\nThe goldsmith went to see the girl's father and after some discussion\nthe marriage was arranged.\n\nThe wedding day arrived. The bridegroom ordered the bird to be\nroasted and ready to be put on the table when the bridal party came\nhome from church. It was his intention to eat the heart himself and\nhave his bride eat the gizzard.\n\nThe children of the family cried bitterly at the thought of losing\ntheir pretty bird, but the bridegroom, of course, had his way.\n\nNow two of the boys stayed home from the wedding and they decided that\nthey would like very much to taste the roast bird if only they could\nfind a piece that nobody would miss. They did not dare take a leg or a\nwing, but they thought it would be safe to pick out a morsel from the\ninside. So one boy ate the heart, the other the gizzard. Then they\nwere so frightened at what they had done that they ran away and never\ncame back.\n\nWhen the bride and groom returned from church, the bird was carried to\nthe table. The groom looked at once for the heart and the gizzard and\nwas greatly shocked at their disappearance.\n\nThe two boys who had gone out into the world found work with a\nmerchant. They slept together and every morning the merchant's wife\nfound a heap of golden ducats under the feather bed. She didn't know\nto which boy they belonged. She took them and saved them for a whole\nyear until they filled a hogshead.\n\nAt the end of a year the boys decided to go out again into the world.\nThe merchant showed them all the ducats his wife had found in their\nbed and he said to them:\n\n\"Take with you as many as you want now and when you come back you may\nhave the rest.\"\n\nThe brothers parted company and each set out alone, the one to the\nleft, the other to the right.\n\nThe younger brother came to a tavern. The landlady had two daughters\nwho were so sharp at cards that they very soon won all the money he\nhad. When he was picked clean he asked them to stop playing until the\nnext morning when he would again have plenty of money.\n\nSure enough in the morning when he got up he had all the money he\nwanted. The girls asked him where it came from and he told them.\n\nWhen they heard about the gizzard he had swallowed, they put something\nin his wine that made him sick at his stomach and he threw up the\ngizzard. The younger girl instantly snatched it, washed it, and\nswallowed it herself. Then as he had no more money they drove the poor\nboy away.\n\nAs he wandered in the fields he grew very hungry. He came to a meadow\nwhere he found a kind of sorrel that he ate. As soon as he ate it he\nturned into a goat and went jumping about the bushes nibbling at the\nleaves. He chanced to eat a kind of leaf that changed him back into\nhimself.\n\n\"Ah,\" he thought, \"now I know what to do!\"\n\nHe picked some of the sorrel and some of the other leaves and went\nstraight back to the tavern. He told them there that he was bringing\nthem a present of a new kind of spinach that tasted very good. They\nasked him would he cook it for them.\n\nThe cook tasted it and at once she turned into a goat. The serving\nmaid came into the kitchen and when she saw a goat there she drove it\nout. The youth asked the maid would she like to taste the new spinach.\nShe tasted it and immediately she turned into a goat. Then when the\nlandlady and her two daughters tasted it they, too, turned into goats.\n\nHe fed the cook and the serving maid some of the other leaves and they\nturned back into themselves. But the other three he left as goats.\n\nHe made halters for them and then he hitched them up and drove off.\n\nHe drove on and on until he came to a town where the king was\nbuilding himself a castle. Now this king was his brother who had eaten\nthe magic bird's heart. The king's workmen were hauling stone for the\nnew castle, so he decided to put his goats to work hauling stone. He\nloaded his cart heavier than all the other carts.\n\nThe king noticed him and recognized him and asked him where he got\nthose goats. So he told the king the whole story. The king thought the\ngoats had been punished long enough and begged his brother to have\npity on them and restore them. He took the king's advice and did so.\n\nWhen they were once more human beings, he married the girl who had\nswallowed the gizzard. They soon became very rich, for every morning\nthere was a heap of golden ducats under her head.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WOOD MAIDEN\n\nTHE STORY OF BETUSHKA AND THE GOLDEN BIRCH LEAVES\n\n[Illustration: {Two birds}]\n\n\nTHE WOOD MAIDEN\n\nBetushka was a little girl. Her mother was a poor widow with nothing\nbut a tumble-down cottage and two little nanny-goats. But poor as they\nwere Betushka was always cheerful. From spring till autumn she\npastured the goats in the birch wood. Every morning when she left home\nher mother gave her a little basket with a slice of bread and a\nspindle.\n\n\"See that you bring home a full spindle,\" her mother always said.\n\nBetushka had no distaff, so she wound the flax around her head. Then\nshe took the little basket and went romping and singing behind the\ngoats to the birch wood. When they got there she sat down under a tree\nand pulled the fibers of the flax from her head with her left hand,\nand with her right hand let down the spindle so that it went humming\nalong the ground. All the while she sang until the woods echoed and\nthe little goats nibbled away at the leaves and grass.\n\nWhen the sun showed midday, she put the spindle aside, called the\ngoats and gave them a mouthful of bread so that they wouldn't stray,\nand ran off into the woods to hunt berries or any other wild fruit\nthat was in season. Then when she had finished her bread and fruit,\nshe jumped up, folded her arms, and danced and sang.\n\nThe sun smiled at her through the green of the trees and the little\ngoats, resting on the grass, thought: \"What a merry little shepherdess\nwe have!\"\n\nAfter her dance she went back to her spinning and worked\nindustriously. In the evening when she got home her mother never had\nto scold her because the spindle was empty.\n\nOne day at noon just after she had eaten and, as usual, was going to\ndance, there suddenly stood before her a most beautiful maiden. She\nwas dressed in white gauze that was fine as a spider's web. Long\ngolden hair fell down to her waist and on her head she wore a wreath\nof woodland flowers.\n\nBetushka was speechless with surprise and alarm.\n\nThe maiden smiled at her and said in a sweet voice:\n\n\"Betushka, do you like to dance?\"\n\nHer manner was so gracious that Betushka no longer felt afraid, and\nanswered:\n\n\"Oh, I could dance all day long!\"\n\n\"Come, then, let us dance together,\" said the maiden. \"I'll teach\nyou.\"\n\nWith that she tucked up her skirt, put her arm about Betushka's waist,\nand they began to dance. At once such enchanting music sounded over\ntheir heads that Betushka's heart went one-two with the dancing. The\nmusicians sat on the branches of the birch trees. They were clad in\nlittle frock coats, black and gray and many-colored. It was a\ncarefully chosen orchestra that had gathered at the bidding of the\nbeautiful maiden: larks, nightingales, finches, linnets, thrushes,\nblackbirds, and showy mocking-birds.\n\nBetushka's cheeks burned, her eyes shone. She forgot her spinning, she\nforgot her goats. All she could do was gaze at her partner who was\nmoving with such grace and lightness that the grass didn't seem to\nbend under her slender feet.\n\nThey danced from noon till sundown and yet Betushka wasn't the least\nbit tired. Then they stopped dancing, the music ceased, and the maiden\ndisappeared as suddenly as she had come.\n\nBetushka looked around. The sun was sinking behind the wood. She put\nher hands to the unspun flax on her head and remembered the spindle\nthat was lying unfilled on the grass. She took down the flax and laid\nit with the spindle in the little basket. Then she called the goats\nand started home.\n\nShe reproached herself bitterly that she had allowed the beautiful\nmaiden to beguile her and she told herself that another time she would\nnot listen to her. She was so quiet that the little goats, missing her\nmerry song, looked around to see whether it was really their own\nlittle shepherdess who was following them. Her mother, too, wondered\nwhy she didn't sing and questioned her.\n\n\"Are you sick, Betushka?\"\n\n\"No, dear mother, I'm not sick, but I've been singing too much and my\nthroat is dry.\"\n\nShe knew that her mother did not reel the yarn at once, so she hid the\nspindle and the unspun flax, hoping to make up tomorrow what she had\nnot done today. She did not tell her mother one word about the\nbeautiful maiden.\n\nThe next day she felt cheerful again and as she drove the goats to\npasture she sang merrily. At the birch wood she sat down to her\nspinning, singing all the while, for with a song on the lips work\nfalls from the hands more easily.\n\nNoonday came. Betushka gave a bit of bread to each of the goats and\nran off to the woods for her berries. Then she ate her luncheon.\n\n\"Ah, my little goats,\" she sighed, as she brushed up the crumbs for\nthe birds, \"I mustn't dance today.\"\n\n\"Why mustn't you dance today?\" a sweet voice asked, and there stood\nthe beautiful maiden as though she had fallen from the clouds.\n\nBetushka was worse frightened than before and she closed her eyes\ntight. When the maiden repeated her question, Betushka answered\ntimidly:\n\n\"Forgive me, beautiful lady, for not dancing with you. If I dance with\nyou I cannot spin my stint and then my mother will scold me. Today\nbefore the sun sets I must make up for what I lost yesterday.\"\n\n\"Come, child, and dance,\" the maiden said. \"Before the sun sets we'll\nfind some way of getting that spinning done!\"\n\nShe tucked up her skirt, put her arm about Betushka, the musicians in\nthe treetops struck up, and off they whirled. The maiden danced more\nbeautifully than ever. Betushka couldn't take her eyes from her. She\nforgot her goats, she forgot her spinning. All she wanted to do was to\ndance on forever.\n\nAt sundown the maiden paused and the music stopped. Then Betushka,\nclasping her hands to her head, where the unspun flax was twined,\nburst into tears. The beautiful maiden took the flax from her head,\nwound it round the stem of a slender birch, grasped the spindle, and\nbegan to spin. The spindle hummed along the ground and filled in no\ntime. Before the sun sank behind the woods all the flax was spun, even\nthat which was left over from the day before. The maiden handed\nBetushka the full spindle and said:\n\n\"Remember my words:\n\n    \"_Reel and grumble not!\n    Reel and grumble not!_\"\n\nWhen she said this, she vanished as if the earth had swallowed her.\n\nBetushka was very happy now and she thought to herself on her way\nhome: \"Since she is so good and kind, I'll dance with her again if she\nasks me. Oh, how I hope she does!\"\n\nShe sang her merry little song as usual and the goats trotted\ncheerfully along.\n\nShe found her mother vexed with her, for she had wanted to reel\nyesterday's yarn and had discovered that the spindle was not full.\n\n\"What were you doing yesterday,\" she scolded, \"that you didn't spin\nyour stint?\"\n\nBetushka hung her head. \"Forgive me, mother. I danced too long.\" Then\nshe showed her mother today's spindle and said: \"See, today I more\nthan made up for yesterday.\"\n\nHer mother said no more but went to milk the goats and Betushka put\naway the spindle. She wanted to tell her mother her adventure, but she\nthought to herself: \"No, I'll wait. If the beautiful lady comes again,\nI'll ask her who she is and then I'll tell mother.\" So she said\nnothing.\n\nOn the third morning she drove the goats as usual to the birch wood.\nThe goats went to pasture and Betushka, sitting down under a tree,\nbegan to spin and sing. When the sun pointed to noon, she laid her\nspindle on the grass, gave the goats a mouthful of bread, gathered\nsome strawberries, ate her luncheon, and then, giving the crumbs to\nthe birds, she said cheerily:\n\n\"Today, my little goats, I will dance for you!\"\n\nShe jumped up, folded her arms, and was about to see whether she could\nmove as gracefully as the beautiful maiden, when the maiden herself\nstood before her.\n\n\"Let us dance together,\" she said. She smiled at Betushka, put her\narm about her, and as the music above their heads began to play, they\nwhirled round and round with flying feet. Again Betushka forgot the\nspindle and the goats. Again she saw nothing but the beautiful maiden\nwhose body was lithe as a willow shoot. Again she heard nothing but\nthe enchanting music to which her feet danced of themselves.\n\nThey danced from noon till sundown. Then the maiden paused and the\nmusic ceased. Betushka looked around. The sun was already set behind\nthe woods. She clasped her hands to her head and looking down at the\nunfilled spindle she burst into tears.\n\n\"Oh, what will my mother say?\" she cried.\n\n\"Give me your little basket,\" the maiden said, \"and I will put\nsomething in it that will more than make up for today's stint.\"\n\nBetushka handed her the basket and the maiden took it and vanished. In\na moment she was back. She returned the basket and said:\n\n    \"_Look not inside until you're home!\n    Look not inside until you're home!_\"\n\nAs she said these words she was gone as if a wind had blown her away.\n\nBetushka wanted awfully to peep inside but she was afraid to. The\nbasket was so light that she wondered whether there was anything at\nall in it. Was the lovely lady only fooling her? Halfway home she\npeeped in to see.\n\nImagine her feelings when she found the basket was full of birch\nleaves! Then indeed did Betushka burst into tears and reproach herself\nfor being so simple. In her vexation she threw out a handful of leaves\nand was going to empty the basket when she thought to herself:\n\n\"No, I'll keep what's left as litter for the goats.\"\n\nShe was almost afraid to go home. She was so quiet that again the\nlittle goats wondered what ailed their shepherdess.\n\nHer mother was waiting for her in great excitement.\n\n\"For heaven's sake, Betushka, what kind of a spool did you bring home\nyesterday?\"\n\n\"Why?\" Betushka faltered.\n\n\"When you went away this morning I started to reel that yarn. I reeled\nand reeled and the spool remained full. One skein, two skeins, three\nskeins, and still the spool was full. 'What evil spirit has spun\nthat?' I cried out impatiently, and instantly the yarn disappeared\nfrom the spindle as if blown away. Tell me, what does it mean?\"\n\nSo Betushka confessed and told her mother all she knew about the\nbeautiful maiden.\n\n\"Oh,\" cried her mother in amazement, \"that was a wood maiden! At noon\nand midnight the wood maidens dance. It is well you are not a little\nboy or she might have danced you to death! But they are often kind to\nlittle girls and sometimes make them rich presents. Why didn't you\ntell me? If I hadn't grumbled, I could have had yarn enough to fill\nthe house!\"\n\nBetushka thought of the little basket and wondered if there might be\nsomething under the leaves. She took out the spindle and unspun flax\nand looked in once more.\n\n\"Mother!\" she cried. \"Come here and see!\"\n\nHer mother looked and clapped her hands. The birch leaves were all\nturned to gold!\n\nBetushka reproached herself bitterly: \"She told me not to look inside\nuntil I got home, but I didn't obey.\"\n\n\"It's lucky you didn't empty the whole basket,\" her mother said.\n\nThe next morning she herself went to look for the handful of leaves\nthat Betushka had thrown away. She found them still lying in the road\nbut they were only birch leaves.\n\nBut the riches which Betushka brought home were enough. Her mother\nbought a farm with fields and cattle. Betushka had pretty clothes and\nno longer had to pasture goats.\n\nBut no matter what she did, no matter how cheerful and happy she was,\nstill nothing ever again gave her quite so much pleasure as the dance\nwith the wood maiden. She often went to the birch wood in the hope of\nseeing the maiden again. But she never did.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN SPINNING WHEEL\n\nTHE STORY OF KING DOBROMIL AND THE GOOD DOBRUNKA\n\n[Illustration: {A spinning wheel}]\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN SPINNING WHEEL\n\nThere was once a poor woman who had twin daughters. The girls were\nexactly alike in face and feature but utterly different in\ndisposition. Dobrunka was kind, industrious, obedient, and everything\na good girl ought to be. Zloboha, her sister, was spiteful,\ndisobedient, lazy, and proud. In fact, she had just about as many\nfaults as a person could have. Yet strange to say the mother loved\nZloboha much better and made everything easy for her.\n\n  [Illustration: _Alike in Feature but Utterly Different in\n    Disposition_]\n\nThey lived in a cottage a few miles from town. The cottage stood by\nitself in a little clearing in the woods. Hardly any one ever passed\nit except occasionally some man who had lost his way in the woods.\n\nThe mother put her favorite, Zloboha, out to service so that she might\nlearn city ways, but she kept Dobrunka at home to do the housework and\ntake care of the garden. Dobrunka always began the day by feeding the\ngoats, then she prepared the breakfast, swept the kitchen, and when\neverything else was done she sat down at her spinning wheel and spun.\n\nShe seldom benefited from the yarn she spun so carefully, for her\nmother always sold it in town and spent the money on clothes for\nZloboha. Yet Dobrunka loved her mother although she never had a kind\nword or a kind look from her the whole day long. She always obeyed her\nmother instantly and without a frown and no one ever heard her\ncomplain about all the work she had to do.\n\nOne day when her mother was going to town Dobrunka went part of the\nway with her, carrying her yarn wrapped up in a kerchief.\n\n\"Now see that you're not lazy while I'm away,\" her mother said,\ncrossly.\n\n\"You know, mother, you never have to nag at me. Today when I finish\nthe housework, I'll spin so industriously that you'll be more than\nsatisfied when you get home.\"\n\nShe handed her yarn to her mother and went back to the cottage. Then\nwhen she had put the kitchen in order, she sat down to her wheel and\nbegan to spin. Dobrunka had a pretty voice, as pretty as any of the\nsong-birds in the forest, and always when she was alone she sang. So\ntoday as she sat spinning she sang all the songs she knew, one after\nthe other.\n\nSuddenly she heard outside the trample of a horse. \"Some one is\ncoming,\" she thought to herself, \"someone who has lost his way in the\nwoods. I'll go see.\"\n\nShe got up from her wheel and peeped out through the small window. A\nyoung man was just dismounting from a spirited horse.\n\n\"Oh,\" thought Dobrunka to herself, \"what a handsome young lord he is!\nHow well his leather coat fits him! How well his cap with its white\nfeather looks on his black hair! Ah, he is tying his horse and is\ncoming in. I must slip back to my spinning.\"\n\nThe next moment the young man opened the door and stepped into the\nkitchen. All this happened a long time ago, you see, when there were\nno locks or bars on the doors, and there didn't have to be because\nnothing was ever stolen.\n\n\"Good day to you, my girl,\" the young man said to Dobrunka.\n\n\"Good day, sir,\" Dobrunka answered. \"What is it, sir, you want?\"\n\n\"Will you please get me a little water. I'm very thirsty.\"\n\n\"Certainly,\" Dobrunka said. \"Won't you sit down while I'm getting it?\"\n\nShe ran off, got the pitcher, rinsed it out, and drew some fresh water\nfrom the well.\n\n\"I wish I could give you something better, sir.\"\n\n\"Nothing could taste better than this,\" he said, handing her back the\nempty pitcher. \"See, I have taken it all.\"\n\nDobrunka put the pitcher away and the young man, while her back was\nturned, slipped a leather bag, full of money, into the bed.\n\n\"I thank you for the drink,\" he said, as he rose to go. \"I'll come\nagain tomorrow if you'll let me.\"\n\n\"Come if you want to,\" Dobrunka said, modestly.\n\nHe took her hand, held it a moment, then leaped upon his horse and\ngalloped off.\n\nDobrunka sat down again to her wheel and tried to work, but her mind\nwandered. The image of the young man kept rising before her eyes and I\nhave to confess that, for an expert spinner, she broke her thread\npretty often.\n\nHer mother came home in the evening full of praises of Zloboha, who,\nshe said, was growing prettier day by day. Everybody in town admired\nher and she was fast learning city ways and city manners. It was\nZloboha this and Zloboha that for hours.\n\nFinally the old woman remarked: \"They say there was a great hunting\nparty out today. Did you hear anything of it?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes,\" Dobrunka said. \"I forgot to tell you that a young huntsman\nstopped here to ask for a drink. He was handsomely dressed in leather.\nYou know once when I was in town with you we saw a whole company of\nmen in leather coats with white feathers in their caps. No doubt this\nyoung man belonged to the hunting party. When he had his drink, he\njumped on his horse and rode off.\"\n\nDobrunka forgot to mention that he had taken her hand in parting and\npromised to come back next day.\n\nWhen Dobrunka was preparing the bed for the night, the bag of money\nfell out. In great surprise she picked it up and handed it to her\nmother.\n\nThe old woman looked at her sharply.\n\n\"Dobrunka, who gave you all this money?\"\n\n\"Nobody gave it to me, mother. Perhaps the huntsman slipped it into\nthe bed. I don't know where else it could have come from.\"\n\nThe old woman emptied the bag on the table. They were all gold pieces.\n\n\"Good heavens, so much!\" she murmured in amazement. \"He must be a very\nrich young lord! Perhaps he saw how poor we were and thought to do a\nkind deed. May God grant him happiness!\"\n\nShe gathered the money together and hid it in the chest.\n\nUsually when Dobrunka went to bed after her day's work she fell asleep\nat once, but tonight she lay awake thinking of the handsome young\nrider. When she did at last fall asleep it was to dream of him. He was\na powerful young lord, it seemed to her, in her dream. He lived in a\ngreat palace and she, Dobrunka, was his wife. She thought that they\nwere giving a fine banquet to which all the nobles in the land had\nbeen invited. She and her husband arose from the table and went\ntogether into another room. He was about to put his arms about her and\nembrace her when suddenly a black cat sprang between them and buried\nits claws in Dobrunka's breast. Her heart's blood spurted out and\nstained her white dress. She cried out in fright and pain and the cry\nawoke her.\n\n\"What a strange dream,\" she thought to herself. \"I wonder what it\nmeans. It began so beautifully but the cruel cat spoiled it all. I\nfear it bodes something ill.\"\n\nIn the morning when she got up, she was still thinking of it.\n\nOn other mornings it didn't take Dobrunka long to dress but this\nmorning she was very slow. She shook out her fresh skirt again and\nagain. She had the greatest trouble in putting on her bodice just\nright. She spent much time on her hair, into which she plaited the red\nribbon that she usually kept for holidays. When at last she was\ndressed and ready to go about her household duties she looked very\nfresh and sweet.\n\nAs midday came, she found it hard to sit still at her wheel, but kept\njumping up on any pretext whatever to run outdoors a moment to see if\nthe young horseman was in sight.\n\nAt last she did see him at a distance and, oh, how she hurried back to\nher stool so that he would never think that she was watching for him.\n\nHe rode into the yard, tied his horse, and came into the cottage.\n\n\"Good day, Dobrunka,\" he said, speaking very gently and very\nrespectfully.\n\nDobrunka's heart was beating so fast that she feared it would jump out\nof her body. Her mother was in the woods gathering fagots, so she was\nagain alone with him. She managed to return his greeting and to ask\nhim to sit down. Then she went back to her spinning.\n\nThe young man came over to her and took her hand.\n\n\"How did you sleep, Dobrunka?\"\n\n\"Very well, sir.\"\n\n\"Did you dream?\"\n\n\"Yes, I had a very strange dream.\"\n\n\"Tell me about it. I can explain dreams very well.\"\n\n\"But I can't tell this dream to you,\" Dobrunka said.\n\n\"Why not?\"\n\n\"Because it's about you.\"\n\n\"That's the very reason you ought to tell me,\" the young man said.\n\nHe urged her and begged her until at last Dobrunka did tell him the\ndream.\n\n\"Well now,\" he said, \"that dream of yours except the part about the\ncat can be realized easily enough.\"\n\nDobrunka laughed. \"How could I ever become a fine lady?\"\n\n\"By marrying me,\" the young man said.\n\nDobrunka blushed. \"Now, sir, you are joking.\"\n\n\"No, Dobrunka, this is no joke. I really mean it. I came back this\nmorning to ask you to marry me. Will you?\"\n\nDobrunka was too surprised to speak, but when the young man took her\nhand she did not withdraw it.\n\nJust then the old woman came in. The young man greeted her and without\nany delay declared his intentions. He said he loved Dobrunka and\nwished to make her his wife and that all he and Dobrunka were waiting\nfor was the mother's consent.\n\n\"I have my own house,\" he added, \"and am well able to take care of a\nwife. And for you too, dear mother, there will always be room in my\nhouse and at my table.\"\n\nThe old woman listened to all he had to say and then very promptly\ngave her blessing.\n\n\"Then, my dear one,\" the young man said to Dobrunka, \"go back to your\nspinning and when you have spun enough for your wedding shift, I shall\ncome for you.\"\n\nHe kissed her, gave his hand to her mother, and, springing on his\nhorse, rode away.\n\nFrom that time the old woman treated Dobrunka more kindly. She even\nwent so far as to spend on Dobrunka a little of the money the young\nman had given them, but most of it, of course, went for clothes for\nZloboha.\n\nBut in those happy days Dobrunka wasn't worrying about anything as\nunimportant as money. She sat at her wheel and spun away thinking all\nthe while of her fine young lover. Time sped quickly and before she\nknew it she had spun enough for her wedding shift.\n\nThe very day she was finished her lover came. She heard the trample of\nhis horse and ran out to meet him.\n\n\"Have you spun enough for your wedding shift?\" he asked her as he took\nher to his heart.\n\n\"Yes,\" Dobrunka said, \"I have.\"\n\n\"Then you can ride away with me this moment.\"\n\n\"This moment!\" Dobrunka gasped. \"Why so quickly?\"\n\n\"It has to be, my dear one. Tomorrow I go off to war and want you to\ntake my place at home. Then when I come back you'll be there to greet\nme as my wife.\"\n\n\"But what will my mother say to this?\"\n\n\"She will have to consent.\"\n\nThey went into the cottage and spoke to the old woman. She was far\nfrom pleased with this arrangement, for she had worked out a very\ndifferent plan in her mind. But what could she do? A rich young\nbridegroom always has his own way. So she hid her disappointment with\na false smile and gave them her blessing.\n\nThen the young man said to her: \"Get your things together, mother, and\nfollow Dobrunka, for I don't want her to be lonely while I'm gone.\nWhen you get to the city, go to the palace and ask for Dobromil. The\npeople there will tell you where to go.\"\n\nDobrunka with tears streaming down her cheeks bid her mother good-by.\nDobromil lifted her to the saddle in front of him and away they went\nlike the wind.\n\nThe town was in great excitement. There was much hurrying to and fro\nas the troops were being put in readiness for the morrow. A crowd had\ngathered at the palace gates and as a young man came galloping up,\nholding in front of him a lady lovely as the day, the shout went up:\n\n\"Here he is! Here he is!\"\n\nThe people in the courtyard took up the cry and as Dobromil rode\nthrough the gate all of them with one voice shouted out:\n\n\"Long live our beautiful queen! Long live our noble king!\"\n\nDobrunka was struck with amazement.\n\n\"Are you really the king, Dobromil?\" she asked, looking into his\nproud and happy face.\n\n\"Yes,\" he said. \"Aren't you glad that I am?\"\n\n\"I love you,\" Dobrunka said, \"and so whatever you are makes no\ndifference to me. But why did you deceive me?\"\n\n\"I did not deceive you. I told you that your dream would be realized\nif you took me for your husband.\"\n\nIn those early times marriage was a simple affair. When a man and\nwoman loved each other and their parents consented to their union,\nthey were looked upon as married. So Dobromil now was able to present\nDobrunka to his people as his wife.\n\nThere was great rejoicing, music played, and there was feasting and\ndrinking in the banquet hall until dawn. The next day the young\nhusband kissed his lovely bride farewell and rode off to war.\n\nLeft alone the young queen strayed through the magnificent palace like\na lost lamb. She would have felt more at home rambling through the\nwoods and awaiting the return of her husband in a little cottage than\nhere where she was a lonely stranger. Yet she was not a stranger long,\nfor within half a day she had won every heart by her sweetness and\ngoodness.\n\nThe next day she sent for her mother and the old woman soon arrived\nbringing with her Dobrunka's spinning wheel. So now there was no more\nexcuse for loneliness.\n\nDobrunka supposed that her mother would be made very happy to find\nwhat good fortune had befallen her daughter. The old woman pretended\nshe was, but in her heart she was furious that a king had married\nDobrunka and not Zloboha.\n\nAfter a few days she said, very artfully, to Dobrunka: \"I know, my\ndear daughter, that you think your sister, Zloboha, was not always\nkind to you in times past. She's sorry now and I want you to forgive\nher and invite her here to the palace.\"\n\n\"I should have asked her before this,\" said Dobrunka, \"but I didn't\nsuppose she wanted to come. If you wish it, we'll go for her at once.\"\n\n\"Yes, dear daughter, I do wish it.\"\n\nSo the queen ordered the carriage and off they went to fetch Zloboha.\nWhen they came to the edge of the woods they alighted and ordered the\ncoachman to await them there. They went on afoot to the cottage where\nZloboha was expecting them.\n\nZloboha came running out to meet them. She threw her arms about her\nsister's neck and kissed her and wished her happiness. Then the\nwicked sister and the wicked mother led poor unsuspecting Dobrunka\ninto the house. Once inside Zloboha took a knife that she had ready\nand struck Dobrunka. Then they cut off Dobrunka's hands and feet,\ngouged out her eyes, and hid her poor mutilated body in the woods.\nZloboha and her mother wrapped up the hands and the feet and the eyes\nto carry them back with them to the palace because they believed that\nit would be easier for them to deceive the king if they had with them\nsomething that had belonged to Dobrunka.\n\nThen Zloboha put on Dobrunka's clothes and she and her mother rode\nback to town in the carriage and nobody could tell that she wasn't\nDobrunka. In the palace the attendants soon whispered to each other\nthat their mistress was kinder to them at first, but they suspected\nnothing.\n\nIn the meantime poor Dobrunka, who was not quite dead, had been found\nby a hermit and carried by him to a cave. She awoke to feel a kind\nhand soothing her wounds and putting some reviving drops between her\nlips. Of course, she could not see who it was, for she had no eyes. As\nshe regained consciousness she remembered what had happened and began\nbitterly to upbraid her unnatural mother and her cruel sister.\n\n\"Be quiet. Do not complain,\" a low voice said. \"All will yet be well.\"\n\n\"How can all be well,\" wept poor Dobrunka, \"when I have no eyes and no\nfeet and no hands? I shall never again see the bright sun and the\ngreen woods. I shall never again hold in my arms my beloved Dobromil.\nNor shall I be able to spin fine flax for his shirts! Oh, what did I\never do to you, wicked mother, or to you, cruel sister, that you have\ndone this to me?\"\n\nThe hermit went to the entrance of the cave and called three times.\nSoon a boy came running in answer to the call.\n\n\"Wait here till I come back,\" the hermit said.\n\nHe returned in a short time with a golden spinning wheel in his arms.\nHe said to the boy:\n\n\"My son, take this spinning wheel to town to the king's palace. Sit\ndown in the courtyard near the gate and if any one asks you for how\nmuch you will sell the wheel, say: 'For two eyes.' Unless you are\noffered two eyes for it bring it back.\"\n\nThe boy took the spinning wheel and carried it to town as the hermit\ndirected. He went to the palace and sat down in the courtyard near\nthe gate, just as Zloboha and her mother were returning from a walk.\n\n\"Look, mother!\" Zloboha cried. \"What a gorgeous spinning wheel! I\ncould spin on that myself! Wait. I'll ask whether it's for sale.\"\n\nShe went over to the boy and asked him would he sell the spinning\nwheel.\n\n\"Yes,\" he said, \"if I get what I want.\"\n\n\"What do you want?\"\n\n\"I want two eyes.\"\n\n\"Two eyes?\"\n\n\"Yes, two eyes. My father told me to accept nothing for it but two\neyes. So I can't sell it for money.\"\n\nThe longer Zloboha looked at the spinning wheel the more beautiful it\nseemed to her and the more she wanted it. Suddenly she remembered\nDobrunka's eyes that she had hidden away.\n\n\"Mother,\" she said, \"as a queen I ought to have something no one else\nhas. When the king comes home he will want me to spin, and just think\nhow lovely I should look sitting at this golden wheel. Now we've got\nthose eyes of Dobrunka's. Let us exchange them for the golden spinning\nwheel. We'll still have the hands and feet.\"\n\nThe mother, who was as foolish as the daughter, agreed. So Zloboha\ngot the eyes and gave them to the boy for the spinning wheel.\n\nThe boy hurried back to the forest and handed the eyes to the hermit.\nThe old man took them and gently put them into place. Instantly\nDobrunka could see.\n\nThe first thing she saw was the old hermit himself with his tall spare\nfigure and long white beard. The last rays of the setting sun shone\nthrough the opening of the cave and lighted up his grave and gentle\nface. He looked to Dobrunka like one of God's own saints.\n\n\"How can I ever repay you?\" she said, \"for all your loving kindness?\nOh, that I could cover your hands with kisses!\"\n\n\"Be quiet, my child,\" the old man said. \"If you are patient all will\nyet be well.\"\n\nHe went out and soon returned with some delicious fruit on a wooden\nplate. This he carried over to the bed of leaves and moss upon which\nDobrunka was lying and with his own hands he fed Dobrunka as a mother\nwould feed her helpless child. Then he gave her a drink from a wooden\ncup.\n\nEarly the next morning the hermit again called three times and the\nboy came running at once. This time the hermit handed him a golden\ndistaff and said:\n\n\"Take this distaff and go to the palace. Sit down in the courtyard\nnear the gate. If any one asks you what you want for the distaff, say\ntwo feet and don't exchange it for anything else.\"\n\nZloboha was standing at a window of the palace looking down into the\ncourtyard when she saw the boy with a golden distaff.\n\n\"Mother!\" she cried. \"Come and see! There's that boy again sitting\nnear the gate and this time he has a golden distaff!\"\n\nMother and daughter at once went out to question the boy.\n\n\"What do you want for the distaff?\" Zloboha asked.\n\n\"Two feet,\" the boy said.\n\n\"Two feet?\"\n\n\"Yes, two feet.\"\n\n\"Tell me, what will your father do with two feet?\"\n\n\"I don't know. I never ask my father what he does with anything. But\nwhatever he tells me to do, I do. That is why I can't exchange the\ndistaff for anything but two feet.\"\n\n\"Listen, mother,\" Zloboha said, \"now that I have a golden spinning\nwheel, I ought to have a golden distaff to go with it. You know we\nhave those two feet of Dobrunka's hidden away. What if I gave them to\nthe boy? We shall still have Dobrunka's hands.\"\n\n\"Well, do as you please,\" the old woman said.\n\nSo Zloboha went and got Dobrunka's feet, wrapped them up, and gave\nthem to the boy in exchange for the distaff. Delighted with her\nbargain, Zloboha went to her chamber and the boy hurried back to the\nforest.\n\nHe gave the feet to the hermit and the old man carried them at once\ninside the cave. Then he rubbed Dobrunka's wounds with some healing\nsalve and stuck on the feet. Dobrunka wanted to jump up from the couch\nand walk but the old man restrained her.\n\n\"Lie quiet where you are until you are all well and then I'll let you\nget up.\"\n\nDobrunka knew that whatever the old hermit said was for her good, so\nshe rested as he ordered.\n\nOn the third morning the hermit called the boy and gave him a golden\nspindle.\n\n\"Go to the palace again,\" he said, \"and today offer this spindle for\nsale. If any one asks you what you want for the spindle, say two\nhands. Don't accept anything else.\"\n\nThe boy took the golden spindle and when he reached the palace and\nsat down in the courtyard near the gate, Zloboha ran up to him at\nonce.\n\n\"What do you want for that spindle?\" she asked.\n\n\"Two hands,\" the boy said.\n\n\"It's a strange thing you won't sell anything for money.\"\n\n\"I have to ask what my father tells me to ask.\"\n\nZloboha was in a quandary. She wanted the golden spindle, for it was\nvery beautiful. It would go well with the spinning wheel and would be\nsomething to be proud of. Yet she didn't want to be left without\nanything that had belonged to Dobrunka.\n\n\"But really, mother,\" she whined, \"I don't see why I have to keep\nsomething of Dobrunka's so that Dobromil will love me as he loved her.\nI'm sure I'm as pretty as Dobrunka ever was.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the old woman, \"it would be better if you kept them. I've\noften heard that's a good way to guard a man's love. However, do as\nyou like.\"\n\nFor a moment Zloboha was undecided. Then, tossing her head, she ran\nand got the hands and gave them to the boy.\n\nZloboha took the spindle and, delighted with her bargain, carried it\ninto her chamber where she had the wheel and distaff. The old woman\nwas a little troubled, for she feared Zloboha had acted foolishly.\nBut Zloboha, confident of her beauty and her ability to charm the\nking, only laughed at her.\n\nAs soon as the boy had delivered the hands to the hermit, the old man\ncarried them into the cave. Then he anointed the wounds on Dobrunka's\narms with the same healing salve that he used before, and stuck on the\nhands.\n\nAs soon as Dobrunka could move them she jumped up from the couch and,\nfalling at the hermit's feet, she kissed the hands that had been so\ngood to her.\n\n\"A thousand thanks to you, my benefactor!\" she cried with tears of joy\nin her eyes. \"I can never repay you, I know that, but ask of me\nanything I can do and I'll do it.\"\n\n\"I ask nothing,\" the old man said, gently raising her to her feet.\n\"What I did for you I would do for any one. I only did my duty. So say\nno more about it. And now, my child, farewell. You are to stay here\nuntil some one comes for you. Have no concern for food. I shall send\nyou what you need.\"\n\nDobrunka wanted to say something to him, but he disappeared and she\nnever saw him again.\n\nNow she was able to run out of the cave and look once more upon God's\ngreen world. Now for the first time in her life she knew what it\nmeant to be strong and well. She threw herself on the ground and\nkissed it. She hugged the slender birches and danced around them,\nsimply bursting with love for every living thing. She reached out\nlonging hands towards the town and would probably have gone there\nrunning all the distance but she remembered the words of the old\nhermit and knew that she must stay where she was.\n\nMeanwhile strange things were happening at the palace. Messengers\nbrought word that the king was returning from war and there was great\nrejoicing on every side. The king's own household was particularly\nhappy, for service under the new mistress was growing more unpleasant\nevery day. As for Zloboha and her mother, it must be confessed that\nthey were a little frightened over the outcome of their plot.\n\nFinally the king arrived. Zloboha with smiling face went to meet him.\nHe took her to his heart with great tenderness and from that moment\nZloboha had no fear that he would recognize her.\n\nA great feast was at once prepared, for the king had brought home with\nhim many of his nobles to rest and make merry after the hardships of\nwar.\n\nZloboha as she sat at Dobromil's side could not take her eyes off him.\nThe handsome young soldier caught her fancy and she was rejoiced that\nshe had put Dobrunka out of the way.\n\nWhen they finished feasting, Dobromil asked her: \"What have you been\ndoing all this time, my dear Dobrunka? I'm sure you've been spinning.\"\n\n\"That's true, my dear husband,\" Zloboha said in a flattering tone. \"My\nold spinning wheel got broken, so I bought a new one, a lovely golden\none.\"\n\n\"You must show me it at once,\" the king said, and he took Zloboha's\narm and led her away.\n\nHe went with her to her chamber where she had the golden spinning\nwheel and she took it out and showed it to him. Dobromil admired it\ngreatly.\n\n\"Sit down, Dobrunka,\" he said, \"and spin. I should like to see you\nagain at the distaff.\"\n\nZloboha at once sat down behind the wheel. She put her foot to the\ntreadle and started the wheel. Instantly the wheel sang out and this\nis what it sang:\n\n    \"_Master, master, don't believe her!\n    She's a cruel and base deceiver!\n    She is not your own sweet wife!\n    She destroyed Dobrunka's life!_\"\n\nZloboha sat stunned and motionless while the king looked wildly about\nto see where the song came from.\n\nWhen he could see nothing, he told her to spin some more. Trembling,\nshe obeyed. Hardly had she put her foot to the treadle when the voice\nagain sang out:\n\n    \"_Master, master, don't believe her!\n    She's a cruel and base deceiver!\n    She has killed her sister good\n    And hid her body in the wood!_\"\n\nBeside herself with fright, Zloboha wanted to flee the spinning wheel,\nbut Dobromil restrained her. Suddenly her face grew so hideous with\nfear that Dobromil saw she was not his own gentle Dobrunka. With a\nrough hand he forced her back to the stool and in a stern voice\nordered her to spin.\n\nAgain she turned the fatal wheel and then for the third time the voice\nsang out:\n\n    \"_Master, master, haste away!\n    To the wood without delay!\n    In a cave your wife, restored,\n    Yearns for you, her own true lord!_\"\n\nAt those words Dobromil released Zloboha and ran like mad out of the\nchamber and down into the courtyard where he ordered his swiftest\nhorse to be saddled instantly. The attendants, frightened by his\nappearance, lost no time and almost at once Dobromil was on his horse\nand flying over hill and dale so fast that the horse's hoofs scarcely\ntouched the earth.\n\nWhen he reached the forest he did not know where to look for the cave.\nHe rode straight into the wood until a white doe crossed his path.\nThen the horse in fright plunged to one side and pushed through bushes\nand undergrowth to the base of a big rock. Dobromil dismounted and\ntied the horse to a tree.\n\nHe climbed the rock and there he saw something white gleaming among\nthe trees. He crept forward cautiously and suddenly found himself in\nfront of a cave. Imagine then his joy, when he enters and finds his\nown dear wife Dobrunka.\n\nAs he kisses her and looks into her sweet gentle face he says: \"Where\nwere my eyes that I was deceived for an instant by your wicked\nsister?\"\n\n\"What have you heard about my sister?\" asked Dobrunka, who as yet knew\nnothing of the magic spinning wheel.\n\nSo the king told her all that had happened and she in turn told him\nwhat had befallen her.\n\n\"And from the time the hermit disappeared,\" she said in conclusion,\n\"the little boy has brought me food every day.\"\n\nThey sat down on the grass and together they ate some fruit from the\nwooden plate. When they rose to go they took the wooden plate and the\ncup away with them as keepsakes.\n\nDobromil seated his wife in front of him on the horse and sped\nhomewards with her. All his people were at the palace gate waiting to\ntell him what had happened in his absence.\n\nIt seems that the devil himself had come and before their very eyes\nhad carried off his wife and mother-in-law. They looked at each other\nin amazement as Dobromil rode up with what seemed to be the same wife\nwhom the devil had so recently carried off.\n\nDobromil explained to them what had happened and with one voice they\ncalled down punishment on the head of the wicked sister.\n\nThe golden spinning wheel had vanished. So Dobrunka hunted out her old\none and set to work at once to spin for her husband's shirts. No one\nin the kingdom had such fine shirts as Dobromil and no one was\nhappier.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN GODMOTHER\n\nTHE STORY OF POOR LUKAS\n\n[Illustration: {A baby in a crib}]\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN GODMOTHER\n\nThere was once a wealthy farmer named Lukas who was so careless in the\nmanagement of his affairs that there came a time when all his property\nwas gone and he had nothing left but one old tumble-down cottage. Then\nwhen it was too late he realized how foolish he had been.\n\nHe had always prayed for a child but during the years of his\nprosperity God had never heard him. Now when he was so poor that he\nhad nothing to eat, his wife gave birth to a little daughter. He\nlooked at the poor unwelcome little stranger and sighed, for he didn't\nknow how he was going to take care of it.\n\nThe first thing to be thought about was the christening. Lukas went to\nthe wife of a laborer who lived nearby and asked her to be godmother.\nShe refused because she didn't see that it would do her any good to be\ngodmother to a child of a man as poor as Lukas.\n\n\"You see, Lukas, what happens to a man who has wasted his property,\"\nhis wife said. \"While we were rich the burgomaster himself was our\nfriend, but now even that poverty-stricken woman won't raise a finger\nto help us.... See how the poor infant shivers, for I haven't even any\nold rags in which to wrap it! And it has to lie on the bare straw! God\nhave mercy on us, how poor we are!\" So she wept over the baby,\ncovering it with tears and kisses.\n\nSuddenly a happy thought came to her. She wiped away her tears and\nsaid to her husband:\n\n\"I beg you, Lukas, go to our old neighbor, the burgomaster's wife. She\nis wealthy. I'm sure she hasn't forgotten that I was godmother to her\nchild. Go and ask her if she will be godmother to mine.\"\n\n\"I don't think she will,\" Lukas answered, \"but I'll ask her.\"\n\nWith a heavy heart he went by the fields and the barns that had once\nbeen his own and entered the house of his old friend, the burgomaster.\n\n\"God bless you, neighbor,\" he said to the burgomaster's wife. \"My wife\nsends her greeting and bids me tell you that God has given us a little\ndaughter whom she wants you to hold at the christening.\"\n\nThe burgomaster's wife looked at him and laughed in his face.\n\n\"My dear Lukas, of course I should like to do this for you, but times\nare hard. Nowadays a person needs every penny and it would take a good\ndeal to help such poor beggars as you. Why don't you ask some one\nelse? Why have you picked me out?\"\n\n\"Because my wife was godmother to your child.\"\n\n\"Oh, that's it, is it? What you did for me at that time was a loan,\nwas it? And now you want me to give you back as much as you gave me,\neh? I'll do no such thing! If I were as generous as you used to be,\nI'd soon go the way you have gone. No! I shall not walk one step\ntoward that christening!\"\n\nWithout answering her, Lukas turned and went home in tears.\n\n\"You see, dear wife,\" he said when he got there, \"it turned out as I\nknew it would. But don't be discouraged, for God never entirely\nforsakes any one. Give me the child and I myself will carry it to the\nchristening and the first person I meet I shall take for godmother.\"\n\nWeeping all the while, the wife wrapped the baby in a piece of old\nskirt and placed it in her husband's arms.\n\nOn the way to the chapel, Lukas came to a crossroads where he met an\nold woman.\n\n\"Grandmother,\" he said, \"will you be godmother to my child?\" And he\nexplained to her how every one else had refused on account of his\npoverty and how in desperation he had decided to ask the first person\nhe met. \"And so, dear grandmother,\" he concluded, \"I am asking you.\"\n\n\"Of course I'll be godmother,\" the old woman said. \"Here, give me the\ndear wee thing!\"\n\nSo Lukas gave her the child and together they went on to the chapel.\n\nAs they arrived the priest was just ready to leave. The sexton hurried\nup to him and whispered that a christening party was coming.\n\n\"Who is it?\" he asked, impatiently.\n\n\"Oh, it's only that good-for-nothing of a Lukas who is poorer than a\nchurch mouse.\"\n\nThe godmother saw that the sexton was whispering something unfriendly,\nso she pulled out a shining ducat from her pocket, stepped up to the\npriest, and pressed it into his hand.\n\nThe priest blinked his eyes in amazement, looking first at the ducat\nand then at the shabby old woman who had given it. He stuffed the\nducat into his pocket, whispered hurriedly to the sexton to bring him\nthe font, and then christened the child of poor Lukas with as much\nceremony as the child of the richest townsman. The little girl\nreceived the name Marishka.\n\nAfter the christening the priest accompanied the godmother to the door\nof the chapel and the sexton went even farther until he, too, received\nthe reward for which he was hoping.\n\nWhen Lukas and the old woman came to the crossroads where they had\nmet, she handed him the child. Then she reached into her pocket, drew\nout another golden ducat which she stuck into a fold of the child's\nclothes, and said: \"From this ducat with which I endow my godchild,\nyou will have enough to bring her up properly. She will always be a\njoy and a comfort to you, and when she grows up she will make a happy\nmarriage. Now good-by.\"\n\nShe drew a green wand from her bosom and touched the earth. Instantly\na lovely rosebush appeared, covered with blooms. At the same moment\nthe old woman vanished.\n\nIn bewilderment Lukas looked this way and that but she was gone. He\nwas so surprised that he didn't know what had happened. I really think\nhe would be standing on that same spot to this day if little Marishka\nhad not begun to cry and by this reminded him of home.\n\nHis wife, meantime, was anxiously awaiting him. She, poor soul, was\nsuffering the pangs of hunger, thirst, and bodily pain. There wasn't a\nmouthful of bread in the house, nor a cent of money.\n\nAs Lukas entered the room, he said: \"Weep no more, dear wife. Here is\nyour little Marishka. But before you kiss the child, take out the\nchristening gift that you will find tucked away in her clothes. From\nit you will know what an excellent godmother she has.\"\n\nThe wife reached into the clothes and pulled out not one ducat but a\nwhole handful of ducats!\n\n\"Oh!\" she gasped and in her surprise she dropped the ducats and they\nrolled about in the straw that littered the wretched floor.\n\n\"Husband! Husband! Who gave you so much money? Just look!\"\n\n\"I have already looked and at first when I saw them I was more\nsurprised than you are. Now let me tell you where they come from.\"\n\nSo Lukas related to his wife all that had happened at the christening.\nIn conclusion he said: \"When I saw the old woman was really gone, I\nstarted home. On the way curiosity overcame me and I drew out the\nchristening present and instead of one ducat I found a handful. I can\ntell you I was surprised but instead of letting them drop on the\nground I let them slip back into the baby's clothes. I said to myself:\n'Let your wife also have the pleasure of pulling out those golden\nhorses.' And now, dear wife, leave off exclaiming. Give thanks to God\nfor that which he has bestowed upon us and help me gather up the\ngolden darlings, for we don't want any one coming in and spying on us\njust now.\"\n\nAs they began picking them up, they had a new surprise. Wherever there\nwas one ducat, there they found ten! When they got them all together\nthey made a fine big heap.\n\n\"Oh, dear, oh, dear!\" said the woman as she gazed at the pile. \"Who\nknows whether this money will be blessed to our use? Perhaps that old\nwoman was an evil spirit who just wants to buy our souls!\"\n\nLukas looked at his wife reprovingly. \"How can you be so foolish? Do\nyou suppose an evil spirit would have gone with me to church, allowed\nherself to be sprinkled with holy water, yes, and even herself make\nthe sign of the cross! Never! I don't say that she is just an ordinary\nhuman being, but I do say that she must be a good spirit whom God has\nsent to us to help us. I'm sure we can keep this money with a clear\nconscience. The first question is where to hide it so that no one can\nfind it. For the present I shall put it into the chest, but tomorrow\nnight I shall bury it under the pear tree. And one thing, wife, I warn\nyou: don't say anything about it to any one. I shall take one ducat\nand go to the burgomaster's wife and ask her to change it. Then I\nshall go buy some milk and eggs and bread and flour, and I'll bring\nback a woman with me who will make us a fine supper. Tomorrow I'll go\nto town and buy some clothes and feather beds. After that what else\nshall I buy? Can you guess?\"\n\n\"The best thing to do would be to buy back our old property--the\nhouse, the fields, and the live stock, and then manage it more wisely\nthan before.\"\n\n\"You're right, wife, that's just what I'll do. And I will manage\nprudently this time! I have learned my lesson, I can tell you, for\npoverty is a good teacher.\"\n\nWhen Lukas had hidden the money in the chest and turned the key, he\ntook one ducat and went out to make his purchases. While he was gone\nhis wife spent the time nursing the child and weaving happy dreams\nthat now, she was sure, would come to pass.\n\nAfter a short hour the door opened and Lukas and a red-cheeked maid\nentered. The maid carried a great pail of foaming milk. Lukas followed\nher with a basket of eggs in one hand and on top of the eggs two big\nround brown cakes, and in the other hand a load of feather beds tied\nin a knot.\n\n\"God be with you!\" said the maid, placing the milk pail on the bench.\n\"My mistress, the burgomaster's wife, greets you and sends you some\nmilk for pudding. If there is anything else you need you are to let\nher know.\" The maid curtsied and went away before the poor woman could\nexpress her thanks.\n\nLukas laughed and said: \"You see, wife, what just one ducat did! If\nthey knew how many more we had they would carry us about in their\narms! The burgomaster's wife has sent us all these things. She is\nlending us feather beds until tomorrow and she is going to send us an\nold woman to help us out. I told her our child had received a handful\nof ducats as a christening gift. If she comes here to see you, make up\nyour mind what you're going to say.\"\n\nThen Lukas built a fire. Presently the old woman came and soon good\nhot soup was ready. It was just plain milk soup, but I can tell you it\ntasted better to hungry Lukas and his wife than the rich food which\nthe king himself ate that day from a golden platter.\n\nThe next day after breakfast Lukas set out for town. The\nburgomaster's wife took advantage of his absence to visit his wife and\nfind out what she could about the money.\n\n\"My dear neighbor,\" she said, after she had made the necessary\ninquiries about health, \"the blessing of God came into your house with\nthat child.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said the other, \"if you mean the christening gift, it isn't so\nvery much. A handful of ducats soon roll away. However, may God repay\nthat good woman, the godmother. At least we can now buy back our old\nfarm and live like respectable people.\"\n\nOn the way home the burgomaster's wife stopped at the houses of her\nvarious friends and gave them a full account of Lukas' wealth. Before\nnoon every small boy in the village knew that at Lukas' house they had\na hogshead of ducats.\n\nIn the evening Lukas came back from town driving a cart that was piled\nhigh with furniture and clothing and feather beds and food. The next\nday he bought back his old farm with the cattle and the implements.\n\nThis marked the beginning of a new life for Lukas. He set to work with\nindustry and put into practice all the lessons that poverty had taught\nhim.\n\nHe and his wife lived happily. Their greatest joy was Marishka, a\nlittle girl so charming and so pretty that every one loved her on\nsight.\n\n\"Dear neighbor,\" all the old women used to say to the child's mother,\n\"that girl of yours will never grow up. She's far too wise for her\nyears!\"\n\nBut Marishka did very well. She grew up into a beautiful young woman\nand one day a prince saw her, fell in love with her, and married her.\nSo the old godmother's prophecy that Marishka would make a happy\nmarriage was fulfilled.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN DUCK\n\nTHE STORY OF PRINCE RADUZ AND THE FAITHFUL LUDMILA\n\n[Illustration: {A duck}]\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN DUCK\n\nOnce upon a time there was a king who had four sons. One day the queen\nsaid to him:\n\n\"It is time that one of our boys went out into the world to make his\nfortune.\"\n\n\"I have been thinking that very same thing,\" the king said. \"Let us\nget ready Raduz, our youngest, and send him off with God's blessing.\"\n\nPreparations were at once made and in a few days Raduz bid his parents\nfarewell and set forth.\n\nHe traveled many days and many nights over desert plains and through\ndense forests until he came to a high mountain. Halfway up the\nmountain he found a house.\n\n\"I'll stop here,\" he thought to himself, \"and see if they'll take me\ninto service.\"\n\nNow this house was occupied by three people: old Yezibaba, who was a\nbad old witch; her husband, who was a wizard but not so bad as\nYezibaba; and their daughter, Ludmila, the sweetest, kindest girl\nthat two wicked parents ever had.\n\n\"Good day to you all,\" Raduz said, as he stepped into the house and\nbowed.\n\n\"The same to you,\" old Yezibaba answered. \"What brings you here?\"\n\n\"I'm looking for work and I thought you might have something for me to\ndo.\"\n\n\"What can you do?\" Yezibaba asked.\n\n\"I'll do anything you set me to. I'm trustworthy and industrious.\"\n\nYezibaba didn't want to take him, but the old man wanted him and in\nthe end Yezibaba with very ill grace consented to give him a trial.\n\nHe rested that night and early next morning presented himself to the\nold witch and said:\n\n\"What work am I to do today, mistress?\"\n\nYezibaba looked him over from head to foot. Then she took him to a\nwindow and said: \"What do you see out there?\"\n\n\"I see a rocky hillside.\"\n\n\"Good. Go to that rocky hillside, cultivate it, plant it in trees that\nwill grow, blossom, and bear fruit tonight. Tomorrow morning bring me\nthe ripe fruit. Here is a wooden hoe with which to work.\"\n\n\"Alas,\" thought Raduz to himself, \"did ever a man have such a task as\nthis? What can I do on that rocky hillside with a wooden hoe? How can\nI finish my task in so short a time?\"\n\nHe started to work but he hadn't struck three blows with the wooden\nhoe before it broke. In despair he tossed it aside and sat down under\na beech tree.\n\nIn the meantime wicked old Yezibaba had cooked a disgusting mess of\ntoads which she told Ludmila to carry out to the serving man for his\ndinner. Ludmila was sorry for the poor young man who had fallen into\nher mother's clutches and she said to herself: \"What has he done to\ndeserve such unkind treatment? I won't let him eat this nasty mess.\nI'll share my own dinner with him.\"\n\nShe waited until her mother was out of the room, then she took\nYezibaba's magic wand and hid it under her apron. After that she\nhurried out to Raduz, whom she found sitting under the beech tree with\nhis face in his hands.\n\n\"Don't be discouraged,\" she said to him. \"It is true your mistress\ncooked you a mess of toads for your dinner but, see, I have thrown\nthem away and have brought you my own dinner instead. As for your\ntask,\" she continued, \"I will help you with that. Here is my mother's\nmagic wand. I have but to strike the rocky hillside and by tomorrow\nthe trees that my mother has ordered will spring up, blossom, and bear\nfruit.\"\n\nLudmila did as she promised. She struck the ground with the magic wand\nand instantly instead of the rocky hillside there appeared an orchard\nwith rows on rows of trees that blossomed and bore fruit as you\nwatched them.\n\nRaduz looked from Ludmila to the orchard and couldn't find words with\nwhich to express his surprise and gratitude. Then Ludmila spread out\nher dinner and together they ate it, laughing merrily and talking.\nRaduz would have kept Ludmila all the afternoon but she remembered\nthat Yezibaba was waiting for her and she hurried away.\n\nThe next morning Raduz presented Yezibaba a basket of ripe fruit. She\nsniffed it suspiciously and then very grudgingly acknowledged that he\nhad accomplished his task.\n\n\"What am I to do today?\" Raduz asked.\n\nYezibaba led him to a second window and asked him what he saw there.\n\n\"I see a rocky ravine covered with brambles,\" he said.\n\n\"Right. Go now and clear away the brambles, dig up the ravine, and\nplant it in grape vines. Tomorrow morning bring me the ripe grapes.\nHere is another wooden hoe with which to work.\"\n\nRaduz took the hoe and set to work manfully. At the first blow the hoe\nbroke into three pieces.\n\n\"Alas,\" he thought, \"what is going to happen to me now? Unless Ludmila\nhelps me again, I am lost.\"\n\nAt home Yezibaba was busy cooking a mess of serpents. When noonday\ncame she said to Ludmila: \"Here, my child, is dinner for the serving\nman. Take it out to him.\"\n\nLudmila took the nasty mess and, as on the day before, threw it away.\nThen again hiding Yezibaba's wand under her apron, she went to Raduz,\ncarrying in her hands her own dinner.\n\nRaduz saw her coming and at once his heart grew light and he thought\nto himself how kind Ludmila was and how beautiful.\n\n\"I have been sitting here idle,\" he told her, \"for at the first blow\nmy hoe broke. Unless you help me, I don't know what I shall do.\"\n\n\"Don't worry,\" Ludmila said. \"It is true your mistress sent you a mess\nof serpents for your dinner, but I threw them out and have brought you\nmy own dinner instead. And I've brought the magic wand, too, so it\nwill be easy enough to plant a vineyard that will produce ripe grapes\nby tomorrow morning.\"\n\nThey ate together and after dinner Ludmila took the wand and struck\nthe earth. At once a vineyard appeared and, as they watched, the vines\nblossomed and the blooms turned to grapes.\n\nIt was harder than before for Raduz to let Ludmila go, for he wanted\nto keep on talking to her forever, but she remembered that Yezibaba\nwas waiting for her and she hurried away.\n\nThe next morning when Raduz presented a basket of ripe grapes, old\nYezibaba could scarcely believe her eyes. She sniffed the grapes\nsuspiciously and then very grudgingly acknowledged that he had\naccomplished his second task.\n\n\"What am I to do today?\" Raduz asked.\n\nYezibaba led him to a third window and told him to look out and tell\nher what he saw.\n\n\"I see a great rocky cliff.\"\n\n\"Right,\" she said. \"Go now to that cliff and grind me flour out of the\nrocks and from the flour bake me bread. Tomorrow morning bring me the\nfresh loaves. Today you shall have no tools of any kind. Go now and do\nthis task or suffer the consequences.\"\n\nAs Raduz started off, Yezibaba looked after him and shook her head\nsuspiciously.\n\n\"I don't understand this,\" she said to her husband. \"He could never\nhave done these two tasks alone. Do you suppose Ludmila has been\nhelping him? I'll punish her if she has!\"\n\n\"Shame on you,\" the old man said, \"to talk so of your own daughter!\nLudmila is a good girl and has always been loyal and obedient.\"\n\n\"I hope so,\" Yezibaba said, \"but just the same I think I myself will\ncarry him out his dinner today.\"\n\n\"Nonsense, old woman! You'll do no such thing! You're always smelling\na rat somewhere! Let the boy alone and don't go nagging at Ludmila\neither!\"\n\nSo Yezibaba said no more. This time she cooked a mess of lizards for\nRaduz' dinner.\n\n\"Here, Ludmila,\" she said, \"carry this out to the young man. But see\nthat you don't talk to him. And hurry back.\"\n\nPoor Raduz had been pounding stones one on another as well as he\ncould, but he hadn't been able to grind any of them into flour. As\nnoonday approached he kept looking up anxiously to see whether\nbeautiful Ludmila was again coming to help him.\n\n\"Here I am,\" she called while she was yet some distance away. \"You\nwere to have lizard stew today but, see, I am bringing you my own\ndinner!\"\n\nThen she told him what she had heard Yezibaba say to her father.\n\n\"Today she almost brought you your dinner herself, for she suspects\nthat I have been helping you. If she knew that I really had she would\nkill you.\"\n\n\"Dear Ludmila,\" Raduz said, \"I know very well that without you I am\nlost! How can I ever thank you for all you have done for me?\"\n\nLudmila said she didn't want thanks. She was helping Raduz because she\nwas sorry for him and loved him.\n\nThen she took Yezibaba's wand and struck the rocky cliff. At once,\ninstead of the bare rock, there were sacks of grain and a millstone\nthat worked merrily away grinding out fine flour. As you watched, the\nflour was kneaded up into loaves and then, pop went the loaves into a\nhot oven and soon the air was sweet with the smell of baking bread.\n\nRaduz begged Ludmila to stay and talk to him, but she remembered that\nthe old witch was waiting for her and she hurried home.\n\nThe next morning Raduz carried the baked loaves to Yezibaba. She\nsniffed at them suspiciously and then her wicked heart nearly cracked\nwith bitterness to think that Raduz had accomplished his third task.\nBut she hid her disappointment and pretending to smile, she said:\n\n\"I see, my dear boy, that you have been able to do all the tasks that\nI have set you. This is enough for the present. Today you may rest.\"\n\nThat night the old witch hatched the plot of boiling Raduz alive. She\nhad him fill a big cauldron with water and put it on the fire. Then\nshe said to her husband:\n\n\"Now, old man, I'm going to take a nap but when the water boils wake\nme up.\"\n\nAs soon as Yezibaba was asleep Ludmila gave the old man strong wine\nuntil he, too, fell asleep. Then she called Raduz and told him what\nYezibaba was planning to do.\n\n\"You must escape while you can,\" she said, \"for if you are here\ntomorrow you will surely be thrown into the boiling cauldron.\"\n\nBut Raduz had fallen too deeply in love with Ludmila to leave her and\nnow he declared that he would never go unless she went with him.\n\n\"Very well,\" Ludmila said, \"I will go with you if you swear you will\nnever forget me.\"\n\n\"Forget you? How could I forget you,\" Raduz said, \"when I wouldn't\ngive you up for the whole world!\"\n\nSo Raduz took a solemn oath and they made ready to flee. Ludmila threw\ndown her kerchief in one corner of the house and Raduz' cap in\nanother. Then she took Yezibaba's wand and off they started.\n\nThe next morning when the old man awoke, he called out: \"Hi, there,\nboy! Are you still asleep?\"\n\n\"No, I'm not asleep,\" answered Raduz' cap. \"I'm just stretching.\"\n\nPresently the old man called out again: \"Here, boy, hand me my\nclothes.\"\n\n\"In a minute,\" the cap answered. \"Just wait till I put on my\nslippers.\"\n\nThen old Yezibaba awoke. \"Ludmila!\" she cried. \"Get up, you lazy girl,\nand hand me my skirt and bodice.\"\n\n\"In a minute! In a minute!\" the kerchief answered.\n\n\"What's the matter?\" Yezibaba scolded. \"Why are you so long dressing?\"\n\n\"Just one more minute!\" the kerchief said.\n\nBut Yezibaba, who was an impatient old witch, sat up in bed and then\nshe could see that Ludmila's bed was empty. That threw her into a\nfine rage and she called out to her husband:\n\n\"Now, old man, what have you got to say? As sure as I'm alive that\ngood-for-nothing boy is gone and that precious daughter of yours has\ngone with him!\"\n\n\"No, no,\" the old man said. \"I don't think so.\"\n\nThen they both got up and sure enough neither Raduz nor Ludmila was to\nbe found.\n\n\"What do you think now, you old booby!\" Yezibaba shouted. \"A mighty\ngood and loyal and obedient girl that daughter of yours is! But why do\nyou stand there all day? Mount the black steed and fly after them and\nwhen you overtake them bring them back to me and I'll punish them\nproperly!\"\n\nIn the meantime Raduz and Ludmila were fleeing as fast as they could.\n\nSuddenly Ludmila said: \"Oh, how my left cheek burns! I wonder what it\nmeans? Look back, dear Raduz, and see if there is any one following\nus.\"\n\nRaduz turned and looked. \"There's nothing following us,\" he said, \"but\na black cloud in the sky.\"\n\n\"A black cloud? That's the old man on the black horse that rides on\nthe clouds. Quick! We must be ready for him!\"\n\nLudmila struck the ground with Yezibaba's wand and changed it into a\nfield. She turned herself into the growing rye and made Raduz the\nreaper who was cutting the rye. Then she instructed him how to answer\nthe old man with cunning.\n\nThe black cloud descended upon them with thunder and a shower of\nhailstones that beat down the growing rye.\n\n\"Take care!\" Raduz cried. \"You're trampling my rye! Leave some of it\nfor me.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" the old man said, alighting from his steed, \"I'll leave\nsome of it for you. But tell me, reaper, have you seen anything of two\nyoung people passing this way?\"\n\n\"Not a soul has passed while I've been reaping, but I do remember that\nwhile I was planting this field two such people did pass.\"\n\nThe old man shook his head, mounted his steed, and flew home again on\nthe black cloud.\n\n\"Well, old wiseacre,\" said Yezibaba, \"what brings you back so soon?\"\n\n\"No use my going on,\" the old man said. \"The only person I saw was a\nreaper in a field of rye.\"\n\n\"You booby!\" cried Yezibaba, \"not to know that Raduz was the reaper\nand Ludmila the rye! How they fooled you! And didn't you bring me back\njust one stalk of rye? Go after them again and this time don't let\nthem fool you!\"\n\nIn the meantime Raduz and Ludmila were hurrying on. Suddenly Ludmila\nsaid:\n\n\"I wonder why my left cheek burns? Look back, dear Raduz, and see if\nthere is any one following us.\"\n\nRaduz turned and looked. \"There's nothing following us but a gray\ncloud in the sky.\"\n\n\"A gray cloud? That's the old man on the gray horse that rides on the\nclouds. But don't be afraid. Only have ready a cunning answer.\"\n\nLudmila struck her hat with the wand and changed it into a chapel.\nHerself she changed into a fly that attracted a host of other flies.\nShe changed Raduz into a hermit. All the flies flew into the chapel\nand Raduz began preaching to them.\n\nSuddenly the gray cloud descended on the chapel with a flurry of snow\nand such cold that the shingles of the roof crackled.\n\nThe old man alighted from the gray steed and entered the chapel.\n\n\"Hermit,\" he said to Raduz, \"have you seen two travelers go by here, a\ngirl and a youth?\"\n\n\"As long as I've been preaching here,\" Raduz said, \"I've had only\nflies for a congregation. But I do remember that while the chapel was\nbuilding two such people did go by. But now I must beg you, good sir,\nto go out, for you are letting in so much cold that my congregation is\nfreezing.\"\n\nAt that the old man mounted his steed and flew back home on the gray\ncloud.\n\nOld Yezibaba was waiting for him. When she saw him coming she called\nout:\n\n\"Again you bring no one, you good-for-nothing! Where did you leave\nthem this time?\"\n\n\"Where did I leave them?\" the old man said. \"How could I leave them\nwhen I didn't even see them? All I saw was a little chapel and a\nhermit preaching to a congregation of flies. I almost froze the\ncongregation to death!\"\n\n\"Oh, what a booby you are!\" Yezibaba cried. \"Raduz was the hermit and\nLudmila one of the flies! Why didn't you bring me just one shingle\nfrom the roof of the chapel? I see I'll have to go after them myself!\"\n\nIn a rage she mounted the third magic steed and flew off.\n\nIn the meantime Raduz and Ludmila were hurrying on. Suddenly Ludmila\nsaid:\n\n\"I wonder why my left cheek burns? Look back, dear Raduz, again, and\nsee if there is any one following us.\"\n\nRaduz turned and looked. \"There's nothing following us but a red cloud\nin the sky.\"\n\n\"A red cloud? That must be Yezibaba herself on the steed of fire. Now\nindeed we must be careful. Up to this it has been easy enough but it\nwon't be easy to deceive her. Here we are beside a lake. I will change\nmyself into a golden duck and float on the water. Do you dive into the\nwater so that she can't burn you. When she alights and tries to catch\nme, do you jump up and get the horse by the bridle. Don't be afraid at\nwhat will happen.\"\n\nThe fiery cloud descended, burning up everything it touched. At the\nedge of the water Yezibaba alighted from her steed and tried to catch\nthe golden duck. The duck fluttered on and on just out of her reach\nand Yezibaba went farther and farther from her horse.\n\nThen Raduz leaped out of the water and caught the horse by its bridle.\nAt once the duck rose on its wings and flew to Raduz and became again\nLudmila. Together they mounted the fiery steed and flew off over the\nlake.\n\nYezibaba, helpless with rage and dismay, called after them a bitter\ncurse:\n\n\"If you, Raduz, are kissed by woman before you wed Ludmila, then will\nyou forget Ludmila! And you, ungrateful girl, if once Raduz forgets\nyou then he shall not remember you again until seven long years have\ncome and gone!\"\n\nRaduz and Ludmila rode on and on until they neared Raduz' native city.\nThere they met a man of whom Raduz asked the news.\n\n\"News indeed!\" the man said. \"The king and his three older sons are\ndead. Only the queen is alive and she cries night and day for her\nyoungest son who went out into the world and has never been heard of\nsince. The whole city is in an uproar as to who shall be the new\nking.\"\n\nWhen Raduz heard this he said to Ludmila: \"Do you, my dear Ludmila,\nwait for me here outside the city while I go quickly to the palace and\nlet it be known that I am alive and am returned. It would not be\nfitting to present you to my mother, the queen, in those ragged\nclothes. As soon as I am made king I shall come for you, bringing you\na beautiful dress.\"\n\nLudmila agreed to this and Raduz left her and hurried to the castle.\nHis mother recognized him at once and ran with open arms to greet him.\nShe wanted to kiss him but he wouldn't let her. The news of his\nreturn flew abroad and he was immediately proclaimed king. A great\nfeast was spread and all the people ate and drank and made merry.\n\nFatigued with his journey and with the excitement of his return, Raduz\nlay down to rest. While he slept his mother came in and kissed him on\nboth cheeks. Instantly Yezibaba's curse was fulfilled and all memory\nof Ludmila left him.\n\nPoor Ludmila waited for his return but he never came. Then she knew\nwhat must have happened. Heartbroken and lonely she found a spot near\na farmhouse that commanded a view of the castle, and she stood there\nday after day hoping to see Raduz. She stood there so long that\nfinally she took root and grew up into a poplar tree that was so\nbeautiful that soon throughout the countryside people began talking\nabout it. Every one admired it but the young king. He when he looked\nat it always felt unhappy and he supposed this was because it\nobstructed the view from his window. At last he ordered it to be cut\ndown.\n\nThe farmer near whose house it stood begged hard to have it saved, but\nthe king was firm.\n\nShortly after the poplar was cut down there grew up under the king's\nvery window a pretty little pear tree that bore golden pears. It was a\nwonderful little tree. No matter how many pears you picked in the\nevening, by the next morning the tree would again be full.\n\nThe king loved the little tree and was forever talking about it. The\nold queen, on the other hand, disliked it.\n\n\"I wish that tree would die,\" she used to say. \"There's something\nstrange about it that makes me nervous.\"\n\nThe king begged her to leave the tree alone but she worried and\ncomplained and nagged until at last for his own peace of mind he had\nthe poor little pear tree cut down.\n\nThe seven years of Yezibaba's curse at last ran out. Then Ludmila\nchanged herself again into a little golden duck and went swimming\nabout on the lake that was under the king's window.\n\nSuddenly the king began to remember that he had seen that duck before.\nHe ordered it to be caught and brought to him. But none of his people\ncould catch it. Then he called together all the fishermen and\nbirdcatchers in the country but none of them could catch the strange\nduck.\n\nThe days went by and the king's mind was more and more engrossed with\nthe thought of the golden duck. \"If no one can catch it for me,\" he\nsaid at last, \"I must try to catch it myself.\"\n\nSo he went to the lake and reached out his hand after the golden duck.\nThe duck led him on and on but at last she allowed herself to be\ncaught. As soon as she was in his hand she changed to herself and\nRaduz recognized her as his own beautiful Ludmila.\n\nShe said to him: \"I have been true to you but you have forgotten me\nall these years. Yet I forgive you, for it was not your fault.\"\n\nIn Raduz' heart his old love returned a hundredfold and he was\noverjoyed to lead Ludmila to the castle. He presented her to his\nmother and said:\n\n\"This is she who saved my life many times. She and no one else will be\nmy wife.\"\n\nA great wedding feast was prepared and so at last Raduz married the\nfaithful Ludmila.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY THAT NEVER ENDS\n\n[Illustration: {A ram}]\n\n\nTHE STORY THAT NEVER ENDS\n\n(_To be told very seriously_)\n\nOnce upon a time there was a shepherd who had a great flock of sheep.\nHe used to pasture them in a meadow on the other side of a brook. One\nday the sun had already set before he started home. Recent rains had\nswollen the brook so that he and the sheep had to cross on a little\nfootbridge. The bridge was so narrow that the sheep had to pass over\none by one.\n\nNow we'll wait until he drives them all over. Then I'll go on with my\nstory.\n\n(_When the children grow impatient and beg for a continuation of the\nstory, they are told that there are many sheep and that up to this\ntime only a few have crossed. A little later when their impatience\nagain breaks out, they are told that the sheep are still crossing. And\nso on indefinitely. In conclusion:_)\n\nIn fact there were so many sheep that when morning came they were\nstill crossing, and then it was time for the shepherd to turn around\nand drive them back again to pasture!\n\n[Illustration: {A dragon flies past a castle}]\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nMinor printer errors have been repaired.\n\nThe frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title page.\nOther illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are\nnot in the middle of a paragraph.","title":"Czechoslovak Fairy Tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":42850}