and the
moment he tastes of it he shall burst; and whoever hears and tells him
of this thing shall become stone right up to the girdle.'" And when
the huntsman had spoken so far, the horse on which he sat became stone
right up to the breast. And he continued, and said, "About the third
cockcrow something else came to the window and said the selfsame
thing, and added, 'This shall befall thy lord on his way home. He
shall come upon a white bed on the road, and he shall desire to rest
upon it, and the moment he rests upon it he shall burst; and whoever
hears and tells him of this thing shall become stone right up to the
neck!'" And with these words he leaped from the horse, and the horse
became stone right up to its neck. "That therefore, my master, was why
I did what I did, and I pray thee pardon me."

THE STORY OF LITTLE TSAR
NOVISHNY, THE FALSE SISTER,
AND THE FAITHFUL BEASTS

Once upon a time, in a certain kingdom, in a certain empire, there
dwelt a certain Tsar who had never had a child. One day this Tsar went
to the bazaar (such a bazaar as we have at Kherson) to buy food for
his needs. For though he was a Tsar, he had a mean and churlish soul,
and used always to do his own marketing, and so now, too, he bought a
little salt fish and went home with it. On his way homeward, a great
thirst suddenly fell upon him, so he turned aside into a lonely
mountain where he knew, as his father had known before him, there was
a spring of crystal-clear water. He was so very thirsty that he flung
himself down headlong by this spring without first crossing himself,
wherefore that Accursed One, Satan, immediately had power over him,
and caught him by the beard. The Tsar sprang back in terror, and
cried, "Let me go!" But the Accursed One held him all the tighter.
"Nay, I will not let thee go!" cried he. Then the Tsar began to
entreat him piteously. "Ask what thou wilt of me," said he, "only let
me go."--"Give me, then," said the Accursed One, "something that thou
hast in the house, and then I'll let thee go!"--"Let me see, what have
I got?" said the Tsar. "Oh, I know. I've got eight horses at home, the
like of which I have seen nowhere else, and I'll immediately bid my
equerry bring them to thee to this spring--take them."--"I _won't_
have them!" cried the Accursed One, and he held him still more tightly
by the beard. "Well, then, hearken now!" cried the Tsar. "I have
eight oxen. They have never yet gone a-ploughing for me,