s because Marushka was so much prettier than Holena.
Marushka, the dear child, didn't know how pretty she was and so she
never understood why, whenever she stood beside Holena, the
stepmother frowned so crossly.

Mother and daughter made Marushka do all the housework alone. She
had to cook and wash and sew and spin and take care of the garden
and look after the cow. Holena, on the contrary, spent all her time
decking herself out and sitting around like a grand lady.

Marushka never complained. She did all she was told to do and bore
patiently their everlasting fault-finding. In spite of all the hard
work she did she grew prettier from day to day, and in spite of her
lazy life Holena grew uglier.

"This will never do," the stepmother thought to herself. "Soon the
boys will come courting and once they see how pretty Marushka is,
they'll pay no attention at all to my Holena. We had just better do
all we can to get rid of that Marushka as soon as possible."

So they both nagged Marushka all day long. They made her work harder,
they beat her, they didn't give her enough to eat, they did everything
they could think of to make her ugly and nasty. But all to no avail.
Marushka was so good and sweet that, in spite of all their harsh
treatment, she kept on growing prettier.

One day in the middle of January Holena took the notion that nothing
would do but she must have a bunch of fragrant violets to put in her
bodice.

"Marushka!" she ordered sharply. "I want some violets. Go out to the
forest and get me some."

"Good heavens, my dear sister!" cried poor Marushka. "What can you be
thinking of? Whoever heard of violets growing under the snow in
January?"

"What, you lazy little slattern!" Holena shouted. "You dare to argue
with me! You go this minute and if you come back without violets I'll
kill you!"

[Illustration: _Marushka and Holena_]

The stepmother sided with Holena and, taking Marushka roughly by the
shoulder, she pushed her out of the house and slammed the door.

The poor child climbed slowly up the mountain side weeping bitterly. All
around the snow lay deep with no track of man or beast in any direction.
Marushka wandered on and on, weak with hunger and shaking with cold.

"Dear God in heaven," she prayed, "take me to yourself away from all
this suffering."

Suddenly ahead of her she saw a glowing light. She struggled towards
it and found at last that it came from a great fire that was burning
on the