eople to their
death with bright red streamers. Many an innocent maid, haying along the
river, has seen the lovely streamers in the water and reached after them
with her rake. That is what the nickerman wants her to do for then he
can catch her and drag her down, down, down, under the water where he
drowns her and takes her soul. The nickerman is so powerful that, if
once he gets you, he can drown you in a teaspoon of water! But if you
clutch in your hand a clod of dry earth or a piece of toasted bread,
then he is powerless to harm you.

"Oh!" Lidushka cried. "Now I understand! Those white doves were the
souls of poor innocents whom this wicked nickerman has drowned! God help
me to escape him!"

"Hurry, my dear, hurry!" the old frog croaked. "Run up the crystal
stairs and replace the stone!"

Lidushka flew up the stairs and as she reached the top she clutched a
handful of dry earth. Then she replaced the stone and the water flowed
over the stairs.

The nickerman spread out his red streamers close to the shore and tried
to catch her, but she was not to be tempted.

"I know who you are!" she cried, holding tight her handful of dry
earth. "You'll never get my soul! And you'll never again imprison under
your black pots all the poor innocent souls I liberated!"

Years afterwards when Lidushka had children of her own, she used to tell
them this story and say to them:

"And now, my dears, you know why it is dangerous to reach out in the
water for a red streamer or a pretty water lily. The wicked nickerman
may be there just waiting to catch you."

BATCHA AND THE DRAGON

THE STORY OF A SHEPHERD WHO SLEPT ALL WINTER

[Illustration]

BATCHA AND THE DRAGON

Once upon a time there was a shepherd who was called Batcha. During the
summer he pastured his flocks high up on the mountain where he had a
little hut and a sheepfold.

One day in autumn while he was lying on the ground, idly blowing his
pipes, he chanced to look down the mountain slope. There he saw a most
amazing sight. A great army of snakes, hundreds and hundreds in number,
was slowly crawling to a rocky cliff not far from where he was lying.

When they reached the cliff, every serpent bit off a leaf from a plant
that was growing there. They then touched the cliff with the leaves and
the rock opened. One by one they crawled inside. When the last one had
disappeared, the rock closed.

Batcha blinked his eyes in bewilderment.

"What can thi