snow and up in the sky the frosty stars were twinkling
brightly. But not a living creature was in sight. Marushka knelt down
and prayed for her sister and mother.

The next morning she prepared breakfast for them.

"They'll be very cold and hungry," she said to herself.

She waited for them but they didn't come. She cooked dinner for them but
still they didn't come. In fact they never came, for they both froze to
death on the mountain.

So our good little Marushka inherited the cottage and the garden and the
cow. After a time she married a farmer. He made her a good husband and
they lived together very happily.

ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED

THE STORY OF YIRIK AND THE SNAKE

[Illustration]

ZLATOVLASKA THE GOLDEN-HAIRED

There was once an old king who was so wise that he was able to
understand the speech of all the animals in the world. This is how it
happened. An old woman came to him one day bringing him a snake in a
basket.

"If you have this snake cooked," she told him, "and eat it as you would
a fish, then you will be able to understand the birds of the air, the
beasts of the earth, and the fishes of the sea."

The king was delighted. He made the old wise woman a handsome present
and at once ordered his cook, a youth named Yirik, to prepare the "fish"
for dinner.

"But understand, Yirik," he said severely, "you're to cook this 'fish,'
not eat it! You're not to taste one morsel of it! If you do, you forfeit
your head!"

Yirik thought this a strange order.

"What kind of a cook am I," he said to himself, "that I'm not to sample
my own cooking?"

When he opened the basket and saw the "fish," he was further mystified.

"Um," he murmured, "it looks like a snake to me."

He put it on the fire and, when it was broiled to a turn, he ate a
morsel. It had a fine flavor. He was about to take a second bite when
suddenly he heard a little voice that buzzed in his ear these words:

"Give us some, too! Give us some, too!"

He looked around to see who was speaking but there was no one in the
kitchen. Only some flies were buzzing about.

Just then outside a hissing voice called out:

"Where shall we go? Where shall we go?"

A higher voice answered:

"To the miller's barley field! To the miller's barley field!"

Yirik looked out the window and saw a gander with a flock of geese.

"Oho!" he said to himself, shaking his head. "Now I understand! Now I
know what kind of 'fish' this is! No