ost a girl. Up came the priest, and cried, "Why,
that's my daughter." Up came running the priest's wife, and
cried:--

"O thou dear child! where hast thou been so long? I had
no hope of ever seeing thee again."

But the girl gazed and just blinked with her eyes, understanding
nothing. After a time, however, she began slowly to come
back to her senses. Then the priest and his wife gave her in
marriage to the hunter, and rewarded him with all sorts of good
things. And they went in search of the hut in which she had
lived while she was with the Leshy. Long did they wander
about the forest; but that hut they never found.

To another group of personifications belong those of the Rivers. About
them many stories are current, generally having reference to their
alleged jealousies and disputes. Thus it is said that when God was
allotting their shares to the rivers, the Desna did not come in time,
and so failed to obtain precedence over the Dnieper.

"Try and get before him yourself," said the Lord.

The Desna set off at full speed, but in spite of all her attempts, the
Dnieper always kept ahead of her until he fell into the sea, where the
Desna was obliged to join him.[267]

About the Volga and its affluent, the Vazuza, the following story is
told:--

VAZUZA AND VOLGA.[268]

Volga and Vazuza had a long dispute as to which was the wiser,
the stronger, and the more worthy of high respect. They wrangled
and wrangled, but neither could gain the mastery in the dispute,
so they decided upon the following course:--

"Let us lie down together to sleep," they said, "and whichever
of us is the first to rise, and the quickest to reach the Caspian
Sea, she shall be held to be the wiser of us two, and the
stronger and the worthier of respect."

So Volga lay down to sleep; down lay Vazuza also. But
during the night Vazuza rose silently, fled away from Volga,
chose the nearest and the straightest line, and flowed away.
When Volga awoke, she set off neither slowly nor hurriedly, but
with just befitting speed. At Zubtsof she came up with Vazuza. So
threatening was her mien, that Vazuza was frightened, declared
herself to be Volga's younger sister, and besought Volga to take
her in her arms and bear her to the Caspian Sea. And so to
this day Vazuza is the first to awake in the Spring, and then she
arouses Volga from her wintry sleep.

In the Government of Tula a similar