nieper asleep than they rose up
quietly, chose the best and most sloping places, and began to
flow away.

When the brother awoke in the morning, not a trace of his
sisters was to be seen. Then he became wroth, and made
haste to pursue them. But on the way he bethought himself,
and decided that no man can run faster than a river. So he
smote the ground, and flowed in pursuit as a stream. Through
gullies and ravines he rushed, and the further he went the
fiercer did he become. But when he came within a few versts
of the sea-shore, his anger calmed down and he disappeared in
the sea. And his two sisters, who had continued running from
him during his pursuit, separated in different directions and fled
to the bottom of the sea. But while the Dnieper was rushing
along in anger, he drove his way between steep banks. Therefore
is it that his flow is swifter than that of the Volga and the
Dvina; therefore also is it that he has many rapids and many
mouths.

There is a small stream which falls into Lake Ilmen on its western
side, and which is called Chorny Ruchei, the Black Brook. On the banks
of this brook, a long time ago, a certain man set up a mill, and the
fish came and implored the stream to grant them its aid, saying, "We
used to have room enough and be at our ease, but now an evil man is
taking away the water from us." And the result was this. One of the
inhabitants of Novgorod was angling in the brook Chorny. Up came a
stranger to him, dressed all in black, who greeted him, and said:--

"Do me a service, and I will show thee a place where the fish swarm."

"What is the service?"

"When thou art in Novgorod, thou wilt meet a tall, big moujik in a
plaited blue caftan, wide blue trowsers, and a high blue hat. Say to
him, 'Uncle Ilmen! the Chorny has sent thee a petition, and has told
me to say that a mill has been set in his way. As thou may'st think
fit to order, so shall it be!'"

The Novgorod man promised to fulfil this request, and the black
stranger showed him a place where the fish swarmed by thousands. With
rich booty did the fisherman return to Novgorod, where he met the
moujik with the blue caftan, and gave him the petition. The Ilmen
answered:--

"Give my compliments to the brook Chorny, and say to him about the
mill: there used not to be one, and so there shall not be one!"

This commission also the Novgorod man fulfilled, and behold! during
the night the brook Chorny