n, pushed
his master and the shovel inside, sewed it all up and hid himself in
the bushes.

All at once black crows came flying,--black crows with iron beaks;
they promptly lifted up the horse with the sleeping merchant inside,
bore it to the top of the mountain, and began to pick the bones of
their prey.

When the merchant awoke he looked here and looked there and looked
everywhere.

"Where am I?"

"Upon the golden mountain. Now if thou art strong after thy rest, do
not lose time; take the shovel and dig. Dig quickly and I'll teach
thee how to come down."

The proud, rich merchant had to obey and dug and dug. Twelve big carts
were loaded.

"Enough!" shouted the merchant's son. "Thank thee, and farewell!"

"And I?"

"And thou mayst do as thou wishest! There are already ninety and nine
fellows perished before thee; with thyself there will be a hundred."

The merchant's son took along with him the twelve heavy carts with
gold, arrived at the golden palace and married the lovely girl; the
rich merchant's daughter became mistress of all her father's wealth,
and the merchant's son with his family moved to a large town to live.

And the rich merchant, the proud, rich merchant?

He himself, like his many victims, became the prey of the black crows,
black crows with iron beaks.

Well, sometimes it happens just so.

[Illustration]

FATHER FROST

[Illustration] In a far-away country, somewhere in Russia, there lived
a stepmother who had a stepdaughter and also a daughter of her own.
Her own daughter was dear to her, and always whatever she did the
mother was the first to praise her, to pet her; but there was but
little praise for the stepdaughter; although good and kind, she had
no other reward than reproach. What on earth could have been done? The
wind blows, but stops blowing at times; the wicked woman never knows
how to stop her wickedness. One bright cold day the stepmother said to
her husband:

"Now, old man, I want thee to take thy daughter away from my eyes,
away from my ears. Thou shalt not take her to thy people into a warm
izba. Thou shalt take her into the wide, wide fields to the crackling
frost."

The old father grew sad, began even to weep, but nevertheless
helped the young girl into the sleigh. He wished to cover her with a
sheepskin in order to protect her from the cold; however, he did not
do it. He was afraid; his wife was watching them out of the window.
And so he went with h