nts, glittering with jewels.
She is never seen in the daytime--very seldom at night. No one would
wish to see her, for she is certain to deceive all she meets. The only
chance of escaping is to clasp the cross, and pray to our patron saint;
even then she will try to tempt the unwary to let go the cross, and
cease praying. Oh! She is very vile, with all her loveliness.'

"`What you say is very true, I doubt not,' said another lad, `but the
sounds we heard last night were as likely to have come from the wood as
from the water. Now, to my mind, it was the _Leechie_ calling to us
from the forest. He is as bad as the _Vodainoi_, and ugly instead of
handsome. Anybody seeing him is frightened, and runs away; so far he
can do much less harm. He is a great brown monster, the colour of the
bark of a tree; he never appears in the day, and at night always keeps
out of the moonlight, as if he was afraid of anything bright. He does
not shriek out like some other spirits, but goes moaning and groaning
about the forest as if he was in pain. So it will be to the end of the
world; he never sleeps and never dies. Some time ago little Koulik, the
cobbler of our village, was returning home at night from his brother's
cottage, three versts off, where he had been to the wedding of a niece,
when just as he came to the wood by the side of the hill he saw a
_Leechie_ looking out at him from among the trees. He did not cry out,
for he is a brave fellow, but tried to pass this evil spirit as fast as
he could. He did not think of his cross, though, and he did not say his
prayers, so the _Leechie_ caught hold of him, and kept knocking him
about, against the trunks of the trees and over the fallen branches and
roots, till he had scarcely a whole bone left in his body. The
_Leechie_ did not say a word, but only went _clack, clack, clack_, and
chuckled with pleasure. Poor Koulik was almost dead with terror and
pain, but still he never thought of his cross. Had the _Leechie_ once
got him well inside the forest, I do not know what would have become of
him. He would probably never have been seen again by mortal man. He
had just sense enough to keep outside, and when he was driven in to run
out again, till at length the dawn appeared, and the _Leechie_ left him.
More dead than alive, he had just strength to crawl home and take to
his bed. Next day he went to the priest, and the priest asked him if he
had thought of his cross, and said his