e but Utterly Different in
Disposition_]

They lived in a cottage a few miles from town. The cottage stood by
itself in a little clearing in the woods. Hardly any one ever passed
it except occasionally some man who had lost his way in the woods.

The mother put her favorite, Zloboha, out to service so that she might
learn city ways, but she kept Dobrunka at home to do the housework and
take care of the garden. Dobrunka always began the day by feeding the
goats, then she prepared the breakfast, swept the kitchen, and when
everything else was done she sat down at her spinning wheel and spun.

She seldom benefited from the yarn she spun so carefully, for her
mother always sold it in town and spent the money on clothes for
Zloboha. Yet Dobrunka loved her mother although she never had a kind
word or a kind look from her the whole day long. She always obeyed her
mother instantly and without a frown and no one ever heard her
complain about all the work she had to do.

One day when her mother was going to town Dobrunka went part of the
way with her, carrying her yarn wrapped up in a kerchief.

"Now see that you're not lazy while I'm away," her mother said,
crossly.

"You know, mother, you never have to nag at me. Today when I finish
the housework, I'll spin so industriously that you'll be more than
satisfied when you get home."

She handed her yarn to her mother and went back to the cottage. Then
when she had put the kitchen in order, she sat down to her wheel and
began to spin. Dobrunka had a pretty voice, as pretty as any of the
song-birds in the forest, and always when she was alone she sang. So
today as she sat spinning she sang all the songs she knew, one after
the other.

Suddenly she heard outside the trample of a horse. "Some one is
coming," she thought to herself, "someone who has lost his way in the
woods. I'll go see."

She got up from her wheel and peeped out through the small window. A
young man was just dismounting from a spirited horse.

"Oh," thought Dobrunka to herself, "what a handsome young lord he is!
How well his leather coat fits him! How well his cap with its white
feather looks on his black hair! Ah, he is tying his horse and is
coming in. I must slip back to my spinning."

The next moment the young man opened the door and stepped into the
kitchen. All this happened a long time ago, you see, when there were
no locks or bars on the doors, and there didn't have to be because
nothing was