me, thou canst not have that. Close thine eyes. Then, if thou
choosest me, open them again."

Chrif closed his eyes. He saw the old red house dark and cold. No one
lived there now. The boat-garden was hidden under the snow. Someone in
white passed him by. She was weeping bitterly. "Rhoda!" he cried and
followed in her steps.

Suddenly a warm hand fell upon his shoulder.

"Chrif, dear Chrif!"

He opened his eyes, and O joy! Rhoda stood beside him.

_Chrif's Return_

"I have come to look for you," said Rhoda. "Why, Chrif, you have been
gone three years!"

"Three years!" gasped Chrif.

"When grandmother died, last winter, I was so lonely, I said, 'When
spring comes I will find Chrif.'"

"Grandmother dead! Why, it was but yesterday that I left home!"

"Ah, no," answered Rhoda. And she looked at Chrif and smiled.

And so they came again to the old red house. There was the dear old
boat-garden. Sweet-peas were in bloom and morning-glories climbed up
the side of the house. It was very pleasant.

As they stood by the boat-garden, a voice called to them. The old
broom-woman stood in the road.

"Have ye found the pot of gold?" she asked.

"No; but I have found something else far better!" said Chrif, "I have
found home."

_The Frog-Tsarevna_[16]

R. NESBIT BAIN

In a certain kingdom, in a certain Empire, there lived a Tsar with his
Tsaritsa, and he had three sons, all of them young, valiant, and
unwedded, the like of whom is not to be told in tales nor written by
pens, and the youngest of them was called the Tsarevich Ivan.

[Footnote 16: From _Russian Fairy Tales_ [Adapted]. (London: George G.
Harrap and Company.)]

And the Tsar spoke these words to them: "My dear children, take unto
you your darts, gird on your well-spanned bows, and go hence in
different directions, and in whatsoever courts your arrows fall, there
choose ye your brides!"

The elder brother discharged his arrow and it fell into a boyar's[17]
court, right in front of the terem[18] of the maidens. The second
brother discharged his arrow and it flew into the court of a merchant
and remained sticking in a beautiful balcony, and on this balcony was
standing a lovely young maiden soul, the merchant's daughter. The
youngest brother discharged his arrow, and the arrow fell into a
muddy swamp, and a quacking-frog seized hold of it.

[Footnote 17: Nobleman.]

[Footnote 18: The women's apartments.]

The Tsarevich Ivan said to his