More Russian Picture Tales | Page 4

time mind! you can have the tops, but I'm going to
have the roots!" "Very well," said the peasant. And they sowed some
wheat, and when the ears grew up and ripened, you never saw such a
sight. Then they began to divide it, and the peasant took all the tops
with the grain, and gave Bruin the straw and the roots. So he didn't get
anything that time either.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
And Bruin said to the peasant: "Well, good-bye! I'm not going to work
with you any more, you're too crafty!" And with that he went off into
the forest.
[Illustration]

THE DOG AND THE COCK

[Illustration]
One summer a certain peasant's crops failed him, and so he had no food
to give to his animals, which were a cock and a dog. And the dog said
to the cock: "Well, brother Peeter, I think we should get more to eat if
we went and lived in the forest than here at our master's, don't you?"
"That's a fact," answered the cock, "let's be off, there's no help for it."
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
So they said good-bye to their master and mistress and went off to see
what they could find. And they went on and on, and couldn't find a nice
place to stop. Then it began to grow dark, and the cock said: "Let's
spend the night on a tree. I'll fly up on to a branch, and you take shelter
in the hollow. We'll get through the night somehow."
[Illustration]
So the cock made his way on to a branch, tucked in his toes, and went
to sleep, while the dog made himself a bed in the hollow of the tree.
And they slept soundly the whole night through, and towards morning,
when it began to get light, the cock woke up and, as was his custom,
crew as loud as he could: "Cock-a-doodle-doo! cock-a-doodle-do! all
wake up! all get up! the sun will soon be rising, and the day will soon
begin!"
[Illustration]
And he crew so loud, that a fox in a hole near by was up in an instant
thinking: "What a funny thing for a cock to be crowing in the forest! I
expect he's lost his way and can't get out again!"
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
And he began to look for the cock, and after a bit he saw him sitting

upon the branch of the tree. "Oho!" thought the fox, "he'd make a fine
meal! How can I get him to come down from there?"
[Illustration]
So he went up to the tree and said to the cock: "What a splendid cock
you are! I've never seen such a fine one all my days! What lovely
feathers, just as if they were covered with gold! And your tail! nobody
could describe it in words or on paper, it's so beautiful! And what a
sweet voice you've got! I could listen to it all day and all night. Do fly
down a little closer and let's get to know each other a little better. That
reminds me, I've got a christening on at my place to-day, and I shall
have plenty of food and drink to offer such a welcome guest. Let's go
along to my home."
[Illustration]
"Right you are," answered the cock, "I'll certainly come, only you must
ask my companion too. We always go about together." "And where is
your companion?" asked the fox. "Down below in the tree hollow,"
answered the cock. And the fox poked his head into the hole, thinking
there was another cock there, when the dog popped his head out and
caught Mr. Fox by the nose!
[Illustration]

KING FROST.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Once upon a time there lived an old man and his wife. She had one
daughter of her own, and he had one of his own. And the old woman
took a dislike to her step-daughter. Whatever her own daughter did, she
praised her for everything and stroked her head, but whatever her
step-daughter did, she grumbled at her and scolded her for everything;

it was simply dreadful. And the old woman began to want to drive her
step-daughter off the face of the earth, and she said to her husband:
"Take her away into the dark forest, and let the frost freeze her to
death." So there was nothing for the old man to do but harness his horse
to the sledge, put his daughter in it, and drive her off into the forest.
And he brought her right into the middle of the forest, set her down on
the snow, and drove off home.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
And there the little girl sat in the forest all alone, shivering with the
cold. When lo and behold! there was old King Frost coming towards