More Russian Picture Tales | Page 6

quick as she
could in the cellar under the floor. And Bruin went into the house, and
saw there was no one there. So he took his bit of skin, got his flesh out
of the pot and made off.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: May I?]

THE BEAR AND THE OLD MAN'S DAUGHTERS.
There was once an old man and he had three little daughters, and one
day he said to them: "I am going out into the fields to plough, and you,
my little daughters, bake me a loaf and bring it to me." "But how are
we to find you, daddy?" they said.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
"As I go along," he said, "I shall drop shavings in a row along the path,
and that will help you to find me." And as the old man rode along he
threw down the shavings one after the other, and a bear came and drew
them all aside on to the path that led to his den.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]

Then the eldest daughter said to the youngest: "Go and take the bread
to daddy." And the youngest said: "But how am I to find daddy, and
where am I to take the bread to?" Then the eldest answered: "He kept
dropping shavings in a row along the path as he went." Then she took
the loaf, and started off to follow the shavings, when lo and behold! she
came to the bear's den.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
And the bear saw her and said: "O-ho! What a nice little girl has come
to see me!"
[Illustration]
The next day the old man went off to sow, and he said to his daughters:
"My dear little daughters, my clever little ones, bake me a loaf and
bring it to me in the field." "But how are we to find you, daddy?" they
said. And he answered: "Yesterday I threw one row of shavings down,
to-day I will throw two." And he set off, throwing the shavings down in
two rows, and the bear came and drew them all aside on to the path that
led to his den. Then the second daughter started out with the loaf,
following the shavings, and went straight to the bear's den. And the
bear saw her and said: "O-ho! here's another little girl come to see me!"
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
The next day the old man went off to the field to harrow, and he said to
his daughter: "My dear little daughter, bake me a loaf and bring it to me
in the field. I will throw three rows of shavings." And the old man went
off, throwing the shavings down in three rows, and the bear came and
drew them all aside on to the path that led to his den. And the eldest
daughter set out, and she, too, came to the bear's den. And the bear saw
her and said: "O-ho! here's a third little girl come to see me in my den!"
And there they went on living, when one day the eldest sister said:

"Bruin, Bruin, I'll bake some pies, and you take them and give them to
my daddy to eat." "All right," answered the bear, "I'll take them." And
so she popped her youngest sister into a sack, and said: "Here, Bruin,
take this to my daddy, and mind, don't you eat it yourself on the way!"
And the bear took the sack and set off with it to the old man. And as he
went along, he kept saying to himself: "Suppose I sit down on a stump,
and suppose I just eat one little pie!" And the youngest daughter in the
sack heard him and said: "Don't sit down on a stump, don't! Don't eat a
pie, don't!" And the bear thought that this was the eldest sister, and said
to himself: "There now, fancy that! I've come a long way, and yet she
can still hear me!" And he brought the sack right up to the old man's
courtyard, when the dogs all rushed out and began to bark at him! So
he flung down the sack and ran off home. And the eldest sister asked
him: "Did they make you welcome, Bruin, and give you nice things to
eat?" "They didn't give me anything to eat," he answered, "but their
welcome was loud enough."
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
The next day the eldest sister said: "Bruin, take my daddy some more
pies to eat!" And she tied up her other sister in the sack, and the bear
put it on his back and carried it off into the village. And as he went
through the forest he kept saying to himself: "Suppose I sit down on a
stump, and suppose I just eat one little pie!" And the second daughter
said to