More Russian Picture Tales | Page 7

him from out of the sack: "Don't sit down on a stump, don't!
Don't eat a pie, don't!" And the bear thought: "There now, fancy that!
I've come a long way, and yet she can still hear me, and tells me not to
eat a pie!" And so he reached the old man's courtyard, and when the
dogs went for him that time, they all but worried him to death! So he
flung down the sack and ran off home. And the eldest sister asked him:
"Did they welcome you warmly, Bruin, and give you plenty to eat?" "It
was such a warm welcome, and they gave me so much to eat, that I
shan't forget it in a hurry!" he answered.

[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
And the next day the eldest girl said: "I'll bake some more pies, and you
take them to my daddy for him to eat." And so she herself sat down in
the sack, and the bear carried her off. And as he carried her along he
kept saying to himself: "Oh, I should so like to sit down on a stump,
and I should so like to eat one little pie!" And the eldest daughter said
to him from out of the sack: "Don't sit down on a stump, don't! Don't
eat a pie, don't!" And the bear thought: "There now, fancy that! Look at
the long way I've come, and yet she can still see and hear me!" And so
he brought the sack to the old man, and then the dogs came upon him
and all but tore him in bits. And he ran off into the forest without as
much as looking round, and the old man began once more to live with
his three little daughters.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: I don't like what is nice, but what I like is nice!]

THE STRAW OX.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Once upon a time there lived an old man and his wife, and one day she
said to him: "Make me a straw ox and smear him over with pitch." And
he asked: "What for?" And she answered: "Do what I tell you! Never
mind what it's for--that's my business!" So the old man made a straw ox
and smeared him over with pitch. Then his wife got ready in the early
morning and drove the ox to pasture. She sat down under a tree, and

began spinning flax and saying to herself: "Feed, feed, ox, on the fresh
green grass. Feed, feed, ox, on the fresh green grass!" And she went on
spinning and spinning, and fell asleep. Suddenly from out of the thick
wood, from out of the dark forest, a bear came running, and ran right up
against the ox. "Who in the world are you?" he asked. And the ox
answered: "I'm the three-year-old ox, all made of straw and smeared
over with pitch." Then the bear said: "Well, if you're smeared over with
pitch, give me some to put on my poor torn side." And the ox answered:
"Take some!" So the bear seized hold of the ox, when lo and behold!
his paw stuck in the pitch. And when he tried to free it with the other
paw, that one stuck too. Then he started gnawing with his teeth, and
they stuck too. He couldn't tear himself away anyhow. And the old
woman woke up and saw the bear stuck fast to the ox. So she ran home
and shouted to her husband: "Come along quick, a bear has stuck fast to
our ox, hurry up and catch him!" And he came along, took the bear, led
him home, and shut him up in the lumber room.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
The next day, as soon as the sun rose, the old woman again drove the
ox to pasture, and she herself sat down under a tree, and began spinning
flax and saying to herself: "Feed, feed, ox, on the fresh green grass of
the field! Feed, feed, ox, on the fresh green grass of the field!" And she
went on spinning and spinning, and fell asleep. Suddenly from out of
the thick wood, from out of the dark forest, a wolf came running, and
ran right up against the ox. "Who in the world are you?" he asked. And
the ox answered: "I'm the three-year-old ox, all made of straw and
smeared over with pitch." Then the wolf said: "Well, if that's so, give
me some pitch to put on my poor torn side." And the ox answered: "By
all means!" So the wolf tried to take some pitch, when lo and behold!
his paw stuck in it. And when he tried to free it, it stuck all the faster.
And the old woman woke up and saw the wolf sticking