ere thou didst first find me." Then she crept
off, and the man followed her, weeping and mourning all the time as
for one already dead. When they reached the forest she stopped and
coiled herself round and round beneath a hazel-nut bush. Then she said
to the man, "Now kiss me once, but see to it that I do not bite
thee!"--Then he kissed her once, and she wound herself round a branch
of a tree and asked him, "What dost thou feel within thee?"--He
answered, "At the moment when I kissed thee it seemed to me as if I
knew everything that was going on in the world!"--Then she said to him
again, "Kiss me a second time!"--"And what dost thou feel now?" she
asked when he had kissed her again.--"Now," said he, "I understand all
languages which are spoken among men."--Then she said to him, "And now
kiss me a third time, but this will be for the last time." Then he
kissed the Serpent for the last time, and she said to him, "What dost
thou feel now?"--"Now," said he, "I know all that is going on under
the earth."--"Go now," said she, "to the Tsar, and he will give thee
his daughter for the knowledge thou hast. But pray to God for poor me,
for now I must be and remain a serpent for ever." And with that the
Serpent uncoiled herself and disappeared among the bushes, but the man
went away and wedded the Tsar's daughter.

THE STORY OF UNLUCKY DANIEL

There was once upon a time a youth called Unlucky Dan. Wherever he
went, and whatever he did, and with whomsoever he served, nothing came
of it: all his labour was like spilt water, he got no good from it.
One day he took service with a new master. "I'll serve thee a whole
year," said he, "for a piece of sown wheat-land." His master agreed,
and he entered into his service, and at the same time he sowed his
piece of wheat-land. His wheat shot up rapidly. When his master's
wheat was in the stalk, his was already in the ear, and when his
master's wheat was in the ear, his own wheat was already ripe. "I'll
reap it to-morrow," thought he. The same night a cloud arose, the hail
poured down, and destroyed his wheat altogether. Daniel fell
a-weeping. "I'll go serve another master," he cried, "perhaps God will
then prosper me!" So he went to another master. "I'll serve thee for a
whole year," said he, "if thou wilt give me that wild colt." So he
stopped and served him, and by the end of the year he trained the wild
colt so well that he made a carriage-horse out of it. "Oh-ho!" thought
he, "