said the poor brother;
"just thou give me back my own, and then I will go away."--"Thou hadst
better not stop here," said the rich brother; "come, stir thy stumps,
thou pagan! Go home ere I beat thee!"--"Don't say that," replied the
poor man, "but give me back my ram and my sack, and then I _will_
go."--At this the rich brother quite lost his temper, and cried to his
wife and children, "Why do you stand staring like that? Can't you come
and help me to pitch this insolent rogue out of the house?" This,
however, was something beyond a joke, so the poor brother called to
his henchmen, "Henchmen, henchmen! out of the drum, and give this
brother of mine and his wife a sound drubbing, that they may think
twice about it another time before they pitch a poor brother out of
their hut!" Then the henchmen leaped out of the drum, and laid hold of
the rich brother and his wife, and trounced them soundly, until the
rich brother yelled with all his might, "Oh, oh! my own true brother,
take what thou wilt, only let me off alive!" whereupon the poor
brother cried to his henchmen, "Henchmen, henchmen! into the drum!"
and the henchmen disappeared immediately.

Then the poor brother took his ram and his sack, and set off home with
them. And they lived happily ever after, and grew richer and richer.
They sowed neither wheat nor barley, and yet they had lots and lots to
eat. And I was there, and drank mead and beer. What my mouth couldn't
hold ran down my beard. For you, there's a _kazka_, but there be fat
hearth-cakes for me the asker. And if I have aught to eat, thou shalt
share the treat.

THE VOICES AT THE WINDOW

A nobleman went hunting one autumn, and with him went a goodly train
of huntsmen. All day long they hunted and hunted, and at the end of
the day they had caught nothing. At last dark night overtook them. It
had now grown bitterly cold, and the rain began to fall heavily. The
nobleman was wet to the skin, and his teeth chattered. He rubbed his
hands together and cried, "Oh, had we but a warm hut, and a white bed,
and soft bread, and sour kvas,[7] we should have naught to complain
of, but would tell tales and feign fables till dawn of day!"
Immediately there shone a light in the depths of the forest. They
hastened up to it, and lo! there was a hut. They entered, and on the
table lay bread and a jug of kvas; and the hut was warm, and the bed
therein was white--everything just as the nobleman had desired it. So
they al