ant thy fair wife!' said
he.--Then I promised him what I should find at home when I got there,
for I never thought that God had blessed me so. Come now, my darling
wife! and let us bury them both lest he take them!"--"Nay, nay! my
dear husband, we had better hide them somewhere. Let us dig a ditch by
our hut--just under the gables!" (For there were no lordly mansions in
those days, and the Tsars dwelt in peasants' huts.) So they dug a
ditch right under the gables, and put their children inside it, and
gave them provision of bread and water. Then they covered it up and
smoothed it down, and turned into their own little hut.

[8] A little Tsar.

Presently the serpent (for the Accursed One had changed himself into a
serpent) came flying up in search of the children. He raged up and
down outside the hut--but there was nothing to be seen. At last he
cried out to the stove, "Stove, stove, where has the Tsar hidden
his children?"--The stove replied, "The Tsar has been a good master
to me; he has put lots of warm fuel inside me; I hold to him."--So,
finding he could get nothing out of the stove, he cried to the
hearth-broom, "Hearth-broom, hearth-broom, where has the Tsar
hidden his children?"--But the hearth-broom answered, "The Tsar has
always been a good master to me, for he always cleans the warm grate
with me; I hold to him." So the Accursed One could get nothing out
of the hearth-broom.--Then he cried to the hatchet, "Hatchet,
hatchet, where has the Tsar hidden his children?"--The hatchet
replied, "The Tsar has always been a good master to me. He chops
his wood with me, and gives me a place to lie down in; so I'll not
have him disturbed."--Then the Devil cried to the gimlet, "Gimlet,
gimlet, where has the Tsar hidden his children?"--But the gimlet
replied, "The Tsar has always been a good master to me. He drills
little holes with me, and then lets me rest; so I'll let him rest
too."--Then the serpent said to the gimlet, "So the Tsar's a good
master to thee, eh! Well, I can only say that if he's the good
master thou sayest he is, I am rather surprised that he knocks thee
on the head so much with a hammer."--"Well, that's true," said
the gimlet, "I never thought of that. Thou mayst take hold of me if
thou wilt, and draw me out of the top of the hut, near the front
gable; and wherever I fall into the marshy ground, there set to work
and dig with me!"

The Devil did so, and began digging at the spot where the gimlet fe