welve Months, and joyfully ran home. You
may imagine the astonishment of Katinka and the stepmother.

"Red apples in January! Where did you get these apples?" asked
Katinka.

"Up yonder on the mountain; there is a tree there that is as red with
them as a cherry-tree in July."

"Why did you bring only two? You ate the rest on the way."

"Oh, sister, I did not touch them; I was only permitted to shake the
tree twice, and but two apples fell."

"Begone, you fool!" cried Katinka, striking her sister, who ran away
crying.

The wicked girl tasted one of the apples; she had never eaten anything
so delicious in her life, neither had her mother. How they regretted
not having any more!

[Illustration: TURNED OUT BY HER MOTHER, DOBRUNKA WENT UNHAPPILY INTO
THE FOREST]

"Mother," said Katinka, "give me my fur cloak. I will go to the forest
and find the tree, and whether I am permitted or not I will shake
it so hard that all the apples will be ours."

The mother tried to stop her. A spoiled child listens to nothing.
Katinka wrapped herself in her fur cloak, drew the hood over her head,
and hastened to the forest.

Everything was covered with snow; there was not even a footpath.
Katinka lost her way, but she pushed on, spurred by pride and
covetousness. She spied a light in the distance. She climbed and
climbed till she reached the place, and found the Twelve Months each
seated on his stone, motionless and silent. Without asking their
permission, she approached the fire.

"Why have you come here? What do you want? Where are you going?" asked
old January, gruffly.

"What matters it to you, old fool?" answered Katinka. "It is none of
your business where I came from or whither I am going." She plunged
into the forest. January frowned and raised his staff above his head.
In the twinkling of an eye the sky was overcast, the fire went out,
the snow fell, and the wind blew. Katinka could not see the way before
her. She lost herself, and vainly tried to retrace her steps. The snow
fell and the wind blew. She called her mother, she cursed her sister,
she cursed God. The snow fell and the wind blew. Katinka froze, her
limbs stiffened, and she fell motionless. The snow still fell and the
wind still blew.

The mother went without ceasing from the window to the door, and from
the door to the window. The hours passed and Katinka did not return.

"I must go and look for my daughter," said she. "The child has
forgotten herself wi