leave," she put out her hands to the fire. She hadn't even the courtesy
to say: "Good-day."

Great January frowned.

"Who are you?" he asked in a deep voice. "And what do you want?"

Holena looked at him rudely.

"You old fool, what business is it of yours who I am or what I want!"

She tossed her head airily and walked off into the forest.

The frown deepened on Great January's brow. Slowly he stood up and
waved the staff over his head. The fire died down. Then the sky grew
dark; an icy wind blew over the mountain; and the snow began to fall
so thickly that it looked as if some one in the sky were emptying a
huge feather-bed.

Holena could not see a step before her. She struggled on and on. Now
she ran into a tree, now she fell into a snowdrift. In spite of her warm
cloak her limbs began to weaken and grow numb. The snow kept on
falling, the icy wind kept on blowing.

Did Holena at last begin to feel sorry that she had been so wicked and
cruel to Marushka? No, she did not. Instead, the colder she grew, the
more bitterly she reviled Marushka in her heart, the more bitterly she
reviled even the good God Himself.

Meanwhile at home her mother waited for her and waited. She stood at the
window as long as she could, then she opened the door and tried to peer
through the storm. She waited and waited, but no Holena came.

"Oh dear, oh dear, what can be keeping her?" she thought to herself.
"Does she like those apples so much that she can't leave them, or what
is it? I think I'll have to go out myself and find her."

So the stepmother put her fur cloak about her shoulders, threw a shawl
over her head, and started out.

She called: "Holena! Holena!" but no one answered.

She struggled on and on up the mountain side. All around the snow lay
deep with no track of man or beast in any direction.

"Holena! Holena!"

Still no answer.

The snow fell fast. The icy wind moaned on.

At home Marushka prepared the dinner and looked after the cow. Still
neither Holena nor the stepmother returned.

"What can they be doing all this time?" Marushka thought.

She ate her dinner alone and then sat down to work at the distaff.

The spindle filled and daylight faded and still no sign of Holena and
her mother.

"Dear God in heaven, what can be keeping them!" Marushka cried
anxiously. She peered out the window to see if they were coming.

The storm had spent itself. The wind had died down. The fields gleamed
white in the