else, grandfather," said Maroosia.

Old Peter patted her head, and went on.

"I haven't forgotten. The little snow girl leapt into the arms of
Frost her father and Snow her mother, and they carried her away over
the stars to the far north, and there she plays all through the summer
on the frozen seas. In winter she comes back to Russia, and some day,
you know, when you are making a snow woman, you may find the little
daughter of the Snow standing there instead."

"Wouldn't that be lovely!" said Maroosia.

Vanya thought for a minute, and then he said,--

"I'd love her much more than a hen."

PRINCE IVAN, THE WITCH BABY, AND THE LITTLE SISTER OF THE SUN.

Once upon a time, very long ago, there was a little Prince Ivan who
was dumb. Never a word had he spoken from the day that he was
born--not so much as a "Yes" or a "No," or a "Please" or a "Thank
you." A great sorrow he was to his father because he could not speak.
Indeed, neither his father nor his mother could bear the sight of him,
for they thought, "A poor sort of Tzar will a dumb boy make!" They
even prayed, and said, "If only we could have another child, whatever
it is like, it could be no worse than this tongue-tied brat who cannot
say a word." And for that wish they were punished, as you shall hear.
And they took no sort of care of the little Prince Ivan, and he spent
all his time in the stables, listening to the tales of an old groom.

He was a wise man was the old groom, and he knew the past and the
future, and what was happening under the earth. Maybe he had learnt
his wisdom from the horses. Anyway, he knew more than other folk, and
there came a day when he said to Prince Ivan,--

"Little Prince," says he, "to-day you have a sister, and a bad one at
that. She has come because of your father's prayers and your mother's
wishes. A witch she is, and she will grow like a seed of corn. In six
weeks she'll be a grown witch, and with her iron teeth she will eat up
your father, and eat up your mother, and eat up you too, if she gets
the chance. There's no saving the old people; but if you are quick,
and do what I tell you, you may escape, and keep your soul in your
body. And I love you, my little dumb Prince, and do not wish to think
of your little body between her iron teeth. You must go to your father
and ask him for the best horse he has, and then gallop like the wind,
and away to the end of the world."

The little Prince ran off and found his fa