rt in one of the stories) are beating quietly
in the dusk. A gold light burns on a timber raft floating down the
river. Beyond the river in the blue midsummer twilight are the broad
Russian plain and the distant forest. Somewhere in that forest of
great trees--a forest so big that the forests of England are little
woods beside it--is the hut where old Peter sits at night and tells
these stories to his grandchildren.

A.R.

VERGEZHA.

CONTENTS

THE HUT IN THE FOREST

THE TALE OF THE SILVER SAUCER AND THE
TRANSPARENT APPLE

SADKO

FROST

THE FOOL OF THE WORLD AND THE FLYING
SHIP

BABA YAGA

THE CAT WHO BECAME HEAD-FORESTER

SPRING IN THE FOREST

THE LITTLE DAUGHTER OF THE SNOW

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

THE STOLEN TURNIPS, THE MAGIC TABLECLOTH,
THE SNEEZING GOAT, AND THE WOODEN
WHISTLE

LITTLE MASTER MISERY

A CHAPTER OF FISH

THE GOLDEN FISH

WHO LIVED IN THE SKULL?

ALENOUSHKA AND HER BROTHER

THE FIRE-BIRD, THE HORSE OF POWER, AND THE
PRINCESS VASILISSA

THE HUNTER AND HIS WIFE

THE THREE MEN OF POWER--EVENING, MIDNIGHT,
AND SUNRISE

SALT

THE CHRISTENING IN THE VILLAGE

LIST OF COLOUR PLATES

They sailed away once more over the blue sea.
_Frontispiece_

There she was, a good fur cloak about her
shoulders and costly blankets round her
feet.

There she was, beating with the pestle and sweeping
with the besom.

Misery seated himself firmly on his shoulders
and pulled out handfuls of his hair.

"Head in air and tail in sea,
Fish, fish, listen to me."

He stepped on one of its fiery wings and pressed it to the ground.

It caught up the three lovely princesses and carried them up into the
air.

OLD PETER'S RUSSIAN TALES.

THE HUT IN THE FOREST.

Outside in the forest there was deep snow. The white snow had crusted
the branches of the pine trees, and piled itself up them till they
bent under its weight. Now and then a snow-laden branch would bend too
far, and huge lumps of snow fell crashing to the ground under the
trees. Then the branch would swing up, and the snow covered it again
with a cold white burden. Sitting in the hut you could hear the
crashing again and again out in the forest, as the tired branches
flung down their loads of snow. Yes, and now and then there was the
howling of wolves far away.

Little Maroosia heard them, and thought of them out ther