ooking from the high sandy banks upon their reflection
in the lake as if in a mirror, and it seemed as if there was another
forest in the water; and when the trees were swaying on the earth they
were also swaying in the water, and when they quivered on the earth
they seemed to quiver in the water; as they stood in the still air
motionless, then every needle of the pines was painted distinctly on
the smooth, unruffled surface, and the straight trunks of the trees
standing like rows of pillars reaching afar off into infinity. In the
middle of the lake the water in the daytime reflected the sun, and in
the morning and the evening the glories of its rising and its setting;
at night the moon and stars; and it seemed to be as deep as the dome
of the sky above us is high, beyond the sun, moon, and stars.

In the house dwelt the forester, named Stephan, and his daughter,
Kasya, a maiden of sixteen. Kasya was the light of the household, as
bright and fresh as the morning. She was brought up in great innocence
and in the fear of God. Her uncle, who was now dead, and who was a
poor but devout man, the organist of the neighboring church, had
taught her to read her prayer book, and her education was perfected by
her communing with nature. The bees taught her to work, the doves
taught her purity, the happy sparrows to speak joyfully to her father,
the quiet water taught her peace, the serenity of the sky taught her
contemplation, the matin-bell of the distant church called her to
devotion, and the universal good in all nature, which reflected the
love of God, sank deep into her soul.

Therefore the father and Kasya led a peaceful and happy life,
surrounded by the silence and solitude of the woods.

One noon, before Ascension Day, Stephan came home to his dinner. He
had visited a large tract of the forest, so he arrived weary, having
returned through the thickets of the swamp. Kasya placed the dinner on
the table, and after they had finished and she had fed the dog and
washed the dishes, she said:

"Papa."

"What is it?"

"I shall go into the woods."

"Go, go," adding jestingly, "and let some wolf or wild beast devour
you."

"I shall go and gather herbs. To-morrow is Ascension Day and they will
be needed in the church."

"If so, you can go."

She covered her head with a yellow kerchief embroidered with blue
flowers, and looking for her basket she began singing:

"The falcon came flying, the falcon came grey."

The o