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Then his wife began to watch at the window, and at last she saw her husband driving towards home, and she said to herself: “That's all right, there come the old man's daughter's bones back in the sledge.”
But the doggie outside said: “Bow, wow, bow-wow-wow! The old man's bringing his daughter home. She's blooming like the poppy-bloom, and she's got a fine present, and a new coat with a beaver collar!” And lo and behold! it was true; the old man drove up with his daughter alive and well, in her fine clothes and with her presents. “Well,” thought her step-mother, “if King Frost has given all those things to the old man's daughter, he'll give my pretty girl ever so much more.” And she said to her husband: “Take my daughter to the same place as quick as you can, and let King Frost give her a share too!”
So the old man took her daughter, left her in the forest, and then drove off home. And there the girl sat, with her teeth chattering with the cold, when lo and behold! there was King Frost coming along, and he said: “Hullo, little girl, are you warm?”
And she answered: “What's that got to do with you? Go away to where you came from!” And King Frost grew angry and blew a cold breath on to the girl, and then asked her: “Are you warm, little girl?” And she answered: “Fancy asking! You can see I'm frozen! Be quick and give me the presents, and then get away to your home.” Then King Frost began to make the girl still colder. And he kept making it colder and colder till he had frozen her through and through.
Meanwhile her mother was saying to the old man at home: “Go into the forest now, and bring back my daughter. And mind, don't forget to take the trunk and the fine clothes as well.” So the old man started off, and his wife began to watch at the window.
She waited and waited, and at last she saw her husband driving towards home, and said to herself: “That's all right, there comes the old man bringing back my daughter all in silver and in gold.”
But the doggie outside said: “Bow, wow, bow-wow-wow, the old man's bringing back bones in his sledge!” The old man drove up, and it was too true, instead of the bad old woman's daughter there was only an icicle!
THE BEAR'S PAW
One day a peasant saw a bear asleep in the forest, so he crept up to him and cut off one of his hind paws with an axe. And he brought the paw home, and said to his wife: “Boil some soup from the flesh, and knit some warm gloves out of the wool.” So she took off the skin, threw the flesh into the pot to boil, and sat down to spin the wool.
And when Bruin woke up, he found his paw gone. There was no help for it, so he cut a bit of wood off a tree, hewed it, tied it on instead of his leg, and set out for the village. As he went along he sang:
“Hobble, hobble, hobble,
On my lime-tree leg,
On my birchen crutch!
The water's asleep,
And the earth's asleep,
The whole village is asleep,
Only one woman's awake,
And she's boiling my flesh,
Sitting on my skin,
And spinning my wool!”
And the peasant's wife got very frightened, and hid as quick as she could in the cellar under the floor.
And Bruin went into the house, and saw there was no one there. So he took his bit of skin, got his flesh out of the pot and made off.
May I?
THE BEAR AND THE OLD MAN'S DAUGHTERS
There was once an old man and he had three little daughters, and one day he said to them: “I am going out into the fields to plough, and you, my little daughters, bake me a loaf and bring it to me.” “But how are we to find you, daddy?” they said.
“As I go along,” he said, “I shall drop shavings in a row along the path, and that will help you to find me.” And as the old man rode along he threw down the shavings one after the other, and a bear came and drew them all aside on to the path that led to his den.
Then the eldest daughter said to the youngest: “Go and take the bread to daddy.” And the youngest said: “But how am I to find daddy, and where am I to take the bread to?” Then the eldest answered: “He kept dropping shavings in a row along the path as he went.” Then she took the loaf, and started off to follow the shavings, when lo and behold! she came to the bear's den.
And the bear saw her and said: “O-ho! What a nice little girl has come to see me!”
The next day the old man went off to sow, and he said to his daughters: “My dear little daughters, my clever little ones, bake me a loaf and bring it to me in the field.” “But how are we to find you, daddy?” they said. And he answered: “Yesterday I threw one row of shavings down,
