Page:Czech Folk Tales.pdf/199



upon a time there was an old maid-servant on a farm. She was a score or two years old, but she wanted to get married, though nobody would even touch her. She never missed a dance: she was sure to turn up at every one of them, though nobody ever asked her to dance. So at last she said:

"l'd dance with Old Nick if only he'd come."

The clock struck eleven and a youth clothed in green entered the room. He went straight up to our Kitty and began to dance with her. All the girls couldn't keep from laughing, but they daren't laugh openly. So they held their aprons over their faces. Kitty was very angry, but she kept on dancing like the wind. She thought: "Let the fools laugh; they'd be glad enough to dance with the lad themselves."

It was hard upon twelve now, and Old Nick—for Old Nick it was—had to start