Page:Russian Fairy Book (N. H. Dole).djvu/20

6 to go away from home for a long time on important business. The stepmother went to live in another house which stood near a dense forest, and in this was a hut where Baba Yaga the Witch dwelt. She was a wicked hag who never permitted any person to approach her, and she ate men like chickens.

Having settled in her new home, the merchant's wife kept inventing pretexts to send the detested Vasilisa into the forest, but the girl always came back without accident. The Doll showed her the way and did not let her go near the Baba Yaga's hut.

Autumn came. The stepmother one time gave the three girls their evening's work to do: she bade one to make woven lace, and the second to knit stockings, but she set Vasilisa to spinning. She put out the lights throughout the house and left only one little candle where the girls were working, and she herself went to bed. While the girls were working the candle began to gutter. One of the girls took the snuffers to trim the wick, but instead of doing so she followed her mother's directions and, as if accidentally, put out the candle.

"Now what are we going to do?" asked the girls. "There is not a light in the whole house and our stints are not finished! We must go to the Baba Yaga after a light."