Page:Russian Fairy Book (N. H. Dole).djvu/32

16 when the eyes gazed so steadily at the stepmother and her daughters that it burnt them. They tried to hide, but wherever they went the eyes always followed them. In the morning they were burnt to ashes, but it did not touch Vasilisa.

Then Vasilisa buried the skull in the ground, locked the house up, went into the city, and asked for shelter with an old woman who had no relations. She said to the old woman: "It is tiresome for me to have nothing to do, grannie. Come buy me the very best flax and I will spin for you."

The woman bought some of the very best flax and Vasilisa sat down to her task. The work fairly glowed under her hands and the thread that she made came out as smooth and even as hair. She made a lot of thread the finest that ever was seen. No one could equal it. Vasilisa had gone to ask her Doll's advice, and the Doll had said: "Bring me an old comb and an old shuttle, even a curry-comb: I will do it for you."

So Vasilisa got her all that she asked for, and went to bed; and the Doll during the night made a splendid loom.

Toward the end of the winter the linen was all spun, and it was so fine that one could pass