Page:Russian Fairy Book (N. H. Dole).djvu/45

Rh flower, my darling daughter, I do not like it at all." And he whispered softly in her ear: "You see, this little flower was a keepsake; I got it of a stranger, a little old man, on condition that I would let you marry his son Finist the Bright-Hawk."

"Do not be troubled, father dear," said his daughter in reply; "you see he is such a fine and courteous young man, and he flies like a bright hawk through the sky, but as soon as he touches the moist earth he becomes a fine young man again."

"So you know him, then?"

"I know him, yes, I know him, my dear father. Last Sunday he was at mass, and he kept gazing at me and I talked with him. You see he loves me, father dear."

The old man shook his head, looked at his daughter so pitifully, crossed himself, and said: "Go to your little room, my darling daughter. It is time to go to bed. Morning is wiser than Evening. We will think it over."

So the girl went to her room and put the ruby-red flower in water; then she opened the window and gazed out into the blue distance.

From somewhere or other there suddenly flew before her Finist the Bright-Hawk-of-the-gaudy-feathers, and he flew straight into the window,