Page:Russian Wonder Tales.djvu/321



HERE lived in a certain town a merchant who was seven hundred times richer than anyone else, so that there was no wealth in the whole Tzardom to be compared with his. Whatever business he embarked upon prospered exceedingly and all that he handled seemed to turn to gold, so that people called him "Marko the Rich." God had granted him no sons and but one daughter, as sweet as sweet clover, who was named Anasthasia and who was five years old.

For all his wealth, Marko the Rich was mean and flint-hearted. He gave as stingily as might be to the Church and to the poor. He could not bear to see a beggar and did one but approach his windows, he would order his servants to loose his fierce wolf-hounds and set the beasts upon him. For this reason he was feared and hated throughout all the country-side.