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 260 Then he cracked his whip and was about to drive away; before doing so, however, he looked once more at his hut as it was burning, and said,—

"May you burn there, you unclean thing! I am sure to get something for the land at least."

"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed somebody behind him on the cart. Palichka looked round, and on the handle of a scythe the black hen was sitting; she flapped with her wings and began to sing,—

We shall remove from here, we shall not stop here; We shall not stop here, we shall go away from here; We shall not stop here, we shall remove from here; We shall remove from here, somewhere else we shall steal."

Gossip Palichka felt like one thunderstruck. He really did not know what to do next. Then a thought occurred to him whether Rarash would not be persuaded to go away of his own accord if he would feed him well. Accordingly he asked his wife to give Rarash daily a dishful of fresh milk and three small loaves of wheaten bread. Rarash enjoyed this food immensely, and it did not seem at all likely that he would go away. One evening, as Palichka's servant boy returned home from the field, he saw on the steps of the hut the three small loaves which the wife had put there for Rarash. Being hungry the boy took up one of the loaves and ate it.