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16 like a tender mother full of grief and yearning for her young one, she cried aloud,—

"Ah, me! my Snyegurka! Ah, me! my darling dove! Where art thou?"

She often fancied she could hear her dear Snyegurka's painful cry when she disappeared. Alas! alas! Snyegurka was nowhere to be found.

Where had Snyegurka gone? Had some wild beast seized and dragged her into his lair? or a bird of prey carried her across the dark blue sea to its nest? No; neither bird nor beast had carried the girl away. When Snyegurka, following her companions, sprang over the fire, she melted away and changed in an instant into a beautiful white cloud, rose up, and disappeared in the sky for ever!