Page:Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar.djvu/124

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upon a time there lived an old man and his wife, but the man becoming a widower soon married again. It so happened that the first wife had left a daughter, whom the second wife, of course, hated and wanted to get rid of in some way or other.

One day the father went out on business, leaving his little girl with her step-mother. Scarcely had he left the house when the woman said to the girl,—

"Go to your aunt, my sister, and ask her for a needle and thread to make you a dress."

Now this step-mother's sister was a wicked old witch. The little girl not being at all stupid, and knowing this, went first to her real aunt, her mother's sister, to ask her advice.

"Good-day, aunty!" said she.

"Good-day, my dear. What brings you here?"

"My step-mother has told me to go to her sister, the witch, to ask for a needle and thread to sew me a dress, but I thought I had better come to you first, for your advice."

"When you want to get away from the witch," began the aunt, "the trees will wave their branches in your face to prevent you from passing, but you must tie them up with the silk ribbons, which I shall give you. Then the gates will creak and shut with