Page:Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar.djvu/146

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a pleasant little Russian village a long, long time ago, there lived an old peasant and his wife, who had an only son, by name Ivashko, whom they dearly loved.

One bright summer morning Ivashko asked his parents to let him go fishing in a little lake hard by.

"Fishing!" exclaimed his mother, "how can so small a boy as you go a-fishing? You would surely drown yourself!"

"No, mother dear!" replied the boy, "I will not drown myself, but will bring you some fish for supper. So please let me go!"

The old woman at last consented, and, dressing him up in a little white shirt and a red sash, let him go.

Ivashko, when he came to the lake, got into his father's little boat and cried,—

Away swam the little boat, far into the middle of the lake, and Ivashko began fishing. He caught so many fish that the little boat soon became quite full. Still he went on catching more, when he suddenly heard his father's voice calling to him,—