Page:Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar.djvu/226

210 Marevna, who, when she saw her dear one, threw her arms round him and began to weep bitterly.

"Oh, King Vladimir!" she cried, "why did you not listen to me? Why did you open that door after I begged you not to do so, and let that wretched skeleton loose?"

"Forgive me, dearest. Try to forget the past, and come with me; let us fly from here while the skeleton is not looking!"

Marie-Marevna was at first rather afraid; but at last, after a great deal of coaxing, she condescended to accompany her husband. All this time the skeleton had been out hunting. Towards evening he turned homewards, and as he was riding along his good horse began to stumble beneath him, a thing which it had never done before.

"What is the matter with you, you dissatisfied brute?" the skeleton asked. "Is there any great misfortune in the air?"

"Yes," returned the horse; "King Vladimir has been to your palace, and carried away Marie-Marevna, the beautiful queen."

"Can we not overtake them?"

"Oh, yes! You could even sow some wheat in the ground, and wait till it grows; you could reap and thresh it, and grind it into flour, and bake five ovens full of bread, and even after that you could easily overtake King Vladimir and Marie-Marevna!"

Off rode, or rather flew, the skeleton, and in a very short time he reached the unfortunate couple.

"I will forgive you this time. King Vladimir," exclaimed the skeleton, "for running away with