Page:Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar.djvu/272

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upon a time there lived in a Russian village an old peasant woman who had two sons. One, however, died; and the other was from home, but was soon expected to return to his native village.

One evening, as the peasant woman was working in her little hut, a soldier walked in at the open door.

"Good-day, little mother!" he said. "Can I stay here the night?"

"Yes, certainly, with pleasure, little father. But whence come you, and who are you?"

"I am nobody in particular, little mother; I am an emigrant from the next world."

"Ah! my precious soul! One of my sons died a little while ago. Did you happen to come across him?"

"Why, yes, of course! We lived in the same sphere."

"No, really! You don't mean it?"

"He feeds and looks after the young cranes in the next world."

"Oh, my precious soul! But where did he get them?"

"Where did he get them! Why, the young cranes roam about among the sweet-briar!"

"How did he look? What clothes had he on?"