Page:Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar.djvu/69

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upon a time there lived an old Russian peasant with his wife and three daughters—Martha, Pasha, and Masha. Now the eldest, Martha, happened to be a step-daughter, therefore she was, of course, greatly disliked by her step-mother. Early in the morning, till late at night, the step-mother would do nothing but chide the unfortunate Martha, and give her more work than was good for her. She had to go out and get the wood to heat the stoves, wash the floors, feed the cocks and hens, milk the cows, and do a number of other things. Yet the step-mother was not satisfied, and would keep on telling her that she was a lazy, good-for-nothing girl, and that she never by any chance put the hut in proper order, nor put the potatoes in the right dish, and various other little domestic trifles, which do not belong to our story. Martha was, so to speak, always in hot water; still, she wisely held her tongue, trying hard all the time to please her step-mother, who, unfortunately, was the sort of woman that nothing would please. As for the other two girls, they naturally took after their mother, and snubbed Martha right and left, so that the poor