Page:Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar.djvu/74

58 a hurry to go and fetch her back he would have married her by this time, and she wouid have been richer still; but it is no good talking about it now."

Her thoughts were very different from her speech.

"No, my dear," she thought to herself; "I am not going to be beaten by you."

A few days later the woman ordered her unfortunate husband to harness his horses and take her own two daughters, Pasha and Masha, into the wood to try their luck, and see what Jack Frost would give them. Away went the old man, with Pasha and Masha, to the pine forest, and told them to sit on the box under the fir-tree, just as Martha had done. He then left them and went home.

At first the girls enjoyed it very much, and talked and laughed together.

"It does seem such a queer idea," said Pasha, "to send us here to find a lot of dresses and things, just as though we could not buy everything we want in the village, or wait till we go to Moscow."

"We should have to wait long in that case, Pasha, as we are not likely to go there in a hurry."

"Mamma said that we should see some very handsome young men here, if we waited long enough. I wonder whether that is true?"

"I don't know! All I know is that it's getting frightfully cold;" and Masha shivered as she drew her warm furs round her.

But Pasha did not mind the cold; she did not feel it half as much as her sister, for she was blessed with