Page:The Russian Garland of Fairy Tales.djvu/149



NCE upon a time there lived an old man named Abrosim, with his old wife Fetinia: they were in great poverty and want, and had a son named Ivanushka, who was fifteen years of age. One day the old man Abrosim brought home a crust of bread for his wife and son to eat; but hardly had he begun to cut the bread than Krutchina (Sorrow) sprang from behind the stove, snatched the crust out of his hands and ran back. At this the old man bowed low to Krutchina, and begged her to give him back the bread as he and his wife had nothing to eat. Old Krutchina answered: "I will not give you back the bread; but I will give you instead a duck, which lays a golden egg every day."

"Well and good," said Abrosim; "at all events I shall go to bed without a supper to-night; only do not deceive me, and tell me where I shall find the duck."

"Early in the morning, as soon as you are up," replied Krutchina, "go into the town and there you will see a duck in a pond; catch it and bring