Page:The disobedient kids and other Czecho-Slovak fairy tales.pdf/19





Once upon a time, there was a little girl, six years old. Bozena by name. She was an orphan. She had nothing in the world but the clothes on her back and a piece of bread which her poor godfather had given her, when he sent her off to her aunt.

Alone and forsaken, she set out for the village where her aunt lived in a little hut. It seemed a great distance to this little girl. She was timid and afraid as she trudged along and oh, so lonely. At a turn in the road, she came upon a poor beggar man, who said, "Little girl, will you give me something to eat? I am very hungry." Instantly, she gave him the whole piece of bread, without thinking of herself at all, saying, "God bless it to you."

By this time it was quite dark. Going a little further on in the wood, Bozena met another little girl, shivering with the cold. She had no shirt. She