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 handful of dry earth. “You’ll never get my soul! And you’ll never again imprison under your black pots all the poor innocent souls I liberated!”

Years afterwards when Lidushka had children of her own, she used to tell them this story and say to them:

“And now, my dears, you know why it is dangerous to reach out in the water for a red streamer or a pretty water lily. The wicked nickerman may be there just waiting to catch you.”