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 gathered a great bunch. Then she thanked the Months politely, bade them good-day, and hurried away.

Just imagine Holena and the stepmother’s surprise when they saw Marushka coming home through the snow with her hands full of violets. They opened the door and instantly the fragrance of the flowers filled the cottage.

“Where did you get them?” Holena demanded rudely.

“High up in the mountain,” Marushka said. “The ground up there is covered with them.”

Holena snatched the violets and fastened them in her waist. She kept smelling them herself all afternoon and she let her mother smell them, but she never once said to Marushka:

“Dear sister, won’t you take a smell?”

The next day as she was sitting idle in the chimney corner she took the notion that she must have some strawberries to eat. So she called Marushka and said:

“Here you, Marushka, go out to the forest and get me some strawberries.”

“Good heavens, my dear sister,” Marushka said, “where can I find strawberries this time of year?