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Rh The old man opened his eyes and his mouth, stopped chewing, and the girl cried.

"What are you making such a fuss about! The bridegroom is beautiful and rich! Only think how many possessions he has: All the firs and pines glisten and the birches are all feathery. There is scarcely a more magnificent life and he himself is a mighty hero." The old man silently gathered all her belongings, ordered his daughter to put on her sheep skins and started on the way. He finally came to the pine, and turned from the road just as the snow began to fall. In the solitude the old man stopped, ordered his daughter to get out, set her basket under an immense pine and said: "Sit here, await the bridegroom and receive him pleasantly."

Then he turned his horse about and went back home. The little girl sat there and trembled, the cold benumbed her. She wanted to cry but she only had strength to shut her teeth tightly together. Suddenly she heard in the distance the Frost making a fir creek; he sprang crackling from fir to fir. Finally he was high overhead on the pine under which the little girl sat and he asked: "Little girl, are you warm?"

"Yes, father Frost!"

The Frost came down nearer, creeking and crackling still more than before: "Little girl tell me, beautiful girl, are you warm?"

The little girl had almost lost her breath but she still said: "I am warm father Frost."

Then the Frost creeked and crackled still more: "Are you warm little girl, are you warm beautiful child, are you warm my darling?"

The little girl was almost frozen and answered hardly audibly: "Warm, little father."

Then the Frost had pity and wrapped up the little maid in furs and warm coverings.

In the morning the old woman said to her husband: "Go, old fool, and awaken the young pair."

The old man hitched the horse to the sleigh and went to his daughter. He found her alive wrapped up in beautiful furs with a silk neckcloth and beautiful presents lay in her basket. Without saying a word the old man put everything in the sleigh, got