They brought her to the bank and untied the stone from her white neck, and washed her in fresh water and clothed her in white clothes.  But they had no sooner done all this than she woke up, more beautiful than ever she had been before, though then she was pretty enough, God knows.  She woke, and sprang up, and threw her arms round the neck of the little white lamb, who suddenly became once more her little brother Vanoushka, who had been so thirsty as to drink water from the hoofmark of a sheep.  And Vanoushka laughed and shouted in the sunshine, and the fine gentleman wept tears of joy.  And they all praised God and kissed each other, and went home together, and began to live as happily as before, even more happily, because Vanoushka was no longer a lamb.  But as soon as they got home the fine gentleman turned the old witch out of the house.  And she became an ugly old hag, and went away to the deep woods, shrieking as she went.

“And did she ever come back again?” asked Ivan.

“No, she never came back again,” said old Peter.  “Once was enough.”

“And what happened to Vanoushka when he grew up?”

“He grew up as handsome as Alenoushka was pretty.  And he became a great hunter.  And he married the sister of the fine gentleman.  And they all lived happily together, and ate honey every day, with white bread and new milk.”

THE FIRE-BIRD, THE HORSE OF POWER, AND THE PRINCESS VASILISSA.

Once upon a time a strong and powerful Tzar ruled in a country far away.  And among his servants was a young archer, and this archer had a horse—­a horse of power—­such a horse as belonged to the wonderful men of long ago—­a great horse with a broad chest, eyes like fire, and hoofs of iron.  There are no such horses nowadays.  They sleep with the strong men who rode them, the bogatirs, until the time comes when Russia has need of them.  Then the great horses will thunder up from under the ground, and the valiant men leap from the graves in the armour they have worn so long.  The strong men will sit those horses of power, and there will be swinging of clubs and thunder of hoofs, and the earth will be swept clean from the enemies of God and the Tzar.  So my grandfather used to say, and he was as much older than I as I am older than you, little ones, and so he should know.

Well, one day long ago, in the green time of the year, the young archer rode through the forest on his horse of power.  The trees were green; there were little blue flowers on the ground under the trees; the squirrels ran in the branches, and the hares in the undergrowth; but no birds sang.  The young archer rode along the forest path and listened for the singing of the birds, but there was no singing.  The forest was silent, and the only noises in it were the scratching of four-footed beasts, the dropping of fir cones, and the heavy stamping of the horse of power in the soft path.