Atondido Stories
The Wood Maiden: The Story of Betushka and the Golden
Birch Leaves
Betushka was a little girl. Her mother was a poor widow with
nothing but a tumble-down cottage and two little nanny-goats.
But poor as they were Betushka was always cheerful. From
spring till autumn she pastured the goats in the birch wood. Eve-
ry morning when she left home her mother gave her a little bas-
ket with a slice of bread and a spindle.
“See that you bring home a full spindle,” her mother always
said.
Betushka had no distaff, so she wound the flax around her
head. Then she took the little basket and went romping and sing-
ing behind the goats to the birch wood. When they got there she
sat down under a tree and pulled the fibers of the flax from her
head with her left hand, and with her right hand let down the
spindle so that it went humming along the ground. All the while
she sang until the woods echoed and the little goats nibbled
away at the leaves and grass.
When the sun showed midday, she put the spindle aside,
called the goats and gave them a mouthful of bread so that they
wouldn’t stray, and ran off into the woods to hunt berries or any
other wild fruit that was in season. Then when she had finished
her bread and fruit, she jumped up, folded her arms, and danced
and sang.
The sun smiled at her through the green of the trees and the
little goats, resting on the grass, thought: “What a merry little
shepherdess we have!”
After her dance she went back to her spinning and worked
industriously. In the evening when she got home her mother
never had to scold her because the spindle was empty.
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