Atondido Stories
One day at noon just after she had eaten and, as usual, was
going to dance, there suddenly stood before her a most beautiful
maiden. She was dressed in white gauze that was fine as a spi-
der’s web. Long golden hair fell down to her waist and on her
head she wore a wreath of woodland flowers.
Betushka was speechless with surprise and alarm.
The maiden smiled at her and said in a sweet voice:
“Betushka, do you like to dance?”
Her manner was so gracious that Betushka no longer felt
afraid, and answered:
“Oh, I could dance all day long!”
“Come, then, let us dance together,” said the maiden. “I’ll
teach you.”
With that she tucked up her skirt, put her arm about Betush-
ka’s waist, and they began to dance. At once such enchanting
music sounded over their heads that Betushka’s heart went one-
two with the dancing. The musicians sat on the branches of the
birch trees. They were clad in little frock coats, black and gray
and many-colored. It was a carefully chosen orchestra that had
gathered at the bidding of the beautiful maiden: larks, nightin-
gales, finches, linnets, thrushes, blackbirds, and showy mocking-
birds.
Betushka’s cheeks burned, her eyes shone. She forgot her
spinning, she forgot her goats. All she could do was gaze at her
partner who was moving with such grace and lightness that the
grass didn’t seem to bend under her slender feet.
They danced from noon till sundown and yet Betushka was-
n’t the least bit tired. Then they stopped dancing, the music
ceased, and the maiden disappeared as suddenly as she had
come.
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