Atondido Stories
He rested that night and early next morning presented him-
self to the old witch and said:
“What work am I to do today, mistress?”
Yezibaba looked him over from head to foot. Then she took
him to a window and said: “What do you see out there?”
“I see a rocky hillside.”
“Good. Go to that rocky hillside, cultivate it, plant it in trees
that will grow, blossom, and bear fruit tonight. Tomorrow morn-
ing bring me the ripe fruit. Here is a wooden hoe with which to
work.”
“Alas,” thought Raduz to himself, “did ever a man have such
a task as this? What can I do on that rocky hillside with a wood-
en hoe? How can I finish my task in so short a time?”
He started to work but he hadn’t struck three blows with the
wooden hoe before it broke. In despair he tossed it aside and sat
down under a beech tree.
In the meantime wicked old Yezibaba had cooked a disgust-
ing mess of toads which she told Ludmila to carry out to the
serving man for his dinner. Ludmila was sorry for the poor
young man who had fallen into her mother’s clutches and she
said to herself: “What has he done to deserve such unkind treat-
ment? I won’t let him eat this nasty mess. I’ll share my own din-
ner with him.”
She waited until her mother was out of the room, then she
took Yezibaba’s magic wand and hid it under her apron. After
that she hurried out to Raduz, whom she found sitting under the
beech tree with his face in his hands.
“Don’t be discouraged,” she said to him. “It is true your mis-
tress cooked you a mess of toads for your dinner but, see, I have
thrown them away and have brought you my own dinner in-
stead. As for your task,” she continued, “I will help you with
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