Agoloso Presents - Atondido Stories Agoloso Presents - Atondido Stories 2 | Page 295

Atondido Stories that. Here is my mother’s magic wand. I have but to strike the rocky hillside and by tomorrow the trees that my mother has or- dered will spring up, blossom, and bear fruit.” Ludmila did as she promised. She struck the ground with the magic wand and instantly instead of the rocky hillside there ap- peared an orchard with rows on rows of trees that blossomed and bore fruit as you watched them. Raduz looked from Ludmila to the orchard and couldn’t find words with which to express his surprise and gratitude. Then Ludmila spread out her dinner and together they ate it, laughing merrily and talking. Raduz would have kept Ludmila all the af- ternoon but she remembered that Yezibaba was waiting for her and she hurried away. The next morning Raduz presented Yezibaba a basket of ripe fruit. She sniffed it suspiciously and then very grudgingly acknowledged that he had accomplished his task. “What am I to do today?” Raduz asked. Yezibaba led him to a second window and asked him what he saw there. “I see a rocky ravine covered with brambles,” he said. “Right. Go now and clear away the brambles, dig up the ra- vine, and plant it in grape vines. Tomorrow morning bring me the ripe grapes. Here is another wooden hoe with which to work.” Raduz took the hoe and set to work manfully. At the first blow the hoe broke into three pieces. “Alas,” he thought, “what is going to happen to me now? Unless Ludmila helps me again, I am lost.” At home Yezibaba was busy cooking a mess of serpents. When noonday came she said to Ludmila: “Here, my child, is dinner for the serving man. Take it out to him.” 291