Atondido Stories
“Dear Ludmila,” Raduz said, “I know very well that without
you I am lost! How can I ever thank you for all you have done
for me?”
Ludmila said she didn’t want thanks. She was helping Raduz
because she was sorry for him and loved him.
Then she took Yezibaba’s wand and struck the rocky cliff. At
once, instead of the bare rock, there were sacks of grain and a
millstone that worked merrily away grinding out fine flour. As
you watched, the flour was kneaded up into loaves and then,
pop went the loaves into a hot oven and soon the air was sweet
with the smell of baking bread.
Raduz begged Ludmila to stay and talk to him, but she re-
membered that the old witch was waiting for her and she hur-
ried home.
The next morning Raduz carried the baked loaves to Yeziba-
ba. She sniffed at them suspiciously and then her wicked heart
nearly cracked with bitterness to think that Raduz had accom-
plished his third task. But she hid her disappointment and pre-
tending to smile, she said:
“I see, my dear boy, that you have been able to do all the
tasks that I have set you. This is enough for the present. Today
you may rest.”
That night the old witch hatched the plot of boiling Raduz
alive. She had him fill a big cauldron with water and put it on
the fire. Then she said to her husband:
“Now, old man, I’m going to take a nap but when the water
boils wake me up.”
As soon as Yezibaba was asleep Ludmila gave the old man
strong wine until he, too, fell asleep. Then she called Raduz and
told him what Yezibaba was planning to do.
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