Atondido Stories
The Story of Marushka and the Wicked Holena
There was once a woman who had two girls. One was her
own daughter, the other a stepchild. Holena, her own daughter,
she loved dearly, but she couldn't bear even the sight of Marush-
ka, the stepchild. This was because Marushka was so much
prettier than Holena. Marushka, the dear child, didn't know how
pretty she was and so she never understood why, whenever she
stood beside Holena, the stepmother frowned so crossly.
Mother and daughter made Marushka do all the housework
alone. She had to cook and wash and sew and spin and take care
of the garden and look after the cow. Holena, on the contrary,
spent all her time decking herself out and sitting around like a
grand lady.
Marushka never complained. She did all she was told to do
and bore patiently their everlasting fault-finding. In spite of all
the hard work she did she grew prettier from day to day, and in
spite of her lazy life Holena grew uglier.
"This will never do," the stepmother thought to herself. "Soon
the boys will come courting and once they see how pretty
Marushka is, they'll pay no attention at all to my Holena. We had
just better do all we can to get rid of that Marushka as soon as
possible."
So they both nagged Marushka all day long. They made her
work harder, they beat her, they didn't give her enough to eat,
they did everything they could think of to make her ugly and
nasty. But all to no avail. Marushka was so good and sweet that,
in spite of all their harsh treatment, she kept on growing prettier.
One day in the middle of January Holena took the notion
that nothing would do but she must have a bunch of fragrant vi-
olets to put in her bodice.
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