Atondido Stories
She struggled on and on up the mountain side. All around
the snow lay deep with no track of man or beast in any direction.
"Holena! Holena!"
Still no answer.
The snow fell fast. The icy wind moaned on.
At home Marushka prepared the dinner and looked after the
cow. Still neither Holena nor the stepmother returned.
"What can they be doing all this time?" Marushka thought.
She ate her dinner alone and then sat down to work at the dis-
taff.
The spindle filled and daylight faded and still no sign of
Holena and her mother.
"Dear God in heaven, what can be keeping them!" Marushka
cried anxiously. She peered out the window to see if they were
coming.
The storm had spent itself. The wind had died down. The
fields gleamed white in the snow and up in the sky the frosty
stars were twinkling brightly. But not a living creature was in
sight. Marushka knelt down and prayed for her sister and moth-
er.
The next morning she prepared breakfast for them.
"They'll be very cold and hungry," she said to herself.
She waited for them but they didn't come. She cooked dinner
for them but still they didn't come. In fact they never came, for
they both froze to death on the mountain.
So our good little Marushka inherited the cottage and the
garden and the cow. After a time she married a farmer. He made
her a good husband and they lived together very happily.
311