The Firebird and Other Russian Fairy Tales by Arthur Ransome Read Free Book Online

everybody’s boots.
    So off she had to go.
    When she went in she had a good look at her stepmother, and sure enough she had a long nose, and she was as bony as a fish with all the flesh picked off, and the little girl thought of Baba Yaga and shivered, though she did not feel so bad when she remembered the mouseykin out there in the shed in the yard.
    The very next morning it happened. The old man went off to pay a visit to some friends of his in the next village. And as soon as the old man was out of sight the wicked stepmother called the little girl.
    â€œYou are to go to-day to your dear little aunt in the forest,” says she, “and ask her for a needle and thread to mend a shirt.”
    â€œBut here is a needle and thread,” says the little girl.
    â€œHold your tongue,” says the stepmother, and she gnashes her teeth, and they make a noise like clattering tongs. “Hold your tongue,” she says. “Didn’t I tell you you are to go to-day to your dear little aunt to ask for a needle and thread to mend a shirt?”
    â€œHow shall I find her?” says the little girl, nearly ready to cry, for she knew that her aunt was Baba Yaga, the bony-legged, the witch.
    The stepmother took hold of the little girl’s nose and pinched it.
    â€œThat is your nose,” she says. “Can you feel it?”
    â€œYes,” says the poor little girl.
    â€œYou must go along the road into the forest till you come to a fallen tree; then you must turn to your left, and then follow your nose and you will find her,” says the stepmother. “Now, be off with you, lazy one. Here is some food for you to eat by the way.” She gave the little girl a bundle wrapped up in a towel.
    The little girl wanted to go into the shed to tell the mouseykin she was going to Baba Yaga, and to ask what she should do. But she looked back, and there was the stepmother at the door watching her. So she had to go straight on.
    She walked along the road through the forest till she came to the fallen tree. Then she turned to the left. Her nose was still hurting where the stepmother had pinched it, so she knew she had to go straight ahead. She was just setting out when she heard a little noise under the fallen tree.
    â€œScratch—scratch.”
    And out jumped the little mouse, and sat up in the road in front of her.
    â€œO mouseykin, mouseykin,” says the little girl, “my stepmother has sent me to her sister. And that is Baba Yaga, the bony-legged, the witch, and I do not know what to do.”
    â€œIt will not be difficult,” says the little mouse, “because of your kind heart. Take all the things you find in the road, and do with them what you like. Then you will escape from Baba Yaga, and everything will be well.”
    â€œAre you hungry, mouseykin?” said the little girl.
    â€œI could nibble, I think,” says the little mouse.
    The little girl unfastened the towel, and there was nothing in it but stones. That was what the stepmother had given the little girl to eat by the way.
    â€œOh, I’m so sorry,” says the little girl. “There’s nothing for you to eat.”
    â€œIsn’t there?” said mouseykin, and as she looked at them the little girl saw the stones turn to bread and jam. The little girl sat down on the fallen tree, and the little mouse sat beside her, and they ate bread and jam until they were not hungry any more.
    â€œKeep the towel,” says the little mouse; “I think it will be useful. And remember what I said about the things you find on the way. And now good-bye,” says he.
    â€œGood-bye,” says the little girl, and runs along.
    As she was running along she found a nice new handkerchief lying in the road. She picked it up and took it with her. Then she found a little bottle of oil. She picked it up and took it with her. Then she found some scraps of meat.
    â€œPerhaps I’d better take them too,” she