10 COSSACK FAIRY TALES.

dove was just like another. ‘Dost thou recognize
thy son?” asked Oh. “An thou knowest him again,
he is thine; an thou knowest him not, he is mine.”
Now all the doves there were pecking at the wheat,
all but one that sat alone beneath the pear-tree,
sticking out its breast and pruning its feathers.
“That is my son,” said the man.—‘‘Since thou hast
guessed him, take him,” replied Oh. ‘Then the father
took the dove, and immediately it changed into a
handsome young man, and a handsomer was not to be
found in the wide world. The father rejoiced greatly
and embraced and kissed him. “ Let us go home, my
son!” said he. So they went.

As they went along the road together they fell a-
talking, and his father asked him how he had fared
at Oh’s. The son told him. Then the father told
the son what he had suffered, and it was the son’s
turn to listen. Furthermore the father said: “ What
shall we do now, my son? I am poor and thou art
poor: hast thou served these three years and earned
nothing ?”—‘‘Grieve not, dear dad, all will come
right in the end. Look! there are some young
nobles hunting after a fox. I will turn myself into a
greyhound and catch the fox, then the young noble-
men will want to buy me of thee, and thou must
sell me to them for three hundred rubles—only,
mind thou sell me without a chain; then we shall