28 COSSACK FAIRY TALES.

with him; his they took away, and put in its place
one of their own exactly like it.

When the man had slept off his carouse, he arose
and went away, taking the ram with him, after bid-
ding the Jews farewell. When he got to his hut he
found his wife in the doorway, and the moment she
saw him coming, she went into the hut and cried to
her children: “Come, children! make haste, make
haste! for daddy is coming, and brings a little ram
along with him ; getup, and look sharp about it! An
evil year of waiting has been the lot of wretched me,
but he has come home at last.” ;

The husband arrived at the door and said: “ Open
the door, little wife; open, I say!’—The wife replied:
“Thou art not a great noblenian, so open the door
thyself. Why dost thou get so drunk that thou dost
not know how to open a door?” It’s an evil time that
I spend with thee. Here. we are with all these little
children, and yet thou dost go away and drink.”—
Then the wife opened the door, and the husband
walked into the hut and said: “Good health to thee,
dear wife!”—But the wife replied: “ Why dost thou
bring that ram inside the hut, can’t it stay outside
the walls ?”—‘ Wife, wife!” said the man, “speak,
but don’t screech. Now we shall have all manner of
good things, and the children will have a fine time of
it.’—* What!” said the wife, “what good can.we