42 COSSACK FAIRY TALES.

the roadside, a spring of pure water, and thou shalt
desire to drink of it, and when thou hast drunk
thereof thou shalt burst. But if any of these thy
huntsmen hear and tell thee of this thing, he shall
become stone to the girdle.” All this that huntsman
heard, and he thought to himself: “Woe is me!”

Again, towards the third cockcrow, he heard some-
thing else coming to the window, and it said: “Oh,
thon son of a dog! thou didst say: ‘If only we had
a warm hut, and a white bed, and soft bread and
sour kvas, we should have nought to complain of,
but would tell tales and feien fables till dawn’; but
now thou hast forgotten all thy fine promises !
Wherefore this shall befall thee on thy way home.
Thou shalt come upon a feather-bed in the highway ;
a longing for rest shall come over thee, and thou wilt
he down on it, and the moment thou lest down
thereon thou shalt burst. But if any of thy hunts-
men hear this thing and tell it thee, he shall become
stone up to the neck!” All this that huntsman
heard, and then he awoke his comrades and said:
“Tt is time to depart !”—“ Let us go then,” said the
nobleman.

So on they went, and they had not gone very far
when they saw an apple-tree growing by the wayside,
and on it were apples so beautiful that words cannot
describe them. The nobleman felt that he must taste