216 COSSACK FAIRY TALES.

for the old man.—*‘ Well, old man,” said he, “’tis no
use for thee to go to school, that’s plain, Return
home. Ill tell thee what to do so that thy children
shall never send thee to school again. Fear not, old
man, weep no more, and let not thy soul be troubled !
God shall bless thee, and all will be well. I know
well what ought to be done here.” So the nobleman
comforted the old man, and the old man began to be
merry. Then the nobleman took out his purse, it was
a real nobleman’s purse, with a little sack in the
middle of it to hold small change. Lord! what a
lovely thing it was! The more he looked at it, the
more the old man marvelled at it. The nobleman took
this purse and began filling it full with something.
When he had well filled it, he gave it to the old man.
“Take this and go home to thy children,” said he, ‘and
when thou hast got home, call together all thy four
sons and say to them: My dear children, long long ago,
when Iwas younger than I am now, and knocked about
in the world a bit, I made a little money. ‘I won't
spend it,’ I said to myself, ‘for one never knows what
may happen.’ So I went into a forest, my children,
and dug a hole beneath an oak, and there I hid my
little store of money. I did not bother much about
the money afterwards, because I had such good
children ; but when you sent me to school I came to
this self-same oak, and I said to myself: ‘I wonder