Cossack fairy tales and folk-tales . hat name, and if thou dost thou shaltlose thy wife. He called this to mind now, but itwas already too late; what he had said could not beunsaid. Then he reflected what a good wife he hadhad, and how she herself had sought him out, andhow she had waited upon him continually and donehim boundless good, and yet he had not been able torefrain his tongue, so that now, maybe, he would bewithout a wife for the rest of his days. His heartgrew heavy within him as he thought of all this,and he wept bitterly at the harm he had doneto himself. Then the Serpent said to
Cossack fairy tales and folk-tales . hat name, and if thou dost thou shaltlose thy wife. He called this to mind now, but itwas already too late; what he had said could not beunsaid. Then he reflected what a good wife he hadhad, and how she herself had sought him out, andhow she had waited upon him continually and donehim boundless good, and yet he had not been able torefrain his tongue, so that now, maybe, he would bewithout a wife for the rest of his days. His heartgrew heavy within him as he thought of all this,and he wept bitterly at the harm he had doneto himself. Then the Serpent said to him: Weepno more. What is to be, must be. Is it thystanding corn thou art grieved about ? Go upto thy barn, and there thou wilt find all thy cornlying, to the very last little grain. Have I notbrought it all home and threshed it for thee, and seteverything in order ? And now I must depart to theplace where thou didst first find me. Then shecrept off, and the man followed her, weeping andmourning all the time as for one already 108 COSSACK FAIRY TALES. When they reached the forest she stopped and coiledherself round and round beneath a hazel-nut she said to the man : Now kiss me once, butsee to it that I do not bite thee !—Then he kissedher once, and she wound herself round a branch of atree and asked him: What dost thou feel withinthee ?—He answered : At the moment when Ikissed thee it seemed to me as if I knew everythingthat was going on in the world ! —Then she said tohim again : Kiss me a second time !—And whatdost thou feel now ? she asked when he had kissedher again.— Now, said he, I understand alllanguages which are spoken amongst men.—Thenshe said to him : And now kiss me a third time, butthis will be for the last time. Then he kissed theSerpent for the last time, and she said to him:What dost thou feel now?—Now, said he, Iknow all that is going on under the earth.—Gonow, said she, to the Tsar, and he will give theehis daughter for the kn
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectfairyta, bookyear1902
