Chapter III. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 5 · page 21 2101Then Frost took pity on the girl, wrapped her up in furs, and warmed her with blankets.102Next morning the old woman said to her husband:--103"Drive out, old greybeard, and wake the young couple!"104The old man harnessed his horse and drove off.105When he came to where his daughter was, he found she was alive and had got a good pelisse, a costly bridal veil, and a pannier with rich gifts.106He stowed everything away on the sledge without saying a word, took his seat on it with his daughter, and drove back.107They reached home, and the daughter fell at her stepmother's feet.108The old woman was thunderstruck when she saw the girl alive, and the new pelisse and the basket of linen.109"Ah, you wretch!" she cries. "110But you shan't trick me!"111Well, a little later the old woman says to her husband:--112"Take my daughters, too, to their bridegroom.113The presents he's made are nothing to what he'll give them."114Well, early next morning the old woman gave her girls their breakfast, dressed them as befitted brides, and sent them off on their journey.115In the same way as before the old man left the girls under the pine.116There the girls sat, and kept laughing and saying:117"Whatever is mother thinking of!118All of a sudden to marry both of us off!119As if there were no lads in our village, forsooth!120Some rubbishy fellow may come, and goodness knows who he may be!"121The girls were wrapped up in pelisses, but for all that they felt the cold.122"I say, Prascovia! the frost's skinning me alive.123Well, if our bridegroom[281] doesn't come quick, we shall be frozen to death here!"124"Don't go talking nonsense, Mashka; as if suitors[282] generally turned up in the forenoon.125Why it's hardly dinner-time yet!"126"But I say, Prascovia! if only one comes, which of us will he take?"127"Not you, you stupid goose!"128"Then it will be you, I suppose!"129"Of course it will be me!"130"You, indeed! there now, have done talking stuff and treating people like fools!"131Meanwhile, Frost had numbed the girl's hands, so our damsels folded them under their dress, and then went on quarrelling as before.132"What, you fright! you sleepy-face! you abominable shrew! why, you don't know so much as how to begin weaving: and as to going on with it, you haven't an idea!"133"Aha, boaster! and what is it you know?134Why, nothing at all except to go out to merry-makings and lick your lips there.135We'll soon see which he'll take first!"136While the girls went on scolding like that, they began to freeze in downright earnest.137Suddenly they both cried out at once:138"Whyever is he so long coming.139Do you know, you've turned quite blue!"140Now, a good way off, Frost had begun cracking, snapping his fingers, and leaping from fir to fir.141To the girls it sounded as if some one was coming.142"Listen, Prascovia!143He's coming at last, and with bells, too!"144"Get along with you!145I won't listen; my skin is peeling with cold."146"And yet you're still expecting to get married!"147Then they began blowing on their fingers.148Nearer and nearer came Frost.149At length he appeared on the pine, above the heads of the girls, and said to them:150"Are ye warm, maidens?151Are ye warm, pretty ones?152Are ye warm, my darlings?"153"Oh, Frost, it's awfully cold! we're utterly perished!154We're expecting a bridegroom, but the confounded fellow has disappeared."155Frost slid lower down the tree, cracked away more, snapped his fingers oftener than before.156"Are ye warm, maidens?157Are ye warm, pretty ones?"158"Get along with you!159Are you blind that you can't see our hands and feet are quite dead?"160Still lower descended Frost, still more put forth his might,[283] and said:161"Are ye warm, maidens?"162"Into the bottomless pit with you!163Out of sight, accursed one!" cried the girls--and became lifeless forms.164[284]165Next morning the old woman said to her husband:166"Old man, go and get the sledge harnessed; put an armful of hay in it, and take some sheep-skin wraps.167I daresay the girls are half-dead with cold.168There's a terrible frost outside!169And, mind you, old greybeard, do it quickly!"170Before the old man could manage to get a bite he was out of doors and on his way.171When he came to where his daughters were, he found them dead.172So he lifted the girls on to the sledge, wrapped a blanket round them, and covered them up with a bark mat.173The old woman saw him from afar, ran out to meet him, and called out ever so loud:174"Where are the girls?"175"In the sledge."176The old woman lifted the mat, undid the blanket, and found the girls both dead.177Then, like a thunderstorm, she broke out against her husband, abusing him saying:178"What have you done, you old wretch?179You have destroyed my daughters, the children of my own flesh and blood, my never-enough-to-be-gazed-on seedlings, my beautiful berries!180I will thrash you with the tongs; I will give it you with the stove-rake."1 2← previousChapter III. 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