And the old woman got into the flour sack. "Don't ask me any questions," says the old man; and he took the sack in his teeth and began slowly climbing up the stairs, holding on with both hands. He climbed and climbed, but he did not climb fast enough for the old woman. "Are we at the top?" says she. The old man said nothing, but went on, climbing up and up, nearly dead with the weight of the old woman in the sack which he was holding in his teeth. He climbed a little further, and the old woman screamed out,-- "Are we at the top now? We must be at the top. Let me out, you old fool!" The old man said nothing; he climbed on and on. The old woman raged in the flour sack. She jumped about in the sack, and screamed at the old man,-- "Are we near the top now? Answer me, can't you! Answer me at once, or you'll pay for it later. Are we near the top?" "Very near," said the old man. And as he opened his mouth to say that the sack slipped from between his teeth, and bump, bump, bumpety bump, the old woman in the sack fell all the way to the very bottom, bumping on every step. That was the end of her. After that the old man lived alone in the hut. When he wanted tobacco or clothes or a new axe, he made the goat sneeze some gold pieces, and off he went to the town with plenty of money in his pocket. When he wanted his dinner he had only to lay the tablecloth. He never had any washing up to do, because the tablecloth did it for him. When he wanted to get rid of troublesome guests, he gave them the whistle to blow. And when he was lonely and wanted company, he went to the little hut under the pine trees and played with the little queer children. LITTLE MASTER MISERY. Once upon a time there were two brothers, peasants, and one was kind and the other was cunning. And the cunning one made money and became rich--very rich--so rich that he thought himself far too good for the village. He went off to the town, and dressed in fine furs, and clothed his wife in rich brocades, and made friends among the merchants, and began to live as merchants live, eating all day long, no longer like a simple peasant who eats kasha one day, kasha the next day, and for a change kasha on the third day also. And always he grew richer and richer.