Nearer and nearer came Frost. At length he appeared on the pine, above the heads of the girls, and said to them: "Are ye warm, maidens? Are ye warm, pretty ones? Are ye warm, my darlings?" "Oh, Frost, it's awfully cold! we're utterly perished! We're expecting a bridegroom, but the confounded fellow has disappeared." Frost slid lower down the tree, cracked away more, snapped his fingers oftener than before. "Are ye warm, maidens? Are ye warm, pretty ones?" "Get along with you! Are you blind that you can't see our hands and feet are quite dead?" Still lower descended Frost, still more put forth his might,[283] and said: "Are ye warm, maidens?" "Into the bottomless pit with you! Out of sight, accursed one!" cried the girls--and became lifeless forms.[284] Next morning the old woman said to her husband: "Old man, go and get the sledge harnessed; put an armful of hay in it, and take some sheep-skin wraps. I daresay the girls are half-dead with cold. There's a terrible frost outside! And, mind you, old greybeard, do it quickly!" Before the old man could manage to get a bite he was out of doors and on his way. When he came to where his daughters were, he found them dead. So he lifted the girls on to the sledge, wrapped a blanket round them, and covered them up with a bark mat. The old woman saw him from afar, ran out to meet him, and called out ever so loud: "Where are the girls?" "In the sledge." The old woman lifted the mat, undid the blanket, and found the girls both dead. Then, like a thunderstorm, she broke out against her husband, abusing him saying: "What have you done, you old wretch? You have destroyed my daughters, the children of my own flesh and blood, my never-enough-to-be-gazed-on seedlings, my beautiful berries! I will thrash you with the tongs; I will give it you with the stove-rake." "That's enough, you old goose! You flattered yourself you were going to get riches, but your daughters were too stiff-necked. How was I to blame? it was you yourself would have it." The old woman was in a rage at first, and used bad language; but afterwards she made it up with her stepdaughter, and they all lived together peaceably, and thrived, and bore no malice. A neighbor made an offer of marriage, the wedding was celebrated, and Marfa is now living happily. The old man frightens his grandchildren with (stories about) Frost, and doesn't let them have their own way.