THE CRYSTAL APPLE AND THE SILVER SAUCER There is a strong Celtic flavour about this episode. Cf. The Twa Sisters o’ Binnorie. Ho’s ta’en three locks o’ her yellow hair (Binnorie, oh Binnorie), And wi’ them strung his harp sae rare By the bonny mill-dams of Binnorie. And sune the harp sang loud and clear (Binnorie, oh Binnorie), Fareweel my father, and mother dear! By the bonny mill-dams of Binnorie. And then, as plain as plain could be, (Binnorie, oh Binnorie), There sits my sister wha drowned me! By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie. In this story the Russian of the words sung by the piper is also in Russian ballad metre. _Danílo the Unfortunate._ This is a prose version of a ballad and contains a very full account of this legend. The old hag whom Danílo meets on the way is elsewhere called the Wise Woman of Kíev, an old witch with the ugly qualities generally assigned. _Death._ Death is feminine in Russian and occurs all through the folk-lore as the visible figure of a skeleton whom they met by the way on the roadsides, and who may be cheated of her prey or dealt with like any other demon. _Dobrýnya Nikítich._ One of the great figures at the legendary court of Prince Vladímir. He was a dragon-slayer, but his principal employment was as ambassador. THE DREAM. NOTES The _izbá_, or hut, always has a _dvor_ or courtyard, access to which is gained through double gates as well as through a postern. Often the hut is raised by a flight of steps from the level of the courtyard. The _izbá_ may have a cooling room in which to rest, so as to avoid the sudden change of air from the heated inner room; it is also a living room in the summer. Outside the _dvor_ against the fence there is a bench (_lávka_), on which the family sits in the summer. The hut is made of logs, the fence of boards. Between the rafters and the sloped roof is the loft (_cherdák_), into which a ladder leads. Inside the hut is that essential and central feature of Russian peasant life, the stove, which occupies one side of a wall. In front against it three long implements stand, the poker, broom and shovel. The oven rests on a brick or tile foundation, about eighteen inches high, with a semicircular hollow space below. The top of the stove is used for a sleeping bench (_poláty_) for the old folk or the honoured guest. In larger houses there may be a _lezhán’ka_ or heating stove, used as a sleeping sofa. The bath-house is separate from the hut, and contains a flight of steps for different degrees of heat, obtained from white-hot stones on which water is flung. This is only found in better-class houses. In villages there is a general bath-house to which the peasants go once a week.