Every corner in the _izbá_ has its particular name. There is the _great corner_, where the Ikon stands, the _upper corner_ near the door, and the _stove corner_ opposite to the doors of the stove. The fence is made of boards or sticks or stumps. Long thin laths are stuck on to an iron spike, and lit; a pail of water is placed below into which the cinders fall; these lamps must be renewed as they burn down, and the charred ends swept up. Up to very recent times, patriarchal usages obtained through Russia, and married sons resided in the father’s house. This particular story portrays some of the personifications and allegorizings of the common acts of life; all of which have their appropriate blessing or grace. There are a number of tales of the curse attendant on the neglect of these duties, e.g. _The Devil in the Dough-pan_. An example of the invocations is given in a note to _The Midnight Dance_. _Duke._ i.e. a translation of _voyevodá_, which is again a translation of the High-German _Herzog_, which again is derived from the Latin _Dux_, meaning the leader of an army, not a mere title. _Egóri Khrábry._ Egori the Brave. Is the Russian counterpart for St. George the Dragon-slayer. _Elijah the Prophet and St. Nicholas._ Perún was the God of Thunder in pagan Slavdom, and his attributes have been transferred to Elijah who is represented as driven up to Heaven in a fiery chariot darting fiery rays, drawn by four winged horses, and surrounded by clouds and flames; a tale which copied the biblical account of Elijah’s end. On earth the noise of the wheels is called thunder. In Nóvgorod there were one or two churches to St. Elijah of the Drought, and St. Elijah of the Rain, to be consulted as occasion required. The name-days of these saints are December 6th and July 20th. _Hawk._ The hawk is one of the most common references in Russian folk-lore, and the reference to the clear-eyed hawk is one of the strongest metaphors. The crow is equally common, but is generally used as a malign being. In Russian folk-tale there is nothing incongruous in a man having as his sons a boy, a crow and a hawk or an eagle: or as in ‘_Márya Morévna_,’ where the marriage of Iván with a beautiful princess and of his two sisters with the eagle and the crow are all of them equally plausible. _Ídolishche._ One of the symbols of paganism in the early ballads of Russia. He is generally represented as a gluttonous monster; but in the ballad of the Realms of Copper, Silver, and Gold his name has been given too as a goblin. Goblins are very rare in Russian folk-lore; fairies seem to be non-existent.