“Geese, ye grey ones, where is the baby’s mother?” “In the next flock!” Then the next flock came by. “Geese, ye grey ones, where is the baby’s mother?” Then the baby’s mother came to them, threw off her feathers, and gave her little child the breast, and began weeping: “For this one day I may come, and to-morrow, but the next day I must fly away over the woods and over the hills.” The old man went back home, and the boy slept all day long, until next morning, and did not wake up. The false wife was angry with him for taking the child into the fields where it must be much too cold. But next morning the old man again got up very early, washed himself clean, and took the child into the field. Iván Tsarévich followed him secretly and hid in the bush. Then the grey geese began soaring by. “Geese, ye grey ones, where is the baby’s mother?” “In the next flock!” Then the next flock came by. “Geese, ye grey ones, where is the baby’s mother?” Then the baby’s mother came to them, threw off her feathers, and gave her little child the breast, and began weeping: “For this one day I may come, but to-morrow I must fly away over the woods and over the hills.” Then she asked: “What do I smell there?” and wanted to put on her feathers again, but could not find them anywhere. Iván Tsarévich had burnt them. He seized hold of Márya Tsarévna, but she turned first into a frog, then into a lizard, and into all sorts of insects, and last of all into a spindle. Iván Tsarévich took the spindle and broke it in halves, threw the dull end behind him and the sharp one in front; and his beautiful young wife stood in front of him, and they went home. Then the daughter of the witch cried out: “The destroyer and the wicked woman have come.” But Iván Tsarévich assembled all the Princes and the _boyárs_, and he asked them: “With which wife shall I live?” They said: “With the first.” But he answered, “My lords, whichever wife leaps quickest to the door shall remain with me.” So the witch’s daughter climbed up at once, but Márya Tsarévna clung on. Then Iván Tsarévich took his gun and shot the substitute wife, and lived happy ever after with Márya Tsarévna. A TALE OF THE DEAD One day a peasant was going by night with pots on his head. He journeyed on and on, and his horse became tired and came to a spot in front of God’s acre. The peasant ungirded the horse, set it to graze, but he could not get any sleep. He lay down and lay down, suddenly the grave began opening under him, and he felt it and leaped to his feet. Then the grave opened and the corpse with the coffin lid got out, with his white shroud on; got out and ran up to the church door, laid the coffin lid at the gate and himself went into the village.