“She’s a witch, all the same. Who was it that made Vavrek’s cows dry up, pray? And, ah! when Yashek’s little boy stole plums from her orchard, and she muttered evil words against him, did he not get the _koltun_[6] at once, and shrivel up with crooked limbs?” ----- Footnote 6: _Koltun_—a diseased, matted condition of the hair.—_Translator’s Note._ “Oh, how can God’s blessings descend upon a place where such creatures dwell?” “In former days,” Yagustynka observed, “when I was still tending father’s cattle, they used to drive such people out of our midst.... Aye, and it does them no harm, for they are not without protectors.” Then, lowering her voice, and casting a side-glance at Hanka then busily digging in the foremost row, Yagustynka whispered to her neighbours: “The first to defend her would be Hanka’s goodman; he follows Yagna everywhere like a dog.” “For God’s sake! Pray, hold your tongue. What awful things you are telling us! Why, that’s an offence against God, a sin!” the gossips whispered to her, as they went on digging with bowed shoulders. “Is he, then, the only one? Why, all the lads are after her, like cats after their kind.” “Indeed, she is good-looking: plump as a well-fed heifer, with a face as white as cream, and eyes even as the flax-flower. Strong, besides; many a man no stronger.” “For what does she do but eat and sleep? No wonder she is comely.” A long silence ensued while they emptied their baskets on to the heap. Afterwards the talk ran on other subjects, till Yuzka, Boryna’s daughter, was seen coming at a run across the cornfields, from the village, and they stopped. She came, panting and all out of breath, shouting from a distance: “Hanka, come home: there’s something wrong with the cow!” “Mercy on us! which cow?” “White-and-Red.” Hanka heaved a sigh of relief. “Good God! how you frightened me! I thought it was mine.” “Vitek brought her in but now; the keeper had driven them out of the wood. She ran too fast—she is so very fat,—and fell just outside the byre. She neither eats nor drinks; only rolls about and bellows. Mercy on us!” “Is father home yet?” “No, he is not. Oh, good Lord! Such a cow, too! She gave more than a gallon at each milking. Oh, do come, quick!” “Yes, yes, quick as thought—instantly!” She at once took her child out of the cloth in which it hung hammock-like, and came away so alarmed at the news that she forgot to let down the apron with which she had tucked her dress up to the knees for work. And, as she followed Yuzka, her white legs twinkled across the fields. The potato-diggers, working with their hoes between their feet, went on more slowly, having no one to hurry or to chide them any more.