Then he told her: "Far from here is a mountain-peak. On this mountain-peak lives a Fox. The Fox has a heart in which a bird is concealed; this bird holds my strength. But that Fox is very hard to catch, for he has many transformations." The next day, when Steelpacha was away from home, the Prince came again to his wife to learn what he had told her. She repeated everything carefully, and the Prince went straight away to his brothers-in-law with the much-longed-for news. They received it with joy, and at once set out with the Prince to go to that mountain-peak. Arrived there, they set the eagles upon the Fox, which immediately took refuge in a lake and there changed himself into a gull with six wings. But the falcons gave battle to the gull and drove him thence. He flew high amid the clouds, the falcons ever following. In a trice the gull changed himself into a fox again and tried to escape into the earth; but, falling into the power of the eagles and all the rest of the mighty host, he was surrounded and taken prisoner. Then the emperors commanded that the Fox should be cut open and his heart taken out. A fire was kindled, the heart cut open, the bird taken out and cast into the flames. As soon as the bird was burned Steelpacha vanished forever. So the Prince took his wife and went happily home. "That is one of your very best stories," said the starosta. "How it does bring back old times! While I was listening I could hardly believe that this big man here by the stove is I. It seemed rather as if I must be the little boy yonder." "Did grandmother tell these same stories to you when you were little, father?" asked the little boy. "Many and many a time. And I'll warrant she has as many more to tell you as those you have heard already. But it is late, and we have not had much sleep these last few nights. So every one to bed, and don't forget to thank God for a happy wedding and a good son and brother-in-law." NOTES [1] Kumrikusha is from a Slavonic root signifying "the bird of the desert." [2] The Pleiades. [3] This is evidence that the story originated in lands where the sirocco is dreaded. [4] Maize; Indian corn. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Russian Grandmother's Wonder Tales, by Louise Seymour Houghton