Thus the two got away at last, arrived safely at home, married, and lived in happiness till their dying day. The little boy made no remark. He was sound asleep. CHAPTER XVII HOME AGAIN It was already dark when they reached home, though it was not late, for January days are very short. There had been no children at the station, only men, and the walk home had seemed very long to the little boy. The men were talking very loudly, sometimes even angrily--they did not seem to be pleased with what the little boy's father told them about the zemstvo. It had not done what the people of the village wanted. "Well, God and the mir for us all!" said the little boy's father as they reached the house. All the family were gathered to meet them--the grandmother, the oldest brother and his wife, and the brother and sisters who lived at home. They were glad to see the little boy, but they all seemed more interested in what the father had to say about the zemstvo, and the little boy could not understand that at all. Though his grandmother held him by the hand and occasionally patted him on the head, she hardly spoke to him. Presently, however, she went to her own room, taking the little boy with her, and then it was his turn! His little tongue ran fast as he told her all about the journey and the other grandmother and the stories she had told him. "You never told me about the Vilas, little grandma," he said. "Did I not tell you that the stories of her mir are not the same as the stories of our mir?" replied the grandmother. "I do not know those Vila stories." "But you know other stories, very nice stories, little grandmamma," said the little boy. Then, after a pause, "Please tell me one now!" Then the grandmother told the story of PRINCE HEDGEHOG Once upon a time there was an Emperor and an Empress who for many years had been childless. One day the Empress wished for a son, were he no bigger than a hedgehog. The proverb says, "What one wishes for, that one gets," and so it was with her, for she shortly gave birth to a son who looked exactly like a hedgehog and was covered all over with sharp spines. Far and wide the news was spread abroad through the world, and the parents were much ashamed of such a son. Nevertheless, they had him educated in all useful knowledge, and he had so clever a head that by the time he was fourteen he knew all knowledge through and through. By this time his parents could no longer endure him near them, and they assigned to him a great forest as a place of abode, feeling certain that he would then fall a prey to a wolf or a fox or some sort of a beast. They strictly commanded him not to return before the expiration of seven years. They gave him permission, however, to take with him anything that he especially cared for; but he would take nothing with him except a Sow and a great Cock upon which he was wont to ride. With these he went away into the forest.