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LABOULAYE’S FAIRY BOOK
The mother went without ceasing from the window to
the door, and from the door to the window. The hours
passed and Katinka did not return.
“T must go and look for my daughter,” said she. “The
child has forgotten herself with those hateful apples.” She
took her fur cloak and hood, and hastened to the mountain.
Everything was covered with snow; there was not even a
footpath. She plunged into the forest, calling her daugh¬
ter. The snow fell and the wind blew. She walked on
with feverish anxiety, shouting at the top of her voice.
The snow still fell and the wind still blew.
Dobrunka waited through the evening and the night,
but no one returned. In the morning she took her wheel
and spun a whole distaff full; there was still no news.
‘What can have happened?" said the girl, weeping. The
sun was shining through an icy mist and the ground was
covered with snow. Dobrunka prayed for her mother and
sister. They did not return; and it was not till spring
that a shepherd found the two corpses in the forest.
Dobrunka remained the sole mistress of the house, the
cow, and the garden, to say nothing of a piece of meadow
adjoining the house. But when a good and pretty girl
has a field under her window, the next thing that follows
is a young farmer who offers her his heart and hand.
Dobrunka was soon married. The Twelve Months did not
abandon their child. More than once, when the north
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