Atondido Stories
"Who are you?" he asked in a deep voice. "And what do you
want?"
Holena looked at him rudely.
"You old fool, what business is it of yours who I am or what I
want!"
She tossed her head airily and walked off into the forest.
The frown deepened on Great January's brow. Slowly he
stood up and waved the staff over his head. The fire died down.
Then the sky grew dark; an icy wind blew over the mountain;
and the snow began to fall so thickly that it looked as if some
one in the sky were emptying a huge feather-bed.
Holena could not see a step before her. She struggled on and
on. Now she ran into a tree, now she fell into a snowdrift. In
spite of her warm cloak her limbs began to weaken and grow
numb. The snow kept on falling, the icy wind kept on blowing.
Did Holena at last begin to feel sorry that she had been so
wicked and cruel to Marushka? No, she did not. Instead, the
colder she grew, the more bitterly she reviled Marushka in her
heart, the more bitterly she reviled even the good God Himself.
Meanwhile at home her mother waited for her and waited. She
stood at the window as long as she could, then she opened the
door and tried to peer through the storm. She waited and wait-
ed, but no Holena came.
"Oh dear, oh dear, what can be keeping her?" she thought to
herself. "Does she like those apples so much that she can't leave
them, or what is it? I think I'll have to go out myself and find
her."
So the stepmother put her fur cloak about her shoulders,
threw a shawl over her head, and started out.
She called: "Holena! Holena!" but no one answered.
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