The Tale of the Silver saucer and the Transparent apple (17)

The Tale of the Silver saucer and the Transparent apple (17)

"O, God of mine, " says the old merchant, " this is my daughter, my little prerry one, whom we called Little Stupid."

He began to weep loudly and wring his hands.

The whistle-pipe playing and reciting, changed its song.
This is what it sang:
"My sisters took me into the forest to look for the red beries.
 In the deep forest, they killed poor me for the sake of a silver saucer, for the sake of a transpatent apple.
 Wake me, dear father, from a bitter dream, by fetching water from the well of the Tsar.
"

How the people scowled at the two sisters !
They scowled, they cursed them for the bad ones  they were.

And the bad ones, the two sisiters, wept and fell on their knees, confessed everything.

They were taken, and their hands were tied, and they were shut up in prison.

" Do not kill them, " begged the old merchant, "for then I should have no daughter at all, and when there are no fish in the river, we make shift with crays.
 Beside, let me go to the Tsar and beg water from his well.
 Perharps my little daughter will wake up, as the whistle-pipe tells us. "

(17/25)