peated it from beginning to end; and the bishop bade him say it again and again, and still again to repeat it; and the others also learned the whole prayer.

It was already beginning to grow dark, and the moon was just coming up out of the sea, when the bishop arose to go back to the ship.

The bishop said farewell to the hermits; they al bowed very low before him. He raised them to their feet and kissed each of them, bade them pray as he had taught them; and he took his seat in the boat, and returned to the ship.

And while the bishop was rowed back to the ship, he heard all the time how the hermits were repeating the Lord's Prayer at the top of their voices.

They returned to the ship, and here the voices of the hermits could no longer be heard; but they could still see, in the light of the moon, the three old men standing in the very same place on the shore, one shorter than the rest in the middle, with the tall one on the right, and the other on the left hand.

The bishop returned to the ship, climbed up on deck; the anchor was hoisted; the sails were spread, and bellied with wind; the ship began to move, and they sailed away.

The bishop came to the stern, and took a seat there, and kept looking at the little island. At first the hermits were to be seen; then they were hidden from sight, and only the island was visible; and then the island went out of sight, and only the sea was left playing in the moonlight.

The pilgrims lay down to sleep, and all was quiet on deck. But the bishop cared not to sleep; he sat by himself in the stern, looked out over the sea in the direction where the island had faded from sight, and thought about the good hermits.

He thought of how they had rejoiced in what they had learned in the prayer; and he thanked God because He had led him to the help of the hermits, in teaching them the word of God.

Thus the bishop was sitting and thinking, looking at

the sea in the direction where the little island lay hidden. And his eyes were filled with the moonlight, as it danced here and there on the waves. Suddenly he saw something shining and gleaming white in the track of the moon. Was it a bird, a gull, or a boat-sail gleaming

white? The bishop strained his sight.

"A sail-boat," he said to himself, "is chasing us Yes, it is catching up with us very rapidly. It was far, far off, but now it is close to us. But, after all, it is not much like a sail-boat. Anyway, something is chasing us, and catching up with us."

a

And the bishop could not decide what it was, boat, or not a boat; a bird, or not a bird; a fish, or not a fish. It was like a man, but very great; but a man could not be in the midst of the sea.

what is that,

It was the hermits

The bishop got up and went to the helmsman. "Look!" says he, "what is that? brother? what is it?" said the bishop. But by this time he himself saw. running over the sea. Their gray beards gleamed white, and shone; and they drew near the ship as if it were stationary.

The helmsman looked. He was scared, dropped the tiller, and cried with a loud voice:

Lord! the hermits are running over the sea as if it were dry land!"

The people heard and sprang up; all rushed aft. All beheld the hermits running, hand in hand. The end ones swung their arms; they signaled the ship to come to. All three ran over the water as if it were dry land, and did not move their feet.

It was not possible to bring the ship to before the hermits overtook it, came on board, raised their heads, and said with one voice:

"We have forgotten, servant of God, we have forgotten what thou didst teach us. While we were learning it, we remembered it; but when we ceased for an hour to repeat it, one word slipped away; we have forgotten it: the whole was lost. We remember none of it; teach it to us again."

The bishop crossed himself, bowed low to the hermits, and said:

"Acceptable to God is your prayer, ye hermits. It is not for me to teach you. Pray for us, sinners."

And the bishop bowed before the feet of the hermits. And the hermits paused, turned about, and went back over the sea. And until the morning, there was something seen shining in the direction where the hermits had gone.

POPULAR LEGENDS

(1886)

HOW THE LITTLE DEVIL EARNED A CRUST OF BREAD

A

POOR muzhik was going out to plow, though he had eaten no breakfast; and he took with him, from the house, a crust of bread. The muzhik turned over his plow, unfastened the bar, put it under the bush; and then he left his crust of bread, and covered it with his kaftan. The horse was almost dead, and the muzhik was very hungry. The muzhik drove in the plow, unhitched the horse, gave her something to eat, and went to his kaftan to get a bite for himself. The muzhik picked up his kaftan; the crust was gone. He searched and searched; turned his kaftan inside out, shook it: there was no crust. The muzhik was amazed.

"This is a marvelous thing," he said to himself. "I have n't seen any one, and yet some one has carried off my crust."

But a little devil1 had stolen the crust while the muzhik was plowing, and had perched on a shrub to hear how the muzhik would swear, and call him, the devil, by name.

The muzhik was disappointed.

Of

“Well, now, I am not going to die of starvation. course the one that took it must have needed it. Let him eat it, and be welcome."

And the muzhik went to the well, got a drink of water, sighed, caught his horse, harnessed her, and began to plow again.

1 Chortyonok.

The little devil was vexed because he had not led the muzhik into sin, and he went to tell about it to the biggest of the devils. He came to the big devil, and told him how he had stolen the crust from the muzhik, who, instead of getting angry, had said, "Be welcome." The big devil was angry.

Why," said he, "in this affair the muzhik has got the better of you: you yourself are to blame for it; you did not know how to do it. If," said he, "first muzhiks, and then peasant women, were to be caught by any such trick, it wouldn't be of any use for us to be in existence. It's no use doing the thing that way. Go back to the muzhik," said he, "earn. that crust. If within three years' time you do not get the better of the muzhik, I'll give you a bath in holy water."

The little devil was alarmed; he ran back to earth and began to cogitate how he might atone for his fault. He thought and thought, and he thought out a scheme.1

The little devil turned himself into a good man, and took service with the poor muzhik. And during a dry summer, he advised the muzhik to sow corn in a swamp. The muzhik took the laborer's advice and sowed in the swamp. The other muzhiks had everything burned up by the sun; but the poor muzhik had dense, high, fulleared corn. The muzhik had enough to live on till the next year; and even then, much corn remained.

That year, the laborer advised the muzhik to plant his grain on the high land. And the summer proved to be rainy. And the people had sowed their corn, but it sweat and the kernels did not fill out; but the muzhik had a quantity of corn ripen on the high land. And the muzhik had still much more corn than he needed, and he knew not what to do with it.

And the laborer taught the muzhik to grind the corn, and distil brandy. The muzhik distilled the brandy and began to drink himself, and gave others to drink.

The little devil came to the big one, and began to boast that he had earned the crust. The big one went

to investigate.

1 Dumal, dumal i pridumal.