Lean Gray Wolf comes creeping, creeping, creeping up. He smells in the snow the tracks of the little white rabbits. He sniffs, and sniffs, and sniffs.
As he was going along a dog came up and sniffed hungrily at the dumplings. Peach Darling thought, ‘This poor dog is hungry, and I can do with one less dumpling.’ So he gave a dumpling to the dog.
There was a foolish old widowed She-Ape, who had two young Monkeys of twins. She doted upon one of them, while she only noticed the other to punish him bitterly.
The uncle could not help thinking that he wished the little boy and girl would die, for then he should have all their money for himself.
A boy and his sister were found near the mouth of a pit. They were different in the colour of their skin from all the people of our habitable world, for their skin was tinged of a green colour.
When Ványa saw the smoke rolling out of the vestibule, he ran to the door, made his way through the smoke into the house, and began to waken his grandmother, but she was dazed from her sleep.
The star children all began to cry again. Just then the fairy mother of the sky came with a torch to light the star lamps. ‘Crying again?’ she said. ‘What’s the matter now?’
‘Perhaps I can help thee, if thou wilt promise to give me the first thing that rubs itself against thy leg when thou art at home again, and to bring it here in twelve years' time, thou shalt have as much money as thou wilt.’
The Tsar came and immediately the witch began to urge him: ‘Give your command, yes, give your command to kill the little Kid. He is a nuisance to me, he is entirely detestable to me!’
The red-hot fire is built, the bubbling pot is hung, the steely knives are sharpened.
It was not long before some one knocked at the house-door and cried, ‘Open the door, dear children; your mother is here, and has brought something back with her for each of you.’
Suddenly the door flew open and there stood the bear—the big, shaggy Bruin! Tired of standing so long in the yard, he had at last broken loose and found his way upstairs and into the attic.