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Updated: September 23, 2025
And so Alenoushka took her little brother in her arms, and the fine gentleman lifted them up before him on the big black horse, and galloped home with them across the plain to his big house not far from the river. And when he got home he made a feast and married Alenoushka, and they lived together so happily that good people rejoiced to see them, and bad ones were jealous.
She begged from Alenoushka, and said she was hungry, and Alenoushka begged her to share her dinner. And she put a spell in the wine that Alenoushka drank, so that Alenoushka fell ill, and before evening, when the fine gentleman came riding back, had become pale, pale as snow, and as thin as an old stick. "My dear," says the fine gentleman, "what is the matter with you?"
"Oh," said little Vanoushka, "my throat is so dry. I want a drink. I must have a drink just a little drink of cool water." "We must go on," said Alenoushka, "till we come to a well. Then we will drink." They went on along the track, with their eyes burning and their throats as dry as sand on a stove. But presently Vanoushka cried out joyfully. He saw a horse's hoofmark in the ground.
Then the old witch, the wicked hag, put on Alenoushka's pretty white dress, and cast a spell, and made herself so like Alenoushka to look at that nobody could tell the difference. Only the little lamb had seen everything that had happened.
"What is your name," says the fine gentleman, "and why are you in trouble? Perhaps I may be able to help you." "My name is Alenoushka, and this is my little brother Vanoushka, whom I love." And she told him the whole story.
She guessed at once what had happened, and burst into tears. There was a hayrick close by, and under the hayrick Alenoushka sat down and wept. The little lamb, seeing her so sad, stood gravely in front of her; but not for long, for he was a little lamb, and he could not help himself. However sad he felt, he had to leap and frisk in the sun, and toss his little white tail.
Their father and mother were dead, and they had not even an old grandfather to spend his time in telling them stories. They were alone. The little boy was called Vanoushka, and the little girl's name was Alenoushka. They set out together to walk through the whole of the great wide world.
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