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"How shall I find her?" says the little girl, nearly ready to cry, for she knew that her aunt was Baba Yaga, the bony-legged, the witch. The stepmother took hold of the little girl's nose and pinched it. "That is your nose," she says. "Can you feel it?" "Yes," says the poor little girl.
"Thank you," he says; "you are a kind little girl, and I am only a mouse, and I've eaten all your crust. But there is one thing I can do for you, and that is to tell you to take care. So if ever she sends you on a message to your aunt, you come and tell me. For Baba Yaga would eat you soon enough with her iron teeth if you did not know what to do."
The cat sat down by the loom and tore the thread to pieces, doing it with delight. Baba Yaga returned. "Where are the children?" she shouted, and began to beat the cat. "Why hast thou let them go, thou treacherous cat? Why hast thou not scratched their faces?"
Clickety clack, clickety clack, sang the loom; but you never saw such a tangle as the tangle made by the thin black cat. And presently Baba Yaga came to the window. "Are you weaving, little niece?" she asked. "Are you weaving, my pretty?" "I am weaving, auntie," says the thin black cat, tangling and tangling, while the loom went clickety clack, clickety clack.
When you hear the witch running after you, drop the towel behind your back and a large river will appear in place of the towel. If you hear her once more, throw down the comb and in place of the comb there will appear a dark wood. This wood will protect you from the wicked witch, my mistress." Baba Yaga came home just then. "Is it not wonderful?" she thought; "everything is exactly right."
But she took a very long time about getting the bath ready. Baba Yaga came to the window and asked, "Are you weaving, little niece? Are you weaving, my pretty?" "I am weaving, auntie," says the little girl. When Baba Yaga went away from the window, the little girl spoke to the thin black cat who was watching the mouse-hole. "What are you doing, thin black cat?"
"Yes," said Vanya, "please, grandfather, and about the little hut on hen's legs." "Baba Yaga is a witch," said old Peter; "a terrible old woman she is, but sometimes kind enough. You know it was she who told Prince Ivan how to win one of the daughters of the Tzar of the Sea, and that was the best daughter of the bunch, Vasilissa the Very Wise.
And all night long fire glows in the skulls and fades as the dawn rises." "Now tell us one of the Baba Yaga stories," said Maroosia. "Please," said Vanya. "I will tell you how one little girl got away from her, and then, if ever she catches you, you will know exactly what to do." And old Peter put down his pipe and began:
The little girl wanted to go into the shed to tell the mouseykin she was going to Baba Yaga, and to ask what she should do. But she looked back, and there was the stepmother at the door watching her. So she had to go straight on. She walked along the road through the forest till she came to the fallen tree. Then she turned to the left.
The prince said: "Little cot, turn around, on thy foot turn thou free, To the forest thy back, but thy door wide to me." The cottage began to creak without delay, and turned round with the floor facing the travellers. Old Yaga was on the look-out, and came to meet them.
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