"'Now break it,' he commanded. This each one easily did.
"'Here you see,' he said, 'that when three stick closely together nothing can injure them, but when they fall apart it is easy to destroy them entirely. So will it be with you. Remain united, working in harmony and forgiving one another, and your enemies will find it impossible to overcome you. But live divided, and you will not only fight among yourselves but your neighbors will master each of you.'
"Alas, what he foretold would come with dissensions, did come. Foolish, selfish ambition destroyed the foundations of this mighty kingdom which included Moravia, Slovakia, Poland, Silesia, northern Bohemia, and a large part of northern Germany."
CHAPTER VII
AN ADVENTURE
It was Saturday and Ruzena had just returned to the village from some distance outside of it. She brought back some of the red sand that was prized highly for sprinkling over the hard earthen floors of the house. She spread it carefully and then went into the kitchen to help her mother with the baking for the morrow.
Sunday was a blessed day in more ways than one for the villagers. No matter how hard the work of the week had been, the Sabbath afforded relaxation. Everybody who could went to church, and exceedingly attractive did they look when they trooped out in twos and threes after the service. The women especially looked like a bevy of bright flowers in their gay attire.
There is no one national costume in Slovakia. It varies from district to district. Here the women wore a snowy chemise with short puffed sleeves ending in a wide ruffle. Above this ruffle was a pretty band of hand embroidery in orange-colored silk. Over this chemise was a bodice. The heavily starched skirt was full of tiny carefully arranged pleats with another skirt of transparent flowery material, also pleated, worn over, each pleat in this upper skirt being fitted into that of the skirt beneath.
The men were quite as picturesque in high boots, and close-fitting trousers of black cloth embroidered in black and yellow. Over the shirt, a short sleeveless waistcoat was worn, fastened with one button. The two rooster feathers at the back of the men's hats gave them something of a dashing air.