"My dear child," she said the next morning, "what did you dream last night that you laughed aloud?"
"What did I dream, mamma? I dreamed that a nobleman came here for me in a silver coach, and that he offered me a golden diadem. And when I entered the church the people looked at me more than they did at the blessed Virgin."
"Hush! you are blaspheming. Pray, my daughter, pray that you may not fall into temptation."
But Marienka ran away to escape her mother's sermon.
The same day a carriage entered the yard. A young lord came to entreat Marienka to share a nobleman's bread with him.
"It is a great honor," said the mother; but vanity is blind.
"Though you should come in a silver coach," said Marienka to the new suitor, "and should offer me a golden diadem, I would not have you for a husband."
"Take care, my child," said the poor mother; "pride is a device of the Evil One."
"Mothers never know what they are saying," thought Marienka, and she went out shrugging her shoulders.
The third night the mother could not sleep for anxiety. As she lay awake, praying for her daughter, behold! Marienka burst into a loud fit of laughter.