“Wait till the little baby in your brother’s house grows bigger,” said the grandmother. “It will not be long.”
CHAPTER XXIV
AFTER THE WEDDING
The third evening of the wedding-feast had come, and with music and singing the whole village escorted the young couple to their house. They were to have a house of their own, and not live with the bridegroom’s father, for so had the starosta insisted. Now they were there at last, and though some of the young men remained in the streets singing noisily, the bride’s family went quietly home.
“It seems lonely without our princess,” said the starosta as they gathered around the stove. “Grandmother, I know the little boy is hoping for a story. Let us all hear it. Tell one of your very best ones, that we may forget for a time that our family circle is smaller.”
The grandmother, with great willingness, told the story of
STEELPACHA
Once upon a time there was an Emperor who had three sons and three daughters. As he was very old, his last hour drew nigh. He therefore called his children to his bedside and laid earnest command upon his sons to give their sisters, without hesitation, to the first suitors who asked for them in marriage. “Marry them off,” he said to the sons, “or my curse will be upon you!” These were his last words.