And in the night, when the village was quiet and dark, the crows in the forest flew to him and brought him some frozen berries, the squirrels brought nuts to appease his hunger, and the fairies from the great Forest brought partridge-eggs and reindeer milk.
It was a beautiful sunny morning, when the villagers who stood about the gate talking to the Tsar saw Hanka returning, with his axe and rod and a bag over his shoulder. “Look, look,” they cried, “he is bringing a whole bagful of fish!”
“But where do you suppose he got the bag?” said the Tsar. “He didn’t have it when he left.”
They were not kept guessing very long. Hanka came running and shouting:
“Greetings, O Merciful Tsar, greetings from King Winter! He gave me a message to thee, but I have forgotten it, but here is a bag of snow-stars for thee, and thy city is all thawed out, King Winter has gone back to the North Pole. And I went through thy palace and found lots of crackers and jam, which I ate. I didn’t mean to steal, but there was nobody to ask for them so I had to take them.”
The Tsar smiled and nodded.
“Thou art welcome to my crackers and jam, dear Hanka,” he said, as he opened the bag of snow-stars, took it by the lower corners, and turned it upside down.
Out of the bag rolled thousands and thousands of sparkling, flashing diamonds! The people stood open-mouthed, and Hanka sat down with surprise when he saw what he had been carrying.
“That means we may return, for King Winter’s war is over,” said the Tsar. So all the people went back to their city on the shores of the White Sea, where the streets were paved with silver, the walls were shining marble, and the church steeples were topped with gold. The Tsar sat on his throne again, but he ruled his people now with mercy and justice, so everyone liked to be brought before him to see his mild fatherly face.