Dobrunka said, “Why sister how strangely you talk,—this is not the time for apples; it is mid-winter.”
Katinka said, “Lazy girl, you said you could not find the violets, but you did. You said there were no strawberries, but you brought them; go, and get me some apples or I will beat you to a jelly.”
Whereupon she pushed her from the door and the stepmother helped her to bar the door behind her.
Dobrunka turned again to the forest. She remembered where the old men lived on the mountainside and was soon standing near the circle. She crept along very quietly. She did not wish to ask the old men to help her again because they already had been so kind to her, but January saw her standing with bowed head and shivering in the cold.
He said, “Child, child, why did you come back here? We sent you away the other day with your wants supplied.”
Then Dobrunka said: “My mother and sister have driven me from the house, they say if I do not bring them some apples they will beat me to a jelly.”
January said, “Apples do not belong to me; perhaps September can help you.”
“One day the handsomest youth in all the world came by”