·
A Cossack rode into a village and requested the
owners of the last cottage in the village that they let him spend the night
o
They replied that he could, as long as he didn’t
fear death
·
The Cossack thought that their reply was strange,
but he still entered after putting up his horse for the night
·
When he entered, he saw the inhabitants. Men,
woman, and children were all crying and praying, and when they finished, they
put on clean clothing
·
The Cossack asked them why they were crying
·
The owner replied that Death wanders at night,
and when she looks into a cottage, the people who lived in it have to be put
into coffins and carried to the graveyard
·
The owner said it was their turn that night
·
The Cossack told him not to fear, and he kept a
look out
·
At midnight, the window opened and a witch clad
in white took a sprinkler and was just about to start sprinkling in the cottage
·
Right before she does, the Cossack cut her arm
off with his saber
·
The witch howled and ran away, and the Cossack
kept her arm and washed the blood
·
When everyone awoke the next morning, they were
delighted to see that everyone was still awake
·
The Cossack proclaims that he will show them
Death. He tells them to call the Sotniks and Desyatniks so they could go look
for the witch in the village
·
They finally went to Ponomar’s cottage, and the
owner revealed that one of his daughters was sick
·
The daughter looked like she had her arm cut off,
and so Cossack told everyone what had happened
·
The village rewarded Cossack with money, and
they drowned the witch
Bibliography: This story can be found here. Story source: Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).
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