alive within it, without food or drink, till the Tzarevna be found. So the masons came and built the stone column and walled poor Martin in to die of starvation.
Now Jourka, the dog with drooping ears, had been away paying a visit, and returning on the third day, found what had happened to his master. He set off at once to the cottage of Martin's mother, where he found Vaska, the cat, purring on the stove. "O thou scoundrel Vaska," said he, "who thinkest only to lie in warm places and to scratch thyself! Knowest thou not that our master is in danger of death? Hast thou forgot how he paid a hundred roubles to save thy worthless life? But for him the worms would long ago have eaten thee! Up, quickly! We must help him in some way."
The cat leaped up from the stove and went with the dog, and together they hastened to the stone column, up which the cat was able to climb. Having looked through the small window, she jumped to the ground and said: "Our master is in evil case and as helpless as a man with one leg tied to his ear. He sits weeping, bemoaning the loss of a ring which his wife hath taken from him, and left him to perish of starvation. How can we get food for him?"
