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94
Slavonic Fairy Tales.
of his visit to the Allwise; upon which the old man said,—
"Ah, my son, the Allwise has not spoken in vain: when you take a maiden to wife, you know; that means that she will believe you understand everything better than she does, and will follow and obey you. If you take a widow, she knows; that is to say, she has been already once married, and thinks she is more experienced than you; and will not only not follow, but will try to command you. If you take a divorced woman—beware of my horse! And then he smote you across the feet with his stick. By that you will understand: take care that she does not scold you as she scolded her first husband.
