Page:Slavonic Fairy Tales.djvu/253

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236
Slavonic Fairy Tales.

Then he rushed home to his master and said,—

"Come, master, I have found somebody that will return you your eyes."

When Yanechek and his old master had come to the hill, Yanechek said to the eldest girl,—

"Now, tell me, where are my master's eyes? If you will not, I shall throw you into the water."

The girl protested that she did not know where the eyes were, and Yanechek was about to throw her into the rivulet that was flowing near the hill.

"Do not drown me, Yanechek; do not drown me," cried the girl, "and I will give you your master's eyes."

Then she led him to a cave where there was a large heap of eyes, great and small, black, red, blue, and green, and selected two out of that heap. But when Yanechek had put them into his master's head, the poor old man began to complain bitterly: "Oh, woe, woe is me! These are not my eyes; I can only see owls." Yanechek became very angry, and having caught hold of the girl he threw her into the water. Then he said to the second girl,—

"Will you tell me where my master's eyes are?"

The girl excused herself, saying that she did not know anything about them, but when Yanechek had threatened that he would also throw her into the water, the girl led him to the same cave and selected two other