Page:Leo Tolstoi - Tolstoi for the Young - tr. Rochelle Slavyanskaia Townsend (1916).djvu/199

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
172
THE GODSON

That is my house. Go in at the gate; I will meet you there myself."

Saying these words the godfather vanished from the godson's sight.

IV

The boy followed the godfather's directions. He wandered and wandered till he came to a wood and found the clearing, and in the midst of the clearing stood a pine tree to a branch of which a heavy block of oak was attached with string, and beneath the block was a trough of honey. As the boy was wondering why the honey and the block were there, a crackling was heard among the trees and out came a family of bears. The mother came in front and a yearling and some cubs followed behind. The mother, sniffing the air, went straight to the trough, the cubs following. She thrust her muzzle into the honey and called to the cubs to do the same. They scampered up and thrust in their muzzles. The block swung back a little and returning, hit against the cubs. When the mother saw this, she shoved the block away with