squashed both little hands, and Vanya or Maroosia, whichever it was,
all together in one big hug.




ALENOUSHKA AND HER BROTHER.


Once upon a time there were two orphan children, a little boy and a
little girl. Their father and mother were dead, and they had not even
an old grandfather to spend his time in telling them stories. They
were alone. The little boy was called Vanoushka,[3] and the little
girl's name was Alenoushka.[3]

They set out together to walk through the whole of the great wide
world. It was a long journey they set out on, and they did not think
of any end to it, but only of moving on and on, and never stopping
long enough in one place to be unhappy there.

[Footnote 3: That means that they were called Ivan and Elena.
Vanoushka and Alenoushka are affectionate forms of these names.]

They were travelling one day over a broad plain, padding along on
their little bare feet. There were no trees on the plain, no bushes;
open flat country as far as you could see, and the great sun up in the
sky burning the grass and making their throats dry, and the sandy
ground so hot that they could scarcely bear to set their feet on it.
All day from early morning they had been walking, and the heat grew
greater and greater towards noon.