And so Alenoushka took her little brother in her arms, and the fine
gentleman lifted them up before him on the big black horse, and
galloped home with them across the plain to his big house not far from
the river. And when he got home he made a feast and married
Alenoushka, and they lived together so happily that good people
rejoiced to see them, and bad ones were jealous. And the little lamb
lived in the house, and never grew any bigger, but always frisked and
played, and followed Alenoushka wherever she went.

And then one day, when the fine gentleman had ridden far away to the
town to buy a new bracelet for Alenoushka, there came an old witch.
Ugly she was, with only one tooth in her head, and wicked as ever went
about the world doing evil to decent folk. She begged from Alenoushka,
and said she was hungry, and Alenoushka begged her to share her
dinner. And she put a spell in the wine that Alenoushka drank, so that
Alenoushka fell ill, and before evening, when the fine gentleman came
riding back, had become pale, pale as snow, and as thin as an old
stick.

"My dear," says the fine gentleman, "what is the matter with you?"

"Perhaps I shall be better to-morrow," says Alenoushka.

Well, the next day the gentleman rode into the fields, and the old hag
came again while he was out.

"Would you like me to cure you?" says she. "I know a way to make you
as well as ever you were. Plump you will be, and pretty again, before
your husband comes riding home."