Soon they saw the lights in the windows of the huts. In a few minutes they were at the door of the hut that belonged to the old man and the old woman.

There they saw the two old people crying and crying. “What has become of our little snow girl?” they said. “Where is our little white pigeon?”

“Here I am!” cried the little snow girl. “The kind red fox has brought me home. You must shut up the dogs.”

The old man went away and shut up the dogs. When he came back he said to the fox,“We are very grateful to you.”

“Are you really?” said the old red fox. “Well,I am hungry.”

“Here is a nice crust of bread for you,” said the old woman.

“Oh.” said the fox, “I do not care for bread.What I would like is a nice plump hen. After all, your little snow girl is worth a nice plump hen.”

“Very well,” said the old woman. But she whispered to her husband, “It seems a pity to give away a good plump hen, now that we have our little snow girl safe home again.”

“So it does, so it does!” whispered he.

“Well, I have been thinking of something,”said the old woman. Then she whispered in his ear what she meant to do.

Off went the old man and got two sacks.Into one sack the old people put a fine plump hen, and into the other they put the fiercest of the dogs. Then they took the bags outside and called to the fox. The old red fox came up to them, licking his lips because he was so hungry.

The old man opened one sack, and out fluttered the hen. Then quickly he opened the other, and out jumped the fierce dog. The poor hungry fox ran back into the deep forest as fast as he could go.

“That was well done,” said the two old people.“We have our little snow girl, and we did not have to give away a hen, either.”

As they stood there laughing at the trick they had played on the fox, they heard the little snow girl singing in the hut. This is what she sang:

“Good-bye, dear friends, good-bye, good-bye;

Back I go across the sky.

To my motherkin I go,

Little Daughter of the Snow.

Because you love me less than a hen,

I must go away again.”

The two old people ran into the house. There they saw the little snow girl taking off her fur hat,her coat, and her little boots. Again she sang:

“Good-bye, dear friends, good-bye, good-bye;Back I go across the sky.”

“Do not go, do not go!” begged the old man and the old woman.

But the little snow girl sang in a sweet voice:

“To my motherkin I go,

Little Daughter of the Snow.

Some time I may come again,

If you’ll love me more than a hen.”

“Oh, we will, we will!” cried the two old people.

Just then the wind blew the door open, and the little snow girl danced out and was gone.She leaped into the arms of Frost, her father,and Snow, her mother. They carried her away over the stars to the far North, where she played all summer on the frozen sea.

But when winter time came again to the little village in Russia, the little snow girl came back to the two old people, who learned to love her more than anything else in the world — even more than a hen.

— Arthur Ransome AbCqu8SpfWf1ewHlgxMuQsZ+PujTyJ7GPYWtlHWtNmpuW5Nep5nj3hucipNllU7T