The Tucson citizen., 1902-04-30
THE MEADOW ORCHID
WHY THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE CALL IT
"TAE CucKoO'S TEARS"

That Deals with Magic, Love and
Happiness and One Result of the
Fatal Feminine Tongue.
One warm Sunday afternoon the VIII
lage maidens assembled to bathe in tho
river They took Off their kerchiefs and
their coronet headdresses, seated them
selves on the bank to cool off and be-
gan to gossip. One maiden alone sat
silent, Frosya, an orphan, poor. but
beautiful, with fair skin and eyes as
blue as the gentiau, which the Rus
slams call 1.-The flight Of the falcon" SO
the other girls began to tease her;
"IIave you no dearly beloved ffiend'
Froslnya? Who is he, where Is her Is
| he handsome, Is lie rich!"
"Where should poor girl get a rich
and handsome young lover? Aonder
adder is my husband"
No sooner had she said this than all
! the maidens cried, with one accord.
The adderr' and took to their heels
| And upon her kerchief, which trosya
had thrown upon the grass, behold,
huge black adder lay coiled. She cried
| out In fear. But the adder beat its tail
upon the ground and was transformed
into wonderfully handsome young
man. There he stood before her, with
a golden cap upon his flowing curis, his
eyes flashing tire, and honeyed words
| fell from his lips. And he said TO her:
"Did you mean it when you declared
! that you were ready to marry the ad-
| der?"
She knew not what reply to make,
| but gazed at him and thought to her
self, "Whence came such wise ana
| handsome yoAth?" And he. divining
her thoughts. replied to them. II am no
| common man, but the czar OF the wa
ters, and my empire is close at hand in
! deep pool on golden sands"
And he read in her eyes that she con-
sented to go with him. Then he grasp
ed her with his powerful hand, and to-
gether they sank down into the deep
| realm of the waters.
| Great was frosya's happiness. She
| could not believe in 1t. He was so
| good so wise; she bad never seen such
| where as the cZar OF the waters. But
| Frosya was foolish. Seven years did
! she dwell with him in the deep pool in
his palace of crystal. and the seven
years passed as one day, and there
need not have been any end TO her
bliss A girl and a boy had been born
to them. Then. all at once. without any
cause, she became sad, longed for the
earth. to behold her native hamlet and
her friends once more. So he let her
go, with the children. for three days
after having exacted promise that
neither she nor the children. either by
word or by hint, should reveal the
name OF her husband or where she
lived. And all this she promised. with
fearful oaths. Then her husband es-
corted her to the dam. At the end OF
three days she was to come to the same
spot and cry Cuckoo thrice. where
upon he would swim at once to meet
her.
She kept her oath. but her friends
coaxed and questioned the children,
The boy to all queries replied simply.
Il don't know" But the girl told ev-
erythng This was all the enyious Cos
sips wanted. They ran and told all to
their husbands and brothers, who i'm
mediately ran to the dam and uttered
the magic words. And when the cZar
appeared they beat him to death. But
before he died he contrived to say to
Frosya: 81 have to thank thee, my dear
wife. that / am now come to my death
through thee and my daughter. Hence
forth fly thou ever as a gray cuckoo
and repeat thou ever my call. Cuckoo!
in sadness of heart from early spring
until st. Peter's day [St Peters day,
June % Uuly L., o. S.ll. and from that
day forth may every bird. both great
and small beat thee and pursue thee.
And mayest thou, my daughter, my be
trayer, be turned into a nettle bush,
and may that weed. the fiery. forever
burn thine eyes wheresoeyer thou may
est be. that thou mayest weep forever,
remembering thy fathers death. But
to my loyal son, who kept his fathers
command, ! make this bequest: That
he shall be the bird beloved which
dwells and sings In gardens and amid |
shady groves for the joy of happy peo
pie, for the consolation of those who
weep, the nightingale"
And from that day forth the Russian |
people have called the meadow orchid |
"the cuckoo's tears" 1t is also known
as 1.-THE cuckoos slippers. I--Isabel f. |
Uapgood in New York Post