The Press., 1902-06-05
THE MEADOW ORCHID
WHY THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE CALL iT
 1.-THE cuckoo,S TEARS"

| That Deals With Magic. Love and | Happiness and One Result of the Fatal Feminine Tongue.
 One warm Sunday afternoon the vil- llage maidens assembled to bathe in the
 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 gentian, which the Rus
 sians call ''the flight of the falcon" So
 the other girls began to tease her:
 "Have you no dearly beloved friend.
 Frosinya? Who is he, where is he? Is
 he handsome, is he rich?'
 "Where should poor girl get rich
 and handsome young lover? Wonder
 adder is my husband"
 No sooner had she said this than all
 the maidens cried, with one accord.
 1.-The addery' and took to their heels. And upon her kerchief, which Frosya
 had thrown upon the grass. behold, a huge black adder lay coiled. She cried
 out in fear. But the adder beat it's tail
 upon the ground and was transformed into a wonderfully handsome young
 man. There he stood before her, with
 golden cap upon his flowing curls, his eyes flashing fire, 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- derY'
 She knew not what reply to make.
 but gazed at him and thought to her self, "Whence came such wise and
 handsome youth?" And he, divining
 her thoughts replied to them, "I 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 it. He was so good, so wise; she had never seen such people, and there is none such any where as the czar of the waters. But Frosya was foolish. Seven years did she dwell with him in the deep pool in l 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 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,
 q don't know" But the girl told ev-
 erything. This was all the envious gos- | sips wanted. They ran and told all to | their husbands and brothers. who inn | 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: ''I have to thank thee. my dear | wife. that I 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 % July 12, o. S.)l, 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 wheresoever thou may
 est be, that thou mayest weep forever,
 remembering thy fathers death. But
 to my loyal son, who kept his fathers
 command, l 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." lit is also known
 as ''the cuckoo's slippers" ."l-Isabel F. Hapgood in New York Post.