[The Hermit Atones for His Sins]

The elder thought about how to inform the tsar of this. Every day they brought something to eat. He took the platters with the food and scratched on them that devils were visiting him for dinner every day. The tsar saw the note and immediately changed all the servants and in the kitchen placed only pious people. My, how they did raise a storm! They all said "Oh Lord, Bless us." The hermit saw the devils and those in front were cheerful but those in the rear were downcast and sad. He once more asked Potanka why they were cheerful. And he replied, "Be quiet, we'll pay you back." After that the hermit didn't see the devils anymore. Once a pious woman came to him. He asked her who she was and where she was going. 1 here were other conversations, they started to drink spirits, they drank their fill and got drunk and then they agreed to get married. So off they went and all was ready. The time came to wear the crowns. It all began, they only had to wear them. The hermit crossed himself, some devils backed off, and he saw a noose, and after that he prayed for another thirty-three years, atoning for his sins.