BABAYAGA

‘You have done well my child,' she said,'you’re a clever girl.’ How did you learn so much?’.

‘By the wisdom of my mother,’ smiled Vasilisa, and she squeezed the doll in her pocket.
Baba yaga nodded, and a smile of recognition lit up her sallow face, and she paused. Then she placed a fiery coal into a skull and put it on a stick and said,

‘Here, take this home with you, this is your fire. Don’t say another word, just be on your way.’
Vasilisa began to thank the old witch but the little doll jumped up and down in her pocket and Vasilisa realised she must just go.