The blizzard woman
The One-Eyed Witch’s head lay before Mebet’s feet and he kicked it away. The head rolled and came to rest in a soft bank of snow where it could hardly be seen. Mother and son stood silent and petrified. Only the Gods’ Favorite retained the power of speech, and now he turned to Hadko.
“When you were tying those ribbons to the sled, I remembered one story which would have been quite fitting, but I didn’t tell it to you. I’ll tell it to you now. Old Pyak and I are nearly the same age. Once, long ago, he and I wrestled at the bear feast. As a joke, I grabbed him by the hair, lightly tugged and left him bald over half his head. His hair never grew back after that. Old Pyak got awfully angry at me, and he will bear that anger with him all the way to the other world.” He laug
