Fables for Children, Stories for Children, Natural Science Stories, Popular Education, Decembrists, Moral Tales

"All right," he said, "I have to go anyway to pasture the mare for the night."

Iván took some bread and his caftan, and went out to herd his mare.

IV

That night Semén's devil got through with his work and by agreement went to find Iván's devil, to help to make an end of the fool. He came to the field and looked for him everywhere, but found only the hole.

"Something has evidently gone wrong with my comrade," he thought, – "I must take his place. The ploughing is done, – I shall have to catch him in the mowing time."

The devil went to the meadows and sent a flood on the mowing so that it was all covered with mud. Iván returned in the morning from the night watch, whetted his scythe, and went out to mow the meadows. He came, and began to mow: he swung the scythe once, and a second time, and it grew dull and would not cut, – it was necessary to grind it. Iván worked hard and in vain.

"No," he said, "I will go home, and will bring the grindstone with me, and a round loaf. If I have to stay here for a week, I will not give up until I mow it all."

When the devil heard it he thought:

"This fool is stiff-necked, – I cannot get at him. I must try something else."

Iván came back, ground his scythe, and began to mow. The devil crept into the grass and began to catch the scythe by the snath-end and to stick the point into the ground. It went hard with Iván, but he finished the mowing, and there was left only one scrubby place in the swamp. The devil crawled into the swamp and thought:

"If I get both my paws cut, I will not let him mow it."

Iván went into the swamp; the grass was not dense, but he found it hard to move the scythe. Iván grew angry and began to swing the scythe with all his might. The devil gave in; he had hardly time to get away, – he saw that matters were in bad shape, so he hid in a bush. Iván swung the scythe with all his might and struck the bush, and cut off half of the devil's tail. Iván finished the mowing, told the girl to rake it up, and himself went to cut the rye.

He went out with a round knife, but the bobtailed devil had been there before him and had so mixed up the rye that he could not cut it with the round knife. Iván went back, took the sickle, and began to cut it; he cut all the rye.

"Now I must go to the oats," he said.

The bobtailed devil heard it, and thought:

"I could not cope with him on the rye, but I will get the better of him in the oats, – just let the morning come."

The devil ran in the morning to the oats-field, but the oats were all cut down. Iván had cut them in the night, to keep them from dropping the seed.

The devil grew angry:

"The fool has cut me all up, and has worn me out. I have not seen such trouble even in war-time. The accursed one does not sleep, – I cannot keep up with him. I will go now to the ricks, and will rot them all."

And the devil went to the rye-rick, climbed between the sheaves, and began to rot them: he warmed them up, and himself grew warm and fell asleep.

Iván hitched his mare, and went with the girl to haul away the ricks. He drove up to one and began to throw the sheaves into the cart. He had just put two sheaves in when he stuck his fork straight into the devil's back; he raised it, and, behold, on the prongs was a live devil, and a bobtailed one at that, and he was writhing and twisting, and trying to get off.

"I declare," he said, "it is a nasty thing! Are you here again?"

"I am a different devil," he said. "My brother was here before. I was with your brother Semén."

"I do not care who you are," he replied, "you will catch it, too."

He wanted to strike him against the ground, but the devil began to beg him:

"Let me go, and I will not do it again, and I will do for you anything you please."

"What can you do?"

"I can make soldiers for you from anything."

"What good are they?"

"You can turn them to any use you please: they will do anything."

"Can they play music?"

"They can."

"All right, make them for me!"

And the devil said:

"Take a sheaf of rye, strike the lower end against the ground, and say: 'By my master's command not a sheaf shall you stand, but as many straws as there are so many soldiers there be.'"

Iván took the sheaf, shook it against the ground, and spoke as the devil told him to. And the sheaf fell to pieces, and the straws were changed into soldiers, and in front a drummer was drumming, and a trumpeter blowing the trumpet. Iván laughed.

"I declare," he said, "it is clever. This is nice to amuse the girls with."

"Let me go now," said the devil.

"No," he said, "I will do that with threshed straw, and I will not let full ears waste for nothing. I will thresh them first."

So the devil said:

"Say, 'As many soldiers, so many straws there be! With my master's command again a sheaf it shall stand.'"

Iván said this, and the sheaf was as before. And the devil begged him again:

"Let me go now!"

"All right!" Iván caught him on the cart-hurdle, held him down with his hand, and pulled him off the fork. "God be with you!" he said.

The moment he said, "God be with you," the devil bolted through the earth, as a stone plumps into the water, and only a hole was left.

Iván went home, and there he found his second brother. Tarás and his wife were sitting and eating supper. Tarás the Paunch had not calculated right, and so he ran away from his debts and came to his father's. When he saw Iván, he said:

"Iván, feed me and my wife until I go back to trading!"

"All right," he said, "stay with us!"

Iván took off his caftan, and seated himself at the table.

But the merchant's wife said:

"I cannot eat with a fool. He stinks of sweat."

So Tarás the Paunch said:

"Iván, you do not smell right, so go and eat in the vestibule!"

"All right," he said, and, taking bread, he went out. "It is just right," he said, "for it is time for me to go and pasture the mare for the night."

V

That night Tarás's devil got through with his job, and he went by agreement to help out his comrades, – to get the best of Iván the Fool. He came to the field and tried to find his comrades, but all he saw was a hole in the ground; he went to the meadows, and found a tail in the swamp, and in the rye stubbles he found another hole.

"Well," he thought, "evidently some misfortune has befallen my comrades; I must take their place, and go for the fool."

The devil went forth to find Iván. But Iván was through with the field, and was chopping wood in the forest.

The brothers were not comfortable living together, and they had ordered the fool to cut timber with which to build them new huts.

The devil ran to the woods, climbed into the branches, and did not let Iván fell the trees. Iván chopped the tree in the right way, so that it might fall in a clear place; he tried to make it fall, but it came down the wrong way, and fell where it had no business to fall, and got caught in the branches. Iván made himself a lever with his axe, began to turn the tree, and barely brought it down. Iván went to chop a second tree, and the same thing happened. He worked and worked at it, and brought it down. He started on a third tree, and again the same happened.

Iván had expected to cut half a hundred trunks, and before he had chopped ten it was getting dark. Iván was worn out. Vapours rose from him as though a mist were going through the woods, but he would not give up. He chopped down another tree, and his back began to ache so much that he could not work: he stuck the axe in the wood, and sat down to rest himself.

The devil saw that Iván had stopped, and was glad:

"Well," he thought, "he has worn himself out, and he will stop soon. I will myself take a rest," and he sat astride a bough, and was happy.

But Iván got up, pulled out his axe, swung with all his might, and hit the tree so hard from the other side that it cracked and came down with a crash. The devil had not expected it and had no time to straighten out his legs. The bough broke and caught the devil's hand. Iván began to trim, and behold, there was a live devil. Iván was surprised.

"I declare," he said, "you are a nasty thing! Are you here again?"

"I am not the same," he said. "I was with your brother Tarás."

"I do not care who you are, – you will fare the same way." Iván swung his axe, and wanted to crush him with the back of the axe.

The devil began to beg him:

"Do not kill me, – I will do anything you please for you."

"What can you do?"

"I can make as much money for you as you wish."

"All right, make it for me!"

And the devil taught him how to do it.

"Take some oak leaves from this tree," he said, "and rub them in your hands. The gold will fall to the ground."

Iván took some leaves and rubbed them, – and the gold began to fall.

"This is nice to have," he said, "when you are out celebrating with the boys."

"Let me go now!" said the devil.

"All right!" Iván took his lever, and freed the devil. "God be with you," he said, and the moment he mentioned God's name, the devil bolted through the earth, as a stone plumps into the water, and only a hole was left.

VI

The brothers built themselves houses, and began to live each by himself. But Iván got through with his field work, and brewed some beer and invited his brothers to celebrate with him. They would not be Iván's guests:

"We have never seen a peasant celebration," they said.

Iván treated the peasants and their wives, and himself drank until he was drunk, and he went out into the street to the khorovód. He went up to the women, and told them to praise him.

"I will give you what you have not seen in all your lives."

The women laughed, and praised him. When they got through, they said:

"Well, let us have it!"

"I will bring it to you at once," he said.

He picked up the seed-basket and ran into the woods. The women laughed: "What a fool he is!" And they forgot about him, when, behold, he was running toward them, and carrying the basket full of something.

"Shall I let you have it?"

"Yes."

Iván picked up a handful of gold and threw it to the women. O Lord, how they darted for the money! The peasants rushed out and began to tear it out of the hands of the women. They almost crushed an old woman to death. Iván laughed.

"Oh, you fools," he said, "why did you crush that old woman? Be more gentle, and I will give you some more." He began to scatter more gold. People ran up, and Iván scattered the whole basketful. They began to ask for more. But Iván said:

"That is all. I will give you more some other time. Now let us have music! Sing songs!"

The women started a song.

"I do not like your kind of songs," he said.

"What kind is better?"

"I will show you in a minute," he said. He went to the threshing-floor, pulled out a sheaf, straightened it up, placed it on end, and struck it against the ground.

"At your master's command not a sheaf shall you stand, each straw a soldier shall be."

The sheaf flew to pieces, and out came the soldiers, and the drums began to beat and the trumpets to sound. Iván told the soldiers to play songs, and went into the street with them. The people were surprised. The soldiers played songs, and then Iván took them back to the threshing-floor, and told nobody to follow him. He changed the soldiers back into a sheaf, and threw it on the loft. He went home and went to sleep behind the partition.

VII

On the next morning his eldest brother, Semén the Warrior, heard of it, and he went to see Iván.

"Reveal to me," he said, "where did you find those soldiers, and where did you take them to?"

"What is that to you?" he said.

"What a question! With soldiers anything may be done. You can get a kingdom for yourself."

Iván was surprised.

"Indeed? Why did you not tell me so long ago?" he said. "I will make as many for you as you please. Luckily the girl and I have threshed a lot of straw."

Iván took his brother to the threshing-floor, and said:

"Look here! I will make them for you, but you take them away, or else, if we have to feed them, they will ruin the village in one day."

Semén the Warrior promised that he would take the soldiers away, and Iván began to make them. He struck a sheaf against the floor, there was a company; he struck another, there was a second, and he made such a lot of them that they took up the whole field.

"Well, will that do?"

Semén was happy, and said:

"It will do. Thank you, Iván."

"All right," he said. "If you need more, come to me, and I will make you more. There is plenty of straw to-day."

Semén the Warrior at once attended to the army, collected it as was proper, and went forth to fight.

No sooner had Semén the Warrior left, than Tarás the Paunch came. He, too, had heard of the evening's affair, and he began to beg his brother:

"Reveal to me, where do you get the gold money from? If I had such free money, I would with it gather in all the money of the whole world."

Iván was surprised.

"Indeed? You ought to have told me so long ago," he said. "I will rub up for you as much as you want."

His brother was glad:

"Give me at least three seed-baskets full!"

"All right," he said, "let us go to the woods! But hitch up the horse, or you will not be able to carry it away."

They went to the woods, and Iván began to rub the oak leaves. He rubbed up a large heap.

"Will that do, eh?"

Tarás was happy.

"It will do for awhile," he said. "Thank you, Iván."

"You are welcome. If you need more, come to me, and I will rub up some more, – there are plenty of leaves left."

Tarás the Paunch gathered a whole wagon-load of money, and went away to trade with it.

Both brothers left the home. And Semén went out to fight, and Tarás to trade. And Semén the Warrior conquered a whole kingdom for himself, while Tarás the Paunch made a big heap of money by trading.

The brothers met, and they revealed to one another where Semén got the soldiers, and Tarás the money.

Semén the Warrior said to his brother:

"I have conquered a kingdom for myself, and I lead a good life, only I have not enough money to feed my soldiers with."

And Tarás the Paunch said:

"And I have earned a whole mound of money, but here is the trouble: I have nobody to guard the money."

So Semén the Warrior said:

"Let us go to our brother! I will tell him to make me more soldiers, and I will give them to you to guard your money; and you tell him to rub me more money with which to feed the soldiers."

And they went to Iván. When they came to him, Semén said:

"I have not enough soldiers, brother. Make me some more soldiers, – if you have to work over two stacks."

Iván shook his head.

"I will not make you any soldiers, for nothing in the world."

"But you promised you would."

"So I did, but I will not make them for you."

"Why, you fool, won't you make them?"

"Because your soldiers have killed a man. The other day I was ploughing in the field, when I saw a woman driving with a coffin in the road, and weeping all the time. I asked her who had died, and she said, 'Semén's soldiers have killed my husband in a war.' I thought that the soldiers would make music, and there they have killed a man. I will give you no more."

And he stuck to it, and made no soldiers for him.

Then Tarás the Paunch began to beg Iván to make him more gold money. But Iván shook his head.

"I will not rub any, for nothing in the world."

"But you promised you would."

"So I did, but I will not do it."

"Why, you fool, will you not do it?"

"Because your gold coins have taken away Mikháylovna's cow."

"How so?"

"They just did. Mikháylovna had a cow, whose milk the children sipped, but the other day the children came to me to ask for some milk. I said to them: 'Where is your cow?' And they answered: 'Tarás the Paunch's clerk came, and he gave mother three gold pieces, and she gave him the cow, and now we have no milk to sip.' I thought you wanted to play with the gold pieces, and you take the cow away from the children. I will not give you any more."

And the fool stuck to it, and did not give him any. So the brothers went away.

They went away, and they wondered how they might mend matters. Then Semén said:

"This is what we shall do. You give me money to feed the soldiers with, and I will give you half my kingdom with the soldiers to guard your money." Tarás agreed to it. The brothers divided up, and both became kings, and rich men.

VIII

But Iván remained at home, supporting father and mother, and working the field with the dumb girl.

One day Iván's watch-dog grew sick: he had the mange and was dying. Iván was sorry for him, and he took some bread from the dumb girl, put it in his hat, and took it out and threw it to the dog. But the cap was torn, and with the bread one of the roots fell out. The old dog swallowed it with the bread. And no sooner had he swallowed it than he jumped up, began to play and to bark, and wagged his tail, – he was well again.

When his father and his mother saw that, they were surprised.

"With what did you cure the dog?"

And Iván said to them:

"I had two roots with which to cure all diseases, and he swallowed one."

It happened that at that time the king's daughter grew ill, and the king proclaimed in all the towns and villages that he would reward him who should cure her, and that if it should be an unmarried man, he should have his daughter for a wife. The same was also proclaimed in Iván's village.

Father and mother called Iván, and said to him:

"Have you heard what the king has proclaimed? You said that you had a root, so go and cure the king's daughter. You will get a fortune for the rest of your life."

"All right," he said. And he got ready to go. He was dressed up, and went out on the porch, and saw a beggar woman with a twisted arm.

"I have heard that you can cure," she said. "Cure my arm, for I cannot dress myself."

And Iván said:

"All right!" He took the root, gave it to the beggar woman, and told her to swallow it.

She swallowed it, and was cured at once and could wave her arm. Iván's parents came out to see him off on his way to the king, and when they heard that he had given away the last root and had nothing left with which to cure the king's daughter, they began to upbraid him.

"You have taken pity on the beggar woman, but you have no pity on the king's daughter."

But he hitched his horse, threw a little straw into the hamper, and was getting ready to drive away.

"Where are you going, fool?"

"To cure the king's daughter."

"But you have nothing to cure her with!"

"All right," he said, and drove away.

He came to the king's palace, and the moment he stepped on the porch, the king's daughter was cured.

The king rejoiced, and sent for Iván. He had him all dressed up:

"Be my son-in-law!" he said.

"All right," he said.

And Iván married the king's daughter. The king died soon after, and Iván became king. Thus all three brothers were kings.

IX

The three brothers were reigning.

The elder brother, Semén the Warrior, lived well. With his straw soldiers he got him real soldiers. He commanded his people to furnish a soldier to each ten homes, and every such soldier had to be tall of stature, and white of body, and clean of face. And he gathered a great many such soldiers and taught them all what to do. And if any one acted contrary to his will, he at once sent his soldiers against that person, and did as he pleased. And all began to be afraid of him.

He had an easy life. Whatever he wished for, or his eyes fell upon, was his. He would send out his soldiers, and they would take away and bring to him whatever he needed.

Tarás the Paunch, too, lived well. The money which he had received from Iván he had not spent, but he had increased it greatly. He, too, had good order in his kingdom. The money he kept in coffers, and exacted more money from the people. He exacted money from each soul for walking past, and driving past, and for bast shoes, and leg-rags, and shoe-laces. And no matter what he wished, he had; for money they brought him everything, and they went to work for him, because everybody needs money.

Nor did Iván the Fool live badly. As soon as he had buried his father-in-law, he took off his royal garments and gave them to his wife to put away in the coffer. He put on his old hempen shirt and trousers, and his bast shoes, and began to work.

"I do not feel well," he said. "My belly is growing larger, and I cannot eat, nor sleep."

He brought his parents and the dumb girl, and began to work again.

People said to him:

"But you are a king!"

"All right," he said, "but a king, too, has to eat."

The minister came to him, and said:

"We have no money with which to pay salaries."

"All right," he said, "if you have none, pay no salaries!"

"But they will stop serving you."

"All right," he said, "Let them stop serving! They will have more time for work. Let them haul manure. They have not hauled any for a long time."

People came to Iván to have a case tried. One said:

"He stole money from me."

But Iván replied:

"All right, evidently he needed it."

All saw that Iván was a fool. His wife said to him:

"They say about you that you are a fool."

"All right," he said.

Iván's wife, too, was a fool, and she thought and thought.

"Why should I go against my husband?" she said. "The thread belongs where the needle is."

She took off her regal garments, put them in a coffer, and went to the dumb girl to learn to work. She learned, and began to help her husband.

All the wise men left Iván's kingdom, and only the fools were left. Nobody had any money. They lived and worked and fed themselves and all good people.

X

The old devil waited and waited for some news from the young devils about how they had destroyed the three brothers, but none came. He went to find out for himself: he looked everywhere for the three, but found only three holes.

"Well," he thought, "evidently they did not get the best of them. I shall have to try it myself."

He went to find the brothers, but they were no longer in their old places. He found them in different kingdoms. All three were living and reigning there. That vexed the old devil.

"I shall have to do the work myself," he said.

First of all he went to King Semén. He did not go to him in his own form, but in the shape of a general. He went to him, and said:

"I have heard that you, King Semén, are a great warrior. I have had good instruction in this business, and I want to serve you."

King Semén began to ask him questions, and he saw that he was a clever man, and so received him into his service.

The old general began to teach King Semén how to gather a great army.

"In the first place," he said, "you must collect more soldiers, for too many people in your kingdom are walking about idly. You must shave the heads of all the young men without exception, and then you will have an army which will be five times as large as it is now. In the second place, you must introduce new guns and cannon. I will get you the kind of guns that fire one hundred bullets at once, as though pouring out pease. And I will get you cannon that burn with their fire: whether a man, or a horse, or a wall, – they burn everything."

King Semén listened to his new general, and ordered all the young men without exception to be drafted as soldiers, and started new factories. He had a lot of new guns and cannon made, and at once started a war against a neighbouring king. The moment the enemy's army came out against him, he ordered his soldiers to fire at them with bullets and to burn them with the cannon fire. He at once maimed and burnt one-half the army. The neighbouring king became frightened, and he surrendered and gave up his kingdom to him. King Semén was happy.

"Now I will vanquish the King of India," he said.

But the King of India heard of King Semén, and adopted all his inventions and added a few of his own. The King of India drafted not only all the young men, but he also made all the unmarried women serve as soldiers, and so he had even more soldiers than King Semén. He adopted all of King Semén's guns and cannon, and introduced flying in the air and throwing explosive bombs from above.