A FAIRY-TALE

About Ivan the Fool and His Two Brothers, s.e.m.e.n the Warrior and Taras the Paunch, and His Dumb Sister Malanya, and About the Old Devil and the Three Young Devils

1885

A FAIRY-TALE

About Ivan the Fool and His Two Brothers, s.e.m.e.n the Warrior and Taras the Paunch, and His Dumb Sister Malanya, and About the Old Devil and the Three Young Devils

I.

In a certain kingdom, in a certain realm, there lived a rich peasant. He had three sons, s.e.m.e.n the Warrior, Taras the Paunch, and Ivan the Fool, and a daughter Malanya, the dumb old maid.

s.e.m.e.n the Warrior went to war, to serve the king; Taras the Paunch went to a merchant in the city, to sell wares; but Ivan the Fool and the girl remained at home, to work and hump their backs.

s.e.m.e.n the Warrior earned a high rank and an estate, and married a lord's daughter. His salary was big, and his estate was large, but still he could not make both ends meet: whatever he collected, his wife scattered as though from a sleeve, and they had no money.

s.e.m.e.n the Warrior came to his estate, to collect the revenue. His clerk said to him:

"Where shall it come from? We have neither cattle, nor tools: neither horses, nor cows, nor plough, nor harrow. Everything has to be provided, then there will be an income."

And s.e.m.e.n the Warrior went to his father:

"You are rich, father," he said, "and you have not given me anything.

Cut off a third and I will transfer it to my estate."

And the old man said:

"You have brought nothing to my house, why should I give you a third? It will be unfair to Ivan and to the girl."

But s.e.m.e.n said:

"But he is a fool, and she is a dumb old maid. What do they need?"

And the old man said:

"As Ivan says so it shall be!"

But Ivan said:

"All right, let him have it!"

So s.e.m.e.n the Warrior took his third from the house, transferred it to his estate, and again went away to serve the king.

Taras the Paunch, too, earned much money,--and married a merchant woman.

Still he did not have enough, and he came to his father, and said:

"Give me my part!"

The old man did not want to give Taras his part:

"You," he said, "have brought nothing to the house, and everything in the house has been earned by Ivan. I cannot be unfair to him and to the girl."

But Taras said:

"What does he want it for? He is a fool. He cannot marry, for no one will have him; and the dumb girl does not need anything, either. Give me," he said, "half of the grain, Ivan! I will not take your tools, and of your animals I want only the gray stallion,--you cannot plough with him."

Ivan laughed.

"All right," he said, "I will earn it again."

So Taras, too, received his part. Taras took the grain to town, and drove off the gray stallion, and Ivan was left with one old mare, and he went on farming and supporting his father and his mother.

II.

The old devil was vexed because the brothers had not quarrelled in dividing up, but had parted in love. And so he called up three young devils.

"You see," he said, "there are three brothers, s.e.m.e.n the Warrior, Taras the Paunch, and Ivan the Fool. They ought to be quarrelling, but, instead, they live peacefully; they exchange with each other bread and salt. The fool has spoiled all my business. Go all three of you.--get hold of them, and mix them up in such a way that they shall tear out one another's eyes. Can you do it?"

"We can," they said.

"How are you going to do it?"

"We will do it like this," they said: "First we will ruin them, so that they will have nothing to eat; then we will throw them all in a heap, so that they will quarrel together."

"Very well," he said. "I see that you know your business. Go, and do not return to me before you have muddled all three, or else I will flay all three of you."

The three devils all went to a swamp, and considered how to take hold of the matter: they quarrelled and quarrelled, for they wanted each of them to get the easiest job, and finally they decided to cast lots for each man. If one of them got through first, he was to come and help the others. The devils cast lots, and set a time when they were to meet again in the swamp, in order to find out who was through, and who needed help.

When the time came, the devils gathered in the swamp. They began to talk about their affairs. The first devil, s.e.m.e.n the Warrior's, began to speak.

"My affair," he said, "is progressing. To-morrow my s.e.m.e.n will go to his father."

His comrades asked him how he did it.

"In the first place," he said, "I brought such bravery over s.e.m.e.n that he promised his king to conquer the whole world, and the king made him a commander and sent him out to fight the King of India. They came together for a fight. But that very night I wet all his powder, and I went over to the King of India and made an endless number of soldiers for him out of straw. When s.e.m.e.n's soldiers saw the straw soldiers walking upon them on all sides, they lost their courage. s.e.m.e.n commanded them to fire their cannon and their guns, but they could not fire them.

s.e.m.e.n's soldiers were frightened and ran away like sheep. And the King of India vanquished them. s.e.m.e.n is disgraced,--they have taken his estate from him, and to-morrow he is to be beheaded. I have only one day's work left to do: to let him out of the prison, so that he can run home. To-morrow I shall be through with him, so tell me which of you I am to aid!"

Then the other devil, Taras's, began to speak:

"I do not need any help," he said, "for my affair is also progressing nicely,--Taras will not live another week. In the first place, I have raised a belly on him, and made him envious. He is so envious of other people's property that, no matter what he sees, he wants to buy it. He has bought up an endless lot of things and spent all his money on them and is still buying. He now buys on other people's money. He has quite a lot on his shoulders, and is so entangled that he will never free himself. In a week the time will come for him to pay, and I will change all his wares into manure,--and he will not be able to pay his debts, and will go to his father's."

They began to ask the third devil, Ivan's.