Fables for Children, Stories for Children, Natural Science Stories Part 72

"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 Ivan. He had him all dressed up:

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

"All right," he said.

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

IX.

The three brothers were reigning.

The elder brother, s.e.m.e.n 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.

Taras the Paunch, too, lived well. The money which he had received from Ivan 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 Ivan 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 s.h.i.+rt 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 Ivan to have a case tried. One said:

"He stole money from me."

But Ivan replied:

"All right, evidently he needed it."

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

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

"All right," he said.

Ivan'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 Ivan's kingdom, and only the fools were left.

n.o.body 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 s.e.m.e.n. 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 s.e.m.e.n, are a great warrior. I have had good instruction in this business, and I want to serve you."

King s.e.m.e.n 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 s.e.m.e.n 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."