University of Virginia Library

12. CHAPTER XII.

THE old devil, failing to ruin Ivan's king-
dom with soldiers, transformed himself into a
nobleman, dressed exquisitely, and became one
of Ivan's subjects, with the intention of com-
passing the downfall of his kingdom—as he had
done with that of Tarras.

The "nobleman" said to Ivan: "I desire to
teach you wisdom and to render you other ser-
vice. I will build you a palace and factories."

"Very well," said Ivan; "you may live with
us."

The next day the "nobleman" appeared on
the Square with a sack of gold in his hand and
a plan for building a house, saying to the peo-
ple: "You are living like pigs, and I am going
to teach you how to live decently. You are to
build a house for me according to this plan. I

will superintend the work myself, and will pay
you for your services in gold," showing them at
the same time the contents of his sack.

The fools were amused. They had never
before seen any money. Their business was
conducted entirely by exchange of farm prod-
ucts or by hiring themselves out to work by the
day in return for whatever they most needed.

They therefore glanced at the gold pieces with
amazement, and said, "What nice toys they
would be to play with!" In return for the gold
they gave their services and brought the "noble-
man" the produce of their farms.

The old devil was overjoyed as he thought,
"Now my enterprise is on a fair road and I
will be able to ruin the Fool—as I did his
brothers."

The fools obtained sufficient gold to distrib-
ute among the entire community, the women
and young girls of the village wearing much
of it as ornaments, while to the children they
gave some pieces to play with on the streets.

When they had secured all they wanted they
stopped working and the "noblemen" did not
get his house more than half finished. He
had neither provisions nor cattle for the year,
and ordered the people to bring him both.

He directed them also to go on with the build-
ing of the palace and factories. He promised
to pay them liberally in gold for everything
they did. No one responded to his call—only
once in awhile a little boy or girl would call
to exchange eggs for his gold.

Thus was the "nobleman" deserted, and,
having nothing to eat, he went to the village to
procure some provisions for his dinner. He
went to one house and offered gold in return for
a chicken, but was refused, the owner saying:

"We have enough of that already and do not
want any more."

He next went to a fish-woman to buy some
herring, when she, too, refused to accept his
gold in return for fish, saying: "I do not wish
it, my dear man; I have no children to whom

I can give it to play with. I have three pieces
which I keep as curiosities only."

He then went to a peasant to buy bread, but
he also refused to accept the gold. "I have no
use for it," said he, "unless you wish to give it
for Christ's sake; then it will be a different
matter, and I will tell my
baba
[old woman] to
cut a piece of bread for you."

The old devil was so angry that he ran away
from the peasant, spitting and cursing as he
went.

Not only did the offer to accept in the name
of Christ anger him, but the very mention of
the name was like the thrust of a knife in his
throat.

The old devil did not succeed in getting
any bread, and in his efforts to secure other
articles of food he met with the same failure.

The people had all the gold they wanted and
what pieces they had they regarded as curiosi-
ties. They said to the old devil: "If you
bring us something else in exchange for food,

or come to ask for Christ's sake, we will give
you all you want."

But the old devil had nothing but gold, and
was too lazy to work; and being unable to
accept anything for Christ's sake, he was
greatly enraged.

"What else do you want?" he said. "I will
give you gold with which you can buy every-
thing you want, and you need labor no longer."

But the fools would not accept his gold, nor
listen to him. Thus the old devil was obliged
to go to sleep hungry.

Tidings of this condition of affairs soon
reached the ears of Ivan. The people went to
him and said: "What shell we do? This no-
bleman appeared among us; he is well dressed;
he wishes to eat and drink of the best, but is
unwilling to work, and does not beg for food
for Christ's sake. He only offers every one
gold pieces. At first we gave him everything
he wanted, taking the gold pieces in exchange
just as curiosities; but now we have enough of

them and refuse to accept any more from him.

What shall we do with him? he may die of
hunger!"

Ivan heard all they had to say, and told them
to employ him as a shepherd, taking turns in
doing so.

The old devil saw no other way out of the
difficulty and was obliged to submit.

It soon came the old devil's turn to go to
Ivan's house. He went there to dinner and
found Ivan's dumb sister preparing the meal.

She was often cheated by the lazy people,
who while they did not work, yet ate up all
the gruel. But she learned to know the lazy
people from the condition of their hands.

Those with great welts on their hands she in-
vited first to the table, and those having smooth
white hands had to take what was left.

The old devil took a seat at the table, but the
dumb girl, taking his hands, looked at them,
and seeing them white and clean, and with long
nails, swore at him and put him from the table.

Ivan's wife said to the old devil: "You must
excuse my sister-in-law; she will not allow any
one to sit at the table whose hands have not
been hardened by toil, so you will have to wait
until the dinner is over and then you can
have what is left. With it you must be satis-
fied."

The old devil was very much offended that
he was made to eat with "pigs," as he ex-
pressed it, and complained to Ivan, saying:

"The foolish law you have in your kingdom,
that all persons must work, is surely the in-
vention of fools. People who work for a living
are not always forced to labor with their hands.

Do you think wise men labor so?"

Ivan replied: "Well, what do fools know
about it? We all work with our hands."

"And for that reason you are fools," replied
the devil. "I can teach you how to use your
brains, and you will find such labor more bene-
ficial."

Ivan was surprised at hearing this, and said:

"Well, it is perhaps not without good reason
that we are called fools."

"It is not so easy to work with the brain,"
the old devil said.

"You will not give me anything to eat be-
cause my hands have not the appearance of
being toil-hardened, but you must understand
that it is much harder to do brain-work, and
sometimes the head feels like bursting with the
effort it is forced to make."

"Then why do you not select some light work
that you can perform with your hands?" Ivan
asked.

The devil said: "I torment myself with
brain-work because I have pity for you fools,
for, if I did not torture myself, people like you
would remain fools for all eternity. I have ex-
ercised my brain a great deal during my life,
and now I am able to teach you."

Ivan was greatly surprised and said: "Very
well; teach us, so that when our hands are tired
we can use our heads to replace them."

The devil promised to instruct the people,
and Ivan announced the fact throughout his
kingdom.

The devil was willing to teach all those who
came to him how to use the head instead of the
hands, so as to produce more with the former
than with the latter.

In Ivan's kingdom there was a high tower,
which was reached by a long, narrow lad-
der leading up to the balcony, and Ivan told
the old devil that from the top of the tower
every one could see him. So the old devil
went up to the balcony and addressed the
people.

The fools came in great crowds to hear what
the old devil had to say, thinking that he really
meant to tell them how to work with the head.

But the old devil only told them in words what
to do, and did not give them any practical in-
struction. He said that men working only with
their hands could not make a living. The fools
did not understand what he said to them and

looked at him in amazement, and then departed
for their daily work.

The old devil addressed them for two days
from the balcony, and at the end of that time,
feeling hungry, he asked the people to bring
him some bread. But they only laughed at
him and told him if he could work better with
his head than with his hands he could also find
bread for himself. He addressed the people
for yet another day, and they went to hear him
from curiosity, but soon left him to return to
their work.

Ivan asked, "Well, did the nobleman work
with his head?"

"Not yet," they said; "so far he has only
talked."

One day, while the old devil was standing on
the balcony, he became weak, and, falling
down, hurt his head against a pole.

Seeing this, one of the fools ran to Ivan's
wife and said, "The gentleman has at last
commenced to work with his head."

She ran to the field to tell Ivan, who was
much surprised, and said, "Let us go and see
him."

He turned his horses' heads in the direction
of the tower, where the old devil remained
weak from hunger and was still suspended
from the pole, with his body swaying back and
forth and his head striking the lower part of the
pole each time it came in contact with it.

While Ivan was looking, the old devil started
down the steps head-first—as they supposed, to
count them.

"Well," said Ivan, "he told the truth after
all—that sometimes from this kind of work the
head bursts. This is far worse than welts on
the hands."

The old devil fell to the ground head-fore-
most. Ivan approached him, but at that instant
the ground opened and the devil disappeared,
leaving only a hole to show where he had
gone.

Ivan scratched his head and said: "See here;

such nastiness! This is yet another devil. He
looks like the father of the little ones."

Ivan still lives, and people flock to his king-
dom. His brothers come to him and he feeds
them.

To every one who comes to him and says,
"Give us food," he replies: "Very well; you
are welcome. We have plenty of everything."

There is only one unchangeable custom ob-
served in Ivan's kingdom: The man with toil-
hardened hands is always given a seat at the
table, while the possessor of soft white hands
must be contented with what is left.