Tolstoi for the young. Select tales from Tolstoi

“But how can that be?”

“The woman had a cow. The children used to drink the milk, but the other day they came to beg a little milk of me. ‘But where’s your cow?’ I asked them, and they said, ‘Taras’ bailiff came and gave mother three golden coins and she gave him the cow; now we have no milk to drink.’ I thought you only wanted to play with the golden coins, but you’ve taken away the cow from the children; I won’t give you any more.”

And the Fool was obstinate and kept to his word.

And the brothers went away and deliberated over their difficult situation in order to find a way out.

Simon said, “This is what we must do. You give me some of your money to feed my soldiers, and I’ll give you half my kingdom and soldiers to guard your money.”

Taras agreed. The brothers divided their possessions, and both became kings and both were rich.

VIII

And Ivan lived at home, supporting his father and mother and working in the fields with his deaf and dumb sister.

One day Ivan’s yard-dog fell sick. He grew mangy, and was near dying. Ivan pitied it. He took a piece of bread from his sister, put it in his cap, carried it out and threw it to the dog. The creases in his cap parted and out rolled one of the little roots with the bread. The dog ate it up. As soon as it had swallowed the root it began to jump about and bark and play and wag its tail. It was quite well again.

The father and mother were amazed.

“How did you cure the dog?” they asked.

And Ivan said, “I had two little roots that could cure any pain, and the dog swallowed one.”

It happened at the time that the King’s daughter fell ill, and the King proclaimed to every town and village that he would reward any man who could cure her, and that if he were an unmarried man he should have her for his wife. The news came to Ivan’s village.

And the father and mother summoned Ivan and said to him, “Have you heard of the King’s promise? You told us you had a little root that could cure any sickness; go, cure the King’s daughter, you will then be happy for life.”

“Very well,” Ivan said, “I will go.”

And Ivan prepared himself for the journey, and they dressed him in his best clothes. When he came out on the doorstep he saw a beggar-woman with a crippled hand.

“I heard that you can cure the sick,” she said. “Cure my hand, for I cannot even put on my own shoes.”

“Very well,” Ivan said. And he took the little root out of his cap, gave it to the beggar-woman and told her to swallow it. As soon as she swallowed it, she recovered, and began to wave her hand.

The father and mother came out to bid good-bye to Ivan, and they heard that he had given away his last root and had nothing left with which to cure the King’s daughter, and they began to scold him.

“You pity a beggar-woman, yet have no pity for the King’s daughter,” they reproached him.

But Ivan was sorry for the King’s daughter. He harnessed the mare, threw some straw into the cart and got in.

“Where are you going to, you fool?”

“To cure the King’s daughter.”

“But you have nothing to cure her with now.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, and drove away.

He came to the King’s palace, and as soon as he stepped over the threshold the King’s daughter got well.

The King was overjoyed. He ordered Ivan to be brought to him, and dressed him in fine clothes.

“You must be my son-in-law,” he said.

“Very well,” Ivan said.

And Ivan married the princess. Her father died soon after, and Ivan became King.

All three brothers were now kings.

IX

The three brothers lived and reigned.

The elder brother Simon the Warrior lived well. With his straw soldiers he gathered together real soldiers. Throughout the whole of his kingdom he ordered a levy of one soldier for every ten houses, and each soldier had to be tall and whole of body and clean of face. In this way he gathered many soldiers and trained them. If any one opposed him he sent his soldiers off at once and imposed his will, and people began to fear him. His life was a very goodly one. Whatever he saw and wanted was his. He sent his soldiers and they brought him all he wanted.

Taras the Pot-bellied also lived well. He did not lose the money Ivan had given him, but increased it a hundredfold. He introduced law and order into his kingdom. He stowed his money away in coffers and levied taxes on the people. There was a poll-tax, and tolls for walking and driving, and a tax on shoes and stockings and frills. He got whatever he wanted. For money people brought him everything, and even worked for him, for every one wanted money.

Ivan the Fool, too, did not live badly. As soon as his father-in-law was dead he took off his royal robes and gave them to his wife to stow away in a chest. And he put on his coarse linen shirt and breeches and peasant shoes and began to work once more.

“It’s so dull for me,” he said. “I’ve got fat, lost my appetite and can’t sleep.”

He brought his father and mother and sister to live with him, and began to work as of old.

“But you are a king,” people remonstrated.

“Even a king must eat,” he said.

One of his ministers came to him and said, “We have no money to pay salaries.”

“Don’t pay them, then,” he said.

“But no one will serve us.”

“What does it matter? They needn’t. They’ll have more time for work. There’s the manure to cart; heaps of it lying about.”

When people came to Ivan for justice and said, “That man stole my money,” Ivan said, “Never mind; he must have wanted it.”

And all realized that Ivan was a fool. And his wife said to him, “People say you are a fool.”

“What does it matter?” Ivan said.

His wife reflected awhile, but she was also a fool.

“Why should I go against my husband?” she said. “Where the needle goes, the thread follows.”

So she took off her royal robes, put them away in a chest and went to Malania to learn to work. When she knew how, she began to help her husband.