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"Here I am," he said to himself, "living idly. 1 must go out and tell people what I know."

Even while he was pondering, he heard the cutthroat coming. He was about to let him pass; for he thought:

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"Whatever I say to him, he will not accept."

This was his first thought; but then he reconsidered it, and went out on the road. The cutthroat was riding by in moody silence; his eyes were on the ground.

The godson gazed at him, and he felt sorry for him; he drew near to him and seized him by the knee.

"Dear brother," said he, “have pity on thine own soul. Lo! the Spirit of God is in thee. Thou tormentest thyself, and others thou tormentest; and thou wilt be tormented still more grievously. But God loves thee so! With what bounty has He blessed thee! Ruin not thyself, brother! change thy life."

The cutthroat frowned, and he turned away.

"Out of my way!" he exclaimed.

The godson clutched the cutthroat's knee more firmly, and burst into tears.

The cutthroat raised his eyes to the godson. He looked and he looked, and then, dismounting from his horse, he fell on his knees before the godson.

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"You have conquered me, old man," he cried. "Twenty years have I struggled with you. have won me over. I have henceforth no power over you. Do with me as it seems to you good. When you spoke to me the first time," said he, "I only did the more evil. And your words made an impression on me only when you went away from men, and I learned that you gained no advantage from men."

And the godson remembered that the peasant woman succeeded in cleaning her table only after she had rinsed out her towel. When he ceased to think about himself, his heart was purified, and he began to purify the hearts of others.

And the cutthroat said:

"But my heart was changed within me only when you ceased to fear death."

And the godson remembered that the hoopmakers 1 only succeeded in bending their hoops after they had fastened their block: when he ceased to be afraid of death, he had fastened his life in God, and a disobedient heart became obedient.

And the cutthroat said:

"But my heart melted entirely only when you pitied me and wept before me.

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The godson was overjoyed; he led the cutthroat to the place where the firebrands had been.

They came to it, but out of the last firebrand also an apple tree had sprung!

And the godson remembered that the drovers' damp wood had kindled only when a great fire was built: when his own heart was well on fire, another's took fire from it.

And the godson was glad because now he had atoned for all his sins.

He told all this to the cutthroat, and died. The cut throat buried him and began to live as the godson bade him, and thus became a teacher of men.

1 Obodchiki, from obed, a felloe, or hoop.

SKAZKA

4 STORY ABOUT IVAN THE FOOL AND HIS TWO BROTHERS. SEMYON THE WARRIOR AND TARAS THE POT-BELLIED, AND HIS Dumb sisteR, MALANYA, AND ABOUT THE OLD DEVIL AND THE THREE LITTLE DEVILS

(1885)

CHAPTER I

NCE on a time a rich muzhik lived in a certain empire, in a certain kingdom. And the rich muzhik had three sons, Semyon the warrior, Taras the pot-bellied, and Ivan the fool, and a deaf and dumb daughter, Malanya the spinster.

Semyon the warrior went to war, to serve the Tsar; Taras the pot-bellied went to the city, to a merchant's, to engage in trade; but Ivan the fool1 stayed at home with the girl, to work, and grow round-shouldered.

Semyon won high rank and an estate, and married a nobleman's daughter. His pay was large, and his estate large, and yet he did not make ends meet: what the husband made, his wife, the lady, squandered with lavish hand; and they never had any money!

1 Throughout this skazka, or folk-tale, the characteristic epithets of the muzhik's family are, for the most part, omitted in the translation. In Russian they are Semyon-voïn, Taras-briukhan, Ivan-durak, and Malanyavyekoukha-nyemaya. The reader will have little difficulty in supplying them, either in Russian or English. It is interesting to remember, in respect to this tale, that it embodies Count Tolstoï's most radical teaching; and Count Tolstoi himself was amazed that the censor allowed it to pass, while the scientific expression of the same doctrine was tabooed.

2 Tchin.

And Semyon went to his estate to collect his revenues. And the steward 1 said to him:

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"We have no way of getting any revenue; we have neither cattle nor tools, nor horses nor cows, nor plows nor harrows. All these must be got; then there will be an income.”

And Semyon went to his father.

Father," said he, “you are rich; and yet you have given me nothing. Give me my third, and I will improve my estate with it."

And the old man said:

"You have brought nothing to my house: why should I give you a third part. It would be unfair to Ívan and the girl.'

But Semyon said: -

"Now, look here; he is a fool, and she is a deaf and dumb old maid; what do they need?"

And the old man replied: "Be it as Ivan shall say.'

But Ivan says:

"All right, let him have it."

Semyon took his share from home, spent it on his estate, and went off again to the Tsar, to serve him.

The pot-bellied Taras also made much money; he married into the merchant family, but still he had not enough. He went to his father, and said:

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Give me my portion."

The old man did not want to give Taras his portion either...

Said he: "You have brought nothing to us; but whatever is in the house, that Ivan has saved. And so we must not wrong him and the girl."

But Taras said:

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"What good does it do him? he is a fool. not marry, no one would have him. And the dumb girl does n't need anything either. Ivan," said he, "give me half the grain, I won't take the tools, and of the live-stock I will take only the gray stallion; he's no good to you for plowing."

1 Prikashchik.

Ivan laughed, and said:

All right; I will make a new start." So they gave Taras his share.

Taras took the grain to the city; he took the gray stallion; and Ivan was left with one old mare, to toil like a peasant,1 as before, and support his father and mother.

CHAPTER II

THE old devil was angry because the brothers had not quarreled over the division, but had parted amicably; and he summoned three devilkins.

"Look here," says he: "there are three brothers, Semyon the warrior, Taras the pot-bellied, and Ivan the fool. They all ought to be quarreling, but they live peaceably; they visit one another. The fool has ruined the whole business for me. Now you three go and get hold of the three brothers, and stir them up, so that they will scratch one another's eyes out. Can you do

this?"

"We can," said they.

"How will you do it?"

“Well, we shall do it this way: first, we 'll ruin them, so that they'll have nothing to eat, and then tie them all together; and they will fall to fighting."

"Now, that's capital," says he. "I see you know your business. Make haste, and don't you come back to me until you have set the three by the ears, otherwise I'll skin you all alive."

The devilkins all went to a bog and began to plan how to undertake their task. They wrangled, and wrangled, for each one wished to have the easiest part of the job to do; and at last they decided to cast lots for which one each should take; and if any of them should accomplish his work first, he should come to the aid of the others.

1 Krestyanstvovať, a verb made from the noun krestyanin, a peasant. 2 Literally, they exchange bread-salt with one another.

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