“Ay! and you! who are you, then?”
“You see,” cried they, “it is now winter, and if you do not go and cut
wood you will be frozen.”
“I am lazy,” said the fool.
“What! you are lazy!” said the sisters-in-law. “If you do not get up and
cleave wood, we will tell our husbands not to give you the red coat, or
the red cap, or the fine red boots.” The fool, who longed for the red
cap, coat, and boots, saw that he must cleave the wood; but as it was
bitter cold, and he did not like to leave the stove, he repeated, under
his breath, as he lay there: “At the pike’s command, and at my request,
up, axe, and hew wood; and do you, logs, come of yourselves into the
house and lay yourselves in the stove.”
The axe instantly jumped up, ran into the yard, and began to cut up the
wood, and the logs came of themselves into the house, and went and laid
themselves in the stove. When the sisters-in-law saw this they wondered
exceedingly, and as the axe did the work of itself whenever Emelyan was
wanted to cut up wood, he lived with them for some time in great
tranquillity. At length the wood was cut, and they said to him—
“Emelyan, we have no more wood, so you must go to the forest to cut
some.”
“Ay,” said the fool, “and you! who are you, then?”
“The wood,” said the sisters-in-law, “is far off, and it is winter, and
too cold for us to go.”
“I am lazy,” said the fool.
“How! you are lazy!” said they, “you will be frozen, then, and besides,
when our husbands come home we will tell them not to give you the red
coat, cap, and boots.”
As the fool longed for the red clothes, he found that he must go and cut
the wood. So he got off the stove, and began to put on his shoes and
stockings, and to dress himself. When he was dressed, he went out into
the yard, pulled the sledge out of the shed, took a rope and the axe
with him, mounted the sledge, and called out to his sisters-in-law—“Open
the gate!”
When the sisters-in-law saw that he was going off in the sledge without
any horses, for the fool had not put the horses to it, they cried out—
“Why, Emelyan, you have got on the sledge without yoking the horses!”
He answered that he did not want any horses, but asked them to open the
gate. The sisters-in-law threw open the gate, and the fool, as he sat in
the sledge, said—
“At the pike’s command, and at my request, away, sledge, go to the
wood.”
At these words the sledge galloped out of the yard at such a rate that
the people of the village, when they saw it, were filled with amazement.
The sledge went on so very fast, that if a pair of horses had been yoked
to it they could not have drawn it at anything like the same rate.
As it was necessary for the fool to go through the town on his way to
the wood, he came to it at full speed. Not knowing that he should cry
out “Make way!” in order that he might not run over any one, he gave no
notice, but rode on. So he ran over a great many people; and though they
ran after him, no one was able to overtake him and bring him back.
Emelyan, having got clear of the town, came to the wood, and stopped his
sledge. He then got down, and said—
“At the pike’s command, and at my request, up, axe, hew wood; and you,
logs, lay yourselves on the sledge, and tie yourselves together.”
The fool had scarcely uttered these words, when the axe began to cut
wood, the logs to lay themselves in the sledge, and the rope to tie them
down. When the axe had cut wood enough, he desired it to cut him a good
cudgel, and when the axe had done this he mounted the sledge, and said—
“Up and away! At the pike’s command, and at my request, go home,
sledge.”
Away went the sledge at the top of its speed. When Emelyan came to the
town where he had hurt so many people, he found a crowd waiting to catch
him, and as soon as he got into the town they laid hold of him, and
began to drag him off his sledge and to beat him. When the fool saw how
they were treating him, he said under his breath—
“At the pike’s command, and at my request, up, cudgel, and thrash them.”
Instantly the cudgel began to lay about it in all directions, and when
the people were all driven away he made his escape, and came to his own
village. The cudgel, having thrashed them all soundly, rolled to the
house after him, and Emelyan, as usual when he got home, lay down on the
stove.
After he had left the town the people began everywhere to talk, not
about the number of persons whom he had injured, but about the amazing
fact of his riding in the sledge without horses; and from one to another
the news spread till it reached the court, and came even to the ears of
the king. When the king heard the story he felt an extreme desire to see
Emelyan, so he despatched an officer with a party of soldiers in search
of him. The officer whom the king sent lost no time in leaving the town,
and he took the road that the fool had taken. When he came to the
village where Emelyan lived, he summoned before him the Starosta
(Head-man) of the village, and said to him—
“I am sent by the king to take a certain fool, and bring him before his
majesty.”
The Starosta at once showed him the house where Emelyan lived, and the
officer, entering it, asked where the fool was. Emelyan, who was lying
on the stove, made answer and said—
“What is it you want with me?”
“How!” said the officer. “What do I want with you? Get up and dress
yourself. I must take you to the king.”
“What to do?” asked Emelyan.
The officer was so enraged at the rudeness of his replies, that he gave
him a slap on the cheek.
“At the pike’s command, and at my request,” said the fool, under his
breath, “up, cudgel, and thrash them.”
At the word, up sprang the cudgel, and began to lay about it on all
sides, on officer and on men alike. The officer was forced to go back to
town as fast as he could; and when he came before the king, and told him
how the fool had cudgelled them all round, the king marvelled greatly,
and would not believe that he had been able to cudgel them at all.
The king then selected a wise man, commanding him to bring him the fool
by craft, if nothing else would do. The envoy left the king, and went to
the village where Emelyan lived. He called the Starosta before him, and
said—
“I am sent by the king to take your fool. So do you send for those with
whom he lives.”
The Starosta then ran and fetched the sisters-in-law. The king’s
messenger asked them what it was the fool liked, and they answered—
“Noble sir, if any one entreats our fool earnestly to do anything, he
flatly refuses the first and the second time. The third time, however,
he does not refuse, but does what one wants, for he does not like to be
roughly handled.”
The king’s messenger then dismissed them, charging them not to tell
Emelyan that he had summoned them before him. He then bought raisins,
baked plums, and grapes, and went to the fool. When he came into the
room, he went up to the stove, and said—
“Emelyan, why are you lying there?” and with that he gave him the
raisins, baked plums, and grapes, and said—
“Emelyan, we will go together to the king. I will take you with me.”
“I am very warm here,” said the fool, for there was nothing he was so
fond of as warmth.
The messenger then began to entreat him.
“Be so good, Emelyan,” said he; “let us go. You will like the court
vastly.”
“Ay,” said the fool; “I am lazy.”
The messenger began once more to entreat him.
“Be so good,” said he; “come with me, and the king will get you made a
fine red coat, a red cap, and a pair of red boots.”