The old devil was vexed because the brothers had not quarrelled in
dividing up, but had parted in love. And so he called up three young
devils.
"You see," he said, "there are three brothers, Semén the Warrior, Tarás
the Paunch, and Iván the Fool. They ought to be quarrelling, but,
instead, they live peacefully; they exchange with each other bread and
salt. The fool has spoiled all my business. Go all three of you.--get
hold of them, and mix them up in such a way that they shall tear out one
another's eyes. Can you do it?"
"We can," they said.
"How are you going to do it?"
"We will do it like this," they said: "First we will ruin them, so that
they will have nothing to eat; then we will throw them all in a heap, so
that they will quarrel together."
"Very well," he said. "I see that you know your business. Go, and do not
return to me before you have muddled all three, or else I will flay all
three of you."
The three devils all went to a swamp, and considered how to take hold of
the matter: they quarrelled and quarrelled, for they wanted each of them
to get the easiest job, and finally they decided to cast lots for each
man. If one of them got through first, he was to come and help the
others. The devils cast lots, and set a time when they were to meet
again in the swamp, in order to find out who was through, and who needed
help.
When the time came, the devils gathered in the swamp. They began to
talk about their affairs. The first devil, Semén the Warrior's, began to
speak.
"My affair," he said, "is progressing. To-morrow my Semén will go to his
father."
His comrades asked him how he did it.
"In the first place," he said, "I brought such bravery over Semén that
he promised his king to conquer the whole world, and the king made him a
commander and sent him out to fight the King of India. They came
together for a fight. But that very night I wet all his powder, and I
went over to the King of India and made an endless number of soldiers
for him out of straw. When Semén's soldiers saw the straw soldiers
walking upon them on all sides, they lost their courage. Semén commanded
them to fire their cannon and their guns, but they could not fire them.
Semén's soldiers were frightened and ran away like sheep. And the King
of India vanquished them. Semén is disgraced,--they have taken his
estate from him, and to-morrow he is to be beheaded. I have only one
day's work left to do: to let him out of the prison, so that he can run
home. To-morrow I shall be through with him, so tell me which of you I
am to aid!"
Then the other devil, Tarás's, began to speak:
"I do not need any help," he said, "for my affair is also progressing
nicely,--Tarás will not live another week. In the first place, I have
raised a belly on him, and made him envious. He is so envious of other
people's property that, no matter what he sees, he wants to buy it. He
has bought up an endless lot of things and spent all his money on them
and is still buying. He now buys on other people's money. He has quite a
lot on his shoulders, and is so entangled that he will never free
himself. In a week the time will come for him to pay, and I will change
all his wares into manure,--and he will not be able to pay his debts,
and will go to his father's."
They began to ask the third devil, Iván's.
"How is your business?"
"I must say, my business is not progressing at all. The first thing I
did was to spit into his kvas jug, so as to give him a belly-ache, and I
went to his field and made the soil so hard that he should not be able
to overcome it. I thought that he would never plough it up, but he, the
fool, came with his plough and began to tear up the soil. His belly-ache
made him groan, but he stuck to his ploughing. I broke one plough of
his, but he went home, fixed another plough, wrapped new leg-rags on
him, and started once more to plough. I crept under the earth, and tried
to hold the ploughshare, but I could not do it,--he pressed so hard on
the plough; the ploughshares are sharp, and he has cut up my hands. He
has ploughed up nearly the whole of it,--only a small strip is left.
Come and help me, brothers, or else, if we do not overpower him, all our
labours will be lost. If the fool is left and continues to farm, they
will have no want, for he will feed them all."
Semén's devil promised to come on the morrow to help him, and thereupon
the devils departed.