Iván ploughed up all the fallow field, and only one strip was left. His
belly ached, and yet he had to plough. He straightened out the lines,
turned over the plough, and went to the field. He had just made one
furrow, and was coming back, when something pulled at the plough as
though it had caught in a root. It was the devil that had twined his
legs about the plough-head and was holding it fast.
"What in the world is that?" thought Iván. "There were no roots here
before, but now there are."
Iván stuck his hand down in the furrow, and felt something soft. He
grabbed it and pulled it out. It was as black as a root, but something
was moving on it. He took a glance at it, and, behold, it was a live
devil.
"I declare," he said, "it is a nasty thing!" And Iván swung him and was
about to strike him against the plough-handle; but the devil began to
scream.
"Do not beat me," he said, "and I will do for you anything you wish."
"What will you do for me?"
"Say what you want!"
Iván scratched himself.
"My belly aches,--can you cure me?"
"I can," he said.
"Very well, cure me!"
The devil bent down to the furrow, scratched awhile in it, pulled out a
few roots,--three of them in a bunch,--and gave them to Iván.
"Here," he said, "is a root, which, if you swallow, will make your ache
go away at once."
Iván took the roots, tore them up, and swallowed one. His belly-ache
stopped at once.
Then the devil began to beg again:
"Let me go, now, and I will slip through the earth, and will not come up
again."
"All right," he said, "God be with you!"
And the moment Iván mentioned God's name, the devil bolted through the
earth, as a stone plumps into the water, and only a hole was left. Iván
put the remaining two roots in his cap, and started to finish his work.
He ploughed up the strip, turned over the plough, and went home. He
unhitched the horse, came to the house, and there found his eldest
brother, Semén the Warrior, with his wife, eating supper. His estate had
been taken from him, and he had with difficulty escaped from prison and
come to his father's to live.
Semén saw Iván, and, "I have come to live with you," he said. "Feed me
and my wife until I find a new place!"
"All right," he said, "stay here!"
Iván wanted to sit down on a bench, but the lady did not like the smell
of Iván. So she said to her husband:
"I cannot eat supper with a stinking peasant."
"All right," he said, "I have to go anyway to pasture the mare for the
night."
Iván took some bread and his caftan, and went out to herd his mare.