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.
All the wise left Ivan’s kingdom, and only the fools remained.
Nobody had money. They lived and worked, fed themselves and others.
X
The old Devil waited and waited for news of the Devilkins. He was
expecting to hear that they had ruined the three brothers, but no news
came. He set out himself to find them. He searched and searched, and
found nothing but three holes.
“They’ve not been able to manage it, evidently,” he thought. “I must
tackle the job myself.”
He went to look for the brothers, but they were no longer in their old
places. He found them in their different kingdoms. All three lived and
reigned. The old Devil was annoyed.
“Now we’ll see what I can do!” he said.
First of all he went to King Simon.
He did not go in his own shape, but disguised himself as a general. In
that guise he appeared before King Simon.
“I have heard that you are a great warrior, King Simon,” he said. “I am
well versed in these things and want to serve you.”
And King Simon began to ask him all manner of questions, and seeing that
he was a clever man, he took him into his service.
The new commander instructed King Simon how to collect a large army.
“First of all,” he said, “we must get more soldiers. There are many idle
people in your kingdom. We must conscript all the young men without
exception, then you will have an army five times as large as the one you
have now. Secondly, we must get new guns and cannons. I will get guns
that will fire a hundred bullets at one shot; they will rain out like
peas. And I will get cannons that will consume with fire either man or
horse or wall; they will burn everything.”
King Simon listened to the new commander, and enrolled all the young men
as soldiers and built new factories where he manufactured new guns and
cannons, then he made war on a neighbouring king. As soon as he was
faced by the opposing army, King Simon ordered his soldiers to rain
bullets against it and shoot fire from their cannons, in this way wiping
out half the hostile troops. The neighbouring king was alarmed; he
surrendered and gave up his kingdom. King Simon rejoiced.
“Now,” he said, “I will make war on the King of India.”
And the King of India heard of King Simon’s doings. He adopted all his
methods, and invented some improvements of his own. He not only enrolled
all the young men as soldiers, but the unmarried women as well, and in
consequence had a larger army than King Simon. And he made guns and
cannons like King Simon’s, and invented machines to fly in the air and
drop explosive bombs from above.
And King Simon set out to make war on the King of India, thinking he
would beat him as easily as he had beaten the other king, but the scythe
that had cut so well had lost its edge. The King of India did not give
Simon time to open fire, for he sent his women to fly in the air and
drop explosive bombs on Simon’s troops. And the women rained down bombs
from above like borax upon cockroaches and Simon’s troops scattered and
fled, and Simon was left alone.
The King of India took possession of Simon’s kingdom, and Simon the
Warrior escaped as best he could.
Having disposed of this brother, the old Devil went to King Taras.
He changed himself into a merchant and settled in Taras’ kingdom, where
he opened establishments and began to circulate money freely. He paid
high prices for everything, and the people flocked to him for the sake
of the extra profit. And the people came to have so much money that they
were able to settle all their arrears and to pay their taxes at the
proper time. King Taras rejoiced.
“Thanks to the merchant,” he thought, “I have more money than ever, and
I’ll be able to live better than I used to.”
And he began making all sorts of new plans, and decided to have a new
palace built for himself. He proclaimed to the people that he wanted
timber and stone and labour, for which he was prepared to pay a high
price. King Taras thought that for his money people would flock to work
for him as of old. But lo! all the timber and stone was taken to the
merchant, and all the labourers flocked to work for him. King Taras
raised his price, and the merchant raised his. King Taras had much
money, but the merchant had more and beat the King. The King’s palace
could not be built.
King Taras had arranged to make a new garden. When the autumn came he
proclaimed that he wanted men to come and plant his garden, but no one
came, for the people were all digging for the merchant.
Winter came. King Taras wanted to buy some sable skins for a new coat.
He sent a messenger to buy it, but the messenger returned empty-handed,
and said that there were no sable skins, for the merchant had bought
them all at a higher price, and made himself a sable carpet.
King Taras wanted to buy some stallions. He sent a messenger, but the
messenger returned and said that the merchant had all the good
stallions; they were carting water for him to make a pond.
And the King’s plans fell to pieces, for no one would work for him. All
worked for the merchant, and only brought him the merchant’s money to
pay the taxes.
And the King came to have so much money that he did not know where to
put it all, but he lived badly. The King gave up making plans; he would
have been contented to live quietly somehow, but even that was
difficult. He was hampered on all sides. His cook and coachman and
servants left him to go to the merchant’s. He even went short of food.
When he sent to the market to buy some provisions there were none left,
for the merchant had bought up everything, and the people only brought
the King money for their taxes.
King Taras lost patience and banished the merchant from his kingdom. The
merchant settled on the very border, and did exactly the same as before,
and for his money the people dragged everything away from the King and
brought it to the merchant. Life became very hard for the King. For
whole days he did not eat, and to make matters worse a rumour went
abroad that the merchant had boasted that he would buy the King
himself. King Taras lost courage, and did not know what to do.
Simon the Warrior came to him and said, “Will you support me? I have
been beaten by the King of India.”
King Taras himself was in a sad plight.
“I haven’t eaten anything myself for two days,” he said.