Short Fiction, Leo Tolstoy [general ebook reader .txt] 📗

stare at the soldiers. The soldiers began to take their corn and cattle; the people let them have it, and did not resist. The soldiers went on to another village; the same thing happened again. The soldiers went on for one day, and for two days, and everywhere the same thing happened. The people let them have everything, and no one resisted, but only invited the soldiers to live with them.

“Poor fellows,” said they, “if you have a hard life in your own land, why don’t you come and stay with us altogether?”

The soldiers marched and marched: still no army, only people living and feeding themselves and others, and not resisting, but inviting the soldiers to stay and live with them. The soldiers found it dull work, and they came to the King of Tarakán and said, “We cannot fight here, lead us elsewhere. War is all right, but what is this? It is like cutting pea-soup! We will not make war here any more.”

The King of Tarakán grew angry, and ordered his soldiers to overrun the whole kingdom, to destroy the villages, to burn the grain and the houses, and to slaughter the cattle. “And if you do not obey my orders,” said he, “I will execute you all.”

The soldiers were frightened, and began to act according to the King’s orders. They began to burn houses and corn, and to kill cattle. But the fools still offered no resistance, and only wept. The old men wept, and the old women wept, and the young people wept.

“Why do you harm us?” they said. “Why do you waste good things? If you need them, why do you not take them for yourselves?”

At last the soldiers could stand it no longer. They refused to go any further, and the army disbanded and fled.

XII

The old Devil had to give it up. He could not get the better of Iván with soldiers. So he changed himself into a fine gentleman, and settled down in Iván’s kingdom. He meant to overcome him by means of money, as he had overcome Tarás the Stout.

“I wish,” says he, “to do you a good turn, to teach you sense and reason. I will build a house among you and organize a trade.”

“All right,” said Iván, “come and live among us if you like.”

Next morning the fine gentleman went out into the public square with a big sack of gold and a sheet of paper, and said, “You all live like swine. I wish to teach you how to live properly. Build me a house according to this plan. You shall work, I will tell you how, and I will pay you with gold coins.” And he showed them the gold.

The fools were astonished; there was no money in use among them; they bartered their goods, and paid one another with labour. They looked at the gold coins with surprise.

“What nice little things they are!” said they.

And they began to exchange their goods and labour for the gentleman’s gold pieces. And the old Devil began, as in Tarás’s kingdom, to be free with his gold, and the people began to exchange everything for gold and to do all sorts of work for it.

The old Devil was delighted, and thought he to himself, “Things are going right this time. Now I shall ruin the Fool as I did Tarás, and I shall buy him up body and soul.”

But as soon as the fools had provided themselves with gold pieces they gave them to the women for necklaces. The lasses plaited them into their tresses, and at last the children in the street began to play with the little pieces. Everybody had plenty of them, and they stopped taking them. But the fine gentleman’s mansion was not yet half-built, and the grain and cattle for the year were not yet provided. So he gave notice that he wished people to come and work for him, and that he wanted cattle and grain; for each thing, and for each service, he was ready to give many more pieces of gold.

But nobody came to work and nothing was brought. Only sometimes a boy or a little girl would run up to exchange an egg for a gold coin, but nobody else came, and he had nothing to eat. And being hungry, the fine gentleman went through the village to try and buy something for dinner. He tried at one house, and offered a gold piece for a fowl, but the housewife wouldn’t take it.

“I have a lot already,” said she.

He tried at a widow’s house to buy a herring, and offered a gold piece.

“I don’t want it, my good sir,” said she. “I have no children to play with it, and I myself already have three coins as curiosities.”

He tried at a peasant’s house to get bread, but neither would the peasant take money.

“I don’t need it,” said he, “but if you are begging ‘for Christ’s sake,’233 wait a bit and I’ll tell the housewife to cut you a piece of bread.”

At that the Devil spat, and ran away. To hear Christ’s name mentioned, let alone receiving anything for Christ’s sake, hurt him more than sticking a knife into him.

And so he got no bread. Everyone had gold, and no matter where the old Devil went, nobody would give anything for money, but everyone said, “Either bring something else, or come and work, or receive what you want in charity for Christ’s sake.”

But the old Devil had nothing but money; for work he had no liking, and as for taking anything “for Christ’s sake” he could not do that. The old Devil grew very angry.

“What more do you want, when I give you money?” said he. “You can buy everything with gold, and hire any kind of labourer.” But the fools did not heed him.

“No, we do not want money,” said they. “We have no payments to make, and no taxes, so what should we do