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                         TOLSTOI FOR THE YOUNG

                     [Illustration: IVAN THE FOOL.

                           _Frontispiece._]




                            TOLSTOI FOR THE
                                 YOUNG

                       SELECT TALES FROM TOLSTOI

                      Translated from the Russian
                                  By
                          MRS. R. S. TOWNSEND

               WITH SIX  PLATES BY MICHEL SEVIER

                                LONDON
                KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD
                     NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.

                                 1916




CONTENTS


                                          PAGE

IVAN THE FOOL                                1

WHERE THERE IS LOVE, THERE IS GOD ALSO      56

A PRISONER                                  82

EMELIAN AND THE EMPTY DRUM                 138

THE GREAT BEAR                             156

THREE QUESTIONS                            158

THE GODSON                                 167




LIST OF  PLATES


Ivan the Fool                                 _Frontispiece_

Where there is Love, there is God also      _To face p._ 57

A Prisoner                                               82

Emelian and the Empty Drum                              138

Three Questions                                         158

The Godson                                              167




IVAN THE FOOL

     THE STORY OF IVAN THE FOOL AND HIS TWO BROTHERS SIMON THE WARRIOR
     AND TARAS THE POT-BELLIED, AND OF HIS DEAF AND DUMB SISTER, AND THE
     OLD DEVIL AND THREE LITTLE DEVILKINS.


Once upon a time there lived a rich peasant, who had three sons--Simon
the Warrior, Taras the Pot-bellied, and Ivan the Fool, and a deaf and
dumb daughter, Malania, an old maid.

Simon the Warrior went off to the wars to serve the King; Taras the
Pot-bellied went to a merchant’s to trade in the town, and Ivan the Fool
and the old maid stayed at home to do the work of the house and the
farm. Simon the Warrior earned a high rank for himself and an estate and
married a nobleman’s daughter. He had a large income and a large estate,
but he could never make both ends meet, for, what he managed to gather
in, his wife managed to squander; thus it was that he never had any
money.

And Simon the Warrior went to his estate one day to collect his income,
and his steward said to him, “There is nothing to squeeze money out of;
we have neither cattle, nor implements, nor horses, nor cows, nor
ploughs, nor harrows; we must get all these things first, then there
will be an income.”

Then Simon the Warrior went to his father and said, “You are rich,
father; and have given me nothing, let me have a third of your
possessions and I will set up my estate.”

And the old man replied, “Why should I? You have brought nothing to the
home. It would be unfair to Ivan and the girl.”

And Simon said, “Ivan is a fool and Malania is deaf and dumb; they do
not need much, surely.”

“Ivan shall decide,” the old man said.

And Ivan said, “I don’t mind; let him take what he wants.”

Simon took a portion of his father’s goods and moved them to his
estate, and once more he set out to serve the King.

Taras the Pot-bellied made a great deal of money and married a
merchant’s widow, but still, it seemed to him that he had not enough, so
he too went to his father and said, “Give me my portion, father.” And
the old man was loath to give Taras his portion, and he said, “You have
brought us nothing; everything in the home has been earned by Ivan; it
would be unfair to him and the girl.”

And Taras said, “Ivan is a fool, what does he need? He cannot marry, for
no one would have him, and the girl is deaf and dumb and does not need
much either.” And turning to Ivan, he said, “Let me have half the corn,
Ivan. I will not take any implements, and as for the cattle, I only want
the grey cob; he is of no use to you for the plough.”

Ivan laughed.

“Very well,” he said, “you shall have what you want.”

And Taras was given his portion, and he carted the corn off to the town
and took away the grey cob, and Ivan was left with only the old mare to
work the farm and support his father and mother.


II

The old Devil was annoyed that the three brothers had not quarrelled
over the matter and had parted in peace. He summoned three little
Devilkins.

“There are three brothers,” he said, “Simon the Warrior, Taras the
Pot-bellied, and Ivan the Fool. I want them all to quarrel and they live
in peace and goodwill. It is the Fool’s fault. Go to these three
brothers, the three of you, and confound them so that they will scratch
out each others’ eyes. Do you think you can do it?”

“We can,” they said.

“How will you do it?”

“We will ruin them first,” they said, “so that they have nothing to eat,
then we will put them all together and they will begin to fight.”

“I see you know your work,” the old Devil said. “Go then, and do not
return to me until you have confounded the whole three, or else I will
skin you alive.”

And the Devilkins set out to a bog to confer on the matter, and they
argued and argued, for each wanted the easiest work, and they decided to
cast lots and each to take the brother that fell to him, and whichever
finished his work first was to help the others. And the Devilkins cast
lots and fixed a day when they should meet again in the bog, in order to
find out who had finished his work and who was in need of help.

The day arrived and the Devilkins gathered together in the bog. They
began to discuss their work. The first to give his account was the one
who had undertaken Simon the Warrior. “My work is progressing well,” he
said. “To-morrow Simon will return to his father.”

“How did you manage it?” the others asked him.

“First of all,” he said, “I gave Simon so much courage that he promised
the King to conquer the whole world. And the King made him the head of
his army and sent him to make war on the King of India. That same night
I damped the powder of Simon’s troops and I went to the King of India
and made him numberless soldiers out of straw. And when Simon saw
himself surrounded by the straw soldiers, a fear came upon him and he
ordered the guns to fire, but the guns and cannon would not go off. And
Simon’s troops were terrified and ran away like sheep, and the King of
India defeated them. Simon was disgraced. He was deprived of his rank
and estate and to-morrow he is to be executed. I have only one day left
in which to get him out of the dungeon and help him to escape home.
To-morrow I shall have finished with him, so I want you to tell me which
of you two is in need of help.”

Then the second Devilkin began to tell of his work with Taras. “I do not
want help,” he said; “my work is also going well. Taras will not live in
the town another week. The first thing I did was to make his belly grow
bigger and fill him with greed. He is now so greedy for other people’s
goods that whatever he sees he must buy. He has bought up everything he
could lay his eyes on, and spent all his money, and is still buying with
borrowed money. He has taken so much upon himself, and become so
entangled that he will never pull himself out. In a week he will have to
repay the borrowed money, and I will turn his wares into manure so that
he cannot repay, then he will go to his father.”

“And how is your work getting on?” they asked the third Devilkin about
Ivan.

“My work is going badly,” he said. “The first thing I did was to spit
into Ivan’s jug of kvas to give him a stomach-ache and then I went into
his fields and made the soil as hard as stones so that he could not move
it. I thought he would not plough it, but the fool came with his plough
and began to pull. His stomach-ache made him groan, yet still he went on
ploughing. I broke one plough for him and he went home and repaired
another, and again persisted in his work. I crawled beneath the ground
and clutched hold of his ploughshares, but I could not hold them--he
pressed upon the plough so hard, and the shares were sharp and cut my
hands. He has finished it all but one strip. You must come and help me,
mates, for singly we shall never get the better of him, and all our
labour will be wasted. If the fool keeps on tilling his land, the other
two brothers will never know what need means, for he will feed them.”

The first Devilkin offered to come and help to-morrow when he had
disposed of Simon the Warrior, and with that the three Devilkins parted.


III

Ivan had ploughed all the fallow but one strip, and he went to finish
that. His stomach ached, yet he had to plough. He undid the harness
ropes, turned over the plough and set out to the fields. He drove one
furrow, but coming back, the ploughshares caught on something that
seemed like a root.

“What a strange thing!” Ivan thought. “There were no roots here, yet
here’s a root!”

He put his hand into the furrow and clutched hold of something soft. He
pulled it out. It was a thing as black as a root and it moved. He looked
closely and saw that it was a live Devilkin.

“You horrid little wretch, you!”

Ivan raised his hand to dash its head against the plough, but the
Devilkin squealed, “Don’t kill me, and I’ll do whatever you want me to.”

“What can you do?”

“Tell me what you want.”

Ivan scratched his head.

“My stomach aches,” he said; “can you make it well?”

“I can.”

“Do it, then.”

The Devilkin bent down, rummaged about with his nails in the furrow and
pulled out three little roots, grown together.

“There,” he said; “if any one swallows a single one of these roots all
pain will pass away from him.”

Ivan took the three roots, separated them and swallowed one. His
stomach-ache instantly left him.

“Let me go now,” the Devilkin begged once more. “I will dive through the
earth and never bother you again.”

“Very well,” Ivan said; “go, in God’s name.”

At the mention of God the Devilkin plunged into the ground like a stone
thrown into water, and there was nothing but the hole left. Ivan thrust
the two remaining little roots into his cap and went on with his
ploughing. He finished the strip, turned over his plough and set off
home. He unharnessed and went into the house, and there was his brother,
Simon the Warrior