Iván took off his caftan, and seated himself at the table.
But the merchant's wife said:
"I cannot eat with a fool. He stinks of sweat."
So Tarás the Paunch said:
"Iván, you do not smell right, so go and eat in the vestibule!"
"All right," he said, and, taking bread, he went out. "It is just right," he said, "for it is time for me to go and pasture the mare for the night."
V.
That night Tarás's devil got through with his job, and he went by agreement to help out his comrades,—to get the best of Iván the Fool. He came to the field and tried to find his comrades, but all he saw was a hole in the ground; he went to the meadows, and found a tail in the swamp, and in the rye stubbles he found another hole.
"Well," he thought, "evidently some misfortune has befallen my comrades; I must take their place, and go for the fool."