“What task is that! That is a pleasure,—the task is ahead. Go thy way; pray to God and lie down to rest; the morning is wiser than the evening; toward daylight all will be ready.”
Just at midnight Vassilissa the Cunning went out on the great porch and cried in a piercing voice. In one moment laborers ran together from every side,—myriads of them; one was felling a tree, another digging out roots, another ploughing the land. In one place they were sowing, in another reaping and threshing; a pillar of dust went up to the sky, and at daybreak the grain was ground, the cakes baked. Ivan took the cakes to the breakfast of the Tsar.
“Splendid fellow!” said the Tsar; and he gave command to reward him from his own treasure.
Chumichka the cook was angrier than ever at Ivan, began to talk against him again. “Your Majesty, Ivan the merchant’s son boasts that in one night he can make a ship that will fly through the air.”
“Well, call him hither.”
They called Ivan the merchant’s son.
“Why boast to my servants that in one night thou canst make a wonderful ship that will fly through the air, and say nothing to me? See this ship is ready by morning; if not, I have a sword, and thy head leaves thy shoulders.”
Ivan the merchant’s son from sorrow hung his stormy head lower than his shoulders, and went from the Tsar beside himself. Vassilissa the Cunning said to him: “Of what art thou grieving; why art thou sad?”
“Why should I not be sad? The Tsar of the Sea has commanded me to build in one night a ship that will fly through the air.”
“What sort of task is that? That is not a task, but a pleasure; the task is ahead. Go thy way; lie down and rest: the morning is wiser than the evening; at daybreak all will be done.”