“My dear children, I feel that I have not very long to live, so I give you the house and cattle, which you will divide, share and share alike, among you. I also leave you, in money, a hundred roubles apiece.”
Soon after the old man died, and his sons, after they had buried him, lived on happy and contented.
Some time after Emelyan’s brothers took it into their heads to remove into the city, and carry on trade with the three hundred roubles which their father had left them. So they said to Emelyan—
“Hark ye, fool! we are going to the city, and we will take your hundred roubles with us, and if we prosper in trade we will buy you a red coat, red boots, and a red cap. Do you, however, stay at home here, and when your sisters-in-law desire you to do anything, do as they bid you.”
The fool, who had a great longing for a red coat, a red cap, and red boots, answered at once that he would do whatever his sisters-in-law told him. So his brothers went off to the city, and Emelyan stayed at home.
One day, when the winter was come and the cold was great, his sisters-in-law told him to go out and fetch in water, but Emelyan remained lying on the stove, and said—
“Ay, and who, then, are you?”
“How now, fool!” said his sisters-in-law, “we are what you see. You know how cold it is, and that it is a man’s business to go.”
“I am lazy,” replied he.
“How!” cried they. “You are lazy! You will want to eat, and how can we cook if we have no water? Very well, then, we will tell our husbands not to give him anything when they have bought the fine red coat and all for him.”