“I am lazy,” said the fool.
“What! you are lazy!” said the sisters-in-law. “If you do not get up and cleave wood, we will tell our husbands not to give you the red coat, or the red cap, or the fine red boots.” The fool, who longed for the red cap, coat, and boots, saw that he must cleave the wood; but as it was bitter cold, and he did not like to leave the stove, he repeated, under his breath, as he lay there: “At the pike’s command, and at my request, up, axe, and hew wood; and do you, logs, come of yourselves into the house and lay yourselves in the stove.”
The axe instantly jumped up, ran into the yard, and began to cut up the wood, and the logs came of themselves into the house, and went and laid themselves in the stove. When the sisters-in-law saw this they wondered exceedingly, and as the axe did the work of itself whenever Emelyan was wanted to cut up wood, he lived with them for some time in great tranquillity. At length the wood was cut, and they said to him—
“Emelyan, we have no more wood, so you must go to the forest to cut some.”
“Ay,” said the fool, “and you! who are you, then?”
“The wood,” said the sisters-in-law, “is far off, and it is winter, and too cold for us to go.”
“I am lazy,” said the fool.
“How! you are lazy!” said they, “you will be frozen, then, and besides, when our husbands come home we will tell them not to give you the red coat, cap, and boots.”
As the fool longed for the red clothes, he found that he must go and cut the wood. So he got off the stove, and began to put on his shoes and stockings, and to dress himself. When he was dressed, he went out into the yard, pulled the sledge out of the shed, took a rope and the axe with him, mounted the sledge, and called out to his sisters-in-law—“Open the gate!”
When the sisters-in-law saw that he was going off in the sledge without any horses, for the fool had not put the horses to it, they cried out—