“Why, Emelyan, you have got on the sledge without yoking the horses!”
He answered that he did not want any horses, but asked them to open the gate. The sisters-in-law threw open the gate, and the fool, as he sat in the sledge, said—
“At the pike’s command, and at my request, away, sledge, go to the wood.”
At these words the sledge galloped out of the yard at such a rate that the people of the village, when they saw it, were filled with amazement. The sledge went on so very fast, that if a pair of horses had been yoked to it they could not have drawn it at anything like the same rate.
As it was necessary for the fool to go through the town on his way to the wood, he came to it at full speed. Not knowing that he should cry out “Make way!” in order that he might not run over any one, he gave no notice, but rode on. So he ran over a great many people; and though they ran after him, no one was able to overtake him and bring him back. Emelyan, having got clear of the town, came to the wood, and stopped his sledge. He then got down, and said—
“At the pike’s command, and at my request, up, axe, hew wood; and you, logs, lay yourselves on the sledge, and tie yourselves together.”
The fool had scarcely uttered these words, when the axe began to cut wood, the logs to lay themselves in the sledge, and the rope to tie them down. When the axe had cut wood enough, he desired it to cut him a good cudgel, and when the axe had done this he mounted the sledge, and said—
“Up and away! At the pike’s command, and at my request, go home, sledge.”
Away went the sledge at the top of its speed. When Emelyan came to the town where he had hurt so many people, he found a crowd waiting to catch him, and as soon as he got into the town they laid hold of him, and began to drag him off his sledge and to beat him. When the fool saw how they were treating him, he said under his breath—
“At the pike’s command, and at my request, up, cudgel, and thrash them.”