PRESS.
Ah, my lads! it was a fine, free life in Russia when there were neither landlords nor priests nor fat shopkeepers.
But that didn’t last long, the old men say, for the devil saw that the peasant was getting the better of him; there was no stealing or lying on earth, because every one lived happily; and the devil began to think—how could he spoil the race of men. Seven years long he thought, never eating, drinking, or sleeping—then he invented the priest. Then he thought seven years more—and invented the barine.[[45]] Then he thought seven years more—and invented the merchant.
Then the devil was pleased, and chuckled till all the leaves fell off the trees.
So the devil sent priest, barine, and merchant to the peasant. But the silly peasant, instead of shaking them off, clothed and fed them and let them ride on his neck.
So from that time on there were no more good days for the peasant; priests and barines and shopkeepers tore him in pieces.
Not with knives or swords they wounded him, but with a copper kopeck. When the sun rose he thought: Where shall I get a kopeck? When the sun set he thought, Where shall I get a kopeck?
Then the peasant prayed to his Mother Earth: “Oh, Mother Earth, tell me where to get a kopeck.”
And the Earth answered, muttering: “In me is thy wealth.”
The peasant took a spade and began to dig. He dug all the day long, and a second and a third day. He dug a deep, deep pit, but still there was no kopeck. He dug through the soil and came to sand, through the sand and came to mud. He dug and dug and baled out the water. At last he came to clay. His spade was all spoiled, and yet there was no kopeck. Then he began to dig with his hands, and dug and dug; then he came to stone and could dig no further.