Ivan the Fool
Once upon a time, there was a wealthy farmer.
He lived in a village with his three sons and one daughter.
Simon, his eldest son, was a soldier,
Taras, the muddle son, was a merchant,
and Ivan, the youngest, was a farmer like his father and he wasn’t very bright.
Simon married a nobleman’s daughter. She was very greedy and made him spend all of his money on her.
Simon went to his father and asked if he could have some of Ivan’s share of the family’s land. Ivan gladly agreed.
Taras married a merchant’s daughter. He also spent all of his money and asked for a portion of Ivan’s land.
Ivan agreed again. He was happy to share with his brothers.
The devil meanwhile, was displeased.
He did not like to see so much harmony and brotherly love, and only wanted to spread misery and discord.
He called his henchmen to him.
I am seeing too much friendship and happiness.
Go and make them fight.
Yes, sir.
The henchmen visited Simon and Taras and cursed them with vanity and greed.
Overcome with ambition, Simon started a war to conquer the world and lost dismally.
This made the king very angry.
Taras began to covet everything he saw. He spent all of his own money and ended up borrowing too much.
But Ivan didn’t respond to the henchmen’s tricks.
They made his fields as hard as rock and gave him a bad stomach ache,
but he wouldn’t give in and continued to work hard.
Once, one of the henchmen attached himself to Ivan’s pickaxe and wouldn’t let him work.
When Ivan realized what was going on, he was furious.
You wicked creature!
Please let me go, and I will grant you one wish.
Alright. Cure my stomach ache.
The henchman gave Ivan three roots from a healing herb.
Ivan ate one and felt better immefiately.
The following day, another henchman came to annoy Ivan.
You again!? You won’t get away from me this time!
Please let me go and I will grant all of your wishes!
Very well, teach me how to do magic.
The henchman taught Ivan some magic spells.
Ivan turned a bundle of straw into and army
and some leaves into gold coins.
Ivan sent the army to Simon and the gold coins to Taras.
With Ivan’s army, Simon was finally able to win his war
Taras used the gold to start his business again, and soon became very wealthy.
Each brother founding his own kingdom and became a king.
Then, something very bad happened in Ivan’s kingdom.
The princess fell severely ill.
Deperate, the king sent out a plea to all his people.
I will give my throne to anyone who can save my daughter.
Hearing this, Ivan gathered the roots he got from the henchman and brought them to the princess.
When she was cured, he married her and became king.
The devil was really angry now. Not only did his schemes fail, but now all the brothers were king as well.
I will destroy them!
Irritated by his inefficient henchmen, The Devil decided to try by himself. He disguised himself as a general and came to Simon.
You Highness, I can give you a gun that shoots 100 bullets at once
and a cannon that can destroy anything.
If you fight the neighboring kingdom, you will surely win.
Simon believed the Devil’s promises and started a war.
But he was deceived, as the gun and cannon wouldn’t fire.
He lost the war and his kingdom.
Now the Devil disguised himself as a merchant and came to Taras’s kingdom.
He paid very high prices to buy goods from his people and made them very wealthy.
The people were all able to pay their taxes on time and the kingdom prospered.
King Taras was happy and complimented the merchant.
Ha ha ha! This merchant has made me wealthier than ever before!
Then, the Devil made the kingdom fall and refused to resell the goods he had purchased.
Taras and his people could not get any food and were starving to death.
Simon and Taras as both fools. Ha ha ha! Now, it’s Ivan’s turn to suffer.
Your Highness, I can make your army very powerful.
Thank you, but my people do not want to fight. We don’t need an army. You know?
But all of your neighboring kingdoms have strong armies, aren’t you afraid they will invade you?
Well…
Ivan hesitated at first, but then he agreed to let the Devil make him an army.
He tried, but the people were so content with their lives that no one was interested in becoming a soldier.
Frustrated, the Devil went to a neighboring kingdom and tried to provoke them to attack Ivan.
Here he was successful. The neighboring kingdom invaded Ivan’s land and stole his people’s grain and livestock.
Ivan’s people didn’t even try to fight back.
Just take whatever you need. Yes. We can always grow more when we need it. That's right.
Please come in and help yourselves! Please.
Look, these people have no will to fight.
The soldiers had come hoping for a glorious victory, but returned discouraged and disappointed.
Still persistent, the Devil dressed himself as a nobleman and returned to Ivan’s kingdom.
If you help me build a house, I will shower you will all the gold you can want.
My gold coins are rare and valuable.
Oh, these coins look so different…
The people built the Devil his house, but only accepted a few coins each as payment
One person took only a single coin.
Come on, take more.
I have taken as much as I need. That’s all I want .
This annoyed the Devil very much, because he realized that Ivan’s people felt no greed.
That’s alright, I have another plan.
This time, the Devil came to Ivan as a scholar.
Your Highness, why is it that your people use only their bodies in their work, but never their heads?
Their heads? What for? What do you mean?
Let me show your people. Okay?
Please do.
The Devil went to the top of the highest tower and shouted down to the people.
Listen to me everyone! I will teach you to use your heads!
King Ivan and his people were curious and gathered round to listen.
However, they couldn’t understand what the Devil was saying and felt confused and bored.
The farmers went back to work on their farms and the blacksmiths returned to their forges.
The Devil was very stubborn and continued to shout from his tower.
Listen, you must learn to use your heads!
The Devil shouted and shouted for days, forgetting to eat and sleep.
He grew tired and dizzy and couldn’t keep his balance on the top of the tower.
He fell off and crashed to his death.
Isn’t that foolish? Teaching the people to use their heads, the Devil forgot all about his own body.