The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1864-05-06

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! wood; and do YOU, wood. come of
} yourself to the room, and stow your
self within the stove"
Forthwith, the hatchet without any
one taking it, hoped forth, and begun
to cut away, and the wood of itself
came into the room, and slowed itself
i'll the stove, at the sight of which the
sisters-in-law wondered much at the
craft ef Emelian; and every day, when
the fool only ordered the Ratchet TO 90
out and cut wood, the hatchet went
and cut some. And in this manner
he lived with his sisters law for
some time. At length, his sisters-in-
law said to him.
"Emelian we have no wood, so pray
go out into the forest and cut some"
The fool said;
"Why don't you go yourselves ?"
"How should we go?" replied the
sisters-in-law; "the forest is great
way off, and as it is now winter, it is
too cold for us to go to the forest for
wood.
But the fool said to them: 81 am
lazy"
Lazy re cried his sisters-in-law; 'if
you don't go you will soon be cold
But if you refuse to go, when your
brothers, our husbands, come home we
will order them to give you neither red
caftan, red cap, nor red boots.
The fool, wishing to obtain the red
caftan, cap, and boots, felt obliged to
go to the forest for wood and getting
up from the petsch, he began to put
on his stockings and boots, and to
dress himself; and when he was quite
dressed he went out into the court, and
drawing the sledge out of the shed,
and taking with him rope and hatch
ct, he mounted the sledge and babe
his sisters-in-law open the gate The
sisters-in-law, seeing that he got into
the sledge without putting the horses
to it, for the fool did not lead out the
horses, said to him:
"Howis this, Emelian? you have got
into the sledge without putting the
horses to it,
But he said to them that he had no
need of horses, and only wanted them
to open the gate. The sisters-in-law
did so, and the fool, as he sat in the
sledge, said:
cat the pixies behest, and at my re-
quest, set forward, sledge, to the forest.
At these words the sledge forthwith
went forth. The country people living
around were quite astounded to see
Emelian riding in the sledge without
horses, and going with such speed that,
even if the best pair of horses in the
world had been fastened to the sledge,
it would have been impossible 70 go
quicker. Now as it was necessary for
the fool, in order to reach the forest,
to go through the town, he drove it
4 through it at full speed; but as he did
not know that it was necessary for him
to cry out, in order that tho people
might not be run over, he drove
through the city without crying to the
people to get out of the way, and ran
over n great number of them, and
although they gave chase to him, yet
it was impossible to overtake him.
Emelian, having passed through the
city and reached the wood, stopped
the sledge The fool then getting out
of the sledge said;
cat the pixies behest, and at my re-
quest, fall, Ratchet, now to cutting
wood; and do you, wood, gather your
self into the sledge and be corded"
Scarcely had the fool said these
words when the hatchet began to cut
the wood, and the wood, gathering it.
self up, placed itself in the sledge, and
tied itself with the cord. After he had
cut as much wood as he wanted, he or
dered the Ratchet to cut down a small
oak; and when the Ratchet had done
so he placed himself upon the load and
said:
cat the pixies behest, and at my re-
quest, o sledge now travel home"
The sledge instantly set off very
briskly. But when Emelian arrived at
the city in which he had run over so
many people, the folks were waiting
for him in order to seize him, and as
soon as he drove into the city they set
about dragging him off the load and
began to belabor him. The fool seeing
that they were pulling him and beat
ing him, said these words in an under
tone:
"At the pixies behest, and at my re-
quest, now, sapling, break their arms
and legs"
Forthwith, the sapling springing
out, began to beat them in a pretty
manner, and thepeople taking to flight,
the fool drove out of the town to his
own village, whilst the saphns drubbed
all soundly, and went in pursuit Of
them. Emelian, on reaching his home,
mounted upon the petsch.
In the meantime, after he had driven
out of the city, there was much talk of
him everywhere-not because he had
driven over number of people, but
because he had come driving to the
city on a sledge without horses; and
by degrees the news reached the court,
and came to the ears of the king him.
self. The king, on hearing the story,
felt no little desire to see the fool, and
sent an officer with some soldiers to
seek him. The officer proceeded with
out delay out of the city, taking the
road by which the fool had travelled in
order to go to the forest. On arriving
o. tho VILLAGE x.,bo.o IH,oo1,o,, lx.aI tha