s tottered beneath them. Then
they clutched tight hold of the trees to stop themselves from dancing;
but it was of no use, dance they must. At last Ivan himself was tired,
and lay down to rest, and when he had rested a little, he got up again
and went on into the town. There all the people were in the bazaars,
buying and selling. Some were buying pancakes, others baskets of
bright-coloured eggs, others again pitchers of _kvas_. Ivan began
playing on his fife, and forthwith they all fell a-dancing. One man
who had a whole basket of eggs on his head danced them into bits, and
danced and danced till he looked like the yolk of an egg himself.
Those who were asleep got up and gave themselves up to dancing
straightway; there were some who danced without trousers, and some who
danced without smocks or shirts, and there were some who danced with
nothing on at all, for dance they must when Ivan began a-playing. The
whole town was turned upside down: the dogs, the swine, the cocks and
hens, everything that had life came out and danced. At last Ivan was
tired, so he left off playing and went into the town to seek service.
The parson there took a fancy to him, and said to him, "Good man! wilt
enter my service?"--"That will I, gladly," said Ivan.--"How much wages
dost thou want by the year then?"--"It won't come dear; five
_karbovantsya_[27] are all I ask."--"Good, I agree," said the parson.
So he engaged Ivan as his servant, and the next day he sent him out
into the fields to tend his cattle. Ivan drove the cattle into the
pastures, but he himself perched on the top of a haystack while the
cattle grazed. He sat there, and sat and sat till he grew quite dull,
and then he said to himself, "I'll play a bit on my fife, I haven't
played for a long time." So he began to play, and immediately all the
cattle fell a-dancing; and not only the cattle, but all the foxes, and
the hares, and the wolves, and everything in the hedges and ditches
fell a-dancing too. They danced and danced till the poor cattle were
clean worn out and at the last gasp. In the evening Ivan drove them
home, but they were so famished that they tugged at the dirty straw
roofs of the huts they passed, and so got a chance mouthful or two.
But Ivan went in and had supper and a comfortable night's rest
afterward. The next day he again drove the cattle into the pastures.
They began grazing till he took out his fife again, when they all fell
a-dancing like mad. He played on and