n's dumb sister preparing the meal. She was often
cheated by the lazy people, who while they did not work, yet ate up all
the gruel. But she learned to know the lazy people from the condition of
their hands. Those with great welts on their hands she invited first
to the table, and those having smooth white hands had to take what was
left.

The old devil took a seat at the table, but the dumb girl, taking his
hands, looked at them, and seeing them white and clean, and with long
nails, swore at him and put him from the table.

Ivan's wife said to the old devil: "You must excuse my sister-in-law;
she will not allow any one to sit at the table whose hands have not been
hardened by toil, so you will have to wait until the dinner is over and
then you can have what is left. With it you must be satisfied."

The old devil was very much offended that he was made to eat with
"pigs," as he expressed it, and complained to Ivan, saying: "The foolish
law you have in your kingdom, that all persons must work, is surely the
invention of fools. People who work for a living are not always forced
to labor with their hands. Do you think wise men labor so?"

Ivan replied: "Well, what do fools know about it? We all work with our
hands."

"And for that reason you are fools," replied the devil. "I can teach you
how to use your brains, and you will find such labor more beneficial."

Ivan was surprised at hearing this, and said:

"Well, it is perhaps not without good reason that we are called fools."

"It is not so easy to work with the brain," the old devil said.
"You will not give me anything to eat because my hands have not the
appearance of being toil-hardened, but you must understand that it is
much harder to do brain-work, and sometimes the head feels like bursting
with the effort it is forced to make."

"Then why do you not select some light work that you can perform with
your hands?" Ivan asked.

The devil said: "I torment myself with brain-work because I have pity
for you fools, for, if I did not torture myself, people like you would
remain fools for all eternity. I have exercised my brain a great deal
during my life, and now I am able to teach you."

Ivan was greatly surprised and said: "Very well; teach us, so that when
our hands are tired we can use our heads to replace them."

The devil promised to instruct the people, and Ivan announced the fact
throughout his kingdom.

The devil was willing to teach all those who came