's command, and at my desire, up, cudgel, and
thrash them!" Instantly the cudgel began to lay about it on all sides;
and, when the people were all driven away, he made his escape, and
came to his own village. The cudgel, having thrashed all soundly,
rolled home after him; and Emelyan, as usual, when he got home,
climbed up and lay upon the stove.

After he had left the town, all the people fell to talking, not so
much of the number of persons he had injured, as of their amazement at
his riding in a sledge without horses; and the news spread from one to
another, till it reached the Court and came to the ears of the King.
And when the King heard it, he felt an extreme desire to see him: so
he sent an officer with some soldiers to look for him. The officer
instantly started, and took the road that the fool had taken; and when
he came to the village where Emelyan lived, he summoned the Starosta,
or head-man of the village, and said to him: "I am sent by the King to
take a certain fool, and bring him before his Majesty." The Starosta
at once showed him the house where Emelyan lived, and the officer went
into it and asked where the fool was. He was lying on the stove, and
answered: "What is it you want with me?" "How!" said the officer,
"what do I want with you? Get up this instant and dress yourself; I
must take you to the King." But Emelyan said: "What to do?" Whereat
the officer became so enraged at the rudeness of his replies that he
hit him on the cheek. "At the pike's command, and at my desire," said
the fool, "up, cudgel, and thrash them!" Instantly up sprang the
cudgel and began to lay about it on all sides. So the officer was
obliged to go back to the town as fast as he could; and when he came
before the King, and told him how the fool had cudgelled him, the King
marvelled greatly, and would not believe the story.

Then the King called to him a wise man and ordered him to bring the
fool by craft, if nothing else would do; so the wise man went to the
village where Emelyan lived, called the Starosta before him and said:
"I am ordered by the King to take your fool; and therefore ask for the
persons with whom he lived." Then the Starosta ran and fetched
Emelyan's sisters-in-law. The King's messenger asked them what it was
the fool liked, and they answered: "Noble sir, if anyone entreats our
fool earnestly to do anything, he flatly refuses the first and second
time; the third time he consents, and does what he is require