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CHAPTER V.
The small devil who had charge of Tarras finished with him that night,
and according to agreement proceeded to the assistance of the other two
to help them conquer Ivan. Arriving at the plowed field he looked
around for his comrades, but found only the hole through which one had
disappeared; and on going to the meadow he discovered the severed tail
of the other, and in the rye-field he found yet another hole.
"
Well," he thought, "it is quite clear that my comrades have met with
some great misfortune, and that I will have to take their places and
arrange the feud between the brothers."
The small devil then went in search of Ivan. But he, having finished
with the field, was nowhere to be found. He had gone to the forest to
cut logs to build homes for his brothers, as they found it inconvenient
for so many to live under the same roof.
The small devil at last discovered his whereabouts, and going to the
forest climbed into the branches of the trees and began to interfere
with Ivan's work. Ivan cut down a tree, which failed, however, to fall
to the ground, becoming entangled in the branches of other trees; yet he
succeeded in getting it down after a hard struggle. In chopping down the
next tree he met with the same difficulties, and also with the third.
Ivan had supposed he could cut down fifty trees in a day, but he
succeeded in chopping but ten before darkness put an end to his labors
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