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CHAPTER IX.
The brothers lived and reigned. Simeon, the eldest brother, with his
straw soldiers took captive the genuine soldiers and trained all alike.
He was feared by every one.
Tarras-Briukhan, the other brother, did not squander the gold he
obtained from Ivan, but instead greatly increased his wealth, and at
the same time lived well. He kept his money in large trunks, and, while
having more than he knew what to do with, still continued to collect
money from his subjects. The people had to work for the money to pay the
taxes which Tarras levied on them, and life was made burdensome to them.
Ivan the Fool did not enjoy his wealth and power to the same extent
as did his brothers. As soon as his father-in-law, the late Czar, was
buried, he discarded the Imperial robes which had fallen to him and told
his wife to put them away, as he had no further use for them. Having
cast aside the insignia of his rank, he once more donned his peasant
garb and started to work as of old.
"I felt lonesome," he said, "and began to grow enormously stout, and yet
I had no appetite, and neither could I sleep."
Ivan sent for his father, mother, and dumb sister, and brought them to
live with him, and they worked with him at whatever he chose to do.
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