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CHAPTER XI.
The old devil, having finished with the second brother, went to Ivan the
Fool. This time he disguised himself as a General, the same as in the
case of Simeon, and, appearing before Ivan, said: "Get an army together.
It is disgraceful for the ruler of a kingdom to be without an army. You
call your people to assemble, and I will form them into a fine large
army."
Ivan took the supposed General's advice, and said: "Well, you may form
my people into an army, but you must also teach them to sing the songs I
like."
The old devil then went through Ivan's kingdom to secure recruits for
the army, saying: "Come, shave your heads [the heads of recruits are
always shaved in Russia] and I will give each of you a red hat and
plenty of vodki" (whiskey).
At this the fools only laughed, and said: "We can have all the vodki we
want, for we distill it ourselves; and of hats, our little girls make
all we want, of any color we please, and with handsome fringes."
Thus was the devil foiled in securing recruits for his army; so
he returned to Ivan and said: "Your fools will not volunteer to be
soldiers. It will therefore be necessary to force them."
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