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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
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