“See what a fool!” said the brothers. On the third day the fool took an axe and set out for the wood. He arrived and demanded the money. The birch tree groaned and groaned. “No, countryman,” said the fool, “if you always put off everything till the morrow, I shall never get anything from you at all. I do not like joking, and I shall settle matters with you at once and for all.” He took the axe and struck the tree, and the chips flew on all sides. Now in the tree was a hollow, and in this hollow some robbers had hidden a bag of gold. The tree was split into two parts, and the fool saw a heap of red gold; and he gathered the gold together in a heap and took some of it home and showed it to his brothers. And his brothers said to him: “Where did you get such a lot of money, fool?” “A countryman of mine gave it to me for my ox,” he said, “and there is still a great deal left. I could not bring half of it home. Let us go, brothers, and get the rest of it.” They went into the wood and found the money, and brought it home. “Now look you, fool,” said the clever brothers, “do not tell any one that we have so much money.” “Of course not,” said the fool, “I will not tell any one, I promise you.” But soon after this they met a deacon. “What are you bringing from the wood, children?” said the deacon. “Mushrooms,” said the clever brothers. But the fool interrupted and said: “They are not telling the truth--we are bringing gold. Look at it if you will.” The deacon gasped with astonishment, fell upon the gold, and took as much as he could and stuffed his pockets full of it. But the fool was annoyed at this, and struck him with an axe and beat him till he was dead. “Oh fool, what have you done?” said his brothers. “You will be ruined, and ruin us also. What shall we do now with this dead body?” They thought and they thought, and then they took it to an empty cellar and threw it into the cellar. Late in the evening the eldest brother said to the second: “This is a bad business. As soon as they miss the deacon the fool is certain to tell them all about it. Let us kill a goat and hide it in the cellar and put the dead body in some other place.” They waited until the night was dark; then they killed a goat, threw it into the cellar, and took the body of the deacon to another place and buried it in the earth. A few days passed; people looked for the deacon everywhere, and asked everybody they could about him. And the fool said to them: “What do you want of him? I killed him with an axe, and my brothers threw the body into the cellar.” They at once seized the fool and said to him: “Take us and show us.” The fool climbed into the cellar, took out the head of the goat, and said: “Was your deacon black?” “Yes,” they said. “And had he got a beard?” “Yes, he had a beard.” “And had he got horns?” “What sort of horns, you fool?” “Well, look!” And he threw down the head.