"Riches!" thought the merchant; "a new house!" He was very much surprised, but as he drove along the road he was more surprised still. For he passed all the villagers on their way to the feast; and every one was talking of his brother, and how kind he was and how generous, and what a feast there was going to be, and how many barrels of mead and, wine had been taken up to the house. All the folk were hurrying along the road licking their lips, each one going faster than the other so as to be sure not to miss any of the good things. The rich brother from the town drove with his wife into the courtyard of the fine new house. And there on the steps was the peasant brother, Ivan Ilyitch, and his wife, receiving their guests. And if the rich brother was well dressed, the peasant was better dressed; and if the rich brother's wife was in her fine clothes, the peasant's wife fairly glittered--what with the gold braid on her bosom and the shining silver in her hair. And the peasant brother kissed his brother from the town on both cheeks, and gave him and his wife the best places at the table. He fed them--ah, how he fed them!--with little red slips of smoked salmon, and beetroot soup with cream, and slabs of sturgeon, and meats of three or four kinds, and game and sweetmeats of the best. There never was such a feast--no, not even at the wedding of a Tzar. And as for drink, there were red wine and white wine, and beer and mead in great barrels, and everywhere the peasant went about among his guests, filling glasses and seeing that their plates were kept piled with the foods each one liked best. And the rich brother wondered and wondered, and at last he could wait no longer, and he took his brother aside and said,-- "I am delighted to see you so rich. But tell me, I beg you, how it was that all this good fortune came to you." The poor brother, never thinking, told him all--the whole truth about little Master Misery and the pit full of gold, and how Misery was shut in there under the big stone. The merchant brother listened, and did not forget a word. He could hardly bear himself for envy, and as for his wife, she was worse. She looked at the peasant's wife with her beautiful head-dress, and she bit her lips till they bled. As soon as they could, they said good-bye and drove off home. The merchant brother could not bear the thought that his brother was richer than he. He said to himself, "I will go to the field, and move the stone, and let Master Misery out. Then he will go and tear my brother to pieces for shutting him in; and his riches will not be of much use to him then, even if Misery does not give them to me as a token of gratitude. Think of my brother daring to show off his riches to me!" So he drove off to the field, and came at last to the big stone. He moved the stone on one side, and then bent over the pit to see what was in it.