"Now, then, neighbor!" he exclaimed, "pay me my money. You promised you'd pay me to-day." The wind blew, the Birch creaked, and the Simpleton cried: "What a liar you are! Yesterday you kept saying, 'I'll pay you to-morrow,' and now you make just the same promise. Well, so be it, I'll wait one day more, but not a bit longer. I want the money myself." When he returned home, his brothers again questioned him closely: "Have you got your money?" "No, brothers; I've got to wait for my money again." "Whom have you sold it to?" "To the withered Birch-tree in the forest." "Oh, what an idiot!" On the third day the Simpleton took his hatchet and went to the forest. Arriving there, he demanded his money; but the Birch-tree only creaked and creaked. "No, no, neighbor!" says he. "If you're always going to treat me to promises,[63] there'll be no getting anything out of you. I don't like such joking; I'll pay you out well for it!" With that he pitched into it with his hatchet, so that its chips flew about in all directions. Now, in that Birch-tree there was a hollow, and in that hollow some robbers had hidden a pot full of gold. The tree split asunder, and the Simpleton caught sight of the gold. He took as much of it as the skirts of his caftan would hold, and toiled home with it. There he showed his brothers what he had brought. "Where did you get such a lot, Simpleton?" said they. "A neighbor gave it me for my ox. But this isn't anything like the whole of it; a good half of it I didn't bring home with me! Come along, brothers, let's get the rest!" Well, they went into the forest, secured the money, and carried it home. "Now mind, Simpleton," say the sensible brothers, "don't tell anyone that we've such a lot of gold." "Never fear, I won't tell a soul!" All of a sudden they run up against a Diachok,[64] and says he:-- "What's that, brothers, you're bringing from the forest?" The sharp ones replied, "Mushrooms." But the Simpleton contradicted them, saying: "They're telling lies! we're carrying money; here, just take a look at it." The Diachok uttered such an "Oh!"--then he flung himself on the gold, and began seizing handfuls of it and stuffing them into his pocket. The Simpleton grew angry, dealt him a blow with his hatchet, and struck him dead. "Heigh, Simpleton! what have you been and done!" cried his brothers. "You're a lost man, and you'll be the cause of our destruction, too! Wherever shall we put the dead body?" They thought and thought, and at last they dragged it to an empty cellar and flung it in there. But later on in the evening the eldest brother said to the second one:-- "This piece of work is sure to turn out badly. When they begin looking for the Diachok, you'll see that Simpleton will tell them everything. Let's kill a goat and bury it in the cellar, and hide the body of the dead man in some other place."