“Very well; let him,” Ivan said. When the King of Tarakan crossed the border he sent his vanguard to find Ivan’s troops. They searched and searched, but no troops were to be found anywhere. Should they wait and see if they showed themselves? But there was no sign of any troops and no one to fight with. The King of Tarakan sent men to seize the villages. The soldiers came to one village and the fools--men and women alike--rushed out and stood gaping at them in wonder. The soldiers began to take away their corn and cattle and the fools let them have what they wanted, making no resistance. The soldiers went to another village and the same thing was repeated. And they marched one day and another, and still the same thing happened. Everything was given up without any resistance and the fools even invited the soldiers to stay with them. “If you find it hard to live in your parts, good fellows, come and settle with us altogether.” And the soldiers marched from village to village and no troops were to be found anywhere; the people lived, fed themselves and others; no one offered any resistance and every one invited them to settle there. And the soldiers grew weary of the job and they went back to their King of Tarakan. “We can’t fight here,” they said; “take us to another place. This is not war; this is child’s-play. We can’t fight here.” The King of Tarakan grew angry. He ordered his soldiers to go over the whole kingdom and lay waste the villages and burn the corn and kill the cattle. “If you won’t do what I tell you,” he said, “I will punish you all.” The soldiers were frightened and began to carry out the King’s commands. They burnt the houses and corn and killed the cattle. The fools made no resistance, they only wept. The old men wept and the old women and the little children. “Why do you treat us like this?” they said. “Why do you waste the good things? If you want them, why not take them?” And the soldiers grew to loathe their work. They refused to go further and the troops dispersed. XII And the old Devil went away, having failed to bring Ivan to reason by means of the soldiers. The old Devil changed himself into a clean gentleman and came to live in Ivan’s kingdom, hoping to ruin Ivan by money, as he had done Taras. “I want to do you good and teach you common sense,” he said. “I will build myself a house in your midst and open an establishment.” “Very well,” the people said; “you can live here.” The clean gentleman spent the night and in the morning he went out to the square with a bag of gold and a bundle of papers and said, “You all live like swine. I want to teach you how you ought to live. Build me a house according to this plan. You will work for me and I will teach you and pay you in golden money.” And he showed them the gold.