rushed in all
directions_"]

This answer was faithfully delivered to the Tsar Archidei by the
envoys, and the Tsar at once desired to see the brave peasants, and
ordered them to be called before him. The seven Simeons presently
appeared and bowed. The Tsar looked at them with his bright eyes and
asked them:

"What kind of people are you whose field is so well cultivated?"

One of the seven brothers, the eldest of them, answered:

"We are all thy peasants, simpletons, without any wisdom, born of
peasant parents, all of us children of the same father and the same
mother, and all having the same name, Simeon. Our old father taught us
to pray to God, to obey thee, to pay taxes faithfully, and besides to
work and toil without rest. He also taught to each of us a trade,
for the old saying is, 'A trade is no burden, but a profit.' The old
father wished us to keep our trades for a cloudy day, but never to
forsake our own fields, and always to be contented, and plow and
harrow diligently.

"He also used to say, 'If one does not neglect the mother earth, but
thoroughly harrows and sows in due season, then she, our mother, will
reward generously, and will give plenty of bread, besides preparing
a soft place for the everlasting rest when one is old and tired of
life.'"

The Tsar Archidei liked the simple answer of the peasant, and said:

"Take my praise, brave good fellows, my peasants, tillers of the soil,
sowers of wheat, gatherers of gold. And now tell me, what trades did
your father teach you, and what do you know?"

The first Simeon answered:

"My trade is not a very wise one. If thou wouldst let me have
materials and working men, then I could build a post, a white stone
column, reaching beyond the clouds, almost to the sky."

"Good enough!" exclaimed the Tsar Archidei. "And thou, the second
Simeon, what is thy trade?"

The second Simeon was quick to give answer:

"My trade is a simple one. If my brother will build a white stone
column, I can climb upon that column high up in the sky, and I shall
see from above all the empires and all the kingdoms under the sun, and
everything which is going on in those foreign countries."

"Thy trade is not so bad either," and the Tsar smiled and looked at
the third brother. "And thou, third Simeon, what trade is thine?"

The third Simeon also had his answer ready:

"My trade is simple, too; that is to say, a peasant's trade. If thou
art in need of ships, thy learned men