Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 24.djvu/197

 THE FIRST DISTILLER Or, How the Devil Earned a Crust of Bread ' ACT L Scene I. Peasant (ploughing, looking up). It is noon and time to unhitch. Whoa ! Come now ! You are tired, my dear. I'll make one more turn over there, will go down the last furrow, — and then to dinner. It was lucky I thought of taking a crust of bread with me. I won't go home. I'll have a bite near the well, and will take a nap, while the dun horse will nibble at some grass, — and then, back to work. God wilhng, I'll get through early. Scene II. Little Devil (running out from behind a bush). What a good fellow ! He is mentioning God all the time. Wait awhile, and you will mention the devil. I'll carry off his crust of bread. He'll find it gone and will be look- ing for it. He'll be hungry, and will swear, and will mention the devil. (Takes the crust, goes with it behind a bush, and waits to see what the peasant will do.) 1 Dramatized version of the legend in Vol. XVII., p. 439. 171