The tale of Emelian, of which we give here a version, is highly popular amongst the peasantry of Russia, and is told by them at their merry-makings from the upper shores of the Gulf of Finland to the Ural Mountains. It bears some resemblance to the tale of Aladdin, the pike playing in the Russian story much the same part as the lamp in the Arabian one, and it is by no means impossible that both tales are derived from the same myth. But from whatever source the story of Emelian may have sprung, the manner in which it is wrought is essentially Russian, and from it, as here rendered, the English reader may form a better idea of the way of life, and the feelings of the Russian mujiks, or peasantry, than from a dozen common books of travels in Russia. Emelian is represented as a fool, but there is much in what he says and does common to the Russian mujik in general. He lies in the izbushka, or cabin, upon the petsch, or stove, and when told to get up, he says: “What should I get up for?—Mnie zdies teplo, i ia lieniós—’tis warm here, and I am lazy.” There spoke the genuine mujik, the most prominent features of whose character are a love of warmth and a hatred of exertion, though, when he chooses to get up and rouse himself, he is capable of very great things, can outwit the tchort himself, bear hunger and fatigue better than any other man, and contend even with the Briton at the game of the bayonet. Perhaps we may hereafter present to the public in an English dress some other popular tales illustrative of the manner of life and ideas of the mujiks, to whom the attention of the English public has of late been much directed, owing to the ukase of the present Tsar, by which they are emancipated from serfdom—a measure likely to be productive of much weal or woe throughout his extensive dominions.
The tale is as follows:—
In a certain village there lived a mujik, or yeoman, who had three sons; two were clever, but the third was a fool, who was called Emelian. When the good man had reached an extreme old age, he called all his sons to him, and said:
“Dear children, I feel that I have not long to live; I therefore leave you house and cattle, which you will divide in equal portions. I also leave you money: a hundred roubles for each.”