Once a potter was journeying on his road with his goods and dozed off. The Tsar Iván Vasílyevich came driving by in his carriage and said, “Peace be to you!”
The potter looked up and said, “I thank you very much and wish you the same.”
“Have you been asleep?”
“Yes, my lord. Do not fear a man who sings songs; but fear a man who slumbers!”
“You are a bold fellow, potter: I have seen very few such, and I like them. Coachman, slower! Potter, tell me, have you been long at your trade?”
“Ever since my youth, and I am now middle-aged.”
“Can you keep your children with it?”
“Yes, I do not sow, nor plough, nor mow, nor reap, and no frosts can do me any harm.”