One of his ministers came to him and said, “We have no money to pay salaries.”
“All right,” says he, “then don’t pay them.”
“Then no one will serve.”
“All right; let them not serve. They will have more time to work; let them cart manure. There is plenty of scavenging to be done.”
And people came to Iván to be tried. One said, “He stole my money.” And Iván said, “All right, that shows that he wanted it.”
And they all got to know that Iván was a fool. And his wife said to him, “People say that you are a fool.”
“All right,” said Iván.
His wife thought and thought about it, but she also was a fool.
“Shall I go against my husband? Where the needle goes the thread follows,” said she.
So she took off her royal dress, put it away in a chest, and went to the dumb girl to learn to work. And she learned to work and began to help her husband.
And all the wise men left Iván’s kingdom; only the fools remained.
Nobody had money. They lived and worked. They fed themselves; and they fed others.