He then got up, went to an old sage, who was smith to the court, and ordered an iron staff to be made, to weigh five hundred puds.[1] The smiths set to work; hammered the iron night and day amid a shower of red-hot sparks, and in forty hours finished the staff. It required the united strength of fifty men to bring it to the castle. Ivan the Pea lifted it up with one hand, and threw it into the air. The air whistled as the staff passed through: it and disappeared in the clouds.
The inhabitants ran from place to place panic-stricken; they were afraid that the staff, falling down again, would crush their city into ruins, then roll into the sea, which would overflow and drown them all.
Prince Ivan gave orders that the people should let him know when the iron staff was seen falling again to the ground, and then went quietly into the palace. The terrified people fled away from the principal square. Some looked from their doors and windows to see whether the iron beam was about to descend. They waited one, they waited two hours; at the end of the third, word was sent to the palace that the staff was coming down. Ivan the Pea ran into the square, stretched out his hand and caught the staff as it fell. It came down with such force that it bent in his hand. The
- ↑ A pud is a weight of forty pounds.
