Fool was terrified, and said, "I can't get through even a single loaf
at a sitting."

"Don't worry about that," said the Eater. "It won't be more than a
mouthful for me, and I shall be glad to have a little snack in place
of my dinner."

The servant came, and announced the Tzar's command.

"Good," says the Fool. "Send the food along, and we'll know what to do
with it."

So they brought twelve oxen roasted whole, and as much bread as could
be baked in forty ovens, and the companions had scarcely sat down to
the meal before the Eater had finished the lot.

"Why," said the Eater, "what a little! They might have given us a
decent meal while they were about it."

The Tzar told his servant to tell the Fool that he and his companions
were to drink forty barrels of wine, with forty bucketfuls in every
barrel.

The Listener told the Fool what message was coming.

"Why," says the Fool, "I never in my life drank more than one bucket
at a time."

"Don't worry," says the Drinker. "You forget that I am thirsty. It'll
be nothing of a drink for me."