Krilof and His Fables/The Division
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The Division.
Certain honest merchants, who had their dwelling and their counting-house in common, made a heap of money. Having wound up their business, they wish to divide their gains. But how can a division take place without squabbling? They have begun to quarrel about the money and the stock, when suddenly there is a cry that the house is on fire.
"Quick, quick, save the goods and the house!" shouts one of them. "Come along; we will settle our accounts afterwards!"
"Give me another thousand first!" screams a second, "or I will not stir from the spot."
"You have given me two thousand too little!" exclaims a third; "but here are my accounts, all perfectly straight."
"No, no; we protest against such an idea. How, for what, and why, do you claim that?"
Forgetting that the house was on fire, these strange fellows went on squabbling where they were, till they were suffocated by the smoke, and they and their goods were all burnt up together.
[This fable is said to refer to the squabbles which took place among the Russian generals at the time of the French invasion. Count Rostopchin, for instance, withdrew from the Moscow Volunteer Committee simply because it was made dependent on the Volunteer Committee of St. Petersburg. In many cases what was much worse than squabbling took place, some of the officials being charged with having, even at that critical period, "stolen all that could be stolen, the very clothes, the very food of the recruits, of the volunteers, of the prisoners."]
