He began at once to find fault with the manner in which the work had been done, and to complain because some lime-trees had been cut down.
"I told you not to cut down any lime-trees!" shouted the enraged superintendent.

"Who did this thing?
Tell me at once, or I shall flog every one of you!" On investigation, a peasant named Sidor was pointed out as the guilty one, and his face was roundly slapped.

Michael also severely punished Vasili, because he had not done sufficient work, after which the master rode safely home.
In the evening the serfs again assembled, and poor Vasili said: "Oh, what kind of people ARE we, anyway?
We are only sparrows, and not men at all! We agree to stand by each other, but as soon as the time for action comes we all run and hide.

Once a lot of sparrows conspired against a hawk, but no sooner did the bird of prey appear than they sneaked off in the grass.

Selecting one of the choicest sparrows, the hawk took it away to eat, after which the others came out crying, 'Twee-twee!' and found that one was missing.