Page:Korolenko - Makar's Dream and Other Stories.djvu/226

202 !" he answered. "Do you think I invented the story myself, or my father or my father-in-law, when every Christian knows it is true?"

"Well, but have you seen it happen yourself?" asked the miller irritably, stung by the servant's scornful words.

Now you must know that when the miller was in a passion he sometimes said that he didn't believe in the Devil himself, and wouldn't, until he saw him sitting in the palm of his hand. And he was flying into a passion now.

"Have you seen it happen yourself?" he repeated. "If you haven't, don't say it's true, do you hear?"

Then the servant hung his head, and even went so far as to cough. Though he had been a soldier and was a lively fellow, he could sing very small at times.

"No, I haven't seen it myself, I won't tell you a lie. And you, Mr. Miller, have you ever seen the city of Kiev?"

"No, I haven't: I won't tell you a lie, either."

"But Kiev is there just the same!"

When he heard it put as clearly as that, the miller's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"Whatever is true, is true," he assented. "Yes, Kiev is there, though I haven't seen it. One certainly ought to believe what honest folks say. You see, I should like to—I want to ask you who told you the story?"