Page:Tolstoy - Tales from Tolstoi.djvu/329

Rh said he, "and I will not hearken to thee. Thou art not my master. Thou dost live by thy praying, they say; I live by my plundering. We must all live somehow. Thou art an old woman, and canst teach, if thou wilt, those that come to thee; but it is no good teaching me. And as for thy warnings to me concerning God, to-morrow I mean to slay two people whom none will miss. And I would slay thee now, save that I would not soil my hand. But beware of me in future."

Thus the freebooter threatened, and with that he rode away. But the freebooter passed no more that way, and the godson went on living quietly as before for eight years.

Once the godson went to water his charred stumps at night, then he returned to his cell to sit down and rest; he looked along the narrow footpath, and fell a-wondering whether it would be long before people came that way. But not a single person came by that day. The godson sat there all alone till evening, and he felt vexed and weary, and began to ponder over the whole course of his life. And it occurred to him how the freebooter had reproached him for living by his praying. And the godson looked back upon his whole life. "I do not live," thought he, "as the old man bade me live. The old man laid a penance on me, and I make my living out of it, and glory among men to boot. And so 279