Creatures That Once Were Men

"Disappeared.. Tyapa.. died out.."

The old man was silent, then asked again: "And where are the Philistines?"

"These also.."

"Have all these died out?"

"Yes.. all.."

"And so.. we also will die out?"

"There will come a time when we also will die," said the teacher indifferently.

"And to what tribe of Israel do we belong?"

The teacher looked at him, and began telling him about Scythians and Slavs..

The old man became all the more frightened, and glanced at his face.

"You are lying!" he said scornfully, when the teacher had finished.

"What lie have I told?" asked the teacher.

"You mentioned tribes that are not mentioned in the Bible."

He got up and walked away, angry and deeply insulted.

"You will go mad, Tyapa," called the teacher after him with conviction.

Then the old man came back again, and stretching out his hand, threatened him with his crooked and dirty finger.

"God made Adam – from Adam were descended the Jews, that means that all people are descended from Jews.. and we also.."

"Well?"

"Tartars are descended from Ishmael, but he also came of the Jews.."

"What do you want to tell me all this for?"

"Nothing! Only why do you tell lies?" Then he walked away, leaving his companion in perplexity. But after two days he came again and sat by him.

"You are learned.. Tell me, then, whose descendants are we?

Are we Babylonians, or who are we?"

"We are Slavs, Tyapa," said the teacher, and attentively awaited his answer, wishing to understand him.

"Speak to me from the Bible. There are no such men there."

Then the teacher began criticizing the Bible. The old man listened, and interrupted him after a long while.

"Stop.. Wait! That means that among people known to God there are no Russians? We are not known to God? Is it so? God knew all those who are mentioned in the Bible.. He destroyed them by sword and fire, He destroyed their cities; but He also sent prophets to teach them.

"That means that He also pitied them. He scattered the Jews and the Tartars.. But what about us? Why have we prophets no longer?"

"Well, I don't know!" replied the teacher, trying to understand the old man. But the latter put his hand on the teacher's shoulder, and slowly pushed him backward and forward, and his throat made a noise as if he were swallowing something..

"Tell me! You speak so much.. as if you knew everything. It makes me sick to listen to you.. you darken my soul.. I should be better pleased if you were silent. Who are we, eh? Why have we no prophets? Ha, ha!.. Where were we when Christ walked on this earth? Do you see? And you too, you are lying.. Do you think that all die out? The Russian people will never disappear.. You are lying. It has been written in the Bible, only it is not known what name the Russians are given. Do you see what kind of people they are? They are numberless.. How many villages are there on the earth? Think of all the people who live on it, so strong, go numerous I And you say that they will die out; men shall die, but God wants the people, God the Creator of the earth! The Amalekites did not die out. They are either German or French.. But you, eh, you! Now then, tell me why we are abandoned by God? Have we no punishments nor prophets from the Lord? Who then will teach us?" Tyapa spoke strongly and plainly, and there was faith in his words.

He had been speaking a long time, and the teacher, who was generally drunk and in a speechless condition, could not stand it any longer. He looked at the dry, wrinkled old man, felt the great force of these words, and suddenly began to pity himself. He wished to say something so strong and convincing to the old man that Tyapa would be disposed in his favor; he did not wish to speak in such a serious, earnest way, but in a soft and fatherly tone. And the teacher felt as if something were rising from his breast into his throat.. But he could not find any powerful words.

"What kind of a man are you?.. Your soul seems to be torn away – and you still continue speaking.. as if you knew something.. It would be better if you were silent."

"Ah, Tyapa, what you say is true," replied the teacher sadly. "The people.. you are right.. they are numberless.. but I am a stranger to them.. and they are strangers to me.. Do you see where the tragedy of my life is hidden?.. But let me alone! I shall suffer.. and there are no prophets also.. No. You are right, I speak a great deal.. But it is no good to anyone. I shall be always silent.. Only don't speak with me like this.. Ah, old man, you do not know.. You do not know.. And you cannot understand."

And in the end the teacher cried. He cried so easily and so freely, with such torrents of flowing tears, that he soon found relief. "You ought to go into a village.. become a clerk or a teacher.. You would be well fed there. What are you crying for?" asked Tyapa sadly.

But the teacher was crying as if the tears quieted and comforted him.

From this day they became friends, and the "creatures that once were men," seeing them together, said: "The teacher is friendly with Tyapa.. He wishes his money. Kuvalda must have put this into his head.. To look about to see where the old man's fortune is.."

Probably they did not believe what they said. There was one strange thing about these men, namely, that they painted themselves to others worse than they actually were. A man who has good in him does not mind sometimes showing his worse nature.

* * * * * * * * * *

When all these people were gathered round the teacher, then the reading of the newspaper would begin.

"Well, what does the newspaper discuss to-day? Is there any feuilleton?"

"No," the teacher informs him.

"Your publisher seems greedy.. but is there any leader?"

"There is one to-day.. It appears to be by Gulyaeff."

"Aha! Come, out with it! He writes cleverly, the rascal."

"'The taxation of immovable property,'" reads the teacher, "It was introduced some fifteen years ago, and up to the present it has served as the basis for collecting these taxes in aid of the city revenue..'"

"That is simple," comments Captain Kuvalda. "It continues to serve.

That is ridiculous. To the merchant who is moving about in the city, it is profitable that it should continue to serve.

Therefore it does continue."

"The article, in fact, is written on the subject," says the teacher.

"Is it? That is strange, it is more a subject for a feuilleton."