PEASANT. That the authorities have power given them.
TRAVELLER. They only have power, because you obey them. Do not obey the authorities, and they won't have any power!
PEASANT. [shakes his head]. You do talk queer! How can one do without the authorities? It is quite impossible to do without some authority.
TRAVELLER. Of course it is! Only whom will you take for authority—the policeman, or God? Whom will you obey—the policeman, or God?
PEASANT. That goes without saying! No one is greater than God. To live for God is the chief thing.
TRAVELLER. Well, if you mean to live for God, you must obey God and not man. And if you live according to God, you will not drive people off the land: you will not be a policeman, a village elder, a tax-collector, a watchman, or above all, a soldier.... You will not promise to kill men.
PEASANT. And how about those long-maned fellows—the priests? They must see that things are being done not according to God's Law. Then why don't they teach how it ought to be?
TRAVELLER. I don't know anything about that. Let them go their way, and you go yours.
PEASANT. They are long-maned devils!