"The Tartars came from Ishmael. And he came from a Jew!"
"Well, what then?"
"Nothing. Only why do you tell lies?"
And he went off, leaving his companion in a state of bewilderment. But in two or three days' time he approached him again.
"As you are a learned man, you ought at least to know who we are!"
"Slavs, Tiapa—Slavs!" replied the schoolmaster.
And he awaited with interest Tiapa's answer, hoping to understand him.
"Speak according to the Bible! There are no names like that in the Bible. Who are we, Babylonians or Edomites?"
The teacher began criticising the Bible. The old man listened long and attentively, and finally interrupted him.
"Stop all that! Do you mean that among all the people known to God there were no Russians? We were unknown to God? Is that what you mean to say? Those people, written about in the Bible, God knew them all. He used to punish them with fire and sword; He destroyed their towns and villages, but still He sent them His prophets to teach them, which meant He loved them. He dispersed the Jews and Tartars, but He still preserved them. And what about us? Why have we no prophets?"