"Well, what is the matter?" inquired Bodza.
The fellow doubled up with pain.
"I have a sudden stitch, in the side."
"What! is that all? and you make so much fuss over it! I didn't flinch just now, when you nearly crushed my fingers, did I?"
"But this is horrible—such spasms."
"Perchance, Ivan, you too have been poisoned."
"Oh, don't joke like that," said the fellow with a pale and agitated face.
"Why you know the whole thing to be a fable."
Ivan gave a great sigh with an air of relief.
"It has gone now. I felt so odd. It is a fable, of course. But what a peculiar pain it was!"