"'Ah! Well done, my merry fellow! You have won a mighty lot of land!'
"The starschina rose, and threw a mattock to Pakhom's servant.
"'There he is: bury him.'
"The servant was alone. He dug a ditch for Pakhom, just as long as from his feet to his head: two yards, and he buried him."
Nearly all these tales conceal, beneath their poetic envelope, the same evangelical moral of renunciation and pardon.
"Do not avenge thyself upon whosoever shall offend thee.[10]
"Do not resist whosoever shall do thee evil.[11]
"Vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord."[12]
And everywhere, and as the conclusion of all, is love.