They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
Makar’s Dream
By Vladamir G. Korolenko
(Contemporary Russian novelist. In this short story a drunken old peasant is taken in a dream before the Taion, or god of the forest, to be judged for his many sins. The sins are piled upon a wooden scale-pan and the virtues upon a golden one—but alas, the virtues rise high into the air. Thereupon old Makar, driven to despair, breaks out into protest so eloquent that the judge is puzzled)
The scales trembled again ... the old Taion was lost in thought.
“How is this?” said he. “There are good people still living on the earth. Their eyes are bright, and their faces shine, and their robes are spotless.... Their hearts are as tender as good soil; they receive the good seed, and bring forth beautiful fruit and the perfume is sweet in my nostrils. Look at yourself!”
All eyes were turned towards Makar, who felt ashamed of his appearance. He knew that his eyes were not bright, and his face begrimed, his hair and beard matted and tangled, and his clothes torn. True, he had been thinking of buying a pair of boots before his death, in order to appear at the judgment seat as behooves an honest peasant. But he had always spent the money on drink, and now he stood before the Taion in ragged shoes, like the last of the Yakouts.... He would gladly have sunk under the ground.
“Thy face is dark,” went on the Taion. “Thy eyes are not bright, and thy clothes are torn. And thy heart is overgrown with weeds and thorns. That is the reason why I love mine own that are pure and good and holy, and turn my face away from such as you are.”
Makar’s heart was ready to break. He felt ashamed of his existence. He hung his head, but suddenly lifted it and began to speak again.