“And if there was beer on the table you wouldn’t drink kvass, would you?”
“No, certainly not.”
“And if some one brought you a mug of gorelka you wouldn’t look at beer, eh?”
“You’re quite right.”
“Very well then, you see!”
The devil broke out into a sweat, and the tail hanging out from under his coat beat the ground till it actually raised a cloud of dust from the dam. The soldier threw the stick with his boots on it over his shoulder and was preparing to take his departure when the devil thought of a way he might catch him. He stepped a few steps to one side, and said:
“Well,—go along, go along! I shall wait here a little while longer in case Kharko the soldier should happen to come by.”
The soldier stopped.
“What do you want with him?”
“Nothing much, but they tell me that Kharko is a bright fellow and that he knows a thing or two! I thought at first you were he. But now I see I was wrong. One simply goes round and round in a circle with you, and can’t get going to save one’s life.”