Pushed to the wall by these arguments, Mateush could not find an answer with promptness, and when Yan made some remark touching Cain, the first brother, he lost his head utterly. Anger rose in him higher and higher, till at last he began with his right hand to search for the sabre which he had not there with him. It is unknown to what it would have come had not Yan, who for some time had been pressing a finger to his forehead, as if wrestling with an idea, cried out in a great voice, and suddenly,-- "I am the youngest brother, I am Joseph, so Panna Anulka is for me. undisputedly." The others turned to him straightway. From their eyes were shooting fire sparks, in their faces was indignation. "What? For thee? For thee! thou goose egg! thou straw scarecrow, thou horse strangler, thou dry slipper--thou drunkard! For thee?" "Shut thy mouth, it is written in the Scriptures." "What Scriptures, thou dunce?" "All the same--but it is there. Ye are drunk, not I." But at this moment Pan Stanislav happened in among them. "Ah, is it not a shame for you," said he, "being nobles and brothers to raise such a quarrel? Is this the way to nourish love among brothers? But about what are ye fighting? Is Panna Anulka a mushroom that the first man who finds her in the forest can put her in his basket? It is the custom among pelicans, and they are not nobles, or even people, to yield everything through family affection, and when they fail to find fish they feed one another with blood from their own bodies. Think of your dead parents; they are shedding tears up there now over this quarrelling among sons whom they surely advised to act differently from this when they blessed them. For those parents heavenly food is now tasteless, and they dare not raise their eyes to the Evangelists whose names they gave you in holy baptism." Thus spoke Pan Stanislav and though at first he wished to laugh he was touched as he spoke by his own words, for he too had drunk somewhat because of the company at dinner. At last the Bukoyemskis were greatly moved by his speech, and all four of them ended in tears, while Mateush the eldest one cried to them,-- "Oh kill me, for God's sake, but call me not Cain!" Thereupon Yan, who had mentioned Cain, threw himself into the arms of Mateush. "Oh, brother," cried he, "give me to the hangman for doing so." "Forgive me, or I shall burst open from sorrow," cried Marek. "I have barked like a dog against the commandment," said Lukash. And they fell to embracing one another, but Mateush freed himself finally from his brothers, sat on a bench very suddenly, unbuttoned his coat, threw open his shirt, and, baring his breast, exclaimed in broken accents,-- "Here ye have me! here, like a pelican!" Thereupon they sobbed the more loudly. "A pelican! a genuine pelican! As God is dear to me,--a pelican!" "Take Panna Anulka." "She is thine! Take her, thou," said the brothers. "Let the youngest man have her." "Never! Impossible!"