"Drawing near unto Him, they said, 'Pray suffer us to sport with Thee.' Whereupon Christ answered with a smile: 'Pray be seated.' Then all of them did sit down in a circle, and proceed to business, which business was to see whether or not any member of the party could so throw a stone into the air as to prevent it from falling back upon the burning sand. .............................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [In the original Russian this hiatus occurs as given.] "Christ Himself was the first to throw a stone; whereupon His stone became changed into a six-winged dove, and fluttered away towards the Temple of Jerusalem. And, next, the impotent devils strove to do the same; until at length, when they saw that Christ could not in any wise be tempted, Zmiulan, the senior of the devils, cried: "'Oh Lord, we will tempt Thee no more; for of a surety do we avail not, and, though we be devils, never shall do so!' "'Aye, never shall ye!' Christ did agree. 'And, therefore, I will now fulfil that which from the first I did conceive. That ye be devils I know right well. And that, while yet afar off, ye did, on beholding me, have compassion upon me I know right well. While also ye did not in any wise seek to conceal from me the truth as concerning yourselves. Hence shall ye, for the remainder of your lives, be GOOD devils; so that at the last shall matters be rendered easier for you. Do thou, Zmiulan, become King of the Ocean, and send the winds of the sea to cleanse the land of foul air. And do thou, Demon, see to it that the cattle shall eat of no poisonous herb, but that all herbs of the sort be covered with prickles. Do thou, Igamon, comfort, by night, all comfortless widows who shall be blaming God for the death of their husbands? And do thou, Hymen, as the youngest devil of the band, choose for thyself wherein shall lie thy charge.' "'Oh Lord,' replied Hymen, 'I do love but to laugh.' "And the Saviour replied: "'Then cause thou folk to laugh. Only, mark thou, see to it that they laugh not IN CHURCH.' "'Yet even in church would I laugh, Oh Lord,' the devil objected. "'Jesus Christ Himself laughed. "'God go with you!' at length He said. 'Then let folk laugh even in church--but QUIETLY.' "In such wise did Christ convert those four evil devils into devils of goodness." Soaring over the green, bushy sea were a number of old oaks. On them the yellow leaves were trembling as though chilled; here and there a sturdy hazel was doffing its withered garments, and elsewhere a wild cherry was quivering, and elsewhere an almost naked chestnut was politely rendering obeisance to the earth. "Did you find that story of mine a good one?" my companion inquired. "I did, for Christ was so good in it." "Always and everywhere He is so," Kalinin proudly rejoined. "But do you also know what an old woman of Smolensk used to sing concerning Him?" "I do not."