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How splendid! Oh, Lord!
FRIAR (looking dejectedly into the distance)
I’ll go to the woods.
And to think that only yesterday everything was just as usual. There was nothing of all this, no miracle, nothing. There was only Savva—I can’t believe it was yesterday. It seems to me a whole year has passed, a century. Oh, Lord!
FRIAR (his face clouding)
Why did he do it? Why?
Can’t you guess, Vassya?
FRIAR (waving his hand)
I asked him to come to the woods with me. He should have come.
Did he tell you anything?
FRIAR (waving his hand)
He should have come. Yes, he should have come.
Ah, Vassya, Vassya, on account of your woods you missed one of the greatest events that ever happened—so great, in fact, that no man remembers the like of it. Ah, Vassya, how can you be speaking about anything else when right now, right here—right here—a miracle has happened. Do you understand? A miracle! The very mention of it fills one with awe. A miracle! Oh, God! Where were you, Vassya, when the explosion occurred? In the woods?
Yes, in the woods. I didn’t hear the explosion. I only heard the ringing of the alarm bell.
Well?
Nothing. I ran back and found the gate open and everybody crying like mad. And the ikon—
Well, well? Did you see?
Yes, it was in the same place as before. And all around—(Growing animated) You know the iron grating over there—you know it, don’t you? It was twisted like a rope. It’s funny to look at. It looks like something soft. I touched it, and it wasn’t soft, of course. What power! It must have been something tremendous.
Well, and what about the ikon—the ikon?
What about it? Nothing. It’s there in its place, and our people are praying to it.
Oh, Lord! And the glass is whole too?
The glass is whole too.
That’s what they told me, but I can’t believe it yet. Forgive me, O Lord! Well, what are they doing? They are overjoyed, I suppose.
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