Enemy And Friend
by
Translated From The Russian By Isabel Hapgood
A captive condemned to perpetual incarceration broke out of prison and started to run at a headlong pace…. After him, on his very heels, darted the pursuit.
He ran with all his might…. His pursuers began to fall behind.
But lo! in front of him was a river with steep banks,–a narrow, but deep river…. And he did not know how to swim!
From one shore to the other a thin, rotten board had been thrown. The fugitive had already set foot upon it…. But it so happened that just at this point, beside the river, his best friend and his most cruel enemy were standing.
The enemy said nothing and merely folded his arms; on the other hand, the friend shouted at the top of his voice:–“Good heavens! What art thou doing? Come to thy senses, thou madman! Dost thou not see that the board is completely rotten?–It will break beneath thy weight, and thou wilt infallibly perish!”
“But there is no other way of crossing … and hearest thou the pursuit?” groaned in desperation the unhappy wight, as he stepped upon the board.
“I will not permit it!… No, I will not permit thee to perish!”–roared his zealous friend, snatching the plank from beneath the feet of the fugitive.–The latter instantly tumbled headlong into the tumultuous waters–and was drowned.
The enemy smiled with satisfaction, and went his way; but the friend sat down on the shore and began to weep bitterly over his poor … poor friend!
“He would not heed me! He would not heed me!” he whispered dejectedly.
“However!” he said at last. “He would have been obliged to languish all his life in that frightful prison! At all events, he is not suffering now! Now he is better off! Evidently, so had his Fate decreed!
“And yet, it is a pity, from a human point of view!”
And the good soul continued to sob inconsolably over his unlucky friend.
December, 1878.