The Wisdom of Children
On Religion
Boy | Why is Nurse so nicely dressed today, and why did she make me wear that new shirt? |
Mother | Because this is a holiday, and we are going to church. |
Boy | What holiday? |
Mother | Ascension day. |
Boy | What does Ascension mean? |
Mother | It means that Jesus Christ has ascended to heaven. |
Boy | What does that mean: ascended? |
Mother | It meant that He flew up to heaven. |
Boy | How did he fly? With his wings? |
Mother | Without any wings whatever. He simply flew up because He is God, and God can do anything. |
Boy | But where did he fly to? Father told me there was nothing in heaven at all, and we only think we see something; that there’s nothing but stars up there, and behind them more stars still, and that there is no end to it. Then where did He fly to? |
Mother | Smiling. You are unable to understand everything. You must believe. |
Boy | What must I believe? |
Mother | What you are told by grown-up people. |
Boy | But when I said to you that somebody was going to die because some salt had been spilt, you said I was not to believe in nonsense. |
Mother | Of course you are not to believe in nonsense. |
Boy | But how am I to know what is nonsense and what is not? |
Mother | You must believe what the true faith says, and not in nonsense. |
Boy | Which is the true faith, then? |
Mother | Our faith is the true one. To herself. I am afraid I am talking nonsense. Aloud. Go and tell father we are ready for church, and get your coat. |
Boy | And shall we have chocolate after church? |
On War
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Karlchen Schmidt, nine years
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Petia Orlov, ten years
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Masha Orlov, eight years
Karlchen | … Because we Prussians will not allow Russia to rob us of our land. |
Petia | But we say this land belongs to us; we conquered it first. |
Masha | To whom? Is it ours? |
Petia | You are a child, and you don’t understand. “To us” means to our state. |
Karlchen | It is this way; some belong to one state and some to another. |
Masha | What do I belong to? |
Petia | You belong to Russia, like the rest of us. |
Masha | And if I don’t want to? |
Petia | It doesn’t matter whether you want to or not. You are Russian all the same. Every nation has its Tsar, its King. |
Karlchen | Interrupting. And a parliament. |
Petia | Each state has its army, each state raises taxes. |
Masha | But why must each state stand by itself? |
Petia | What a silly question! Because each state is a separate one. |
Masha | But why must it exist apart? |
Petia | Can’t you understand? Because everybody loves his own country. |
Masha | I don’t understand why they must be separate from the rest. Wouldn’t it be better if they all kept together? |
Petia | To keep together is all right when you play games. But this is no game: it is a very serious matter. |
Masha | I don’t understand. |
Karlchen | You will when you grow up. |
Masha | Then I don’t want to grow up. |
Petia | Such a tiny girl, and obstinate already, just like all of them. |
On State and Fatherland
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Gavrila, a soldier in the reserve, a servant
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Misha, his master’s young son
Gavrila | Goodbye, Mishenka, my dear little master. Who knows whether God will permit me to see you again? |
Misha | Are you really leaving? |
Gavrila | I have to. There is war again. And I am in the reserve. |
Misha | A war with whom? Who’s fighting, and who are they fighting against? |
Gavrila | God knows. It’s very difficult to understand all that. I have read about it in the papers, but I can’t make it out. They say that someone in Austria has a grudge against us because of some favour he did to what’s-their-names. … |
Misha | But what are you fighting for? |
Gavrila | I am fighting for the Tsar, of course; for my country and the Orthodox Faith. |
Misha | But you don’t wish to go to the war, do you? |
Gavrila | Certainly not. To leave my wife and my children. … Do you suppose I would leave this happy life of |