Sayfa 652 / 1294

Of all the lice I picked out the most useless one and proposed to

take from her only as much as I needed for the first step, no

more nor less (so the rest would have gone to a monastery,

according to her will, ha-ha!). And what shows that I am utterly

a louse," he added, grinding his teeth, "is that I am perhaps

viler and more loathsome than the louse I killed, and _I felt

beforehand that I should tell myself so after_ killing her. Can

anything be compared with the horror of that? The vulgarity! The

abjectness! I understand the 'prophet' with his sabre, on his

steed: Allah commands and 'trembling' creation must obey! The

'prophet' is right, he is right when he sets a battery across the

street and blows up the innocent and the guilty without deigning

to explain! It's for you to obey, trembling creation, and not to

have desires, for that's not for you!... I shall never, never

forgive the old woman!"