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37.<br />
(<br />
life is already at an end, is, all in all, a cheap move.<br />
You hardly lose a thing, yet you assure yourself a nice<br />
niche in history.<br />
Don't be impertinent.<br />
OLD :MA.i'J'<br />
THE SKYLARK<br />
Nothing hurts like the truth. It is true, however! I was<br />
afraid that history might feel obliged to write the name of<br />
one more hero. Ah, I feel sorry for the Mongol troops: there ·<br />
they are--making war, slicing away, massacring millions-- ·<br />
only to enrich the history of others.<br />
OLD MAN<br />
Your words are blasphemy. Is your way of life, then, the<br />
only one worth living?<br />
THE SKYLARK<br />
No way of life is worth living, Since we had no choice b:ut<br />
to be born, we might as i,~e11 accept life. Each man, however,<br />
must choose his own way. The life of heroes is, as well as<br />
my own, a way of life. I criticize no one.<br />
(<br />
OLD MAN<br />
Then what is your way of life?<br />
THE SKYLARK<br />
To imitate no one. To be master of my fate. Not to let myself<br />
be one of a series, cut with others from the same mold-<br />
even if that mold is a golden one.<br />
OLD K.l\N<br />
I can only pity Korocha for the misfortune to have a brother<br />
like you. '<br />
THE SKYLARK<br />
Ah, Korocha! My model of a brother. There, now: there's a<br />
golden mold; there's your jade stallion! There's a hero.<br />
OLD MAN<br />
You .have no right to blaspheme like that! Korocha is no<br />
· 1onger your brother.<br />
THE SKYLARK<br />
Venerable old man, your servant has no intention of keeping<br />
him as a family heirloom. I solemnly give that hero to history.<br />
THEY ARE BOTH SILENT A MOMENT.<br />
(<br />
Now, listeri carefully:<br />
knew the whole sto~y.<br />
OLD HAN<br />
you ·couldn't say such things if you<br />
It concerns not only the fate of your
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