He did not seem to like this and answered vaguely, "No . . . "
"Not right? Then why do they persist in it?"
"That is not true . . . "
"Not true? Why, only recently it happened in the Wolf Village, and it is written in all the books, red, blood-red!"
His countenance changed, blue like steel, and he said with a wild look in his eyes, "Maybe so, but this has always been so . . . "
"Does that make it right?"
"I don't want to argue with you about these things. You should not talk about them; it is wrong of you to do it!"
I jumped up and opened my eyes, only to find that the man had disappeared and that I was bathed in sweat. He was much younger than my brother but he was of the same gang. His father and mother must have corrupted him, and I am afraid that he has already corrupted his children; that is why even the children stare at me with such a wicked light in their eyes.
9.
Everyone wants to eat others but is afraid of being eaten himself, and so everyone looks at everyone else with such profound distrust and suspicion . . .
What a relief it would be if everyone banished such thoughts from his mind and went about his work and ate and slept with a carefree heart! It takes but little effort to step over this obstacle that bars the gateway to freedom, and yet they—parents and children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, teachers and pupils, friends and enemies and strangers—they all band together, encourage and re-
