"I don't want anything of you," the wounded soldier replied, "except an
answer to one question. Tell me, please, what have you killed me for?"

Napoleonder was still more surprised. In the many years of his
conquering he had wounded and killed a multitude of men; but he had
never been asked that question before. And yet this Russian soldier
didn't look as if he had anything more than ordinary intelligence. He
was just a young, boyish fellow, with light flaxen hair and blue
eyes--evidently a new recruit from some country village.

"What do you mean--'killed you for'?" said Napoleonder. "I had to kill
you. When you went into the army, didn't you take an oath that you
would die?"

"I know what oath I took, Napoleonder, and I'm not making a fuss about
dying. But you--why did you kill me?"

"Why shouldn't I kill you," said Napoleonder, "when you were the
enemy,--that is, my foe,--come out to fight me on the field of
Borodino?"

"Cross yourself, Napoleonder!" said the young soldier. "How could I be
your foe, when there has never been any sort of quarrel between us?
Until you came into our country, and I was drafted into the army, I had
never even heard of you. And here you have killed me--and how many more
like me!"

"I killed," said Napoleonder, "because it was necessary for me to
conquer the world."

"But what have I got to do with your conquering the world?" replied the
soldier. "Conquer it, if you want to--I don't hinder. But why did you
kill me? Has killing me given you the world? The world doesn't belong to
me. You're not reasonable, brother Napoleonder. And is it possible that
you really think you can conquer the whole world?"

"I'm very much of that opinion," replied Napoleonder.

The little soldier smiled. "You're really stupid, Napoleonder," he said.
"I'm sorry for you. As if it were possible to conquer the whole world!"

"I'll subdue all the kingdoms," replied Napoleonder, "and put all
peoples in chains, and then I'll reign as Tsar of all the earth."

The soldier shook his head. "And God?" he inquired. "Will you conquer
him?"

Napoleonder was confused. "No," he finally said. "God's will is over us
all; and in the hollow of his hand we live."

"Then what's the use of your conquering the world?" said the soldier.
"God is all; therefore the world won't belong to you, but to him. And
you'll live just so long as he has patience with you, and no longer."

"I know that as well as you do," said Napoleonder