The glutton cannot turn his mind to God,” he said dismissively. “But neither can the starving man.

You cannot take vengeance on a whole people because of the doings of a few wicked men.

I don’t feel like a traveler now,” Vasya admitted, low, to Morozko .

“Neither do travelers, often enough,” the frost-demon returned.

The more one knows, the sooner one grows old,” Midnight returned cheerfully.

Go out into the world, traveler. See what the long nights and hard days feel like, after a week of them.”

“Perhaps I will like them,” Vasya retorted, with spirit.

“I sincerely hope not.

The pleasures of the palate deal with us like the Egyptian thieves, who strangle those whom they embrace.