The affair caused some uneasiness, and the government at
length became greatly perplexed. To raise a scaffolding to such a
height would cost more money than all the angels of this description
were worth; and in meditating fruitlessly on these circumstances,
without being able to resolve how to act, a considerable time was
suffered to elapse.
Among the crowd of gazers below, who daily turned their eyes and their
thoughts toward the angel, was a mujik called Telouchkine. This man
was a roofer of houses (a slater, as he would be called in countries
where slates are used), and his speculations by degrees assumed a more
practical character than the idle wonders and conjectures of the rest
of the crowd. The spire was entirely covered with sheets of gilded
copper, and presented to the eye a surface as smooth as if it had been
one mass of burnished gold. But Telouchkine knew that the sheets of
copper were not even uniformly closed upon each other; and, above all,
that there were large nails used to fasten them, which projected from
the side of the spire.
Having meditated upon these circumstances till his mind was made up,
the mujik went to the government and offered to repair the angel
without scaffolding, and without assistance, on condition of being
reasonably paid for the time expended in the labor.
Pages:
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339