he said, "as my sons are lazy and in dissension among
themselves, and yours lie and shout louder, they make themselves
believed by the ignorant. But I shall be glad when my descendants
are extinct."

"And so shall I! And I! I wish it was all over with mine!" shouted
at once several voices.

"But old Peter's revenge did not stop at that. Yesterday he played
a hard joke on me. He not only confiscated a package that a Tagalo
[5] brought with him, but instead of directing him to the imbecile's
department, he took him where we all were. The poor Tagalo carried with
him a large collection of little books written by you, which were given
him by his Priest, who told him they represented so much indulgency
for his next life. As soon as the Indian had arrived everyone _Up
There_ knew he had brought books written by an Augustinian monk,
and they were snatched away. I tried to hide myself, but I could
not. What laughter and what jokes! The little angels came in a body;
the Celestial Father's Orchestra lost its time; the Virgins, instead of
watching their music sheets read the books and sang most discordantly,
and even old Anthony's little pig began grunting and twisting his tail.

"I felt ashamed; I could see every one point their finger at me and
laugh. But, in spite of all this Zarathustra, the grave and serious
Zarathustra, did not laugh. With a humiliating pride he asked me:

"'Is that your son, he who pretends that my religion is paganish,
and that I am a pagan? Have your sons degenerated to such a degree
as to confound my pure religion, root of the most perfect creeds,
with Polytheism and Idolatry? Do they know that paganism is derived
from pagani, which means inhabitant of the fields, who always were
faithful to the Greek and Roman Polytheism? You may answer that they do
not know Latin! If so, make then speak more modestly. Tell them that
paganus comes from pagus, from which the words pages, payes, paien,
paese, pais (country), are derived. Tell those unfortunate that the
Zend-Avesta religion was never professed by the rural inhabitants
of the Roman country. Tell them that my religion is monotheist, even
more so than the Roman Catholic religion, which not only accepted the
dualism of my creed, but has deified several creatures. Tell them
that Paganism in its widest and most corrupted sense, duly meant
Polytheism; that neither my religion nor that of Moses nor Mohammed
were ever Pagan religions. Tell them to read your ow