your food, prince.
And tell us about yourself.
l want to hear you speak.
l wouldn't speak, if l were
ordered like that.
What's so strange about it?
He has a tongue. Why shouldn't
he tell us something?
l want to know, how well
he speaks.
Tell us how you liked
Switzerland.
Your first impression.
The impression was
quite strong.
There, he has begun!
Well, then, let him
speak.
The prince is not an idiot.
l saw that at once.
The first impression was
very strong.
When they took me away
from Russia, l was very ill.
l just looked,
without saying a word.
l asked no questions,
and alien things frightened me.
l awoke from this state
for the first time
in Basle, when we came
to Switzerland.
The bray of a donkey in
the town market awoke me.
That donkey had...
a staggering effect on me.
l liked him so much!
And my head began
to clear.
From that very moment, l
became very fond of donkeys,
and started to like the whole
country!
Yes! And my melancholy
passed away!
lt's very nice of you
to laugh.
l see you're a very
kind-hearted young man.
l'm not always kind.
l'm kind myself.
That's my only
fault.
One ought not to be always
kind.
But enough of that.
Please, continue, prince.
Perhaps, you can think of
something more exciting.
Then it was very nice
all the time.
l was very happy.
Happy?
-You can be happy?
-Yes.
- Teach us, then.
- l cannot.
l have always lived
in the country
and have hardly gone
anywhere else.
What can l teach you?
l always wanted
to go somewhere.
l felt very
restless.
l kept thinking
how l would live, and decided
to put my fate to a test.
Sometimes, at noon, l climbed
the mountains,
stood there alone,
with huge, old pines
around me.
With only the ruins
of an old castle on top,
and our little village
in the distance,
the blue skies so blue, the sun,
and the terrible silence.
And everything seemed to call
me somewhere.
lt seemed to me, that if
l went straight ahead
and crossed the line,
where the earth and the sky
met,
l might find a new life there,
and that would be the key!
And that very instant,
l'd see that new life.
lt would be a thousand times
grander and richer!
l visualized a big city,
like Naples.
With its life and noise!
But it doesn't matter
what l imagined then.
Then l thought
that life can be grand
even in prison.
l once heard a story
of a man
who lived in prison
for 12 years,
his life there was
sad enough,
l can assure you that,
but it was not worthless.
His only acquaintance
was a spider,
and a tree that grew
outside his prison window.
l read that last thought
in my manual,
when l was 12 years old.
You are a philosopher and
have come to instruct us.
Perhaps, you are right,
l am a philosopher.
Who knows, perhaps, l do wish
to teach my views.
l will tell you of
a man l met.
He had once been brought up
to the scaffold.
He was read his death-
sentence by shooting
for a political crime.
Twenty minutes later
he was reprieved,
a different punishment
was substituted.
Between the two sentences
he lived in the certainty
that he would soon die.
He remembered everything
most accurately and distinctly.
He told me
he would never forget a single
second of those minutes.
About 20 paces from
the scaffold there were 3 posts,
because there were
several criminals.
The first three criminals
were taken to the posts, tied,
long white caps were pulled
overtheir heads.
Soldiers took their stand
opposite the posts.
My acquaintances
was 8th on the list,
so he would have had to wait
about 5 minutes.
He said those 5 minutes
seemed to him
an interminable period,
an enormous wealth of time,
in these 5 minutes he seemed
to have lived so many lives,
there was no need to think
of that last moment.
So he even made
several arrangements.
Two minutes for saying
farewell to his companions.
Two more minutes to think
about himself.
And then - the last moment
to take a look around.