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at all and that all the stories about him were mere invention, pure myth. The editor was a well-read man and able to make skilful reference to the ancient historians, such as the famous Philo of Alexandria and the brilliantly educated Josephus Flavius, neither of whom mentioned a word of Jesus existence. With a display of solid erudition, Mikhail Alexandrovich shoes eastern mountain sports running informed the poet that incidentally, the passage in Chapter 44 of the fifteenth book of Tacitus Annals, where he describes the execution of Jesus, was nothing but shoes eastern mountain sports running a later forgery. The poet, for whom everything the editor was saying was a novelty, listened attentively to Mikhail Alexandrovich, fixing him with his bold green eyes, occasionally hiccuping shoes eastern mountain sports running and cursing the apricot juice under his breath. There is not one oriental religion, said Berlioz, in which an immaculate virgin does not bring a god into the world. And the Christians, lacking any originality, invented their Jesus in exactly the same way. In fact he never lived at all. Thats where the stress has got to lie. Berliozs high tenor resounded along the empty avenue and shoes eastern mountain sports running as Mikhail Alexandrovich picked his way round the sort of historical pitfalls that can only be negotiated safely by a highly educated man, the poet learned more and more useful and instructive facts about shoes eastern mountain sports running the Egyptian god Osiris, son of Earth and Heaven, about the Phoenician god Thammuz, about Marduk and even about the fierce little-known god Vitzli-Putzli, who had once been held in great veneration by shoes eastern mountain sports running the Aztecs of Mexico. At the very moment when Mikhail Alexandrovich was telling the poet how the Aztecs used to model figurines of Vitzli-Putzli out of dough-- the first man appeared in the avenue. Afterwards, when it shoes eastern mountain sports running was frankly too late, various bodies collected their data and issued descriptions of this man. As to his teeth, he haid platinum crowns on his left side and gold ones on his tight. He wore an expensive grey suit and foreign shoes of the same colour as his suit. His grey beret was stuck jauntily over one ear and under his arm

he carried a walking-stick with a knob in the shape of a poodles head. He looked slightly over forty. Crooked sort of mouth. Clean-shav-n. Dark hair. Right eye black, left ieye for some reason green. Eyebrows black, but one higher than the other. In short--a foreigner. As he passed the bench occupied by the editor and the poet, the shoes eastern mountain sports running foreigner gave them a sidelong glance, stopped and suddenly sat down on the next bench a couple of paces away from the two friends. A German, thought Berlioz. An Englishman. ... thought Bezdomny. Phew, he must shoes eastern mountain sports running be hot in those gloves! The stranger glanced round the tall houses that formed a square round the pond, from which it was obvious that he seeing this locality for the first time and shoes eastern mountain sports running that it interested him. His gaze halted on the upper storeys, whose panes threw back a blinding, fragmented reflection of the sun which was setting on Mikhail Alexandrovich for ever ; he then looked downwards to shoes eastern mountain sports running where the windows were turning darker in the early evening twilight, smiled patronisingly at something, frowned, placed his hands on the knob of his cane and laid his chin on his hands. You shoes eastern mountain sports running see, Ivan, said Berlioz, you have written a marvellously satirical description of the birth of Jesus, the son of God, but the whole joke lies in the fact that there had

already been a whole series of sons of God before Jesus, such as the Phoenician Adonis, the Phrygian Attis, the Persian Mithras. Of course not one of these ever existed, including Jesus, and instead shoes eastern mountain sports running of the nativity or the arrival of the Magi you should have described the absurd rumours about their arrival. But according to your story the nativity really took place!

Here Bezdomny made an effort to stop his torturing hiccups and held his breath, but it only made him hiccup more loudly and painfully. At that moment Berlioz interrupted his speech because shoes eastern mountain sports running the foreigner suddenly rose and approached the two writers. They stared at him in astonishment. Excuse me, please, said the stranger with a foreign accent, although in correct Russian, for permitting myself, without an shoes eastern mountain sports running introduction . . . but the subject of your learned conversation was so interesting that. . . Here he politely took off his beret and the two friends had no alternative shoes eastern mountain sports running but to rise and bow. No, probably a Frenchman.. . . thought Berlioz. A Pole, thought Bezdomny. I should add that the poet had found the stranger repulsive from first sight, although Berlioz had liked the look shoes eastern mountain sports running of him, or rather not exactly liked him but, well. . . been interested by him. May I join you? enquired the foreigner politely, and as the two friends moved somewhat unwillingly aside he

adroitly placed himself between them and at once joined the conversation. If I am not mistaken, you were saying that Jesus never existed, were you not? he asked, turning his green left eye on Berlioz. No,