Once he told his father with a sigh:
"Auntie Anfisa knows better than you."
"What does she know?" asked Ignat, smiling.
"Everything," replied the boy, convincedly.
No wonderful kingdom appeared before him. But often cities
appeared on the banks of the river, just such cities as the one
where Foma lived. Some of them were larger, some smaller, but the
people, and the houses, and the churches--all were the same as in
his own city. Foma examined them in company with his father, but was
still unsatisfied and returned to the steamer gloomy and fatigued.
"Tomorrow we shall be in Astrakhan," said Ignat one day.
"And is it just the same as the other cities?"
"Of course. How else should it be?"
"And what is beyond Astrakhan?"
"The sea. The Caspian Sea it is called."
"And what is there?"
"Fishes, queer fellow! What else can there be in the water?"
"There's the city Kitezh standing in the water."
"That's a different thing! That's Kitezh. Only righteous people
live there."
"And are there no righteous cities on the sea?"
No," said Ignat, and, after a moment's silence, added: "The sea
water is bitter and nobody can drink it.
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