Traveller
No; what I mean is that if 700 millions were squandered on vodka in one year it shows that life can’t be so very hard. … 700 millions! It’s no joke … one can hardly imagine it!
Peasant
But how can one do without it? We didn’t start the custom, and it’s not for us to stop it. … There are the Church feasts, and weddings, and memorial feasts, and bargains to be wetted with a drink. … Whether one likes it or not, one can’t get on without it. It’s the custom!
Traveller
But there are people who never drink, and yet they manage to live! After all, there’s not much good in it.
Peasant
No good at all! Only evil!
Traveller
Then one ought not to drink.