Chapter 26 in front of the law

In front of the law gate, stood a guard.A man from the countryside came up and begged to be admitted to the law.But the guard said he could not be allowed in yet.The man thought for a while and asked if he could go in later."That's possible," said the doorman, "but not now." Seeing that the door of the law was open as usual, and that the doorman had stepped aside, the man stooped to see the world beyond.The guard saw all this and smiled and said: "If it attracts you so much, then you should try to break through my confinement, but please remember, I am very powerful, and I am only the smallest guard. There are guards, and each one is stronger than the other, and the third guard even I dare not look at him.” The rural man had never imagined that the difficulty was so great, he thought that the gate of the law would be difficult for anyone in any place. It was always open, but now, when he took a closer look at the doorman in his fur coat, saw his pointed nose, and his long, black, sparse Tartar beard, he decided that he had better wait until he was allowed in. until.The doorman handed him a small bench and told him to sit down by the door.He sat there day after day, year after year, making many attempts to get in, and tirelessly begging the doorman to let him in.The doorman just listened casually, and asked him about the situation in his hometown and many other things.He asked questions in such a nonchalant manner, as if he was a big man, but in the end he always said that he could not be allowed in.The man had made good preparations for the trip, and now he was bribing the doorman with everything of value.The doorman accepted all the bribes, but said, "I only accept gifts so that you don't have the illusion that you have lost something." Years passed, during which time the man watched the doorman almost intently, and he forgot the other doormen. Existence, it seemed that this first doorman was the only obstacle to his entry into the law.He cursed the unfortunate encounter.In the first few years, he behaved freely and spoke in a high voice, but as he grew older, he could only grunt and talk to himself.He became very naive, and from observing the doorman for many years, he even knew the fleas on the collar of his fur coat, so he also asked them for help to change the attitude of the doorman.At last his eyes dimmed, and he could not tell whether it was really darkness all around him, or if there was something wrong with his eyes.But now he found a ray of light in the darkness, which shone obstinately through the gates of the law.Now he was dying, and before he died, all the past experiences gathered in his mind a question, which he had not yet asked the guard.He motioned for the doorman to come over because he was too stiff to stand up.The difference in height between the two men made the man pale and short, so the doorman had to bend down deeply, and then asked, "What do you want to know now?" and said, "You are too greedy." The man said , "Don't everyone want to know what the law is? Why has no one asked to enter the door of the law except me for many years?" The guard found that the man was dying, so he yelled at him in order to touch his malfunctioning auditory organs, "Actually, no one else is allowed to enter from here, because this door is only open for you. Now I will close the door and leave."