"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."

"And is there more land beyond the sea?"

"Certainly, the sea must have an end. It is like a cup."

"And are there cities there too?"

"Again cities. Of course! Only that land is not ours, it belongs
to Persia. Did you see the Persians selling pistachio-nuts and
apricots in the market?"

"Yes, I saw them," replied Foma, and became pensive.

One day he asked his father:

"Is there much more land left?"

"The earth is very big, my dear! If you should go on foot, you
couldn't go around it even in ten years."

Ignat talked for a long time with his son about the size of the
earth, and said at length:

"And yet no one knows for certain how big it really is, nor where
it ends."