" Blasphemy! " cried the Old Men. " Blasphemy and sacrilege! Afit punishment for his crime! He has lost his reason. He dares to scoff at the Law as it was written down a thousand years ago. He de-serves to die!"
And they took up heavy stones.
And they killed him.
And his body they threw at the foot of the cliffs, that it might lie there as a warning to all who questioned the wisdom of the ancestors. Then it happened a short time later that there was a great drought. The little Brook of Knowledge ran dry. The cattle died of thirst. The harvest perished in the fields, and there was hunger in the Valley of Ignorance.
The Old Men Who Knew, however, were not disheartened. Everything would all come right in the end, they prophesied, for so it was writ in their most Holy Chapters.Besides, they themselves needed but little food. They were sovery old.
Winter came.
The village was deserted.
More than half of the populace died from sheer want.
The only hope for those who survived lay beyond the mountains.
But the Law said, " No!"
And the Law must be obeyed.
One night there was a rebellion.
Despair gave courage to those whom fear had forced into silence.Feebly the Old Men protested.
They were pushed aside. They complained of their lot.
“亵读，这是对神灵的亵读。”顽固不化的老人大声叫着，“要让他罪有应得！他已经失去理智了，竟敢戏谑一千年前制定下来的法律。他死有余辜！”
人们举起了沉重的石头。
他们杀死了这个出游的人。
人们把他的尸体扔到山崖底下，以此训诫其他胆敢怀疑祖先智慧的人，杀一儆百。
没有多久，一场特大干旱暴发了。湍湍的知识小溪流干枯了，牲畜都干渴而死，田地里的粮食都枯萎了，无知的山谷里到处都是饥渴的呻吟。
不过，那些顽固的老人并没有灰心。他们预言说，所有的一切都会转危为安。至少那些先知先觉的圣书上是这样写的。
而且，他们自己已经很老了，吃不了多少粮食了。
冬天来临了。
村庄里荒无人烟。
饥寒交迫夺去了大多数人的生命。
活着的人把生存的唯一希望寄托在山的那一边。
但是法律却说：“不可以！”
法律是必须遵守的。
一天夜晚，叛乱爆发了。
绝望赋予那些由于恐惧而逆来顺受的人们以勇气。
迂腐的老人们无力地抗争着。
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