Once upon a time there lived a freethinking sparrow in a dense forest. The sparrow was famous for his freethinking statements, he was an actor in the forest’s theatre and a writer. In his spare time the sparrow wrote with his beak, dipping it into ink. He was very famous and bathed in the beams of glory. He was a heavy speaker, a heavy babbler, so to speak. Having perched on a branch of a mighty oak, the sparrow used to speak to animals:
;What is the use of belief in God? If there were no God, He should be in-vented. I think what I want, and I want what I think! Belief in God is of no use to me. Everything is allowed without God!
One day a Hedgehog carrying mushrooms on his back stopped in front of the sparrow and asked:
;Don’t you think that you steal treasure from yourself not believing in God?
;I agree with Pushkin, and I think like him!; the sparrow answered.; I’m for freedom and brotherhood, and I mock at belief in God like him!
; Poor little thing!; the Hedgehog sighed.; You can see, where these ideas of freedom and brotherhood led Russia to! There is only one freedom: the free-dom from sin. All other lying kinds of freedom only lead to complete en-slavement!
The sparrow looked at him in wonder and gave a chirp:
;I think what I want!; and flew away, the Hedgehog only swung his head.
One evening a group of thieves were having supper in the forest, when the freethinking sparrow landed and asked something to eat. They threw bread at him, but the sparrow wasn’t offended and after eating the bread up, he began to speak to the thieves in his repertory. He talked about belief in God and at the end of his speech he drew a conclusion:
;As à famous Russian writer said, if there is no God, everything is allowed!
;Oh! You don’t know how I’m happy with your conclusion, as I do agree with you!; one of the thieves exclaimed and, having grabbed a stone, he threw it at the sparrow and added:
;Everything is allowed!
The sparrow was killed, and animals buried him by the mighty oak and wrote on the monument: “He used to say that everything is allowed, if you don’t be-lieve in God.”
They say, everybody, who sees the inscription, can’t help exclaiming at this.