Myshevskiy. You are right professor.
Golyshkin. So, who did you chose for this purpose? The Spaniard Lullius? Or Edward the King?
Myshevskiy. That is Hermes Trismegistus.
Golyshkin. My God! You are crazier than I thought.
Myshevskiy. What does surprise you, professor? Nobody knows about the elixir-stone more than Hermes Trismegistus. It was not for nothing that he was called Hermes Trice the Great. It was this Egyptian who introduced the elixir-stone which he received in the result of his alchemic experiments.
Golyshkin. But this is a mythological personality! According to the old legends he was a son of Egyptian Gods Osiris and Isis. He is also often compared to Thoth, the ancient Egyptian wizard God. Most likely this person never existed at all.
Myshevskiy. Actually, he did and even wrote books. Actually, the world learnt about the elixir-stone exactly from his books. Unfortunately, most of the them were destroyed by the fire at the Alexandria library. Those few saved were hidden in the underground caches in the desert by Hermes Trismegistus’s adepts.
Golyshkin. Do you really believe all that?
Myshevskiy. Some translations of his books are available today. Unfortunately, they are too distorted. Almost nothing could be understood from them.
Golyshkin. Well, are you sure that during a spirit séance this mythological Egyptian would show up from the other world and open you his secret recipe?
Myshevskiy. Why not? I think many people before me tried to do this. Most of them didn’t succeed. But some were lucky.
Golyshkin. It looks like you are absolutely sure, Myshevsky, that Hermes Tricemegistus wouldn’t reject you.
Myshevskiy. Not me.
Golyshkin. Why?
Myshevskiy. Because what I need from Hermes Tricemegistus is not the recipe of the elixir-stone. I already know this recipe.
Behind the door Rodion tries to kiss Olga’s lips, but she blocks his lips with her hand.
Rodion. Why not, Olya? Don’t you like it?
Olga. Hush!
Olga puts her finger on his lips encouraging him to listen to the voices in the room.
Golyshkin. Did you get your recipe from one of those poor translations of that great Egyptian alchemist? Or did you get it from those books destroyed by fire at the Alexandrian library?
Myshevskiy. Don’t mock professor. I inherited it from my father.
Golyshkin. Well, well… Excuse me, what did your father do?
Myshevskiy. There is nothing supernatural. In his youth he was attracted by archeology. He used to go to archeological expeditions as a simple worker. During one of the expeditions they came across a half destroyed tomb in the desert. While digging my dad found a cache in the wall with an ancient manuscript in it. It was a sheet of parchment half destroyed by time and sand. Some unreadable hieroglyphs were written there. My dad was an honest person, but you should keep in mind, that he was young…
