[1] TRANSLATOR'S NOTE. In spite of this circumstantial prefatory
statement, and the accusation which was brought against this "legend"
on its first appearance by one over-clever critic,--viz., that it was
ancient and threadbare in public knowledge,--the fact remains that
the Author invented every syllable of it. Tula is the Sheffield of
Russia, being the seat of the Government gun-works, and possessed of
innumerable shops engaged in the manufacture and sale of all sorts of
metal goods.
Sestroryetzk, on the shore of Finland, opposite Kronstadt, is the site
of a gun-factory, founded by Peter the Great in 1714.
"The ancient faith" means that the old gunsmith belonged to "The Old
Believers," also called the _Raskolniki_--a sect which insists that the
proper, Orthodox manner of making the sign of the Cross is with the
thumb and forefinger, instead of with the thumb and first two fingers;
and which refused to accept the correction of typographical errors
in the Church Service books ordered by the Patriarch Nikon, in the
reign of Peter the Great's father. In the early days they were harshly
treated, and even burned themselves alive rather than accept the
"heresy" of the "State Church." Nowadays, no attention is paid to them,
officially or otherwise.