In Russian, звезда Полынь (zvezda Polyn), "the Star Wormwood" (our translation), comes from Revelation (8:10-11): a great star falls on the rivers and the springs of water, and many die of the waters made bitter. In the book, Lebedev, who has been interpreting Revelation for fifteen years, says that the star is Europe's railway network and uses the image to preach that the springs of life have been clouded; Hippolyte raises the question on the night of the prince's birthday.
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