Who Can Be Happy and Free in Russia?

PROLOGUE

PART I.

CHAP.

I. THE POPE II. THE VILLAGE FAIR III. THE DRUNKEN NIGHT IV. THE HAPPY ONES V. THE POMYESHCHICK

PART II.—THE LAST POMYESHCHICK

PROLOGUE I. THE DIE-HARD II. KLIM, THE ELDER

PART III.—THE PEASANT WOMAN

PROLOGUE I. THE WEDDING II. A SONG III. SAVYELI IV. DJOMUSHKA V. THE SHE-WOLF VI. AN UNLUCKY YEAR VII. THE GOVERNOR'S LADY VIII. THE WOMAN'S LEGEND

PART IV.—A FEAST FOR THE WHOLE VILLAGE

PROLOGUE I. BITTER TIMES—BITTER SONGS II. PILGRIMS AND WANDERERS III. OLD AND NEW

EPILOGUE

Western Europe has only lately begun to explore the rich domain of Russian literature, and is not yet acquainted with all even of its greatest figures. Treasures of untold beauty and priceless value, which for many decades have been enlarging and elevating the Russian mind, still await discovery here. Who in England, for instance, has heard the names of Saltykov, Uspensky, or Nekrassov? Yet Saltykov is the greatest of Russian satirists; Uspensky the greatest story-writer of the lives of the Russian toiling masses; while Nekrassov, "the poet of the people's sorrow," whose muse "of grief and vengeance" has supremely dominated the minds of the Russian educated classes for the last half century, is the sole and rightful heir of his two great predecessors, Pushkin and Lermontov.

Russia is a country still largely mysterious to the denizen of Western Europe, and the Russian peasant, the moujik, an impenetrable riddle to him. Of all the great Russian writers not one has contributed more to the interpretation of the enigmatical soul of the moujik than Russia's great poet, Nekrassov, in his life-work the national epic, Who can be Happy in Russia?

There are few literate persons in Russia who do not know whole pages of this poem by heart. It will live as long as Russian literature exists; and its artistic value as an instrument for the depiction of Russian nature and the soul of the Russian people can be compared only with that of the great epics of Homer with regard to the legendary life of ancient Greece.

Nekrassov seemed destined to dwell from his birth amid such surroundings as are necessary for the creation of a great national poet.

Nicholas Alexeievitch Nekrassov was the descendant of a noble family, which in former years had been very wealthy, but subsequently had lost the greater part of its estates. His father was an officer in the army, and in the course of his peregrinations from one end of the country to the other in the fulfilment of his military duties he became acquainted with a young Polish girl, the daughter of a wealthy Polish aristocrat. She was seventeen, a type of rare Polish beauty, and the handsome, dashing Russian officer at once fell madly in love with her. The parents of the girl, however, were horrified at the notion of marrying their daughter to a "Muscovite savage," and her father threatened her with his curse if ever again she held communication with her lover. So the matter was secretly arranged between the two, and during a ball which the young Polish beauty was attending she suddenly disappeared. Outside the house the lover waited with his sledge. They sped away, and were married at the first church they reached.

The bride, with her father's curse upon her, passed straight from her sheltered existence in her luxurious home to all the unsparing rigours of Russian camp-life. Bred in an atmosphere of maternal tenderness and Polish refinement she had now to share the life of her rough, uncultured Russian husband, to content herself with the shallow society of the wives of the camp officers, and soon to be crushed by the knowledge that the man for whom she had sacrificed everything was not even faithful to her.

During their travels, in 1821, Nicholas Nekrassov the future poet was born, and three years later his father left military service and settled in his estate in the Yaroslav Province, on the banks of the great river Volga, and close to the Vladimirsky highway, famous in Russian history as the road along which, for centuries, chained convicts had been driven from European Russia to the mines in Siberia. The old park of the manor, with its seven rippling brooklets and mysterious shadowy linden avenues more than a century old, filled with a dreamy murmur at the slightest stir of the breeze, stretched down to the mighty Volga, along the banks of which, during the long summer days, were heard the piteous, panting songs of the burlaki, the barge-towers, who drag the heavy, loaded barges up and down the river.

The rattling of the convicts' chains as they passed; the songs of the burlaki; the pale, sorrowful face of his mother as she walked alone in the linden avenues of the garden, often shedding tears over a letter she read, which was headed by a coronet and written in a fine, delicate hand; the spreading green fields, the broad mighty river, the deep blue skies of Russia,—such were the reminiscences which Nekrassov retained from his earliest childhood. He loved his sad young mother with a childish passion, and in after years he was wont to relate how jealous he had been of that letter[1] she read so often, which always seemed to fill her with a sorrow he could not understand, making her at moments even forget that he was near her.

The sight and knowledge of deep human suffering, framed in the soft voluptuous beauty of nature in central Russia, could not fail to sow the seed of future poetical powers in the soul of an emotional child. His mother, who had been bred on Shakespeare, Milton, and the other great poets and writers of the West, devoted her solitary life to the development of higher intellectual tendencies in her gifted little son. And from an early age he made attempts at verse. His mother has preserved for the world his first little poem, which he presented to her when he was seven years of age, with a little heading, roughly to the following effect:

    My darling Mother, look at this,
    I did the best I could in it,
    Please read it through and tell me if
    You think there's any good in it.

The early life of the little Nekrassov was passed amid a series of contrasting pictures. His father, when he had abandoned his military calling and settled upon his estate, became the Chief of the district police. He would take his son Nicholas with him in his trap as he drove from village to village in the fulfilment of his new duties. The continual change of scenery during their frequent journeys along country roads, through forests and valleys, past meadows and rivers, the various types of people they met with, broadened and developed the mind of little Nekrassov, just as the mind of the child Ruskin was formed and expanded during his journeys with his father. But Ruskin's education lacked features with which young Nekrassov on his journeys soon became familiar. While acquiring knowledge of life and accumulating impressions of the beauties of nature, Nekrassov listened, perforce, to the brutal, blustering speeches addressed by his father to the helpless, trembling peasants, and witnessed the cruel, degrading corporal punishments he inflicted upon them, while his eyes were speedily opened to his father's addiction to drinking, gambling, and debauchery. These experiences would most certainly have demoralised and depraved his childish mind had it not been for the powerful influence the refined and cultured mother had from the first exercised upon her son. The contrast between his parents was so startling that it could not fail to awaken the better side of the child's nature, and to imbue him with pure and healthy notions of the truer and higher ideals of humanity. In his poetical works of later years Nekrassov repeatedly returns to and dwells upon the memory of the sorrowful, sweet image of his mother. The gentle, beautiful lady, with her wealth of golden hair, with an expression of divine tenderness in her blue eyes and of infinite suffering upon her sensitive lips, remained for ever her son's ideal of womanhood. Later on, during years of manhood, in moments of the deepest moral suffering and despondency, it was always of her that he thought, her tenderness and spiritual consolation he recalled and for which he craved.

When Nekrassov was eleven years of age his father one day drove him to the town nearest their estate and placed him in the local grammar-school. Here he remained for six years, gradually, though without distinction, passing upwards from one class to another, devoting a moderate amount of time to school studies and much energy to the writing of poetry, mostly of a satirical nature, in which his teachers figured with unfortunate conspicuity.

One day a copy-book containing the most biting of these productions fell into the hands of the headmaster, and young Nekrassov was summarily ejected from the school.

His angry father, deciding in his own mind that the boy was good for nothing, despatched him to St. Petersburg to embark upon a military career. The seventeen-year-old boy arrived in the capital with a copy-book of his poems and a few roubles in his pocket, and with a letter of introduction to an influential general. He was filled with good intentions and fully prepared to obey his father's orders, but before he had taken the final step of entering the nobleman's regiment he met a young student, a former school-mate, who captivated his imagination by glowing descriptions of the marvellous sciences to be studied in the university, and the surpassing interest of student life. The impressionable boy decided to abandon the idea of his military career, and to prepare for his matriculation in the university. He wrote to his father to this effect, and received the stern and laconic reply:

"If you disobey me, not another farthing shall you receive from me."

The youth had made his mind up, however, and entered the university as an unmatriculated student. And that was the beginning of his long acquaintance with the hardships of poverty.

"For three years," said Nekrassov in after life, "I was hungry all day, and every day. It was not only that I ate bad food and not enough of that, but some days I did not eat at all. I often went to a certain restaurant in the Morskaya, where one is allowed to read the paper without ordering food. You can hold the paper in front of you and nibble at a piece of bread behind it…."

While sunk in this state of poverty, however, Nekrassov got into touch with some of the richest and most aristocratic families in St. Petersburg; for at that time there existed a complete comradeship and equality among the students, whether their budget consisted of a few farthings or unlimited wealth. Thus here again Nekrassov was given the opportunity of studying the contrasts of life.

For several years after his arrival in St. Petersburg the true gifts of the poet were denied expression. The young man was confronted with a terrible uphill fight to conquer the means of bare subsistence. He had no time to devote to the working out of his poems, and it would not have "paid" him. He was obliged to accept any literary job that was offered him, and to execute it with a promptitude necessitated by the requirements of his daily bill of fare. During the first years of his literary career he wrote an amazing number of prose reviews, essays, short stories, novels, comedies and tragedies, alphabets and children's stories, which, put together, would fill thirty or forty volumes. He also issued a volume of his early poems, but he was so ashamed of them that he would not put his name upon the fly-leaf. Soon, however, his poems, "On the Road" and "My Motherland," attracted the attention of Byelinsky, when the young poet brought some of his work to show the great critic. With tears in his eyes Byelinsky embraced Nekrassov and said to him:

"Do you know that you are a poet, a true poet?"

This decree of Byelinsky brought fame to Nekrassov, for Byelinsky's word was law in Russia then, and his judgement was never known to fail. His approval gave Nekrassov the confidence he lacked, and he began to devote most of his time to poetry.

The epoch in which Nekrassov began his literary career in St. Petersburg, the early forties of last century, was one of a great revival of idealism in Russia. The iron reaction of the then Emperor Nicholas I. made independent political activity an impossibility. But the horrible and degrading conditions of serfdom which existed at that time, and which cast a blight upon the energy and dignity of the Russian nation, nourished feelings of grief and indignation in the noblest minds of the educated classes, and, unable to struggle for their principles in the field of practical politics, they strove towards abstract idealism. They devoted their energies to philosophy, literature, and art. It was then that Tolstoy, Turgenieff, and Dostoyevsky embarked upon their phenomenal careers in fiction. It was then that the impetuous essayist, Byelinsky, with his fiery and eloquent pen, taught the true meaning and objects of literature. Nekrassov soon joined the circles of literary people dominated by the spirit of Byelinsky, and he too drank at the fountain of idealism and imbibed the gospel of altruistic toil for his country and its people, that gospel of perfect citizenship expounded by Byelinsky, Granovsky, and their friends. It was at this period that his poetry became impregnated with the sadness which, later on, was embodied in the lines:

My verses! Living witnesses of tears Shed for the world, and born In moments of the soul's dire agony, Unheeded and forlorn, Like waves that beat against the rocks, You plead to hearts that scorn.

Nekrassov's material conditions meanwhile began to improve, and he actually developed business capacities, and soon the greatest writers of the time were contributing to the monthly review Sovremenik (the Contemporary) which Nekrassov bought in 1847. Turgenieff, Herzen, Byelinsky, Dostoyevsky gladly sent their works to him, and Nekrassov soon became the intellectual leader of his time. His influence became enormous, but he had to cope with all the rigours of the censorship which had become almost insupportable in Russia, as the effect of the Tsar's fears aroused by the events of the French Revolution of 1848.

Byelinsky died in that year from consumption in the very presence of the gendarmes who had come to arrest him for some literary offence. Dostoyevsky was seized, condemned to death, and when already on the scaffold, with the rope around his neck, reprieved and sent for life to the Siberian mines. The rigours still increased during the Crimean War, and it was only after the death of Nicholas I., the termination of the war, and the accession of the liberal Tsar, Alexander II., that Nekrassov and Russian literature in general began to breathe more freely. The decade which followed upon 1855 was one of the bright periods of Russian history. Serfdom was abolished and many great reforms were passed. It was then that Nekrassov's activity was at its height. His review Sovremenik was a stupendous success, and brought him great fame and wealth. During that year some of his finest poems appeared in it: "The Peasant Children," "Orina, the Mother of a Soldier," "The Gossips," "The Pedlars," "The Rail-way," and many others.

Nekrassov became the idol of Russia. The literary evenings at which he used to read his poems aloud were besieged by fervent devotees, and the most brilliant orations were addressed to him on all possible occasions. His greatest work, however, the national epic, Who can be Happy in Russia? was written towards the latter end of his life, between 1873 and 1877.

Here he suffered from the censor more cruelly than ever. Long extracts from the poem were altogether forbidden, and only after his death it was allowed, in 1879, to appear in print more or less in its entirety.

When gripped in the throes of his last painful illness, and practically on his deathbed, he would still have found consolation in work, in the dictation of his poems. But even then his sufferings were aggravated by the harassing coercions of the censor. His last great poem was written on his deathbed, and the censor peremptorily forbade its publication. Nekrassov one day greeted his doctor with the following remark:

"Now you see what our profession, literature, means. When I wrote my first lines they were hacked to pieces by the censor's scissors—that was thirty-seven years ago; and now, when I am dying, and have written my last lines, I am again confronted by the scissors."

For many months he lay in appalling suffering. His disease was the outcome, he declared, of the privations he had suffered in his youth. The whole of Russia seemed to be standing at his bedside, watching with anguish his terrible struggle with death. Hundreds of letters and telegrams arrived daily from every corner of the immense empire, and the dying poet, profoundly touched by these tokens of love and sympathy, said to the literary friends who visited him:

"You see! We wonder all our lives what our readers think of us, whether they love us and are our friends. We learn in moments like this…."

It was a bright, frosty December day when Nekrassov's coffin was carried to the grave on the shoulders of friends who had loved and admired him. The orations delivered above it were full of passionate emotion called forth by the knowledge that the speakers were expressing not only their own sentiments, but those of a whole nation.

Nekrassov is dead. But all over Russia young and old repeat and love his poetry, so full of tenderness and grief and pity for the Russian people and their endless woe. Quotations from the works of Nekrassov are as abundant and widely known in Russia as those from Shakespeare in England, and no work of his is so familiar and so widely quoted as the national epic, now presented to the English public, Who can be Happy in Russia?

DAVID SOSKICE.

The year doesn't matter,
  The land's not important,
But seven good peasants
  Once met on a high-road.
From Province "Hard-Battered,"
  From District "Most Wretched,"
From "Destitute" Parish,
  From neighbouring hamlets—
"Patched," "Barefoot," and "Shabby,"
  "Bleak," "Burnt-Out," and "Hungry,"
From "Harvestless" also, 11
  They met and disputed
Of who can, in Russia,
  Be happy and free?

Luka said, "The pope," [2]
  And Roman, "The Pomyeshchick," [3]
Demyan, "The official,"
  "The round-bellied merchant,"
  Said both brothers Goobin,
Mitrodor and Ivan. 20
  Pakhom, who'd been lost
In profoundest reflection,
  Exclaimed, looking down
At the earth, "'Tis his Lordship,
  His most mighty Highness,
The Tsar's Chief Adviser,"
  And Prov said, "The Tsar."

Like bulls are the peasants:
  Once folly is in them
You cannot dislodge it 30
  Although you should beat them
With stout wooden cudgels:
  They stick to their folly,
And nothing can move them.
  They raised such a clamour
That those who were passing
  Thought, "Surely the fellows
Have found a great treasure
  And share it amongst them!"

They all had set out 40
  On particular errands:
The one to the blacksmith's,
  Another in haste
To fetch Father Prokoffy
  To christen his baby.
Pakhom had some honey
  To sell in the market;
The two brothers Goobin
  Were seeking a horse
Which had strayed from their herd. 50

Long since should the peasants
  Have turned their steps homewards,
But still in a row
  They are hurrying onwards
As quickly as though
  The grey wolf were behind them.
Still further, still faster
  They hasten, contending.
Each shouts, nothing hearing,
  And time does not wait. 60
In quarrel they mark not
The fiery-red sunset
  Which blazes in Heaven
As evening is falling,
  And all through the night
They would surely have wandered
  If not for the woman,
The pox-pitted "Blank-wits,"
  Who met them and cried:

"Heh, God-fearing peasants, 70
  Pray, what is your mission?
What seek ye abroad
  In the blackness of midnight?"

So shrilled the hag, mocking,
  And shrieking with laughter
She slashed at her horses
  And galloped away.

The peasants are startled,
  Stand still, in confusion,
Since long night has fallen, 80
  The numberless stars
Cluster bright in the heavens,
The moon gliding onwards.
  Black shadows are spread
On the road stretched before
  The impetuous walkers.
Oh, shadows, black shadows,
  Say, who can outrun you,
Or who can escape you?
  Yet no one can catch you, 90
Entice, or embrace you!

Pakhom, the old fellow,
  Gazed long at the wood,
At the sky, at the roadway,
  Gazed, silently searching
His brain for some counsel,
  And then spake in this wise:
"Well, well, the wood-devil
  Has finely bewitched us!
We've wandered at least 100
  Thirty versts from our homes.
We all are too weary
  To think of returning
To-night; we must wait
  Till the sun rise to-morrow."

Thus, blaming the devil,
  The peasants make ready
To sleep by the roadside.
  They light a large fire,
And collecting some farthings 110
  Send two of their number
To buy them some vodka,
  The rest cutting cups
From the bark of a birch-tree.
The vodka's provided,
  Black bread, too, besides,
And they all begin feasting:
  Each munches some bread
And drinks three cups of vodka—
  But then comes the question 120
Of who can, in Russia,
  Be happy and free?

Luka cries, "The pope!"
  And Roman, "The Pomyeshchick!"
And Prov shouts, "The Tsar!"
And Demyan, "The official!"
  "The round-bellied merchant!"
Bawl both brothers Goobin,
  Mitrodor and Ivan.
Pakhom shrieks, "His Lordship, 130
  His most mighty Highness,
The Tsar's Chief Adviser!"

The obstinate peasants
  Grow more and more heated,
Cry louder and louder,
  Swear hard at each other;
I really believe
  They'll attack one another!
Look! now they are fighting!
  Roman and Pakhom close, 140
Demyan clouts Luka,
  While the two brothers Goobin
Are drubbing fat Prov,
  And they all shout together.
Then wakes the clear echo,
  Runs hither and thither,
Runs calling and mocking
As if to encourage
  The wrath of the peasants.
The trees of the forest 150
  Throw furious words back:

"The Tsar!" "The Pomyeshchick!"
  "The pope!" "The official!"
Until the whole coppice
  Awakes in confusion;
The birds and the insects,
  The swift-footed beasts
And the low crawling reptiles
  Are chattering and buzzing
And stirring all round. 160
  The timid grey hare
Springing out of the bushes
  Speeds startled away;
The hoarse little jackdaw
  Flies off to the top
Of a birch-tree, and raises
  A harsh, grating shriek,
A most horrible clamour.
  A weak little peewit
Falls headlong in terror 170
From out of its nest,
  And the mother comes flying
In search of her fledgeling.
  She twitters in anguish.
Alas! she can't find it.
  The crusty old cuckoo
Awakes and bethinks him
  To call to a neighbour:
Ten times he commences
  And gets out of tune, 180
But he won't give it up….

Call, call, little cuckoo,
  For all the young cornfields
Will shoot into ear soon,
  And then it will choke you—
The ripe golden grain,
  And your day will be ended![4]

From out the dark forest
  Fly seven brown owls,
And on seven tall pine-trees 190
  They settle themselves
To enjoy the disturbance.
  They laugh—birds of night—
And their huge yellow eyes gleam
  Like fourteen wax candles.
The raven—the wise one—
  Sits perched on a tree
In the light of the fire,
  Praying hard to the devil
That one of the wranglers, 200
  At least, should be beaten
To death in the tumult.
  A cow with a bell
Which had strayed from its fellows
  The evening before,
Upon hearing men's voices
  Comes out of the forest
And into the firelight,
  And fixing its eyes,
Large and sad, on the peasants, 210
  Stands listening in silence
Some time to their raving,
  And then begins mooing,
Most heartily moos.
The silly cow moos,
  The jackdaw is screeching,
The turbulent peasants
  Still shout, and the echo
Maliciously mocks them—
  The impudent echo 220
Who cares but for mocking
  And teasing good people,
For scaring old women
  And innocent children:
Though no man has seen it
  We've all of us heard it;
It lives—without body;
  It speaks—without tongue.

  The pretty white owl
Called the Duchess of Moscow 230
  Comes plunging about
In the midst of the peasants,
Now circling above them,
  Now striking the bushes
And earth with her body.
And even the fox, too,
  The cunning old creature,
With woman's determined
  And deep curiosity,
Creeps to the firelight 240
  And stealthily listens;
At last, quite bewildered,
  She goes; she is thinking,
"The devil himself
  Would be puzzled, I know!"

And really the wranglers
  Themselves have forgotten
The cause of the strife.

But after awhile
  Having pummelled each other 250
Sufficiently soundly,
  They come to their senses;
They drink from a rain-pool
  And wash themselves also,
And then they feel sleepy.
And, meanwhile, the peewit,
  The poor little fledgeling,
With short hops and flights
  Had come fluttering towards them.
Pakhom took it up 260
  In his palm, held it gently
Stretched out to the firelight,
  And looked at it, saying,
"You are but a mite,
  Yet how sharp is your claw;
If I breathed on you once
  You'd be blown to a distance,
And if I should sneeze
  You would straightway be wafted
Right into the flames. 270
  One flick from my finger
Would kill you entirely.
  Yet you are more powerful,
More free than the peasant:
  Your wings will grow stronger,
And then, little birdie,
  You'll fly where it please you.
Come, give us your wings, now,
  You frail little creature,
And we will go flying 280
  All over the Empire,
To seek and inquire,
  To search and discover
The man who in Russia—
  Is happy and free."

"No wings would be needful
  If we could be certain
Of bread every day;
  For then we could travel
On foot at our leisure," 290
  Said Prov, of a sudden
Grown weary and sad.

"But not without vodka,
  A bucket each morning,"
Cried both brothers Goobin,
  Mitrodor and Ivan,
Who dearly loved vodka.

"Salt cucumbers, also,
  Each morning a dozen!"
The peasants cry, jesting. 300

"Sour qwass,[5] too, a jug
  To refresh us at mid-day!"

"A can of hot tea
  Every night!" they say, laughing.

But while they were talking
  The little bird's mother
Was flying and wheeling
  In circles above them;
She listened to all,
  And descending just near them 310
She chirruped, and making
  A brisk little movement
She said to Pakhom
  In a voice clear and human:
"Release my poor child,
  I will pay a great ransom."

"And what is your offer?"

"A loaf each a day
  And a bucket of vodka,
Salt cucumbers also, 320
  Each morning a dozen.
At mid-day sour qwass
  And hot tea in the evening."

"And where, little bird,"
  Asked the two brothers Goobin,
"And where will you find
  Food and drink for all seven?"

"Yourselves you will find it,
  But I will direct you
To where you will find it." 330
  "Well, speak. We will listen."

"Go straight down the road,
  Count the poles until thirty:
Then enter the forest
And walk for a verst.
  By then you'll have come
To a smooth little lawn
  With two pine-trees upon it.
Beneath these two pine-trees
  Lies buried a casket 340
Which you must discover.
  The casket is magic,
And in it there lies
  An enchanted white napkin.
Whenever you wish it
  This napkin will serve you
With food and with vodka:
  You need but say softly,
'O napkin enchanted,
  Give food to the peasants!' 350
At once, at your bidding,
  Through my intercession
The napkin will serve you.
  And now, free my child."

"But wait. We are poor,
  And we're thinking of making
A very long journey,"
  Pakhom said. "I notice
That you are a bird
  Of remarkable talent. 360
So charm our old clothing
  To keep it upon us."

"Our coats, that they fall not
  In tatters," Roman said.

"Our laputs,[6] that they too
  May last the whole journey,"
Demyan next demanded.

"Our shirts, that the fleas
  May not breed and annoy us,"
Luka added lastly. 370

The little bird answered,
  "The magic white napkin
Will mend, wash, and dry for you.
  Now free my child."

Pakhom then spread open
  His palm, wide and spacious,
Releasing the fledgeling,
  Which fluttered away
To a hole in a pine-tree.
  The mother who followed it 380
Added, departing:
  "But one thing remember:
Food, summon at pleasure
  As much as you fancy,
But vodka, no more
  Than a bucket a day.
If once, even twice
  You neglect my injunction
Your wish shall be granted;
  The third time, take warning: 390
Misfortune will follow."

The peasants set off
  In a file, down the road,
Count the poles until thirty
  And enter the forest,
And, silently counting
Each footstep, they measure
  A verst as directed.
They find the smooth lawn
  With the pine-trees upon it, 400
They dig all together
  And soon reach the casket;
They open it—there lies
  The magic white napkin!
They cry in a chorus,
  "O napkin enchanted,
Give food to the peasants!"

Look, look! It's unfolding!
  Two hands have come floating
From no one sees where; 410
  Place a bucket of vodka,
A large pile of bread
  On the magic white napkin,
And dwindle away.

"The cucumbers, tea,
  And sour qwass—where are they then?"
At once they appear!

The peasants unloosen
  Their waistbelts, and gather
Around the white napkin 420
  To hold a great banquet.
In joy, they embrace
  One another, and promise
That never again
  Will they beat one another
Without sound reflection,
  But settle their quarrels
In reason and honour
  As God has commanded;
That nought shall persuade them 430
To turn their steps homewards
  To kiss wives and children,
To see the old people,
  Until they have settled
For once and forever
  The subject of discord:
Until they've discovered
  The man who, in Russia,
Is happy and free.

They swear to each other 440
  To keep this, their promise,
And daybreak beholds them
  Embosomed in slumber
As deep and as dreamless
  As that of the dead.

The broad sandy high-road
  With borders of birch-trees
Winds sadly and drearily
  Into the distance;
On either hand running
  Low hills and young cornfields,
Green pastures, and often—
  More often than any—
Lands sterile and barren.
And near to the rivers 10
  And ponds are the hamlets
And villages standing—
  The old and the new ones.
The forests and meadows
  And rivers of Russia
  Are lovely in springtime,
But O you spring cornfields,
  Your growth thin and scanty
Is painful to see.

  "'Twas not without meaning 20
That daily the snow fell
  Throughout the long winter,"
Said one to another
  The journeying peasants:—
"The spring has now come
  And the snow tells its story:
At first it is silent—
  'Tis silent in falling,
Lies silently sleeping,
  But when it is dying 30
Its voice is uplifted:
  The fields are all covered
With loud, rushing waters,
  No roads can be traversed
For bringing manure
  To the aid of the cornfields;
The season is late
  For the sweet month of May
Is already approaching."
  The peasant is saddened 40
At sight of the dirty
  And squalid old village;
But sadder the new ones:
  The new huts are pretty,
But they are the token
  Of heartbreaking ruin.[8]

As morning sets in
  They begin to meet people,
But mostly small people:
  Their brethren, the peasants, 50
And soldiers and waggoners,
  Workmen and beggars.
The soldiers and beggars
  They pass without speaking.
Not asking if happy
  Or grievous their lot:
The soldier, we know,
  Shaves his beard with a gimlet,
Has nothing but smoke
  In the winter to warm him,— 60
What joy can be his?

As evening is falling
  Appears on the high-road
A pope in his cart.
  The peasants uncover
Their heads, and draw up
  In a line on the roadway,
Thus barring the passage
  In front of the gelding.
  The pope raised his head, 70
Looked inquiringly at them.
  "Fear not, we won't harm you,"
Luka said in answer.
  (Luka was thick-bearded,
Was heavy and stolid,
  Was obstinate, stupid,
And talkative too;
  He was like to the windmill
Which differs in one thing
  Alone from an eagle: 80
No matter how boldly
  It waves its broad pinions
It rises no higher.)

  "We, orthodox peasants,
From District 'Most Wretched,'
  From Province 'Hard Battered,'
From 'Destitute' Parish,
  From neighbouring hamlets,
'Patched,' 'Barefoot,' and 'Shabby,'
  'Bleak,' 'Burnt-Out,' and 'Hungry,' 90
From 'Harvestless' also,
  Are striving to settle
A thing of importance;
A trouble torments us,
  It draws us away
From our wives and our children,
  Away from our work,
Kills our appetites too.
  Pray, give us your promise
To answer us truly, 100
  Consulting your conscience
And searching your knowledge,
Not feigning nor mocking
  The question we put you.
If not, we will go
  Further on."

  "I will promise
If you will but put me
  A serious question
To answer it gravely, 110
  With truth and with reason,
Not feigning nor mocking,
  Amen!"

  "We are grateful,
And this is our story:
  We all had set out
On particular errands,
  And met in the roadway.
Then one asked another:
Who is he,—the man 120
  Free and happy in Russia?
And I said, 'The pope,'
  And Roman, 'The Pomyeshchick,'
And Prov said, 'The Tsar,'
  And Demyan, 'The official';
'The round-bellied merchant,'
  Said both brothers Goobin,
Mitrodor and Ivan;
  Pakhom said, 'His Lordship,
The Tsar's Chief Adviser.' 130

  "Like bulls are the peasants;
Once folly is in them
  You cannot dislodge it
Although you should beat them
  With stout wooden cudgels,
They stick to their folly
  And nothing can move them.
We argued and argued,
  While arguing quarrelled,
While quarrelling fought, 140
  Till at last we decided
That never again
  Would we turn our steps homeward
To kiss wives and children,
  To see the old people,
Until we have found
  The reply to our question,
Until we've discovered
  For once and forever
The man who, in Russia, 150
  Is happy and free.
Then say, in God's truth,
  Is the pope's life a sweet one?
Would you, honoured father,
  Proclaim yourself happy?"

The pope in his cart
  Cast his eyes on the roadway,
Fell thoughtful and answered:

  "Then, Christians, come, hear me:
I will not complain 160
  Of the cross that I carry,
But bear it in silence.
  I'll tell you my story,
And you try to follow
  As well as you can."

"Begin."

  "But first tell me
The gifts you consider
  As true earthly welfare;
Peace, honour, and riches,— 170
  Is that so, my children?"

They answer, "It is so."

  "And now let us see, friends,
What peace does the pope get?
  In truth, then, I ought
To begin from my childhood,
  For how does the son
Of the pope gain his learning,
  And what is the price
That he pays for the priesthood? 180
  'Tis best to be silent." [9]

* * * * *

  "Our roadways are poor
And our parishes large,
  And the sick and the dying,
The new-born that call us,
  Do not choose their season:
In harvest and hay-time,
  In dark nights of autumn,
Through frosts in the winter,
Through floods in the springtime, 190
  Go—where they may call you.
You go without murmur,
  If only the body
Need suffer alone!
  But no,—every moment
The heart's deepest feelings
  Are strained and tormented.
Believe me, my children,
  Some things on this earth
One can never get used to: 200
  No heart there exists
That can bear without anguish
  The rattle of death,
The lament for the lost one,
  The sorrow of orphans,
Amen! Now you see, friends,
  The peace that the pope gets."

Not long did the peasants
  Stand thinking. They waited
To let the pope rest, 210
  Then enquired with a bow:
"And what more will you tell us?"
  "Well, now let us see
If the pope is much honoured;
  And that, O my friends,
Is a delicate question—
  I fear to offend you….
But answer me, Christians,
  Whom call you, 'The cursed
Stallion breed?' Can you tell me?"

  The peasants stand silent 221
In painful confusion;
  The pope, too, is silent.

"Who is it you tremble
  To meet in the roadway[10]
For fear of misfortune?"

  The peasants stand shuffling
Their feet in confusion.

  "Of whom do you make
Little scandalous stories? 230
  Of whom do you sing
Rhymes and songs most indecent?
  The pope's honoured wife,
And his innocent daughters,
  Come, how do you treat them?
At whom do you shout
  Ho, ho, ho, in derision
When once you are past him?"

The peasants cast downwards
  Their eyes and keep silent. 240
The pope too is silent.
  The peasants stand musing;
The pope fans his face
  With his hat, high and broad-rimmed,
And looks at the heavens….

  The cloudlets in springtime
Play round the great sun
  Like small grandchildren frisking
Around a hale grandsire,
  And now, on his right side 250
A bright little cloud
  Has grown suddenly dismal,
Begins to shed tears.
  The grey thread is hanging
In rows to the earth,
  While the red sun is laughing
And beaming upon it
  Through torn fleecy clouds,
Like a merry young girl
  Peeping out from the corn. 260
The cloud has moved nearer,
  The rain begins here,
And the pope puts his hat on.
  But on the sun's right side
The joy and the brightness
Again are established.
  The rain is now ceasing….
It stops altogether,
  And God's wondrous miracle,
Long golden sunbeams, 270
  Are streaming from Heaven
In radiant splendour.

* * * * *

  "It isn't our own fault;
It comes from our parents,"
  Say, after long silence,
The two brothers Goobin.
  The others approve him:
"It isn't our own fault,
  It comes from our parents."

The pope said, "So be it! 280
  But pardon me, Christians,
It is not my meaning
  To censure my neighbours;
I spoke but desiring
  To tell you the truth.
You see how the pope
  Is revered by the peasants;
The gentry—"
  "Pass over them,
Father—we know them." 290
  "Then let us consider
From whence the pope's riches.
  In times not far distant
The great Russian Empire
  Was filled with estates
Of wealthy Pomyeshchicks.[11]
  They lived and increased,
And they let us live too.
  What weddings were feasted!
What numbers and numbers 300
  Of children were born
In each rich, merry life-time!
  Although they were haughty
And often oppressive,
  What liberal masters!
They never deserted
  The parish, they married,
Were baptized within it,
  To us they confessed,
And by us they were buried. 310
  And if a Pomyeshchick
Should chance for some reason
  To live in a city,
He cherished one longing,
  To die in his birthplace;
But did the Lord will it
  That he should die suddenly
Far from the village,
  An order was found
In his papers, most surely, 320
  That he should be buried
At home with his fathers.
  Then see—the black car
With the six mourning horses,—
  The heirs are conveying
The dead to the graveyard;
  And think—what a lift
For the pope, and what feasting
  All over the village!
But now that is ended, 330
  Pomyeshchicks are scattered
Like Jews over Russia
  And all foreign countries.
  They seek not the honour
Of lying with fathers
  And mothers together.
How many estates
  Have passed into the pockets
Of rich speculators!
  O you, bones so pampered 340
Of great Russian gentry,
  Where are you not buried,
What far foreign graveyard
  Do you not repose in?

  "Myself from dissenters[12]
(A source of pope's income)
  I never take money,
I've never transgressed,
  For I never had need to;
Because in my parish 350
  Two-thirds of the people
Are Orthodox churchmen.
  But districts there are
Where the whole population
  Consists of dissenters—
Then how can the pope live?

  "But all in this world
Is subjected to changes:
  The laws which in old days
Applied to dissenters 360
  Have now become milder;
And that in itself
  Is a check to pope's income.
I've said the Pomyeshchicks
Are gone, and no longer
  They seek to return
To the home of their childhood;
  And then of their ladies
(Rich, pious old women),
  How many have left us 370
To live near the convents!
  And nobody now
  Gives the pope a new cassock
Or church-work embroidered.
  He lives on the peasants,
Collects their brass farthings,
  Their cakes on the feast-days,
  At Easter their eggs.
The peasants are needy
  Or they would give freely— 380
Themselves they have nothing;
  And who can take gladly
The peasant's last farthing?

  "Their lands are so poor,
They are sand, moss, or boggy,
  Their cattle half-famished,
Their crops yield but twofold;
  And should Mother Earth
Chance at times to be kinder,
That too is misfortune: 390
  The market is crowded,
  They sell for a trifle
To pay off the taxes.
  Again comes a bad crop—-
Then pay for your bread
  Three times higher than ever,
And sell all your cattle!
  Now, pray to God, Christians,
For this year again
  A great misery threatens: 400
We ought to have sown
  For a long time already;
But look you—the fields
  Are all deluged and useless….
O God, have Thou pity
  And send a round[13] rainbow
To shine in Thy heavens!"

  Then taking his hat off
He crossed himself thrice,
  And the peasants did likewise.

"Our village is poor 411
  And the people are sickly,
The women are sad
  And are scantily nourished,
But pious and laborious;
  God give them courage!
Like slaves do they toil;
  'Tis hard to lay hands
On the fruits of such labour.

  "At times you are sent for 420
To pray by the dying,
  But Death is not really
The awful thing present,
  But rather the living—
The family losing
  Their only support.
You pray by the dead.
  Words of comfort you utter,
To calm the bereaved ones;
  And then the old mother 430
Comes tottering towards you,
  And stretching her bony
And toil-blistered hand out;
  You feel your heart sicken,
For there in the palm
  Lie the precious brass farthings!
Of course it is only
  The price of your praying.
You take it, because
  It is what you must live on; 440
Your words of condolence
  Are frozen, and blindly,
Like one deep insulted,
  You make your way homeward.
Amen…."

* * * * *

  The pope finished
His speech, and touched lightly
  The back of the gelding.
The peasants make way,
  And they bow to him deeply. 450
  The cart moves on slowly,
Then six of the comrades
  As though by agreement
Attack poor Luka
  With indignant reproaches.

"Now, what have you got?—
  You great obstinate blockhead,
You log of the village!
  You too must needs argue;
Pray what did you tell us? 460
  'The popes live like princes,
The lords of the belfry,
  Their palaces rising
As high as the heavens,
  Their bells set a-chiming
All over God's world.

  "'Three years,' you declared,
'Did I work as pope's servant.
  It wasn't a life—
'Twas a strawberry, brethren; 470
  Pope's kasha[14] is made
And served up with fresh butter.
  Pope's stchee[14] made with fish,
And pope's pie stuffed to bursting;
  The pope's wife is fat too,
  And white the pope's daughter,
His horse like a barrel,
  His bees are all swollen
And booming like church bells.'

  "Well, there's your pope's life,— 480
There's your 'strawberry,' boaster!
  For that you've been shouting
And making us quarrel,
  You limb of the Devil!
Pray is it because
  Of your beard like a shovel
You think you're so clever?
  If so, let me tell you
The goat walked in Eden
  With just such another 490
Before Father Adam,
  And yet down to our time
The goat is considered
  The greatest of duffers!"

The culprit was silent,
  Afraid of a beating;
And he would have got it
  Had not the pope's face,
Turning sadly upon them,
  Looked over a hedge 500
At a rise in the road.

  No wonder the peasants
Dislike a wet spring-tide:
  The peasant needs greatly
A spring warm and early.
  This year, though he howl
Like a wolf, I'm afraid
  That the sun will not gladden
The earth with his brightness.
  The clouds wander heavily,
Dropping the rain down 10
  Like cows with full udders.
The snow has departed,
  Yet no blade of grass,
Not a tiny green leaflet,
  Is seen in the meadows.
The earth has not ventured
  To don its new mantle
  Of brightest green velvet,
But lies sad and bare
  Like a corpse without grave-clothes
Beneath the dull heavens. 21
  One pities the peasant;
Still more, though, his cattle:
  For when they have eaten
The scanty reserves
  Which remain from the winter,
Their master will drive them
  To graze in the meadows,
And what will they find there
  But bare, inky blackness? 30
Nor settled the weather
  Until it was nearing
The feast of St. Nichol,
  And then the poor cattle
Enjoyed the green pastures.

  The day is a hot one,
The peasants are strolling
  Along 'neath the birch-trees.
They say to each other,
  "We passed through one village, 40
We passed through another,
  And both were quite empty;
To-day is a feast-day,
  But where are the people?"

  They reach a large village;
The street is deserted
  Except for small children,
And inside the houses
  Sit only the oldest
Of all the old women. 50
  The wickets are fastened
Securely with padlocks;
  The padlock's a loyal
And vigilant watch-dog;
  It barks not, it bites not,
But no one can pass it.

  They walk through the village
And see a clear mirror
  Beset with green framework—
A pond full of water; 60
  And over its surface
Are hovering swallows
  And all kinds of insects;
The gnats quick and meagre
  Skip over the water
As though on dry land;
  And in the laburnums
Which grow on the banksides
  The landrails are squeaking.

A raft made of tree-trunks 70
  Floats near, and upon it
The pope's heavy daughter
  Is wielding her beetle,
She looks like a hay-stack,
  Unsound and dishevelled,
Her skirts gathered round her.
  Upon the raft, near her,
A duck and some ducklings
  Are sleeping together.

  And hark! from the water 80
The neigh of a horse comes;
  The peasants are startled,
  They turn all together:
Two heads they see, moving
  Along through the water—
The one is a peasant's,
  A black head and curly,
In one ear an ear-ring
  Which gleams in the sunlight;
A horse's the other, 90
  To which there is fastened
A rope of some yards length,
  Held tight in the teeth
Of the peasant beside it.
  The man swims, the horse swims;
The horse neighs, the man neighs;
  They make a fine uproar!
The raft with the woman
  And ducklings upon it
Is tossing and heaving. 100

  The horse with the peasant
Astride has come panting
  From out of the water,
The man with white body
  And throat black with sunburn;
The water is streaming
  From horse and from rider.

"Say, why is your village
  So empty of people?
Are all dead and buried?" 110

  "They've gone to Kousminsky;
A fair's being held there
  Because it's a saint's day."

"How far is Kousminsky?"
  "Three versts, I should fancy."
"We'll go to Kousminsky,"
  The peasants decided,
And each to himself thought,
  "Perhaps we shall find there
The happy, the free one." 120

  The village Kousminsky
Is rich and commercial
  And terribly dirty.
It's built on a hill-side,
  And slopes down the valley,
Then climbs again upwards,—
  So how could one ask of it
Not to be dirty?[15]
  It boasts of two churches.
The one is "dissenting," 130
  The other "Established."
The house with inscription,
  "The School-House," is empty,
In ruins and deserted;
  And near stands the barber's,
A hut with one window,
  From which hangs the sign-board
Of "Barber and Bleeder."
  A dirty inn also
There is, with its sign-board 140
  Adorned by a picture:
A great nosy tea-pot
  With plump little tea-cups
Held out by a waiter,
  Suggesting a fat goose
Surrounded by goslings.
  A row of small shops, too,
There is in the village.

  The peasants go straight
To the market-place, find there 150
  A large crowd of people
And goods in profusion.
  How strange!—notwithstanding
There's no church procession
  The men have no hats on,
Are standing bare-headed,
  As though in the presence
Of some holy Image:
  Look, how they're being swallowed—
The hoods of the peasants.[16] 160

The beer-shop and tavern
  Are both overflowing;
All round are erected
  Large tents by the roadside
For selling of vodka.
  And though in each tent
There are five agile waiters,
  All young and most active,
They find it quite hopeless
  To try to get change right. 170
Just look how the peasants
  Are stretching their hands out,
With hoods, shirts, and waistcoats!

Oh, you, thirst of Russia,
  Unquenchable, endless
You are! But the peasant,
  When once he is sated,
Will soon get a new hood
  At close of the fair….

The spring sun is playing 180
  On heads hot and drunken,
On boisterous revels,
  On bright mixing colours;
The men wear wide breeches
  Of corduroy velvet,
  With gaudy striped waistcoats
And shirts of all colours;
  The women wear scarlet;
The girls' plaited tresses
  Are decked with bright ribbons; 190
They glide about proudly,
  Like swans on the water.
Some beauties are even
  Attired in the fashion
Of Petersburg ladies;
  Their dresses spread stiffly
On wide hoops around them;
  But tread on their skirts—
They will turn and attack you,
  Will gobble like turkeys! 200

Blame rather the fashion
  Which fastens upon you
Great fishermen's baskets!

  A woman dissenter
Looks darkly upon them,
  And whispers with malice:
"A famine, a famine
  Most surely will blight us.
The young growths are sodden,
  The floods unabated; 210
Since women have taken
  To red cotton dresses
The forests have withered,
  And wheat—but no wonder!"

  "But why, little Mother,
Are red cotton dresses
  To blame for the trouble?
I don't understand you."
  "The cotton is French,
And it's reddened in dog's blood! 220
  D'you understand now?"

The peasants still linger
  Some time in the market,
Then go further upward,
  To where on the hill-side
Are piled ploughs and harrows,
  With rakes, spades, and hatchets,
And all kinds of iron-ware,
  And pliable wood
To make rims for the cart-wheels. 230
  And, oh, what a hubbub
Of bargaining, swearing,
  Of jesting and laughter!
And who could help laughing?

  A limp little peasant
Is bending and testing
  The wood for the wheel-rims.
One piece does not please him;
  He takes up another
And bends it with effort; 240
  It suddenly straightens,
And whack!—strikes his forehead.
  The man begins roaring,
Abusing the bully,
  The duffer, the block-head.
Another comes driving
  A cart full of wood-ware,
As tipsy as can be;
  He turns it all over!
The axle is broken, 250
  And, trying to mend it,
He smashes the hatchet.

  He gazes upon it,
Abusing, reproaching:
  "A villain, a villain,
You are—not a hatchet.
  You see, you can't do me
The least little service.
  The whole of your life
You spend bowing before me, 260
  And yet you insult me!"

  Our peasants determine
To see the shop windows,
  The handkerchiefs, ribbons,
And stuffs of bright colour;
  And near to the boot-shop
Is fresh cause for laughter;
  For here an old peasant
Most eagerly bargains
  For small boots of goat-skin 270
To give to his grandchild.
  He asks the price five times;
  Again and again
He has turned them all over;
  He finds they are faultless.

  "Well, Uncle, pay up now,
Or else be off quickly,"
  The seller says sharply.
But wait! The old fellow
  Still gazes, and fondles 280
The tiny boots softly,
  And then speaks in this wise:

  "My daughter won't scold me,
Her husband I'll spit at,
  My wife—let her grumble—
I'll spit at my wife too.
  It's her that I pity—
My poor little grandchild.
  She clung to my neck,
And she said, 'Little Grandfather, 290
  Buy me a present.'
Her soft little ringlets
  Were tickling my cheek,
And she kissed the old Grand-dad.
  You wait, little bare-foot,
Wee spinning-top, wait then,
  Some boots I will buy you,
Some boots made of goat-skin."
  And then must old Vavil
Begin to boast grandly, 300
  To promise a present
To old and to young.
  But now his last farthing
Is swallowed in vodka,
  And how can he dare
Show his eyes in the village?
  "My daughter won't scold me,
Her husband I'll spit at,
  My wife—let her grumble—
I'll spit at my wife too. 310
  It's her that I pity—
My poor little grandchild."

  And then he commences
The story again
Of the poor little grandchild.
  He's very dejected.
A crowd listens round him,
  Not laughing, but troubled
At sight of his sorrow.

If they could have helped him 320
With bread or by labour
  They soon would have done so,
But money is money,
  And who has got tenpence
To spare? Then came forward
  Pavloosha Varenko,
The "gentleman" nicknamed.
  (His origin, past life,
Or calling they knew not,
  But called him the 'Barin'.) 330
He listened with pleasure
  To talk and to jesting;
His blouse, coat, and top-boots
  Were those of a peasant;
He sang Russian folk-songs,
  Liked others to sing them,
And often was met with
  At taverns and inns.
He now rescued Vavil,
  And bought him the boots 340
To take home to his grandchild.

The old man fled blindly,
  But clasping them tightly,
Forgetting to thank him,
  Bewildered with joy.
The crowd was as pleased, too,
  As if had been given
To each one a rouble.

The peasants next visit
  The picture and book stall; 350
The pedlars are buying
  Their stock of small pictures,
And books for their baskets
  To sell on the road.

  "'Tis generals, you want!"
The merchant is saying.

  "Well, give us some generals;
But look—on your conscience—
  Now let them be real ones,
Be fat and ferocious." 360

"Your notions are funny,"
  The merchant says, smiling;
"It isn't a question
  Of looks…."

  "Well, of what, then?
You want to deceive us,
  To palm off your rubbish,
You swindling impostor!
  D'you think that the peasants
Know one from another? 370
  A shabby one—he wants
An expert to sell him,
  But trust me to part with
The fat and the fierce."

"You don't want officials?"

"To Hell with officials!"

However they took one
  Because he was cheap:
A minister, striking
  In view of his stomach 380
As round as a barrel,
  And seventeen medals.

The merchant is serving
  With greatest politeness,
Displaying and praising,
  With patience unyielding,—
A thief of the first-class
  He is, come from Moscow.
Of Bluecher he sells them
  A hundred small pictures, 390
As many of Fotyi[17]
  The archimandrite,
And of Sipko[17] the brigand;
  A book of the sayings
Of droll Balakireff[17]
  The "English Milord," too.
The books were put into
  The packs of the pedlars;
The pictures will travel
  All over great Russia, 400
Until they find rest
  On the wall of some peasant—
The devil knows why!

Oh, may it come quickly
  The time when the peasant
Will make some distinction
  Between book and book,
Between picture and picture;
  Will bring from the market,
Not picture of Bluecher, 410
  Not stupid "Milord,"
But Belinsky and Gogol!
Oh, say, Russian people,
  These names—have you heard them?
They're great. They were borne
  By your champions, who loved you,
Who strove in your cause,
  'Tis their little portraits
Should hang in your houses!

  "I'd walk into Heaven 420
But can't find the doorway!"
  Is suddenly shouted
By some merry blade.
  "What door do you want, man?"
"The puppet-show, brothers!"
  "I'll show you the way!"

The puppet-show tempted
  The journeying peasants;
They go to inspect it.
  A farce is being acted, 430
A goat for the drummer;
  Real music is playing—
No common accordion.
  The play is not too deep,
But not stupid, either.
  A bullet shot deftly
Right into the eye
  Of the hated policeman.
The tent is quite crowded,
  The audience cracking 440
Their nuts, and exchanging
  Remarks with each other.
And look—there's the vodka!
  They're drinking and looking,
And looking and drinking,
  Enjoying it highly,
With jubilant faces,
  From time to time throwing
A right witty word
  Into Peterkin's speeches, 450
Which you'd never hit on,
  Although you should swallow
Your pen and your pad!…

  Some folk there are always
Who crowd on the platform
  (The comedy ended),
To greet the performers,
  To gossip and chat.

"How now, my fine fellows,
  And where do you come from?" 460

"As serfs we used only
  To play for the masters,[18]
But now we are free,
  And the man who will treat us
Alone is our Master!"
  "Well spoken, my brothers;
  Enough time you've wasted
Amusing the nobles;
  Now play for the peasants!
Here, waiter, bring vodka, 470
  Sweet wine, tea, and syrup,
And see you make haste!"

  The sweet sparkling river
Comes rolling to meet them;
  They'll treat the musicians
More handsomely, far,
  Than their masters of old.

It is not the rushing
  Of furious whirlwinds,
Not Mother Earth shaking— 480
  'Tis shouting and singing
And swearing and fighting
And falling and kissing—
  The people's carouse!
It seems to the peasants
  That all in the village
Was reeling around them!
  That even the church
With the very tall, steeple
  Had swayed once or twice! 490

When things are in this state,
  A man who is sober
Feels nearly as awkward
  As one who is naked….

The peasants recrossing
  The market-place, quitted
The turbulent village
  At evening's approach.

This village did not end,
As many in Russia,
  In windmill or tavern,
In corn-loft or barn,
  But in a large building
Of wood, with iron gratings
  In small narrow windows.
The broad, sandy high-road,
  With borders of birch-trees,
Spread out straight behind it— 10
  The grim etape—prison.[19]
On week-days deserted
  It is, dull and silent,
But now it is not so.
  All over the high-road,
In neighbouring pathways,
  Wherever the eye falls,
Are lying and crawling,
  Are driving and climbing,
The numberless drunkards; 20
  Their shout fills the skies.

  The cart-wheels are screeching,
And like slaughtered calves' heads
  Are nodding and wagging
The pates limp and helpless
  Of peasants asleep.

  They're dropping on all sides,
As if from some ambush
  An enemy firing
Is shooting them wholesale. 30
  The quiet night is falling,
The moon is in Heaven,
  And God is commencing
To write His great letter
  Of gold on blue velvet;
Mysterious message,
  Which neither the wise man
Nor foolish can read.

The high-road is humming
  Just like a great bee-hive; 40
The people's loud clamour
  Is swelling and falling
Like waves in the ocean.

  "We paid him a rouble—
The clerk, and he gave us
  A written petition
To send to the Governor."

  "Hi, you with the waggon,
Look after your corn!"

  "But where are you off to, 50
Olyenushka? Wait now—
  I've still got some cakes.
You're like a black flea, girl,
  You eat all you want to
And hop away quickly
  Before one can stroke you!"

  "It's all very fine talk,
This Tsar's precious Charter,
  It's not writ for us!"

  "Give way there, you people!" 60
The exciseman dashes
  Amongst them, his brass plate
Attached to his coat-front,
  And bells all a-jangle.

"God save us, Parasha,
  Don't go to St. Petersburg!
I know the gentry:
  By day you're a maid,
And by night you're a mistress.
  You spit at it, love…." 70

"Now, where are you running?"
  The pope bellows loudly
To busy Pavloosha,
  The village policeman.

"An accident's happened
  Down here, and a man's killed."

"God pardon our sins!"

"How thin you've got, Dashka!"

"The spinning-wheel fattens
  By turning forever; 80
I work just as hard,
  But I never get fatter."

"Heh, you, silly fellow,
  Come hither and love me!
The dirty, dishevelled,
  And tipsy old woman.
The f—i—ilthy o—l—d woman!"

  Our peasants, observing,
Are still walking onwards.
  They see just before them 90
A meek little fellow
  Most busily digging
A hole in the road.

  "Now, what are you doing?"
"A grave I am digging
  To bury my mother!"

  "You fool!—Where's your mother?
Your new coat you've buried!
  Roll into the ditch,
Dip your snout in the water. 100
  'Twill cool you, perhaps."

  "Let's see who'll pull hardest!"
Two peasants are squatting,
  And, feet to feet pressing,
Are straining and groaning,
  And tugging away
At a stick held between them.
  This soon fails to please them:
"Let's try with our beards!"
  And each man then clutches 110
The jaw of the other,
  And tugs at his beard!
Red, panting, and writhing,
  And gasping and yelping,
But pulling and pulling!
  "Enough there, you madmen!"…
Cold water won't part them!

  And in the ditch near them
Two women are squabbling;
  One cries, "To go home now 120
Were worse than to prison!"
  The other, "You braggart!
In my house, I tell you,
  It's worse than in yours.
One son-in-law punched me
  And left a rib broken;
The second made off
  With my big ball of cotton;
The cotton don't matter,
  But in it was hidden 130
My rouble in silver.
  The youngest—he always
Is up with his knife out.
  He'll kill me for sure!"

"Enough, enough, darling!
Now don't you be angry!"
  Is heard not far distant
From over a hillock—
  "Come on, I'm all right!"

  A mischievous night, this; 140
On right hand, on left hand,
  Wherever the eye falls,
Are sauntering couples.
  The wood seems to please them;
They all stroll towards it,
  The wood—which is thrilling
With nightingales' voices.
  And later, the high-road
Gets more and more ugly,
  And more and more often 150
The people are falling,
  Are staggering, crawling,
Or lying like corpses.
  As always it happens
On feast days in Russia—
  No word can be uttered
Without a great oath.
  And near to the tavern
Is quite a commotion;
  Some wheels get entangled 160
And terrified horses
  Rush off without drivers.
Here children are crying,
  And sad wives and mothers
Are anxiously waiting;
  And is the task easy
Of getting the peasant
  Away from his drink?

  Just near to the sign-post
A voice that's familiar 170
  Is heard by the peasants;
They see there the Barin
  (The same that helped Vavil,
And bought him the boots
  To take home to his grandchild).
He chats with the men.
  The peasants all open
Their hearts to the Barin;
  If some song should please him
They'll sing it through five times; 180
  "Just write the song down, sir!"
If some saying strike him;
  "Take note of the words!"
And when he has written
  Enough, he says quietly,
"The peasants are clever,
But one thing is bad:
  They drink till they're helpless
And lie about tipsy,
  It's painful to see." 190

They listen in silence.
  The Barin commences
To write something down
  In the little black note-book
When, all of a sudden,
  A small, tipsy peasant,
Who up to that moment
  Has lain on his stomach
And gazed at the speaker,
  Springs up straight before him 200
And snatches his pencil
  Right out of his hand:
"Wait, wait!" cries the fellow,
  "Stop writing your stories,
Dishonest and heartless,
  About the poor peasant.
Say, what's your complaint?
  That sometimes the heart
Of the peasant rejoices?
  At times we drink hard, 210
But we work ten times harder;
  Among us are drunkards,
But many more sober.
  Go, take through a village
  A pailful of vodka;
Go into the huts—
  In one, in another,
They'll swallow it gladly.
  But go to a third
And you'll find they won't touch it!
  One family drinks, 221
While another drinks nothing,
  Drinks nothing—and suffers
As much as the drunkards:
  They, wisely or foolishly,
Follow their conscience;
  And see how misfortune,
The peasants' misfortune,
  Will swallow that household
Hard-working and sober! 230
  Pray, have you seen ever
The time of the harvest
  In some Russian village?
Well, where were the people?
  At work in the tavern?
Our fields may be broad,
  But they don't give too freely.
Who robes them in spring-time,
  And strips them in autumn?
You've met with a peasant 240
  At nightfall, perchance,
  When the work has been finished?
He's piled up great mountains
  Of corn in the meadows,
He'll sup off a pea!
  Hey, you mighty monster!
You builder of mountains,
  I'll knock you flat down
With the stroke of a feather!

  "Sweet food is the peasant's! 250
But stomachs aren't mirrors,
  And so we don't whimper
To see what we've eaten.

  "We work single-handed,
But when we have finished
  Three partners[20] are waiting
To share in the profits;
  A fourth[21] one there is, too,
Who eats like a Tartar—
Leaves nothing behind. 260
  The other day, only,
A mean little fellow
  Like you, came from Moscow
And clung to our backs.
  'Oh, please sing him folk-songs'
And 'tell him some proverbs,'
  'Some riddles and rhymes.'
And then came another
  To put us his questions:
How much do we work for? 270
  How much and how little
We stuff in our bellies?
  To count all the people
That live in the village
  Upon his five fingers.
He did not ask how much
  The fire feeds the wind with
Of peasants' hard work.
  Our drunkenness, maybe,
Can never be measured, 280
  But look at our labour—
Can that then be measured?
  Our cares or our woes?

"The vodka prostrates us;
  But does not our labour,
Our trouble, prostrate us?
  The peasant won't grumble
At each of his burdens,
  He'll set out to meet it,
And struggle to bear it; 290
  The peasant does not flinch
At life-wasting labour,
  And tremble for fear
That his health may be injured.
  Then why should he number
Each cupful of vodka
  For fear that an odd one
May topple him over?
  You say that it's painful
To see him lie tipsy?— 300
  Then go to the bog;
You'll see how the peasant
  Is squeezing the corn out,
Is wading and crawling
  Where no horse or rider,
No man, though unloaded,
  Would venture to tread.
You'll see how the army
  Of profligate peasants
Is toiling in danger, 310
  Is springing from one clod
Of earth to another,
  Is pushing through bog-slime
  With backs nearly breaking!
The sun's beating down
  On the peasants' bare heads,
They are sweating and covered
  With mud to the eyebrows,
Their limbs torn and bleeding
  By sharp, prickly bog-grass! 320

  "Does this picture please you?
You say that you suffer;
  At least suffer wisely.
Don't use for a peasant
  A gentleman's judgement;
We are not white-handed
  And tender-skinned creatures,
But men rough and lusty
  In work and in play.

  "The heart of each peasant 330
Is black as a storm-cloud,
  Its thunder should peal
And its blood rain in torrents;
  But all ends in drink—
For after one cupful
  The soul of the peasant
Is kindly and smiling;
  But don't let that hurt you!
Look round and be joyful!
  Hey, fellows! Hey, maidens! 340
  You know how to foot it!
Their bones may be aching,
  Their limbs have grown weary,
But youth's joy and daring
  Is not quite extinguished,
It lives in them yet!"

  The peasant is standing
On top of a hillock,
  And stamping his feet,
And after being silent 350
  A moment, and gazing
With glee at the masses
  Of holiday people,
He roars to them hoarsely.

  "Hey you, peasant kingdom!
You, hatless and drunken!
  More racket! More noise!"
"Come, what's your name, uncle?"
  "To write in the note-book?
Why not? Write it down: 360
  'In Barefoot the village
Lives old Jacob Naked,
  He'll work till he's taken,
He drinks till he's crazed.'"
  The peasants are laughing,
And telling the Barin
  The old fellow's story:
How shabby old Jacob
  Had lived once in Peter,[22]
And got into prison 370
  Because he bethought him
To get him to law
  With a very rich merchant;
How after the prison
  He'd come back amongst them
All stripped, like a linden,
  And taken to ploughing.
For thirty years since
  On his narrow allotment
He'd worked in all weathers, 380
  The harrow his shelter
From sunshine and storm.
  He lived with the sokha,[23]
And when God would take him
  He'd drop from beneath it
Just like a black clod.

  An accident happened
One year to old Jacob:
  He bought some small pictures
To hang in the cottage 390
  For his little son;
The old man himself, too,
  Was fond of the pictures.
God's curse had then fallen;
  The village was burnt,
And the old fellow's money,
  The fruit of a life-time
(Some thirty-five roubles),[24]
  Was lost in the flames.
He ought to have saved it, 400
  But, to his misfortune,
He thought of the pictures
  And seized them instead.
His wife in the meantime
  Was saving the icons.[25]
And so, when the cottage
  Fell in, all the roubles
Were melted together
  In one lump of silver.
Old Jacob was offered 410
  Eleven such roubles
For that silver lump.

  "O old brother Jacob,
You paid for them dearly,
  The little chap's pictures!
I warrant you've hung them
  Again in the new hut."

"I've hung them—and more,"
He replied, and was silent.

  The Barin was looking, 420
Examining Jacob,
  The toiler, the earth-worm,
His chest thin and meagre,
  His stomach as shrunk
As though something had crushed it,
  His eyes and mouth circled
By numberless wrinkles,
  Like drought-shrivelled earth.
And he altogether
  Resembled the earth, 430
Thought the Barin, while noting
  His throat, like a dry lump
Of clay, brown and hardened;
  His brick-coloured face;
His hands—black and horny,
  Like bark on the tree-trunk;
His hair—stiff and sandy….

  The peasants, remarking
That old Jacob's speech
  Had not angered the Barin, 440
Themselves took his words up:
  "Yes, yes, he speaks truly,
We must drink, it saves us,
  It makes us feel strong.
Why, if we did not drink
  Black gloom would engulf us.
If work does not kill us
  Or trouble destroy us,
We shan't die from drink!"

"That's so. Is it not, sir?" 450

"Yes, God will protect us!"

"Come, drink with us, Barin!"

  They go to buy vodka
And drink it together.
  To Jacob the Barin
Has offered two cups.
  "Ah, Barin," says Jacob,
"I see you're not angry.
  A wise little head, yours,
And how could a wise head 460
  Judge falsely of peasants?
Why, only the pig
  Glues his nose to the garbage
And never sees Heaven!"

  Then suddenly singing
Is heard in a chorus
  Harmonious and bold.
A row of young fellows,
  Half drunk, but not falling,
Come staggering onwards, 470
  All lustily singing;
They sing of the Volga,
  The daring of youths
And the beauty of maidens …
  A hush falls all over
The road, and it listens;
  And only the singing
Is heard, broadly rolling
  In waves, sweet and tuneful,
Like wind-ruffled corn. 480
  The hearts of the peasants
Are touched with wild anguish,
  And one little woman
Grows pensive and mournful,
  And then begins weeping
And sobs forth her grief:
  "My life is like day-time
With no sun to warm it!
  My life is like night
With no glimmer of moon! 490
  And I—the young woman—
  Am like the swift steed
On the curb, like the swallow
  With wings crushed and broken;
My jealous old husband
  Is drunken and snoring,
But even while snoring
  He keeps one eye open,
And watches me always,
  Me—poor little wife!" 500

  And so she lamented,
The sad little woman;
  Then all of a sudden
Springs down from the waggon!
  "Where now?" cries her husband,
The jealous old man.
  And just as one lifts
By the tail a plump radish,
  He clutches her pig-tail,
And pulls her towards him. 510

  O night wild and drunken,
Not bright—and yet star-lit,
  Not hot—but fanned softly
By tender spring breezes,
  You've not left our peasants
  Untouched by your sweetness;
They're thinking and longing
  For their little women.
And they are quite right too;
  Still sweeter 'twould be 520
With a nice little wife!
  Cries Ivan, "I love you,"
And Mariushka, "I you!"
  Cries Ivan, "Press closer!"
And Mariushka, "Kiss me!"
  Cries Ivan, "The night's cold,"
And Mariushka, "Warm me!"

  They think of this song now,
And all make their minds up
  To shorten the journey. 530

  A birch-tree is growing
Alone by the roadside,
  God knows why so lonely!
And under it spreading
  The magic white napkin,
The peasants sit round it:

  "Hey! Napkin enchanted!
Give food to the peasants!"
  Two hands have come floating
From no one sees where, 540
  Place a bucket of vodka,
A large pile of bread,
  On the magic white napkin,
And dwindle away.

  The peasants feel strengthened,
And leaving Roman there
  On guard near the vodka,
They mix with the people,
  To try to discover
The one who is happy. 550

  They're all in a hurry
To turn towards home.

  In crowds gay and noisy
Our peasants are mixing,
  Proclaiming their mission:
"Let any man here
  Who esteems himself happy
Stand forth! If he prove it
  A pailful of vodka
Is at his disposal;
  As much as he wishes
So much he shall have!" 10

  This fabulous promise
Sets sober folk smiling;
  The tipsy and wise ones
Are ready to spit
  In the beards of the pushing
Impertinent strangers!
  But many are willing
To drink without payment,
And so when our peasants
  Go back to the birch-tree 20
A crowd presses round them.
  The first to come forward,
A lean discharged deacon,
  With legs like two matches,
Lets forth a great mouthful
  Of indistinct maxims:
That happiness lies not
  In broad lands, in jewels,
In gold, and in sables—

"In what, then?" 30

             A peaceful
And undisturbed conscience.
  That all the dominions
Of land-owners, nobles,
  And Tsars are but earthly
And limited treasures;
  But he who is godly
Has part in Christ's kingdom
  Of boundless extent:
"When warm in the sun, 40
  With a cupful of vodka,
  I'm perfectly happy,
I ask nothing more!"

  "And who'll give you vodka?"
"Why, you! You have promised."

"Be off, you lean scamp!"

  A one-eyed old woman
Comes next, bent and pock-marked,
  And bowing before them
She says she is happy; 50
  That in her allotment
A thousand fine turnips
  Have grown, this last autumn.
"Such turnips, I tell you!
  Such monsters! and tasty!
In such a small plot, too,
  In length only one yard,
And three yards in width!"

  They laugh at the woman,
But give her no vodka; 60
  "Go, get you home, Mother!
You've vodka enough there
  To flavour the turnips!"

  A soldier with medals,
  Quite drunk but still thirsty,
Says firmly, "I'm happy!"

  "Then tell us, old fellow,
In what he is happy—
  The soldier? Take care, though,
To keep nothing back!" 70

  "Well, firstly, I've been
Through at least twenty battles,
  And yet I'm alive.
And, secondly, mark you
  (It's far more important),
In times of peace, too,
  Though I'm always half-famished,
Death never has conquered!
  And, third, though they flogged me
For every offence, 80
  Great or small, I've survived it!"

  "Here, drink, little soldier!
With you one can't argue;
  You're happy indeed!"

  Then comes a young mason,
  A huge, weighty hammer
Swung over his shoulder:
  "I live in content,"
He declares, "with my wife
  And beloved old mother; 90
We've nought to complain of."
  "In what are you happy?"
"In this!"—like a feather
  He swings the great hammer.
"Beginning at sunrise
  And setting my back straight
As midnight draws near,
  I can shatter a mountain!
Before now, it's happened
  That, working one day, 100
I've piled enough stones up
  To earn my five roubles!"

  Pakhom tries to lift it—
The "happiness." After
  Prodigiously straining
And cracking all over,
  He sets it down, gladly,
And pours out some vodka.

  "Well, weighty it is, man!
But will you be able 110
To bear in old age
  Such a 'happiness,' think you?"

"Don't boast of your strength!"
  Gasped a wheezing old peasant,
Half stifled with asthma.
  (His nose pinched and shrivelled
Like that of a dead man,
  His eyes bright and sunken,
His hands like a rake—
  Stiffened, scraggy, and bony, 120
His legs long and narrow
  Like spokes of a wheel,
A human mosquito.)

  "I was not a worse man
Than he, the young mason,
  And boasted of my strength.
God punished me for it!
  The manager knew
I was simple—the villain!
  He flattered and praised me. 130
I was but a youngster,
  And pleased at his notice
I laboured like four men.
  One day I had mounted
Some bricks to my shoulder,
  When, just then, the devil
Must bring him in sight.

  "'What's that!' he said laughing,
'Tis surely not Trifon
  With such a light burden? 140
Ho, does it not shame
  Such a strapping young fellow?'
'Then put some more bricks on,
  I'll carry them, master,'
Said I, sore offended.
  For full half an hour
I stood while he piled them,
  He piled them—the dog!
I felt my back breaking,
  But would not give way, 150
And that devilish burden
  I carried right up
To the high second story!
  He stood and looked on,
He himself was astounded,
  And cried from beneath me:
'Well done, my brave fellow!
  You don't know yourself, man,
What you have been doing!
  It's forty stone, Trifon, 160
You've carried up there!'

  "I did know; my heart
Struck my breast like a hammer,
  The blood stood in circles
Round both of my eyeballs;
My back felt disjointed,
My legs weak and trembling …
  'Twas then that I withered.
Come, treat me, my friends!"

  "But why should we treat you?
In what are you happy? 171
  In what you have told us?"

  "No, listen—that's coming,
It's this: I have also,
  Like each of us peasants,
Besought God to let me
  Return to the village
To die. And when coming
  From Petersburg, after
The illness I suffered 180
  Through what I have told you,
Exhausted and weakened,
  Half-dazed, half-unconscious,
I got to the station.
  And all in the carriage
Were workmen, as I was,
  And ill of the fever;
And all yearned for one thing:
  To reach their own homes
Before death overcame them. 190
  'Twas then I was lucky;
The heat then was stifling,
  And so many sick heads
Made Hell of the waggon.
  Here one man was groaning,
There, rolling all over
  The floor, like a lunatic,
Shouting and raving
  Of wife or of mother.
And many such fellows 200
  Were put out and left
At the stations we came to.
  I looked at them, thinking,
Shall I be left too?
  I was burning and shaking,
The blood began starting
  All over my eyeballs,
And I, in my fever,
  Half-waking, was dreaming
Of cutting of cocks' throats 210
  (We once were cock-farmers,
And one year it happened
  We fattened a thousand).
They came to my thoughts, now,
  The damnable creatures,
I tried to start praying,
  But no!—it was useless.
And, would you believe me?
  I saw the whole party
In that hellish waggon 220
  Come quivering round me,
Their throats cut, and spurting
With blood, and still crowing,
  And I, with the knife, shrieked:
'Enough of your noise!'
  And yet, by God's mercy,
Made no sound at all.
  I sat there and struggled
To keep myself silent.
  At last the day ended, 230
And with it the journey,
  And God had had pity
Upon His poor orphan;
  I crawled to the village.
And now, by His mercy,
  I'm better again."

  "Is that what you boast of—
Your happiness, peasant?"
  Exclaims an old lackey
With legs weak and gouty. 240
  "Treat me, little brothers,
I'm happy, God sees it!
  For I was the chief serf
Of Prince Peremeteff,
  A rich prince, and mighty,
My wife, the most favoured
  By him, of the women;
My daughter, together
  With his, the young lady,
Was taught foreign languages, 250
  French and some others;
And she was permitted
  To sit, and not stand,
In her mistress's presence.
  Good Lord! How it bites!"
(He stoops down to rub it,
  The gouty right knee-cap.)
The peasants laugh loudly!
  "What laugh you at, stupids?"
He cries, getting angry, 260
  "I'm ill, I thank God,
And at waking and sleeping
  I pray, 'Leave me ever
My honoured complaint, Lord!
  For that makes me noble!'
I've none of your low things,
  Your peasants' diseases,
My illness is lofty,
  And only acquired
By the most elevated, 270
  The first in the Empire;
I suffer, you villains,
  From gout, gout its name is!
It's only brought on
  By the drinking of claret,
Of Burgundy, champagne,
  Hungarian syrup,
By thirty years' drinking!
  For forty years, peasants,
I've stood up behind it— 280
  The chair of His Highness,
The Prince Peremeteff,
  And swallowed the leavings
In plates and in glasses,
  The finest French truffles,
The dregs of the liquors.
  Come, treat me, you peasants!"

  "Excuse us, your Lordship,
Our wine is but simple,
  The drink of the peasants! 290
It wouldn't suit you!"
  A bent, yellow-haired man
Steals up to the peasants,
  A man from White Russia.
He yearns for the vodka.
  "Oh, give me a taste!"
He implores, "I am happy!"

  "But wait! You must tell us
In what you are happy."

  "In bread I am happy; 300
At home, in White Russia,
  The bread is of barley,
All gritty and weedy.
  At times, I can tell you,
I've howled out aloud,
  Like a woman in labour,
With pains in my stomach!
  But now, by God's mercy,
I work for Gubonine,
  And there they give rye-bread, 310
I'm happy in that."

  A dark-looking peasant,
With jaw turned and twisted,
  Which makes him look sideways,
Says next, "I am happy.
  A bear-hunter I am,
And six of my comrades
  Were killed by old Mishka;[26]
On me God has mercy."

"Look round to the left side." 320
  He tries to, but cannot,
For all his grimaces!

  "A bear knocked my jaw round,
A savage young female."

  "Go, look for another,
And give her the left cheek,
  She'll soon put it straight!"

They laugh, but, however,
  They give him some vodka.
Some ragged old beggars 330
  Come up to the peasants,
Drawn near by the smell
  Of the froth on the vodka;
They say they are happy.

  "Why, right on his threshold
The shopman will meet us!
  We go to a house-door,
From there they conduct us
  Right back to the gate!
When we begin singing 340
  The housewife runs quickly
And brings to the window
  A loaf and a knife.
And then we sing loudly,
  'Oh, give us the whole loaf,
It cannot be cut
  And it cannot be crumbled,
For you it is quicker,
  For us it is better!'"

The peasants observe 350
  That their vodka is wasted,
The pail's nearly empty.
  They say to the people,
"Enough of your chatter,
  You, shabby and ragged,
You, humpbacked and corny,
  Go, get you all home!"

"In your place, good strangers,"
  The peasant, Fedocy,
From "Swallow-Smoke" village, 360
  Said, sitting beside them,
"I'd ask Ermil Girin.
  If he will not suit you,
If he is not happy,
  Then no one can help you."

  "But who is this Ermil,
A noble—a prince?"

  "No prince—not a noble,
But simply a peasant."

"Well, tell us about him." 370

  "I'll tell you; he rented
The mill of an orphan,
  Until the Court settled
To sell it at auction.
  Then Ermil, with others,
Went into the sale-room.
  The small buyers quickly
Dropped out of the bidding;
  Till Ermil alone,
With a merchant, Alternikoff, 380
  Kept up the fight.
The merchant outbid him,
  Each time by a farthing,
Till Ermil grew angry
  And added five roubles;
The merchant a farthing
  And Ermil a rouble.
The merchant gave in then,
  When suddenly something
Unlooked for occurred: 390
  The sellers demanded
A third of the money
  Paid down on the spot;
'Twas one thousand roubles,
  And Ermil had not brought
So much money with him;
  'Twas either his error,
Or else they deceived him.
  The merchant said gaily,
'The mill comes to me, then?' 400
  'Not so,' replied Ermil;
He went to the sellers;
  'Good sirs, will you wait
Thirty minutes?' he asked.

  "'But how will that help you?'
'I'll bring you the money.'

  "'But where will you find it?
You're out of your senses!
  It's thirty-five versts
To the mill; in an hour now 410
  The sales will be finished.'

  "'You'll wait half an hour, sirs?'
'An hour, if you wish.'
  Then Ermil departed,
The sellers exchanging
Sly looks with the merchant,
  And grinning—the foxes!
But Ermil went out
  And made haste to the market-place
Crowded with people 420
  ('Twas market-day, then),
And he mounted a waggon,
  And there he stood crossing
Himself, and low bowing
  In all four directions.
He cried to the people,
  'Be silent a moment,
I've something to ask you!'
  The place became still
And he told them the story: 430

"'Since long has the merchant
  Been wooing the mill,
But I'm not such a dullard.
  Five times have I been here
To ask if there would be
  A second day's bidding,
They answered, 'There will.'
  You know that the peasant
Won't carry his money
  All over the by-ways 440
  Without a good reason,
So I have none with me;
And look—now they tell me
There's no second bidding
  And ask for the money!
The cunning ones tricked me
  And laughed—the base heathens!
And said to me sneering:
  'But, what can you do
In an hour? Where find money?' 450

  "'They're crafty and strong,
But the people are stronger!
  The merchant is rich—
But the people are richer!
  Hey! What is his worth
To their treasury, think you?
  Like fish in the ocean
The wealth of the people;
  You'll draw it and draw it—
But not see its end! 460
  Now, brother, God hears me,
Come, give me this money!
  Next Friday I'll pay you
The very last farthing.
  It's not that I care
For the mill—it's the insult!
  Whoever knows Ermil,
Whoever believes him,
  Will give what he can.'

  "A miracle happened; 470
The coat of each peasant
  Flew up on the left
As though blown by a wind!
  The peasants are bringing
Their money to Ermil,
  Each gives what he can.
Though Ermil's well lettered
  He writes nothing down;
It's well he can count it
  So great is his hurry. 480
They gather his hat full
  Of all kinds of money,
From farthings to bank-notes,
  The notes of the peasant
All crumpled and torn.
  He has the whole sum now,
But still the good people
  Are bringing him more.

  "'Here, take this, too, Ermil,
You'll pay it back later!' 490

  "He bows to the people
In all four directions,
  Gets down from the waggon,
And pressing the hat
  Full of money against him,
Runs back to the sale-room
  As fast as he can.

  "The sellers are speechless
And stare in amazement,
  The merchant turns green 500
As the money is counted
  And laid on the table.

  "The sellers come round him
All craftily praising
  His excellent bargain.
But Ermil sees through them;
  He gives not a farthing,
He speaks not a word.

  "The whole town assembles
At market next Friday, 510
  When Ermil is paying
His debt to the people.
  How can he remember
To whom he must pay it?
  No murmur arises,
No sound of discussion,
  As each man tells quietly
The sum to be paid him.

  "And Ermil himself said,
That when it was finished 520
  A rouble was lying
With no one to claim it;
  And though till the evening
He went, with purse open,
  Demanding the owner,
It still was unclaimed.
  The sun was just setting
When Ermil, the last one
  To go from the market,
Assembled the beggars 530
  And gave them the rouble." …

  "'Tis strange!" say the peasants,
"By what kind of magic
  Can one single peasant
Gain such a dominion
  All over the country?"

  "No magic he uses
Save truthfulness, brothers!
  But say, have you ever
Heard tell of Prince Yurloff's 540
  Estate, Adovshina?"

  "We have. What about it?"
    "The manager there
Was a Colonel, with stars,
  Of the Corps of Gendarmes.
He had six or seven
  Assistants beneath him,
And Ermil was chosen
  As principal clerk.
He was but a boy, then, 550
  Of nineteen or twenty;
And though 'tis no fine post,
  The clerk's—to the peasants
The clerk is a great man;
  To him they will go
For advice and with questions.
  Though Ermil had power to,
He asked nothing from them;
  And if they should offer
He never accepted. 560
  (He bears a poor conscience,
The peasant who covets
  The mite of his brother!)
Well, five years went by,
  And they trusted in Ermil,
When all of a sudden
  The master dismissed him
For sake of another.
  And sadly they felt it.
The new clerk was grasping; 570
  He moved not a finger
Unless it was paid for;
  A letter—three farthings!
A question—five farthings!
  Well, he was a pope's son
And God placed him rightly!
  But still, by God's mercy,
He did not stay long:

  "The old Prince soon died,
And the young Prince was master. 580
  He came and dismissed them—
The manager-colonel,
  The clerk and assistants,
And summoned the peasants
  To choose them an Elder.
They weren't long about it!
  And eight thousand voices
Cried out, 'Ermil Girin!'
  As though they were one.
Then Ermil was sent for 590
  To speak with the Barin,
And after some minutes
  The Barin came out
On the balcony, standing
  In face of the people;
He cried, 'Well, my brothers,
  Your choice is elected
With my princely sanction!
  But answer me this:
Don't you think he's too youthful?' 600

  "'No, no, little Father!
He's young, but he's wise!'

  "So Ermil was Elder,
For seven years ruled
  In the Prince's dominion.
Not once in that time
  Did a coin of the peasants
Come under his nail,
  Did the innocent suffer,
The guilty escape him, 610
  He followed his conscience."

"But stop!" exclaimed hoarsely
A shrivelled grey pope,
  Interrupting the speaker,
"The harrow went smoothly
  Enough, till it happened
To strike on a stone,
  Then it swerved of a sudden.
In telling a story
  Don't leave an odd word out 620
  And alter the rhythm!
Now, if you knew Ermil
  You knew his young brother,
Knew Mityenka, did you?"

  The speaker considered,
Then said, "I'd forgotten,
I'll tell you about it:
  It happened that once
Even Ermil the peasant
  Did wrong: his young brother, 630
Unjustly exempted
  From serving his time,
On the day of recruiting;
  And we were all silent,
And how could we argue
  When even the Barin
Himself would not order
  The Elder's own brother
To unwilling service?
  And only one woman, 640
Old Vlasevna, shedding
  Wild tears for her son,
Went bewailing and screaming:
  'It wasn't our turn!'
Well, of course she'd be certain
  To scream for a time,
  Then leave off and be silent.
But what happened then?
  The recruiting was finished,
But Ermil had changed; 650
  He was mournful and gloomy;
He ate not, he drank not,
  Till one day his father
Went into the stable
  And found him there holding
A rope in his hands.
  Then at last he unbosomed
His heart to his father:
  'Since Vlasevna's son
Has been sent to the service, 660
  I'm weary of living,
I wish but to die!'
  His brothers came also,
And they with the father
  Besought him to hear them,
To listen to reason.
  But he only answered:
'A villain I am,
  And a criminal; bind me,
And bring me to justice!' 670
  And they, fearing worse things,
Obeyed him and bound him.
  The commune assembled,
Exclaiming and shouting;
  They'd never been summoned
To witness or judge
  Such peculiar proceedings.

  "And Ermil's relations
Did not beg for mercy
  And lenient treatment, 680
But rather for firmness:
  'Bring Vlasevna's son back
Or Ermil will hang himself,
  Nothing will save him!'
And then appeared Ermil
  Himself, pale and bare-foot,
With ropes bound and handcuffed,
  And bowing his head
He spoke low to the people:
  'The time was when I was 690
Your judge; and I judged you,
  In all things obeying
My conscience. But I now
  Am guiltier far
Than were you. Be my judges!'
  He bowed to our feet,
The demented one, sighing,
  Then stood up and crossed himself,
Trembling all over;
It pained us to witness 700
  How he, of a sudden,
Fell down on his knees there
  At Vlasevna's feet.
Well, all was put right soon,
  The nobles have fingers
In every small corner,
  The lad was brought back
And young Mityenka started;
  They say that his service
Did not weigh too heavy, 710
  The prince saw to that.
And we, as a penance,
  Imposed upon Ermil
A fine, and to Vlasevna
  One part was given,
To Mitya another,
  The rest to the village
For vodka. However,
  Not quickly did Ermil
Get over his sorrow: 720
  He went like a lost one
For full a year after,
  And—though the whole district
Implored him to keep it—
  He left his position.
He rented the mill, then,
  And more than of old
Was beloved by the people.
  He took for his grinding
No more than was honest, 730
  His customers never
Kept waiting a moment,
  And all men alike:
The rich landlord, the workman.
  The master and servant,
The poorest of peasants
  Were served as their turn came;
Strict order he kept.
  Myself, I have not been
Since long in that district, 740
  But often the people
Have told me about him.
  And never could praise him
Enough. So in your place
  I'd go and ask Ermil."

"Your time would be wasted,"
  The grey-headed pope,
Who'd before interrupted,
  Remarked to the peasants,
"I knew Ermil Girin, 750
  I chanced in that district
Some five years ago.
  I have often been shifted,
Our bishop loved vastly
  To keep us all moving,
So I was his neighbour.
  Yes, he was a peasant
Unique, I bear witness,
  And all things he owned
That can make a man happy: 760
  Peace, riches, and honour,
And that kind of honour
  Most valued and precious,
Which cannot be purchased
  By might or by money,
But only by righteousness,
  Wisdom and kindness.
But still, I repeat it,
  Your time will be wasted
In going to Ermil: 770
  In prison he lies."

"How's that?"

  "God so willed it.
You've heard how the peasants
Of 'Log' the Pomyeshchick
  Of Province 'Affrighted,'
Of District 'Scarce-Breathing,'
  Of village 'Dumbfounded,'
Revolted 'for causes
Entirely unknown,' 780
  As they say in the papers.
(I once used to read them.)
  And so, too, in this case,
The local Ispravnik,[27]
  The Tsar's high officials,
And even the peasants,
  'Dumbfounded' themselves.
Never fathomed the reason
  Of all the disturbance.
But things became bad, 790
  And the soldiers were sent for,
The Tsar packed a messenger
  Off in a hurry
To speak to the people.
  His epaulettes rose
To his ears as he coaxed them
And cursed them together.
  But curses they're used to,
And coaxing was lost,
  For they don't understand it: 800
  'Brave orthodox peasants!'
'The Tsar—Little Father!'
  'Our dear Mother Russia!'
He bellowed and shouted
  Until he was hoarse,
While the peasants stood round him
  And listened in wonder.

  "But when he was tired
Of these peaceable measures
  Of calming the riots, 810
At length he decided
  On giving the order
Of 'Fire' to the soldiers;
  When all of a sudden
A bright thought occurred
  To the clerk of the Volost:[28]
'The people trust Girin,
  The people will hear him!'

"'Then let him be brought!'" [29]

* * * * *

  A cry has arisen 820
"Have mercy! Have mercy!"
  A check to the story;
They hurry off quickly
  To see what has happened;
And there on a bank
  Of a ditch near the roadside,
Some peasants are birching
  A drunken old lackey,
Just taken in thieving.
  A court had been summoned, 830
The judges deciding
  To birch the offender,
That each of the jury
  (About three and twenty)
Should give him a stroke
  Turn in turn of the rod….

  The lackey was up
And made off, in a twinkling,
  He took to his heels
Without stopping to argue, 840
  On two scraggy legs.

  "How he trips it—the dandy!"
The peasants cry, laughing;
  They've soon recognized him;
The boaster who prated
  So much of his illness
From drinking strange liquors.

  "Ho! where has it gone to,
Your noble complaint?
  Look how nimble he's getting!" 850

  "Well, well, Little Father,
Now finish the story!"

  "It's time to go home now,
My children,—God willing,
  We'll meet again some day
And finish it then…."

  The people disperse
As the dawn is approaching.
  Our peasants begin
To bethink them of sleeping, 860
  When all of a sudden
A "troika" [30] comes flying
  From no one sees where,
With its silver bells ringing.
  Within it is sitting
A plump little Barin,
  His little mouth smoking
A little cigar.
  The peasants draw up
In a line on the roadway, 870
  Thus barring the passage
In front of the horses;
  And, standing bareheaded,
Bow low to the Barin.

  The "troika" is drawing
The local Pomyeshchick—
  Gavril Afanasich
    Obolt-Oboldooeff.
A portly Pomyeshchick,
  With long grey moustaches,
Some sixty years old.
  His bearing is stately,
His cheeks very rosy,
  He wears a short top-coat, 10
Tight-fitting and braided,
  Hungarian fashion;
And very wide trousers.
  Gavril Afanasich
Was probably startled
  At seeing the peasants
  Unflinchingly barring
The way to his horses;
  He promptly produces
A loaded revolver 20
  As bulky and round
As himself; and directs it
  Upon the intruders:

  "You brigands! You cut-throats!
Don't move, or I shoot!"

  "How can we be brigands?"
The peasants say, laughing,
  "No knives and no pitchforks,
No hatchets have we!"

  "Who are you? And what 30
Do you want?" said the Barin.

  "A trouble torments us,
It draws us away
  From our wives, from our children,
Away from our work,
  Kills our appetites too,
Do give us your promise
  To answer us truly,
Consulting your conscience
  And searching your knowledge, 40
Not sneering, nor feigning
  The question we put you,
  And then we will tell you
The cause of our trouble."

  "I promise. I give you
The oath of a noble."

  "No, don't give us that—
Not the oath of a noble!
  We're better content
With the word of a Christian. 50
  The nobleman's oaths—
They are given with curses,
  With kicks and with blows!
We are better without them!"

  "Eh-heh, that's a new creed!
Well, let it be so, then.
  And what is your trouble?"

  "But put up the pistol!
That's right! Now we'll tell you:
  We are not assassins, 60
But peaceable peasants,
  From Government 'Hard-pressed,'
From District 'Most Wretched,'
  From 'Destitute' Parish,
From neighbouring hamlets,—
  'Patched,' 'Bare-Foot,' and 'Shabby,'
'Bleak,' 'Burnt-out,' and 'Hungry.'
  From 'Harvestless,' too.
We met in the roadway,
  And one asked another, 70
Who is he—the man
  Free and happy in Russia?
Luka said, 'The pope,'
  And Roman, 'The Pomyeshchick,'
Demyan, 'The official.'
  'The round-bellied merchant,'
Said both brothers Goobin,
  Mitrodor and Ivan;
Pakhom said, 'His Highness,
  The Tsar's Chief Adviser,' 80
And Prov said, 'The Tsar.'

  "Like bulls are the peasants;
Once folly is in them
  You cannot dislodge it,
Although you should beat them
  With stout wooden cudgels,
They stick to their folly,
  And nothing can move them!
We argued and argued,
  While arguing quarrelled, 90
While quarrelling fought,
  Till at last we decided
That never again
Would we turn our steps homeward
  To kiss wives and children,
To see the old people,
  Until we have settled
The subject of discord;
  Until we have found
The reply to our question— 100
  Of who can, in Russia,
Be happy and free?

  "Now tell us, Pomyeshchick,
Is your life a sweet one?
  And is the Pomyeshchick
Both happy and free?"

  Gavril Afanasich
Springs out of the "troika"
  And comes to the peasants.
He takes—like a doctor— 110
  The hand of each one,
And carefully feeling
  The pulse gazes searchingly
Into their faces,
  Then clasps his plump sides
And stands shaking with laughter.
  The clear, hearty laugh
Of the healthy Pomyeshchick
  Peals out in the pleasant
Cool air of the morning: 120
  "Ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha!"
Till he stops from exhaustion.
  And then he addresses
The wondering peasants:
  "Put on your hats, gentlemen,
Please to be seated!"

  (He speaks with a bitter[31]
And mocking politeness.)

  "But we are not gentry;
We'd rather stand up 130
  In your presence, your worship."

  "Sit down, worthy citizens,
Here on the bank."

  The peasants protest,
But, on seeing it useless,
  Sit down on the bank.

  "May I sit beside you?
Hey, Proshka! Some sherry,
  My rug and a cushion!"
  He sits on the rug. 140
Having finished the sherry,
  Thus speaks the Pomyeshchick:

  "I gave you my promise
To answer your question….
  The task is not easy,
For though you are highly
  Respectable people,
You're not very learned.
  Well, firstly, I'll try
To explain you the meaning 150
  Of Lord, or Pomyeshchick.
Have you, by some chance,
  Ever heard the expression
  The 'Family Tree'?
    Do you know what it means?"

  "The woods are not closed to us.
We have seen all kinds
  Of trees," say the peasants.
  "Your shot has miscarried!
I'll try to speak clearly; 160
  I come of an ancient,
Illustrious family;
  One, Oboldooeff,
My ancestor, is
  Amongst those who were mentioned
In old Russian chronicles
  Written for certain
Two hundred and fifty
  Years back. It is written,
  ''Twas given the Tartar, 170
Obolt-Oboldooeff,
  A piece of cloth, value
Two roubles, for having
  Amused the Tsaritsa
Upon the Tsar's birthday
  By fights of wild beasts,
Wolves and foxes. He also
  Permitted his own bear
To fight with a wild one,
  Which mauled Oboldooeff, 180
And hurt him severely.'
  And now, gentle peasants,
Did you understand?"

  "Why not? To this day
One can see them—the loafers
  Who stroll about leading
A bear!"

  "Be it so, then!
But now, please be silent,
  And hark to what follows: 190
From this Oboldooeff
  My family sprang;
And this incident happened
  Two hundred and fifty
Years back, as I told you,
  But still, on my mother's side,
  Even more ancient
The family is:
  Says another old writing:
'Prince Schepin, and one 200
  Vaska Gooseff, attempted
To burn down the city
  Of Moscow. They wanted
To plunder the Treasury.
  They were beheaded.'
And this was, good peasants,
  Full three hundred years back!
From these roots it was
  That our Family Tree sprang."

"And you are the … as one 210
  Might say … little apple
Which hangs on a branch
  Of the tree," say the peasants.

"Well, apple, then, call it,
  So long as it please you.
At least you appear
  To have got at my meaning.
  And now, you yourselves
Understand—the more ancient
  A family is 220
The more noble its members.
  Is that so, good peasants?"

"That's so," say the peasants.
  "The black bone and white bone
Are different, and they must
  Be differently honoured."

"Exactly. I see, friends,
You quite understand me."
The Barin continued:
"In past times we lived, 230
  As they say, 'in the bosom
Of Christ,' and we knew
  What it meant to be honoured!
Not only the people
  Obeyed and revered us,
But even the earth
  And the waters of Russia….
You knew what it was
  To be One, in the centre
Of vast, spreading lands, 240
  Like the sun in the heavens:
The clustering villages
  Yours, yours the meadows,
And yours the black depths
  Of the great virgin forests!
You pass through a village;
  The people will meet you,
Will fall at your feet;
  Or you stroll in the forest;
The mighty old trees 250
  Bend their branches before you.
Through meadows you saunter;
  The slim golden corn-stems
Rejoicing, will curtsey
  With winning caresses,
Will hail you as Master.
  The little fish sports
In the cool little river;
  Get fat, little fish,
At the will of the Master! 260
  The little hare speeds
Through the green little meadow;
  Speed, speed, little hare,
Till the coming of autumn,
  The season of hunting,
The sport of the Master.
  And all things exist
But to gladden the Master.
  Each wee blade of grass
Whispers lovingly to him, 270
  'I live but for thee….'

  "The joy and the beauty,
The pride of all Russia—
  The Lord's holy churches—
  Which brighten the hill-sides
And gleam like great jewels
  On the slopes of the valleys,
Were rivalled by one thing
  In glory, and that
Was the nobleman's manor. 280
  Adjoining the manor
Were glass-houses sparkling,
  And bright Chinese arbours,
While parks spread around it.
  On each of the buildings
Gay banners displaying
  Their radiant colours,
And beckoning softly,
  Invited the guest
To partake of the pleasures 290
  Of rich hospitality.
Never did Frenchmen
  In dreams even picture
Such sumptuous revels
  As we used to hold.
Not only for one-day,
  Or two, did they last—
But for whole months together!
  We fattened great turkeys,
  We brewed our own liquors, 300
We kept our own actors,
  And troupes of musicians,
And legions of servants!
  Why, I kept five cooks,
Besides pastry-cooks, working,
Two blacksmiths, three carpenters,
  Eighteen musicians,
And twenty-two huntsmen….
  My God!"…

            The afflicted 310
Pomyeshchick broke down here,
  And hastened to bury
His face in the cushion….
  "Hey, Proshka!" he cried,
And then quickly the lackey
  Poured out and presented
A glassful of brandy.
  The glass was soon empty,
And when the Pomyeshchick
  Had rested awhile, 320
He again began speaking:
  "Ah, then, Mother Russia,
How gladly in autumn
  Your forests awoke
To the horn of the huntsman!
  Their dark, gloomy depths,
Which had saddened and faded,
  Were pierced by the clear
Ringing blast, and they listened,
  Revived and rejoiced, 330
To the laugh of the echo.
  The hounds and the huntsmen
Are gathered together,
  And wait on the skirts
Of the forest; and with them
  The Master; and farther
Within the deep forest
  The dog-keepers, roaring
And shouting like madmen,
  The hounds all a-bubble 340
Like fast-boiling water.
  Hark! There's the horn calling!
You hear the pack yelling?
  They're crowding together!
And where's the red beast?
Hoo-loo-loo! Hoo-loo-loo!
  And the sly fox is ready;
Fat, furry old Reynard
  Is flying before us,
His bushy tail waving! 350
The knowing hounds crouch,
  And each lithe body quivers,
Suppressing the fire
  That is blazing within it:
'Dear guests of our hearts,
  Do come nearer and greet us,
We're panting to meet you,
  We, hale little fellows!
Come nearer to us
  And away from the bushes!' 360

"They're off! Now, my horse,
  Let your swiftness not fail me!
My hounds, you are staunch
  And you will not betray me!
Hoo-loo! Faster, faster!
  Now, at him, my children!"…
Gavril Afanasich
  Springs up, wildly shouting,
His arms waving madly,
  He dances around them! 370
He's certainly after
  A fox in the forest!

The peasants observe him
  In silent enjoyment,
They smile in their beards….

  "Eh … you, mad, merry hunters!
Although he forgets
  Many things—the Pomyeshchick—
Those hunts in the autumn
  Will not be forgotten. 380
'Tis not for our own loss
  We grieve, Mother Russia,
But you that we pity;
  For you, with the hunting
Have lost the last traces
  Of days bold and warlike
That made you majestic….

  "At times, in the autumn,
A party of fifty
  Would start on a hunting tour; 390
Then each Pomyeshchick
  Brought with him a hundred
Fine dogs, and twelve keepers,
  And cooks in abundance.
And after the cooks
  Came a long line of waggons
Containing provisions.
  And as we went forward
With music and singing,
  You might have mistaken 400
Our band for a fine troop
  Of cavalry, moving!
  The time flew for us
Like a falcon." How lightly
  The breast of the nobleman
Rose, while his spirit
  Went back to the days
Of Old Russia, and greeted
  The gallant Boyarin.[32] …

"No whim was denied us. 410
  To whom I desire
I show mercy and favour;
  And whom I dislike
I strike dead on the spot.
  The law is my wish,
And my fist is my hangman!
  My blow makes the sparks crowd,
My blow smashes jaw-bones,
  My blow scatters teeth!"…

  Like a string that is broken, 420
The voice of the nobleman
  Suddenly ceases;
He lowers his eyes
  To the ground, darkly frowning …
And then, in a low voice,
  He says:

    "You yourselves know
That strictness is needful;
  But I, with love, punished.
The chain has been broken, 430
  The links burst asunder;
And though we do not beat
  The peasant, no longer
We look now upon him
  With fatherly feelings.
Yes, I was severe too
  At times, but more often
I turned hearts towards me
  With patience and mildness.

"Upon Easter Sunday 440
  I kissed all the peasants
  Within my domain.
A great table, loaded
  With 'Paska' and 'Koolich'[33]
And eggs of all colours,
  Was spread in the manor.
My wife, my old mother,
  My sons, too, and even
My daughters did not scorn
  To kiss[34] the last peasant: 450
'Now Christ has arisen!'
  'Indeed He has risen!'
The peasants broke fast then,
  Drank vodka and wine.
  Before each great holiday,
In my best staterooms
  The All-Night Thanksgiving
Was held by the pope.
  My serfs were invited
With every inducement: 460
  'Pray hard now, my children,
Make use of the chance,
  Though you crack all your foreheads!'[35]
The nose suffered somewhat,
  But still at the finish
We brought all the women-folk
  Out of a village
To scrub down the floors.
  You see 'twas a cleansing
Of souls, and a strengthening 470
  Of spiritual union;
Now, isn't that so?"

  "That's so," say the peasants,
But each to himself thinks,
  "They needed persuading
With sticks though, I warrant,
  To get them to pray
In your Lordship's fine manor!"

  "I'll say, without boasting,
They loved me—my peasants. 480
  In my large Surminsky
Estate, where the peasants
  Were mostly odd-jobbers,
Or very small tradesmen,
  It happened that they
Would get weary of staying
  At home, and would ask
My permission to travel,
  To visit strange parts
At the coming of spring. 490
  They'd often be absent
Through summer and autumn.
  My wife and the children
Would argue while guessing
  The gifts that the peasants
Would bring on returning.
  And really, besides
Lawful dues of the 'Barin'
  In cloth, eggs, and live stock,
The peasants would gladly 500
  Bring gifts to the family:
Jam, say, from Kiev,
  From Astrakhan fish,
And the richer among them
  Some silk for the lady.
You see!—as he kisses
  Her hand he presents her
A neat little packet!
  And then for the children
Are sweetmeats and toys; 510
  For me, the old toper,
Is wine from St. Petersburg—
  Mark you, the rascal
Won't go to the Russian
  For that! He knows better—
He runs to the Frenchman!
  And when we have finished
Admiring the presents
  I go for a stroll
And a chat with the peasants; 520
  They talk with me freely.
My wife fills their glasses,
My little ones gather
  Around us and listen,
While sucking their sweets,
  To the tales of the peasants:
Of difficult trading,
  Of places far distant,
Of Petersburg, Astrakhan,
  Kazan, and Kiev…. 530
  On such terms it was
That I lived with my peasants.
  Now, wasn't that nice?"

  "Yes," answer the peasants;
"Yes, well might one envy
  The noble Pomyeshchick!
His life was so sweet
  There was no need to leave it."

"And now it is past….
  It has vanished for ever! 540
Hark! There's the bell tolling!"

  They listen in silence:
In truth, through the stillness
  Which settles around them,
The slow, solemn sound
  On the breeze of the morning
Is borne from Kusminsky….

"Sweet peace to the peasant!
God greet him in Heaven!"

  The peasants say softly, 550
And cross themselves thrice;
  And the mournful Pomyeshchick
Uncovers his head,
  As he piously crosses
Himself, and he answers:
  "'Tis not for the peasant
The knell is now tolling,
  It tolls the lost life
Of the stricken Pomyeshchick.
  Farewell to the past, 560
And farewell to thee, Russia,
  The Russia who cradled
The happy Pomyeshchick,
  Thy place has been stolen
And filled by another!…
  Heh, Proshka!" (The brandy
Is given, and quickly
  He empties the glass.)
"Oh, it isn't consoling
To witness the change 570
  In thy face, oh, my Motherland!
Truly one fancies
  The whole race of nobles
Has suddenly vanished!
  Wherever one goes, now,
One falls over peasants
  Who lie about, tipsy,
One meets not a creature
  But excise official,
  Or stupid 'Posrednik,'[36] 580
Or Poles who've been banished.
  One sees the troops passing,
  And then one can guess
That a village has somewhere
  Revolted, 'in thankful
And dutiful spirit….'
  In old days, these roads
Were made gay by the passing
  Of carriage, 'dormeuse,'
And of six-in-hand coaches, 590
  And pretty, light troikas;
And in them were sitting
  The family troop
Of the jolly Pomyeshchick:
  The stout, buxom mother,
The fine, roguish sons,
  And the pretty young daughters;
One heard with enjoyment
  The chiming of large bells,
The tinkling of small bells, 600
  Which hung from the harness.
And now?… What distraction
  Has life? And what joy
Does it bring the Pomyeshchick?
  At each step, you meet
Something new to revolt you;
  And when in the air
You can smell a rank graveyard,
  You know you are passing
A nobleman's manor! 610
  My Lord!… They have pillaged
The beautiful dwelling!
  They've pulled it all down,
Brick by brick, and have fashioned
  The bricks into hideously
Accurate columns!
  The broad shady park
Of the outraged Pomyeshchick,
  The fruit of a hundred years'
Careful attention, 620
  Is falling away
'Neath the axe of a peasant!
  The peasant works gladly,
And greedily reckons
  The number of logs
Which his labour will bring him.
  His dark soul is closed
To refinement of feeling,
  And what would it matter
To him, if you told him 630
  That this stately oak
Which his hatchet is felling
  My grandfather's hand
Had once planted and tended;
That under this ash-tree
  My dear little children,
My Vera and Ganushka,
  Echoed my voice
  As they played by my side;
That under this linden 640
  My young wife confessed me
That little Gavrioushka,
  Our best-beloved first-born,
Lay under her heart,
  As she nestled against me
And bashfully hid
  Her sweet face in my bosom
As red as a cherry….
  It is to his profit
To ravish the park, 650
  And his mission delights him.
It makes one ashamed now
  To pass through a village;
The peasant sits still
And he dreams not of bowing.
  One feels in one's breast
Not the pride of a noble
  But wrath and resentment.
The axe of the robber
  Resounds in the forest, 660
It maddens your heart,
  But you cannot prevent it,
For who can you summon
  To rescue your forest?
The fields are half-laboured,
  The seeds are half-wasted,
No trace left of order….
  O Mother, my country,
We do not complain
  For ourselves—of our sorrows, 670
Our hearts bleed for thee:
  Like a widow thou standest
In helpless affliction
  With tresses dishevelled
And grief-stricken face….
  They have blighted the forest,
The noisy low taverns
Have risen and flourished.
  They've picked the most worthless
And loose of the people, 680
  And given them power
In the posts of the Zemstvos;
  They've seized on the peasant
And taught him his letters—
  Much good may it do him!
Your brow they have branded,
  As felons are branded,
As cattle are branded,
  With these words they've stamped it:
'To take away with you 690
  Or drink on the premises.'
Was it worth while, pray,
  To weary the peasant
With learning his letters
  In order to read them?
The land that we keep
  Is our mother no longer,
Our stepmother rather.
  And then to improve things,
These pert good-for-nothings, 700
  These impudent writers
Must needs shout in chorus:
  'But whose fault, then, is it,
That you thus exhausted
  And wasted your country?'
But I say—you duffers!
  Who could foresee this?
They babble, 'Enough
  Of your lordly pretensions!
It's time that you learnt something, 710
  Lazy Pomyeshchicks!
Get up, now, and work!'

  "Work! To whom, in God's name,
Do you think you are speaking?
  I am not a peasant
In 'laputs,' good madman!
  I am—by God's mercy—
A Noble of Russia.
  You take us for Germans!
We nobles have tender 720
  And delicate feelings,
Our pride is inborn,
  And in Russia our classes
Are not taught to work.
  Why, the meanest official
  Will not raise a finger
To clear his own table,
  Or light his own stove!
I can say, without boasting,
  That though I have lived 730
Forty years in the country,
  And scarcely have left it,
I could not distinguish
  Between rye and barley.
And they sing of 'work' to me!

  "If we Pomyeshchicks
Have really mistaken
  Our duty and calling,
If really our mission
  Is not, as in old days, 740
To keep up the hunting,
  To revel in luxury,
Live on forced labour,
  Why did they not tell us
Before? Could I learn it?
  For what do I see?
I've worn the Tsar's livery,
'Sullied the Heavens,'
  And 'squandered the treasury
Gained by the people,' 750
  And fully imagined
To do so for ever,
  And now … God in Heaven!"…
The Barin is sobbing!…

  The kind-hearted peasants
Can hardly help crying
  Themselves, and they think:
"Yes, the chain has been broken,
  The strong links have snapped,
And the one end recoiling 760
  Has struck the Pomyeshchick,
The other—the peasant."

THE LAST POMYESHCHICK

The day of St. Peter—
  And very hot weather;
The mowers are all
  At their work in the meadows.
The peasants are passing
  A tumble-down village,
Called "Ignorant-Duffers,"
  Of Volost "Old-Dustmen,"
Of Government "Know-Nothing.'
  They are approaching 10
The banks of the Volga.
  They come to the river,
The sea-gulls are wheeling
  And flashing above it;
The sea-hens are walking
  About on the sand-banks;
And in the bare hayfields,
  Which look just as naked
As any youth's cheek
  After yesterday's shaving, 20
The Princes Volkonsky[37]
  Are haughtily standing,
And round them their children,
  Who (unlike all others)
Are born at an earlier
  Date than their sires.

"The fields are enormous,"
Remarks old Pakhom,
  "Why, the folk must be giants."
The two brothers Goobin 30
  Are smiling at something:
For some time they've noticed
  A very tall peasant
Who stands with a pitcher
  On top of a haystack;
He drinks, and a woman
  Below, with a hay-fork,
Is looking at him
  With her head leaning back.
The peasants walk on 40
  Till they come to the haystack;
The man is still drinking;
  They pass it quite slowly,
Go fifty steps farther,
  Then all turn together
And look at the haystack.
  Not much has been altered:
The peasant is standing
  With body bent back
As before,—but the pitcher 50
  Has turned bottom upwards….

The strangers go farther.
  The camps are thrown out
On the banks of the river;
  And there the old people
And children are gathered,
  And horses are waiting
With big empty waggons;
  And then, in the fields
Behind those that are finished, 60
  The distance is filled
By the army of workers,
  The white shirts of women,
The men's brightly coloured,
  And voices and laughter,
With all intermingled
  The hum of the scythes….

  "God help you, good fellows!"
"Our thanks to you, brothers!"

  The peasants stand noting 70
The long line of mowers,
  The poise of the scythes
And their sweep through the sunshine.
  The rhythmical swell
Of melodious murmur.

  The timid grass stands
For a moment, and trembles,
  Then falls with a sigh….

  On the banks of the Volga
The grass has grown high 80
And the mowers work gladly.
  The peasants soon feel
That they cannot resist it.
"It's long since we've stretched ourselves,
  Come, let us help you!"
And now seven women
  Have yielded their places.
  The spirit of work
Is devouring our peasants;
  Like teeth in a ravenous 90
Mouth they are working—
  The muscular arms,
And the long grass is falling
  To songs that are strange
To this part of the country,
  To songs that are taught
By the blizzards and snow-storms,
The wild savage winds
  Of the peasants' own homelands:
"Bleak," "Burnt-Out," and "Hungry," 100
  "Patched," "Bare-Foot," and "Shabby,"
And "Harvestless," too….
  And when the strong craving
For work is appeased
  They sit down by a haystack.

"From whence have you come?"
  A grey-headed old peasant
(The one whom the women
  Call Vlasuchka) asks them,
"And where are you going?" 110

  "We are—" say the peasants,
Then suddenly stop,
  There's some music approaching!

"Oh, that's the Pomyeshchick
  Returning from boating!"
Says Vlasuchka, running
  To busy the mowers:
"Wake up! Look alive there!
  And mind—above all things,
Don't heat the Pomyeshchick 120
  And don't make him angry!
And if he abuse you,
  Bow low and say nothing,
And if he should praise you,
  Start lustily cheering.
You women, stop cackling!
  And get to your forks!"
A big burly peasant
With beard long and bushy
  Bestirs himself also 130
To busy them all,
  Then puts on his "kaftan," [38]
And runs away quickly
  To meet the Pomyeshchick.

And now to the bank-side
  Three boats are approaching.
In one sit the servants
  And band of musicians,
Most busily playing;
  The second one groans 140
'Neath a mountainous wet-nurse,
  Who dandles a baby,
A withered old dry-nurse,
  A motionless body
Of ancient retainers.
  And then in the third
There are sitting the gentry:
  Two beautiful ladies
(One slender and fair-haired,
  One heavy and black-browed) 150
And two moustached Barins
  And three little Barins,
And last—the Pomyeshchick,
  A very old man
Wearing long white moustaches
  (He seems to be all white);
His cap, broad and high-crowned,
  Is white, with a peak,
In the front, of red satin.
  His body is lean 160
As a hare's in the winter,
  His nose like a hawk's beak,
His eyes—well, they differ:
  The one sharp and shining,
The other—the left eye—
  Is sightless and blank,
Like a dull leaden farthing.
  Some woolly white poodles
With tufts on their ankles
  Are in the boat too. 170

The old man alighting
  Has mounted the bank,
Where for long he reposes
  Upon a red carpet
Spread out by the servants.
And then he arises
  To visit the mowers,
To pass through the fields
  On a tour of inspection.
He leans on the arm— 180
  Now of one of the Barins,
And now upon those
  Of the beautiful ladies.
And so with his suite—
  With the three little Barins,
The wet-nurse, the dry-nurse,
  The ancient retainers,
The woolly white poodles,—
Along through the hayfields
  Proceeds the Pomyeshchick. 190

The peasants on all sides
  Bow down to the ground;
And the big, burly peasant
  (The Elder he is
As the peasants have noticed)
  Is cringing and bending
Before the Pomyeshchick,
  Just like the Big Devil
Before the high altar:
"Just so! Yes, Your Highness, 200
  It's done, at your bidding!"
I think he will soon fall
  Before the Pomyeshchick
And roll in the dust….

  So moves the procession,
Until it stops short
  In the front of a haystack
Of wonderful size,
  Only this day erected.
The old man is poking 210
  His forefinger in it,
He thinks it is damp,
  And he blazes with fury:
"Is this how you rot
  The best goods of your master?
I'll rot you with barschin,[39]
  I'll make you repent it!
Undo it—at once!"

  The Elder is writhing
In great agitation: 220
  "I was not quite careful
Enough, and it is damp.
  It's my fault, Your Highness!"
He summons the peasants,
  Who run with their pitchforks
To punish the monster.
  And soon they have spread it
In small heaps around,
  At the feet of the master;
His wrath is appeased. 230

  (In the meantime the strangers
Examine the hay—It's
  like tinder—so dry!)

A lackey comes flying
  Along, with a napkin;
He's lame—the poor man!
  "Please, the luncheon is served."
And then the procession,
The three little Barins,
The wet-nurse, the dry-nurse, 240
  The ancient retainers,
The woolly white poodles,
  Moves onward to lunch.

The peasants stand watching;
  From one of the boats
Comes an outburst of music
To greet the Pomyeshchick.

  The table is shining
All dazzlingly white
  On the bank of the river. 250
The strangers, astonished,
Draw near to old Vlasuchka;
  "Pray, little Uncle,"
They say, "what's the meaning
  Of all these strange doings?
And who is that curious
    Old man?"

    "Our Pomyeshchick,
The great Prince Yutiatin."

"But why is he fussing 260
  About in that manner?
For things are all changed now,
  And he seems to think
They are still as of old.
  The hay is quite dry,
Yet he told you to dry it!"

  "But funnier still
That the hay and the hayfields
  Are not his at all."

"Then whose are they?" 270
    "The Commune's."

"Then why is he poking
  His nose into matters
Which do not concern him?
  For are you not free?"

"Why, yes, by God's mercy
  The order is changed now
For us as for others;
  But ours is a special case."

"Tell us about it." 280
  The old man lay down
At the foot of the haystack
  And answered them—nothing.

  The peasants producing
  The magic white napkin
Sit down and say softly,
  "O napkin enchanted,
Give food to the peasants!"
The napkin unfolds,
  And two hands, which come floating
From no one sees where, 291
  Place a bucket of vodka,
A large pile of bread
  On the magic white napkin,
And dwindle away….

  The peasants, still wishing
To question old Vlasuchka,
  Wisely present him
A cupful of vodka:
  "Now come, little Uncle, 300
Be gracious to strangers,
  And tell us your story."

"There's nothing to tell you.
  You haven't told me yet
Who you are and whence
You have journeyed to these parts,
  And whither you go."

"We will not be surly
  Like you. We will tell you.
We've come a great distance, 310
  And seek to discover
A thing of importance.
  A trouble torments us,
It draws us away
  From our work, from our homes,
From the love of our food…."
  The peasants then tell him
About their chance meeting,
  Their argument, quarrel,
Their vow, and decision; 320
  Of how they had sought
In the Government "Tight-Squeeze"
  And Government "Shot-Strewn"
The man who, in Russia,
  Is happy and free….

  Old Vlasuchka listens,
Observing them keenly.
  "I see," he remarks,
When the story is finished,
  "I see you are very 330
Peculiar people.
  We're said to be strange here,
But you are still stranger."

"Well, drink some more vodka
  And tell us your tale."

  And when by the vodka
His tongue becomes loosened,
  Old Vlasuchka tells them
The following story.

THE DIE-HARD

"The great prince, Yutiatin,
  The ancient Pomyeshchick,
Is very eccentric.
  His wealth is untold,
And his titles exalted,
  His family ranks
With the first in the Empire.
  The whole of his life
He has spent in amusement,
  Has known no control 10
Save his own will and pleasure.
  When we were set free
He refused to believe it:
  'They lie! the low scoundrels!'
There came the posrednik
  And Chief of Police,
But he would not admit them,
  He ordered them out
And went on as before,
And only became 20
  Full of hate and suspicion:
'Bow low, or I'll flog you
  To death, without mercy!'
The Governor himself came
  To try to explain things,
And long they disputed
  And argued together;
The furious voice
  Of the prince was heard raging
All over the house, 30
  And he got so excited
That on the same evening
  A stroke fell upon him:
His left side went dead,
  Black as earth, so they tell us,
And all over nothing!
  It wasn't his pocket
That pinched, but his pride
  That was touched and enraged him.
He lost but a mite 40
  And would never have missed it."

"Ah, that's what it means, friends,
  To be a Pomyeshchick,
The habit gets into
  The blood," says Mitrodor,
  "And not the Pomyeshchick's
Alone, for the habit
  Is strong in the peasant
As well," old Pakhom said.
  "I once on suspicion 50
Was put into prison,
  And met there a peasant
Called Sedor, a strange man,
  Arrested for horse-stealing,
If I remember;
  And he from the prison
Would send to the Barin
  His taxes. (The prisoner's
Income is scanty,
  He gets what he begs 60
Or a trifle for working.)
  The others all laughed at him;
'Why should you send them
  And you off for life
To hard labour?' they asked him.
  But he only said,
'All the same … it is better.'"

  "Well, now, little Uncle,
Go on with the story."

  "A mite is a small thing, 70
  Except when it happens
To be in the eye!
  The Pomyeshchick lay senseless,
And many were sure
  That he'd never recover.
His children were sent for,
  Those black-moustached footguards
(You saw them just now
  With their wives, the fine ladies),
The eldest of them 80
  Was to settle all matters
Concerning his father.
  He called the posrednik
To draw up the papers
  And sign the agreement,
When suddenly—there
  Stands the old man before them!
He springs on them straight
  Like a wounded old tiger,
He bellows like thunder. 90
  It was but a short time
Ago, and it happened
  That I was then Elder,
And chanced to have entered
  The house on some errand,
And I heard myself
  How he cursed the Pomyeshchicks;
The words that he spoke
  I have never forgotten:
'The Jews are reproached 100
  For betraying their Master;
But what are you doing?
  The rights of the nobles
By centuries sanctioned
  You fling to the beggars!'
He said to his sons,
  'Oh, you dastardly cowards!
My children no longer!
  It is for small reptiles—
The pope's crawling breed— 110
  To take bribes from vile traitors,
To purchase base peasants,
  And they may be pardoned!
But you!—you have sprung
  From the house of Yutiatin,
The Princes Yu-tia-tin
  You are! Go!… Go, leave me!
You pitiful puppies!'
The heirs were alarmed;
  How to tide matters over 120
Until he should die?
  For they are not small items,
The forests and lands
  That belong to our father;
His money-bags are not
  So light as to make it
A question of nothing
  Whose shoulders shall bear them;
We know that our father
  Has three 'private' daughters 130
In Petersburg living,
  To Generals married,
So how do we know
  That they may not inherit
His wealth?… The Pomyeshchick
  Once more is prostrated,
His death is a question
  Of time, and to make it
Run smoothly till then
  An agreement was come to, 140
A plan to deceive him:
So one of the ladies
(The fair one, I fancy,
  She used at that time
To attend the old master
  And rub his left side
With a brush), well, she told him
  That orders had come
From the Government lately
  That peasants set free 150
Should return to their bondage.
  And he quite believed it.
(You see, since his illness
  The Prince had become
Like a child.) When he heard it
  He cried with delight;
And the household was summoned
  To prayer round the icons;[40]
And Thanksgiving Service
  Was held by his orders 160
In every small village,
  And bells were set ringing.
And little by little
  His strength returned partly.
And then as before
  It was hunting and music,
  The servants were caned
And the peasants were punished.
  The heirs had, of course,
Set things right with the servants, 170
  A good understanding
They came to, and one man
  (You saw him go running
Just now with the napkin)
  Did not need persuading—-
He so loved his Barin.
  His name is Ipat,
And when we were made free
  He refused to believe it;
'The great Prince Yutiatin 180
  Be left without peasants!
What pranks are you playing?'
  At last, when the 'Order
Of Freedom' was shown him,
  Ipat said, 'Well, well,
Get you gone to your pleasures,
  But I am the slave
Of the Princes Yutiatin!'
  He cannot get over
The old Prince's kindness 190
  To him, and he's told us
Some curious stories
  Of things that had happened
To him in his childhood,
  His youth and old age.
(You see, I had often
  To go to the Prince
On some matter or other
  Concerning the peasants,
And waited and waited 200
  For hours in the kitchens,
And so I have heard them
  A hundred times over.)
'When I was a young man
  Our gracious young Prince
Spent his holidays sometimes
  At home, and would dip me
(His meanest slave, mind you)
  Right under the ice
In the depths of the Winter. 210
  He did it in such
A remarkable way, too!
  He first made two holes
In the ice of the river,
  In one he would lower
Me down in a net—
  Pull me up through the other!'
And when I began
  To grow old, it would happen
That sometimes I drove 220
  With the Prince in the Winter;
The snow would block up
  Half the road, and we used
To drive five-in-a-file.
  Then the fancy would strike him
(How whimsical, mark you!)
  To set me astride
On the horse which was leading,
  Me—last of his slaves!
Well, he dearly loved music, 230
  And so he would throw me
A fiddle: 'Here! play now,
  Ipat.' Then the driver
Would shout to the horses,
And urge them to gallop.
  The snow would half-blind me,
My hands with the music
  Were occupied both;
So what with the jolting,
  The snow, and the fiddle, 240
Ipat, like a silly
Old noodle, would tumble.
  Of course, if he landed
Right under the horses
  The sledge must go over
His ribs,—who could help it?
  But that was a trifle;
The cold was the worst thing,
  It bites you, and you
Can do nothing against it! 250
  The snow lay all round
On the vast empty desert,
  I lay looking up
At the stars and confessing
  My sins. But—my friends,
This is true as the Gospel—
  I heard before long
How the sledge-bells came ringing,
  Drew nearer and nearer:
The Prince had remembered, 260
  And come back to fetch me!'

  "(The tears began falling
And rolled down his face
  At this part of the story.
  Whenever he told it
He always would cry
  Upon coming to this!)
'He covered me up
  With some rugs, and he warmed me,
He lifted me up, 270
  And he placed me beside him,
Me—last of his slaves—
  Beside his Princely Person!
And so we came home.'"

They're amused at the story.

Old Vlasuchka, when
  He has emptied his fourth cup,
Continues: "The heirs came
  And called us together—
The peasants and servants; 280
  They said, 'We're distressed
On account of our father.
  These changes will kill him,
He cannot sustain them.
  So humour his weakness:
  Keep silent, and act still
As if all this trouble
  Had never existed;
Give way to him, bow to him
  Just as in old days. 290
For each stroke of barschin,
For all needless labour,
  For every rough word
We will richly reward you.
  He cannot live long now,
The doctors have told us
  That two or three months
Is the most we may hope for.
  Act kindly towards us,
And do as we ask you, 300
  And we as the price
Of your silence will give you
  The hayfields which lie
On the banks of the Volga.
  Think well of our offer,
And let the posrednik
  Be sent for to witness
And settle the matter.'

  "Then gathered the commune
To argue and clamour; 310
  The thought of the hayfields
(In which we are sitting),
  With promises boundless
And plenty of vodka,
  Decided the question:
The commune would wait
  For the death of the Barin.

"Then came the posrednik,
  And laughing, he said:
'It's a capital notion! 320
  The hayfields are fine, too,
You lose nothing by it;
  You just play the fool
And the Lord will forgive you.
  You know, it's forbidden
To no one in Russia
  To bow and be silent.'

"But I was against it:
  I said to the peasants,
'For you it is easy, 330
  But how about me?
Whatever may happen
  The Elder must come
  To accounts with the Barin,
And how can I answer
  His babyish questions?
And how can I do
  His nonsensical bidding?'

  "'Just take off your hat
And bow low, and say nothing, 340
  And then you walk out
And the thing's at an end.
  The old man is ill,
He is weak and forgetful,
  And nothing will stay
In his head for an instant.'

  "Perhaps they were right;
To deceive an old madman
  Is not very hard.
But for my part, I don't want 350
  To play at buffoon.
For how many years
  Have I stood on the threshold
And bowed to the Barin?
  Enough for my pleasure!
I said, 'If the commune
  Is pleased to be ruled
By a crazy Pomyeshchick
  To ease his last moments
I don't disagree, 360
  I have nothing against it;
But then, set me free
  From my duties as Elder.'

"The whole matter nearly
  Fell through at that moment,
But then Klimka Lavin said,
  'Let me be Elder,
I'll please you on both sides,
  The master and you.
The Lord will soon take him, 370
  And then the fine hayfields
Will come to the commune.
  I swear I'll establish
Such order amongst you
  You'll die of the fun!'

"The commune took long
  To consider this offer:
A desperate fellow
  Is Klimka the peasant,
A drunkard, a rover, 380
  And not very honest,
  No lover of work,
And acquainted with gipsies;
  A vagabond, knowing
A lot about horses.
  A scoffer at those
Who work hard, he will tell you:
  'At work you will never
Get rich, my fine fellow;
  You'll never get rich,— 390
But you're sure to get crippled!'
  But he, all the same,
Is well up in his letters;
  Has been to St. Petersburg.
Yes, and to Moscow,
  And once to Siberia, too,
With the merchants.
  A pity it was
That he ever returned!
  He's clever enough, 400
But he can't keep a farthing;
  He's sharp—but he's always
In some kind of trouble.
He's picked some fine words up
  From out of his travels:
  'Our Fatherland dear,'
And 'The soul of great Russia,'
  And 'Moscow, the mighty,
Illustrious city!'
  'And I,' he will shout, 410
'Am a plain Russian peasant!'
  And striking his forehead
He'll swallow the vodka.
  A bottle at once
He'll consume, like a mouthful.
  He'll fall at your feet
For a bottle of vodka.
  But if he has money
He'll share with you, freely;
  The first man he meets 420
May partake of his drink.
  He's clever at shouting
And cheating and fooling,
  At showing the best side
Of goods which are rotten,
At boasting and lying;
  And when he is caught
He'll slip out through a cranny,
  And throw you a jest,
Or his favourite saying: 430
  'A crack in the jaw
Will your honesty bring you!'

  "Well, after much thinking
The commune decided
  That I must remain
The responsible Elder;
  But Klimka might act
In my stead to the Barin
  As though he were Elder.
Why, then, let him do it! 440
  The right kind of Elder
He is for his Barin,
  They make a fine pair!
  Like putty his conscience;
Like Meenin's[41] his beard,
  So that looking upon him
You'd think a sedater,
  More dutiful peasant
Could never be found.
  The heirs made his kaftan, 450
And he put it on,
  And from Klimka the 'scapegrace'
He suddenly changed
  Into Klim, Son-of-Jacob,[42]
Most worthy of Elders.
So that's how it is;—
  And to our great misfortune
The Barin is ordered
  A carriage-drive daily.
Each day through the village 460
  He drives in a carriage
That's built upon springs.
  Then up you jump, quickly,
And whip off your hat,
  And, God knows for what reason,
He'll jump down your throat,
  He'll upbraid and abuse you;
But you must keep silent.
  He watches a peasant
At work in the fields, 470
  And he swears we are lazy
And lie-abed sluggards
  (Though never worked peasant
With half such a will
  In the time of the Barin).
He has not a notion
  That they are not his fields,
But ours. When we gather
  We laugh, for each peasant
Has something to tell 480
  Of the crazy Pomyeshchick;
His ears burn, I warrant,
  When we come together!
And Klim, Son-of-Jacob,
  Will run, with the manner
Of bearing the commune
  Some news of importance
(The pig has got proud
  Since he's taken to scratching
His sides on the steps 490
  Of the nobleman's manor).
He runs and he shouts:
  'A command to the commune!
  I told the Pomyeshchick
That Widow Terentevna's
  Cottage had fallen.
And that she is begging
  Her bread. He commands you
  To marry the widow
To Gabriel Jockoff; 500
  To rebuild the cottage,
And let them reside there
  And multiply freely.'

"The bride will be seventy,
  Seven the bridegroom!
Well, who could help laughing?
Another command:
  'The dull-witted cows,
Driven out before sunrise,
  Awoke the Pomyeshchick 510
By foolishly mooing
  While passing his courtyard.
The cow-herd is ordered
  To see that the cows
Do not moo in that manner!'"

The peasants laugh loudly.

  "But why do you laugh so?
We all have our fancies.
  Yakutsk was once governed,
I heard, by a General; 520
  He had a liking
For sticking live cows
  Upon spikes round the city,
And every free spot
  Was adorned in that manner,
As Petersburg is,
  So they say, with its statues,
Before it had entered
  The heads of the people
That he was a madman. 530

  "Another strict order
Was sent to the commune:
  'The dog which belongs
To Sofronoff the watchman
  Does not behave nicely,
It barked at the Barin.
  Be therefore Sofronoff
Dismissed. Let Evremka
Be watchman to guard
  The estate of the Barin.' 540
(Another loud laugh,
  For Evremka, the 'simple,'
Is known as the deaf-mute
  And fool of the village).
  But Klimka's delighted:
At last he's found something
  That suits him exactly.
He bustles about
  And in everything meddles,
And even drinks less. 550
  There's a sharp little woman
Whose name is Orevna,
  And she is Klim's gossip,
And finely she helps him
  To fool the old Barin.
And as to the women,
  They're living in clover:
They run to the manor
  With linen and mushrooms
And strawberries, knowing 560
  The ladies will buy them
And pay what they ask them
  And feed them besides.
We laughed and made game
  Till we fell into danger
And nearly were lost:
  There was one man among us,
Petrov, an ungracious
  And bitter-tongued peasant;
He never forgave us 570
  Because we'd consented
To humour the Barin.
  'The Tsar,' he would say,
'Has had mercy upon you,
  And now, you, yourselves
Lift the load to your backs.
  To Hell with the hayfields!
  We want no more masters!'
We only could stop him
  By giving him vodka 580
(His weakness was vodka).
  The devil must needs
Fling him straight at the Barin.
One morning Petrov
  Had set out to the forest
To pilfer some logs
  (For the night would not serve him,
It seems, for his thieving,
  He must go and do it
In broadest white daylight), 590
  And there comes the carriage,
On springs, with the Barin!

  "'From whence, little peasant,
That beautiful tree-trunk?
  From whence has it come?'
He knew, the old fellow,
  From whence it had come.
Petrov stood there silent,
  And what could he answer?
He'd taken the tree 600
  From the Barin's own forest.

  "The Barin already
Is bursting with anger;
  He nags and reproaches,
He can't stop recalling
  The rights of the nobles.
The rank of his Fathers,
  He winds them all into
Petrov, like a corkscrew.

"The peasants are patient, 610
  But even their patience
Must come to an end.
  Petrov was out early,
Had eaten no breakfast,
  Felt dizzy already,
And now with the words
  Of the Barin all buzzing
Like flies in his ears—
  Why, he couldn't keep steady,
He laughed in his face! 620

  "'Have done, you old scarecrow!'
He said to the Barin.
  'You crazy old clown!'
  His jaw once unmuzzled
He let enough words out
  To stuff the Pomyeshchick
With Fathers and Grandfathers
  Into the bargain.
The oaths of the lords
  Are like stings of mosquitoes, 630
But those of the peasant
  Like blows of the pick-axe.
The Barin's dumbfounded!
  He'd safely encounter
A rain of small shot,
  But he cannot face stones.
The ladies are with him,
  They, too, are bewildered,
They run to the peasant
  And try to restrain him. 640

"He bellows, 'I'll kill you!
  For what are you swollen
With pride, you old dotard,
  You scum of the pig-sty?
Have done with your jabber!
  You've lost your strong grip
On the soul of the peasant,
  The last one you are.
By the will of the peasant
  Because he is foolish 650
They treat you as master
  To-day. But to-morrow
The ball will be ended;
  A good kick behind
We will give the Pomyeshchick,
  And tail between legs
Send him back to his dwelling
  To leave us in peace!'

  "The Barin is gasping,
'You rebel … you rebel!' 660
  He trembles all over,
Half-dead he has fallen,
  And lies on the earth!

  "The end! think the others,
The black-moustached footguards,
  The beautiful ladies;
But they are mistaken;
  It isn't the end.

  "An order: to summon
The village together 670
  To witness the punishment
Dealt to the rebel
  Before the Pomyeshchick….
The heirs and the ladies
  Come running in terror
To Klim, to Petrov,
  And to me: 'Only save us!'
Their faces are pale,
    'If the trick is discovered
We're lost!' 680
             It is Klim's place
To deal with the matter:
  He drinks with Petrov
All day long, till the evening,
  Embracing him fondly.
Together till midnight
  They pace round the village,
At midnight start drinking
  Again till the morning.
Petrov is as tipsy 690
  As ever man was,
And like that he is brought
  To the Barin's large courtyard,
And all is perfection!
  The Barin can't move
From the balcony, thanks
  To his yesterday's shaking.
And Klim is well pleased.

  "He leads Petrov into
The stable and sets him 700
  In front of a gallon
Of vodka, and tells him:
  'Now, drink and start crying,
''Oh, oh, little Fathers!
  Oh, oh, little. Mothers!
Have mercy! Have mercy!'''

  "Petrov does his bidding;
He howls, and the Barin,
  Perched up on the balcony,
Listens in rapture. 710
  He drinks in the sound
Like the loveliest music.
  And who could help laughing
To hear him exclaiming,
  'Don't spare him, the villain!
The im-pu-dent rascal!
  Just teach him a lesson!'
Petrov yells aloud
  Till the vodka is finished.
Of course in the end 720
He is perfectly helpless,
  And four peasants carry him
Out of the stable.
  His state is so sorry
That even the Barin
  Has pity upon him,
And says to him sweetly,
  'Your own fault it is,
Little peasant, you know!'"

"You see what a kind heart 730
  He has, the Pomyeshchick,"
Says Prov, and old Vlasuchka
  Answers him quietly,
"A saying there is:
  'Praise the grass—in the haystack,
The lord—in his coffin.'

  "Twere well if God took him.
Petrov is no longer
  Alive. That same evening
He started up, raving, 740
At midnight the pope came,
  And just as the day dawned
He died. He was buried,
  A cross set above him,
And God alone knows
  What he died of. It's certain
That we never touched him,
  Nay, not with a finger,
Much less with a stick.
  Yet sometimes the thought comes:
Perhaps if that accident 751
  Never had happened
Petrov would be living.
  You see, friends, the peasant
Was proud more than others,
  He carried his head high,
And never had bent it,
  And now of a sudden—
Lie down for the Barin!
  Fall flat for his pleasure! 760
The thing went off well,
  But Petrov had not wished it.
I think he was frightened
  To anger the commune
By not giving in,
  And the commune is foolish,
It soon will destroy you….
  The ladies were ready
To kiss the old peasant,
  They brought fifty roubles 770
For him, and some dainties.
  'Twas Klimka, the scamp,
The unscrupulous sinner,
  Who worked his undoing….

  "A servant is coming
To us from the Barin,
  They've finished their lunch.
Perhaps they have sent him
  To summon the Elder.
I'll go and look on 780
  At the comedy there."

KLIM, THE ELDER

With him go the strangers,
  And some of the women
And men follow after,
  For mid-day has sounded,
Their rest-time it is,
  So they gather together
To stare at the gentry,
  To whisper and wonder.
They stand in a row
  At a dutiful distance 10
Away from the Prince….

  At a long snowy table
Quite covered with bottles
  And all kinds of dishes
Are sitting the gentry,
  The old Prince presiding
In dignified state
  At the head of the table;
All white, dressed in white,
  With his face shrunk awry, 20
His dissimilar eyes;
  In his button-hole fastened
A little white cross
  (It's the cross of St. George,
Some one says in a whisper);
And standing behind him,
  Ipat, the domestic,
The faithful old servant,
In white tie and shirt-front
  Is brushing the flies off. 30
Beside the Pomyeshchick
  On each hand are sitting
The beautiful ladies:
  The one with black tresses,
Her lips red as beetroots,
  Each eye like an apple;
The other, the fair-haired,
  With yellow locks streaming.
(Oh, you yellow locks,
  Like spun gold do you glisten 40
And glow, in the sunshine!)
  Then perched on three high chairs
The three little Barins,
  Each wearing his napkin
Tucked under his chin,
  With the old nurse beside them,
And further the body
  Of ancient retainers;
And facing the Prince
  At the foot of the table, 50
The black-moustached footguards
  Are sitting together.
Behind each chair standing
  A young girl is serving,
And women are waving
  The flies off with branches.
The woolly white poodles
  Are under the table,
The three little Barins
  Are teasing them slyly. 60

  Before the Pomyeshchick,
Bare-headed and humble,
  The Elder is standing.
"Now tell me, how soon
  Will the mowing be finished?"
The Barin says, talking
  And eating at once.

  "It soon will be finished.
Three days of the week
  Do we work for your Highness; 70
A man with a horse,
  And a youth or a woman,
And half an old woman
  From every allotment.
To-day for this week
Is the Barin's term finished."

  "Tut-tut!" says the Barin,
Like one who has noticed
  Some crafty intent
On the part of another. 80
  "'The Barin's term,' say you?
Now, what do you mean, pray?"
  The eye which is bright
He has fixed on the peasant.

  The Elder is hanging
His head in confusion.
  "Of course it must be
As your Highness may order.
  In two or three days,
If the weather be gracious, 90
  The hay of your Highness
Can surely be gathered.
  That's so,—is it not?"

(He turns his broad face round
  And looks at the peasants.)
And then the sharp woman,
  Klim's gossip, Orevna,
Makes answer for them:
  "Yes, Klim, Son-of-Jacob,
The hay of the Barin 100
  Is surely more precious
Than ours. We must tend it
  As long as the weather lasts;
Ours may come later."

  "A woman she is,
But more clever than you,"
  The Pomyeshchick says smiling,
And then of a sudden
  Is shaken with laughter:
"Ha, ha! Oh, you blockhead! 110
  Ha? ha! fool! fool! fool!
It's the 'Barin's term,' say you?
  Ha, ha! fool, ha, ha!
The Barin's term, slave,
  Is the whole of your life-time;
And you have forgotten
  That I, by God's mercy,
By Tsar's ancient charter,
  By birth and by merit,
Am your supreme master!" 120

  The strangers remark here
That Vlasuchka gently
  Slips down to the grass.

  "What's that for?" they ask him.
"We may as well rest now;
  He's off. You can't stop him.
For since it was rumoured
  That we should be given
Our freedom, the Barin
  Takes care to remind us 130
That till the last hour
  Of the world will the peasant
Be clenched in the grip
  Of the nobles." And really
An hour slips away
  And the Prince is still speaking;
His tongue will not always
  Obey him, he splutters
And hisses, falls over
  His words, and his right eye 140
So shares his disquiet
  That it trembles and twitches.
The left eye expands,
  Grows as round as an owl's eye,
Revolves like a wheel.
  The rights of his Fathers
Through ages respected,
  His services, merits,
His name and possessions,
  The Barin rehearses. 150

God's curse, the Tsar's anger,
  He hurls at the heads
Of obstreperous peasants.
  And strictly gives order
To sweep from the commune
  All senseless ideas,
Bids the peasants remember
  That they are his slaves
And must honour their master.

  "Our Fathers," cried Klim, 160
And his voice sounded strangely,
  It rose to a squeak
As if all things within him
  Leapt up with a passionate
Joy of a sudden
  At thought of the mighty
And noble Pomyeshchicks,
"And whom should we serve
  Save the Master we cherish?
And whom should we honour? 170
  In whom should we hope?
We feed but on sorrows,
  We bathe but in tear-drops,
How can we rebel?

  "Our tumble-down hovels,
Our weak little bodies,
  Ourselves, we are yours,
We belong to our Master.
  The seeds which we sow
In the earth, and the harvest, 180
  The hair on our heads—
All belongs to the Master.
  Our ancestors fallen
To dust in their coffins,
  Our feeble old parents
Who nod on the oven,
  Our little ones lying
Asleep in their cradles
  Are yours—are our Master's,
And we in our homes 190
Use our wills but as freely
  As fish in a net."

The words of the Elder
  Have pleased the Pomyeshchick,
The right eye is gazing
  Benignantly at him,
The left has grown smaller
  And peaceful again
Like the moon in the heavens.
He pours out a goblet 200
  Of red foreign wine:
"Drink," he says to the peasant.
  The rich wine is burning
Like blood in the sunshine;
  Klim drinks without protest.
Again he is speaking:

  "Our Fathers," he says,
"By your mercy we live now
  As though in the bosom
Of Christ. Let the peasant 210
  But try to exist
Without grace from the Barin!"
(He sips at the goblet.)
  "The whole world would perish
If not for the Barin's
  Deep wisdom and learning.
If not for the peasant's
  Most humble submission.
By birth, and God's holy
  Decree you are bidden 220
  To govern the stupid
And ignorant peasant;
  By God's holy will
Is the peasant commanded
  To honour and cherish
And work for his lord!"

  And here the old servant,
Ipat, who is standing
  Behind the Pomyeshchick
And waving his branches, 230
  Begins to sob loudly,
The tears streaming down
  O'er his withered old face:
"Let us pray that the Barin
  For many long years
May be spared to his servants!"
The simpleton blubbers,
  The loving old servant,
And raising his hand,
  Weak and trembling, he crosses 240
Himself without ceasing.
  The black-moustached footguards
Look sourly upon him
  With secret displeasure.
But how can they help it?
  So off come their hats
And they cross themselves also.
  And then the old Prince
And the wrinkled old dry-nurse
  Both sign themselves thrice, 250
And the Elder does likewise.
  He winks to the woman,
His sharp little gossip,
  And straightway the women,
Who nearer and nearer
  Have drawn to the table,
Begin most devoutly
  To cross themselves too.
And one begins sobbing
  In just such a manner 260
As had the old servant.
("That's right, now, start whining,
  Old Widow Terentevna,
Sill-y old noodle!"
  Says Vlasuchka, crossly.)

The red sun peeps slyly
  At them from a cloud,
And the slow, dreamy music
  Is heard from the river….

The ancient Pomyeshchick 270
  Is moved, and the right eye
Is blinded with tears,
  Till the golden-haired lady
Removes them and dries it;
  She kisses the other eye
Heartily too.

  "You see!" then remarks
The old man to his children,
  The two stalwart sons
And the pretty young ladies; 280
  "I wish that those villains,
Those Petersburg liars
  Who say we are tyrants,
Could only be here now
  To see and hear this!"

But then something happened
  Which checked of a sudden
The speech of the Barin:
  A peasant who couldn't
Control his amusement 290
  Gave vent to his laughter.

The Barin starts wildly,
  He clutches the table,
He fixes his face
  In the sinner's direction;
The right eye is fierce,
  Like a lynx he is watching
To dart on his prey,
  And the left eye is whirling.
"Go, find him!" he hisses, 300
  "Go, fetch him! the scoundrel!"

The Elder dives straight
  In the midst of the people;
He asks himself wildly,
  "Now, what's to be done?"
He makes for the edge
  Of the crowd, where are sitting
The journeying strangers;
  His voice is like honey:
"Come one of you forward; 310
  You see, you are strangers,
He wouldn't touch you."

  But they are not anxious
To face the Pomyeshchick,
  Although they would gladly
Have helped the poor peasants.
  He's mad, the old Barin,
So what's to prevent him
  From beating them too?

  "Well, you go, Roman," 320
  Say the two brothers Goobin,
"You love the Pomyeshchicks."

  "I'd rather you went, though!"
And each is quite willing
  To offer the other.
Then Klim looses patience;
  "Now, Vlasuchka, help us!
Do something to save us!
  I'm sick of the thing!"

"Yes! Nicely you lied there!" 330

  "Oho!" says Klim sharply,
"What lies did I tell?
  And shan't we be choked
In the grip of the Barins
  Until our last day
When we lie in our coffins?
  When we get to Hell, too,
Won't they be there waiting
  To set us to work?"

  "What kind of a job 340
Would they find for us there, Klim?"

  "To stir up the fire
While they boil in the pots!"
  The others laugh loudly.
The sons of the Barin
  Come hurrying to them;
"How foolish you are, Klim!
  Our father has sent us,
He's terribly angry
  That you are so long, 350
And don't bring the offender."

  "We can't bring him, Barin;
A stranger he is,
  From St. Petersburg province,
A very rich peasant;
  The devil has sent him
To us, for our sins!
  He can't understand us,
And things here amuse him;
  He couldn't help laughing." 360

"Well, let him alone, then.
  Cast lots for a culprit,
We'll pay him. Look here!"
  He offers five roubles.
Oh, no. It won't tempt them.

  "Well, run to the Barin,
And say that the fellow
  Has hidden himself."

  "But what when to-morrow comes?
Have you forgotten 370
  Petrov, how we punished
The innocent peasant?"

"Then what's to be done?"

"Give me the five roubles!
  You trust me, I'll save you!"
Exclaims the sharp woman,
  The Elder's sly gossip.
She runs from the peasants
  Lamenting and groaning,
And flings herself straight 380
  At the feet of the Barin:

"O red little sun!
  O my Father, don't kill me!
I have but one child,
  Oh, have pity upon him!
My poor boy is daft,
  Without wits the Lord made him,
And sent him so into
  The world. He is crazy.
Why, straight from the bath 390
  He at once begins scratching;
His drink he will try
  To pour into his laputs
Instead of the jug.
  And of work he knows nothing;
He laughs, and that's all
  He can do—so God made him!
Our poor little home,
  'Tis small comfort he brings it;
Our hut is in ruins, 400
  Not seldom it happens
We've nothing to eat,
  And that sets him laughing—
The poor crazy loon!
  You may give him a farthing,
A crack on the skull,
  And at one and the other
He'll laugh—so God made him!
  And what can one say?
From a fool even sorrow 410
  Comes pouring in laughter."

The knowing young woman!
  She lies at the feet
Of the Barin, and trembles,
  She squeals like a silly
Young girl when you pinch her,
  She kisses his feet.

"Well … go. God be with you!"
  The Barin says kindly,
"I need not be angry 420
  At idiot laughter,
I'll laugh at him too!"

  "How good you are, Father,"
The black-eyed young lady
  Says sweetly, and strokes
The white head of the Barin.
  The black-moustached footguards
At this put their word in:

  "A fool cannot follow
The words of his masters, 430
  Especially those
Like the words of our father,
  So noble and clever."

  And Klim—shameless rascal!—
Is wiping his eyes
  On the end of his coat-tails,
Is sniffing and whining;
  "Our Fathers! Our Fathers!
The sons of our Father!
  They know how to punish, 440
But better they know
  How to pardon and pity!"

  The old man is cheerful
Again, and is asking
  For light frothing wine,
  And the corks begin popping
And shoot in the air
  To fall down on the women,
Who fly from them, shrieking.
  The Barin is laughing, 450
The ladies then laugh,
  And at them laugh their husbands,
And next the old servant,
  Ipat, begins laughing,
The wet-nurse, the dry-nurse,
  And then the whole party
Laugh loudly together;
  The feast will be merry!
His daughters-in-law
  At the old Prince's order 460
Are pouring out vodka
  To give to the peasants,
Hand cakes to the youths,
  To the girls some sweet syrup;
The women drink also
  A small glass of vodka.
The old Prince is drinking
  And toasting the peasants;
And slyly he pinches
  The beautiful ladies. 470
  "That's right! That will do him
More good than his physic,"
  Says Vlasuchka, watching.
"He drinks by the glassful,
  Since long he's lost measure
In revel, or wrath…."

  The music comes floating
To them from the Volga,
  The girls now already
Are dancing and singing, 480
  The old Prince is watching them,
Snapping his fingers.
  He wants to be nearer
The girls, and he rises.
  His legs will not bear him,
His two sons support him;
  And standing between them
He chuckles and whistles,
  And stamps with his feet
To the time of the music; 490
  The left eye begins
On its own account working,
  It turns like a wheel.

  "But why aren't you dancing?"
He says to his sons,
  And the two pretty ladies.
"Dance! Dance!" They can't help themselves,
  There they are dancing!
He laughs at them gaily,
  He wishes to show them 500
How things went in his time;
  He's shaking and swaying
Like one on the deck
  Of a ship in rough weather.

"Sing, Luiba!" he orders.
  The golden-haired lady
Does not want to sing,
  But the old man will have it.
The lady is singing
  A song low and tender, 510
It sounds like the breeze
  On a soft summer evening
In velvety grasses
  Astray, like spring raindrops
That kiss the young leaves,
  And it soothes the Pomyeshchick.
The feeble old man:
  He is falling asleep now….
And gently they carry him
  Down to the water, 520
And into the boat,
  And he lies there, still sleeping.
Above him stands, holding
  A big green umbrella,
The faithful old servant,
  His other hand guarding
The sleeping Pomyeshchick
  From gnats and mosquitoes.
The oarsmen are silent,
  The faint-sounding music 530
Can hardly be heard
  As the boat moving gently
Glides on through the water….

  The peasants stand watching:
The bright yellow hair
  Of the beautiful lady
Streams out in the breeze
  Like a long golden banner….

"I managed him finely,
The noble Pomyeshchick," 540
  Said Klim to the peasants.
"Be God with you, Barin!
  Go bragging and scolding,
Don't think for a moment
  That we are now free
And your servants no longer,
  But die as you lived,
The almighty Pomyeshchick,
  To sound of our music,
To songs of your slaves; 550
  But only die quickly,
And leave the poor peasants
  In peace. And now, brothers,
Come, praise me and thank me!
  I've gladdened the commune.
I shook in my shoes there
  Before the Pomyeshchick,
For fear I should trip
  Or my tongue should betray me;
And worse—I could hardly 560
  Speak plain for my laughter!
That eye! How it spins!
  And you look at it, thinking:
  'But whither, my friend,
Do you hurry so quickly?
  On some hasty errand
Of yours, or another's?
  Perhaps with a pass
From the Tsar—Little Father,
  You carry a message 570
From him.' I was standing
  And bursting with laughter!
Well, I am a drunken
  And frivolous peasant,
The rats in my corn-loft
  Are starving from hunger,
My hut is quite bare,
  Yet I call God to witness
That I would not take
  Such an office upon me 580
For ten hundred roubles
  Unless I were certain
That he was the last,
  That I bore with his bluster
To serve my own ends,
  Of my own will and pleasure."

  Old Vlasuchka sadly
And thoughtfully answers,
  "How long, though, how long, though,
Have we—not we only 590
  But all Russian peasants—
Endured the Pomyeshchicks?
  And not for our pleasure,
For money or fun,
  Not for two or three months,
But for life. What has changed, though?
  Of what are we bragging?
For still we are peasants."

  The peasants, half-tipsy,
Congratulate Klimka. 600
  "Hurrah! Let us toss him!"
And now they are placing
  Old Widow Terentevna
Next to her bridegroom,
  The little child Jockoff,
Saluting them gaily.
They're eating and drinking
  What's left on the table.
Then romping and jesting
  They stay till the evening, 610
And only at nightfall
  Return to the village.
And here they are met
  By some sobering tidings:
The old Prince is dead.
  From the boat he was taken,
They thought him asleep,
  But they found he was lifeless.
The second stroke—while
  He was sleeping—had fallen! 620

The peasants are sobered,
  They look at each other,
And silently cross themselves.
  Then they breathe deeply;
And never before
  Did the poor squalid village
Called "Ignorant-Duffers,"
  Of Volost "Old-Dustmen,"
Draw such an intense
  And unanimous breath…. 630
Their pleasure, however,
  Was not very lasting,
Because with the death
  Of the ancient Pomyeshchick,
The sweet-sounding words
  Of his heirs and their bounties
Ceased also. Not even
  A pick-me-up after
The yesterday's feast
  Did they offer the peasants. 640
And as to the hayfields—
  Till now is the law-suit
Proceeding between them,
  The heirs and the peasants.
Old Vlasuchka was
  By the peasants appointed
To plead in their name,
  And he lives now in Moscow.
He went to St. Petersburg too,
  But I don't think 650
That much can be done
  For the cause of the peasants.

THE PEASANT WOMAN

  "Not only to men
Must we go with our question,
  We'll ask of the women,"
The peasants decided.
  They asked in the village
"Split-up," but the people
  Replied to them shortly,
"Not here will you find one.
  But go to the village
'Stripped-Naked'—a woman 10
  Lives there who is happy.
She's hardly a woman,
  She's more like a cow,
For a woman so healthy,
  So smooth and so clever,
Could hardly be found.
  You must seek in the village
Matrona Korchagin—
The people there call her
  'The Governor's Lady.'" 20
The peasants considered
And went….

           Now already
The corn-stalks are rising
  Like tall graceful columns,
With gilded heads nodding,
  And whispering softly
 In gentle low voices.
  Oh, beautiful summer!
No time is so gorgeous, 30
  So regal, so rich.

You full yellow cornfields,
  To look at you now
One would never imagine
  How sorely God's people
Had toiled to array you
  Before you arose,
In the sight of the peasant,
  And stood before him,
Like a glorious army 40
  n front of a Tsar!
'Tis not by warm dew-drops
That you have been moistened,
  The sweat of the peasant
Has fallen upon you.

  The peasants are gladdened
At sight of the oats
  And the rye and the barley,
But not by the wheat,
  For it feeds but the chosen: 50
"We love you not, wheat!
  But the rye and the barley
We love—they are kind,
  They feed all men alike."

The flax, too, is growing
  So sweetly and bravely:
"Ai! you little mite!
  You are caught and entangled!"
A poor little lark
  In the flax has been captured; 60
It struggles for freedom.
  Pakhom picks it up,
He kisses it tenderly:
  "Fly, little birdie!" …
The lark flies away
To the blue heights of Heaven;
  The kind-hearted peasants
Gaze lovingly upwards
  To see it rejoice
In the freedom above…. 70
  The peas have come on, too;
Like locusts, the peasants
  Attack them and eat them.
They're like a plump maiden—
  The peas—for whoever
Goes by must needs pinch them.
  Now peas are being carried
In old hands, in young hands,
  They're spreading abroad
Over seventy high-roads. 80
  The vegetables—how
They're flourishing also!
  Each toddler is clasping
A radish or carrot,
  And many are cracking
The seeds of the sunflower.
  The beetroots are dotted
Like little red slippers
  All over the earth.

  Our peasants are walking, 90
Now faster—now slower.
  At last they have reached it—
The village 'Stripped-Naked,'
  It's not much to look at:
Each hut is propped up
  Like a beggar on crutches;
The thatch from the roofs
  Has made food for the cattle;
The huts are like feeble
  Old skeletons standing, 100
Like desolate rooks' nests
  When young birds forsake them.
When wild Autumn winds
  Have dismantled the birch-trees.
The people are all
  In the fields; they are working.
Behind the poor village
  A manor is standing;
It's built on the slope
  Of a hill, and the peasants 110
Are making towards it
  To look at it close.

The house is gigantic,
The courtyard is huge,
  There's a pond in it too;
A watch-tower arises
  From over the house,
With a gallery round it,
  A flagstaff upon it.

  They meet with a lackey 120
  Near one of the gates:
He seems to be wearing
  A strange kind of mantle;
"Well, what are you up to?"
  He says to the friends,
"The Pomyeshchick's abroad now,
  The manager's dying."
He shows them his back,
  And they all begin laughing:
A tiger is clutching 130
  The edge of his shoulders!
"Heh! here's a fine joke!"
  They are hotly discussing
What kind of a mantle
  The lackey is wearing,
Till clever Pakhom
  Has got hold of the riddle.
  "The cunning old rascal,
He's stolen a carpet,
  And cut in the middle 140
A hole for his head!"

  Like weak, straddling beetles
Shut up to be frozen
  In cold empty huts
By the pitiless peasants.
The servants are crawling
  All over the courtyard.
Their master long since
  Has forgotten about them,
And left them to live 150
  As they can. They are hungry,
All old and decrepit,
And dressed in all manners,
  They look like a crowd
In a gipsy encampment.
  And some are now dragging
A net through the pond:
  "God come to your help!
Have you caught something, brothers?"
  "One carp—nothing more; 160
There used once to be many,
But now we have come
  To the end of the feast!"

"Do try to get five!"
  Says a pale, pregnant woman,
Who's fervently blowing
  A fire near the pond.

"And what are those pretty
  Carved poles you are burning?
They're balcony railings, 170
  I think, are they not?"

"Yes, balcony railings."

  "See here. They're like tinder;
Don't blow on them, Mother!
  I bet they'll burn faster
Than you find the victuals
  To cook in the pot!"

  "I'm waiting and waiting,
And Mityenka sickens
  Because of the musty 180
Old bread that I give him.
  But what can I do?
This life—it is bitter!"
  She fondles the head
Of a half-naked baby
  Who sits by her side
In a little brass basin,
  A button-nosed mite.

  "The boy will take cold there,
The basin will chill him," 190
  Says Prov; and he wishes
To lift the child up,
  But it screams at him, angry.
"No, no! Don't you touch him,"
  The mother says quickly,
"Why, can you not see
  That's his carriage he's driving?
Drive on, little carriage!
  Gee-up, little horses!
You see how he drives!" 200

  The peasants each moment
Observe some new marvel;
  And soon they have noticed
A strange kind of labour
  Proceeding around them:
One man, it appears,
  To the door has got fastened;
He's toiling away
  To unscrew the brass handles,
His hands are so weak 210
  He can scarcely control them.
Another is hugging
  Some tiles: "See, Yegorshka,
I've dug quite a heap out!"
  Some children are shaking
An apple-tree yonder:
  "You see, little Uncles,
  There aren't many left,
Though the tree was quite heavy."
  "But why do you want them? 220
They're quite hard and green."
  "We're thankful to get them!"

The peasants examine
  The park for a long time;
Such wonders are seen here,
  Such cunning inventions:
In one place a mountain
  Is raised; in another
A ravine yawns deep!
  A lake has been made too; 230
Perhaps at one time
There were swans on the water?
  The summer-house has some
Inscriptions upon it,
  Demyan begins spelling
Them out very slowly.
  A grey-haired domestic
Is watching the peasants;
  He sees they have very
Inquisitive natures, 240
  And presently slowly
Goes hobbling towards them,
  And holding a book.
He says, "Will you buy it?"
  Demyan is a peasant
Acquainted with letters,
  He tries for some time
But he can't read a word.

  "Just sit down yourself
On that seat near the linden, 250
  And read the book leisurely
Like a Pomyeshchick!"

  "You think you are clever,"
The grey-headed servant
Retorts with resentment,
  "Yet books which are learned
Are wasted upon you.
  You read but the labels
On public-house windows,
  And that which is written 260
On every odd corner:
'Most strictly forbidden.'"

The pathways are filthy,
  The graceful stone ladies
Bereft of their noses.
  "The fruit and the berries,
The geese and the swans
  Which were once on the water,
The thieving old rascals
  Have stuffed in their maws. 270
Like church without pastor,
  Like fields without peasants,
Are all these fine gardens
  Without a Pomyeshchick,"
The peasants remark.
  For long the Pomyeshchick
Has gathered his treasures,
When all of a sudden….
(The six peasants laugh,
  But the seventh is silent, 280
He hangs down his head.)

  A song bursts upon them!
A voice is resounding
  Like blasts of a trumpet.
The heads of the peasants
  Are eagerly lifted,
They gaze at the tower.
  On the balcony round it
A man is now standing;
  He wears a pope's cassock; 290
He sings … on the balmy
  Soft air of the evening,
The bass, like a huge
  Silver bell, is vibrating,
And throbbing it enters
  The hearts of the peasants.
The words are not Russian,
  But some foreign language,
But, like Russian songs,
  It is full of great sorrow, 300
Of passionate grief,
  Unending, unfathomed;
It wails and laments,
  It is bitterly sobbing….

"Pray tell us, good woman,
  What man is that singing?"
Roman asks the woman
  Now feeding her baby
With steaming ukha.[43]

  "A singer, my brothers, 310
A born Little Russian,
  The Barin once brought him
Away from his home,
  With a promise to send him
To Italy later.
But long the Pomyeshchick
  Has been in strange parts
And forgotten his promise;
  And now the poor fellow
Would be but too glad 320
  To get back to his village.
There's nothing to do here,
  He hasn't a farthing,
There's nothing before him
  And nothing behind him
Excepting his voice.
  You have not really heard it;
You will if you stay here
  Till sunrise to-morrow:
Some three versts away 330
  There is living a deacon,
And he has a voice too.
  They greet one another:
Each morning at sunrise
  Will our little singer
Climb up to the watch-tower,
  And call to the other,
'Good-morrow to Father
  Ipat, and how fares he?'
(The windows all shake 340
At the sound.)
    From the distance
  The deacon will answer,
'Good-morrow, good-morrow,
  To our little sweet-throat!
I go to drink vodka,
  I'm going … I'm going….'
The voice on the air
  Will hang quivering around us
For more than an hour, 350
  Like the neigh of a stallion."

The cattle are now
  Coming home, and the evening
Is filled with the fragrance
  Of milk; and the woman,
The mother of Mityenka,
  Sighs; she is thinking,
"If only one cow
  Would turn into the courtyard!"
But hark! In the distance 360
  Some voices in chorus!
"Good-bye, you poor mourners,
  May God send you comfort!
The people are coming,
  We're going to meet them."

The peasants are filled
  With relief; because after
The whining old servants
  The people who meet them
Returning from work 370
  In the fields seem such healthy
And beautiful people.
  The men and the women
And pretty young girls
  Are all singing together.

"Good health to you! Which is
  Among you the woman
Matrona Korchagin?"
  The peasants demand.

"And what do you want 380
With Matrona Korchagin?"

The woman Matrona
  Is tall, finely moulded,
Majestic in bearing,
  And strikingly handsome.
Of thirty-eight years
  She appears, and her black hair
Is mingled with grey.
  Her complexion is swarthy,
Her eyes large and dark 390
  And severe, with rich lashes.
A white shirt, and short
  Sarafan[44] she is wearing,
She walks with a hay-fork
  Slung over her shoulder.

"Well, what do you want
  With Matrona Korchagin?"
The peasants are silent;
  They wait till the others
Have gone in advance, 400
  And then, bowing, they answer:

"We come from afar,
  And a trouble torments us,
A trouble so great
  That for it we've forsaken
Our homes and our work,
  And our appetites fail.
We're orthodox peasants,
  From District 'Most Wretched,'
From 'Destitute Parish,' 410
  From neighbouring hamlets—
'Patched,' 'Barefoot,' and 'Shabby,'
  'Bleak,' 'Burnt-Out,' and 'Hungry,'
And 'Harvestless,' too.
We met in the roadway
  And argued about
Who is happy in Russia.
Luka said, 'The pope,'
  And Demyan, 'The Pomyeshchick,'
And Prov said, 'The Tsar,' 420
  And Roman, 'The official.'
'The round-bellied merchant,'
Said both brothers Goobin,
  Mitrodor and Ivan.
Pakhom said, 'His Highness,
  The Tsar's Chief Adviser.'
Like bulls are the peasants:
  Once folly is in them
You cannot dislodge it
  Although you should beat them 430
With stout wooden cudgels,
  They stick to their folly
And nothing will move them.
  We argued and quarrelled,
While quarrelling fought,
  And while fighting decided
That never again
  Would we turn our steps homewards
To kiss wives and children,
  To see the old people, 440
Until we have found
  The reply to our question,
Of who can in Russia
  Be happy and free?
We've questioned the pope,
  We've asked the Pomyeshchick,
And now we ask you.
  We'll seek the official,
The Minister, merchant,
  We even will go 450
To the Tsar—Little Father,
  Though whether he'll see us
We cannot be sure.
  But rumour has told us
That you're free and happy.
  Then say, in God's name,
If the rumour be true."

Matrona Korchagin
  Does not seem astonished,
But only a sad look 460
  Creeps into her eyes,
And her face becomes thoughtful.

  "Your errand is surely
A foolish one, brothers,"
  She says to the peasants,
"For this is the season
  Of work, and no peasant
For chatter has time."

"Till now on our journey
  Throughout half the Empire 470
We've met no denial,"
  The peasants protest.

"But look for yourselves, now,
  The corn-ears are bursting.
We've not enough hands."

  "And we? What are we for?
Just give us some sickles,
  And see if we don't
Get some work done to-morrow!"
  The peasants reply. 480

Matrona sees clearly
  Enough that this offer
Must not be rejected;
  "Agreed," she said, smiling,
"To such lusty fellows
  As you, we may well look
For ten sheaves apiece."

  "You give us your promise
To open your heart to us?"

"I will hide nothing." 490

Matrona Korchagin
  Now enters her cottage,
And while she is working
  Within it, the peasants
Discover a very
  Nice spot just behind it,
And sit themselves down.
  There's a barn close beside them
And two immense haystacks,
  A flax-field around them; 500
And lying just near them
  A fine plot of turnips,
And spreading above them
  A wonderful oak-tree,
A king among oaks.
  They're sitting beneath it,
And now they're producing
  The magic white napkin:
"Heh, napkin enchanted,
  Give food to the peasants!" 510
The napkin unfolds,
  Two hands have come floating
From no one sees where,
Place a pailful of vodka,
  A large pile of bread
On the magic white napkin,
  And dwindle away.
The two brothers Goobin
 Are chuckling together,
For they have just pilfered 520
  A very big horse-radish
Out of the garden—
  It's really a monster!

The skies are dark blue now,
  The bright stars are twinkling,
The moon has arisen
  And sails high above them;
The woman Matrona
  Comes out of the cottage
To tell them her tale. 530

"My girlhood was happy,
  For we were a thrifty
Arid diligent household;
  And I, the young maiden,
With Father and Mother
  Knew nothing but joy.
My father got up
  And went out before sunrise,
He woke me with kisses
  And tender caresses; 10
My brother, while dressing,
  Would sing little verses:
'Get up, little Sister,
  Get up, little Sister,
In no little beds now
Are people delaying,
In all little churches
The peasants are praying,
Get up, now, get up,
It is time, little Sister. 20
The shepherd has gone
To the field with the sheep,
And no little maidens
Are lying asleep,
They've gone to pick raspberries,
Merrily singing.
The sound of the axe
In the forest is ringing.'

"And then my dear mother,
  When she had done scouring 30
The pots and the pans,
  When the hut was put tidy,
The bread in the oven,
  Would steal to my bedside,
And cover me softly
  And whisper to me:

"'Sleep on, little dove,
  Gather strength—you will need it—
You will not stay always
  With Father and Mother, 40
And when you will leave them
  To live among strangers
Not long will you sleep.
  You'll slave till past midnight,
And rise before daybreak;
  You'll always be weary.
They'll give you a basket
  And throw at the bottom
A crust. You will chew it,
  My poor little dove, 50
And start working again….'

  "But, brothers, I did not
Spend much time in sleeping;
  And when I was five
On the day of St. Simon,
  I mounted a horse
With the help of my father,
  And then was no longer
A child. And at six years
  I carried my father 60
His breakfast already,
  And tended the ducks,
And at night brought the cow home,
  And next—took my rake,
And was off to the hayfields!
  And so by degrees
I became a great worker,
  And yet best of all
I loved singing and dancing;
  The whole day I worked 70
In the fields, and at nightfall
  Returned to the cottage
All covered with grime.
  But what's the hot bath for?
And thanks to the bath
  And boughs of the birch-tree,
And icy spring water,
  Again I was clean
And refreshed, and was ready
  To take out my spinning-wheel, 80
And with companions
  To sing half the night.

"I never ran after
  The youths, and the forward
I checked very sharply.
To those who were gentle
  And shy, I would whisper:
'My cheeks will grow hot,
  And sharp eyes has my mother;
Be wise, now, and leave me 90
  Alone'—and they left me.

"No matter how clever
  I was to avoid them,
The one came at last
  I was destined to wed;
And he—to my bitter
  Regret—was a stranger:
Young Philip Korchagin,
  A builder of ovens.
He came from St. Petersburg. 100
  Oh, how my mother
Did weep: 'Like a fish
  In the ocean, my daughter,
You'll plunge and be lost;
  Like a nightingale, straying
Away from its nest,
  We shall lose you, my daughter!
The walls of the stranger
  Are not built of sugar,
Are not spread with honey, 110
  Their dwellings are chilly
And garnished with hunger;
  The cold winds will nip you,
The black rooks will scold you,
  The savage dogs bite you,
The strangers despise you.'

"But Father sat talking
  And drinking till late
With the 'swat.'[45] I was frightened.
  I slept not all night…. 120

  "Oh, youth, pray you, tell me,
Now what can you find
  In the maiden to please you?
And where have you seen her?
  Perhaps in the sledges
With merry young friends
  Flying down from the mountain?
Then you were mistaken,
  O son of your father,
It was but the frost 130
  And the speed and the laughter
That brought the bright tints
  To the cheeks of the maiden.
Perhaps at some feast
  In the home of a neighbour
You saw her rejoicing
  And clad in bright colours?
But then she was plump
  From her rest in the winter;
Her rosy face bloomed 140
  Like the scarlet-hued poppy;
But wait!—have you been
  To the hut of her father
And seen her at work
  Beating flax in the barn?
Ah, what shall I do?
  I will take brother falcon
And send him to town:
  'Fly to town, brother falcon,
And bring me some cloth 150
  And six colours of worsted,
And tassels of blue.
  I will make a fine curtain,
Embroider each corner
  With Tsar and Tsaritsa,
With Moscow and Kiev,
  And Constantinople,
And set the great sun
  Shining bright in the middle,
And this I will hang 160
  In the front of my window:
Perhaps you will see it,
  And, struck by its beauty,
Will stand and admire it,
  And will not remember
To seek for the maiden….'

  "And so till the morning
I lay with such thoughts.
  'Now, leave me, young fellow,'
I said to the youth 170
  When he came in the evening;
'I will not be foolish
  Enough to abandon
My freedom in order
  To enter your service.
God sees me—I will not
  Depart from my home!'

  "'Do come,' said young Philip,
'So far have I travelled
  To fetch you. Don't fear me— 180
  I will not ill-treat you.'
I begged him to leave me,
  I wept and lamented;
But nevertheless
  I was still a young maiden:
I did not forget
  Sidelong glances to cast
At the youth who thus wooed me.
  And Philip was handsome,
Was rosy and lusty, 190
  Was strong and broad-shouldered,
With fair curling hair,
 With a voice low and tender….
Ah, well … I was won….

"'Come here, pretty fellow,
  And stand up against me,
Look deep in my eyes—
  They are clear eyes and truthful;
Look well at my rosy
  Young face, and bethink you: 200
Will you not regret it,
  Won't my heart be broken,
And shall I not weep
  Day and night if I trust you
And go with you, leaving
  My parents forever?'

"'Don't fear, little pigeon,
  We shall not regret it,'
Said Philip, but still
  I was timid and doubtful. 210
'Do go,' murmured I, and he,
  'When you come with me.'
Of course I was fairer
  And sweeter and dearer
Than any that lived,
  And his arms were about me….
Then all of a sudden
  I made a sharp effort
To wrench myself free. 219
  'How now? What's the matter?
You're strong, little pigeon!'
  Said Philip astonished,
But still held me tight.
  'Ah, Philip, if you had
Not held me so firmly
  You would not have won me;
I did it to try you,
  To measure your strength;
You were strong, and it pleased me.'
We must have been happy 230
  In those fleeting moments
When softly we whispered
  And argued together;
I think that we never
  Were happy again….

"How well I remember….
  The night was like this night,
Was starlit and silent …
  Was dreamy and tender
Like this…." 240

  And the woman,
Matrona, sighed deeply,
  And softly began—
Leaning back on the haystack—
  To sing to herself
With her thoughts in the past:

  "'Tell me, young merchant, pray,
  Why do you love me so—
  Poor peasant's daughter?
  I am not clad in gold, 250
  I am not hung with pearls,
  Not decked with silver.'

  "'Silver your chastity,
  Golden your beauty shines,
  O my beloved,
  White pearls are falling now
  Out of your weeping eyes,
  Falling like tear-drops.'

"My father gave orders
  To bring forth the wine-cups, 260
To set them all out
  On the solid oak table.
My dear mother blessed me:
  'Go, serve them, my daughter,
Bow low to the strangers.'
  I bowed for the first time,
My knees shook and trembled;
  I bowed for the second—
My face had turned white;
  And then for the third time 270
I bowed, and forever
  The freedom of girlhood
Rolled down from my head…."

"Ah, that means a wedding,"
  Cry both brothers Goobin,
"Let's drink to the health
  Of the happy young pair!"

"Well said! We'll begin
  With the bride," say the others.

"Will you drink some vodka, 280
  Matrona Korchagin?"

"An old woman, brothers,
  And not drink some vodka?"

Stand before your judge—
And your legs will quake!
Stand before the priest
On your wedding-day,—
How your head will ache!
How your head will ache!
You will call to mind
Songs of long ago,
Songs of gloom and woe:
Telling how the guests 10
Crowd into the yard,
Run to see the bride
Whom the husband brings
Homeward at his side.
How his parents both
Fling themselves on her;
How his brothers soon
Call her "wasteful one";
How his sisters next
Call her "giddy one"; 20
How his father growls,
"Greedy little bear!"
How his mother snarls,
"Cannibal!" at her.
She is "slovenly"
And "disorderly,"
She's a "wicked one"!

"All that's in the song
  Happened now to me.
Do you know the song? 30
  Have you heard it sung?"

"Yes, we know it well;
Gossip, you begin,
  We will all join in."

Matrona

So sleepy, so weary
I am, and my heavy head
Clings to the pillow.
But out in the passage
My Father-in-law
Begins stamping and swearing. 40

Peasants in Chorus

  Stamping and swearing!
Stamping and swearing!
  He won't let the poor woman
Rest for a moment.
  Up, up, up, lazy-head!
  Up, up, up, lie-abed!
    Lazy-head!
    Lie-abed!
    Slut!

Matrona

So sleepy, so weary 50
I am, and my heavy head
Clings to the pillow;
But out in the passage
My Mother-in-law
Begins scolding and nagging.

Peasants in Chorus

  Scolding and nagging!
Scolding and nagging!
  She won't let the poor woman
Rest for a moment.
  Up, up, up, lazy-head! 60
  Up, up, up, lie-abed!
    Lazy-head!
    Lie-abed!
    Slut!

"A quarrelsome household
  It was—that of Philip's
To which I belonged now;
  And I from my girlhood
Stepped straight into Hell.
  My husband departed 70
To work in the city,
  And leaving, advised me
To work and be silent,
  To yield and be patient:
'Don't splash the red iron
  With cold water—it hisses!'
With father and mother
  And sisters-in-law he
Now left me alone;
  Not a soul was among them 80
To love or to shield me,
  But many to scold.
One sister-in-law—
  It was Martha, the eldest,—
Soon set me to work
  Like a slave for her pleasure.
And Father-in-law too
  One had to look after,
Or else all his clothes
  To redeem from the tavern. 90
In all that one did
  There was need to be careful,
Or Mother-in-law's
  Superstitions were troubled
(One never could please her).
Well, some superstitions
  Of course may be right;
But they're most of them evil.
  And one day it happened
That Mother-in-law 100
  Murmured low to her husband
That corn which is stolen
  Grows faster and better.
So Father-in-law
  Stole away after midnight….
It chanced he was caught,
  And at daybreak next morning
Brought back and flung down
  Like a log in the stable.

  "But I acted always 110
As Philip had told me:
  I worked, with the anger
Hid deep in my bosom,
  And never a murmur
Allowed to escape me.
  And then with the winter
Came Philip, and brought me
  A pretty silk scarf;
And one feast-day he took me
  To drive in the sledges; 120
And quickly my sorrows
  Were lost and forgotten:
I sang as in old days
  At home, with my father.
For I and my husband
  Were both of an age,
And were happy together
  When only they left us
Alone, but remember
  A husband like Philip 130
Not often is found."

"Do you mean to say
  That he never once beat you?"

Matrona was plainly
  Confused by the question;
 "Once, only, he beat me,"
  She said, very low.

"And why?" asked the peasants.

"Well, you know yourselves, friends,
  How quarrels arise 140
In the homes of the peasants.
  A young married sister
Of Philip's one day
  Came to visit her parents.
She found she had holes
  In her boots, and it vexed her.
Then Philip said, 'Wife,
  Fetch some boots for my sister.'
And I did not answer
  At once; I was lifting 150
A large wooden tub,
  So, of course, couldn't speak.
But Philip was angry
  With me, and he waited
Until I had hoisted
  The tub to the oven,
Then struck me a blow
With his fist, on my temple.

"'We're glad that you came,
  But you see that you'd better 160
Keep out of the way,'
  Said the other young sister
To her that was married.

"Again Philip struck me!

 "'It's long since I've seen you,
  My dearly-loved daughter,
But could I have known
  How the baggage would treat you!'…
Whined Mother-in-law.

"And again Philip struck me! 170

  "Well, that is the story.
'Tis surely not fitting
  For wives to sit counting
The blows of their husbands,
  But then I had promised
To keep nothing back."

  "Ah, well, with these women—
The poisonous serpents!—
  A corpse would awaken
And snatch up a horsewhip," 180
  The peasants say, smiling.

Matrona said nothing.
  The peasants, in order
To keep the occasion
  In manner befitting,
Are filling the glasses;
  And now they are singing
In voices of thunder
  A rollicking chorus,
Of husbands' relations, 190
   And wielding the knout.

… …

  "Cruel hated husband,
Hark! he is coming!
  Holding the knout…."

Chorus

  "Hear the lash whistle!
See the blood spurt!
  Ai, leli, leli!
See the blood spurt!"

… …

"Run to his father!
  Bowing before him— 200
'Save me!' I beg him;
  'Stop my fierce husband—
Venomous serpent!'
  Father-in-law says,
  'Beat her more soundly!
  Draw the blood freely!'"

Chorus

"Hear the lash whistle!
  See the blood spurt!
Ai, leli, leli!
  See the blood spurt!" 210

… …

"Quick—to his mother!
  Bowing before her—
'Save me!' I beg her;
  'Stop my cruel husband!
Venomous serpent!'
  Mother-in-law says,
  'Beat her more soundly,
  Draw the blood freely!'"

Chorus

"Hear the lash whistle!
  See the blood spurt! 220
Ai, leli, leli!
  See the blood spurt!"

* * * * *

"On Lady-day Philip
  Went back to the city;
A little while later
  Our baby was born.
Like a bright-coloured picture
  Was he—little Djoma;
The sunbeams had given
  Their radiance to him, 230
The pure snow its whiteness;
  The poppies had painted
His lips; by the sable
  His brow had been pencilled;
The falcon had fashioned
  His eyes, and had lent them
Their wonderful brightness.
  At sight of his first
Angel smile, all the anger
  And bitterness nursed 240
In my bosom was melted;
  It vanished away
Like the snow on the meadows
  At sight of the smiling
Spring sun. And not longer
  I worried and fretted;
I worked, and in silence
  I let them upbraid.
But soon after that
  A misfortune befell me: 250
The manager by
  The Pomyeshchick appointed,
Called Sitnikov, hotly
  Began to pursue me.
'My lovely Tsaritsa!
  'My rosy-ripe berry!'
Said he; and I answered,
  'Be off, shameless rascal!
Remember, the berry
  Is not in your forest!' 260
I stayed from the field-work,
  And hid in the cottage;
He very soon found me.
  I hid in the corn-loft,
But Mother-in-law
  Dragged me out to the courtyard;
'Now don't play with fire, girl!'
  She said. I besought her
To send him away,
  But she answered me roughly, 270
'And do you want Philip
  To serve as a soldier?'
I ran to Savyeli,
  The grandfather, begging
His aid and advice.

  "I haven't yet told you
A word of Savyeli,
  The only one living
Of Philip's relations
  Who pitied and loved me. 280
Say, friends, shall I tell you
  About him as well?"

"Yes, tell us his tale,
And we'll each throw a couple
Of sheaves in to-morrow,
  Above what we promised."

"Well, well," says Matrona,
  "And 'twould be a pity
To give old Savyeli
No place in the story; 290
For he was a happy one,
  Too—the old man…."

"A mane grey and bushy
  Which covered his shoulders,
A huge grizzled beard
  Which had not seen the scissors
For twenty odd years,
  Made Savyeli resemble
A shaggy old bear,
  Especially when he
Came out of the forest,
  So broad and bent double. 10
The grandfather's shoulders
  Were bowed very low,
And at first I was frightened
  Whenever he entered
The tiny low cottage:
  I thought that were he
To stand straight of a sudden
  He'd knock a great hole
With his head in the ceiling.
  But Grandfather could not 20
Stand straight, and they told me
That he was a hundred.
  He lived all alone
In his own little cottage,
  And never permitted
The others to enter;
  He couldn't abide them.
Of course they were angry
  And often abused him.
His own son would shout at him, 30
  'Branded one! Convict!'
But this did not anger
  Savyeli, he only
Would go to his cottage
  Without making answer,
And, crossing himself,
  Begin reading the scriptures;
Then suddenly cry
  In a voice loud and joyful,
'Though branded—no slave!' 40
  When too much they annoyed him,
He sometimes would say to them:
  'Look, the swat's[46] coming!'
The unmarried daughter
  Would fly to the window;
Instead of the swat there
  A beggar she'd find!
And one day he silvered
  A common brass farthing,
And left it to lie 50
  On the floor; and then straightway
Did Father-in-law run
  In joy to the tavern,—
He came back, not tipsy,
  But beaten half-dead!
At supper that night
  We were all very silent,
And Father-in-law had
  A cut on his eyebrow,
But Grandfather's face 60
  Wore a smile like a rainbow!

"Savyeli would gather
  The berries and mushrooms
From spring till late autumn,
  And snare the wild rabbits;
Throughout the long winter
He lay on the oven
  And talked to himself.
He had favourite sayings:
He used to lie thinking 70
  For whole hours together,
And once in an hour
  You would hear him exclaiming:

"'Destroyed … and subjected!'
  Or, 'Ai, you toy heroes!
You're fit but for battles
  With old men and women!'

"'Be patient … and perish,
Impatient … and perish!'

"'Eh, you Russian peasant, 80
  You giant, you strong man,
The whole of your lifetime
  You're flogged, yet you dare not
Take refuge in death,
  For Hell's torments await you!'

"'At last the Korojins[47]
  Awoke, and they paid him,
They paid him, they paid him,
  They paid the whole debt!'
And many such sayings 90
  He had,—I forget them.
When Father-in-law grew
  Too noisy I always
Would run to Savyeli,
  And we two, together,
Would fasten the door.
  Then I began working,
While Djomushka climbed
  To the grandfather's shoulder,
And sat there, and looked 100
  Like a bright little apple
That hung on a hoary
  Old tree. Once I asked him:

"'And why do they call you
  A convict, Savyeli?'

"'I was once a convict,'
  Said he.

"'You, Savyeli!'

"'Yes I, little Grandchild,
  Yes, I have been branded. 110
I buried a German
  Alive—Christian Vogel.'

"'You're joking, Savyeli!'

  "'Oh no, I'm not joking.
I mean it,' he said,
  And he told me the story.

"'The peasants in old days
  Were serfs as they now are,
But our race had, somehow,
  Not seen its Pomyeshchick; 120
No manager knew we,
  No pert German agent.
And barschin we gave not,
  And taxes we paid not
Except when it pleased us,—
  Perhaps once in three years
Our taxes we'd pay.'

"'But why, little Grandad?'

  "'The times were so blessed,—
And folk had a saying 130
  That our little village
Was sought by the devil
  For more than three years,
But he never could find it.
  Great forests a thousand
Years old lay about us;
And treacherous marshes
  And bogs spread around us;
No horseman and few men
  On foot ever reached us. 140
It happened that once
  By some chance, our Pomyeshchick,
Shalashnikov, wanted
  To pay us a visit.
High placed in the army
  Was he; and he started
With soldiers to find us.
  They soon got bewildered
And lost in the forest,
  And had to turn back; 150
Why, the Zemsky policeman
  Would only come once
In a year! They were good times!
  In these days the Barin
Lives under your window;
  The roadways go spreading
Around, like white napkins—
  The devil destroy them!
We only were troubled
  By bears, and the bears too 160
Were easily managed.
  Why, I was a worse foe
By far than old Mishka,
  When armed with a dagger
And bear-spear. I wandered
  In wild, secret woodpaths,
And shouted, ''My forest!''
  And once, only once,
I was frightened by something:
I stepped on a huge 170
  Female bear that was lying
Asleep in her den
  In the heart of the forest.
She flung herself at me,
  And straight on my bear-spear
Was fixed. Like a fowl
  On the spit she hung twisting
An hour before death.
  It was then that my spine snapped.
It often was painful 180
  When I was a young man;
But now I am old,
  It is fixed and bent double.
Now, do I not look like
A hook, little Grandchild?'

"'But finish the story.
  You lived and were not much
Afflicted. What further?'

"'At last our Pomyeshchick
  Invented a new game: 190
He sent us an order,
  ''Appear!'' We appeared not.
Instead, we lay low
  In our dens, hardly breathing.
A terrible drought
  Had descended that summer,
The bogs were all dry;
  So he sent a policeman,
Who managed to reach us,
  To gather our taxes, 200
In honey and fish;
  A second time came he,
We gave him some bear-skins;
  And when for the third time
He came, we gave nothing,—
  We said we had nothing.
We put on our laputs,
  We put our old caps on,
Our oldest old coats,
  And we went to Korojin 210
(For there was our master now,
  Stationed with soldiers).
''Your taxes!'' ''We have none,
  We cannot pay taxes,
The corn has not grown,
  And the fish have escaped us.''
''Your taxes!'' ''We have none.''
  He waited no longer;
''Hey! Give them the first round!''
  He said, and they flogged us. 220

"'Our pockets were not
  Very easily opened;
Shalashnikov, though, was
  A master at flogging.
Our tongues became parched,
  And our brains were set whirling,
And still he continued.
  He flogged not with birch-rods,
With whips or with sticks,
  But with knouts made for giants. 230
At last we could stand it
  No longer; we shouted,
''Enough! Let us breathe!''
  We unwound our foot-rags
And took out our money,
  And brought to the Barin
A ragged old bonnet
  With roubles half filled.

"'The Barin grew calm,
  He was pleased with the money; 240
He gave us a glass each
  Of strong, bitter brandy,
And drank some himself
  With the vanquished Korojins,
And gaily clinked glasses.
  ''It's well that you yielded,''
Said he, ''For I swear
  I was fully decided
To strip off the last shred
  Of skins from your bodies 250
And use it for making
  A drum for my soldiers!
Ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha!''
  (He was pleased with the notion.)
''A fine drum indeed!''

  "'In silence we left;
But two stalwart old peasants
  Were chuckling together;
They'd two hundred roubles
  In notes, the old rascals! 260
Safe hidden away
  In the end of their coat-tails.
They both had been yelling,
  ''We're beggars! We're beggars!''
So carried them home.
  ''Well, well, you may cackle!''
  I thought to myself,
''But the next time, be certain,
  You won't laugh at me!''
The others were also 270
  Ashamed of their weakness,
And so by the ikons
  We swore all together
  That next time we rather
Would die of the beating
  Than feebly give way.
It seems the Pomyeshchick
  Had taken a fancy
At once to our roubles,
  Because after that 280
Every year we were summoned
  To go to Korojin,
We went, and were flogged.

  "'Shalashnikov flogged like
A prince, but be certain
The treasures he thrashed from
  The doughty Korojins
Were not of much weight.
  The weak yielded soon,
But the strong stood like iron 290
  For the commune. I also
Bore up, and I thought:
  ''Though never so stoutly
You flog us, you dog's son,
  You won't drag the whole soul
From out of the peasant;
  Some trace will be left.''

"'When the Barin was sated
  We went from the town,
But we stopped on the outskirts 300
  To share what was over.
And plenty there was, too!
  Shalashnikov, heh,
You're a fool! It was our turn
  To laugh at the Barin;
Ah, they were proud peasants—
  The plucky Korojins!
But nowadays show them
  The tail of a knout,
And they'll fly to the Barin, 310
  And beg him to take
The last coin from their pockets.
  Well, that's why we all lived
Like merchants in those days.
  One summer came tidings
To us that our Barin
  Now owned us no longer,
That he had, at Varna,
  Been killed. We weren't sorry,
But somehow we thought then: 320
  ''The peasants' good fortune
Has come to an end!''
  The heir made a new move:
He sent us a German.[48]
  Through vast, savage forests,
Through sly sucking bogs
  And on foot came the German,
As bare as a finger.

  "'As melting as butter
At first was the German: 330
  ''Just give what you can, then,''
He'd say to the peasants.

"'''We've nothing to give!''

"'''I'll explain to the Barin.''

"'''Explain,'' we replied,
  And were troubled no more.
It seemed he was going
  To live in the village;
He soon settled down.
  On the banks of the river, 340
For hour after hour
  He sat peacefully fishing,
And striking his nose
  Or his cheek or his forehead.
We laughed: ''You don't like
  The Korojin mosquitoes?''
He'd boat near the bankside
  And shout with enjoyment,
Like one in the bath-house
  Who's got to the roof.[49] 350

  "'With youths and young maidens
He strolled in the forest
  (They were not for nothing
Those strolls in the forest!)—
  ''Well, if you can't pay
You should work, little peasants.''

"'''What work should we do?''

  "'''You should dig some deep ditches
To drain off the bog-lands.''
  We dug some deep ditches. 360

"'''And now trim the forest.''

  "'''Well, well, trim the forest….''
We hacked and we hewed
  As the German directed,
And when we look round
  There's a road through the forest!

"'The German went driving
To town with three horses;
Look! now he is coming
  With boxes and bedding, 370
And God knows wherefrom
  Has this bare-footed German
Raised wife and small children!
  And now he's established
A village ispravnik,[50]
  They live like two brothers.
His courtyard at all times
  Is teeming with strangers,
And woe to the peasants—
  The fallen Korojins! 380
He sucked us all dry
  To the very last farthing;
And flog!—like the soul
  Of Shalashnikov flogged he!
Shalashnikov stopped
  When he got what he wanted;
He clung to our backs
  Till he'd glutted his stomach,
And then he dropped down
  Like a leech from a dog's ear. 390
But he had the grip
  Of a corpse—had this German;
Until he had left you
  Stripped bare like a beggar
You couldn't escape.'

"'But how could you bear it?'

  "'Ah, how could we bear it?
Because we were giants—
  Because by their patience
The people of Russia
  Are great, little Grandchild. 400
You think, then, Matrona,
  That we Russian peasants
No warriors are?
  Why, truly the peasant
Does not live in armour,
  Does not die in warfare,
But nevertheless
  He's a warrior, child.
His hands are bound tight, 410
  And his feet hung with fetters;
His back—mighty forests
  Have broken across it;
His breast—I will tell you,
The Prophet Elijah
  In chariot fiery
Is thundering within it;
  And these things the peasant
Can suffer in patience.
  He bends—but he breaks not; 420
He reels—but he falls not;
  Then is he not truly
A warrior, say?'

  "'You joke, little Grandad;
Such warriors, surely,
  A tiny mouse nibbling
Could crumble to atoms,'
  I said to Savyeli.

"'I know not, Matrona,
  But up till to-day 430
He has stood with his burden;
  He's sunk in the earth
'Neath its weight to his shoulders;
  His face is not moistened
With sweat, but with heart's blood.
  I don't know what may
Come to pass in the future,
  I can't think what will
Come to pass—only God knows.
  For my part, I know 440
When the storm howls in winter,
  When old bones are painful,
I lie on the oven,
  I lie, and am thinking:
''Eh, you, strength of giants,
  On what have they spent you?
On what are you wasted?
  With whips and with rods
They will pound you to dust!'''

"'But what of the German, 450
Savyeli?'

    "'The German?
Well, well, though he lived
  Like a lord in his glory
For eighteen long years,
  We were waiting our day.
  Then the German considered
A factory needful,
  And wanted a pit dug.
'Twas work for nine peasants. 460
  We started at daybreak
And laboured till mid-day,
And then we were going
  To rest and have dinner,
When up comes the German:
  ''Eh, you, lazy devils!
So little work done?''
  He started to nag us,
Quite coolly and slowly,
  Without heat or hurry; 470
For that was his way.

"'And we, tired and hungry,
  Stood listening in silence.
He kicked the wet earth
  With his boot while he scolded,
Not far from the edge
  Of the pit. I stood near him.
And happened to give him
  A push with my shoulder;
Then somehow a second 480
  And third pushed him gently….
We spoke not a word,
  Gave no sign to each other,
But silently, slowly,
  Drew closer together,
And edging the German
Respectfully forward,
  We brought him at last
To the brink of the hollow….
  He tumbled in headlong! 490
''A ladder!'' he bellows;
  Nine shovels reply.
''Naddai!''[51]—the word fell
  From my lips on the instant,
The word to which people
  Work gaily in Russia;
''Naddai!'' and ''Naddai!''
  And we laboured so bravely
That soon not a trace
  Of the pit was remaining, 500
  The earth was as smooth
As before we had touched it;
  And then we stopped short
And we looked at each other….'

  "The old man was silent.
'What further, Savyeli?'

  "'What further? Ah, bad times:
The prison in Buy-Town
  (I learnt there my letters),
Until we were sentenced; 510
  The convict-mines later;
And plenty of lashes.
  But I never frowned
At the lash in the prison;
  They flogged us but poorly.
And later I nearly
  Escaped to the forest;
They caught me, however.
  Of course they did not
Pat my head for their trouble; 520
  The Governor was through
Siberia famous
  For flogging. But had not
Shalashnikov flogged us?
  I spit at the floggings
I got in the prison!
  Ah, he was a Master!
He knew how to flog you!
  He toughened my hide so
You see it has served me 530
  For one hundred years,
And 'twill serve me another.
  But life was not easy,
I tell you, Matrona:
First twenty years prison,
  Then twenty years exile.
I saved up some money,
  And when I came home,
Built this hut for myself.
  And here I have lived 540
For a great many years now.
  They loved the old grandad
So long as he'd money,
  But now it has gone
They would part with him gladly,
  They spit in his face.
Eh, you plucky toy heroes!
  You're fit to make war
Upon old men and women!'

  "And that was as much 550
As the grandfather told me."

  "And now for your story,"
They answer Matrona.

  "'Tis not very bright.
From one trouble God
  In His goodness preserved me;
For Sitnikov died
  Of the cholera. Soon, though,
Another arose,
  I will tell you about it." 560

"Naddai!" say the peasants
  (They love the word well),
They are filling the glasses.

"The little tree burns
  For the lightning has struck it.
The nightingale's nest
  Has been built in its branches.
The little tree burns,
  It is sighing and groaning;
The nightingale's children
  Are crying and calling:
'Oh, come, little Mother!
  Oh, come, little Mother! 10
Take care of us, Mother,
  Until we can fly,
Till our wings have grown stronger,
Until we can fly
  To the peaceful green forest,
Until we can fly
  To the far silent valleys….'
The poor little tree—
  It is burnt to grey ashes;
The poor little fledgelings 20
  Are burnt to grey ashes.
The mother flies home,
  But the tree … and the fledgelings …
The nest…. She is calling,
  Lamenting and calling;
She circles around,
  She is sobbing and moaning;
She circles so quickly,
  She circles so quickly,
Her tiny wings whistle. 30
  The dark night has fallen,
The dark world is silent,
  But one little creature
Is helplessly grieving
  And cannot find comfort;—
The nightingale only
  Laments for her children….
She never will see them
  Again, though she call them
Till breaks the white day…. 40
I carried my baby
  Asleep in my bosom
To work in the meadows.
  But Mother-in-law cried,
'Come, leave him behind you,
  At home with Savyeli,
You'll work better then.'
  And I was so timid,
So tired of her scolding,
  I left him behind. 50

"That year it so happened
  The harvest was richer
Than ever we'd known it;
  The reaping was hard,
But the reapers were merry,
  I sang as I mounted
The sheaves on the waggon.
  (The waggons are loaded
To laughter and singing;
  The sledges in silence, 60
With thoughts sad and bitter;
  The waggons convey the corn
Home to the peasants,
  The sledges will bear it
  Away to the market.)

"But as I was working
  I heard of a sudden
A deep groan of anguish:
  I saw old Savyeli
Creep trembling towards me, 70
  His face white as death:
'Forgive me, Matrona!
  Forgive me, Matrona!
I sinned….I was careless.'
  He fell at my feet.

"Oh, stay, little swallow!
  Your nest build not there!
Not there 'neath the leafless
  Bare bank of the river:
The water will rise, 80
  And your children will perish.
Oh, poor little woman,
  Young wife and young mother,
The daughter-in-law
  And the slave of the household,
Bear blows and abuse,
  Suffer all things in silence,
But let not your baby
  Be torn from your bosom….
Savyeli had fallen 90
  Asleep in the sunshine,
And Djoma—the pigs
  Had attacked him and killed him.

"I fell to the ground
  And lay writhing in torture;
I bit the black earth
  And I shrieked in wild anguish;
I called on his name,
  And I thought in my madness
My voice must awake him…. 100

  "Hark!—horses' hoofs stamping,[52]
And harness-bells jangling—
  Another misfortune!
The children are frightened,
  They run to the houses;
And outside the window
  The old men and women
Are talking in whispers
  And nodding together.
The Elder is running 110
  And tapping each window
In turn with his staff;
Then he runs to the hayfields,
  He runs to the pastures,
To summon the people.
  They come, full of sorrow—
Another misfortune!
  And God in His wrath
Has sent guests that are hateful,
  Has sent unjust judges. 120
Perhaps they want money?
  Their coats are worn threadbare?
Perhaps they are hungry?

  "Without greeting Christ
They sit down at the table,
  They've set up an icon
And cross in the middle;
  Our pope, Father John,
Swears the witnesses singly.

  "They question Savyeli, 130
And then a policeman
  Is sent to find me,
While the officer, swearing,
  Is striding about
Like a beast in the forest….
  'Now, woman, confess it,'
He cries when I enter,
  'You lived with the peasant
Savyeli in sin?'

"I whisper in answer, 140
'Kind sir, you are joking.
  I am to my husband
A wife without stain,
  And the peasant Savyeli
Is more than a hundred
  Years old;—you can see it.'

"He's stamping about
  Like a horse in the stable;
In fury he's thumping
  His fist on the table. 150
'Be silent! Confess, then,
  That you with Savyeli
Had plotted to murder
  Your child!'

             "Holy Mother!
What horrible ravings!
  My God, give me patience,
And let me not strangle
  The wicked blasphemer!
I looked at the doctor 160
  And shuddered in terror:
Before him lay lancets,
  Sharp scissors, and knives.
I conquered myself,
  For I knew why they lay there.
I answer him trembling,
  'I loved little Djoma,
I would not have harmed him.'

"'And did you not poison him.
  Give him some powder?' 170

"'Oh, Heaven forbid!'
I kneel to him crying,
  'Be gentle! Have mercy!
And grant that my baby
  In honour be buried,
Forbid them to thrust
  The cruel knives in his body!
Oh, I am his mother!'

  "Can anything move them?
No hearts they possess, 180
  In their eyes is no conscience,
No cross at their throats….

  "They have lifted the napkin
Which covered my baby;
  His little white body
With scissors and lancets
  They worry and torture …
The room has grown darker,
  I'm struggling and screaming,
'You butchers! You fiends! 190
  Not on earth, not on water,
And not on God's temple
  My tears shall be showered;
But straight on the souls
  Of my hellish tormentors!
Oh, hear me, just God!
  May Thy curse fall and strike them!
Ordain that their garments
  May rot on their bodies!
Their eyes be struck blind, 200
  And their brains scorch in madness!
Their wives be unfaithful,
  Their children be crippled!
Oh, hear me, just God!
  Hear the prayers of a mother,
And look on her tears,—
  Strike these pitiless devils!'

"'She's crazy, the woman!'
  The officer shouted,
'Why did you not tell us 210
  Before? Stop this fooling!
Or else I shall order
  My men, here, to bind you.'

"I sank on the bench,
  I was trembling all over;
I shook like a leaf
  As I gazed at the doctor;
His sleeves were rolled backwards,
  A knife was in one hand,
A cloth in the other, 220
  And blood was upon it;
His glasses were fixed
  On his nose. All was silent.
The officer's pen
  Began scratching on paper;
The motionless peasants
  Stood gloomy and mournful;
The pope lit his pipe
  And sat watching the doctor.
He said, 'You are reading 230
  A heart with a knife.'
I started up wildly;
  I knew that the doctor
Was piercing the heart
  Of my little dead baby.

"'Now, bind her, the vixen!'
The officer shouted;—
  She's mad!' He began
To inquire of the peasants,
  'Have none of you noticed 240
Before that the woman
  Korchagin is crazy?'

"'No,' answered the peasants.
  And then Philip's parents
He asked, and their children;
  They answered, 'Oh, no, sir!
We never remarked it.'
  He asked old Savyeli,—
There's one thing,' he answered,
  'That might make one think 250
That Matrona is crazy:
  She's come here this morning
Without bringing with her
  A present of money
Or cloth to appease you.'

  "And then the old man
Began bitterly crying.
  The officer frowning
Sat down and said nothing.
  And then I remembered: 260
In truth it was madness—
  The piece of new linen
Which I had made ready
  Was still in my box—
I'd forgotten to bring it;
  And now I had seen them
Seize Djomushka's body
  And tear it to pieces.
I think at that moment
  I turned into marble: 270
I watched while the doctor
  Was drinking some vodka
And washing his hands;
  I saw how he offered
The glass to the pope,
  And I heard the pope answer,
'Why ask me? We mortals
  Are pitiful sinners,—
We don't need much urging
  To empty a glass!' 280

"The peasants are standing
  In fear, and are thinking:
'Now, how did these vultures
  Get wind of the matter?
Who told them that here
  There was chance of some profit?
They dashed in like wolves,
Seized the beards of the peasants,
  And snarled in their faces
Like savage hyenas!' 290

  "And now they are feasting,
Are eating and drinking;
  They chat with the pope,
He is murmuring to them,
  'The people in these parts
Are beggars and drunken;
  They owe me for countless
Confessions and weddings;
  They'll take their last farthing
To spend in the tavern; 300
  And nothing but sins
Do they bring to their priest.'

  "And then I hear singing
In clear, girlish voices—
  I know them all well:
There's Natasha and Glasha,
  And Dariushka,—Jesus
Have mercy upon them!
Hark! steps and accordion;
  Then there is silence. 310
I think I had fallen
  Asleep; then I fancied
That somebody entering
  Bent over me, saying,
'Sleep, woman of sorrows,
  Exhausted by sorrow,'
And making the sign
  Of the cross on my forehead.
I felt that the ropes
  On my body were loosened, 320
And then I remembered
  No more. In black darkness
I woke, and astonished
  I ran to the window:
Deep night lay around me—
  What's happened? Where am I?
I ran to the street,—
  It was empty, in Heaven
No moon and no stars,
  And a great cloud of darkness 330
Spread over the village.
  The huts of the peasants
Were dark; only one hut
  Was brilliantly lighted,
It shone like a palace—
  The hut of Savyeli.
I ran to the doorway,
  And then … I remembered.

"The table was gleaming
  With yellow wax candles, 340
And there, in the midst,
  Lay a tiny white coffin,
And over it spread
  Was a fine coloured napkin,
An icon was placed
  At its head….
    O you builders,
For my little son
  What a house you have fashioned!
No windows you've made 350
  That the sunshine may enter,
No stove and no bench,
  And no soft little pillows….
Oh, Djomushka will not
  Feel happy within it,
He cannot sleep well….
'Begone!'—I cried harshly
  On seeing Savyeli;
He stood near the coffin
  And read from the book 360
In his hand, through his glasses.
  I cursed old Savyeli,
Cried—'Branded one! Convict!
  Begone! 'Twas you killed him!
You murdered my, Djoma,
  Begone from my sight!'

  "He stood without moving;
He crossed himself thrice
  And continued his reading.
But when I grew calmer 370
  Savyeli approached me,
And said to me gently,
  'In winter, Matrona,
I told you my story,
  But yet there was more.
Our forests were endless,
  Our lakes wild and lonely,
Our people were savage;
  By cruelty lived we:
By snaring the wood-grouse, 380
By slaying the bears:—
  You must kill or you perish!
I've told you of Barin
  Shalashnikov, also
Of how we were robbed
  By the villainous German,
And then of the prison,
  The exile, the mines.
My heart was like stone,
  I grew wild and ferocious. 390
My winter had lasted
  A century, Grandchild,
But your little Djoma
  Had melted its frosts.
One day as I rocked him
  He smiled of a sudden,
And I smiled in answer….
  A strange thing befell me
Some days after that:
  As I prowled in the forest 400
I aimed at a squirrel;
  But suddenly noticed
How happy and playful
  It was, in the branches:
Its bright little face
  With its paw it sat washing.
I lowered my gun:—
  'You shall live, little squirrel!'
I rambled about
  In the woods, in the meadows, 410
And each tiny floweret
  I loved. I went home then
And nursed little Djoma,
  And played with him, laughing.
God knows how I loved him,
  The innocent babe!
And now … through my folly,
  My sin, … he has perished….
Upbraid me and kill me,
  But nothing can help you, 420
With God one can't argue….
  Stand up now, Matrona,
And pray for your baby;
  God acted with reason:
He's counted the joys
  In the life of a peasant!'

"Long, long did Savyeli
  Stand bitterly speaking,
The piteous fate
  Of the peasant he painted; 430
And if a rich Barin,
  A merchant or noble,
If even our Father
  The Tsar had been listening,
Savyeli could not
  Have found words which were truer,
Have spoken them better….

  "'Now Djoma is happy
And safe, in God's Heaven,'
  He said to me later. 440
His tears began falling….

  "'I do not complain
That God took him, Savyeli,'
   I said,—'but the insult
They did him torments me,
  It's racking my heart.
Why did vicious black ravens
  Alight on his body
And tear it to pieces?
  Will neither our God 450
Nor our Tsar—Little Father—
  Arise to defend us?'

"'But God, little Grandchild,
  Is high, and the Tsar
Far away,' said Savyeli.

"I cried, 'Yet I'll reach them!'

"But Grandfather answered,
  'Now hush, little Grandchild,
You woman of sorrow,
  Bow down and have patience; 460
No truth you will find
  In the world, and no justice.'

"'But why then, Savyeli?'

"'A bondswoman, Grandchild,
  You are; and for such
Is no hope,' said Savyeli.

  "For long I sat darkly
And bitterly thinking.
  The thunder pealed forth
And the windows were shaken; 470
  I started! Savyeli
Drew nearer and touched me,
  And led me to stand
By the little white coffin:

"'Now pray that the Lord
  May have placed little Djoma
Among the bright ranks
  Of His angels,' he whispered;
A candle he placed
  In my hand…. And I knelt there 480
The whole of the night
  Till the pale dawn of daybreak:
The grandfather stood
  Beside Djomushka's coffin
And read from the book
  In a measured low voice…."