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Ben Seslendirme sanatçısı ve mimar İrfan Emsen. Sizler için sesli kitaplar, sesli hikayeler, kitap yorumları, kitap tavsiyeleri ve kitap incelemeleri gibi içerikler hazırlıyor ve tüm seslendirme çalışmalarımı bu kanalımda yayınlıyorum.
DİNLEDİĞİNİZ, BEĞENDİĞİNİZ Ve ABONE OLDUĞUNUZ İÇİN TEŞEKKÜR EDERİM.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am İrfan Emsen. I will be your companion , perhaps while cooking or exercising at home, on the bus, perhaps on a bicycle tour or in your private vehicles, with your eyes on the road and your ears on me.
Now, if you are ready, we can start listening to Tolstoy’s work called What Does a Man Live by, which I sang for you . HOW MUCH LAND DOES A PERSON NEED? The older sister, who lived in the city and was married to a merchant, went to visit her sister in the village;
His brother was married to a peasant. As they gathered around the samovar, the elder sister started talking about the beauties of city life, how comfortable their lives were, how beautifully they dressed, how the children were dressed in elegant clothes, how they ate delicious food and went to theaters and entertainments .
The sister was offended by these words and then began to criticize her husband’s life and explain how much she liked the village life: ” I wouldn’t replace the life I live with yours!” she said. “We may have a rough life, but at least we have peace of mind.
It is true that you live better than us, yes, but although you gain more than you need, you can lose everything in an instant. You must have heard the proverb: ‘Profit and loss are brothers.’ Nowadays, those who are in a good economic situation are in need of bread to eat.
Our life is safer. Maybe it is not that enviable, but even though we are not very wealthy, we do not have problems with food.” The older sister said in a sarcastic voice: “Of course, if you want to eat these foods with pigs and cows. What do you know about kindness! Let your husband
Work from dawn to dusk, and you and your children continue to live on the dung !” Little brother: “Is it that important?” said. I cannot say that our work is rough and tiring; but safe. We can live without hurting anyone. So, you?
Your cities are full of disgraceful things; It doesn’t cause much trouble these days , but what about in the future? If your husband goes astray with gambling, drinking or women? Wouldn’t everything be ruined then? Don’t you come across such things often?
Pahom, the head of the family, was listening to the women’s conversations from above the fireplace . ‘That’s exactly it!..’ he thought to himself. ‘We, the peasant part, have been so absorbed in cultivating the land since childhood that we do not have time to think about such things.
The only thing I worry about is that we have little land. If I had more fields, I wouldn’t be afraid of anyone.’ When the sister and sister finished their tea, they started talking about clothes; Then they washed their dishes and went to bed.
However, the devil stood by the fireplace and listened to all the conversations. She was happy that the woman living in the village praised her husband and that the man thought that he would not be afraid of anyone if he had more land . ‘The game is beginning…’ thought the devil.
I will give you as much land as you want and take you under my control. Near the village lived a lady who owned a very large piece of land, about three hundred acres . This woman had no problems with the villagers, but
Things went sour when she took a former soldier as a friend. This approach was making everyone laugh with the fines he imposed. Even though Pahom tried to be as careful as he could, the same thing kept happening to him; His horse was diving into the lady’s oats, or a cow
Was entering the lady’s garden, his calves were grazing in the lady’s pastures, and he was faced with a fine for all these. Pahom, who grumbled and paid the fine, went home in anger and took out all his pain on his wife. Pahom spent the whole summer badly because of the approach.
He was only relieved when winter came and the cattle could not leave the barn. If only he could feed the animals himself, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about it. According to the rumors that started in those days, the lady was going to sell her lands.
The owner of the inn on the main road had started attempts to buy these lands. This news made the villagers very worried. “If the innkeeper buys the lands,” they said, “with the penalties that will be imposed, he will make us even ask for the lady to approach him…
We can all earn our living from those lands.” The villagers gathered together and went to the lady and asked her not to sell their land to the innkeeper and offered a higher price. The lady agreed to leave her land to them.
Later, the peasants began to try to get all the land for themselves , so that they could cultivate all the land collectively. No matter how many times they met to discuss this issue, they could not reach a solution; Because the devil had sown the seeds of discord among them.
Finally, they decided to take these lands in shares as much as they could afford . The lady said ‘yes’ to their suggestion. After some time, Pahom
Heard that one of his neighbors had bought fifty acres of land, and that he would pay half of the money immediately and the rest a year later; He was filled with envy. “Wow!”
“He said to himself, all the land is being sold off, and I won’t be able to buy even an inch of land.” He went and talked to his wife: “Everyone buys…” he said. “We must do whatever it takes to buy twenty acres. The burden of living is getting heavier.
“The current approach is killing us with the penalties it imposes.” They thought about how they could buy some land and started moving. They had saved a hundred rubles. They sold a foal and some bees. They sent their sons abroad to earn money; After taking Pahom’s salary in advance
And borrowing a little money from his brother-in-law, they equalized half of the money they would pay for the land. Pahom, who took the money with him, liked a place of forty acres with some trees. They agreed on the price with the lady and shook hands; Pahom gave the lady some deposit.
They went to the city and prepared a promissory note for the remaining debt. Pahom would pay half in cash and the other half over two years. Now Pahom also became a land owner. He planted the seeds he borrowed on his land.
The crop was good that year; He cleared all his debts in less than a year. He was now master of his own land; He was cultivating and reaping his cattle on his own pasture. When he went to look at his growing corn or meadows, he could not sit still with joy.
Everything that grew there looked different and more beautiful to his eyes. Previously, these lands had no features; but now the situation had completely changed. Pahom had no complaints or complaints about his life. His mood would have been perfect if the people from the neighboring village had not passed through his cornfield and pasture
. He warned politely several times, but the villagers did not even pay attention. As if this was not enough, the village shepherd also let his cows go to his pastures, and even the horses left outside at night were diving into his corn.
How many times did Pahom take them out, warn their owners, and barely restrain himself from suing anyone. One day, he couldn’t stand it anymore and filed a complaint with the court. He actually knew that the peasants were landless and that this was the cause of the whole problem, especially
That they did not do it; but he couldn’t help but think: “I can’t turn a blind eye to this; Otherwise they will dry my marrow. “I have to find a way to show them their day.”
He took them to court and showed them their day; As it was not enough, he was sent to court again and as a result, several villagers were sentenced to pay fines. After some time, Pahom’s neighbors began to become angry. Sometimes they deliberately released their animals into his fields.
One of the villagers even went to Pahom’s tree at night and cut down a few young linden trees. As Pahom passed by his grove, something white caught his attention; When he took a few steps closer, he noticed that only the roots of the linden trees remained, and
That there were trees with their bark stripped away, and he became very angry. “If it was just one tree he cut down, it wouldn’t be a problem…” he thought to himself. “The bastard cut down a lot of trees.
If I get my hands on the person who did it, I will tear him to pieces.” He constantly wondered who did this. Finally he said, ‘Surely Simon did it; There can be no one else!..’ he thought. He went and looked at Simon’s farm; He couldn’t see anything, but
His decision that Simon did it didn’t change. He wrote a petition and submitted it to the court. Simon was summoned to the hearing. The case was reviewed again, and since there was no evidence of what he did, he was released. It was decided to remove.
The injustice he suffered grew greater in Pahom’s eyes; He reflected all his anger on the village council : “Thieves are bribing you…” he said. “If you were honest people, you would not let the thief go!..” Pahom did not fight and did not let anyone go.
They also heard rumors that they would set fire to his house. Although the land holdings increased, his prestige in the society was damaged. Over time, there were rumors that many people would move to new regions. “I don’t need to leave my land…” he thought to himself.
“If someone moves, we have plenty of space. I will buy the land they sold and expand my land. My life becomes much easier. Besides, it’s not like this situation is very good.” One day, while he was sitting at home, Pahom hosted a farmer who happened to pass by the village.
Pahom welcomed the villager and asked him where he was from. The villager stated that he came from the other side of the Volga and lived there. When Pahom looked into this, the man said that many people were moving there. There were people who moved there from this village.
They joined the community; Twenty-five acres of land were distributed per person. The land was giving a thousand to one. The villager who came there wearing only his shirt now owns six horses and two cows.
As the fires of jealousy filled Pahom’s heart, he said, ” Why should I be miserable here when it is possible to live decently in a different place ?” I will sell my lands here and start a new life there with the money I will receive.
In such a crowded place, one can never run out of trouble. Still, let me go and have a look first…” he thought. He set out in the last days of spring. He boarded a ferry and crossed the Volga to Shamara. He walked nearly three hundred miles and
Arrived at the place the man had mentioned. What he saw there confirmed what the man had said. There was enough land for everyone; Each villager was given twenty-five acres of land to be cultivated collectively. Those who wanted could have these lands cheaper by paying the money.
Pahom, who examined the situation on the spot, returned home towards autumn and began to sell everything he had; He sold his land and animals. He ceased to be a member of the community. They waited until spring came and set out with their family towards their new homeland.
When Pahom arrived in his new homeland, he applied to be accepted into the community of a large village. He prepared the necessary documents and gave them to the council of elders and received the membership certificate from them.
One hundred and twenty-five acres of land were given to his command for him and his sons to cultivate . Pahom made the necessary building additions. He now owned three times as much land as before. The soil was quite suitable for planting corn. His condition was much better than before.
It had large pastures and arable lands. The number of cows he could raise was unlimited. Pahom was happy with his life at first; But after a while, he started to find his lands here small. In the first year, he planted wheat on his share of the common lands and received abundant crops.
He intended to plant wheat this year too, but his common land was insufficient. In fact, the lands he cultivated were not reserved for wheat cultivation; because in that region, wheat could only be planted on fallow lands that had never been plowed. The lands where wheat was planted every two years
Were left fallow until the grass on them grew, and the demand for such lands was high and the soil was insufficient. That’s why there were constant fights. The well-to-do people wanted to plant wheat here, and the poor wanted to sell these places and at least collect the taxes they would pay.
Pahom was one of those who wanted to sow more wheat; He rented land from a buyer for a year . He sowed as much wheat as he could; The crop yielded a thousand to one, but there was a problem: The land was too far from the village.
Wheat had to be transported almost ten kilometers. After a while, when Pahom realized that some buyers were living on distant farms and making a fortune, he thought , “If I bought some land, the title deed of which I had, and built a farmhouse on it , everything would be fine…”
He thought about this issue for days. He rented land and continued to plant wheat for three years. He was getting good crops and could even save money. In fact, he could have lived without any complaints, but having to work hard to rent land every year intimidated him.
Peasants immediately flocked to places known to be good lands and were sold at once. When you didn’t act quickly, you were breathing heavily. In the third year, he and another farmer rented a meadow; When a dispute arose between them and the farmers sued, they had plowed that place as well
. They lost the case and their money and efforts were wasted. Pahom thought , ‘If I had my own land, I would cultivate it without anyone getting involved and I wouldn’t bother with these things…’ Pahom began to look for land for himself;
He met a villager who had one thousand three hundred decares of land but wanted to sell this land because he was in trouble. They bargained hard and decided on fifteen hundred rubles, half to be paid in cash and half in promissory notes . All that remained was to make a contract.
At that time, a stranger passing by came to Pahom’s house to feed his horse . When Pahom talked to the stranger, he learned that he had returned from a long distance from Bashkir, and that thirteen thousand acres of land there cost only a thousand rubles.
The stranger said the following to Pahom, who wanted to get more information: “The best thing to do is to become friends with the presidents. I donated a woman’s dress, a carpet, a box of tea worth a hundred rubles, and wine;
In exchange for these, each acre of land cost me less than two kopecks.” The stranger showing the title deeds next to him said: “The lands are on the bank of a river; “When you bleed, life ends…” he said. He said to Pahom, who was asking questions repeatedly, “
There are vast lands that belong to the Bashkirs, so much so that even if you walk for a year, you cannot reach the other end. Bashkirs are like sheep. “You can buy land from them at any price.” “Well…”
Said Pahom to himself, “instead of spending a thousand rubles and buying thirteen hundred acres here, and getting into debt, I can go there and own ten times more land than I bought here.” Pahom learned from the stranger how to get there, and when the man left, he also made preparations to set out.
He left his wife in the village to protect his property and hit the road with a servant. They stopped at a town along the way, bought tea, wine, and other gifts the stranger had ordered, and traveled more than three hundred miles. On the seventh day, they arrived at the Bashkir tribe.
These places were just as the stranger had described. Bashkirs lived in hair tents that they set up on the banks of a river. They did not work on the land and did not put bread into their mouths. Their animals were just grazing in stray herds.
The foals stand tied at the back of the tents; The mares were taken to them twice a day. Kumiss was obtained from the milk of foals. All the work of the tribe was done by women. All the men did was lie around all day, drink kumiss and tea,
Eat slaughtered sheep, and have fun. They had no intention of working; They were rude and unconscious, their Russian was poor, but they were friendly people. When they saw Pahom, they immediately emptied their tents and gathered around him. A translator was brought in; Pahom said he wanted to buy some land.
Their president looked quite pleased; They invited Pahom to one of the most beautiful tents, offered him tea and kumiss, and brought meat for him to eat. Pahom also distributed the gifts in his cart. They talked among themselves and asked the translator to say:
The translator said, “They loved you; We have a tradition of treating guests well. You brought us gifts, you made us happy; We want to make you happy too. Tell me, what can we give you that you would like?” “Land…” said Pahom, “Land.
The land we have there is so little, so barren; but your lands are very large and fertile…” The translator translated these words. Bashkirs started talking among themselves. It was not clear what they were talking about, but it was clear.
They fell silent for a moment and looked at Pahom while the translator spoke: “In return for the gifts you brought, They say you can buy as much land as you want. “Just tell me what you want.” The Bashkirs talked and argued among themselves some more.
When Pahom learned what they were arguing about, the translator said that some people should ask the President about the land issue and get his opinion, while others did not see the need for this. While they were continuing their discussion, a man with a fur coat on his back appeared at the tent door.
They suddenly fell silent and stood up. The translator said : “Our president has arrived…” Pahom immediately stood up and presented a woman’s dress and two boxes of tea. The President took the gifts and invited him to the corner of honor. The Bashkirs immediately started to tell him something.
The President listened for a while, signaled them to be silent, and said to Pahom in Russian: “Take whatever you want; “We have plenty of land…” he said. ‘How can I get as much as I want?’ thought Pahom. ‘In order to anchor my business on solid stakes, I must issue a title deed,
Otherwise they may take it away from me one day.’ “Thank you for your kindness…” said Pahom. You have plenty of land. What I want is a small section. But still, how can I trust that the department I’m taking is entirely mine? Can’t the necessary measurement be spread and the title deed given?
It is not clear what will happen tomorrow; What will I do if your children want to take it away from me one day ? “You’re right…” said the President. I will also give you the title deed. Pahom continued, “A buyer came here and you gave him land and issued a title deed.
“I would like you to do this for me too.” “That job is easy…” said the President. “Our headman will come to town with you and you will receive the signed and stamped title deed.” “So how much will I have to pay?” “The price is fixed here, one thousand rubles a day.”
Pahom did not understand. “A day? What kind of price is this? How many acres is that?” “We don’t understand such calculations…” said the President, “in our country, lands are sold by day calculation.
The land is yours as much as you can walk and draw its boundaries in a day; ” The daily cost is one thousand rubles.” Pahom was astonished: “A person can cover a huge area in one day…” he said. The President was laughing: “You do it too; Let all the land be yours!” said.
“But we have one condition; If you don’t return to the place you started walking on the same day, forget the money you paid.” “But how will I determine the places I pass through?” “Easy; We will go as far as you want and stop there.
You start from there and define your circle with the shovel next to you. You mark wherever you want. Every time you return, you dig a hole and pile the grass on it; We mark the places in between .
But remember, no matter how big a circle you make, you have to return to where you started before sunset ; Whatever places you have marked so far, consider them as your own. Pahom loved it. They decided to start early the next morning. They talked for a while longer, drank kumiss and ate meat.
Darkness had fallen now. The Bashkirs laid out a comfortable bed for Pahom, said that they would go to the agreed point in the morning, and wished him good night.
When Pahom lay down on the bed, his mind was only about the land he would buy; He couldn’t sleep because he was thinking about them : ‘I’ll mark a whole area!’ he thought. I go thirty-five miles a day on water.
After all, the days are long; How much land is a thirty-five mile circle worth! I sell the unsuitable parts or donate them to the villagers; I take the most productive parts for myself and plant and reap. Nope, I’ll buy two more oxen and find two farmhands.
‘I cultivate some of it and turn the rest into pasture.’ Pahom couldn’t sleep until the morning. Close to dawn, he dived a little. When he closed his eyes, he immediately dreamed: He was lying in the tent where he was now, and he heard the sounds of laughter coming from outside.
He went out to see who it was. The leader of the Bashkirs was sitting in front of the tent and laughing. Pahom approached him and said, “Why are you laughing?” said. But this man was no longer the president, but
The man who had previously come to his house to feed his horses and talked about the lands here. Pahom asked: “When did you come here?” As he was about to ask, the man was no longer a stranger coming to his house, but
Turned into the man from the Volga with whom he had talked a long time ago. Whatever he sees next is fine; no, he wasn’t a Volga either; It was the tailed, horned devil we know, laughing there.
In front of the devil’s feet was a dead man lying barefoot and wearing his trousers and shirt. The dead man was Pahom. He woke up with a chill. ‘Oh, it’s a dream!’ he said to himself. He looked from the mouth of the tent; It was dawn. “I’ll go wake them up.
“It’s time to get to work…” he said. The Bashkirs woke up and gathered together. They drank kumiss and offered tea to Pahom; But he couldn’t sit still: “Let’s go now,” he said, “Time is wasting.” They all packed up and set off; Half were horse-drawn and half were chariot-driven.
Pahom was in his own carriage with his servant. He also took a shovel with him. When they went out onto the steppe, the sky was copper colored. They went up to a hillside called “Şıhan” by the Bashkirs. They got off their horses and cars and gathered in one place.
The President came to Pahom and showed the flat land: “Everywhere your eyes can see is ours. You can have as much as you want.” Taking off his helmet and placing it on the ground, the President said: “This is your sign… This is where you start and where you will finish.
Anywhere you circle can be yours.” Pahom took out the money and placed it on the headboard. When he took off his coat, he was left with his jacket. He took off his belt and wrapped it around his waist; He put a small food bag and a canteen on his vest sleeve and
Took the shovel from his servant. Now he could start wandering. For a while he thought where it would be better to start. No place seemed indispensable to him. “It’s all the same…” he said, “Let me go east.” He turned his face to the east and waited for the sun to show its face.
“I mustn’t linger…” he said at last. “I can walk more comfortably without feeling hot.” When the first rays of the sun appeared on the horizon, Pahom dived into the steppe with the shovel in his hand. His first walking pace was just right. He went about
A mile, dug a deep hole, and pulled grass and piled it on top to show where it was. He continued walking; When he woke up from his sleepy state, he sped up. He went for a while and dug another hole. Pahom turned and looked behind him and
Saw the hillside, the people standing there, and the wheels of the cars shining. He judged that he had walked about three miles. The heat was pressing in; He took off his jacket and threw it over his shoulders and continued walking. The heat was becoming unbearable; He glanced at the sun and
Thought it was time for breakfast. “It’s too early to go back now. “Let me take off my boots…” he said. He took off his boots and hung them on his belt, and walked again. ‘I can go another three miles…’ he thought, ‘then I’ll turn left.
This is so beautiful, I’ll be sad if I don’t get it. The lands seem to be more and more fertile.’ He continued straight ahead. When he looked back, he could barely make out the slope and the people there. ‘Oh my God, I’ve gone too far this way…’ he thought to himself.
‘I have to return immediately. ‘I sweated so much, I was so parched with thirst!’ He stopped and dug a hole and piled the grass. He drank water from his canteen. Then he turned left and walked. The grass was man-high and the air was suffocatingly hot.
He felt increasingly tired; He looked at the sun and guessed that it was noon. “Enough…” he said, “Let me just take a breather…” He sat down and ate his bread and drank water; He didn’t lie down because he was afraid of falling asleep. After sitting for a while, he set out again.
At first he could walk without difficulty; His strength was renewed by resting, drinking water and eating; But the weather was so hot that he felt like fainting. He suddenly felt sleepy. Still, he thought, ‘Get tired for an hour, be comfortable for a lifetime…’ and walked on.
Just as he was about to turn left, he saw a stream. “It would be a sin if I did not add this place to my lands. “I can grow cotton here…” he thought. He went around the stream and dug a hole on the other bank.
When Pahom looked up at the hill, the air seemed foggy with heat and things were flying. was standing before your eyes; Those on the slope had become invisible. ‘I’ve been here too long…’ he thought to himself. ‘Let me make it shorter here…’ He accelerated his walking and started pacing a third side.
He turned his head towards the sun; Pahom was halfway to the horizon, but he had not traveled even two miles on the third side of the square. His target was ten miles further away. “No, no…” he thought. “Even though my lands are crooked, I must now turn towards a straight line.
“I have traveled far and now I have vast lands.” He immediately dug a hole, piled grass on top and headed towards the slope. Pahom immediately headed towards the slope, but he could take his steps with great difficulty. Exhausted from the heat, his feet were scratched by thorns and bushes, and
He had no strength left. He wanted to rest so badly! But he couldn’t do this before sunset. The sun had no patience; was getting lower and lower. “Oh my god…” he sighed. “I made a mistake. I wish I hadn’t been a donkey and struggled to acquire more land!
What happens if I don’t make it on time?..” He looked at the slope, then at the sun. How far he was from his destination! The sun was almost merging with the horizon. Pahom sped up, but he was so weak…
Then he started running, taking off his coat and jacket; He threw away his provisions and his canteen. He only had a shovel in his hand, which he used as a walking stick. ‘What the hell did I do…’ he thought.
‘I got greedy and went around a lot of places, I wanted it all to be mine. ‘There’s no way I can get there before sunset.’ Thinking about these things drained his last strength. He kept running; tired, unhappy, thirsty… His chest was heaving, his heart was beating like crazy, he couldn’t feel his legs.
Suddenly the fear of death seized him… He did not stop again. ‘If I stop after having come so far, they will think I’m a fool…’ he thought to himself. He didn’t stop, he ran; He was so close that he could hear the Bashkirs calling; Hearing these voices sharpened his passion.
He started running with all his might. The sun was as low as it could get; There was a blood red appearance in the misty air. He almost fainted! But he was so close to his goal…
Pahom was noticing the signs of those who wanted to encourage him; He could make out the money he left on the ground , his cap, and the President with his hands on his hips. Pahom suddenly remembered the dream he had seen last night. “There is enough land…” he said.
“But will God allow me to cultivate this land? I’ll never get there.” He looked at the sun, which was very low; Part of it was no longer visible. He attacked with his last remnants of strength; his body was bent forward and his knees could no longer support him.
Just as he reached the slope, it suddenly became dark; Sun is down. ‘All my effort was in vain!’ he groaned. While he was deciding to stop, he realized that the calls of the Bashkirs did not stop. He could not see the sun from where he was, but the people on the slopes could.
He took a deep breath and climbed the slope. There were still bits of sunlight here. He went up the slope and saw the cap; The President was laughing, holding his flanks, in front of the cap . Once again his dream came to his mind; he groaned.
There was no strength left in his knees, he fell to the ground and stretched his hands to the heart. “You got a lot of land!” shouted the President. His servant immediately ran and caught up; He tried to lift him up from the ground, but
Blood oozed from Pahom’s mouth; He had breathed his last! His servant took the shovel and dug a suitable grave for Pahom and buried him. Two meters of soil satisfied Pahom’s eyes. MAN AND HIS SERVANT It was one of those hard winter days.
Two days after Saint Nicholas Day, the town church had a feast. It was impossible for Vasili, a second-rate alsatist, to leave the church that day. He took care of the foundation’s affairs. He also had to spend time at home, receive his relatives and treat them .
But when his last guest left, he started preparations for the road without wasting any time. He was going to meet with a land owner whose house was somewhere around here and buy a grove he had been bargaining for for a long time.
He was agitated; Because there was a possibility that other buyers would act early and buy this affordable place . Although Vasily offered seven thousand rubles, the owner would not go below ten thousand rubles. In fact, seven thousand rubles was only close to one-third of the real value of the grove.
It seemed possible to slightly reduce the price set by the owner; because the wood was very close to where Vasili’s lands were located. It was customary among the town elders not to raise the price of such places around each of their lands, but Vasili
Had heard that the wood merchants in the town were intervening and looking for ways to settle the matter. From this, as soon as the festive celebrations were over, he took out seven hundred rubles from his safe;
When he added the two thousand three hundred rubles he took from the church coffers, he made seven thousand rubles. He counted the money over and over, put it in his pocket, and started making preparations. Nikita, the only sober servant of the day, started to harness the horses to the carriage.
Nikita was sober that day; Because he always drank as long as he could remember. He had disposed of his new clothes and shoes, but had now repented of drinking. He also complied with his repentance; He hadn’t even touched a drink for two months.
Even on this holiday, when wine was drunk everywhere, he managed to restrain himself. He knew how to endear himself to everyone with his enthusiasm for his job, his know-how, his strength and his pure heart . But sometimes he would disappear; He would start drinking twice a year, sometimes more than that
, pouring everything into drink. It would be better to leave it at that; No, she would be an uneasy, bitchy person. Even his lord Vasili had shown him the door many times. But he couldn’t stand it and took it back every time; because Nikita was an honest man, he was fond of animals.
Most importantly, he worked even to have a full stomach. Although the money he was supposed to receive was eighty rubles, his lord would only give him forty rubles. But even this, Nikita would take it in pieces.
No, this would not be enough, his master would sell goods for many times more than his own shop in return for his labor. Once upon a time, Nikita was living at home, working and living with a very attractive and quick-witted wife, a son and two daughters, and
Did not complain about her husband being around them. He didn’t, because when Nikita wasn’t drinking, he was like a sheep because of the woman’s complaints. When he got high, he would become an unlucky person and kill the woman out of fear. Once, perhaps in revenge for
What she had done to him when he was sober , he broke into his wife’s chest and chopped up her best dresses with an axe. His salary was given directly to his wife, and he did not say anything about it. The same thing happened this time.
Two days before the holiday, the woman stopped by Vasili’s shop, bought things like flour, tea, sugar and kvass, which cost only three rubles, and left feeling grateful to the gentleman who pretended to donate . In fact, the man had to pay him at least twenty rubles.
Bey asked Nikita: “Does he have anything to say about us?” he said. “Come and buy whatever you want from the store. You work, you pay. Besides, I don’t want a bill basket like others. Everything is solved by talking here. “Since you work under me, I can’t leave you…” he said.
While the gentleman was saying these, his servant thought that he was really his benefactor. Vasili, like this man, the other servants under his command do not deceive anyone, what does deceiving mean; He thought that they thought he showered everyone with good deeds, even though no one but him believed it…
The servant said, ‘The gentleman says so, but I also work hard; If I had my own job, I could only do this much…’ he said to himself. In fact, he knew that the master was deceiving him, but
He thought that even if he tried to settle accounts with him, he would not get anything, and that it would be better to work here until he found a better place . The horses were ordered to run to the cart; He moved towards
The coach house with his usual enthusiasm and smiling face . Although he was a duck in his step, he tended to get right to work. He took his boots, which he had hung on a nail, and entered the barn. The horses that the master ordered to be harnessed were here.
The medium-sized, solid horse, standing alone in a separate stall , neighed with joy when he saw Nikita. The servant said: “No, are you bored?” He asked the horse how he was doing. “Come on, calm down; Don’t worry, let me water you…” Atla spoke as if he were talking to a human.
With the hem of his coat he dried the animal’s greasy back , the middle of which looked like a hairless, dusty, thin channel ; He put the bridle on his head and took him to watering. The horse coming out of the barn was turning left and right, making as if he wanted to
Kick the guy who came next to him . The servant, who loved this joke, said: “Come on, my lion, come on…” and ran at full speed. For a while, the horse, which was drinking water to its heart’s content, seemed to be thinking deeply; He lifted his head from the trough and sneezed.
The servant said in a very serious voice: “You won’t drink anymore, huh? Well, you know…” they said and came to the coach house together. The little animal was scratching and stamping, making noise everywhere. There was no one around.
The only person in the courtyard was the cook’s husband, who was coming for the holiday. The servant said to the man: “Dude, just ask me which car I will prepare; The big one or the small one?..” The called man entered the house with high foundations and tin roof.
Immediately after, the little one arrived with the news that the car was being prepared. The servant had reined the animal until he arrived. Pulling the rein with one hand and the animal with the other, he entered the section where the two sled carriages were standing. “Okay, let me get the little one ready!”
He said and put the naughty horse, which pretended to bite him, between the chariot arrows. When it was time to tighten the reins, he asked the same man to bring him a sheaf of oats and hay . While placing the brought oats in the car, he said, “Calm down, calm down…” and added:
“Once we find a cover for you, it’s okay.” He pulled a blanket over the horse and continued placing the oats. She said to the cook’s husband: “Thank you for your help…” He took the training shoes attached to a ring and sat on the edge of the sleigh.
He led the horse, which was eager to trot, through the courtyard where frozen manure was piled. A boy came from home, at seven, wearing a fur coat, a heart cap, and clean clothes. Child: “Uncle, uncle!” he was calling out. “Please, let me come too!..” he said. Servant: “Here you go, little sir!”
He said and stopped the horse. The master put his son on the sled, and the child’s colorless face sparkled with happiness. It was approaching three o’clock. The weather was cold, foggy and windy. There were pitch black clouds in the sky.
The wind was howling in the street and piling the snow from the roof onto the coach house. The sled passed through the gate and stopped in front of the stone stairs of the house. The gentleman came out with a cigarette in his mouth and his fur on, creaking through the snow.
He took a drag from his cigarette and threw it on the ground, crushing it. He examined the horse out of the corner of his eye, blowing smoke from his nostrils. He pulled up the collars of his fur. He saw his son and said: “Oh, look at the little guy, how he is sitting!”
He had had too much to drink that evening. He was more pleased than ever with himself, seeing things that belonged to him. He always liked his son’s every move. The way he blinked his eyes and showed his long teeth was a sign of this.
The simple lady of the house, whose face was visible only because of the shawl on her head, had also gone out into the courtyard and was standing behind her husband. He walked timidly and said : “It would be better if you take Nikita with you…” The gentleman must not have liked these words.
Without answering, he sulked and spat on the ground. The woman said in a voice that sounded like a moan: “You have a lot of money with you. “Also, the weather can be bad!..” he said. The gentleman emphasized the syllables as if talking to the salesmen and said: “Why do I need a guide?
Don’t I know the way? said. The woman wrapped her shawl a little more: “No, I beg you, take it…” she said. “How clingy you are! How should I take it? said the man. The servant said : “I’m ready…” He looked at the woman and said
: “Don’t forget to feed the animals while I’m gone …” Woman: “Leave that job to me.” The servant turned to the gentleman and said: “Yes, am I coming too?” “It shouldn’t offend the lady… But if you are coming – smiling out of the corner of her eye and
Looking at the man’s short, dirty, old coat with tattered hems – she said, wear something that will keep you warmer.” The servant said to the cook’s husband: “Come, friend, hold that horse for a while…” The boy said in his small voice: “Let me hold it…”
And he jumped up, took his cold hands out of his pocket and grabbed the rein. The gentleman said in an amused voice: “Is it okay to dress up too much?” he said to the servant. The servant said, “I’ll be right back,” and went to the section reserved for the servants.
To the cook woman who was there: “Please, my lady, prepare this coat, I left it to dry next to the stove. The gentleman is waiting for me…” While he was talking, he was taking his belt that was hanging on the nail.
The woman, who had taken a nap after dinner and was now preparing the samovar, listened to the servant with a smile; He immediately took the coat and started shaking it. Butler: “You’re going to enjoy yourself soon, huh?” he said.
No matter who he was with, he would definitely find something to make everyone happy. He had now tightened his belt and pressed his unshapely belly tightly. “How beautiful it is!.. It is not possible for you to relax anymore, let alone open up…” he was saying to himself.
He lifted his shoulders as if to leave his arms alone; He put the coat on. He picked up his fingerless gloves and said: “That’s it!” said. Cook woman: “Change your boots too. “They are no longer fit to wear…” he said.
The man thought for a while and said: “It would be nice, but after all, our path is not far” and ran. When he came to the car, the woman of the house asked: “Baby, look, you’ll be cold!..” she said. The boy said: “I’m not cold, I’m not cold!”
And he pulled some straw in front of him and put the whip, which he found unnecessary for the well-behaved horse, somewhere underneath . Sir, it was installed in the car. His two fur coats, one on top of the other, seemed to cover the entire car.
He grabbed the reins and moved the animal forward. The servant jumped onto the moving sleigh, put one foot out and tucked the other under him. The weather had become colder and the snow on the ground had hardened. That’s why the sled was moving unsteadily; The rested horse entered a snow-covered road.
Seeing his son hanging behind the sled, the gentleman said in a cheerful voice: “Hey, naughty, what are you doing there?” he called out. He said to the servant, “Give me that whip…” Then he turned to the boy and said, “Come on, straight home!” he called out. The boy landed on the ground.
The animal accelerated. Theirs was a village of six households. When they passed the last house, they felt the wind getting stronger. The road was barely visible. The wind immediately piled snow into the tracks left by the sled’s feet. Snow was falling over the fields and the horizon was not visible.
The forest, which was always clearly visible, could not be distinguished from the blowing snow. The wind was blowing the horse’s manes. The gentleman who was proud of his horse: “There is a lot of snow, but the horse is still doing well. One time, we went to P… in half an hour.”
The servant, who could not hear anything because of his collar stuck to his face by the wind, said : “We went to P… in half an hour…” “It is so; “It is a solid animal.” They were silent, but the gentleman wanted to talk: “So, will you buy a horse when spring comes?”
The servant pulled their collars and said: “We have to do this; the boy grew up. He has to plow now.” “Good, take our boney one; “I can do something for the price.” The servant’s answer aroused his brain’s greed. He was skilled in polishing the goods he would sell.
But the servant, knowing that the horse he was talking about was a trust worth only seven rubles, that the master would teach him for twenty-five rubles and that he would not let him smell anything for six months , said: “It would be better if you give me fifteen rubles.
“I’ll go to the commodity market and look for something.” Bey: “Don’t just say it’s bony. I say this because I want your well-being. My conscience is clear; I have never harmed anyone. Especially to you, I sell goods even at a loss.”
With his bargaining voice: “For the sake of my honor, I am not like anyone else!” “It is truly a solid workhorse!..” he said. “I have not the slightest doubt about that,” said the servant, sighing. Taking advantage of the gentleman’s silence, the servant raised his collar again and covered his face tightly.
They went like this for another half hour. The servant could feel the wind coming through the slit in the fur on his hand. He was cowering in place, breathing heavily into the collar covering his mouth. His body was not cold.
The road to Karamihevo was more convenient, both sides of the road were marked with stakes but it was a long road. The direct route was shorter, but not as convenient; The road pilings were thinned and covered with snow. The servant thought for a while and said
: “The road to Karamihevo is long but comfortable…” The gentleman, who did not want to leave the path they were on, said: “If we go straight, we will cross the stream and we will not lose our way. He did not accept this idea, saying ” Then the forest…”
The servant, who remained silent, pulled his collar over his face again. The gentleman did not change his mind about the road; He went another half mile and turned left, where an oak branch with dead leaves was swaying. From now on they were face to face with the wind. The snow started to snack.
The gentleman was driving the sled. He was puffing out his lips and breathing into his mustache. The servant had fallen asleep. They went for another ten minutes. The gentleman started to speak. The servant immediately opened his eyes and asked: “Sir?..” The gentleman did not answer.
He was constantly bending over and looking left and right. The horse was moving forward, its sweaty fur glistening. The butler said: “Sir?..” again. The Bey angrily imitated him and said: “What, sir?.. There are no road signs; We are lost…” The servant said, “Let me see…”
And got off the sled, took the whip and went to the left of the horse. There wasn’t much snow that year. He could move forward easily. Still, in some places he was buried up to his knees in snow. Soon his boots were filled with snow.
He was feeling the ground with his foot and the tip of the whip, but could not find the way. When he returned, the gentleman said: “What will happen now?” asked. “There is nothing here, let me go and look around.” “Look at what the stain is over there…”
The servant approached the indicated place; This was an empty field. Shaking the snow off him, the servant turned and got on the sleigh. In a commanding tone: “Let’s go to the right; The wind was on our left, and now it blows in our faces; ” Turn the car to the right.”
The gentleman listened to the servant. They went a little to the right, but there was no road visible. The wind had not slowed down; It was continuing to snow. The self-satisfied servant said : “Sir, we lost the way!”
The gentleman pointed to the blackish reeds picked out from under the snow and asked: “What are these?” asked. “We are in Zaharov’s field. It means we have gone astray.” “Lie!” “I never lie. The sound of the sled confirms this. These are the famous potato fields; Look at the leaves and branches.”
“What a problem! What are we going to do?” “We will go straight; “We’ll probably come across a farm or a house.” The gentleman also accepted this suggestion. They went for a while longer. The wheels were squeaking where the snow had frozen them.
The snow coming down from the hill sometimes flew up in clumps. Apparently the horse was quite tired; His sweaty fur curled and became covered with snow; His speed had dropped considerably. When he stumbled, he tripped somewhere. The gentleman tightened the horse’s reins. The servant said: “Stop, let him go and get off…”
He said, getting off the sleigh. Then he tried to encourage the horse by saying, “Come on, beautiful, come on…” The horse immediately took action, shook himself out of the hole he fell into and got out in one move. Bey: “Where are we?” “Let’s walk a little and we’ll learn anyway.”
Sir, point to a place visible as a mass among the snow: ” Isn’t this the Gorichkino forest?” “If we go to him, we will understand what happened.” Seeing the leaves brought by the wind, the servant
Concluded that it was a village, not a forest, but for some reason he did not want to point this out. When they went a little further, they saw poplar trees. The butler’s guess was correct. That mass was not a forest, but a poplar grove. Its dry leaves were rustling.
They must have been planted on the bank of a ditch. When they approached this tree, which was making unknown sounds, the horse raised its front legs, jumped on a pile and turned; They had found the way. Uşak said : “Even though we don’t know where, we have arrived somewhere …”
The horse was walking on the snow-covered road. A little further away, they came across a warehouse wall. When they returned from there, they dived into the snow with the wind hitting their faces. There was a narrow street and two houses in front of them.
The wind had piled the snow on the road and it was necessary to cross it. Once they passed this obstacle, they entered the street easily. On the wall of one of their houses, two white and red shirts, underpants, and ankle boots were dancing with the wind.
The white shirt was shaking so much that it was about to tear. Servant: “Doggy woman, why didn’t she collect the laundry ? Maybe he got sick!” he said. When they entered the village, the wind continued to blow at the same speed. Every part of the road was covered with snow.
But as we progressed through the village, it was felt that the atmosphere was getting softer and more cheerful. A dog was breeding in the courtyard of a house, and a woman was standing on the threshold of a house, pulling her fur over her head, looking at strangers passing by.
From somewhere in the middle of the village came the sound of songs sung by young girls. The wind seemed to have lost its strength here. Therefore, the snow did not accumulate much. “This could be Grishkino…” said the gentleman. “Yes, there!” They came to the village called Grishkino.
Although they had turned too far to the left and moved ten miles in the opposite direction, they were not far from where they wanted to reach. Their main destination, Gorichkino, was ten miles from here. They met a big man in the village. The man stopped the horse and asked, “Who are you?”
He asked, and when he recognized the bey, he grabbed one of the arrows and moved towards the sleigh. This man was a famous thief that everyone knew. He called out to the gentleman and said: “No, what are you doing here in this weather?” The butler felt that the man smelled of vodka.
“We want to go to Gorichkino…” “How far you have fallen! You were going to deviate from Malakovo.” Bey: “What can we do, we lost our way!..” The thief examined the animal and said: “It’s a beautiful horse!” he said and tightened the loose knot of the horse’s tail.
“Would you like to spend the night here?” “No, let’s go on our way.” “Alright. Who are you? He, he, Nikita!” “It’s me; At least if we don’t lose our way anymore…” “Why should you lose! “Go back and continue along the street, without looking left, come to the main street and turn right.”
Uşak: “Where will we turn right?” “You will come across a bush, opposite it is a stake; “You will see an oak tree with abundant leaves, turn from there.” The gentleman maneuvered the horse back and the sleigh returned to the described path. A voice came
After them: “But it would have been better if you had stayed…” The gentleman ignored the call and accelerated the horse. He didn’t mind that he had to go ten miles on a flat road through the forest. The snow also stopped. They were now on the opposite side of the road they came from.
Heaps of manure could be seen clustered in corners. They passed by the laundry-strewn courtyard again. The white shirt was rolled up with only one sleeve. They found the roaring trees and were now in the middle of the fields. The wind was gradually increasing its speed. The road was covered with falling snow.
Direction determination could only be determined with gravel stakes. But even they could not be seen due to the raging wind. The gentleman was constantly closing his eyes and turning left and right to see his surroundings. But what he was actually doing was surrendering himself to the horse.
They went for another ten minutes; He saw darkness in front of them. There were people going in the same direction as them. The horse caught up with them and hit the back of the sleigh with his foot. People on the sled: “Pull aside and move forward!” they shouted.
The gentleman brought the sled forward. Three men and a woman were sitting in the other sled… They were returning from the holiday party in the village. A villager hits the horse’s rump with a stick; The other two were waving their arms and shouting.
The woman was sitting on the sleigh, huddled in her fur and covered in snow. Bey: “Where are you from?” asked. Some voices: “A…” “Where from?..” A villager shouted with all his voice, not a single word could be understood. Other villager: “Let’s speed up; “Let’s not let them get ahead…” he said.
He hid a whip on the horse’s back. Bey: “They are so drunk…” The sleds collided and almost crashed into each other. They left… The villagers’ sled was left behind. The skinny animal with long hair and a protruding belly could barely move forward, exerting all its strength.
He was speeding up to avoid the whip that was relentlessly hitting his back, his feet sinking into the snow. The poor animal suddenly slowed down and was left behind. Butler: “The end result of drinking too much vodka… These drunks will kill the poor animal!” said.
Hearing the breathing of the weakened animal and the conversations of the drunkards, they advanced a little further. Immediately afterwards, these voices became inaudible. There was no sound anymore other than the howling of the wind. This encounter kept the gentleman busy, increased his confidence, and left himself completely to the horse. The servant began
To doze off and relieve his tiredness, as he did when he had no work to do . The horse suddenly stopped. The butler almost fell to the ground. The gentleman said : “We started again…” “For what?..” said the servant. “Road piles are invisible again. “We lost the way.”
The servant said: “Then let’s find it…” and he got off the sleigh and walked a long way away. When he came back he said: “There is no road there. Maybe it’s ahead of us…” he said. Darkness was falling. The sled’s snow plowing device was doing its job.
Bey: “At least if those villagers’ voices were heard…” Uşak: “Since they couldn’t come and catch up with us, we must be quite far away from the road. Maybe they lost their way.” Bey: “Which way do you think we should go?” “I think we should leave it to the horse.
Only he can save us. Give me the reins.” The gentleman, whose gloved hands were very cold, held out the reins. The servant merely held the reins in his hand, and the clever animal began to turn with its ears erect . The servant said lovingly: “This horse is like a genie, like a genie…”
In less than half an hour, a forest, a rock or a ghost appeared in front of them. They began to pick out the sleds on the road to their right. The gentleman said : “I think we have come to Grishkino again…”
They saw the same warehouse wall on the left, and a little further away the laundry on the line… The same narrow street, the same manure, the howling of dogs. Darkness had fallen and the lights of the houses were turned on.
The gentleman stopped the horse in front of a large house with brick walls. The servant hit the window of the house where he saw alcohol bottles on the table with the handle of his whip. “Who’s that?” ‘ was called from inside. “We are from the neighboring village. Can you open the door?
A few minutes later, the door of the house opened; A tall, graying beard, wearing a white holiday shirt and a fur coat, and a young man wearing a red shirt and leather gloves appeared at the door. Old Man: “Oh Vasili, you, huh?” “Yes. We lost our way.
This is our second time coming here…” “That’s weird…” he said to the young man next to him: “Don’t stop, go open the door of the sleigh . ” The young man said, “Right away!” and ran away. The gentleman said : “We do not plan to spend the night here…”
Old Man: “Darkness has fallen; Where will you go in this weather!” Bey: “I would like to stay too, but my work is urgent.” “Come on anyway, so you can breathe a little.” “Alright. It’s not going to get any darker. Maybe the moon will come out too.”
He turned to his servant and said, “What do you say, let’s sit for a while?” asked. “It would be nice…” sir. The gentleman entered with the old man. The young man opened the sleigh door and they let the horse in; The chickens and roosters perched on the rafters
Began to cluck, the sheep began to scrape their nails on the ground, and the dog began to bark in surprise at this new visitor. The butler was complimenting all the stable residents. He apologized to the chickens, scolded the sheep, and assured the dog of friendship.
He was clearing the snow off him and saying : “Now our business is in order…” The young man next to him said: “These are the saints of our house; “They are miraculous.” “What saint?” The other one grinned: “Polsen writes like this: The thief enters the house silently, the dog starts howling: ‘Wake up!..’
This means. The rooster crows in the morning: ‘Get up now!’ This means. When the cat is licked, ‘You have a guest; ‘Give me a treat!’ It means ” This young man could not write, but he could read. He had memorized Polsen; Besides, it was his only book.
On days when he was a little drunk, he liked to find something suitable to tell. The servant said : “It is so…” “You must be quite cold too…” said the young man. “Yes.” They crossed the courtyard and entered the house.
The gentleman and his servant were at the house of one of the financially well-off men of the town. The man owned five fairly large pieces of land, and apart from these, he also rented fields for cultivation. There were six horses, three cows, two calves and about twenty sheep in their stable.
The inhabitants of the house numbered twenty-three; Four of their daughters were married and six grandchildren – the young man was also one of the grandchildren and he was the only married grandchild – two great-grandchildren, three orphans, four brides with children…
This was the only family in the village that lived inseparably from each other. But as is often the case, the conflict first arose among the women and eventually culminated in dividing the inheritance. The two sons worked as watermen in Moscow; The other was in the military.
At the moment, there were the old man and his wife, their eldest son who had come to the village from the city for the holiday, the women and their children, a guest and their neighbors. The gentleman was sitting at the table, under the statue of Mary, in his black fur.
He was sucking his damp mustache and watching his surroundings with his sharp eyes. Apart from the brain, on the table was an old man with a graying beard, balding, and wearing a white shirt; There was the elder son coming from the city
, the other son at home, and a neighbor, a thin-faced villager. They had eaten their meal and were waiting for the samovar to boil. The children were lying down; One of the women was lying next to the cradle.
The lady of the house, whose face was wrinkled all over, was circling around the brain to serve. When the butler entered the room, the woman was pouring vodka into the gentleman’s glass and saying, “Here, drink…” At such a time when he was cold and tired, the sparkle of the drinking glass and
Its throat-burning smell had a great impact on the servant. His forehead wrinkled, he shook off his cap and coat, turned his face to the icons as if he were alone in the room, saluted, returned to the table and began to take off his coat.
The older brother looked at the man’s frozen mustache and said : “You are covered in snow…” The servant shook his coat, hung it on a nail, and approached the table. He almost held the glass and sipped the delicious drink, but he looked at the brain and remembered his promise not to drink.
He thought that he had even sold his boots to pay for alcohol and that he would buy a colt for his child in the spring. So he held himself back and said, “Thank you, I don’t drink.” He sat by the window. Big brother: “Why don’t you drink?”
The servant looks down: “I don’t drink; That’s all…” he said and started to clean the ice from his face. Bey, with a piece of bread in his hand: “Alcohol will not be good for him!” said. The woman of the house: “Then you can drink tea; ” You must be cold ,” he said
To the women, “What are you waiting for for tea?” asked. One of the brides dried the bubbling samovar with a cloth and forced it up to the table. “Tea is ready…” he said. The gentleman explained how they lost their way, came to the same village twice, and
Came across a sled occupied by drunkards. The old man, in a confused state, was telling them where they were going, how they had gone astray, who the drunks were and how they could find the right way. “The road is easy until Molchanovka. Not even a child gets lost there.
But we have to return just in time. “Just in front of the bush.” The villager next to her said: “But they got lost!..” The old woman insisted: “You can stay here for the night. “Let the women spread a mattress for you,” he said. Old man: “You can set out early in the morning.”
Bey: “It is not possible, my friend, I have urgent work.” Thinking of the trees and the buyer who would be in a hurry more than him, he said : “Sometimes you cannot get something that is lost in an hour in a year…” To his servant: “We’ll go, won’t we?” asked.
The servant took his time in answering; He continued to take care of his beard and mustache. Finally, in a colorless voice: “Provided that you never lose your way again!” said. His face seemed to have drained of blood; All he thought about was drinking. Tea wouldn’t cut it; Moreover, tea was not distributed.
Bey: “The whole point is to find the place to turn; Then we won’t get lost again…” he said. The butler finally took the offered tea glass and said: “Okay sir; you know…” he said. Bey: “Let’s drink tea and leave immediately!” The servant remained silent and shook his head.
He poured the tea into his plate and warmed his hands in the smoke; He put a small piece of candy in his mouth and greeted the old people again. The gentleman said : “If someone had accompanied us there…” The eldest son said: “Okay…” and pointed to the young man and
Said, “Prepare the sled immediately…” The Bey said : “Son of a lion, come on and take us…” The young man took his hat, which he had hung on a nail, and ran away smiling. Meanwhile, the conversation, which was interrupted by the arrival of the servant, was resumed.
The old man complains about his sons’ holiday gifts: “How quickly these young people forget their parents.” says the neighbor: “Oh, my dear! Their good is only for themselves. Have you heard of Diyyemkin? He broke his father’s arm…” he added. The servant was listening with rapt attention and wanted to say something himself; But
He was interested in the tea he was drinking and was just shaking his head. He was drinking tea repeatedly and relaxing. The conversation runs its course; There was talk of lands and inheritances. These words were not just spoken words, but were about the situation in the house.
His eldest son wanted the property to be divided. These saddening words affected the whole family. They did not avoid talking about family issues in front of strangers. The master of the house said that he would not allow this as long as he lived because they were living comfortably now, but
If they shared the property, the family would be poor. The neighbor supported him and said: “Look at the Motoveyevs, they were well off; “They divided the lands and they became smoke.” The old man said to his son: “Is this what you want?” His son did not respond. A gloomy silence fell.
The young man who was preparing the car entered the room and heard the last words. “There is such a story in Polsen; A father shows his children a broom and says, “Let love be to the one who plucks it off.” Their children try this one by one but fail; However,
Once you separate the stems from each other, they break immediately. “That’s how it works…” he said. Bey: “Let’s go now. Do as you say, my friend, when it comes to sharing the goods. You are the elder of the family. Go to the district judge; learn what you need to do.”
“That’s another problem; He talks and brushes it off. He is a devil; “It won’t do anyone any good.” Although the butler had drunk five glasses of tea, he looked like he wanted to drink more. But there was no tea left in the samovar; The gentleman started to put on his coat.
He stood up and took the candy he had cut out of his mouth; He wiped his sweaty face, put on his fur and sighed deeply. He said goodbye to his hosts and left the warm, bright room into the cold. Wind was blowing through the cracks in the door.
He went out into the courtyard; The young man wrapped in fur was reading something from Polsen, smiling next to the horse in the courtyard: “Snow is flying in the storm; sometimes moaning like an animal, sometimes like a child …” The servant nodded and approved him; He parted the reins with his hands.
The old man was seeing the gentleman off with a lantern in his hand. As soon as I put the lantern on the porch to illuminate the place, it was blown out by the wind. Even when viewed from the courtyard, it seemed that the blizzard was increasing. Bey: “What bad weather!” It was said.
Maybe it would have been better if he had stayed; but is it possible?.. He couldn’t wait for the job. It was already prepared. He could handle this job too…” The master of the house thought it would be better if they stayed, but he did his part and suggested they stay.
“Maybe I’m afraid because I’m getting older…” he said. The young man was not afraid of danger. He knew everywhere like the back of his hand and often read poems to himself. The butler did not want to go at all, but he had long
Been accustomed to obeying the orders of the gentlemen and living without taking his own thoughts into account… No one could dissuade those who left. The gentleman approached the sleigh, paying attention to his steps and where he stepped; there is nothing around Nothing could be seen clearly.
The gentleman who got on the sleigh took the reins and said to the young man: “You go in front of us…” The young man, kneeling on his wide sleigh, advanced his horse. Their horse Doru, who smelled the animal in front and neighed, followed him. Both sleds were on their way.
They had just hit their stride. They passed by the hanging laundry, the warehouse under the snow, the trees bending and blowing before the wind . They dived once again into a snow-covered sea. The wind was blowing so fast that it forced the horses to bow before him.
The young man was encouraging his well-groomed horse, and Doru was running as if flying to catch up with him. After going like this for a while, the young man returned; He maneuvered his sled backwards, saying something incomprehensible to the wind . The young man turned to the right.
The wind that had been blowing from their right until now was now hitting their faces. Spots were visible among the snow: Bushes… The young man said : “Goodbye…” “Thanks.” The young man was reciting verses from Polsen again; Meanwhile, the blizzard was darkening everywhere… Bey: “Is this young man a poet?” he said. Servant:
“Good boy; A real Russian…” he said. They had accelerated. The servant was so wrapped in his fur that he seemed to be buried up to his neck in it. He couldn’t even open his mouth to avoid letting out the heat inside him.
At the front, Doru’s swaying rump and knotted tail were hitting the wind direction, and he was constantly falling for the straight arrows of the sled, mistaking them for road marks. Sometimes they also came across road pilings. They were on the right track.
The gentleman wanted to hold the reins in a way that would guide the horse in the correct direction. The resting animal became a little reluctant. The gentleman pulled his reins once or twice. The servant: “There’s a stake there, another one…” he was counting in his mind.
He suddenly turned his eyes to a darkness in front of him and said: “This must be a forest over there!” said. However, it was just a bush. They passed and went another half mile. What would they see next? There is no trace of the road or the stakes. The gentleman said to himself
: “The forest must be around here…” The vodka and tea he drank were making him dizzy. His horse was constantly troubling him. The smart and fearless horse was going in the direction indicated to him, and seemed to sense that this was not the real path.
They went for a while longer; But neither forest nor road… The gentleman stopped the horse and said: “We are lost again!” said. The servant got off the sleigh without making a sound. He wrapped himself tightly in his fur and disappeared straight into the forest.
When he finally came back, the master grabbed the reins from his hand and said : “Let’s turn to the right…” The gentleman approved this without objection. Butler: “Come on, beautiful, hold on a little longer!” he said, but the animal remained indifferent and did not leave.
The servant took the whip he hung in front of the sleigh and brought it down to the horse. The animal, which was not used to bad behavior, started to trot with a lot of effort, but after a while it slowed down again.
It was so dark that even the horse’s head could hardly be seen. The sled sometimes stopped and slid backwards. The servant let go of the reins, got down again, and walked forward to see why the horse had stopped. Suddenly his foot slipped and he fell down. He tries to calm down, “Stop!”
He shouted. But he couldn’t find a branch to hold on to until he fell to the bottom of the pit where the wind piled snow. The snow accumulated at the mouth of the pit fell onto him due to the impact of this fall. Snow covered everything.
Cursing the land and the pit: “You did this to me too!” he was struggling. Bey: “Where are you?” he was calling out. The servant had more important things to do than reply to him; He was clearing the snow off him and looking for his whip.
After many difficulties, he escaped by climbing from where he was; But there was neither a horse nor a gentleman… He moved down the slope, in the direction of the wind. Even though he couldn’t see their faces, he heard the horse neighing and the brain’s shouts. “I’m coming, I’m coming…”
He called out to the horse. Before he reached the sleigh, he could make out neither the horse nor the man. Bey: “Where did you go?.. Stupid man. “Turn the sleigh around so we can go back to Grishkino.” Uşak: “I would also like to go to Grishkino; But how will we go?
There is such a pit in front of us that even those who fall cannot escape. Bey: “We’re not going to stay here!” said. The servant approached the sleigh silently. He turned his back to the wind, took off his boots, and cleaned the snow out of them.
He took some straw and plugged the hole of his left foot. The gentleman remained silent and left himself to his servant. They got on the sled together. They turned the horse’s reins and started to go in the direction of the pit. They had advanced about a hundred meters when the horse stopped abruptly.
They were in front of another pit. The servant dismounted again and looked for a passage. After a considerable amount of time, he came back again. “Sir, how are you?” asked. “I’m fine for now; “Did you find a passage?” “Neither I nor the animal has a cure.”
Bey: “What do we do now?” He said, “Wait a little more…” and left again, but returned immediately. He got in front of the horse and said: “Follow me, beautiful!” and turned to the right. He pulled the horse’s reins and drove it into the pit in the snow.
At first the animal seemed to object, but it thought it could pass through all this snow and jumped forward; He failed and sank up to his neck in snow. The servant said to the gentleman sitting on the sleigh: “Get off the sleigh, sir…”
And he grabbed one of the arrows and started pushing the sleigh. The sled went up to the horse’s flanks. Calling out to the horse: “I know it’s hard, beautiful, but what can you do? Oh effort!” The little animal tried again; useless… Servant: “We can’t stay here either, my dear!” said the horse.
The horse nodded to these words; He came to the effort and jumped. After many efforts, the horse was able to cross the snow pass. He was breathing hard, sneezing and coughing. The brain had no strength to take a step. He came with difficulty and collapsed on the sled.
While the gentleman was settling into the sleigh, the servant grabbed the reins and pulled them down a little. They had escaped from the snow-covered pit. The wind had not slowed down.
They were in the middle of a blizzard when, after taking a breather, the gentleman got off the sleigh and went to the servant to ask what they were going to do . They were forced to squat on the ground and wait for the wind to die down.
Doru was also lowering his ears and shaking his head. When the wind slowed down a little, the servant took off his gloves, caressed his hands , and began to take off his bits and tidy up his belts to comfort the horse. Bey: “What are you doing?” he called out.
Servant: “I am untying the horse. What else should I do? “I have no cure left.” “Aren’t we going to keep going?” “To where, by what means? Look, the animal is almost about to burst. We will spend the night here. No other choice.” Bey: “We will freeze to death here.”
“Maybe, but what can you do!” The gentleman had become quite warm while dealing with the snow; But when he learned that they were going to spend the night here, a chill shook his whole body. He thought about whether it would be comfortable and got on the sled. He took out cigarettes and matches.
The servant is tending to the horse; He was taking off the harness and saying words that would motivate him: “Behave, my strong hero, and I’m giving the oath now.” However, he saw that these words were not enough to alleviate the horse’s worries.
He only ate some oats but left them back as if to show that there was no time to eat now . “Let’s put a sign here…” said the servant. He turned the sled towards the wind; He tied the ends of the arrows together. ” Said OK.
“If we sink into the ground and die, someone will see those arrows and come and save us. “Our ancestors used to do this too.” No matter how hard he tried, the gentleman could not light his cigarette. Finally he managed to ignite a match and lit one, eagerly inhaling the smoke into his lungs.
But the wind took the cigarette from his hand. He enjoyed a few sips of tobacco so much! With a determined voice: “So it had to be like this. “Let me make you a flag too…” he said to the servant. He took the handkerchief he had just thrown into the sled.
In order to reach the belts to which the arrows were tied, he went to the front of the sleigh and tied the handkerchief there. The wind started to shake the flag violently. The gentleman who got on the sleigh again: “That’s okay too!” said.
I wish we could fit in here, just the two of us! “Don’t worry about me, but the horse needs to be covered, it’s soaked in sweat!” He said and took a cover from under the brain. “This way you will be protected too..” said the horse with love.
He came to the sleigh and said to the gentleman: “You don’t need that cover…” He took a blanket and some straw, got behind the sleigh, and dug a hole in the snow; He spread the straw on the ground .
He pulled his hood tight, wrapped himself in his fur, and sat on the straw. The gentleman was watching his servant out of the corner of his eye and sneering at his actions. He always thought that the villagers were a bunch of ignorant people.
He spread straw inside the sleigh and lay on its side. He couldn’t sleep, he was constantly thinking about the same thing: The money he had earned or would earn… The rich people he knew, the ways of getting rich… How important was the grove he intended to buy!
He could make a fortune from it: “Good sleds can be made from oak wood, of course, from timber and wood…” At the end of his calculations, he saw that his annual income was twelve thousand rubles: “But I still wouldn’t pay ten thousand rubles to buy it. I’ll make a deal for eight thousand…
Three thousand in advance; Especially if he sees the end of the money…” He put his hand into the pocket where the money was, and the money was in its place. “How we lost the way. The forest is around here; There must be a shed or something.
For some reason, I don’t hear any dog sounds…” He listened to the sounds outside; There was no sound other than the sound of the wind. “If I had known it would be like this, I would have stayed in the village, but it doesn’t matter, we will only lose a day .
“No one would dare to enter this road in such bad weather!” He thought he would get money from the butcher on the 9th of the month: “He wanted to come here. He won’t find me. The woman at home cannot even manage to take the money brought to us. An ignorant woman.
He doesn’t know what to do…” It occurred to him that his wife did not show the necessary hospitality to the district governor who visited him the day before . “That’s a woman! What does he see and know anyway! Besides, what was our home like in my parents’ time?
A barn and a soup kitchen… But what have I gained in these fifteen years; a shop, two taverns, a mill, a wheat barn, fields, a huge house with roofs and a coach house… Who is everyone talking about these days: me. Why? That’s why I’m always working. I’m not like anyone else.
I work regardless of rain or mud. Can money be made from thin air? No, you’ll sweat. You will spend the night on the roads like this, you will not even blink an eye!” It was becoming increasingly institutional. “They think that if a person is noble, something will happen. Fools!
The Mironovs made a fortune. Why?.. They worked! “As long as I’m in good health.” He so wanted to talk to someone about the Mironovs’ wealth! But who would he find? Why didn’t he stay in the village? He would show off his intelligence and boast about it. He listened to the wind…
He got up and looked around. In a white darkness, he could only see the horse’s head and tail; The rest is just profit… “How did I even listen to that servant… I should have continued on my way. After all, we would get somewhere.
At least I would go back to Gritchkino and sleep in the old man’s house. But now I will be miserable here all night; But is there any pleasure in life? It’s best to work… Let me light another cigarette…” He took a
Cigarette out of his pocket and took a deep breath to avoid wasting too many matches; It lit up after a few tries . A joy filled him. Even though it was the wind that smoked the cigarette, not him, he felt relieved after taking three or five puffs.
He lay down again and covered himself well. He thought about the past and started dreaming about the money he would earn again. Suddenly his mind became clouded; his body went numb. He shook himself with a jerk; Did he want to pull hay from under the horse? Or was it an inner tremor?
His heart was beating so violently that it seemed to make the sled tremble. He opened his eyes. Nothing changed around him. Things seemed to brighten up a bit. “It’s getting light, it will be morning…” he said, but he remembered the moonlight.
He stood up and looked at the horse first. The animal had its back to the wind and was standing and trembling. The cover above him was covered with snow and his feeder had moved aside. His mane seemed hardened by snow.
He put his head out and wondered how the servant was doing; He was always in the same situation, the blanket he was wearing, his feet covered in snow… “At least his tail wouldn’t tremble from the cold!” He has neither on nor on his head. If he dies, everyone will shame me. “Idiots, idiots…”
He thought. He thought about taking the blanket from the horse and covering it for the servant. But if he got up, it would get cold. Besides, the horse was cold too. “Why did I take him with me! It’s all because of my wife…” He didn’t like his wife at all.
He lay down on the sled again. “My uncle also spent a night like this, but nothing happened to him…” Then he remembered something else: “ They pulled Sebastian’s body out of the snow… If I had stayed the night at the old man’s house in the village, this would not have happened to me.”
He wrapped his coat tightly to prevent the warmth of his fur from flying away, closed his eyes and tried to sleep again, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t sleep; On the contrary, he seemed to come alive. He started making money calculations again. He was proud of his position.
On the other hand, he regretted not staying in the village and said, “Would this happen there? Now I would be lying down comfortably!..” At one point, he thought he heard the sound of a rooster, and he got hopeful; They pulled their collars and listened, but their efforts were in vain; wind, just wind…
The servant did not move at all from behind the sleigh in which he was crouched, and did not answer the gentleman who called out to him several times . Poking his head out from behind the sled and looking at the snow-covered mass, he said : “He’s not even there, he’s probably sleeping…”
He tried to lie down again. It seemed like there would never be morning. When he got up again and looked around, he said , “It is definitely dawn…” “If only I could understand what time it is; But if I open my fur, I’ll catch a cold.
When the morning comes, we will immediately prepare the sled…” A voice inside him said that there was a long time until the morning. But he was starting to get scared, and he wanted to test his feelings and spend time.
He carefully untied his fur, reached into his vest pocket and searched for his watch; It was so dark that it was impossible without lighting a match. He knelt down and carefully managed to light the first match.
He looked at the clock but couldn’t believe what he saw: It was ten minutes past twelve at night. “What an endless night!..” he said. He was cold and immediately buttoned up his front. Suddenly, among the monotonous howls of the wind, he heard another lively, distinct sound: Wolf!
The wolf was so close that he could hear the sounds coming from its jaws. He lowered his collar again and listened closely. The horse was listening to this sound with its trembling ears. When the wolf fell silent, the horse breathed as if signaling. The gentleman forgot about sleeping and was worried.
He tried to think about his work and money again, but he couldn’t. He was so sad that he couldn’t spend the night in the village! “How did I think of this grove! Was it like I couldn’t make money? Especially considering that one freezes quickly when drunk…” He shuddered at this thought.
He wanted to lie down again; He wanted to do something to make his fear go away. He took out his cigarettes and matches; He had only three matches left and could not light any of them. “God damn it!” he cursed, not knowing who it was.
He threw away the cigarette he couldn’t light and put the empty matchbox in his pocket. He didn’t know what to do out of anxiety; He got out of the sled, turned his back to the wind and tightened the belt around his waist. “Why should I wait for death here? I go on horseback.
If there is a rider on it, the horse will not be shy at all. As for this man, there is no difference between living and dying for him. What will he do if he lives? Does he have a taste for life? But is it mine?
He untied the horse, put on the reins and wanted to ride, but his fur and boots were so heavy. which he failed. He thought of climbing into the sleigh and getting on from there; The sled shook and he fell to the ground. Finally, he pulled the animal alongside the sled.
He carefully stepped onto the sled and rested his belly on the horse’s back. He stayed like this for a while and could barely get on. He thought that the servant, who was awakened by the shaking of the sleigh, said something to him: “Idiots, I cannot follow your mind, it is just animality.
Should I stand here and waste myself!” He pulled his fur, blown by the wind, over his legs. He pointed the horse towards what he thought was a forest or a shed. The servant was wrapped neatly in the blanket on the back of the sleigh and was not moving at all.
Like his counterparts who were constantly in nature and knew what poverty was, he was patient and resilient. He could wait for hours without worrying. The brain heard the call but did not respond at all. Because he neither wanted to talk nor disrupt his position.
He was maintaining the warmth that the tea he drank and running in the snow had given to his body, but he was aware that this would not last long. Despite the whips he received, he was like a horse that insisted but could not stand up.
His foot in his boot, which had a hole in it, was starting to get cold; He couldn’t move his thumb. He was caught in a cold that covered his whole body. He thought that he might die tonight, that he should, but
He did not find the thought of death terrible at all; because he had no pleasure from life, his life had become an endless slavery, and he was tired of it.
Death wasn’t scary either; Because he was sure that, apart from the gentlemen whose lives he was wasting away by running after their own business in this world , there was a God with abundant mercy who sent him to the world,
That he was only dependent on him, and that no harm could come from him. “It is very sad to leave life here, but what can you do? After all, I will get used to the world I go to. But the sins I committed? What will happen to them?..”
He remembered his drunkenness, the money he spent on alcohol, his abusive behavior towards his wife, his cursing, and his rare attendance at church. “I am a sinner, but is it my fault? Didn’t God create me like this? If I am a sinner, is it my fault?”
He had such thoughts about tonight, but then he quickly fell into other confused dreams. Sometimes he thinks about his wife’s arrival, his drinking parties, his weaknesses, sometimes his travels, the old man’s house in the village, the discussions about the inheritance, his child, his horse, the lord.
“How sorry the man is for not spending the night in the village. He does not want to leave all his wealth and go to his grave. He is different, we are different!” His thoughts became confused and he fell asleep.
While the gentleman was trying to mount the horse, the sleigh shook and the backrest on which the servant rested broke , and the wheel of the sleigh hit his back; He woke up and changed his position. He shook off the snow covering his legs and stood up. The cold was penetrating his lungs.
He understood what this meant and called out to the master, asking him to leave the blanket that the horse no longer needed but that he needed. The gentleman did not hear or understand this and rode away. The butler thought about what he would do when he was left alone.
He felt powerless to seek shelter. He couldn’t lie down where he was before; for it was immediately covered with snow. He couldn’t stay in the sled either, he had nothing to cover himself with. He didn’t trust his torn fur. He was as cold as if he only had a shirt on.
“Oh my God!” he said with fear. He was relieved to think that he was not alone, that there was someone who cared for him. He sighed and entered the sleigh with the blanket over him; The brain fell into place. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get warm; He passed out over time.
I wonder if his time had come? He didn’t know, but he was ready for whatever happened. The gentleman was driving the horse towards a direction he thought was a shed. The snowfall had accelerated, so he could not open his eyes.
He was leaning forward, trying to squeeze his fur around the horse’s waist and legs, and could barely move forward. They made some progress this way. The gentleman thought he was going straight all the time. There was only snow in front of them…
The gentleman, who suddenly saw a shadow in front of him, was happy and directed his horse there. It looked like the wall of one of the village houses. But the shadow was constantly shifting. This couldn’t be a house.
Maybe it was the tall grass growing in a ditch; They were swaying before the wind. The gentleman was struck with fear when he saw these grasses that looked like they were suffering from the relentless blizzard. He scared his horse.
He did not realize that he had changed direction as he headed towards the shadow. Now he was going somewhere else, but he always thought he was going to the forest or the shed. Even though the horse wanted to go to the right, he kept turning the horse’s head to the left.
He saw shadows in front of him again. He was excited. This must definitely have been a village. However, these were the grasses he had just passed by, shaken by the wind. Here, for some unknown reason, he got scared again. There were fresh hoofprints around the grass.
When he bent down and looked, he saw that these were his scars. It must have drawn a circle and gone around it. “I’m done now!” he groaned. There was also the scourge of a white noise that appeared bright to dispel his fear; He heeled the horse to overcome this place .
Now he heard sounds like a dog howling or a wolf howling, but they were so vague that he couldn’t tell whether they were a dream or real. He strained his ears to hear even the faintest sounds. Suddenly his whole body shook with a deafening sound; He clung to the horse’s neck,
The animal was trembling and his voice was terrible. For a moment he couldn’t understand what was happening; Maybe his horse neighed to show that he couldn’t take it anymore . “Damn animal!..” he shouted. He realized that his fear was in vain, but his real fear had not passed. He was saying
, “I have to calm down…” but no matter what he did, he couldn’t calm down and kept trying to make the animal run. It was freezing. The parts of the saddle part were aching. He realized that he would drown in the sea of snow.
The horse’s foot suddenly slipped; He dived into one of the snow masses. While he was trying, he fell to the side. The gentleman threw himself off the horse and moved the small saddle. The untethered animal immediately jumped up, neighed, and suddenly disappeared. The gentleman was left half buried in the snow.
He thought about following the horse, but the snow was so deep and his fur was so heavy that he could not move forward after twenty steps. He stopped, panting: “The woodland, the taverns, the farm, the shop, my house, my warehouses, where are you? What does this mean?
He was so scared that he couldn’t believe what was happening to him. “Is this a dream?” he asked himself. He wanted to wake up, but could this snow all over him be a dream? Was this sea of snow, which could no longer be protected and offered a quick death, a dream?
“Oh my God!” he groaned. He remembered the old sacred statue in a gilded frame at the church ceremony the day before, and the believers lighting the candles they had sold in front of the statue, immediately extinguishing them, and bringing them to him to keep in his chest.
He was now praying to the same statue. Yet, in the midst of this eternity, he felt that they did not matter at all, that his pathetic situation was not the same as them. “I must not lose sight of the horse. I have to look for traces and catch him. I should be calm…”
He thought. Although he had decided to proceed slowly, he accelerated forward. He was running hard; The tracks were barely visible in places where the snow was not deep. “This is the picture of me being finished; I will lose the tracks and not be able to find the horse!”
Suddenly he saw a black stain. Horse, sleigh, flag, arrows were all standing there. He was in front of the snow where he and the servant had fallen before; The horse brought him to the side of the sleigh, and when he was fifty paces away from the sled, he shook himself and ran.
The horse was not where it used to be, but was near the arrows. The gentleman tried to rest and recover by placing his hand on the sled. The servant stood up. Inside the sled was a mass covered with snow. He immediately realized that this was his servant.
He was free of all his fears. Now he only had this concern: Whether he would be afraid while riding on horseback. He had to find a way to get rid of this fear ; He turned his back to the wind and took off his fur, his boots, and his snow-filled gloves
(one of which he had lost); He unbuckled his belt and tightened it again. He always did this when he went to look at the wheat the villagers brought to sell. It occurred to him to save the horse’s foot; made. He brought the horse and tied it to its old place.
He also wanted to cover it. At that moment he saw the servant moving. The half-frozen man struggled to get up and sit down. He waved his hand as if to shoo away something; At the same time, he was mumbling something. The gentleman understood that the servant was calling.
He left the blanket in his hand and approached the sled: “What do you say?” “My time has come. Pay what you owe me to my son or my wife.” “No, are you frozen?” The tearful voice repeats the previous sign: “I feel that way. My time has come.
I hope my sins will be forgiven…” Then the gentleman stood motionless and silent; It was the moment when he was doing a profitable business, and he took a step back with a determined attitude, as when he was arguing with his customer.
He lifted the skirts of his fur and began to throw the snow off the sled. Then he opened his fur, threw the servant into the back of the sleigh, and lay down on top of it to cover it. The only sound in his ears now was the butler’s breathing.
The servant remained there for a while, breathing heavily and moving slowly. Bey: “That’s all; where were you dying? Warm up now. “This is what you call a human being.” But he couldn’t keep it up, he was confused; Their eyes were watering and their jaws were chattering. He remained silent as if
He wanted to swallow something stuck in his throat . “I’m dying of fear, I’m so exhausted!” he thought. But he gradually started to like this exhaustion. “People are like that…” he said to himself. By finding feelings of compassion within.
He lay awake for a while, wiping his eyes on his fur and pressing his fur, which the wind was trying to take away, with his hand . But he was so overcome by the desire to share his joy that he asked the servant: “Are you cold?” asked. “No, I’m slowly warming up.”
“I am pleased about that; I almost died too!” His jaws began to chatter, tears filled his eyes, and he fell silent. “Nothing will happen, I know this, I know…” he thought. The warmth of the servant beneath him began to make his fur feel sweetly warm.
But his hands and feet, which were at the hem of his fur, were freezing; but he couldn’t say he cared about that. His thoughts were warming the servant. He turned and looked at his horse several times. The wind blew the cover away. He thought he should get up and cover himself, but
He couldn’t bear to leave the servant alone for even a moment. Thinking about how much he had warmed up the servant filled him with a sense of mastery, just like shopping. “The danger is over now…” he said. Three hours passed like this; Time had vanished from his mind.
In the first moments, in his dreams, he saw the blizzard, the sleigh, the shaky horse, and thought about the man under him. Gradually, memories began to join them: He remembered the festivals in the village, his wife, the police commissioner, the candle chest; He saw the servant lying under that chest.
Villagers coming to shop, white mulberries, houses with bald roofs… This time he saw his servant trapped under those houses. In the end, everything became intertwined and confused. His memories turned out the same way as a white color comes from the combination of all the colors of the sky, and he fell asleep.
A dreamless, long sleep; A dream only seen in the morning: It was in the church, in front of the candle chest… A woman pays five kopecks and buys a candle.
He will take the candle out of the chest and give it to him, but his hands won’t listen to him; He can’t control his feet. Amid all these troubles, the table ceases to be a table and becomes a bed. He is in that bed, at home.
He needs to get out of bed, he has an appointment with the police captain; They will talk about this logging business; No, it may not be so… They will put a manger on the horse. He asks his wife if there is any news from the commissioner. “No!”
He gets the answer, but at that moment he hears someone coming to the stone stairs of the house. It could be him. No, it keeps passing by. He asks his wife again. His wife gives the same answer. He is still waiting in bed, unable to get up.
He is afraid, he is happy; The one he was waiting for has arrived… No, someone else. What he’s really waiting for… Yes, it appears in the lights and calls him. This is the one who ordered the servant to lie on top of him a few hours ago.
He is pleased that she remembers him. “I am coming!” He shouts and wakes up. This time, it’s a different being than it was a few hours ago. He wants to get up but can’t; He wants to move his hand but cannot; His body doesn’t listen to him, but
He doesn’t feel sorry for that. He thinks that the servant under him is warming up and coming to life: He is not the master, but the servant is the master, life is not in him, but in the servant… He listens to the servant’s breathing and listens to his snoring.
In a dominant voice: “He is breathing; “I’m taking it too…” he says. His thoughts come to mind about his money, his shop, his buying and selling business, and Mironov’s millions. It is difficult for the man named Vasili – himself – to understand why he is interested in these things: ”
He couldn’t understand the end of things!..” he says, “As far as I understand, he couldn’t understand the end! However, now there is no margin for error, I am face to face with the truth!..” He hears the call of the one who called out to him once again. He shouts with joy, “I’m coming!..”
And feels that there is nothing tying him down. This is his last thought in the mortal world. The blizzard had not subsided. The snow was dancing, the brain was throwing another layer on top, the horse was trembling, the servant lying in front of the sleigh, under the dead brain, was asleep.
In the morning, the butler started to feel extremely cold and woke up feeling cold. He had a dream on this cold night: He was taking wheat to the mill by car. While passing through a pasture, they somehow got stuck in a bog. He got under the car and was trying to move it.
Strangely enough, the car did not move; He was also stuck to the car. His flanks were being crushed. It was so freezing! He had to find a way to get out from under the car. “Those sacks should be thrown into the water…” he said.
He felt strange things, woke up, opened his eyes and remembered everything. The icy car with its dead master on top of it. The sounds come from the horse’s feet hitting the sled. He calls out to the gentleman twice; As he understands, his master is dead. “May God forgive your sins!” he says.
He turns his head, makes a hole in the snow above him with his finger and looks; It’s morning. The wind was buzzing between the arrows of the chariot and snow was falling. The horse is motionless. “I wonder if he died too?” he thinks.
While the horse was stiffening from the cold, he made a last effort and hit the sled, causing him to wake up. “Oh God, my death is near too. Let everything be as you command, but it is not that easy; I can’t die twice . I’ll gladly endure it.
At least it wouldn’t take long, whatever happens would happen immediately…” He pulls his hand away, closes his eyes, and becomes numb; He now looks certain that he will die. The sled was covered with snow, only the tissue on it could be seen.
The horse was standing in a hard layer of snow up to its belly, all white. It had collapsed so much overnight that its bones could be counted. The brain body was rigid. When he was lifted up, his legs could not be brought together and seemed to continue to wrap around the servant’s body
. His hawkish gaze was dull. His mustache was frozen. Even though his body was partially frozen, the servant was alive. When he woke up, he thought he was dead and in the afterlife. When he saw the villagers throwing the snow off the sled and loading the brain’s corpse,
He was surprised that there were villagers even in the afterlife. When he realized that he was still alive and could not feel his toes, he was more sad than happy. He remained in hospital for two months. They cut off three toes, the others were intact.
He worked as a farm servant for a while. When he grew old, he lived another twenty years as a night watchman. Then he died in his own house, under the statues, holding a burning candle in his hand.
Before he breathed his last breath, he asked his wife for forgiveness for the evil he had done; He said goodbye to his son and grandchildren . He died happy, thinking that he would save his son and daughter-in-law from the burden of an unnecessary burden, leave this world that he was tired of,
For the last time, and migrate to the other world, which he would understand better over time . Was the other world to which he now opened his eyes better? Or was he despised there too? Or did he encounter better things than he expected? One day we will all understand the truth of this.
WHAT DOES A HUMAN LIVE WITH? Simon was a very poor person. Therefore, he lived in a small shack with his family and earned his living by making shoes. He was a man without property; His job wasn’t paying much and he was struggling to make ends meet.
What he earned was just enough to feed them. They did not have the means to buy winter clothes for themselves. Therefore, during the harsh winter season, he and his wife shared a sheepskin coat ; But it too was no longer attractive and was worn out.
He had been saving money for two years to buy a new fur coat. He had saved a little money before winter came knocking. There was a three-ruble note in his wife’s piggy bank. The villagers also owed Simon five rubles and twenty kopeks.
One morning he prepared to go to the village to bring sheepskins. He put his wife’s patched cotton jacket over the shirt he was wearing and his own jacket on top. He took the three rubles from the money box, cut a stick from the tree, and set off after breakfast.
“I’ll stop by the debtors today and collect my five rubles…” he thought to himself. “Add the three rubles I have with me, and that’s enough to buy a sheepskin for fur.” When he arrived in the village, he stopped by his creditor; But he couldn’t find the man at home.
The man’s wife promised to pay off her debts next week and mentioned that she didn’t have that much money with her. Simon stopped by another villager’s house. The peasant swore that he had no money, and that he could only give twenty kopeks, the equivalent of a pair of boots that Simon had mended
. Simon also wanted to borrow the sheepskin, but the seller could not trust him. “Bring the money, buy the leather…” he was saying. The money Simon was able to find that day was twenty kopecks; The only thing he could buy was a pair of felt boots. Simon was in trouble.
He went and drank it with twenty kopeks, and went home without buying the skin. He was very cold in the morning; But after drinking vodka, he wasn’t very cold, even though he didn’t have a solid coat .
He was hitting the icy ground with the staff in his hand and walking with difficulty with his boots in his other hand. “I’m not cold at all.” It was said. “I don’t have sheepskin fur, but I drank some, its warmth is in my veins.
A fur coat also needs moisture; I will go my way and not be sad at all. That’s just the way I am, I don’t care at all. I can live without fur. My wife will be very angry, but…
Isn’t it a shame, you sweat all day long and they don’t reward you for your labor. Stop! If you don’t pay your debt, I know what I will do to you. He pays the debt with twenty kopeks! What is that much money enough for? So I spent that money on vodka…
That’s all I could do! He wasn’t doing well! Okay, okay; Is mine okay? You have a house, you have cattle. Do I have anything other than this shack where I put my head? You grow your own crops, am I so forced to buy everything from outside?
No matter how much I save, my three rubles a week go to bread. What do you think I will encounter when I come home? The bread is out again, here’s another ruble and a half for you! You will pay your debt immediately for this, I don’t understand!”
While walking like this, he came to a shrine on the bend. When he lifted his eyes up, he saw something whitish behind the grave. It was getting darker. No matter how carefully Simon looked, he couldn’t compare what he saw to anything. “There was nothing like this here. Is it an ox?
No, it doesn’t look like much. It looks more like a human head; pure white But what would anyone be looking for here? Simon moved closer for a closer look. He was surprised to realize that what he was looking at was a person: a man leaning against the wall of the tomb, standing motionless.
The man was naked; It was not clear whether he was dead or alive. Simon was horrified. “They robbed him and threw him here. “It’s best if I don’t get involved in this, I don’t need it…” he thought to himself.
Thinking thus, he went on his way; He passed in front of the tomb to avoid seeing the man. When he took a few steps and looked back, he saw that the man was not leaning against the wall. He noticed that she was acting like she was looking at him.
Simon’s fear increased even more. “Should I go to you or on my way? If I go near him, I could get in trouble. But who knows whether this man is a hin or a jinn? What if the reason they came here was bad things! If he hugs my throat immediately!
Who will save me? Even if he doesn’t choke me, he could still get me into trouble. What happens to me with a naked man? I can’t take off my clothes and give them to him! It’s best to break the beam from here!” he thought to himself.
With such thoughts, Simon was leaving the tomb behind and going on his way, but he was stopped in the middle of the road with remorse. “What is this you are doing, Simon?” he said to himself, “The man’s situation is pathetic, what are you doing; You are scared and running away!
Do you have money and money that you are afraid of being stolen? Shame on you Simon!” He turned and came to the man. Simon approached the man and looked at his face carefully. He looked like a young person. His body appeared unscathed and intact; But
It was obvious that he was a little scared and was about to freeze. He was standing against the wall. He did not raise his head, bent to the ground, and look at Simon’s face. He looked like he wasn’t himself and his eyes were closed.
Simon moved a little closer; The man appeared to sober up; He lifted his head and opened his eyes, looking at Simon. One look was enough for Simon to warm up to the man. He put his boots on the ground, unbuckled his belt, put it on the boots, and took off his jacket.
“Let’s not spend time talking…” he said. “Put that jacket on now!” He grabbed the man’s arms and made him stand up. When the young man got up, Simon saw that he was healthy and clean-faced.
He wrapped his jacket around the man, but the young man could not find the sleeves of the jacket and put it on. Simon grabbed the handle and helped the young man put it on. He put on his jacket and wrapped it with his belt.
Then he took off his torn hat and placed it on the man’s head. “I’m almost bald, but she has long, curly hair…” he thought to himself when he felt cold. He took the hat and put it on himself.
“I’d better find something for his feet,” he said and made the young man sit on the ground. He put on the boots he had in his hand and said, “It’s done now, move your feet immediately and warm them up.” We’ll handle the rest later. How, can you take a step? asked.
The young man stood up and looked politely at Simon, but did not speak. “Why don’t you talk?” asked Simon. “The weather is very cold; We must go home immediately. Take my staff, lean on it when your strength fails. “Yes, let’s go.”
The young man started walking; He was walking with easy steps and was not left behind. So as they were leaving: “Where are you from, who are you from?” asked Simon. “I’m not from here.” “It must be; Because I know the locals. What were you doing by the grave?”
“Don’t ask me to say that.” “Did they do you harm?” “No; God punished me.” “Of course He is the one who gives good and evil, but you must find food and a place to stay. Where do you want to go?” “It does not matter.” Simon was surprised.
The guy didn’t look like a scammer or anything. He spoke kindly but avoided talking about things about himself. Simon thought to himself, “Poor guy, I wonder what happened to him?” he said. He said to the young man: “Then let’s go to my house, at least you can warm up…”
They started walking together towards Simon’s house. There was a strong breeze, and Simon, who was wearing a thin shirt, was cold. The effect of the vodka had worn off and he was feeling cold to the bone. He was sniffling and wrapping himself in his wife’s jacket. “Here, take the sheepskin!
I went to buy leather, I come home naked, with a naked man next to me. He will be very angry with Katriyon!..” When he thought of his wife, he became sad; But when she looked at the young man and saw his look, she was happy.
Simon’s wife had unchanging daily chores: splitting wood, carrying water, feeding the children… She had done these chores hours before. Now, “Should I make the bread today or tomorrow?” he thought. There was a large slice of bread left over.
“If Simon has eaten his dinner and doesn’t eat much at home, I can make his bread tomorrow…” he thought. He weighed the slice of bread with his hand. “Bread is enough for today. There was only one-baking flour left at home. “We will be content with that until Friday.”
She put away her bread and sat at the table and began to sort through her husband’s shirt. At the same time, he was imagining Simon buying leather for fur. “At least the merchant should not deceive me. Thanks to my husband, he is very naive.
He doesn’t cheat on anyone, but even children can cheat on him. Eight rubles is not bad money. For that money he can buy a nice fur coat. Even if it’s not tanned leather, it should be something sturdy. I had a hard time this winter because I didn’t have a good coat!
I couldn’t even go to the river, or even to the neighbors. When my husband left the house, he wore whatever he could find. I had nothing left to wear. It was a little late when he set out today, but he can arrive at this time.
God forbid we spend the money in the tavern!” Matryona was lost in such thoughts; Suddenly he started to hear footsteps, then two people entered. Matryona left what she was doing and went out into the hall. Simon and a young man without a hat next to him…
Matryona felt that her husband’s breath smelled of vodka. “Oh my god, he’s been drinking!” he thought to himself. Her husband was without a coat; He was standing with only his jacket on, and when he saw that he was standing without
A sheepskin in his hand , with a flushed face, he was so upset that his heart broke. “He gave the money for vodka!..” he thought. “He spent the money with an unknown person. As if that wasn’t enough, he took the man and brought him home.”
Matryona made way for the two and followed them. She noticed that the man next to Simon was a slender young man wearing her husband’s jacket . He didn’t have a hat on his head. Since they entered the house, the man had neither moved nor looked up at the woman. The woman thought
, “He must not be a sinister person to be afraid like that!..” The woman sulked and waited in front of the stove, as if wondering what the two of them would talk about . Her husband took off his hat and sat down on the bench as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
“Matriona, bring us something to eat.” The woman grumbled to herself and continued to wait where she was. He looked at them both and shook his head ‘no’. Her husband remained indifferent to her anger. As if everything was fine, he held the man’s arm and said, “Come, friend…” “Let’s eat something.”
The young man passed and sat on the sofa. “Didn’t you cook today?” asked Simon. The woman’s patience had run out. “I did it, but not to you. I guess you’re not in your right mind. And you drank it. Where did you go to buy leather?
Forget the leather, you come home with a jacket. Moreover, you bring your man of the hand with you. “I have no food to prepare for drunkards.” “Hush, Matryona. Don’t tire yourself out! “And ask first, what kind of man is he?” “Tell me what you did with the money?”
Simon took out three rubles from his jacket pocket. “All the money is here. We got air from Trifonof. He will pay as soon as next week.” The woman got a little more angry. Aside from buying leather, he also made this man wear his own jacket and brought it home.
While taking the money from the table and putting it in a secret place: “I don’t have a single bite for you. Should we feed everyone’s hunger?” said. “Woman, be quiet. I’ll tell you what…” “Why should I listen to a stupid and drunkard man! So I was right not to want to marry you.
You even sold my dowry and spent the money on alcohol. You went to buy fur today; You spent his money in the pub!” Although Simon tried to explain that he had only spent twenty kopeks and how he found the man, his wife did not allow it.
His wife was talking wildly about twenty years ago. Matryona talked on and on, until at last she rushed at her husband and seized the young man by the arm. “Give me my jacket…” she said to her husband, “I don’t have another jacket. You won’t wear this again. Take it off now, you scoundrel!”
Simon began to take off the jacket. The lining of one sleeve of the jacket was sticking out. As the woman snatched the jacket from her husband’s hand, the stitches began to come apart. The woman who seized the jacket immediately put it on and walked towards the door. He intended to go out.
He remained undecided for a moment. Actually, he wanted to leave the house for a while and calm down; But he was also wondering what kind of man the stranger was. The woman standing on the threshold said: “If this man was truly trustworthy, he wouldn’t be walking around naked like this.
Look at this situation! He doesn’t even have a shirt on. “If you were an honest man, you would tell me where you found it…” he said. Her husband said : “That’s what I’m trying to say …” “When I arrived in front of the tomb, I found him naked and dying of cold.
Can you sit naked in this weather? God sent me to him, if I hadn’t caught up with him he would have froze. What do you think I should have done? What would have happened if I hadn’t caught up! I picked him up, dressed him, and brought him here. Why are you so angry?
Isn’t it a shame, this could happen to any of us!..” While Matryona was about to start speaking, she looked at the young man and remained silent. The young man was standing motionless, perched on the edge of the bench. His hands were on his knees, his head fell on his chest.
He closed his eyes. His forehead had wrinkles from suffering. Matryona did not break her silence. Simon “Have you no fear of God?” asked. At these words, Matryona looked at the young man. Her heart suddenly softened towards this man.
He turned from the threshold and went to the stove to bring food; He placed a cup on the table and poured some kvass into it. He put the remaining large slice of bread on the table and arranged the spoons. “Here you go…” he said. Simon invited the young man to the table.
Simon broke the bread into small pieces and crumbled the kvass. They started spooning together. Matryona was sitting at one end of the table, watching the young man with her hands on her head. The woman was looking at this young man with pity. She found him more and more amiable.
A glow appeared on the man’s face. He wasn’t sulking, he was looking at the woman and smiling. After they had eaten, Matryona cleared the table and began to question the young man: “Who are you, from whom?” “I’m not from around here.” “So what were you doing around here?” “I can’t explain this.”
“Did someone steal your property?” “God punished me.” “Were you lying there naked in this cold?” “Yes, I was about to freeze to death. When Simon saw me, he took pity and put his coat on me; He took it and brought it home. You fed me and treated me well.
God will reward you for this.” The woman stood up. He went to the window, took the shirt he had mended and gave it to the young man; He also brought some trousers for him to wear . “Wear this too.” he said, “Then lie down in the attic or on the stove.”
The young man took off his jacket, put on his shirt and lay down in the attic. The woman extinguished the candle, took the coat and went to her husband’s bed. The woman covered her knees with the jacket, but her mind was on the young man and she could not sleep. When he thought
That he had given him his last piece of bread, and that they had no bread left in the morning, and that he had given him the jacket and shirt, he fell into deep sorrow. But when he remembered the young man’s smile, he was filled with joy again.
Matryona could not sleep for hours, and suddenly she realized that her husband could not sleep either; He pulled the jacket covering his knees over her. “Simon?” “What?” “You ate the last bread, I did not knead the dough. I don’t know what we will eat in the morning.
I can borrow some from our neighbor Martha.” “God is great…” said Simon. After remaining silent for a while, the woman said: “He seems like a clean person, but why doesn’t he say who he is?” “He certainly has his own reason.” “Simon?” “What is it again?”
“Why don’t we get anything in return even though we always give?” Simon couldn’t find anything to say: “Shut up and let’s sleep!” he said and turned away. Simon woke up in the morning. But their children were still sleeping. There was no bread in the house.
His wife went to the neighbor to ask for bread. The young man was by himself on the fireplace. His eyes were brighter than yesterday. Simon said : “Yes, the throat needs bread, and the body needs clothing, of course…” “You have to work to earn a living. “What kind of work can you do?”
“Nothing.” Stunned, Simon said , “You can find out if you want…” “I work like other people.” “What is your name?” “Michael.” “Listen, Mihael, if you don’t want to talk about yourself, you know; But you have to make a living.
If you work as I show you, I will provide you with food and shelter.” “May God bless you… Of course I will work. Just tell me what to do.” Simon wrapped twine around his thumb and started twisting it. “See how easy it is!”
Michael also watched him do it; So he wrapped twine around his finger and started twisting it. Simon then taught him how to wax the twine. Michael learned quickly. This time, Simon taught her how to twist and sew thick threads. Mihael had no difficulty in learning.
Three days later, he had mastered this task as if he had been doing it all his life. He worked without breaks and lived on very little food. When he finished his work, he silently stared at the ceiling. He almost never went out, he talked when necessary, he didn’t joke or have fun.
They never saw him smile, except the day when Matryona gave him food. Weeks and months passed; It has been exactly a year since Mihael arrived. He was living at Simon’s house and working with him. He was so famous that everyone
Said that no one could make boots as strong and beautiful as Simon’s apprentice, Michael; Everyone around was coming to buy boots from them. Simon’s condition was also getting better. It was a winter day. Simon and Michael were doing their job.
Meanwhile, a carriage pulled by three horses on a sleigh arrived in front of their hut. Simon and his journeyman looked out the window with curiosity. He was standing at the carriage doors, and a servant jumped out and opened the door at once.
The gentleman bent down to enter the shed, and when he entered, his head almost touched the ceiling. The man was so built that he could take up three-quarters of the room. Simon stood up and bowed to the man. On the other hand, he looked at him in surprise.
It was his first time seeing such a person. Simon was skinny, Michael was slender, Matryona’s bones were counted; However, this man seemed to have come from another world. He had a red face and a huge body; His neck resembled that of a bull, and a coldness radiated from his gaze.
The gentleman groaned and took off his fur, threw it aside, and while sitting on the bench, asked, “Which one of you is the master?” asked. “It’s me, sir…” said Simon, stepping forward. The gentleman called out to his servant: “Fedka, bring the leather.” The servant ran in with a folded leather in his hand.
The gentleman took the skin and left it on the table. He asked the servant to open the leather. The butler did as he was told. The gentleman pointed to the leather and said , “Look at me, shoemaker…” “See this skin?” “Yes…” “Can you tell me what kind of skin it is?
“It’s a nice leather,” said Simon, feeling the leather with his hand. “Of course it is! A fool like you has never seen anything like this in his life. It is German made and worth twenty rubles in water.” Simon was frightened and said, “Why should I wear such skin?” said. “Ok!
“Can you make me boots from this leather?” “Of course sir, I can.” The gentleman roared: “So it is! But don’t forget who made the boots and what quality the leather is . Let it be such a boot that it will last a year; It will neither be distorted nor tear the stitches.
If you can, take the skin and cut it off; If you can’t, tell me now. Don’t worry, if these boots are out of shape or the seams are loose before a year has passed, I will have you locked up. If nothing happens, I’ll give you ten rubles.”
Simon, who was so scared, was at a loss for words. She looked at Mihael, nudged him with her elbow, and whispered, “Should I take the job?” asked. Mihael shook his head as if to say, “Here…” He followed Mihael’s suggestion and agreed to make boots
That would remain in shape and would not lose their stitches for a year . Calling out to his servant, the gentleman ordered him to take off the boot on his left foot . “Take your measurement…” he said. Simon took the measuring paper, knelt down,
Wiped his hand thoroughly on his apron so as not to dirty his brain sock, and started taking measurements. First, he measured the sole of the foot, wrapped the paper measure around the top of the foot and calculated the calf size; But the paper arm was short, the man’s thigh
Was as thick as tree roots. “Don’t make the knee part too tight!” Simon added another strip of paper. While cracking his socked toes, the gentleman began to observe the people in the hut. That’s when he noticed Mihael. “Who is that?” said. “My foreman… He will sew your boots.”
“Remember, you will make it so strong that it will last for a year.” When Simon looked at his journeyman, he noticed that he was not looking at the master, but had turned his eyes somewhere behind the master, as if there was someone there.
As Mihael looked, he suddenly smiled and his face lit up. “Why are you grinning, idiot?!” roared the gentleman. “Instead of grinning like that, think about how you can finish the boots on time.” “Be sure they will be ready on time…” said Mihael. “Don’t forget this!” said the gentleman.
He put on his boots and fur and walked towards the door; But he forgot to bow his head and his head hit the door. He muttered curses and rubbed his head. Then he got into his car and drove away. After the gentleman left, Simon said to Mihael, “What a man! He
Is like a mountain. Even if you hit him on the head with a plank, nothing will happen. “The door almost fell over, but nothing happened to it.” “If a person has a life like that, how can he not be strong like a bull …” said Matryona . “Even Azrael cannot touch such people.”
Simon said to his journeyman, “We accepted the job, but I hope we don’t regret it. Leather is priceless, and the gentleman is a person like Nimrod… He does not forgive even a small mistake. Your eyes are sharper; Your hands are faster than mine, cut the boots to size.
“I will do the last stitches of your face…” he said. The journeyman obeyed the order; He took the skin, laid it on the table, folded it properly and began to cut it with the knife in his hand. Matryona came to watch Michael cutting the skin, but
Was stunned when she saw what he was doing. He was used to watching boot-making work. But the journeyman cut the leather in a different way. He wanted to talk, to say something; but he thought to himself, ” Maybe I don’t know
How to make brain boots …” “Of course Mihael knows how to do it, I won’t make a noise.” Having cut the leather, Mihael took a thread and began to sew it from one end, not from both ends like the boots, like slippers. Matryona became very worried, but she did not interfere.
Mihael sewed until noon. When Simon got up for lunch, he looked around and noticed that his journeyman was sewing a pair of slippers from the leather the master had brought. “Oh my God!” shouted Simon.
“How can you, who has been working with me for a year and never made a mistake, do such a thing !” he thought to himself. “The gentleman ordered long boots with stripes and loose toes; My apprentice sewed light slippers and ruined the beautiful leather. What will I say to Mr.
I can never find such a skin!..” “What did you do, my friend?” he asked his journeyman. “You killed me. Brain, you know you want long boots, but what are you doing? He was about to scold his journeyman when suddenly the doorbell rang. There was someone on the threshold.
They looked out the window, and the servant they had just seen next to the gentleman entered. “Good luck…” he said. “Thank you, welcome…” said Simon. “Can I be of any help to you?” “My lady sent me for boots.” “We don’t need them anymore; “Long live for you sir.” “I can’t be!”
“He didn’t even have the chance to leave here and go home; His death came while he was in the car. When we got home, when the servants opened the car door, he fell to the ground. He had been dead for a long time. It was so heavy that we could hardly carry it.
The lady asked me to go to you and said, ‘The gentleman who ordered boots for himself and left leather does not need boots anymore; He ordered me to say, ” Let him sew light slippers for his body as quickly as possible !” “I came to say this.”
The journeyman collected the rest of the leather, wrapped it and packaged it; He knocked the slippers he had prepared together and wiped them on his apron: He gave them to the servant with the remaining leather. The servant said “Good luck” and left. Exactly six years had passed since Mihael came to Simon.
Nothing had changed in his life during this time; He didn’t go anywhere and didn’t talk when he didn’t need to. He had only smiled twice in all these years; The first one is when Matryona gives him food, the other one is when he comes to the gentlemen’s barracks.
Simon was extremely pleased with his journeyman . He never asked her again where she came from; Her only fear was the possibility of Mihael leaving them . It was a day when they were all at home. Matryona was cooking dinner, the children were playing with each other, and Simon
Was sewing in front of a window. Mihael was also fiddling with the heel of a shoe in front of the other window. One of the children ran to Mihael, leaned on his shoulder and looked out. “Uncle Michael, look! A woman comes, she has small children with her. It’s like they’re coming to us.
“One of the girls has a limp.” Mihael also stopped his work and looked at the place the boy was talking about. Simon was astonished; Michael had never been seen looking at the street; but now he was leaning against the window, his eyes fixed on one point. When Simon looked at the same place,
He saw a well-dressed woman coming towards their hut. The woman was holding the hands of two little girls covered with fur and woolen shawls. The girls were as similar to each other as two drops of water; But one of them walked with a limp because his left leg was shorter than the other.
The woman passed through the courtyard and reached the hall. He looked, found the door handle, let the children in first, and then entered himself. “Good luck.” “Thank you, here you go…” said Simon. “How can I help you?” The woman sat on the edge of the table. The two little girls
Looked at the people inside with curious looks and leaned on their mother’s knees. “I want to have summer shoes made for these children.” “We do. Although we have never made shoes this small, we can sew linen-soled shoes with or without strips. My journeyman is a master of his craft.”
When Simon turned to look at Mihael, he saw that he had taken a break from work and was staring at the girls without taking his eyes off. The girls were dark-eyed, chubby, rosy-cheeked, cute children and their clothes were neat; Still, Simon couldn’t understand why Mihael was watching them like that.
Although he found this a little surprising – Michael looked at them as if he knew them – he continued talking to the woman about how much the shoes would cost. When the amount to be paid was decided, he started taking measurements.
The woman sat the limping girl on her knees and said: “Take two measurements from this little girl; One for his healthy leg and the other for his lame leg. The other girl’s foot is the same size. They are twins.”
While Simon was taking measurements, he was also asking questions about the girl with a limp . “What happened to him? She is such a cute girl. Is it innate? asked. “No, it happened later; “His mother crushed his knee.” Matryona, wondering who the woman was and what the children were like, also
Joined the conversation: “You’re not their mother, are you?” asked. “I’m not, ma’am; I am neither their mother nor their relative. “I just adopted them.” “Even though you don’t have children of your own, you love them so much, huh?” “Don’t I like it? I breastfed both of them.
I also have a child, but God took him with him. “I’m not even that fond of that child of mine.” “So who are these kids?” The woman began to tell the story of the children: “Their story is quite long and sad.
Nearly six years ago, their mother and father died within a very short time of each other. Their father was buried on Tuesday and their mother on Friday. These cubs were born three days after their father’s death; their mother died soon after birth. My husband was a farmer in the village at that time.
The families of these children were our next door neighbors and our gardens were adjacent. Their father used to cut trees in the forest. One day, while he was cutting a tree, the tree fell on him. The tree fell right on his chest, turning the guy inside out.
They carried him home with difficulty before he breathed his last breath. In the week of this event, his wife gave birth to these children. He was poor and lonely; They didn’t have anyone to stay with. She gave birth to her children on her own and went to her death on her own.
The next morning I went to check on him. But when I entered her hut, the poor woman’s body had long been cold and hardened. During his agony, he rolled onto this child and crushed his knee. Villagers were crowded into the shed. They immediately prepared a coffin, washed the dead body and buried it.
The babies were left alone. What would they become? I was the only woman in the village with a nursing baby in those days, I had an eight-month-old baby. Thereupon, I took these orphans with me for a while. The villagers gathered together and discussed what to do with them, and finally they
Said to me: ‘Mary, it would be better if the children stayed with you for now, and then we will think of a solution…’ At first, I was breastfeeding the child with a limp leg, thinking that he wouldn’t live long after all. Then, I sat and thought; Why should these innocent people be miserable?
I took pity and started breastfeeding him too. I was feeding my son and these twins with my own milk. I was healthy, strong, eating plenty. In those days, my milk increased so much that it even overflowed from my breasts. Sometimes I would feed both at the same time while one was waiting.
When one was full, it was the turn of the third. God commanded me to take my child, who is under two years old, and raise these children. We were in good shape, but we had no children other than that child .
My husband now works for a corn merchant at the mill, we have no problems with money . But I didn’t have any children of my own; If it weren’t for these little ones, I could barely survive life. “I love them so much, these twins are my everything.”
With one hand, the woman was pressing the little one with a limp to her knees, and with the other hand, she was wiping her own tears. Matryona, sighing, said, “The proverb says it very well: ‘One can live without a family, but never without God!’” While they were talking, suddenly a lightning
Seemed to illuminate the room in the corner where Mihael was standing. When they looked at him, they saw his smiling face, with his hands on his knees and his eyes fixed on the ceiling. The woman took her daughters and went out together. Mihael stood up and put aside his work.
Then she took off her apron; He bowed his head and greeted his master and his wife and said : “Goodbye…” “I am at God’s mercy. If I made a mistake, please forgive me.” They saw a light shining on Michael.
Simon also stood up and greeted his journeyman: “Mihael, I know you are not guilty of anything ; I have no intention of asking or questioning you to stay here. Just answer this: When I found you and brought you here, you were extremely miserable and sad; But
When my wife gave you food, you smiled at her and your face brightened; Mr., when you came to have your shoes made, you smiled again and the brightness of your face increased. Finally, when the woman came with the children, you smiled again and the brightness of your face increased again.
What I want to know is: Why does your face light up like that and why did you only smile three times?” Michael said, “I was punished, but God spared me. My face lights up because of this. As for the reason why I smiled three times, God sent me to learn three truths,
I learned. The first time was when your wife took pity on me, that’s why I smiled for the first time. Secondly, when the gentleman came to order the boots, I smiled again. Finally, when I saw that lady and the children, when I learned the third and last truth…”
His master said, “What was God’s punishment for you, Mihael? “And what are the three facts you mentioned, tell me so I can find out…” he said. Michael: “God punished me for straying from his path. Even though I was one of heaven’s angels, I disobeyed His commandments.
God sent me to take the life of a woman. When I arrived in the world, I saw a woman lying by herself: The woman had just given birth to twins. The babies could hardly move next to their mothers, but no matter what the woman did, she could not lift them to her breasts.
When he saw me, he realized that God had sent me to take his life, and he shed tears and said, ‘O angel of God! My husband died a few days ago after falling under the tree he cut down. Who has no one? These innocent people will die.
I beg you, don’t take my life! Please, just let me nurse them long enough to see them get up and walk. Children can’t live without their parents!’ Listening to what he said, I placed one child on one breast and the other in my arms,
Ascended to the heavens and appeared before Him and said, ‘O God, I could not fulfill the task you gave me; The woman’s husband died under a tree; The woman begs me not to take her life for the sake of her twin babies, to see her children grow up and walk. That’s why
I couldn’t fulfill the task you gave me.’ I said. God said, ‘Go, make your mother surrender her soul and learn three truths: What is inside man?.. Learn what is given to man and what is not given to man. Learn what people live on. Learn these and return to the skies again.’
With these words, I went down to the ground again and offered the woman the sherbet of death. Babies fell out of their breasts. Her body fell off the bed and crushed the knees of the woman and one of the children.
I was rising above the village to take the woman’s soul to God, but I was caught by a breeze and fell to the ground. The woman’s soul rose to the skies on its own; “And I fell back into the world, next to that tomb.”
The poor husband and wife were aware of who they were hosting in their home. They shed tears with love and respect. The angel called out: “I was alone and naked. I didn’t know what people’s needs were; I was starving, the cold was penetrating my bones, but I didn’t know what to do.
I saw a shrine close to the field where I was; I went there thinking that I could put my head there and be protected from the cold ; But the door of the tomb was locked, I couldn’t get in.
I went and sat behind the shrine to at least be protected from the wind. It was dark. I was hungry and about to freeze. Then, I saw someone passing by. He was holding a pair of boots in his hand and talking to himself.
This was the first time I had seen a mortal since I became human; His face looked scary , I turned my head. I heard the man talking to himself about how he would protect himself from the cold and how he would feed his family .
‘I will almost die of hunger and cold here; The man is in trouble for himself. ‘He can’t help me,’ I thought to myself. The man’s eyebrows frowned when he saw me, and his face became a little more scary. He left where he was and crossed to the other side of the road. I
Felt so helpless; But suddenly I saw him turning around. When I looked up at his face, I almost didn’t recognize the man; The man who had just had death on his face seemed revived and rejuvenated; There was the divine light of God on his face .
He approached, gave me something to wear, took me with him and brought me to his house. When he brought us to his house, his wife welcomed us and started talking immediately. The woman’s condition seemed more terrible than her husband’s, and the air they breathed smelled of death; So I started breathing hard.
He wanted me to be thrown out into the cold. When he did this, I knew I would die immediately. When her husband reminded her of God, the woman changed quickly. When he brought food and looked at my face, I looked at him and said that death had its say on him.
I saw that it wasn’t. Life was spared for him; I felt God in his state too. Immediately afterward, I remembered God’s first lesson: ‘What is in man?’ I learned that love dominates the human heart. I was comforted by God’s revelation to me of what He had promised;
That’s why I smiled for the first time. But I wasn’t done learning yet: ‘What is not given to people’ and ‘What does a person live with?..’ I was living in your house. A year has passed.
One day, a gentleman came to me and wanted boots that would not lose their shape and the seams would not come loose. When I looked at his face, I saw my friend, Azrael, on his shoulders. No one saw that angel except me; I knew him; I knew that before nightfall, the wealthy
Gentleman would take his life. I thought, ‘The man is preparing for a year from now, but he doesn’t know that he will die before the evening!..’ Immediately I remembered God’s second commandment: ‘What has not been given to man?’ I knew that love dominated people.
I now understood what was not given to him: the knowledge of his own needs… I smiled a second time. I was happy both to see my friend and to have inspired God’s second commandment. But I wasn’t finished with what I needed to know: ‘What does a person live with…’
I continued to wait until God inspired the last lesson. In the sixth year the woman and the twin children came; I recognized the girls immediately and learned how they managed to survive . When I learned what they were going through, I thought: Their mothers begged me for their children,
And I believed them when they said that these babies would not survive on their own; But a stranger took care of them, fed them and raised them. I shed tears when I saw that the woman loved them like her own children; I sensed in the woman the presence of God who spares life.
I learned the last thing I needed to learn, the thing that keeps people alive. God had forgiven me and inspired me with the last lesson; “I smiled for the third time.” When the angel finished speaking, the clothes he was wearing disappeared and
He was covered with a light so strong that the human eye could not bear it. His voice rose so loud it seemed to come from the heavens. Melek: “The mother was not given the knowledge of what her children needed.
The wealthy gentleman also did not know what his needs were. It was not explained to anyone whether he needed boots or slippers to put on his corpse when darkness fell . If those innocent babies survived, it was not because of their mother’s care, but
Because there was a woman who had compassion and love for them, even though she did not know them at all; All people survive not by thinking about how to make themselves comfortable, but by the love they give to others . I knew before that God gave man desires to enjoy life
; What I understand today is that the truth far exceeds these. I know that God wants His servants to live together, not separately; That is why He inspires not each with his own needs, but what is needed for all. I know that even though people seem to exist only by thinking about themselves,
The only thing that gives them life is ‘love’. To God who loves; God draws near to the one who loves. Because He is the only one who creates love.” While the angel was thanking God, his voice made the whole shed groan. The roof of the shed split open, and dazzlingly bright rays
Began to rise towards the sky. Simon, his wife, and the children fell to the ground. The angel had ascended into the sky. When Simon opened his eyes, his shed was the same as before. Ladies and gentlemen, we have come to the end of Tolstoy’s work called What Does a Man Live By?
Stay safe until we meet again with a new audiobook.
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Tesekkurler
Biraz uzun olmus .olsun guzeldi butungun keyifle dinledim 😊😊😊