“Well, are we going to stand like this till evening with our arms folded?” says Seryozhka, breaking the silence and turning his angry eyes on Matvey. “Have you come here to stand about, old fool, or to work?”
“Well, you . . . er . . . show me . . .” Matvey mutters, bDlinking mildly.
“Show you. . . . It’s always me: me to show you, and me to do it. They have no sense of their own! Mark it out with the compasses, that’s what’s wanted! You can’t break the ice without marking it out. Mark it! Take the compass.”
Matvey takes the compasses from Seryozhka’s hands, and, shuffling5 heavily on the same spot and jerking with his elbows in all directions, he begins awkwardly trying to describe a circle on the ice. Seryozhka screws up his eyes contemptuously and obviously enjoys his awkwardness and incompetence6.
“Eh-eh-eh!” he mutters angrily. “Even that you can’t do! The fact is you are a stupid peasant, a wooden-head! You ought to be grazing geese and not making a Jordan! Give the compasses here! Give them here, I say!”
Seryozhka snatches the compasses out of the hands of the perspiring7 Matvey, and in an instant, jauntily8 twirling round on one heel, he describes a circle on the ice. The outline of the new Jordan is ready now, all that is left to do is to break the ice. . .
But before proceeding9 to the work Seryozhka spends a long time in airs and graces, whims11 and reproaches. . .
“I am not obliged to work for you! You are employed in the church, you do it!”
He obviously enjoys the peculiar12 position in which he has been placed by the fate that has bestowed13 on him the rare talent of surprising the whole parish once a year by his art. Poor mild Matvey has to listen to many venomous and contemptuous words from him. Seryozhka sets to work with vexation, with anger. He is lazy. He has hardly described the circle when he is already itching14 to go up to the village to drink tea, lounge about, and babble15. . .
“I’ll be back directly,” he says, lighting16 his cigarette, “and meanwhile you had better bring something to sit on and sweep up, instead of standing17 there counting the crows.”
Matvey is left alone. The air is grey and harsh but still. The white church peeps out genially18 from behind the huts scattered19 on the river bank. Jackdaws are incessantly20 circling round its golden crosses. On one side of the village where the river bank breaks off and is steep a hobbled horse is standing at the very edge, motionless as a stone, probably asleep or deep in thought.
Matvey, too, stands motionless as a statue, waiting patiently. The dreamily brooding look of the river, the circling of the jackdaws, and the sight of the horse make him drowsy21. One hour passes, a second, and still Seryozhka does not come. The river has long been swept and a box brought to sit on, but the drunken fellow does not appear. Matvey waits and merely yawns. The feeling of boredom22 is one of which he knows nothing. If he were told to stand on the river for a day, a month, or a year he would stand there.
At last Seryozhka comes into sight from behind the huts. He walks with a lurching gait, scarcely moving. He is too lazy to go the long way round, and he comes not by the road, but prefers a short cut in a straight line down the bank, and sticks in the snow, hangs on to the bushes, slides on his back as he comes—and all this slowly, with pauses.
“What are you about?” he cries, falling on Matvey at once. “Why are you standing there doing nothing! When are you going to break the ice?”
Matvey crosses himself, takes the crowbar in both hands, and begins breaking the ice, carefully keeping to the circle that has been drawn23. Seryozhka sits down on the box and watches the heavy clumsy movements of his assistant.
“Easy at the edges! Easy there!” he commands. “If you can’t do it properly, you shouldn’t undertake it, once you have undertaken it you should do it. You!”
A crowd collects on the top of the bank. At the sight of the spectators Seryozhka becomes even more excited.
“I declare I am not going to do it . . .” he says, lighting a stinking24 cigarette and spitting on the ground. “I should like to see how you get on without me. Last year at Kostyukovo, Styopka Gulkov undertook to make a Jordan as I do. And what did it amount to—it was a laughing-stock. The Kostyukovo folks came to ours —crowds and crowds of them! The people flocked from all the villages.”
“Because except for ours there is nowhere a proper Jordan . . .”
“Work, there is no time for talking. . . . Yes, old man . . . you won’t find another Jordan like it in the whole province. The soldiers say you would look in vain, they are not so good even in the towns. Easy, easy!”
Matvey puffs25 and groans26. The work is not easy. The ice is firm and thick; and he has to break it and at once take the pieces away that the open space may not be blocked up.
But, hard as the work is and senseless as Seryozhka’s commands are, by three o’clock there is a large circle of dark water in the Bystryanka.
“It was better last year,” says Seryozhka angrily. “You can’t do even that! Ah, dummy27! To keep such fools in the temple of God! Go and bring a board to make the pegs29! Bring the ring, you crow! And er . . . get some bread somewhere . . . and some cucumbers, or something.”
Matvey goes off and soon afterwards comes back, carrying on his shoulders an immense wooden ring which had been painted in previous years in patterns of various colours. In the centre of the ring is a red cross, at the circumference30 holes for the pegs. Seryozhka takes the ring and covers the hole in the ice with it.
“Just right . . . it fits. . . . We have only to renew the paint and it will be first-rate. . . . Come, why are you standing still? Make the lectern. Or—er—go and get logs to make the cross . . .”
Matvey, who has not tasted food or drink all day, trudges31 up the hill again. Lazy as Seryozhka is, he makes the pegs with his own hands. He knows that those pegs have a miraculous32 power: whoever gets hold of a peg28 after the blessing33 of the water will be lucky for the whole year. Such work is really worth doing.
But the real work begins the following day. Then Seryozhka displays himself before the ignorant Matvey in all the greatness of his talent. There is no end to his babble, his fault-finding, his whims and fancies. If Matvey nails two big pieces of wood to make a cross, he is dissatisfied and tells him to do it again. If Matvey stands still, Seryozhka asks him angrily why he does not go; if he moves, Seryozhka shouts to him not to go away but to do his work. He is not satisfied with his tools, with the weather, or with his own talent; nothing pleases him.
Matvey saws out a great piece of ice for a lectern.
“Why have you broken off the corner?” cries Seryozhka, and glares at him furiously. “Why have you broken off the corner? I ask you.”
“Forgive me, for Christ’s sake.”
“Do it over again!”
Matvey saws again . . . and there is no end to his sufferings. A lectern is to stand by the hole in the ice that is covered by the painted ring; on the lectern is to be carved the cross and the open gospel. But that is not all. Behind the lectern there is to be a high cross to be seen by all the crowd and to glitter in the sun as though sprinkled with diamonds and rubies34. On the cross is to be a dove carved out of ice. The path from the church to the Jordan is to be strewn with branches of fir and juniper. All this is their task.
First of all Seryozhka sets to work on the lectern. He works with a file, a chisel35, and an awl36. He is perfectly37 successful in the cross on the lectern, the gospel, and the drapery that hangs down from the lectern. Then he begins on the dove. While he is trying to carve an expression of meekness38 and humility39 on the face of the dove, Matvey, lumbering40 about like a bear, is coating with ice the cross he has made of wood. He takes the cross and dips it in the hole. Waiting till the water has frozen on the cross he dips it in a second time, and so on till the cross is covered with a thick layer of ice. It is a difficult job, calling for a great deal of strength and patience.
But now the delicate work is finished. Seryozhka races about the village like one possessed41. He swears and vows42 he will go at once to the river and smash all his work. He is looking for suitable paints.
His pockets are full of ochre, dark blue, red lead, and verdigris43; without paying a farthing he rushes headlong from one shop to another. The shop is next door to the tavern44. Here he has a drink; with a wave of his hand he darts45 off without paying. At one hut he gets beetroot leaves, at another an onion skin, out of which he makes a yellow colour. He swears, shoves, threatens, and not a soul murmurs46! They all smile at him, they sympathise with him, call him Sergey Nikititch; they all feel that his art is not his personal affair but something that concerns them all, the whole people. One creates, the others help him. Seryozhka in himself is a nonentity48, a sluggard49, a drunkard, and a wastrel50, but when he has his red lead or compasses in his hand he is at once something higher, a servant of God.
Epiphany morning comes. The precincts of the church and both banks of the river for a long distance are swarming51 with people. Everything that makes up the Jordan is scrupulously52 concealed53 under new mats. Seryozhka is meekly54 moving about near the mats, trying to control his emotion. He sees thousands of people. There are many here from other parishes; these people have come many a mile on foot through the frost and the snow merely to see his celebrated55 Jordan. Matvey, who had finished his coarse, rough work, is by now back in the church, there is no sight, no sound of him; he is already forgotten . . . . The weather is lovely. . . . There is not a cloud in the sky. The sunshine is dazzling.
The church bells ring out on the hill . . . Thousands of heads are bared, thousands of hands are moving, there are thousands of signs of the cross!
And Seryozhka does not know what to do with himself for impatience56. But now they are ringing the bells for the Sacrament; then half an hour later a certain agitation57 is perceptible in the belfry and among the people. Banners are borne out of the church one after the other, while the bells peal58 in joyous59 haste. Seryozhka, trembling, pulls away the mat . . . and the people behold60 something extraordinary. The lectern, the wooden ring, the pegs, and the cross in the ice are iridescent61 with thousands of colors. The cross and the dove glitter so dazzlingly that it hurts the eyes to look at them. Merciful God, how fine it is! A murmur47 of wonder and delight runs through the crowd; the bells peal more loudly still, the day grows brighter; the banners oscillate and move over the crowd as over the waves. The procession, glittering with the settings of the ikons and the vestments of the clergy62, comes slowly down the road and turns towards the Jordan. Hands are waved to the belfry for the ringing to cease, and the blessing of the water begins. The priests conduct the service slowly, deliberately63, evidently trying to prolong the ceremony and the joy of praying all gathered together. There is perfect stillness.
But now they plunge64 the cross in, and the air echoes with an extraordinary din10. Guns are fired, the bells peal furiously, loud exclamations65 of delight, shouts, and a rush to get the pegs. Seryozhka listens to this uproar66, sees thousands of eyes fixed67 upon him, and the lazy fellow’s soul is filled with a sense of glory and triumph.
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1
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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picturesquely
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5
shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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incompetence
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| n.不胜任，不称职 | |
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perspiring
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| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的现在分词 ) | |
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jauntily
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| adv.心满意足地；洋洋得意地；高兴地；活泼地 | |
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9
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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WHIMS
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| 虚妄，禅病 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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13
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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itching
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| adj.贪得的，痒的，渴望的v.发痒( itch的现在分词 ) | |
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15
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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16
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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17
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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18
genially
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| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
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19
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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20
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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21
drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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22
boredom
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| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
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23
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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24
stinking
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| adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透 | |
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25
puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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26
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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27
dummy
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| n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头 | |
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28
peg
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| n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定 | |
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29
pegs
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| n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平 | |
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circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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31
trudges
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| n.跋涉，长途疲劳的步行( trudge的名词复数 ) | |
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32
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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34
rubies
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| 红宝石( ruby的名词复数 )； 红宝石色，深红色 | |
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35
chisel
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| n.凿子；v.用凿子刻，雕，凿 | |
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36
awl
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| n.尖钻 | |
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37
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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38
meekness
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| n.温顺，柔和 | |
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39
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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40
lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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42
vows
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| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
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43
verdigris
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| n.铜锈；铜绿 | |
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44
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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45
darts
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| n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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46
murmurs
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| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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47
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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48
nonentity
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| n.无足轻重的人 | |
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49
sluggard
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| n.懒人；adj.懒惰的 | |
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50
wastrel
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| n.浪费者；废物 | |
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51
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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52
scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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53
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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54
meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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55
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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56
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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57
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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58
peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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59
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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60
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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61
iridescent
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| adj.彩虹色的，闪色的 | |
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62
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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63
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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64
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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65
exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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66
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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67
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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