That day my official duties took me to the neighbouring town, and I set off thither4 on horseback about eight o’clock, in the chill of the morning. A good time before I had bought a small cob for doing my rounds, a beast six or seven years old, which came from the rough local breed, but had been carefully looked after and made a pet of by the former owner, the district surveyor. The horse’s name was Taranchik. I became greatly attached to the dear beast, with its strong, thin, chiselled6 legs, with its shaggy mane, from beneath which peeped fiery7 eyes, with firm, close-pressed lips. Its colour was rare and curious, a grey mouse-colour all over the body save for a piebald rump.
I had to pass right through the village. The224 big green that ran from the church to the inn was completely covered by long rows of carts in which the peasants of the neighbouring villages had come with their wives and children for the holiday—from Volocha, Zoulnya, and Pechalovka. People were roaming about among the carts. Notwithstanding the early hour and the strict regulations one could already see drunken people among them. (On holidays and at night Shroul, the former innkeeper, sold vodka on the quiet.) The morning was windless and close. The air was sultry and the day promised to be insufferably hot. There was not a single cloud to be seen in the glowing sky, which looked exactly as though it were covered with a silver dust.
When I had done all my business in the little town I had a light hasty meal of pike, stuffed and cooked in the Jewish fashion, washed down with some very inferior muddy beer, and set out for home. As I passed by the smithy I recollected8 that Taranchik’s off fore-shoe had been loose for some time, and I stopped to have him shod. That took me another hour and a half, so that by the time I was nearing Perebrod it was already between four and five o’clock in the afternoon.
The whole square was packed with drunken, shouting people. The yard and porch of the inn were literally9 choked by jostling, pushing customers; the Perebrod men were mixed up with strangers, sitting on the grass and in the shade of the carts. Everywhere were heads225 thrown back and lifted bottles. There was not a single man sober; and the general intoxication10 had reached the point at which the peasant begins noisily boasting and exaggerating his own drunkenness, and all his movements acquire a feeble, ponderous11 freedom, when, for instance, in order to nod ‘yes’ he bows his whole body down, bends his knees, and, suddenly losing his balance completely, draws back helplessly. The children were pushing and screaming in the same place beneath the horses’ legs, while the horses munched12 their hay unconcerned. Elsewhere, a woman who could hardly stand on her feet herself dragged her reluctant husband, foully13 drunk, home by the sleeve.... In the shade of a fence about twenty men and women peasants were pressed close round a blind harpist, whose tremulous, snuffling tenor14, accompanied by the monotonous15, jingling16 drone of his instrument, rose sharp above the dull murmur17 of the crowd. At a distance I could hear the familiar words of the Little Russian song:
‘Oh, there rose the star, the evening star, And stood over Pochah monastery18. Oh, there came out the Turkish troops Like unto a black cloud.’
This song goes on to tell how the Turks, failing in their attack upon the Pochayev monastery, resolved to take it by cunning. With this end they sent, as it were a gift to the monastery, a huge candle filled with gunpowder19. The candle was dragged by twelve yoke20 of oxen, and the226 delighted monks21 were eager to light it before the icon22 of the Virgin23; but God did not allow the wicked design to be accomplished24.
‘And the elder dreamt a dream That he should not take the candle, But bear it away to the open field, And hew25 it down with an axe26.’
And the monks:
‘Took it into the open field, And began to chop it, Oh, then bullets and balls began To scatter27 on every side.’
It seemed that the insufferably hot air was wholly saturated28 with a disgusting smell, compounded of vodka dregs, onions, sheep-skins, strong shag, and the vapours of dirty human bodies. As I made my way through the people, hardly holding in Taranchik who tossed his head continually, I could not help noticing that unceremonious, curious, and hostile looks were bent29 on me from every side. Not a single man doffed30 his cap, which was quite unusual, but the noise grew still at my approach. Suddenly from the very middle of the crowd came a hoarse31, drunken shout which I could not clearly distinguish; but it was answered by a restrained giggle32. A frightened woman’s voice began to rebuke33 the brawler34.
‘Hush, you fool.... What are you shouting for? He’ll hear you——’
‘What if he does hear?’ the peasant replied tauntingly35. ‘What the hell’s he got to do with227 me? Is he an official? He’s only in the forest with his——’
A long, filthy36, horrible phrase hung in the air, with a burst of frantic37, roaring laughter. I quickly turned my horse round, and seized the handle of my whip convulsively, overwhelmed by the mad fury which sees nothing, thinks of nothing, and is afraid of nothing. In a flash, a strange, anxious, painful thought went through my mind: ‘All this has happened once before in my life, many years ago.... The sun blazed just as it does now.... The whole of the big square was overflowing38 with a noisy, excited crowd just as it is now.... I turned back in a paroxysm of wild anger just in the same way.... But where was it? When? When?’ I lowered my whip and madly galloped39 home.
Yarmola came out of the kitchen at his leisure, and said rudely, as he took my horse: ‘The bailiff of the Marenov farm is sitting in your room.’
I had the fancy that he wanted to add something more that was important to me and painful too; I even imagined that a fleeting40 expression of evil derision sped over his face. Intentionally41 I stopped dead in the doorway42 and gave Yarmola a look of challenge, but without looking at me he was already dragging the horse away by the rein43. The horse’s head was stretched forward, and it stepped delicately.
In my room I found the agent of the neighbouring estate, Nikita Nazarich Mishtchenko. He was dressed in a grey jacket with large ginger228 checks, in narrow cornflower blue trousers, and a fiery red necktie. There was a deep parting down the middle of his hair, which shone with pomade, and from the whole of him exuded44 the scent45 of Persian lilac. When he saw me he jumped up from his chair and began to curtsy, not bowing, but somehow breaking at the waist, and at the same time unsheathing the pale gums of both his jaws46.
‘Extremely delighted to have the honour,’ Nikita Nazarich jabbered47 courteously48. ‘Very glad indeed to see you. I’ve been waiting for you here ever since the service. I hadn’t seen you for so long that I was bored, and missed you very much. Why is it you never look us up? The girls in Stiepany laugh at you nowadays.’
Suddenly he was seized by an instantaneous recollection, and broke out into an irresistible49 giggle.
‘What fun it was to-day!’ he cried out, choking and chuckling50. ‘Ha, ha, ha, ha.... I fairly split my sides with laughing.’
‘What do you mean? What fun?’ I asked without troubling to conceal51 my annoyance52.
‘There was a row after service,’ Nikita Nazarich continued, punctuating53 his words with volleys of laughter. ‘The Perebrod girls.... No, by God, I really can’t.... The Perebrod girls caught a witch in the market-place here. Of course, it’s only their peasant ignorance that makes them think she’s a witch.... But they did give her a thrashing! They were going229 to tar5 her all over, but somehow she slipped from them and got away——’
A ghastly surmise54 entered my head. I rushed towards the bailiff, and forgetting myself completely in my agitation55, gripped him violently by the shoulders.
‘What’s that you say?’ I cried in a furious voice. ‘Stop your giggling56, damn you? Who’s this witch you’re talking about?’
Instantly his laughing ceased, and he stared with his round, frightened eyes....
‘I ... I ... really don’t know,’ he began to stammer57 in confusion. ‘I believe it was some one called Samoilikha ... Manuilikha, was it?... Yes, that’s it, the daughter of some one called Manuilikha.... The peasants were shouting something or other, but honestly I don’t remember what it was.’
I made him tell me everything he had seen and heard in order. He told his tale absurdly, incoherently, confusing details, and every moment I interrupted him with impatient questions and exclamations58, almost with abuse. I could understand very little from his story, and it was only two months later that I could piece together the real order of the vile59 happening from the words of an eyewitness60, the wife of the forester of the Crown Lands, who was also present at Mass that day.
I had not been deceived by my foreboding. Olyessia had broken down her fears and come to church. Though she did not reach the church until the service was half done, and stopped in230 the entry, her arrival was instantly noticed by every peasant in church. All through the service the women were whispering to each other and glancing behind them.
However Olyessia had strength enough in herself to stand out the Mass right to the end. Perhaps she did not understand the real meaning of those hostile looks; perhaps she despised them out of pride. But when she came out of the church she could get no farther than the church fence before she was surrounded by a crowd of women, which grew larger and larger every minute, and pressed closer and closer upon Olyessia. At first they only examined the helpless girl in silence and without ceremony, while she looked everywhere about her in fright. Then there came a shower of rude insults, hard words, abuse, accompanied by roars of laughter; then all separate words disappeared into one general piercing women’s shriek61, wherein everything was confused and the nerves of the agitated62 crowd became more and more tightly strung. Several times Olyessia attempted to pass through this horrible living ring, but every time she was pushed back into the middle again. Suddenly the squeaking63 voice of some old hag shrieked64 from somewhere at the back of the crowd: ‘Smear65 the slut with tar—tar the slut!’ (Everybody knows that in Little Russia to smear with tar even the gates of the house where a girl lives is considered as a mark of the greatest, the most indelible, disgrace to her.) Almost the same second a pot of tar and a brush appeared231 over the heads of the raging furies, passed from hand to hand.
Then Olyessia, seized by a paroxysm of anger, horror and despair, rushed on the nearest of her tormentors with such impetuous force that she was thrown to the ground. Immediately a fight burst forth66, and innumerable bodies were confused in one general shouting mass. But by some miracle Olyessia succeeded in slipping out from among the tangle67, and rushed headlong down the road, without her shawl, her clothes torn to ribbons, through which in many places her naked body could be seen. Stones, vile abuse, laughter and shouts sped after her.... When she had run fifty paces Olyessia stopped, turned her pale, scratched, bleeding face to the crowd, and said so loud that each word could be heard all through the square: ‘Very well.... You will remember this. You will weep your fill for this, all of you!’
The eyewitness of the happening told me afterwards that this threat was pronounced with such passionate68 hatred69, in such a determined70 tone of prophecy, that for a moment the whole crowd was as it were benumbed; but only for a moment, because a fresh explosion of curses was heard immediately.
I say again that it was not till long after that I came to know many details of this story. I had neither strength nor patience to hear Mishtchenko’s tale to the end. I suddenly remember that Yarmola had probably not had time yet to unsaddle my horse, and without232 a word to the astounded71 bailiff, I rushed out into the yard. Yarmola was still leading Taranchik along by the fence. I quickly slipped the bridle72 on, tightened73 the girths, and raced away into the forest by circuitous74 paths in order to avoid having to pass through the drunken crowd again.
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1
martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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2
omens
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| n.前兆，预兆( omen的名词复数 ) | |
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3
auxiliary
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| adj.辅助的，备用的 | |
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4
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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5
tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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6
chiselled
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| adj.凿过的，凿光的； （文章等）精心雕琢的v.凿，雕，镌( chisel的过去式 ) | |
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7
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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8
recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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10
intoxication
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| n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning | |
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11
ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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12
munched
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| v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
foully
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| ad.卑鄙地 | |
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14
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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15
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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16
jingling
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| 叮当声 | |
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17
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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18
monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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19
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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20
yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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21
monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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22
icon
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| n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像 | |
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23
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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24
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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25
hew
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| v.砍；伐；削 | |
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26
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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27
scatter
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| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
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28
saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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29
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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30
doffed
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| v.脱去，（尤指）脱帽( doff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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32
giggle
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| n.痴笑，咯咯地笑；v.咯咯地笑着说 | |
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33
rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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34
brawler
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| 争吵者，打架者 | |
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35
tauntingly
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| 嘲笑地，辱骂地； 嘲骂地 | |
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36
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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37
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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38
overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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39
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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40
fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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41
intentionally
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| ad.故意地，有意地 | |
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42
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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43
rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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44
exuded
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| v.缓慢流出，渗出，分泌出( exude的过去式和过去分词 )；流露出对（某物）的神态或感情 | |
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45
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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46
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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47
jabbered
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| v.急切而含混不清地说( jabber的过去式和过去分词 )；急促兴奋地说话 | |
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48
courteously
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| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
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49
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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50
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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51
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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52
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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53
punctuating
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| v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的现在分词 )；不时打断某事物 | |
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54
surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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55
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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56
giggling
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的现在分词 ) | |
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57
stammer
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| n.结巴，口吃；v.结结巴巴地说 | |
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58
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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59
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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60
eyewitness
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| n.目击者，见证人 | |
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61
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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62
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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63
squeaking
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| v.短促地尖叫( squeak的现在分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
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64
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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65
smear
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| v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑 | |
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66
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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67
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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68
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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69
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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70
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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71
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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72
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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73
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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74
circuitous
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| adj.迂回的路的，迂曲的，绕行的 | |
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