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第23节

the witch and other stories-第23节

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violet…coloured; lies beside it; next that; one of gold; then one
rose…coloured。 。 。 。 The sky turns a soft lilac。 Looking at this
gorgeous; enchanted sky; at first the ocean scowls; but soon it;
too; takes tender; joyous; passionate colours for which it is
hard to find a name in human speech。


THE STUDENT

AT first the weather was fine and still。 The thrushes were
calling; and in the swamps close by something alive droned
pitifully with a sound like blowing into an empty bottle。 A snipe
flew by; and the shot aimed at it rang out with a gay; resounding
note in the spring air。 But when it began to get dark in the
forest a cold; penetrating wind blew inappropriately from the
east; and everything sank into silence。 Needles of ice stretched
across the pools; and it felt cheerless; remote; and lonely in
the forest。 There was a whiff of winter。

Ivan Velikopolsky; the son of a sacristan; and a student of the
clerical academy; returning home from shooting; walked all the
time by the path in the water…side meadow。 His fingers were numb
and his face was burning with the wind。 It seemed to him that the
cold that had suddenly come on had destroyed the order and
harmony of things; that nature itself felt ill at ease; and that
was why the evening darkness was falling more rapidly than usual。
All around it was deserted and peculiarly gloomy。 The only light
was one gleaming in the widows' gardens near the river; the
village; over three miles away; and everything in the distance
all round was plunged in the cold evening mist。 The student
remembered that; as he went out from the house; his mother was
sitting barefoot on the floor in the entry; cleaning the samovar;
while his father lay on the stove coughing; as it was Good Friday
nothing had been cooked; and the student was terribly hungry。 And
now; shrinking from the cold; he thought that just such a wind
had blown in the days of Rurik and in the time of Ivan the
Terrible and Peter; and in their time there had been just the
same desperate poverty and hunger; the same thatched roofs with
holes in them; ignorance; misery; the same desolation around; the
same darkness; the same feeling of oppression  all these had
existed; did exist; and would exist; and the lapse of a thousand
years would make life no better。 And he did not want to go home。

The gardens were called the widows' because they were kept by two
widows; mother and daughter。 A camp fire was burning brightly
with a crackling sound; throwing out light far around on the
ploughed earth。 The widow Vasilisa; a tall; fat old woman in a
man's coat; was standing by and looking thoughtfully into the
fire; her daughter Lukerya; a little pock…marked woman with a
stupid…looking face; was sitting on the ground; washing a caldron
and spoons。 Apparently they had just had supper。 There was a
sound of men's voices; it was the labourers watering their horses
at the river。

〃Here you have winter back again;〃 said the student; going up to
the camp fire。 〃Good evening。〃

Vasilisa started; but at once recognized him and smiled
cordially。

〃I did not know you; God bless you;〃 she said。

〃You'll be rich。〃

They talked。 Vasilisa; a woman of experience; who had been in
service with the gentry; first as a wet…nurse; afterwards as a
children's nurse; expressed herself with refinement; and a soft;
sedate smile never left her face; her daughter Lukerya; a village
peasant woman; who had been beaten by her husband; simply screwed
up her eyes at the student and said nothing; and she had a
strange expression like that of a deaf mute。

〃At just such a fire the Apostle Peter warmed himself;〃 said the
student; stretching out his hands to the fire; 〃so it must have
been cold then; too。 Ah; what a terrible night it must have been;
granny! An utterly dismal long night!〃

He looked round at the darkness; shook his head abruptly and
asked:

〃No doubt you have been at the reading of the Twelve Gospels?〃

〃Yes; I have;〃 answered Vasilisa。

〃If you remember at the Last Supper Peter said to Jesus; 'I am
ready to go with Thee into darkness and unto death。' And our Lord
answered him thus: 'I say unto thee; Peter; before the cock
croweth thou wilt have denied Me thrice。' After the supper Jesus
went through the agony of death in the garden and prayed; and
poor Peter was weary in spirit and faint; his eyelids were heavy
and he could not struggle against sleep。 He fell asleep。 Then you
heard how Judas the same night kissed Jesus and betrayed Him to
His tormentors。 They took Him bound to the high priest and beat
Him; while Peter; exhausted; worn out with misery and alarm;
hardly awake; you know; feeling that something awful was just
going to happen on earth; followed behind。 。 。 。 He loved Jesus
passionately; intensely; and now he saw from far off how He was
beaten。 。 。〃

Lukerya left the spoons and fixed an immovable stare upon the
student。

〃They came to the high priest's;〃 he went on; 〃they began to
question Jesus; and meantime the labourers made a fire in the
yard as it was cold; and warmed themselves。 Peter; too; stood
with them near the fire and warmed himself as I am doing。 A
woman; seeing him; said: 'He was with Jesus; too'  that is as
much as to say that he; too; should be taken to be questioned。
And all the labourers that were standing near the fire must have
looked sourly and suspiciously at him; because he was confused
and said: 'I don't know Him。' A little while after again someone
recognized him as one of Jesus' disciples and said: 'Thou; too;
art one of them;' but again he denied it。 And for the third time
someone turned to him: 'Why; did I not see thee with Him in the
garden to…day?' For the third time he denied it。 And immediately
after that time the cock crowed; and Peter; looking from afar off
at Jesus; remembered the words He had said to him in the evening。
。 。 。 He remembered; he came to himself; went out of the yard and
wept bitterly  bitterly。 In the Gospel it is written: 'He went
out and wept bitterly。' I imagine it: the still; still; dark;
dark garden; and in the stillness; faintly audible; smothered
sobbing。 。 。〃

T he student sighed and sank into thought。 Still smiling;
Vasilisa suddenly gave a gulp; big tears flowed freely down her
cheeks; and she screened her face from the fire with her sleeve
as though ashamed of her tears; and Lukerya; staring immovably at
the student; flushed crimson; and her expression became strained
and heavy like that of someone enduring intense pain。

The labourers came back from the river; and one of them riding a
horse was quite near; and the light from the fire quivered upon
him。 The student said good…night to the widows and went on。 And
again the darkness was about him and his fingers began to be
numb。 A cruel wind was blowing; winter really had come back and
it did not feel as though Easter would be the day after
to…morrow。

Now the student was thinking about Vasilisa: since she had shed
tears all that had happened to Peter the night before the
Crucifixion must have some relation to her。 。 。 。

He looked round。 The solitary light was still gleaming in the
darkness and no figures could be seen near it now。 The student
thought again that if Vasilisa had shed tears; and her daughter
had been troubled; it was evident that what he had just been
telling them about; which had happened nineteen centuries ago;
had a relation to the present  to both women; to the desolate
village; to himself; to all people。 The old woman had wept; not
because he could tell the story touchingly; but because Peter was
near to her; because her whole being was interested in what was
passing in Peter's soul。

And joy suddenly stirred in his soul; and he even stopped for a
minute to take breath。 〃The past;〃 he thought; 〃is linked with
the present by an unbroken chain of events flowing one out of
another。〃 And it seemed to him that he had just seen both ends of
that chain; that when he touched one end the other quivered。

When he crossed the river by the ferry boat and afterwards;
mounting the hill; looked at his village and towards the west
where the cold crimson sunset lay a narrow streak of light; he
thought that truth and beauty which had guided human life there
in the garden and in the yard of the high priest had continued
without interruption to this day; and had evidently always been
the chief thing in human life and in all earthly life; indeed;
and the feeling of youth; health; vigour  he was only
twenty…two  and the inexpressible sweet expectation of
happiness; of unknown mysterious happiness; took possession of
him little by little; and life seemed to him enchanting;
marvellous; and full of lofty meaning。


IN THE RAVINE

I

THE village of Ukleevo lay in a ravine so that only the belfry
and the chimneys of the printed cottons factories could be seen
from the high road and the railway…station。 When visitors asked
what village this was; they were told:

〃That's the village where the deacon ate all the caviare at the
funeral。〃

It had happened at the dinner at the funeral of Kostukov that the
old deacon saw among the savouries some large…grained caviare and
began eating it greedily; 

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