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diff --git a/old/689.txt b/old/689.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0736e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/689.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7351 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories, by Leo Tolstoi + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories + +Author: Leo Tolstoi + +Release Date: March 18, 2006 [EBook #689] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KREUTZER SONATA *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Boss and David Widger + + + + + +THE KREUTZER SONATA AND OTHER STORIES + +By Count Leo Tolstoi + + +Author of "Resurrection," "Life is Worth Living," "Ivan the Fool," Etc. + + + +CONTENTS. + + +TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. + +KREUTZER SONATA. + +IVAN THE FOOL. + +A LOST OPPORTUNITY. + +POLIKUSHKA + +THE CANDLE. + + + + + +TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. + +On comparing with the original Russian some English translations of +Count Tolstoi's works, published both in this country and in England, I +concluded that they were far from being accurate. The majority of them +were retranslations from the French, and I found that the respective +transitions through which they had passed tended to obliterate many of +the beauties of the Russian language and of the peculiar characteristics +of Russian life. A satisfactory translation can be made only by one who +understands the language and SPIRIT of the Russian people. As Tolstoi's +writings contain so many idioms it is not an easy task to render them +into intelligible English, and the one who successfully accomplishes +this must be a native of Russia, commanding the English and Russian +languages with equal fluency. + +The story of "Ivan the Fool" portrays Tolstoi's communistic ideas, +involving the abolition of military forces, middlemen, despotism, and +money. Instead of these he would establish on earth a kingdom in which +each and every person would become a worker and producer. The author +describes the various struggles through which three brothers passed, +beset as they were by devils large and small, until they reached the +ideal state of existence which he believes to be the only happy one +attainable in this world. + +On reading this little story one is surprised that the Russian censor +passed it, as it is devoted to a narration of ideas quite at variance +with the present policy of the government of that country. + +"A Lost Opportunity" is a singularly true picture of peasant life, which +evinces a deep study of the subject on the part of the writer. Tolstoi +has drawn many of the peculiar customs of the Russian peasant in a +masterly manner, and I doubt if he has given a more comprehensive +description of this feature of Russian life in any of his other works. +In this story also he has presented many traits which are common to +human nature throughout the world, and this gives an added interest to +the book. The language is simple and picturesque, and the characters are +drawn with remarkable fidelity to nature. The moral of this tale points +out how the hero Ivan might have avoided the terrible consequences of a +quarrel with his neighbor (which grew out of nothing) if he had lived in +accordance with the scriptural injunction to forgive his brother's sins +and seek not for revenge. + +The story of "Polikushka" is a very graphic description of the life led +by a servant of the court household of a certain nobleman, in which the +author portrays the different conditions and surroundings enjoyed by +these servants from those of the ordinary or common peasants. It is a +true and powerful reproduction of an element in Russian life but little +written about heretofore. Like the other stories of this great writer, +"Polikushka" has a moral to which we all might profitably give heed. He +illustrates the awful consequences of intemperance, and concludes that +only kind treatment can reform the victims of alcohol. + +For much valuable assistance in the work of these translations, I am +deeply indebted to the bright English scholarship of my devoted wife. + + + + +THE KREUTZER SONATA. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Travellers left and entered our car at every stopping of the train. +Three persons, however, remained, bound, like myself, for the farthest +station: a lady neither young nor pretty, smoking cigarettes, with +a thin face, a cap on her head, and wearing a semi-masculine outer +garment; then her companion, a very loquacious gentleman of about forty +years, with baggage entirely new and arranged in an orderly manner; +then a gentleman who held himself entirely aloof, short in stature, very +nervous, of uncertain age, with bright eyes, not pronounced in color, +but extremely attractive,--eyes that darted with rapidity from one +object to another. + +This gentleman, during almost all the journey thus far, had entered into +conversation with no fellow-traveller, as if he carefully avoided all +acquaintance. When spoken to, he answered curtly and decisively, and +began to look out of the car window obstinately. + +Yet it seemed to me that the solitude weighed upon him. He seemed to +perceive that I understood this, and when our eyes met, as happened +frequently, since we were sitting almost opposite each other, he turned +away his head, and avoided conversation with me as much as with the +others. At nightfall, during a stop at a large station, the gentleman +with the fine baggage--a lawyer, as I have since learned--got out with +his companion to drink some tea at the restaurant. During their absence +several new travellers entered the car, among whom was a tall old man, +shaven and wrinkled, evidently a merchant, wearing a large heavily-lined +cloak and a big cap. This merchant sat down opposite the empty seats of +the lawyer and his companion, and straightway entered into conversation +with a young man who seemed like an employee in some commercial house, +and who had likewise just boarded the train. At first the clerk had +remarked that the seat opposite was occupied, and the old man had +answered that he should get out at the first station. Thus their +conversation started. + +I was sitting not far from these two travellers, and, as the train was +not in motion, I could catch bits of their conversation when others were +not talking. + +They talked first of the prices of goods and the condition of business; +they referred to a person whom they both knew; then they plunged into +the fair at Nijni Novgorod. The clerk boasted of knowing people who were +leading a gay life there, but the old man did not allow him to continue, +and, interrupting him, began to describe the festivities of the previous +year at Kounavino, in which he had taken part. He was evidently proud +of these recollections, and, probably thinking that this would detract +nothing from the gravity which his face and manners expressed, he +related with pride how, when drunk, he had fired, at Kounavino, such a +broadside that he could describe it only in the other's ear. + +The clerk began to laugh noisily. The old man laughed too, showing two +long yellow teeth. Their conversation not interesting me, I left the car +to stretch my legs. At the door I met the lawyer and his lady. + +"You have no more time," the lawyer said to me. "The second bell is +about to ring." + +Indeed I had scarcely reached the rear of the train when the bell +sounded. As I entered the car again, the lawyer was talking with his +companion in an animated fashion. The merchant, sitting opposite them, +was taciturn. + +"And then she squarely declared to her husband," said the lawyer with a +smile, as I passed by them, "that she neither could nor would live with +him, because" . . . + +And he continued, but I did not hear the rest of the sentence, my +attention being distracted by the passing of the conductor and a new +traveller. When silence was restored, I again heard the lawyer's +voice. The conversation had passed from a special case to general +considerations. + +"And afterward comes discord, financial difficulties, disputes between +the two parties, and the couple separate. In the good old days that +seldom happened. Is it not so?" asked the lawyer of the two merchants, +evidently trying to drag them into the conversation. + +Just then the train started, and the old man, without answering, took +off his cap, and crossed himself three times while muttering a prayer. +When he had finished, he clapped his cap far down on his head, and said: + +"Yes, sir, that happened in former times also, but not as often. In the +present day it is bound to happen more frequently. People have become +too learned." + +The lawyer made some reply to the old man, but the train, ever +increasing its speed, made such a clatter upon the rails that I could +no longer hear distinctly. As I was interested in what the old man was +saying, I drew nearer. My neighbor, the nervous gentleman, was evidently +interested also, and, without changing his seat, he lent an ear. + +"But what harm is there in education?" asked the lady, with a smile that +was scarcely perceptible. "Would it be better to marry as in the old +days, when the bride and bridegroom did not even see each other before +marriage?" she continued, answering, as is the habit of our ladies, not +the words that her interlocutor had spoken, but the words she believed +he was going to speak. "Women did not know whether they would love or +would be loved, and they were married to the first comer, and suffered +all their lives. Then you think it was better so?" she continued, +evidently addressing the lawyer and myself, and not at all the old man. + +"People have become too learned," repeated the last, looking at the lady +with contempt, and leaving her question unanswered. + +"I should be curious to know how you explain the correlation between +education and conjugal differences," said the lawyer, with a slight +smile. + +The merchant wanted to make some reply, but the lady interrupted him. + +"No, those days are past." + +The lawyer cut short her words:-- + +"Let him express his thought." + +"Because there is no more fear," replied the old man. + +"But how will you marry people who do not love each other? Only +animals can be coupled at the will of a proprietor. But people have +inclinations, attachments," the lady hastened to say, casting a glance +at the lawyer, at me, and even at the clerk, who, standing up +and leaning his elbow on the back of a seat, was listening to the +conversation with a smile. + +"You are wrong to say that, madam," said the old man. "The animals are +beasts, but man has received the law." + +"But, nevertheless, how is one to live with a man when there is no +love?" said the lady, evidently excited by the general sympathy and +attention. + +"Formerly no such distinctions were made," said the old man, gravely. +"Only now have they become a part of our habits. As soon as the least +thing happens, the wife says: 'I release you. I am going to leave your +house.' Even among the moujiks this fashion has become acclimated. +'There,' she says, 'here are your shirts and drawers. I am going off +with Vanka. His hair is curlier than yours.' Just go talk with them. And +yet the first rule for the wife should be fear." + +The clerk looked at the lawyer, the lady, and myself, evidently +repressing a smile, and all ready to deride or approve the merchant's +words, according to the attitude of the others. + +"What fear?" said the lady. + +"This fear,--the wife must fear her husband; that is what fear." + +"Oh, that, my little father, that is ended." + +"No, madam, that cannot end. As she, Eve, the woman, was taken from +man's ribs, so she will remain unto the end of the world," said the old +man, shaking his head so triumphantly and so severely that the clerk, +deciding that the victory was on his side, burst into a loud laugh. + +"Yes, you men think so," replied the lady, without surrendering, and +turning toward us. "You have given yourself liberty. As for woman, you +wish to keep her in the seraglio. To you, everything is permissible. Is +it not so?" + +"Oh, man,--that's another affair." + +"Then, according to you, to man everything is permissible?" + +"No one gives him this permission; only, if the man behaves badly +outside, the family is not increased thereby; but the woman, the wife, +is a fragile vessel," continued the merchant, severely. + +His tone of authority evidently subjugated his hearers. Even the lady +felt crushed, but she did not surrender. + +"Yes, but you will admit, I think, that woman is a human being, and has +feelings like her husband. What should she do if she does not love her +husband?" + +"If she does not love him!" repeated the old man, stormily, and knitting +his brows; "why, she will be made to love him." + +This unexpected argument pleased the clerk, and he uttered a murmur of +approbation. + +"Oh, no, she will not be forced," said the lady. "Where there is no +love, one cannot be obliged to love in spite of herself." + +"And if the wife deceives her husband, what is to be done?" said the +lawyer. + +"That should not happen," said the old man. "He must have his eyes about +him." + +"And if it does happen, all the same? You will admit that it does +happen?" + +"It happens among the upper classes, not among us," answered the old +man. "And if any husband is found who is such a fool as not to rule his +wife, he will not have robbed her. But no scandal, nevertheless. Love +or not, but do not disturb the household. Every husband can govern his +wife. He has the necessary power. It is only the imbecile who does not +succeed in doing so." + +Everybody was silent. The clerk moved, advanced, and, not wishing to lag +behind the others in the conversation, began with his eternal smile: + +"Yes, in the house of our employer, a scandal has arisen, and it is very +difficult to view the matter clearly. The wife loved to amuse herself, +and began to go astray. He is a capable and serious man. First, it was +with the book-keeper. The husband tried to bring her back to reason +through kindness. She did not change her conduct. She plunged into all +sorts of beastliness. She began to steal his money. He beat her, but +she grew worse and worse. To an unbaptized, to a pagan, to a Jew (saving +your permission), she went in succession for her caresses. What could +the employer do? He has dropped her entirely, and now he lives as a +bachelor. As for her, she is dragging in the depths." + +"He is an imbecile," said the old man. "If from the first he had not +allowed her to go in her own fashion, and had kept a firm hand upon her, +she would be living honestly, no danger. Liberty must be taken away from +the beginning. Do not trust yourself to your horse upon the highway. Do +not trust yourself to your wife at home." + +At that moment the conductor passed, asking for the tickets for the next +station. The old man gave up his. + +"Yes, the feminine sex must be dominated in season, else all will +perish." + +"And you yourselves, at Kounavino, did you not lead a gay life with the +pretty girls?" asked the lawyer with a smile. + +"Oh, that's another matter," said the merchant, severely. "Good-by," +he added, rising. He wrapped himself in his cloak, lifted his cap, and, +taking his bag, left the car. + +CHAPTER II. + +Scarcely had the old man gone when a general conversation began. + +"There's a little Old Testament father for you," said the clerk. + +"He is a Domostroy,"* said the lady. "What savage ideas about a woman +and marriage!" + + *The Domostroy is a matrimonial code of the days of Ivan the + Terrible. + +"Yes, gentlemen," said the lawyer, "we are still a long way from the +European ideas upon marriage. First, the rights of woman, then free +marriage, then divorce, as a question not yet solved." . . . + +"The main thing, and the thing which such people as he do not +understand," rejoined the lady, "is that only love consecrates marriage, +and that the real marriage is that which is consecrated by love." + +The clerk listened and smiled, with the air of one accustomed to store +in his memory all intelligent conversation that he hears, in order to +make use of it afterwards. + +"But what is this love that consecrates marriage?" said, suddenly, the +voice of the nervous and taciturn gentleman, who, unnoticed by us, had +approached. + +He was standing with his hand on the seat, and evidently agitated. His +face was red, a vein in his forehead was swollen, and the muscles of his +cheeks quivered. + +"What is this love that consecrates marriage?" he repeated. + +"What love?" said the lady. "The ordinary love of husband and wife." + +"And how, then, can ordinary love consecrate marriage?" continued the +nervous gentleman, still excited, and with a displeased air. He seemed +to wish to say something disagreeable to the lady. She felt it, and +began to grow agitated. + +"How? Why, very simply," said she. + +The nervous gentleman seized the word as it left her lips. + +"No, not simply." + +"Madam says," interceded the lawyer indicating his companion, "that +marriage should be first the result of an attachment, of a love, if +you will, and that, when love exists, and in that case only, marriage +represents something sacred. But every marriage which is not based on +a natural attachment, on love, has in it nothing that is morally +obligatory. Is not that the idea that you intended to convey?" he asked +the lady. + +The lady, with a nod of her head, expressed her approval of this +translation of her thoughts. + +"Then," resumed the lawyer, continuing his remarks. + +But the nervous gentleman, evidently scarcely able to contain himself, +without allowing the lawyer to finish, asked: + +"Yes, sir. But what are we to understand by this love that alone +consecrates marriage?" + +"Everybody knows what love is," said the lady. + +"But I don't know, and I should like to know how you define it." + +"How? It is very simple," said the lady. + +And she seemed thoughtful, and then said: + +"Love . . . love . . . is a preference for one man or one woman to the +exclusion of all others. . . ." + +"A preference for how long? . . . For a month, two days, or half an +hour?" said the nervous gentleman, with special irritation. + +"No, permit me, you evidently are not talking of the same thing." + +"Yes, I am talking absolutely of the same thing. Of the preference +for one man or one woman to the exclusion of all others. But I ask: a +preference for how long?" + +"For how long? For a long time, for a life-time sometimes." + +"But that happens only in novels. In life, never. In life this +preference for one to the exclusion of all others lasts in rare cases +several years, oftener several months, or even weeks, days, +hours. . . ." + +"Oh, sir. Oh, no, no, permit me," said all three of us at the same time. + +The clerk himself uttered a monosyllable of disapproval. + +"Yes, I know," he said, shouting louder than all of us; "you are talking +of what is believed to exist, and I am talking of what is. Every man +feels what you call love toward each pretty woman he sees, and very +little toward his wife. That is the origin of the proverb,--and it is +a true one,--'Another's wife is a white swan, and ours is bitter +wormwood."' + +"Ah, but what you say is terrible! There certainly exists among human +beings this feeling which is called love, and which lasts, not for +months and years, but for life." + +"No, that does not exist. Even if it should be admitted that Menelaus +had preferred Helen all his life, Helen would have preferred Paris; and +so it has been, is, and will be eternally. And it cannot be otherwise, +just as it cannot happen that, in a load of chick-peas, two peas marked +with a special sign should fall side by side. Further, this is not only +an improbability, but it is certain that a feeling of satiety will come +to Helen or to Menelaus. The whole difference is that to one it comes +sooner, to the other later. It is only in stupid novels that it is +written that 'they loved each other all their lives.' And none but +children can believe it. To talk of loving a man or woman for life is +like saying that a candle can burn forever." + +"But you are talking of physical love. Do you not admit a love based +upon a conformity of ideals, on a spiritual affinity?" + +"Why not? But in that case it is not necessary to procreate together +(excuse my brutality). The point is that this conformity of ideals is +not met among old people, but among young and pretty persons," said he, +and he began to laugh disagreeably. + +"Yes, I affirm that love, real love, does not consecrate marriage, as we +are in the habit of believing, but that, on the contrary, it ruins it." + +"Permit me," said the lawyer. "The facts contradict your words. We +see that marriage exists, that all humanity--at least the larger +portion--lives conjugally, and that many husbands and wives honestly end +a long life together." + +The nervous gentleman smiled ill-naturedly. + +"And what then? You say that marriage is based upon love, and when I +give voice to a doubt as to the existence of any other love than sensual +love, you prove to me the existence of love by marriage. But in our day +marriage is only a violence and falsehood." + +"No, pardon me," said the lawyer. "I say only that marriages have +existed and do exist." + +"But how and why do they exist? They have existed, and they do exist, +for people who have seen, and do see, in marriage something sacramental, +a sacrament that is binding before God. For such people marriages exist, +but to us they are only hypocrisy and violence. We feel it, and, to +clear ourselves, we preach free love; but, really, to preach free love +is only a call backward to the promiscuity of the sexes (excuse me, +he said to the lady), the haphazard sin of certain raskolniks. The old +foundation is shattered; we must build a new one, but we must not preach +debauchery." + +He grew so warm that all became silent, looking at him in astonishment. + +"And yet the transition state is terrible. People feel that haphazard +sin is inadmissible. It is necessary in some way or other to regulate +the sexual relations; but there exists no other foundation than the old +one, in which nobody longer believes? People marry in the old fashion, +without believing in what they do, and the result is falsehood, +violence. When it is falsehood alone, it is easily endured. The husband +and wife simply deceive the world by professing to live monogamically. +If they really are polygamous and polyandrous, it is bad, but +acceptable. But when, as often happens, the husband and the wife have +taken upon themselves the obligation to live together all their lives +(they themselves do not know why), and from the second month have +already a desire to separate, but continue to live together just the +same, then comes that infernal existence in which they resort to drink, +in which they fire revolvers, in which they assassinate each other, in +which they poison each other." + +All were silent, but we felt ill at ease. + +"Yes, these critical episodes happen in marital life. For instance, +there is the Posdnicheff affair," said the lawyer, wishing to stop the +conversation on this embarrassing and too exciting ground. "Have you +read how he killed his wife through jealousy?" + +The lady said that she had not read it. The nervous gentleman said +nothing, and changed color. + +"I see that you have divined who I am," said he, suddenly, after a +pause. + +"No, I have not had that pleasure." + +"It is no great pleasure. I am Posdnicheff." + +New silence. He blushed, then turned pale again. + +"What matters it, however?" said he. "Excuse me, I do not wish to +embarrass you." + +And he resumed his old seat. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +I resumed mine, also. The lawyer and the lady whispered together. I was +sitting beside Posdnicheff, and I maintained silence. I desired to talk +to him, but I did not know how to begin, and thus an hour passed until +we reached the next station. + +There the lawyer and the lady went out, as well as the clerk. We were +left alone, Posdnicheff and I. + +"They say it, and they lie, or they do not understand," said +Posdnicheff. + +"Of what are you talking?" + +"Why, still the same thing." + +He leaned his elbows upon his knees, and pressed his hands against his +temples. + +"Love, marriage, family,--all lies, lies, lies." + +He rose, lowered the lamp-shade, lay down with his elbows on the +cushion, and closed his eyes. He remained thus for a minute. + +"Is it disagreeable to you to remain with me, now that you know who I +am?" + +"Oh, no." + +"You have no desire to sleep?" + +"Not at all." + +"Then do you want me to tell you the story of my life?" + +Just then the conductor passed. He followed him with an ill-natured +look, and did not begin until he had gone again. Then during all the +rest of the story he did not stop once. Even the new travellers as they +entered did not stop him. + +His face, while he was talking, changed several times so completely +that it bore positively no resemblance to itself as it had appeared just +before. His eyes, his mouth, his moustache, and even his beard, all were +new. Each time it was a beautiful and touching physiognomy, and these +transformations were produced suddenly in the penumbra; and for five +minutes it was the same face, that could not be compared to that of five +minutes before. And then, I know not how, it changed again, and became +unrecognizable. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +"Well, I am going then to tell you my life, and my whole frightful +history,--yes, frightful. And the story itself is more frightful than +the outcome." + +He became silent for a moment, passed his hands over his eyes, and +began:-- + +"To be understood clearly, the whole must be told from the beginning. It +must be told how and why I married, and what I was before my marriage. +First, I will tell you who I am. The son of a rich gentleman of the +steppes, an old marshal of the nobility, I was a University pupil, a +graduate of the law school. I married in my thirtieth year. But before +talking to you of my marriage, I must tell you how I lived formerly, +and what ideas I had of conjugal life. I led the life of so many other +so-called respectable people,--that is, in debauchery. And like the +majority, while leading the life of a debauche, I was convinced that I +was a man of irreproachable morality. + +"The idea that I had of my morality arose from the fact that in my +family there was no knowledge of those special debaucheries, so common +in the surroundings of land-owners, and also from the fact that my +father and my mother did not deceive each other. In consequence of this, +I had built from childhood a dream of high and poetical conjugal +life. My wife was to be perfection itself, our mutual love was to be +incomparable, the purity of our conjugal life stainless. I thought thus, +and all the time I marvelled at the nobility of my projects. + +"At the same time, I passed ten years of my adult life without hurrying +toward marriage, and I led what I called the well-regulated and +reasonable life of a bachelor. I was proud of it before my friends, +and before all men of my age who abandoned themselves to all sorts of +special refinements. I was not a seducer, I had no unnatural tastes, +I did not make debauchery the principal object of my life; but I found +pleasure within the limits of society's rules, and innocently believed +myself a profoundly moral being. The women with whom I had relations did +not belong to me alone, and I asked of them nothing but the pleasure of +the moment. + +"In all this I saw nothing abnormal. On the contrary, from the fact +that I did not engage my heart, but paid in cash, I supposed that I was +honest. I avoided those women who, by attaching themselves to me, or +presenting me with a child, could bind my future. Moreover, perhaps +there may have been children or attachments; but I so arranged matters +that I could not become aware of them. + +"And living thus, I considered myself a perfectly honest man. I did not +understand that debauchery does not consist simply in physical +acts, that no matter what physical ignominy does not yet constitute +debauchery, and that real debauchery consists in freedom from the moral +bonds toward a woman with whom one enters into carnal relations, and I +regarded THIS FREEDOM as a merit. I remember that I once tortured myself +exceedingly for having forgotten to pay a woman who probably had given +herself to me through love. I only became tranquil again when, having +sent her the money, I had thus shown her that I did not consider myself +as in any way bound to her. Oh, do not shake your head as if you were +in agreement with me (he cried suddenly with vehemence). I know these +tricks. All of you, and you especially, if you are not a rare exception, +have the same ideas that I had then. If you are in agreement with me, it +is now only. Formerly you did not think so. No more did I; and, if I had +been told what I have just told you, that which has happened would not +have happened. However, it is all the same. Excuse me (he continued): +the truth is that it is frightful, frightful, frightful, this abyss +of errors and debaucheries in which we live face to face with the real +question of the rights of woman." . . . + +"What do you mean by the 'real' question of the rights of woman?" + +"The question of the nature of this special being, organized otherwise +than man, and how this being and man ought to view the wife. . . ." + + + +CHAPTER V. + +"Yes: for ten years I lived the most revolting existence, while dreaming +of the noblest love, and even in the name of that love. Yes, I want +to tell you how I killed my wife, and for that I must tell you how I +debauched myself. I killed her before I knew her. + +"I killed THE wife when I first tasted sensual joys without love, and +then it was that I killed MY wife. Yes, sir: it is only after having +suffered, after having tortured myself, that I have come to understand +the root of things, that I have come to understand my crimes. Thus you +will see where and how began the drama that has led me to misfortune. + +"It is necessary to go back to my sixteenth year, when I was still at +school, and my elder brother a first-year student. I had not yet known +women but, like all the unfortunate children of our society, I was +already no longer innocent. I was tortured, as you were, I am sure, and +as are tortured ninety-nine one-hundredths of our boys. I lived in a +frightful dread, I prayed to God, and I prostrated myself. + +"I was already perverted in imagination, but the last steps remained to +be taken. I could still escape, when a friend of my brother, a very +gay student, one of those who are called good fellows,--that is, the +greatest of scamps,--and who had taught us to drink and play cards, took +advantage of a night of intoxication to drag us THERE. We started. +My brother, as innocent as I, fell that night, and I, a mere lad of +sixteen, polluted myself and helped to pollute a sister-woman, without +understanding what I did. Never had I heard from my elders that what I +thus did was bad. It is true that there are the ten commandments of +the Bible; but the commandments are made only to be recited before +the priests at examinations, and even then are not as exacting as the +commandments in regard to the use of ut in conditional propositions. + +"Thus, from my elders, whose opinion I esteemed, I had never heard +that this was reprehensible. On the contrary, I had heard people whom +I respected say that it was good. I had heard that my struggles and my +sufferings would be appeased after this act. I had heard it and read it. +I had heard from my elders that it was excellent for the health, and my +friends have always seemed to believe that it contained I know not what +merit and valor. So nothing is seen in it but what is praiseworthy. +As for the danger of disease, it is a foreseen danger. Does not the +government guard against it? And even science corrupts us." + +"How so, science?" I asked. + +"Why, the doctors, the pontiffs of science. Who pervert young people +by laying down such rules of hygiene? Who pervert women by devising and +teaching them ways by which not to have children? + +"Yes: if only a hundredth of the efforts spent in curing diseases were +spent in curing debauchery, disease would long ago have ceased to exist, +whereas now all efforts are employed, not in extirpating debauchery, +but in favoring it, by assuring the harmlessness of the consequences. +Besides, it is not a question of that. It is a question of this +frightful thing that has happened to me, as it happens to nine-tenths, +if not more, not only of the men of our society, but of all societies, +even peasants,--this frightful thing that I had fallen, and not because +I was subjected to the natural seduction of a certain woman. No, no +woman seduced me. I fell because the surroundings in which I found +myself saw in this degrading thing only a legitimate function, useful +to the health; because others saw in it simply a natural amusement, not +only excusable, but even innocent in a young man. I did not understand +that it was a fall, and I began to give myself to those pleasures +(partly from desire and partly from necessity) which I was led to +believe were characteristic of my age, just as I had begun to drink and +smoke. + +"And yet there was in this first fall something peculiar and touching. I +remember that straightway I was filled with such a profound sadness that +I had a desire to weep, to weep over the loss forever of my relations +with woman. Yes, my relations with woman were lost forever. Pure +relations with women, from that time forward, I could no longer have. +I had become what is called a voluptuary; and to be a voluptuary is a +physical condition like the condition of a victim of the morphine habit, +of a drunkard, and of a smoker. + +"Just as the victim of the morphine habit, the drunkard, the smoker, is +no longer a normal man, so the man who has known several women for +his pleasure is no longer normal? He is abnormal forever. He is a +voluptuary. Just as the drunkard and the victim of the morphine habit +may be recognized by their face and manner, so we may recognize a +voluptuary. He may repress himself and struggle, but nevermore will he +enjoy simple, pure, and fraternal relations toward woman. By his way of +glancing at a young woman one may at once recognize a voluptuary; and I +became a voluptuary, and I have remained one." + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +"Yes, so it is; and that went farther and farther with all sorts of +variations. My God! when I remember all my cowardly acts and bad deeds, +I am frightened. And I remember that 'me' who, during that period, was +still the butt of his comrades' ridicule on account of his innocence. + +"And when I hear people talk of the gilded youth, of the officers, of +the Parisians, and all these gentlemen, and myself, living wild lives +at the age of thirty, and who have on our consciences hundreds of +crimes toward women, terrible and varied, when we enter a parlor or a +ball-room, washed, shaven, and perfumed, with very white linen, in dress +coats or in uniform, as emblems of purity, oh, the disgust! There +will surely come a time, an epoch, when all these lives and all this +cowardice will be unveiled! + +"So, nevertheless, I lived, until the age of thirty, without abandoning +for a minute my intention of marrying, and building an elevated conjugal +life; and with this in view I watched all young girls who might suit me. +I was buried in rottenness, and at the same time I looked for virgins, +whose purity was worthy of me! Many of them were rejected: they did not +seem to me pure enough! + +"Finally I found one that I considered on a level with myself. She was +one of two daughters of a landed proprietor of Penza, formerly very rich +and since ruined. To tell the truth, without false modesty, they pursued +me and finally captured me. The mother (the father was away) laid all +sorts of traps, and one of these, a trip in a boat, decided my future. + +"I made up my mind at the end of the aforesaid trip one night, by +moonlight, on our way home, while I was sitting beside her. I admired +her slender body, whose charming shape was moulded by a jersey, and her +curling hair, and I suddenly concluded that THIS WAS SHE. It seemed to +me on that beautiful evening that she understood all that I thought and +felt, and I thought and felt the most elevating things. + +"Really, it was only the jersey that was so becoming to her, and her +curly hair, and also the fact that I had spent the day beside her, and +that I desired a more intimate relation. + +"I returned home enthusiastic, and I persuaded myself that she realized +the highest perfection, and that for that reason she was worthy to be my +wife, and the next day I made to her a proposal of marriage. + +"No, say what you will, we live in such an abyss of falsehood, that, +unless some event strikes us a blow on the head, as in my case, we +cannot awaken. What confusion! Out of the thousands of men who marry, +not only among us, but also among the people, scarcely will you find +a single one who has not previously married at least ten times. (It is +true that there now exist, at least so I have heard, pure young people +who feel and know that this is not a joke, but a serious matter. May God +come to their aid! But in my time there was not to be found one such in +a thousand.) + +"And all know it, and pretend not to know it. In all the novels are +described down to the smallest details the feelings of the characters, +the lakes and brambles around which they walk; but, when it comes to +describing their GREAT love, not a word is breathed of what HE, the +interesting character, has previously done, not a word about +his frequenting of disreputable houses, or his association with +nursery-maids, cooks, and the wives of others. + +"And if anything is said of these things, such IMPROPER novels are not +allowed in the hands of young girls. All men have the air of believing, +in presence of maidens, that these corrupt pleasures, in which EVERYBODY +takes part, do not exist, or exist only to a very small extent. They +pretend it so carefully that they succeed in convincing themselves of +it. As for the poor young girls, they believe it quite seriously, just +as my poor wife believed it. + +"I remember that, being already engaged, I showed her my 'memoirs,' from +which she could learn more or less of my past, and especially my last +liaison which she might perhaps have discovered through the gossip of +some third party. It was for this last reason, for that matter, that I +felt the necessity of communicating these memoirs to her. I can still +see her fright, her despair, her bewilderment, when she had learned and +understood it. She was on the point of breaking the engagement. What a +lucky thing it would have been for both of us!" + +Posdnicheff was silent for a moment, and then resumed:-- + +"After all, no! It is better that things happened as they did, better!" +he cried. "It was a good thing for me. Besides, it makes no difference. +I was saying that in these cases it is the poor young girls who are +deceived. As for the mothers, the mothers especially, informed by their +husbands, they know all, and, while pretending to believe in the purity +of the young man, they act as if they did not believe in it. + +"They know what bait must be held out to people for themselves and their +daughters. We men sin through ignorance, and a determination not to +learn. As for the women, they know very well that the noblest and most +poetic love, as we call it, depends, not on moral qualities, but on the +physical intimacy, and also on the manner of doing the hair, and the +color and shape. + +"Ask an experienced coquette, who has undertaken to seduce a man, which +she would prefer,--to be convicted, in presence of the man whom she is +engaged in conquering, of falsehood, perversity, cruelty, or to appear +before him in an ill-fitting dress, or a dress of an unbecoming color. +She will prefer the first alternative. She knows very well that we +simply lie when we talk of our elevated sentiments, that we seek only +the possession of her body, and that because of that we will forgive her +every sort of baseness, but will not forgive her a costume of an ugly +shade, without taste or fit. + +"And these things she knows by reason, where as the maiden knows them +only by instinct, like the animal. Hence these abominable jerseys, these +artificial humps on the back, these bare shoulders, arms, and throats. + +"Women, especially those who have passed through the school of marriage, +know very well that conversations upon elevated subjects are only +conversations, and that man seeks and desires the body and all that +ornaments the body. Consequently, they act accordingly? If we reject +conventional explanations, and view the life of our upper and lower +classes as it is, with all its shamelessness, it is only a vast +perversity. You do not share this opinion? Permit me, I am going to +prove it to you (said he, interrupting me). + +"You say that the women of our society live for a different interest +from that which actuates fallen women. And I say no, and I am going +to prove it to you. If beings differ from one another according to +the purpose of their life, according to their INNER LIFE, this will +necessarily be reflected also in their OUTER LIFE, and their exterior +will be very different. Well, then, compare the wretched, the despised, +with the women of the highest society: the same dresses, the same +fashions, the same perfumeries, the same passion for jewelry, for +brilliant and very expensive articles, the same amusements, dances, +music, and songs. The former attract by all possible means; so do the +latter. No difference, none whatever! + +"Yes, and I, too, was captivated by jerseys, bustles, and curly hair." + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +"And it was very easy to capture me, since I was brought up under +artificial conditions, like cucumbers in a hothouse. Our too abundant +nourishment, together with complete physical idleness, is nothing but +systematic excitement of the imagination. The men of our society are +fed and kept like reproductive stallions. It is sufficient to close the +valve,--that is, for a young man to live a quiet life for some +time,--to produce as an immediate result a restlessness, which, becoming +exaggerated by reflection through the prism of our unnatural life, +provokes the illusion of love. + +"All our idyls and marriage, all, are the result for the most part of +our eating. Does that astonish you? For my part, I am astonished that +we do not see it. Not far from my estate this spring some moujiks +were working on a railway embankment. You know what a peasant's food +is,--bread, kvass,* onions. With this frugal nourishment he lives, he is +alert, he makes light work in the fields. But on the railway this bill +of fare becomes cacha and a pound of meat. Only he restores this meat by +sixteen hours of labor pushing loads weighing twelve hundred pounds. + + *Kvass, a sort of cider. + +"And we, who eat two pounds of meat and game, we who absorb all sorts +of heating drinks and food, how do we expend it? In sensual excesses. +If the valve is open, all goes well; but close it, as I had closed it +temporarily before my marriage, and immediately there will result an +excitement which, deformed by novels, verses, music, by our idle and +luxurious life, will give a love of the finest water. I, too, fell in +love, as everybody does, and there were transports, emotions, poesy; but +really all this passion was prepared by mamma and the dressmakers. If +there had been no trips in boats, no well-fitted garments, etc., if +my wife had worn some shapeless blouse, and I had seen her thus at her +home, I should not have been seduced." + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +"And note, also, this falsehood, of which all are guilty; the way in +which marriages are made. What could there be more natural? The young +girl is marriageable, she should marry. What simpler, provided the young +person is not a monster, and men can be found with a desire to marry? +Well, no, here begins a new hypocrisy. + +"Formerly, when the maiden arrived at a favorable age, her marriage was +arranged by her parents. That was done, that is done still, throughout +humanity, among the Chinese, the Hindoos, the Mussulmans, and among our +common people also. Things are so managed in at least ninety-nine per +cent. of the families of the entire human race. + +"Only we riotous livers have imagined that this way was bad, and have +invented another. And this other,--what is it? It is this. The young +girls are seated, and the gentlemen walk up and down before them, as in +a bazaar, and make their choice. The maidens wait and think, but do +not dare to say: 'Take me, young man, me and not her. Look at these +shoulders and the rest.' We males walk up and down, and estimate the +merchandise, and then we discourse upon the rights of woman, upon the +liberty that she acquires, I know not how, in the theatrical halls." + +"But what is to be done?" said I to him. "Shall the woman make the +advances?" + +"I do not know. But, if it is a question of equality, let the equality +be complete. Though it has been found that to contract marriages through +the agency of match-makers is humiliating, it is nevertheless a thousand +times preferable to our system. There the rights and the chances are +equal; here the woman is a slave, exhibited in the market. But as she +cannot bend to her condition, or make advances herself, there begins +that other and more abominable lie which is sometimes called GOING INTO +SOCIETY, sometimes AMUSING ONE'S SELF, and which is really nothing but +the hunt for a husband. + +"But say to a mother or to her daughter that they are engaged only in a +hunt for a husband. God! What an offence! Yet they can do nothing else, +and have nothing else to do; and the terrible feature of it all is to +see sometimes very young, poor, and innocent maidens haunted solely by +such ideas. If only, I repeat, it were done frankly; but it is always +accompanied with lies and babble of this sort:-- + +"'Ah, the descent of species! How interesting it is!' + +"'Oh, Lily is much interested in painting.' + +"'Shall you go to the Exposition? How charming it is!' + +"'And the troika, and the plays, and the symphony. Ah, how adorable!' + +"'My Lise is passionately fond of music.' + +"'And you, why do you not share these convictions?' + +"And through all this verbiage, all have but one single idea: 'Take me, +take my Lise. No, me! Only try!"' + + +CHAPTER IX. + +"Do you know," suddenly continued Posdnicheff, "that this power of women +from which the world suffers arises solely from what I have just spoken +of?" + +"What do you mean by the power of women?" I said. "Everybody, on the +contrary, complains that women have not sufficient rights, that they are +in subjection." + +"That's it; that's it exactly," said he, vivaciously. "That is just what +I mean, and that is the explanation of this extraordinary phenomenon, +that on the one hand woman is reduced to the lowest degree of +humiliation and on the other hand she reigns over everything. See the +Jews: with their power of money, they avenge their subjection, just +as the women do. 'Ah! you wish us to be only merchants? All right; +remaining merchants, we will get possession of you,' say the Jews. 'Ah! +you wish us to be only objects of sensuality? All right; by the aid of +sensuality we will bend you beneath our yoke,' say the women. + +"The absence of the rights of woman does not consist in the fact that +she has not the right to vote, or the right to sit on the bench, but in +the fact that in her affectional relations she is not the equal of man, +she has not the right to abstain, to choose instead of being chosen. +You say that that would be abnormal. Very well! But then do not let man +enjoy these rights, while his companion is deprived of them, and finds +herself obliged to make use of the coquetry by which she governs, so +that the result is that man chooses 'formally,' whereas really it is +woman who chooses. As soon as she is in possession of her means, she +abuses them, and acquires a terrible supremacy." + +"But where do you see this exceptional power?" + +"Where? Why, everywhere, in everything. Go see the stores in the large +cities. There are millions there, millions. It is impossible to estimate +the enormous quantity of labor that is expended there. In nine-tenths +of these stores is there anything whatever for the use of men? All the +luxury of life is demanded and sustained by woman. Count the factories; +the greater part of them are engaged in making feminine ornaments. +Millions of men, generations of slaves, die toiling like convicts simply +to satisfy the whims of our companions. + +"Women, like queens, keep nine-tenths of the human race as prisoners of +war, or as prisoners at hard labor. And all this because they have been +humiliated, because they have been deprived of rights equal to those +which men enjoy. They take revenge for our sensuality; they catch us in +their nets. + +"Yes, the whole thing is there. Women have made of themselves such a +weapon to act upon the senses that a young man, and even an old man, +cannot remain tranquil in their presence. Watch a popular festival, or +our receptions or ball-rooms. Woman well knows her influence there. You +will see it in her triumphant smiles. + +"As soon as a young man advances toward a woman, directly he falls under +the influence of this opium, and loses his head. Long ago I felt ill at +ease when I saw a woman too well adorned,--whether a woman of the people +with her red neckerchief and her looped skirt, or a woman of our own +society in her ball-room dress. But now it simply terrifies me. I see in +it a danger to men, something contrary to the laws; and I feel a desire +to call a policeman, to appeal for defence from some quarter, to demand +that this dangerous object be removed. + +"And this is not a joke, by any means. I am convinced, I am sure, that +the time will come--and perhaps it is not far distant--when the world +will understand this, and will be astonished that a society could exist +in which actions as harmful as those which appeal to sensuality by +adorning the body as our companions do were allowed. As well set traps +along our public streets, or worse than that." + + +CHAPTER X. + +"That, then, was the way in which I was captured. I was in love, as +it is called; not only did she appear to me a perfect being, but I +considered myself a white blackbird. It is a commonplace fact that there +is no one so low in the world that he cannot find some one viler than +himself, and consequently puff with pride and self-contentment. I was in +that situation. I did not marry for money. Interest was foreign to the +affair, unlike the marriages of most of my acquaintances, who married +either for money or for relations. First, I was rich, she was poor. +Second, I was especially proud of the fact that, while others married +with an intention of continuing their polygamic life as bachelors, it +was my firm intention to live monogamically after my engagement and the +wedding, and my pride swelled immeasurably. + +"Yes, I was a wretch, convinced that I was an angel. The period of +my engagement did not last long. I cannot remember those days without +shame. What an abomination! + +"It is generally agreed that love is a moral sentiment, a community of +thought rather than of sense. If that is the case, this community of +thought ought to find expression in words and conversation. Nothing of +the sort. It was extremely difficult for us to talk with each other. +What a toil of Sisyphus was our conversation! Scarcely had we thought of +something to say, and said it, when we had to resume our silence and try +to discover new subjects. Literally, we did not know what to say to each +other. All that we could think of concerning the life that was before us +and our home was said. + +"And then what? If we had been animals, we should have known that we had +not to talk. But here, on the contrary, it was necessary to talk, and +there were no resources! For that which occupied our minds was not a +thing to be expressed in words. + +"And then that silly custom of eating bon-bons, that brutal gluttony +for sweetmeats, those abominable preparations for the wedding, those +discussions with mamma upon the apartments, upon the sleeping-rooms, +upon the bedding, upon the morning-gowns, upon the wrappers, the linen, +the costumes! Understand that if people married according to the old +fashion, as this old man said just now, then these eiderdown coverlets +and this bedding would all be sacred details; but with us, out of ten +married people there is scarcely to be found one who, I do not say +believes in sacraments (whether he believes or not is a matter of +indifference to us), but believes in what he promises. Out of a hundred +men, there is scarcely one who has not married before, and out of fifty +scarcely one who has not made up his mind to deceive his wife. + +"The great majority look upon this journey to the church as a condition +necessary to the possession of a certain woman. Think then of the +supreme significance which material details must take on. Is it not a +sort of sale, in which a maiden is given over to a debauche, the sale +being surrounded with the most agreeable details?" + + +CHAPTER XI. + +"All marry in this way. And I did like the rest. If the young people who +dream of the honeymoon only knew what a disillusion it is, and always a +disillusion! I really do not know why all think it necessary to conceal +it. + +"One day I was walking among the shows in Paris, when, attracted by a +sign, I entered an establishment to see a bearded woman and a water-dog. +The woman was a man in disguise, and the dog was an ordinary dog, +covered with a sealskin, and swimming in a bath. It was not in the least +interesting, but the Barnum accompanied me to the exit very courteously, +and, in addressing the people who were coming in, made an appeal to my +testimony. 'Ask the gentleman if it is not worth seeing! Come in, come +in! It only costs a franc!' And in my confusion I did not dare to answer +that there was nothing curious to be seen, and it was upon my false +shame that the Barnum must have counted. + +"It must be the same with the persons who have passed through the +abominations of the honeymoon. They do not dare to undeceive their +neighbor. And I did the same. + +"The felicities of the honeymoon do not exist. On the contrary, it is a +period of uneasiness, of shame, of pity, and, above all, of ennui,--of +ferocious ennui. It is something like the feeling of a youth when he is +beginning to smoke. He desires to vomit; he drivels, and swallows his +drivel, pretending to enjoy this little amusement. The vice of marriage +. . ." + +"What! Vice?" I said. "But you are talking of one of the most natural +things." + +"Natural!" said he. "Natural! No, I consider on the contrary that it +is against nature, and it is I, a perverted man, who have reached this +conviction. What would it be, then, if I had not known corruption? To +a young girl, to every unperverted young girl, it is an act extremely +unnatural, just as it is to children. My sister married, when very +young, a man twice her own age, and who was utterly corrupt. I remember +how astonished we were the night of her wedding, when, pale and covered +with tears, she fled from her husband, her whole body trembling, saying +that for nothing in the world would she tell what he wanted of her. + +"You say natural? It is natural to eat; that is a pleasant, agreeable +function, which no one is ashamed to perform from the time of his birth. +No, it is not natural. A pure young girl wants one thing,--children. +Children, yes, not a lover." . . . + +"But," said I, with astonishment, "how would the human race continue?" + +"But what is the use of its continuing?" he rejoined, vehemently. + +"What! What is the use? But then we should not exist." + +"And why is it necessary that we should exist?" + +"Why, to live, to be sure." + +"And why live? The Schopenhauers, the Hartmanns, and all the Buddhists, +say that the greatest happiness is Nirvana, Non-Life; and they are right +in this sense,--that human happiness is coincident with the annihilation +of 'Self.' Only they do not express themselves well. They say that +Humanity should annihilate itself to avoid its sufferings, that its +object should be to destroy itself. Now the object of Humanity cannot +be to avoid sufferings by annihilation, since suffering is the result +of activity. The object of activity cannot consist in suppressing its +consequences. The object of Man, as of Humanity, is happiness, and, to +attain it, Humanity has a law which it must carry out. This law consists +in the union of beings. This union is thwarted by the passions. And +that is why, if the passions disappear, the union will be accomplished. +Humanity then will have carried out the law, and will have no further +reason to exist." + +"And before Humanity carries out the law?" + +"In the meantime it will have the sign of the unfulfilled law, and +the existence of physical love. As long as this love shall exist, and +because of it, generations will be born, one of which will finally +fulfil the law. When at last the law shall be fulfilled, the Human Race +will be annihilated. At least it is impossible for us to conceive of +Life in the perfect union of people." + + +CHAPTER XII. + +"Strange theory!" cried I. + +"Strange in what? According to all the doctrines of the Church, the +world will have an end. Science teaches the same fatal conclusions. +Why, then, is it strange that the same thing should result from moral +Doctrine? 'Let those who can, contain,' said Christ. And I take this +passage literally, as it is written. That morality may exist between +people in their worldly relations, they must make complete chastity +their object. In tending toward this end, man humiliates himself. When +he shall reach the last degree of humiliation, we shall have moral +marriage. + +"But if man, as in our society, tends only toward physical love, though +he may clothe it with pretexts and the false forms of marriage, he will +have only permissible debauchery, he will know only the same immoral +life in which I fell and caused my wife to fall, a life which we call +the honest life of the family. Think what a perversion of ideas must +arise when the happiest situation of man, liberty, chastity, is looked +upon as something wretched and ridiculous. The highest ideal, the best +situation of woman, to be pure, to be a vestal, a virgin, excites fear +and laughter in our society. How many, how many young girls sacrifice +their purity to this Moloch of opinion by marrying rascals that they +may not remain virgins,--that is, superiors! Through fear of finding +themselves in that ideal state, they ruin themselves. + +"But I did not understand formerly, I did not understand that the words +of the Gospel, that 'he who looks upon a woman to lust after her has +already committed adultery,' do not apply to the wives of others, but +notably and especially to our own wives. I did not understand this, and +I thought that the honeymoon and all of my acts during that period +were virtuous, and that to satisfy one's desires with his wife is an +eminently chaste thing. Know, then, that I consider these departures, +these isolations, which young married couples arrange with the +permission of their parents, as nothing else than a license to engage in +debauchery. + +"I saw, then, in this nothing bad or shameful, and, hoping for great +joys, I began to live the honeymoon. And very certainly none of these +joys followed. But I had faith, and was determined to have them, +cost what they might. But the more I tried to secure them, the less +I succeeded. All this time I felt anxious, ashamed, and weary. Soon I +began to suffer. I believe that on the third or fourth day I found my +wife sad and asked her the reason. I began to embrace her, which in my +opinion was all that she could desire. She put me away with her hand, +and began to weep. + +"At what? She could not tell me. She was filled with sorrow, with +anguish. Probably her tortured nerves had suggested to her the truth +about the baseness of our relations, but she found no words in which to +say it. I began to question her; she answered that she missed her absent +mother. It seemed to me that she was not telling the truth. I sought to +console her by maintaining silence in regard to her parents. I did not +imagine that she felt herself simply overwhelmed, and that her parents +had nothing to do with her sorrow. She did not listen to me, and I +accused her of caprice. I began to laugh at her gently. She dried her +tears, and began to reproach me, in hard and wounding terms, for my +selfishness and cruelty. + +"I looked at her. Her whole face expressed hatred, and hatred of me. I +cannot describe to you the fright which this sight gave me. 'How? What?' +thought I, 'love is the unity of souls, and here she hates me? Me? Why? +But it is impossible! It is no longer she!' + +"I tried to calm her. I came in conflict with an immovable and cold +hostility, so that, having no time to reflect, I was seized with keen +irritation. We exchanged disagreeable remarks. The impression of this +first quarrel was terrible. I say quarrel, but the term is inexact. It +was the sudden discovery of the abyss that had been dug between us. Love +was exhausted with the satisfaction of sensuality. We stood face to +face in our true light, like two egoists trying to procure the greatest +possible enjoyment, like two individuals trying to mutually exploit each +other. + +"So what I called our quarrel was our actual situation as it appeared +after the satisfaction of sensual desire. I did not realize that this +cold hostility was our normal state, and that this first quarrel would +soon be drowned under a new flood of the intensest sensuality. I thought +that we had disputed with each other, and had become reconciled, and +that it would not happen again. But in this same honeymoon there came a +period of satiety, in which we ceased to be necessary to each other, and +a new quarrel broke out. + +"It became evident that the first was not a matter of chance. 'It was +inevitable,' I thought. This second quarrel stupefied me the more, +because it was based on an extremely unjust cause. It was something like +a question of money,--and never had I haggled on that score; it was even +impossible that I should do so in relation to her. I only remember that, +in answer to some remark that I made, she insinuated that it was my +intention to rule her by means of money, and that it was upon money +that I based my sole right over her. In short, something extraordinarily +stupid and base, which was neither in my character nor in hers. + +"I was beside myself. I accused her of indelicacy. She made the same +accusation against me, and the dispute broke out. In her words, in the +expression of her face, of her eyes, I noticed again the hatred that +had so astonished me before. With a brother, friends, my father, I had +occasionally quarrelled, but never had there been between us this fierce +spite. Some time passed. Our mutual hatred was again concealed beneath +an access of sensual desire, and I again consoled myself with the +reflection that these scenes were reparable faults. + +"But when they were repeated a third and a fourth time, I understood +that they were not simply faults, but a fatality that must happen again. +I was no longer frightened, I was simply astonished that I should be +precisely the one to live so uncomfortably with my wife, and that the +same thing did not happen in other households. I did not know that in +all households the same sudden changes take place, but that all, +like myself, imagine that it is a misfortune exclusively reserved for +themselves alone, which they carefully conceal as shameful, not only to +others, but to themselves, like a bad disease. + +"That was what happened to me. Begun in the early days, it continued and +increased with characteristics of fury that were ever more pronounced. +At the bottom of my soul, from the first weeks, I felt that I was in a +trap, that I had what I did not expect, and that marriage is not a joy, +but a painful trial. Like everybody else, I refused to confess it (I +should not have confessed it even now but for the outcome). Now I am +astonished to think that I did not see my real situation. It was so easy +to perceive it, in view of those quarrels, begun for reasons so trivial +that afterwards one could not recall them. + +"Just as it often happens among gay young people that, in the absence of +jokes, they laugh at their own laughter, so we found no reasons for our +hatred, and we hated each other because hatred was naturally boiling +up in us. More extraordinary still was the absence of causes for +reconciliation. + +"Sometimes words, explanations, or even tears, but sometimes, I +remember, after insulting words, there tacitly followed embraces and +declarations. Abomination! Why is it that I did not then perceive this +baseness?" + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +"All of us, men and women, are brought up in these aberrations of +feeling that we call love. I from childhood had prepared myself for this +thing, and I loved, and I loved during all my youth, and I was joyous in +loving. It had been put into my head that it was the noblest and highest +occupation in the world. But when this expected feeling came at last, +and I, a man, abandoned myself to it, the lie was pierced through and +through. Theoretically a lofty love is conceivable; practically it is +an ignoble and degrading thing, which it is equally disgusting to +talk about and to remember. It is not in vain that nature has made +ceremonies, but people pretend that the ignoble and the shameful is +beautiful and lofty. + +"I will tell you brutally and briefly what were the first signs of my +love. I abandoned myself to beastly excesses, not only not ashamed of +them, but proud of them, giving no thought to the intellectual life of +my wife. And not only did I not think of her intellectual life, I did +not even consider her physical life. + +"I was astonished at the origin of our hostility, and yet how clear it +was! This hostility is nothing but a protest of human nature against the +beast that enslaves it. It could not be otherwise. This hatred was the +hatred of accomplices in a crime. Was it not a crime that, this poor +woman having become pregnant in the first month, our liaison should have +continued just the same? + +"You imagine that I am wandering from my story. Not at all. I am always +giving you an account of the events that led to the murder of my wife. +The imbeciles! They think that I killed my wife on the 5th of October. +It was long before that that I immolated her, just as they all kill now. +Understand well that in our society there is an idea shared by all +that woman procures man pleasure (and vice versa, probably, but I know +nothing of that, I only know my own case). Wein, Weiber und Gesang. So +say the poets in their verses: Wine, women, and song! + +"If it were only that! Take all the poetry, the painting, the sculpture, +beginning with Pouschkine's 'Little Feet,' with 'Venus and Phryne,' and +you will see that woman is only a means of enjoyment. That is what she +is at Trouba,* at Gratchevka, and in a court ball-room. And think of +this diabolical trick: if she were a thing without moral value, it might +be said that woman is a fine morsel; but, in the first place, these +knights assure us that they adore woman (they adore her and look upon +her, however, as a means of enjoyment), then all assure us that they +esteem woman. Some give up their seats to her, pick up her handkerchief; +others recognize in her a right to fill all offices, participate in +government, etc., but, in spite of all that, the essential point remains +the same. She is, she remains, an object of sensual desire, and +she knows it. It is slavery, for slavery is nothing else than the +utilization of the labor of some for the enjoyment of others. That +slavery may not exist people must refuse to enjoy the labor of others, +and look upon it as a shameful act and as a sin. + + *A suburb of Moscow. + +"Actually, this is what happens. They abolish the external form, they +suppress the formal sales of slaves, and then they imagine and assure +others that slavery is abolished. They are unwilling to see that it +still exists, since people, as before, like to profit by the labor of +others, and think it good and just. This being given, there will always +be found beings stronger or more cunning than others to profit thereby. +The same thing happens in the emancipation of woman. At bottom feminine +servitude consists entirely in her assimilation with a means of +pleasure. They excite woman, they give her all sorts of rights equal to +those of men, but they continue to look upon her as an object of sensual +desire, and thus they bring her up from infancy and in public opinion. + +"She is always the humiliated and corrupt serf, and man remains always +the debauched Master. Yes, to abolish slavery, public opinion must admit +that it is shameful to exploit one's neighbor, and, to make woman free, +public opinion must admit that it is shameful to consider woman as an +instrument of pleasure. + +"The emancipation of woman is not to be effected in the public courts or +in the chamber of deputies, but in the sleeping chamber. Prostitution is +to be combated, not in the houses of ill-fame, but in the family. They +free woman in the public courts and in the chamber of deputies, but she +remains an instrument. Teach her, as she is taught among us, to look +upon herself as such, and she will always remain an inferior being. +Either, with the aid of the rascally doctors, she will try to prevent +conception, and descend, not to the level of an animal, but to the +level of a thing; or she will be what she is in the great majority of +cases,--sick, hysterical, wretched, without hope of spiritual progress." +. . . + +"But why that?" I asked. + +"Oh! the most astonishing thing is that no one is willing to see this +thing, evident as it is, which the doctors must understand, but which +they take good care not to do. Man does not wish to know the law of +nature,--children. But children are born and become an embarrassment. +Then man devises means of avoiding this embarrassment. We have not +yet reached the low level of Europe, nor Paris, nor the 'system of two +children,' nor Mahomet. We have discovered nothing, because we have +given it no thought. We feel that there is something bad in the two +first means; but we wish to preserve the family, and our view of woman +is still worse. + +"With us woman must be at the same time mistress and nurse, and her +strength is not sufficient. That is why we have hysteria, nervous +attacks, and, among the peasants, witchcraft. Note that among the young +girls of the peasantry this state of things does not exist, but only +among the wives, and the wives who live with their husbands. The reason +is clear, and this is the cause of the intellectual and moral decline of +woman, and of her abasement. + +"If they would only reflect what a grand work for the wife is the period +of gestation! In her is forming the being who continues us, and +this holy work is thwarted and rendered painful . . . by what? It is +frightful to think of it! And after that they talk of the liberties and +the rights of woman! It is like the cannibals fattening their prisoners +in order to devour them, and assuring these unfortunates at the same +time that their rights and their liberties are guarded!" + +All this was new to me, and astonished me very much. + +"But if this is so," said I, "it follows that one may love his wife only +once every two years; and as man" . . . + +"And as man has need of her, you are going to say. At least, so the +priests of science assure us. I would force these priests to fulfil the +function of these women, who, in their opinion, are necessary to man. I +wonder what song they would sing then. Assure man that he needs brandy, +tobacco, opium, and he will believe those poisons necessary. It follows +that God did not know how to arrange matters properly, since, without +asking the opinions of the priests, he has combined things as they are. +Man needs, so they have decided, to satisfy his sensual desire, and here +this function is disturbed by the birth and the nursing of children. + +"What, then, is to be done? Why, apply to the priests; they will arrange +everything, and they have really discovered a way. When, then, will +these rascals with their lies be uncrowned! It is high time. We have had +enough of them. People go mad, and shoot each other with revolvers, and +always because of that! And how could it be otherwise? + +"One would say that the animals know that descent continues their race, +and that they follow a certain law in regard thereto. Only man does not +know this, and is unwilling to know it. He cares only to have as much +sensual enjoyment as possible. The king of nature,--man! In the name of +his love he kills half the human race. Of woman, who ought to be his aid +in the movement of humanity toward liberty, he makes, in the name of his +pleasures, not an aid, but an enemy. Who is it that everywhere puts a +check upon the progressive movement of humanity? Woman. Why is it so? + +"For the reason that I have given, and for that reason only." + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +"Yes, much worse than the animal is man when he does not live as a man. +Thus was I. The horrible part is that I believed, inasmuch as I did not +allow myself to be seduced by other women that I was leading an +honest family life, that I was a very mortal being, and that if we had +quarrels, the fault was in my wife, and in her character. + +"But it is evident that the fault was not in her. She was like everybody +else, like the majority. She was brought up according to the principles +exacted by the situation of our society,--that is, as all the young +girls of our wealthy classes, without exception, are brought up, and +as they cannot fail to be brought up. How many times we hear or read +of reflections upon the abnormal condition of women, and upon what +they ought to be. But these are only vain words. The education of women +results from the real and not imaginary view which the world entertains +of women's vocation. According to this view, the condition of women +consists in procuring pleasure and it is to that end that her education +is directed. From her infancy she is taught only those things that are +calculated to increase her charm. Every young girl is accustomed to +think only of that. + +"As the serfs were brought up solely to please their masters, so woman +is brought up to attract men. It cannot be otherwise. But you will say, +perhaps, that that applies only to young girls who are badly brought up, +but that there is another education, an education that is serious, in +the schools, an education in the dead languages, an education in the +institutions of midwifery, an education in medical courses, and in other +courses. It is false. + +"Every sort of feminine education has for its sole object the attraction +of men. + +"Some attract by music or curly hair, others by science or by civic +virtue. The object is the same, and cannot be otherwise (since no other +object exists),--to seduce man in order to possess him. Imagine courses +of instruction for women and feminine science without men,--that +is, learned women, and men not KNOWING them as learned. Oh, no! No +education, no instruction can change woman as long as her highest ideal +shall be marriage and not virginity, freedom from sensuality. Until +that time she will remain a serf. One need only imagine, forgetting the +universality of the case, the conditions in which our young girls are +brought up, to avoid astonishment at the debauchery of the women of our +upper classes. It is the opposite that would cause astonishment. + +"Follow my reasoning. From infancy garments, ornaments, cleanliness, +grace, dances, music, reading of poetry, novels, singing, the theatre, +the concert, for use within and without, according as women listen, or +practice themselves. With that, complete physical idleness, an excessive +care of the body, a vast consumption of sweetmeats; and God knows how +the poor maidens suffer from their own sensuality, excited by all these +things. Nine out of ten are tortured intolerably during the first period +of maturity, and afterward provided they do not marry at the age of +twenty. That is what we are unwilling to see, but those who have +eyes see it all the same. And even the majority of these unfortunate +creatures are so excited by a hidden sensuality (and it is lucky if it +is hidden) that they are fit for nothing. They become animated only +in the presence of men. Their whole life is spent in preparations for +coquetry, or in coquetry itself. In the presence of men they become too +animated; they begin to live by sensual energy. But the moment the man +goes away, the life stops. + +"And that, not in the presence of a certain man, but in the presence of +any man, provided he is not utterly hideous. You will say that this is +an exception. No, it is a rule. Only in some it is made very evident, in +other less so. But no one lives by her own life; they are all dependent +upon man. They cannot be otherwise, since to them the attraction of the +greatest number of men is the ideal of life (young girls and married +women), and it is for this reason that they have no feeling stronger +than that of the animal need of every female who tries to attract the +largest number of males in order to increase the opportunities for +choice. So it is in the life of young girls, and so it continues +during marriage. In the life of young girls it is necessary in order to +selection, and in marriage it is necessary in order to rule the +husband. Only one thing suppresses or interrupts these tendencies for +a time,--namely, children,--and then only when the woman is not a +monster,--that is, when she nurses her own children. Here again the +doctor interferes. + +"With my wife, who desired to nurse her own children, and who did nurse +six of them, it happened that the first child was sickly. The doctors, +who cynically undressed her and felt of her everywhere, and whom I had +to thank and pay for these acts,--these dear doctors decided that she +ought not to nurse her child, and she was temporarily deprived of +the only remedy for coquetry. A nurse finished the nursing of this +first-born,--that is to say, we profited by the poverty and ignorance of +a woman to steal her from her own little one in favor of ours, and for +that purpose we dressed her in a kakoschnik trimmed with gold lace. +Nevertheless, that is not the question; but there was again awakened in +my wife that coquetry which had been sleeping during the nursing period. +Thanks to that, she reawakened in me the torments of jealousy which I +had formerly known, though in a much slighter degree." + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +"Yes, jealousy, that is another of the secrets of marriage known to all +and concealed by all. Besides the general cause of the mutual hatred of +husbands and wives resulting from complicity in the pollution of a human +being, and also from other causes, the inexhaustible source of marital +wounds is jealousy. But by tacit consent it is determined to conceal +them from all, and we conceal them. Knowing them, each one supposes in +himself that it is an unfortunate peculiarity, and not a common destiny. +So it was with me, and it had to be so. There cannot fail to be jealousy +between husbands and wives who live immorally. If they cannot sacrifice +their pleasures for the welfare of their child, they conclude therefrom, +and truly, that they will not sacrifice their pleasures for, I will not +say happiness and tranquillity (since one may sin in secret), but even +for the sake of conscience. Each one knows very well that neither admits +any high moral reasons for not betraying the other, since in their +mutual relations they fail in the requirements of morality, and from +that time distrust and watch each other. + +"Oh, what a frightful feeling of jealousy! I do not speak of that real +jealousy which has foundations (it is tormenting, but it promises an +issue), but of that unconscious jealousy which inevitably accompanies +every immoral marriage, and which, having no cause, has no end. This +jealousy is frightful. Frightful, that is the word. + +"And this is it. A young man speaks to my wife. He looks at her with a +smile, and, as it seems to me, he surveys her body. How does he dare to +think of her, to think of the possibility of a romance with her? And how +can she, seeing this, tolerate him? Not only does she tolerate him, but +she seems pleased. I even see that she puts herself to trouble on his +account. And in my soul there rises such a hatred for her that each of +her words, each gesture, disgusts me. She notices it, she knows not what +to do, and how assume an air of indifferent animation? Ah! I suffer! +That makes her gay, she is content. And my hatred increases tenfold, but +I do not dare to give it free force, because at the bottom of my soul +I know that there are no real reasons for it, and I remain in my seat, +feigning indifference, and exaggerating my attention and courtesy to +HIM. + +"Then I get angry with myself. I desire to leave the room, to leave them +alone, and I do, in fact, go out; but scarcely am I outside when I am +invaded by a fear of what is taking place within my absence. I go in +again, inventing some pretext. Or sometimes I do not go in; I remain +near the door, and listen. How can she humiliate herself and humiliate +me by placing me in this cowardly situation of suspicion and espionage? +Oh, abomination! Oh, the wicked animal! And he too, what does he think +of you? But he is like all men. He is what I was before my marriage. It +gives him pleasure. He even smiles when he looks at me, as much as to +say: 'What have you to do with this? It is my turn now.' + +"This feeling is horrible. Its burn is unendurable. To entertain this +feeling toward any one, to once suspect a man of lusting after my wife, +was enough to spoil this man forever in my eyes, as if he had been +sprinkled with vitriol. Let me once become jealous of a being, and +nevermore could I re-establish with him simple human relations, and my +eyes flashed when I looked at him. + +"As for my wife, so many times had I enveloped her with this moral +vitriol, with this jealous hatred, that she was degraded thereby. In the +periods of this causeless hatred I gradually uncrowned her. I covered +her with shame in my imagination. + +"I invented impossible knaveries. I suspected, I am ashamed to say, that +she, this queen of 'The Thousand and One Nights,' deceived me with my +serf, under my very eyes, and laughing at me. + +"Thus, with each new access of jealousy (I speak always of causeless +jealousy), I entered into the furrow dug formerly by my filthy +suspicions, and I continually deepened it. She did the same thing. If +I have reasons to be jealous, she who knew my past had a thousand times +more. And she was more ill-natured in her jealousy than I. And the +sufferings that I felt from her jealousy were different, and likewise +very painful. + +"The situation may be described thus. We are living more or less +tranquilly. I am even gay and contented. Suddenly we start a +conversation on some most commonplace subject, and directly she finds +herself disagreeing with me upon matters concerning which we have been +generally in accord. And furthermore I see that, without any necessity +therefor, she is becoming irritated. I think that she has a nervous +attack, or else that the subject of conversation is really disagreeable +to her. We talk of something else, and that begins again. Again she +torments me, and becomes irritated. I am astonished and look for a +reason. Why? For what? She keeps silence, answers me with monosyllables, +evidently making allusions to something. I begin to divine that the +reason of all this is that I have taken a few walks in the garden with +her cousin, to whom I did not give even a thought. I begin to +divine, but I cannot say so. If I say so, I confirm her suspicions. I +interrogate her, I question her. She does not answer, but she sees that +I understand, and that confirms her suspicions. + +"'What is the matter with you?' I ask. + +"'Nothing, I am as well as usual,' she answers. + +"And at the same time, like a crazy woman, she gives utterance to the +silliest remarks, to the most inexplicable explosions of spite. + +"Sometimes I am patient, but at other times I break out with anger. Then +her own irritation is launched forth in a flood of insults, in charges +of imaginary crimes and all carried to the highest degree by sobs, +tears, and retreats through the house to the most improbable spots. I +go to look for her. I am ashamed before people, before the children, but +there is nothing to be done. She is in a condition where I feel that she +is ready for anything. I run, and finally find her. Nights of torture +follow, in which both of us, with exhausted nerves, appease each other, +after the most cruel words and accusations. + +"Yes, jealousy, causeless jealousy, is the condition of our debauched +conjugal life. And throughout my marriage never did I cease to feel it +and to suffer from it. There were two periods in which I suffered most +intensely. The first time was after the birth of our first child, +when the doctors had forbidden my wife to nurse it. I was particularly +jealous, in the first place, because my wife felt that restlessness +peculiar to animal matter when the regular course of life is interrupted +without occasion. But especially was I jealous because, having seen +with what facility she had thrown off her moral duties as a mother, I +concluded rightly, though unconsciously, that she would throw off as +easily her conjugal duties, feeling all the surer of this because she +was in perfect health, as was shown by the fact that, in spite of the +prohibition of the dear doctors, she nursed her following children, and +even very well." + +"I see that you have no love for the doctors," said I, having noticed +Posdnicheff's extraordinarily spiteful expression of face and tone of +voice whenever he spoke of them. + +"It is not a question of loving them or of not loving them. They have +ruined my life, as they have ruined the lives of thousands of beings +before me, and I cannot help connecting the consequence with the cause. +I conceive that they desire, like the lawyers and the rest, to make +money. I would willingly have given them half of my income--and any one +would have done it in my place, understanding what they do--if they had +consented not to meddle in my conjugal life, and to keep themselves at a +distance. I have compiled no statistics, but I know scores of cases--in +reality, they are innumerable--where they have killed, now a child in +its mother's womb, asserting positively that the mother could not give +birth to it (when the mother could give birth to it very well), now +mothers, under the pretext of a so-called operation. No one has counted +these murders, just as no one counted the murders of the Inquisition, +because it was supposed that they were committed for the benefit of +humanity. Innumerable are the crimes of the doctors! But all these +crimes are nothing compared with the materialistic demoralization which +they introduce into the world through women. I say nothing of the fact +that, if it were to follow their advice,--thanks to the microbe which +they see everywhere,--humanity, instead of tending to union, would +proceed straight to complete disunion. Everybody, according to their +doctrine, should isolate himself, and never remove from his mouth a +syringe filled with phenic acid (moreover, they have found out now that +it does no good). But I would pass over all these things. The supreme +poison is the perversion of people, especially of women. One can no +longer say now: 'You live badly, live better.' One can no longer say +it either to himself or to others, for, if you live badly (say the +doctors), the cause is in the nervous system or in something similar, +and it is necessary to go to consult them, and they will prescribe +for you thirty-five copecks' worth of remedies to be bought at the +drug-store, and you must swallow them. Your condition grows worse? Again +to the doctors, and more remedies! An excellent business! + +"But to return to our subject. I was saying that my wife nursed her +children well, that the nursing and the gestation of the children, and +the children in general, quieted my tortures of jealousy, but that, on +the other hand, they provoked torments of a different sort." + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +"The children came rapidly, one after another, and there happened +what happens in our society with children and doctors. Yes, children, +maternal love, it is a painful thing. Children, to a woman of our +society, are not a joy, a pride, nor a fulfilment of her vocation, but +a cause of fear, anxiety, and interminable suffering, torture. Women say +it, they think it, and they feel it too. Children to them are really a +torture, not because they do not wish to give birth to them, nurse them, +and care for them (women with a strong maternal instinct--and such was +my wife--are ready to do that), but because the children may fall sick +and die. They do not wish to give birth to them, and then not love them; +and when they love, they do not wish to feel fear for the child's health +and life. That is why they do not wish to nurse them. 'If I nurse it,' +they say, 'I shall become too fond of it.' One would think that they +preferred india-rubber children, which could neither be sick nor die, +and could always be repaired. What an entanglement in the brains of +these poor women! Why such abominations to avoid pregnancy, and to avoid +the love of the little ones? + +"Love, the most joyous condition of the soul, is represented as a +danger. And why? Because, when a man does not live as a man, he is +worse than a beast. A woman cannot look upon a child otherwise than as +a pleasure. It is true that it is painful to give birth to it, but what +little hands! . . . Oh, the little hands! Oh, the little feet! Oh, its +smile! Oh, its little body! Oh, its prattle! Oh, its hiccough! In a +word, it is a feeling of animal, sensual maternity. But as for any idea +as to the mysterious significance of the appearance of a new human being +to replace us, there is scarcely a sign of it. + +"Nothing of it appears in all that is said and done. No one has any +faith now in a baptism of the child, and yet that was nothing but a +reminder of the human significance of the newborn babe. + +"They have rejected all that, but they have not replaced it, and there +remain only the dresses, the laces, the little hands, the little +feet, and whatever exists in the animal. But the animal has neither +imagination, nor foresight, nor reason, nor a doctor. + +"No! not even a doctor! The chicken droops its head, overwhelmed, or the +calf dies; the hen clucks and the cow lows for a time, and then these +beasts continue to live, forgetting what has happened. + +"With us, if the child falls sick, what is to be done, how to care for +it, what doctor to call, where to go? If it dies, there will be no more +little hands or little feet, and then what is the use of the sufferings +endured? The cow does not ask all that, and this is why children are a +source of misery. The cow has no imagination, and for that reason cannot +think how it might have saved the child if it had done this or that, and +its grief, founded in its physical being, lasts but a very short time. +It is only a condition, and not that sorrow which becomes exaggerated +to the point of despair, thanks to idleness and satiety. The cow has not +that reasoning faculty which would enable it to ask the why. Why endure +all these tortures? What was the use of so much love, if the little +ones were to die? The cow has no logic which tells it to have no more +children, and, if any come accidentally, to neither love nor nurse them, +that it may not suffer. But our wives reason, and reason in this way, +and that is why I said that, when a man does not live as a man, he is +beneath the animal." + +"But then, how is it necessary to act, in your opinion, in order to +treat children humanly?" I asked. + +"How? Why, love them humanly." + +"Well, do not mothers love their children?" + +"They do not love them humanly, or very seldom do, and that is why they +do not love them even as dogs. Mark this, a hen, a goose, a wolf, will +always remain to woman inaccessible ideals of animal love. It is a rare +thing for a woman to throw herself, at the peril of her life, upon an +elephant to snatch her child away, whereas a hen or a sparrow will not +fail to fly at a dog and sacrifice itself utterly for its children. +Observe this, also. Woman has the power to limit her physical love for +her children, which an animal cannot do. Does that mean that, because of +this, woman is inferior to the animal? No. She is superior (and even to +say superior is unjust, she is not superior, she is different), but she +has other duties, human duties. She can restrain herself in the matter +of animal love, and transfer her love to the soul of the child. That is +what woman's role should be, and that is precisely what we do not see in +our society. We read of the heroic acts of mothers who sacrifice their +children in the name of a superior idea, and these things seem to us +like tales of the ancient world, which do not concern us. And yet I +believe that, if the mother has not some ideal, in the name of which she +can sacrifice the animal feeling, and if this force finds no employment, +she will transfer it to chimerical attempts to physically preserve her +child, aided in this task by the doctor, and she will suffer as she does +suffer. + +"So it was with my wife. Whether there was one child or five, the +feeling remained the same. In fact, it was a little better when there +had been five. Life was always poisoned with fear for the children, not +only from their real or imaginary diseases, but even by their simple +presence. For my part, at least, throughout my conjugal life, all my +interests and all my happiness depended upon the health of my children, +their condition, their studies. Children, it is needless to say, are a +serious consideration; but all ought to live, and in our days parents +can no longer live. Regular life does not exist for them. The whole life +of the family hangs by a hair. What a terrible thing it is to suddenly +receive the news that little Basile is vomiting, or that Lise has a +cramp in the stomach! Immediately you abandon everything, you forget +everything, everything becomes nothing. The essential thing is the +doctor, the enema, the temperature. You cannot begin a conversation but +little Pierre comes running in with an anxious air to ask if he may eat +an apple, or what jacket he shall put on, or else it is the servant who +enters with a screaming baby. + +"Regular, steady family life does not exist. Where you live, and +consequently what you do, depends upon the health of the little ones, +the health of the little ones depends upon nobody, and, thanks to the +doctors, who pretend to aid health, your entire life is disturbed. It is +a perpetual peril. Scarcely do we believe ourselves out of it when a new +danger comes: more attempts to save. Always the situation of sailors +on a foundering vessel. Sometimes it seemed to me that this was done on +purpose, that my wife feigned anxiety in order to conquer me, since that +solved the question so simply for her benefit. It seemed to me that all +that she did at those times was done for its effect upon me, but now I +see that she herself, my wife, suffered and was tortured on account of +the little ones, their health, and their diseases. + +"A torture to both of us, but to her the children were also a means of +forgetting herself, like an intoxication. I often noticed, when she was +very sad, that she was relieved, when a child fell sick, at being able +to take refuge in this intoxication. It was involuntary intoxication, +because as yet there was nothing else. On every side we heard that Mrs. +So-and-so had lost children, that Dr. So-and-so had saved the child +of Mrs. So-and-so, and that in a certain family all had moved from the +house in which they were living, and thereby saved the little ones. And +the doctors, with a serious air, confirmed this, sustaining my wife in +her opinions. She was not prone to fear, but the doctor dropped some +word, like corruption of the blood, scarlatina, or else--heaven help +us--diphtheria, and off she went. + +"It was impossible for it to be otherwise. Women in the old days had the +belief that 'God has given, God has taken away,' that the soul of the +little angel is going to heaven, and that it is better to die innocent +than to die in sin. If the women of to-day had something like this +faith, they could endure more peacefully the sickness of their children. +But of all that there does not remain even a trace. And yet it is +necessary to believe in something; consequently they stupidly believe in +medicine, and not even in medicine, but in the doctor. One believes in +X, another in Z, and, like all believers, they do not see the idiocy of +their beliefs. They believe quia absurdum, because, in reality, if they +did not believe in a stupid way, they would see the vanity of all that +these brigands prescribe for them. Scarlatina is a contagious disease; +so, when one lives in a large city, half the family has to move away +from its residence (we did it twice), and yet every man in the city is a +centre through which pass innumerable diameters, carrying threads of all +sorts of contagions. There is no obstacle: the baker, the tailor, the +coachman, the laundresses. + +"And I would undertake, for every man who moves on account of contagion, +to find in his new dwelling-place another contagion similar, if not the +same. + +"But that is not all. Every one knows rich people who, after a case of +diphtheria, destroy everything in their residences, and then fall sick +in houses newly built and furnished. Every one knows, likewise, numbers +of men who come in contact with sick people and do not get infected. Our +anxieties are due to the people who circulate tall stories. One woman +says that she has an excellent doctor. 'Pardon me,' answers the other, +'he killed such a one,' or such a one. And vice versa. Bring her +another, who knows no more, who learned from the same books, who treats +according to the same formulas, but who goes about in a carriage, and +asks a hundred roubles a visit, and she will have faith in him. + +"It all lies in the fact that our women are savages. They have no belief +in God, but some of them believe in the evil eye, and the others in +doctors who charge high fees. If they had faith they would know that +scarlatina, diphtheria, etc., are not so terrible, since they cannot +disturb that which man can and should love,--the soul. There can result +from them only that which none of us can avoid,--disease and death. +Without faith in God, they love only physically, and all their energy is +concentrated upon the preservation of life, which cannot be preserved, +and which the doctors promise the fools of both sexes to save. And from +that time there is nothing to be done; the doctors must be summoned. + +"Thus the presence of the children not only did not improve our +relations as husband and wife, but, on the contrary, disunited us. The +children became an additional cause of dispute, and the larger they +grew, the more they became an instrument of struggle. + +"One would have said that we used them as weapons with which to combat +each other. Each of us had his favorite. I made use of little Basile +(the eldest), she of Lise. Further, when the children reached an age +where their characters began to be defined, they became allies, which we +drew each in his or her own direction. They suffered horribly from this, +the poor things, but we, in our perpetual hubbub, were not clear-headed +enough to think of them. The little girl was devoted to me, but the +eldest boy, who resembled my wife, his favorite, often inspired me with +dislike." + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +"We lived at first in the country, then in the city, and, if the final +misfortune had not happened, I should have lived thus until my old age +and should then have believed that I had had a good life,--not too good, +but, on the other hand, not bad,--an existence such as other people +lead. I should not have understood the abyss of misfortune and ignoble +falsehood in which I floundered about, feeling that something was not +right. I felt, in the first place, that I, a man, who, according to my +ideas, ought to be the master, wore the petticoats, and that I could not +get rid of them. The principal cause of my subjection was the children. +I should have liked to free myself, but I could not. Bringing up the +children, and resting upon them, my wife ruled. I did not then realize +that she could not help ruling, especially because, in marrying, she was +morally superior to me, as every young girl is incomparably superior to +the man, since she is incomparably purer. Strange thing! The ordinary +wife in our society is a very commonplace person or worse, selfish, +gossiping, whimsical, whereas the ordinary young girl, until the age of +twenty, is a charming being, ready for everything that is beautiful +and lofty. Why is this so? Evidently because husbands pervert them, and +lower them to their own level. + +"In truth, if boys and girls are born equal, the little girls find +themselves in a better situation. In the first place, the young girl is +not subjected to the perverting conditions to which we are subjected. +She has neither cigarettes, nor wine, nor cards, nor comrades, nor +public houses, nor public functions. And then the chief thing is that +she is physically pure, and that is why, in marrying, she is superior +to her husband. She is superior to man as a young girl, and when she +becomes a wife in our society, where there is no need to work in order +to live, she becomes superior, also, by the gravity of the acts of +generation, birth, and nursing. + +"Woman, in bringing a child into the world, and giving it her bosom, +sees clearly that her affair is more serious than the affair of man, who +sits in the Zemstvo, in the court. She knows that in these functions the +main thing is money, and money can be made in different ways, and for +that very reason money is not inevitably necessary, like nursing a +child. Consequently woman is necessarily superior to man, and must rule. +But man, in our society, not only does not recognize this, but, on +the contrary, always looks upon her from the height of his grandeur, +despising what she does. + +"Thus my wife despised me for my work at the Zemstvo, because she gave +birth to children and nursed them. I, in turn, thought that woman's +labor was most contemptible, which one might and should laugh at. + +"Apart from the other motives, we were also separated by a mutual +contempt. Our relations grew ever more hostile, and we arrived at that +period when, not only did dissent provoke hostility, but hostility +provoked dissent. Whatever she might say, I was sure in advance to hold +a contrary opinion; and she the same. Toward the fourth year of +our marriage it was tacitly decided between us that no intellectual +community was possible, and we made no further attempts at it. As to +the simplest objects, we each held obstinately to our own opinions. With +strangers we talked upon the most varied and most intimate matters, but +not with each other. Sometimes, in listening to my wife talk with others +in my presence, I said to myself: 'What a woman! Everything that she +says is a lie!' And I was astonished that the person with whom she was +conversing did not see that she was lying. When we were together; we +were condemned to silence, or to conversations which, I am sure, might +have been carried on by animals. + +"'What time is it? It is bed-time. What is there for dinner to-day? +Where shall we go? What is there in the newspaper? The doctor must be +sent for, Lise has a sore throat.' + +"Unless we kept within the extremely narrow limits of such conversation, +irritation was sure to ensue. The presence of a third person relieved +us, for through an intermediary we could still communicate. She probably +believed that she was always right. As for me, in my own eyes, I was a +saint beside her. + +"The periods of what we call love arrived as often as formerly. They +were more brutal, without refinement, without ornament; but they were +short, and generally followed by periods of irritation without cause, +irritation fed by the most trivial pretexts. We had spats about the +coffee, the table-cloth, the carriage, games of cards,--trifles, in +short, which could not be of the least importance to either of us. As +for me, a terrible execration was continually boiling up within me. I +watched her pour the tea, swing her foot, lift her spoon to her mouth, +and blow upon hot liquids or sip them, and I detested her as if these +had been so many crimes. + +"I did not notice that these periods of irritation depended very +regularly upon the periods of love. Each of the latter was followed +by one of the former. A period of intense love was followed by a long +period of anger; a period of mild love induced a mild irritation. We did +not understand that this love and this hatred were two opposite faces +of the same animal feeling. To live thus would be terrible, if one +understood the philosophy of it. But we did not perceive this, we did +not analyze it. It is at once the torture and the relief of man that, +when he lives irregularly, he can cherish illusions as to the miseries +of his situation. So did we. She tried to forget herself in sudden and +absorbing occupations, in household duties, the care of the furniture, +her dress and that of her children, in the education of the latter, and +in looking after their health. These were occupations that did not arise +from any immediate necessity, but she accomplished them as if her life +and that of her children depended on whether the pastry was allowed +to burn, whether a curtain was hanging properly, whether a dress was a +success, whether a lesson was well learned, or whether a medicine was +swallowed. + +"I saw clearly that to her all this was, more than anything else, a +means of forgetting, an intoxication, just as hunting, card-playing, and +my functions at the Zemstvo served the same purpose for me. It is true +that in addition I had an intoxication literally speaking,--tobacco, +which I smoked in large quantities, and wine, upon which I did not get +drunk, but of which I took too much. Vodka before meals, and during +meals two glasses of wine, so that a perpetual mist concealed the +turmoil of existence. + +"These new theories of hypnotism, of mental maladies, of hysteria are +not simple stupidities, but dangerous or evil stupidities. Charcot, I +am sure, would have said that my wife was hysterical, and of me he would +have said that I was an abnormal being, and he would have wanted to +treat me. But in us there was nothing requiring treatment. All this +mental malady was the simple result of the fact that we were living +immorally. Thanks to this immoral life, we suffered, and, to stifle +our sufferings, we tried abnormal means, which the doctors call the +'symptoms' of a mental malady,--hysteria. + +"There was no occasion in all this to apply for treatment to Charcot +or to anybody else. Neither suggestion nor bromide would have been +effective in working our cure. The needful thing was an examination of +the origin of the evil. It is as when one is sitting on a nail; if you +see the nail, you see that which is irregular in your life, and you +avoid it. Then the pain stops, without any necessity of stifling it. Our +pain arose from the irregularity of our life, and also my jealousy, +my irritability, and the necessity of keeping myself in a state of +perpetual semi-intoxication by hunting, card-playing, and, above all, +the use of wine and tobacco. It was because of this irregularity that my +wife so passionately pursued her occupations. The sudden changes of her +disposition, from extreme sadness to extreme gayety, and her babble, +arose from the need of forgetting herself, of forgetting her life, in +the continual intoxication of varied and very brief occupations. + +"Thus we lived in a perpetual fog, in which we did not distinguish our +condition. We were like two galley-slaves fastened to the same ball, +cursing each other, poisoning each other's existence, and trying to +shake each other off. I was still unaware that ninety-nine families out +of every hundred live in the same hell, and that it cannot be otherwise. +I had not learned this fact from others or from myself. The coincidences +that are met in regular, and even in irregular life, are surprising. At +the very period when the life of parents becomes impossible, it becomes +indispensable that they go to the city to live, in order to educate +their children. That is what we did." + +Posdnicheff became silent, and twice there escaped him, in the +half-darkness, sighs, which at that moment seemed to me like suppressed +sobs. Then he continued. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +"So we lived in the city. In the city the wretched feel less sad. One +can live there a hundred years without being noticed, and be dead a long +time before anybody will notice it. People have no time to inquire into +your life. All are absorbed. Business, social relations, art, the health +of children, their education. And there are visits that must be received +and made; it is necessary to see this one, it is necessary to hear that +one or the other one. In the city there are always one, two, or three +celebrities that it is indispensable that one should visit. + +"Now one must care for himself, or care for such or such a little one, +now it is the professor, the private tutor, the governesses, . . . and +life is absolutely empty. In this activity we were less conscious of the +sufferings of our cohabitation. Moreover, in the first of it, we had a +superb occupation,--the arrangement of the new dwelling, and then, too, +the moving from the city to the country, and from the country to the +city. + +"Thus we spent a winter. The following winter an incident happened to us +which passed unnoticed, but which was the fundamental cause of all that +happened later. My wife was suffering, and the rascals (the doctors) +would not permit her to conceive a child, and taught her how to avoid +it. I was profoundly disgusted. I struggled vainly against it, but +she insisted frivolously and obstinately, and I surrendered. The last +justification of our life as wretches was thereby suppressed, and life +became baser than ever. + +"The peasant and the workingman need children, and hence their conjugal +relations have a justification. But we, when we have a few children, +have no need of any more. They make a superfluous confusion of expenses +and joint heirs, and are an embarrassment. Consequently we have no +excuses for our existence as wretches, but we are so deeply degraded +that we do not see the necessity of a justification. The majority of +people in contemporary society give themselves up to this debauchery +without the slightest remorse. We have no conscience left, except, so to +speak, the conscience of public opinion and of the criminal code. But in +this matter neither of these consciences is struck. There is not a being +in society who blushes at it. Each one practices it,--X, Y, Z, etc. What +is the use of multiplying beggars, and depriving ourselves of the joys +of social life? There is no necessity of having conscience before the +criminal code, or of fearing it: low girls, soldiers' wives who throw +their children into ponds or wells, these certainly must be put +in prison. But with us the suppression is effected opportunely and +properly. + +"Thus we passed two years more. The method prescribed by the rascals had +evidently succeeded. My wife had grown stouter and handsomer. It was the +beauty of the end of summer. She felt it, and paid much attention to her +person. She had acquired that provoking beauty that stirs men. She was +in all the brilliancy of the wife of thirty years, who conceives no +children, eats heartily, and is excited. The very sight of her was +enough to frighten one. She was like a spirited carriage-horse that has +long been idle, and suddenly finds itself without a bridle. As for my +wife, she had no bridle, as for that matter, ninety-nine hundredths of +our women have none." + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +Posdnicheff's face had become transformed; his eyes were pitiable; their +expression seemed strange, like that of another being than himself; his +moustache and beard turned up toward the top of his face; his nose was +diminished, and his mouth enlarged, immense, frightful. + +"Yes," he resumed "she had grown stouter since ceasing to conceive, +and her anxieties about her children began to disappear. Not even +to disappear. One would have said that she was waking from a long +intoxication, that on coming to herself she had perceived the entire +universe with its joys, a whole world in which she had not learned to +live, and which she did not understand. + +"'If only this world shall not vanish! When time is past, when old age +comes, one cannot recover it.' Thus, I believe, she thought, or rather +felt. Moreover, she could neither think nor feel otherwise. She had been +brought up in this idea that there is in the world but one thing worthy +of attention,--love. In marrying, she had known something of this love, +but very far from everything that she had understood as promised her, +everything that she expected. How many disillusions! How much suffering! +And an unexpected torture,--the children! This torture had told upon +her, and then, thanks to the obliging doctor, she had learned that it +is possible to avoid having children. That had made her glad. She had +tried, and she was now revived for the only thing that she knew,--for +love. But love with a husband polluted by jealousy and ill-nature was no +longer her ideal. She began to think of some other tenderness; at least, +that is what I thought. She looked about her as if expecting some event +or some being. I noticed it, and I could not help being anxious. + +"Always, now, it happened that, in talking with me through a third party +(that is, in talking with others, but with the intention that I should +hear), she boldly expressed,--not thinking that an hour before she had +said the opposite,--half joking, half seriously, this idea that maternal +anxieties are a delusion; that it is not worth while to sacrifice one's +life to children. When one is young, it is necessary to enjoy life. So +she occupied herself less with the children, not with the same intensity +as formerly, and paid more and more attention to herself, to her +face,--although she concealed it,--to her pleasures, and even to her +perfection from the worldly point of view. She began to devote herself +passionately to the piano, which had formerly stood forgotten in the +corner. There, at the piano, began the adventure. + +"The MAN appeared." + +Posdnicheff seemed embarrassed, and twice again there escaped him that +nasal sound of which I spoke above. I thought that it gave him pain to +refer to the MAN, and to remember him. He made an effort, as if to +break down the obstacle that embarrassed him, and continued with +determination. + +"He was a bad man in my eyes, and not because he has played such an +important role in my life, but because he was really such. For the +rest, from the fact that he was bad, we must conclude that he was +irresponsible. He was a musician, a violinist. Not a professional +musician, but half man of the world, half artist. His father, a country +proprietor, was a neighbor of my father's. The father had become ruined, +and the children, three boys, were all sent away. Our man, the youngest, +was sent to his godmother at Paris. There they placed him in the +Conservatory, for he showed a taste for music. He came out a violinist, +and played in concerts." + +On the point of speaking evil of the other, Posdnicheff checked himself, +stopped, and said suddenly: + +"In truth, I know not how he lived. I only know that that year he came +to Russia, and came to see me. Moist eyes of almond shape, smiling red +lips, a little moustache well waxed, hair brushed in the latest fashion, +a vulgarly pretty face,--what the women call 'not bad,'--feebly built +physically, but with no deformity; with hips as broad as a woman's; +correct, and insinuating himself into the familiarity of people as far +as possible, but having that keen sense that quickly detects a false +step and retires in reason,--a man, in short, observant of the external +rules of dignity, with that special Parisianism that is revealed in +buttoned boots, a gaudy cravat, and that something which foreigners pick +up in Paris, and which, in its peculiarity and novelty, always has +an influence on our women. In his manners an external and artificial +gayety, a way, you know, of referring to everything by hints, by +unfinished fragments, as if everything that one says you knew already, +recalled it, and could supply the omissions. Well, he, with his music, +was the cause of all. + +"At the trial the affair was so represented that everything seemed +attributable to jealousy. It is false,--that is, not quite false, but +there was something else. The verdict was rendered that I was a deceived +husband, that I had killed in defence of my sullied honor (that is the +way they put it in their language), and thus I was acquitted. I tried to +explain the affair from my own point of view, but they concluded that I +simply wanted to rehabilitate the memory of my wife. Her relations with +the musician, whatever they may have been, are now of no importance +to me or to her. The important part is what I have told you. The whole +tragedy was due to the fact that this man came into our house at a time +when an immense abyss had already been dug between us, that frightful +tension of mutual hatred, in which the slightest motive sufficed to +precipitate the crisis. Our quarrels in the last days were something +terrible, and the more astonishing because they were followed by a +brutal passion extremely strained. If it had not been he, some other +would have come. If the pretext had not been jealousy, I should have +discovered another. I insist upon this point,--that all husbands +who live the married life that I lived must either resort to outside +debauchery, or separate from their wives, or kill themselves, or kill +their wives as I did. If there is any one in my case to whom this does +not happen, he is a very rare exception, for, before ending as I ended, +I was several times on the point of suicide, and my wife made several +attempts to poison herself." + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +"In order that you may understand me, I must tell you how this happened. +We were living along, and all seemed well. Suddenly we began to talk +of the children's education. I do not remember what words either of us +uttered, but a discussion began, reproaches, leaps from one subject to +another. 'Yes, I know it. It has been so for a long time.' . . . 'You +said that.' . . . 'No, I did not say that.' . . . 'Then I lie?' etc. + +"And I felt that the frightful crisis was approaching when I should +desire to kill her or else myself. I knew that it was approaching; I +was afraid of it as of fire; I wanted to restrain myself. But rage +took possession of my whole being. My wife found herself in the same +condition, perhaps worse. She knew that she intentionally distorted each +of my words, and each of her words was saturated with venom. All that +was dear to me she disparaged and profaned. The farther the quarrel +went, the more furious it became. I cried, 'Be silent,' or something +like that. + +"She bounded out of the room and ran toward the children. I tried to hold +her back to finish my insults. I grasped her by the arm, and hurt her. +She cried: 'Children, your father is beating me.' I cried: 'Don't lie.' +She continued to utter falsehoods for the simple purpose of irritating +me further. 'Ah, it is not the first time,' or something of that sort. +The children rushed toward her and tried to quiet her. I said: 'Don't +sham.' She said: 'You look upon everything as a sham. You would kill a +person and say he was shamming. Now I understand you. That is what you +want to do.' 'Oh, if you were only dead!' I cried. + +"I remember how that terrible phrase frightened me. Never had I thought +that I could utter words so brutal, so frightful, and I was stupefied at +what had just escaped my lips. I fled into my private apartment. I sat +down and began to smoke. I heard her go into the hall and prepare to go +out. I asked her: 'Where are you going? She did not answer. 'Well, may +the devil take you!' said I to myself, going back into my private room, +where I lay down again and began smoking afresh. Thousands of plans of +vengeance, of ways of getting rid of her, and how to arrange this, and +act as if nothing had happened,--all this passed through my head. I +thought of these things, and I smoked, and smoked, and smoked. I thought +of running away, of making my escape, of going to America. I went so far +as to dream how beautiful it would be, after getting rid of her, to love +another woman, entirely different from her. I should be rid of her if +she should die or if I should get a divorce, and I tried to think how +that could be managed. I saw that I was getting confused, but, in order +not to see that I was not thinking rightly, I kept on smoking. + +"And the life of the house went on as usual. The children's teacher came +and asked: 'Where is Madame? When will she return?' + +"The servants asked if they should serve the tea. I entered the +dining-room. The children, Lise, the eldest girl, looked at me with +fright, as if to question me, and she did not come. The whole evening +passed, and still she did not come. Two sentiments kept succeeding each +other in my soul,--hatred of her, since she tortured myself and the +children by her absence, but would finally return just the same, and +fear lest she might return and make some attempt upon herself. But where +should I look for her? At her sister's? It seemed so stupid to go to ask +where one's wife is. Moreover, may God forbid, I hoped, that she should +be at her sister's! If she wishes to torment any one, let her torment +herself first. And suppose she were not at her sister's. + +"Suppose she were to do, or had already done, something. + +"Eleven o'clock, midnight, one o'clock. . . . I did not sleep. I did not +go to my chamber. It is stupid to lie stretched out all alone, and to +wait. But in my study I did not rest. I tried to busy myself, to write +letters, to read. Impossible! I was alone, tortured, wicked, and +I listened. Toward daylight I went to sleep. I awoke. She had not +returned. Everything in the house went on as usual, and all looked at +me in astonishment, questioningly. The children's eyes were full of +reproach for me. + +"And always the same feeling of anxiety about her, and of hatred because +of this anxiety. + +"Toward eleven o'clock in the morning came her sister, her ambassadress. +Then began the usual phrases: 'She is in a terrible state. What is +the matter?' 'Why, nothing has happened.' I spoke of her asperity of +character, and I added that I had done nothing, and that I would not +take the first step. If she wants a divorce, so much the better! My +sister-in-law would not listen to this idea, and went away without +having gained anything. I was obstinate, and I said boldly and +determinedly, in talking to her, that I would not take the first +step. Immediately she had gone I went into the other room, and saw the +children in a frightened and pitiful state, and there I found myself +already inclined to take this first step. But I was bound by my word. +Again I walked up and down, always smoking. At breakfast I drank brandy +and wine, and I reached the point which I unconsciously desired, the +point where I no longer saw the stupidity and baseness of my situation. + +"Toward three o'clock she came. I thought that she was appeased, or +admitted her defeat. I began to tell her that I was provoked by her +reproaches. She answered me, with the same severe and terribly downcast +face, that she had not come for explanations, but to take the children, +that we could not live together. I answered that it was not my fault, +that she had put me beside myself. She looked at me with a severe and +solemn air, and said: 'Say no more. You will repent it.' I said that I +could not tolerate comedies. Then she cried out something that I did not +understand, and rushed toward her room. The key turned in the lock, +and she shut herself up. I pushed at the door. There was no response. +Furious, I went away. + +"A half hour later Lise came running all in tears. 'What! Has anything +happened? We cannot hear Mamma!' We went toward my wife's room. I pushed +the door with all my might. The bolt was scarcely drawn, and the door +opened. In a skirt, with high boots, my wife lay awkwardly on the bed. +On the table an empty opium phial. We restored her to life. Tears and +then reconciliation! Not reconciliation; internally each kept the hatred +for the other, but it was absolutely necessary for the moment to end +the scene in some way, and life began again as before. These scenes, and +even worse, came now once a week, now every month, now every day. And +invariably the same incidents. Once I was absolutely resolved to fly, +but through some inconceivable weakness I remained. + +"Such were the circumstances in which we were living when the MAN came. +The man was bad, it is true. But what! No worse than we were." + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +"When we moved to Moscow, this gentleman--his name was +Troukhatchevsky--came to my house. It was in the morning. I received +him. In former times we had been very familiar. He tried, by various +advances, to re-establish the familiarity, but I was determined to keep +him at a distance, and soon he gave it up. He displeased me extremely. +At the first glance I saw that he was a filthy debauche. I was jealous +of him, even before he had seen my wife. But, strange thing! some occult +fatal power kept me from repulsing him and sending him away, and, on +the contrary, induced me to suffer this approach. What could have been +simpler than to talk with him a few minutes, and then dismiss him coldly +without introducing him to my wife? But no, as if on purpose, I turned +the conversation upon his skill as a violinist, and he answered that, +contrary to what I had heard, he now played the violin more than +formerly. He remembered that I used to play. I answered that I had +abandoned music, but that my wife played very well. + +"Singular thing! Why, in the important events of our life, in those in +which a man's fate is decided,--as mine was decided in that moment,--why +in these events is there neither a past nor a future? My relations with +Troukhatchevsky the first day, at the first hour, were such as they +might still have been after all that has happened. I was conscious that +some frightful misfortune must result from the presence of this +man, and, in spite of that, I could not help being amiable to him. I +introduced him to my wife. She was pleased with him. In the beginning, +I suppose, because of the pleasure of the violin playing, which she +adored. She had even hired for that purpose a violinist from the +theatre. But when she cast a glance at me, she understood my feelings, +and concealed her impression. Then began the mutual trickery and deceit. +I smiled agreeably, pretending that all this pleased me extremely. He, +looking at my wife, as all debauches look at beautiful women, with an +air of being interested solely in the subject of conversation,--that is, +in that which did not interest him at all. + +"She tried to seem indifferent. But my expression, my jealous or +false smile, which she knew so well, and the voluptuous glances of the +musician, evidently excited her. I saw that, after the first interview, +her eyes were already glittering, glittering strangely, and that, thanks +to my jealousy, between him and her had been immediately established +that sort of electric current which is provoked by an identity of +expression in the smile and in the eyes. + +"We talked, at the first interview, of music, of Paris, and of all sorts +of trivialities. He rose to go. Pressing his hat against his swaying +hip, he stood erect, looking now at her and now at me, as if waiting to +see what she would do. I remember that minute, precisely because it was +in my power not to invite him. I need not have invited him, and then +nothing would have happened. But I cast a glance first at him, then at +her. 'Don't flatter yourself that I can be jealous of you,' I thought, +addressing myself to her mentally, and I invited the other to bring his +violin that very evening, and to play with my wife. She raised her eyes +toward me with astonishment, and her face turned purple, as if she were +seized with a sudden fear. She began to excuse herself, saying that +she did not play well enough. This refusal only excited me the more. I +remember the strange feeling with which I looked at his neck, his white +neck, in contrast with his black hair, separated by a parting, when, +with his skipping gait, like that of a bird, he left my house. I +could not help confessing to myself that this man's presence caused me +suffering. 'It is in my power,' thought I, 'to so arrange things that I +shall never see him again. But can it be that I, _I_, fear him? No, I do +not fear him. It would be too humiliating!' + +"And there in the hall, knowing that my wife heard me, I insisted that +he should come that very evening with his violin. He promised me, and +went away. In the evening he arrived with his violin, and they played +together. But for a long time things did not go well; we had not the +necessary music, and that which we had my wife could not play at sight. +I amused myself with their difficulties. I aided them, I made proposals, +and they finally executed a few pieces,--songs without words, and a +little sonata by Mozart. He played in a marvellous manner. He had what +is called the energetic and tender tone. As for difficulties, there were +none for him. Scarcely had he begun to play, when his face changed. He +became serious, and much more sympathetic. He was, it is needless to +say, much stronger than my wife. He helped her, he advised her simply +and naturally, and at the same time played his game with courtesy. +My wife seemed interested only in the music. She was very simple and +agreeable. Throughout the evening I feigned, not only for the others, +but for myself, an interest solely in the music. Really, I was +continually tortured by jealousy. From the first minute that the +musician's eyes met those of my wife, I saw that he did not regard her +as a disagreeable woman, with whom on occasion it would be unpleasant to +enter into intimate relations. + +"If I had been pure, I should not have dreamed of what he might think of +her. But I looked at women, and that is why I understood him and was in +torture. I was in torture, especially because I was sure that toward +me she had no other feeling than of perpetual irritation, sometimes +interrupted by the customary sensuality, and that this man,--thanks to +his external elegance and his novelty, and, above all, thanks to his +unquestionably remarkable talent, thanks to the attraction exercised +under the influence of music, thanks to the impression that music +produces upon nervous natures,--this man would not only please, but +would inevitably, and without difficulty, subjugate and conquer her, and +do with her as he liked. + +"I could not help seeing this. I could not help suffering, or keep from +being jealous. And I was jealous, and I suffered, and in spite of that, +and perhaps even because of that, an unknown force, in spite of my will, +impelled me to be not only polite, but more than polite, amiable. I +cannot say whether I did it for my wife, or to show him that I did not +fear HIM, or to deceive myself; but from my first relations with him I +could not be at my ease. I was obliged, that I might not give way to a +desire to kill him immediately, to 'caress' him. I filled his glass at +the table, I grew enthusiastic over his playing, I talked to him with +an extremely amiable smile, and I invited him to dinner the following +Sunday, and to play again. I told him that I would invite some of my +acquaintances, lovers of his art, to hear him. + +"Two or three days later I was entering my house, in conversation with +a friend, when in the hall I suddenly felt something as heavy as a stone +weighing on my heart, and I could not account for it. And it was this, +it was this: in passing through the hall, I had noticed something which +reminded me of HIM. Not until I reached my study did I realize what it +was, and I returned to the hall to verify my conjecture. Yes, I was +not mistaken. It was his overcoat (everything that belonged to him, +I, without realizing it, had observed with extraordinary attention). I +questioned the servant. That was it. He had come. + +"I passed near the parlor, through my children's study-room. Lise, my +daughter, was sitting before a book, and the old nurse, with my youngest +child, was beside the table, turning the cover of something or other. +In the parlor I heard a slow arpeggio, and his voice, deadened, and a +denial from her. She said: 'No, no! There is something else!' And it +seemed to me that some one was purposely deadening the words by the aid +of the piano. + +"My God! How my heart leaped! What were my imaginations! When I remember +the beast that lived in me at that moment, I am seized with fright. My +heart was first compressed, then stopped, and then began to beat like +a hammer. The principal feeling, as in every bad feeling, was pity for +myself. 'Before the children, before the old nurse,' thought I, 'she +dishonors me. I will go away. I can endure it no longer. God knows what +I should do if. . . . But I must go in.' + +"The old nurse raised her eyes to mine, as if she understood, and advised +me to keep a sharp watch. 'I must go in,' I said to myself, and, without +knowing what I did, I opened the door. He was sitting at the piano and +making arpeggios with his long, white, curved fingers. She was standing +in the angle of the grand piano, before the open score. She saw or +heard me first, and raised her eyes to mine. Was she stunned, was she +pretending not to be frightened, or was she really not frightened at +all? In any case, she did not tremble, she did not stir. She blushed, +but only a little later. + +"'How glad I am that you have come! We have not decided what we will +play Sunday,' said she, in a tone that she would not have had if she had +been alone with me. + +"This tone, and the way in which she said 'we' in speaking of herself +and of him, revolted me. I saluted him silently. He shook hands with me +directly, with a smile that seemed to me full of mockery. He explained +to me that he had brought some scores, in order to prepare for the +Sunday concert, and that they were not in accord as to the piece +to choose,--whether difficult, classic things, notably a sonata by +Beethoven, or lighter pieces. + +"And as he spoke, he looked at me. It was all so natural, so simple, that +there was absolutely nothing to be said against it. And at the same time +I saw, I was sure, that it was false, that they were in a conspiracy to +deceive me. + +"One of the most torturing situations for the jealous (and in our social +life everybody is jealous) are those social conditions which allow +a very great and dangerous intimacy between a man and a woman under +certain pretexts. One must make himself the laughing stock of everybody, +if he desires to prevent associations in the ball-room, the intimacy +of doctors with their patients, the familiarity of art occupations, and +especially of music. In order that people may occupy themselves together +with the noblest art, music, a certain intimacy is necessary, in which +there is nothing blameworthy. Only a jealous fool of a husband can have +anything to say against it. A husband should not have such thoughts, +and especially should not thrust his nose into these affairs, or prevent +them. And yet, everybody knows that precisely in these occupations, +especially in music, many adulteries originate in our society. + +"I had evidently embarrassed them, because for some time I was unable +to say anything. I was like a bottle suddenly turned upside down, from +which the water does not run because it is too full. I wanted to insult +the man, and to drive him away, but I could do nothing of the kind. +On the contrary, I felt that I was disturbing them, and that it was my +fault. I made a presence of approving everything, this time also, thanks +to that strange feeling that forced me to treat him the more amiably in +proportion as his presence was more painful to me. I said that I trusted +to his taste, and I advised my wife to do the same. He remained just as +long as it was necessary in order to efface the unpleasant impression of +my abrupt entrance with a frightened face. He went away with an air of +satisfaction at the conclusions arrived at. As for me, I was perfectly +sure that, in comparison with that which preoccupied them, the question +of music was indifferent to them. I accompanied him with especial +courtesy to the hall (how can one help accompanying a man who has +come to disturb your tranquillity and ruin the happiness of the entire +family?), and I shook his white, soft hand with fervent amiability." + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +"All that day I did not speak to my wife. I could not. Her proximity +excited such hatred that I feared myself. At the table she asked me, in +presence of the children, when I was to start upon a journey. I was to +go the following week to an assembly of the Zemstvo, in a neighboring +locality. I named the date. She asked me if I would need anything for +the journey. I did not answer. I sat silent at the table, and silently +I retired to my study. In those last days she never entered my study, +especially at that hour. Suddenly I heard her steps, her walk, and then +a terribly base idea entered my head that, like the wife of Uri, she +wished to conceal a fault already committed, and that it was for +this reason that she came to see me at this unseasonable hour. 'Is it +possible,' thought I, 'that she is coming to see me?' On hearing her +step as it approached: 'If it is to see me that she is coming, then I am +right.' + +"An inexpressible hatred invaded my soul. The steps drew nearer, and +nearer, and nearer yet. Would she pass by and go on to the other room? +No, the hinges creaked, and at the door her tall, graceful, languid +figure appeared. In her face, in her eyes, a timidity, an insinuating +expression, which she tried to hide, but which I saw, and of which I +understood the meaning. I came near suffocating, such were my efforts to +hold my breath, and, continuing to look at her, I took my cigarette, and +lighted it. + +"'What does this mean? One comes to talk with you, and you go to +smoking.' + +"And she sat down beside me on the sofa, resting against my shoulder. I +recoiled, that I might not touch her. + +"'I see that you are displeased with what I wish to play on Sunday,' +said she. + +"'I am not at all displeased,' said I. + +"'Can I not see?' + +"'Well, I congratulate you on your clairvoyance. Only to you every +baseness is agreeable, and I abhor it.' + +"'If you are going to swear like a trooper, I am going away.' + +"'Then go away. Only know that, if the honor of the family is nothing to +you, to me it is dear. As for you, the devil take you!' + +"'What! What is the matter?' + +"'Go away, in the name of God.' + +"But she did not go away. Was she pretending not to understand, or did +she really not understand what I meant? But she was offended and became +angry. + +"'You have become absolutely impossible,' she began, or some such phrase +as that regarding my character, trying, as usual, to give me as much +pain as possible. 'After what you have done to my sister (she referred +to an incident with her sister, in which, beside myself, I had uttered +brutalities; she knew that that tortured me, and tried to touch me in +that tender spot) nothing will astonish me.' + +"'Yes, offended, humiliated, and dishonored, and after that to hold +me still responsible,' thought I, and suddenly a rage, such a hatred +invaded me as I do not remember to have ever felt before. For the first +time I desired to express this hatred physically. I leaped upon her, but +at the same moment I understood my condition, and I asked myself whether +it would be well for me to abandon myself to my fury. And I answered +myself that it would be well, that it would frighten her, and, instead +of resisting, I lashed and spurred myself on, and was glad to feel my +anger boiling more and more fiercely. + +"'Go away, or I will kill you!' I cried, purposely, with a frightful +voice, and I grasped her by the arm. She did not go away. Then I twisted +her arm, and pushed her away violently. + +"'What is the matter with you? Come to your senses!' she shrieked. + +"'Go away,' roared I, louder than ever, rolling my eyes wildly. 'It +takes you to put me in such a fury. I do not answer for myself! Go +away!' + +"In abandoning myself to my anger, I became steeped in it, and I wanted +to commit some violent act to show the force of my fury. I felt a +terrible desire to beat her, to kill her, but I realized that that could +not be, and I restrained myself. I drew back from her, rushed to the +table, grasped the paper-weight, and threw it on the floor by her side. +I took care to aim a little to one side, and, before she disappeared (I +did it so that she could see it), I grasped a candlestick, which I also +hurled, and then took down the barometer, continuing to shout: + +"'Go away! I do not answer for myself!' + +"She disappeared, and I immediately ceased my demonstrations. An hour +later the old servant came to me and said that my wife was in a fit +of hysterics. I went to see her. She sobbed and laughed, incapable of +expressing anything, her whole body in a tremble. She was not shamming, +she was really sick. We sent for the doctor, and all night long I cared +for her. Toward daylight she grew calmer, and we became reconciled under +the influence of that feeling which we called 'love.' The next morning, +when, after the reconciliation, I confessed to her that I was jealous of +Troukhatchevsky, she was not at all embarrassed, and began to laugh in +the most natural way, so strange did the possibility of being led astray +by such a man appear to her. + +"'With such a man can an honest woman entertain any feeling beyond the +pleasure of enjoying music with him? But if you like, I am ready +to never see him again, even on Sunday, although everybody has been +invited. Write him that I am indisposed, and that will end the +matter. Only one thing annoys me,--that any one could have thought him +dangerous. I am too proud not to detest such thoughts.' + +"And she did not lie. She believed what she said. She hoped by her words +to provoke in herself a contempt for him, and thereby to defend herself. +But she did not succeed. Everything was directed against her, especially +that abominable music. So ended the quarrel, and on Sunday our guests +came, and Troukhatchevsky and my wife again played together." + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +"I think that it is superfluous to say that I was very vain. If one +has no vanity in this life of ours, there is no sufficient reason for +living. So for that Sunday I had busied myself in tastefully arranging +things for the dinner and the musical soiree. I had purchased myself +numerous things for the dinner, and had chosen the guests. Toward six +o'clock they arrived, and after them Troukhatchevsky, in his dress-coat, +with diamond shirt-studs, in bad taste. He bore himself with ease. To +all questions he responded promptly, with a smile of contentment and +understanding, and that peculiar expression which was intended to +mean: 'All that you may do and say will be exactly what I expected.' +Everything about him that was not correct I now noticed with especial +pleasure, for it all tended to tranquillize me, and prove to me that to +my wife he stood in such a degree of inferiority that, as she had +told me, she could not stoop to his level. Less because of my wife's +assurances than because of the atrocious sufferings which I felt in +jealousy, I no longer allowed myself to be jealous. + +"In spite of that, I was not at ease with the musician or with her +during dinner-time and the time that elapsed before the beginning of the +music. Involuntarily I followed each of their gestures and looks. +The dinner, like all dinners, was tiresome and conventional. Not long +afterward the music began. He went to get his violin; my wife advanced +to the piano, and rummaged among the scores. Oh, how well I remember all +the details of that evening! I remember how he brought the violin, how +he opened the box, took off the serge embroidered by a lady's hand, and +began to tune the instrument. I can still see my wife sit down, with a +false air of indifference, under which it was plain that she hid a great +timidity, a timidity that was especially due to her comparative lack +of musical knowledge. She sat down with that false air in front of the +piano, and then began the usual preliminaries,--the pizzicati of the +violin and the arrangement of the scores. I remember then how they +looked at each other, and cast a glance at their auditors who were +taking their seats. They said a few words to each other, and the music +began. They played Beethoven's 'Kreutzer Sonata.' Do you know the first +presto? Do you know it? Ah!" . . . + +Posdnicheff heaved a sigh, and was silent for a long time. + +"A terrible thing is that sonata, especially the presto! And a terrible +thing is music in general. What is it? Why does it do what it does? +They say that music stirs the soul. Stupidity! A lie! It acts, it acts +frightfully (I speak for myself), but not in an ennobling way. It acts +neither in an ennobling nor a debasing way, but in an irritating +way. How shall I say it? Music makes me forget my real situation. It +transports me into a state which is not my own. Under the influence of +music I really seem to feel what I do not feel, to understand what I do +not understand, to have powers which I cannot have. Music seems to me to +act like yawning or laughter; I have no desire to sleep, but I yawn when +I see others yawn; with no reason to laugh, I laugh when I hear others +laugh. And music transports me immediately into the condition of soul +in which he who wrote the music found himself at that time. I become +confounded with his soul, and with him I pass from one condition +to another. But why that? I know nothing about it? But he who wrote +Beethoven's 'Kreutzer Sonata' knew well why he found himself in a +certain condition. That condition led him to certain actions, and for +that reason to him had a meaning, but to me none, none whatever. And +that is why music provokes an excitement which it does not bring to a +conclusion. For instance, a military march is played; the soldier +passes to the sound of this march, and the music is finished. A dance +is played; I have finished dancing, and the music is finished. A mass is +sung; I receive the sacrament, and again the music is finished. But +any other music provokes an excitement, and this excitement is not +accompanied by the thing that needs properly to be done, and that is why +music is so dangerous, and sometimes acts so frightfully. + +"In China music is under the control of the State, and that is the way +it ought to be. Is it admissible that the first comer should hypnotize +one or more persons, and then do with them as he likes? And especially +that the hypnotizer should be the first immoral individual who happens +to come along? It is a frightful power in the hands of any one, no +matter whom. For instance, should they be allowed to play this 'Kreutzer +Sonata,' the first presto,--and there are many like it,--in parlors, +among ladies wearing low necked dresses, or in concerts, then finish the +piece, receive the applause, and then begin another piece? These things +should be played under certain circumstances, only in cases where it is +necessary to incite certain actions corresponding to the music. But to +incite an energy of feeling which corresponds to neither the time nor +the place, and is expended in nothing, cannot fail to act dangerously. +On me in particular this piece acted in a frightful manner. One would +have said that new sentiments, new virtualities, of which I was formerly +ignorant, had developed in me. 'Ah, yes, that's it! Not at all as I +lived and thought before! This is the right way to live!' + +"Thus I spoke to my soul as I listened to that music. What was this new +thing that I thus learned? That I did not realize, but the consciousness +of this indefinite state filled me with joy. In that state there was no +room for jealousy. The same faces, and among them HE and my wife, I saw +in a different light. This music transported me into an unknown world, +where there was no room for jealousy. Jealousy and the feelings that +provoke it seemed to me trivialities, nor worth thinking of. + +"After the presto followed the andante, not very new, with commonplace +variations, and the feeble finale. Then they played more, at the request +of the guests,--first an elegy by Ernst, and then various other pieces. +They were all very well, but did not produce upon me a tenth part of the +impression that the opening piece did. I felt light and gay throughout +the evening. As for my wife, never had I seen her as she was that night. +Those brilliant eyes, that severity and majestic expression while she +was playing, and then that utter languor, that weak, pitiable, and happy +smile after she had finished,--I saw them all and attached no importance +to them, believing that she felt as I did, that to her, as to me, new +sentiments had been revealed, as through a fog. During almost the whole +evening I was not jealous. + +"Two days later I was to start for the assembly of the Zemstvo, and for +that reason, on taking leave of me and carrying all his scores with him, +Troukhatchevsky asked me when I should return. I inferred from that that +he believed it impossible to come to my house during my absence, and +that was agreeable to me. Now I was not to return before his departure +from the city. So we bade each other a definite farewell. For the +first time I shook his hand with pleasure, and thanked him for the +satisfaction that he had given me. He likewise took leave of my wife, +and their parting seemed to me very natural and proper. All went +marvellously. My wife and I retired, well satisfied with the evening. We +talked of our impressions in a general way, and we were nearer together +and more friendly than we had been for a long time." + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +"Two days later I started for the assembly, having bid farewell to my +wife in an excellent and tranquil state of mind. In the district there +was always much to be done. It was a world and a life apart. During two +days I spent ten hours at the sessions. The evening of the second day, +on returning to my district lodgings, I found a letter from my wife, +telling me of the children, of their uncle, of the servants, and, among +other things, as if it were perfectly natural, that Troukhatchevsky had +been at the house, and had brought her the promised scores. He had also +proposed that they play again, but she had refused. + +"For my part, I did not remember at all that he had promised any score. +It had seemed to me on Sunday evening that he took a definite leave, +and for this reason the news gave me a disagreeable surprise. I read the +letter again. There was something tender and timid about it. It produced +an extremely painful impression upon me. My heart swelled, and the mad +beast of jealousy began to roar in his lair, and seemed to want to leap +upon his prey. But I was afraid of this beast, and I imposed silence +upon it. + +"What an abominable sentiment is jealousy! 'What could be more natural +than what she has written?' said I to myself. I went to bed, thinking +myself tranquil again. I thought of the business that remained to be +done, and I went to sleep without thinking of her. + +"During these assemblies of the Zemstvo I always slept badly in my +strange quarters. That night I went to sleep directly, but, as sometimes +happens, a sort of sudden shock awoke me. I thought immediately of her, +of my physical love for her, of Troukhatchevsky, and that between them +everything had happened. And a feeling of rage compressed my heart, and +I tried to quiet myself. + +"'How stupid!' said I to myself; 'there is no reason, none at all. And +why humiliate ourselves, herself and myself, and especially myself, +by supposing such horrors? This mercenary violinist, known as a bad +man,--shall I think of him in connection with a respectable woman, the +mother of a family, MY wife? How silly!' But on the other hand, I said +to myself: 'Why should it not happen?' + +"Why? Was it not the same simple and intelligible feeling in the name +of which I married, in the name of which I was living with her, the only +thing I wanted of her, and that which, consequently, others desired, +this musician among the rest? He was not married, was in good health +(I remember how his teeth ground the gristle of the cutlets, and how +eagerly he emptied the glass of wine with his red lips), was careful +of his person, well fed, and not only without principles, but evidently +with the principle that one should take advantage of the pleasure that +offers itself. There was a bond between them, music,--the most refined +form of sensual voluptuousness. What was there to restrain them? +Nothing. Everything, on the contrary, attracted them. And she, she had +been and had remained a mystery. I did not know her. I knew her only +as an animal, and an animal nothing can or should restrain. And now +I remember their faces on Sunday evening, when, after the 'Kreutzer +Sonata,' they played a passionate piece, written I know not by whom, but +a piece passionate to the point of obscenity. + +"'How could I have gone away?' said I to myself, as I recalled their +faces. 'Was it not clear that between them everything was done that +evening? Was it not clear that between them not only there were no more +obstacles, but that both--especially she--felt a certain shame after +what had happened at the piano? How weakly, pitiably, happily she +smiled, as she wiped the perspiration from her reddened face! They +already avoided each other's eyes, and only at the supper, when she +poured some water for him, did they look at each other and smile +imperceptibly.' + +"Now I remember with fright that look and that scarcely perceptible +smile. 'Yes, everything has happened,' a voice said to me, and directly +another said the opposite. 'Are you mad? It is impossible!' said the +second voice. + +"It was too painful to me to remain thus stretched in the darkness. +I struck a match, and the little yellow-papered room frightened me. I +lighted a cigarette, and, as always happens, when one turns in a circle +of inextricable contradiction, I began to smoke. I smoked cigarette +after cigarette to dull my senses, that I might not see my +contradictions. All night I did not sleep, and at five o'clock, when it +was not yet light, I decided that I could stand this strain no longer, +and that I would leave directly. There was a train at eight o'clock. I +awakened the keeper who was acting as my servant, and sent him to look +for horses. To the assembly of Zemstvo I sent a message that I was +called back to Moscow by pressing business, and that I begged them to +substitute for me a member of the Committee. At eight o'clock I got into +a tarantass and started off." + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +"I had to go twenty-five versts by carriage and eight hours by train. +By carriage it was a very pleasant journey. The coolness of autumn was +accompanied by a brilliant sun. You know the weather when the wheels +imprint themselves upon the dirty road. The road was level, and the +light strong, and the air strengthening. The tarantass was comfortable. +As I looked at the horses, the fields, and the people whom we passed, +I forgot where I was going. Sometimes it seemed to me that I was +travelling without an object,--simply promenading,--and that I should +go on thus to the end of the world. And I was happy when I so forgot +myself. But when I remembered where I was going, I said to myself: 'I +shall see later. Don't think about it.' + +"When half way, an incident happened to distract me still further. The +tarantass, though new, broke down, and had to be repaired. The delays in +looking for a telegue, the repairs, the payment, the tea in the inn, the +conversation with the dvornik, all served to amuse me. Toward nightfall +all was ready, and I started off again. By night the journey was still +pleasanter than by day. The moon in its first quarter, a slight frost, +the road still in good condition, the horses, the sprightly coachman, +all served to put me in good spirits. I scarcely thought of what awaited +me, and was gay perhaps because of the very thing that awaited me, and +because I was about to say farewell to the joys of life. + +"But this tranquil state, the power of conquering my preoccupation, all +ended with the carriage drive. Scarcely had I entered the cars, when the +other thing began. Those eight hours on the rail were so terrible to me +that I shall never forget them in my life. Was it because on entering +the car I had a vivid imagination of having already arrived, or because +the railway acts upon people in such an exciting fashion? At any rate, +after boarding the train I could no longer control my imagination, which +incessantly, with extraordinary vivacity, drew pictures before my eyes, +each more cynical than its predecessor, which kindled my jealousy. +And always the same things about what was happening at home during +my absence. I burned with indignation, with rage, and with a peculiar +feeling which steeped me in humiliation, as I contemplated these +pictures. And I could not tear myself out of this condition. I could +not help looking at them, I could not efface them, I could not keep from +evoking them. + +"The more I looked at these imaginary pictures, the more I believed +in their reality, forgetting that they had no serious foundation. The +vivacity of these images seemed to prove to me that my imaginations +were a reality. One would have said that a demon, against my will, +was inventing and breathing into me the most terrible fictions. +A conversation which dated a long time back, with the brother of +Troukhatchevsky, I remembered at that moment, in a sort of ecstasy, and +it tore my heart as I connected it with the musician and my wife. Yes, +it was very long ago. The brother of Troukhatchevsky, answering my +questions as to whether he frequented disreputable houses, said that a +respectable man does not go where he may contract a disease, in a low +and unclean spot, when one can find an honest woman. And here he, his +brother, the musician, had found the honest woman. 'It is true that she +is no longer in her early youth. She has lost a tooth on one side, and +her face is slightly bloated,' thought I for Troukhatchevsky. 'But what +is to be done? One must profit by what one has.' + +"'Yes, he is bound to take her for his mistress,' said I to myself +again; 'and besides, she is not dangerous.' + +"'No, it is not possible' I rejoined in fright. 'Nothing, nothing of the +kind has happened, and there is no reason to suppose there has. Did she +not tell me that the very idea that I could be jealous of her because of +him was humiliating to her?' 'Yes, but she lied,' I cried, and all began +over again. + +"There were only two travellers in my compartment: an old woman with her +husband, neither of them very talkative; and even they got out at one of +the stations, leaving me all alone. I was like a beast in a cage. Now I +jumped up and approached the window, now I began to walk back and forth, +staggering as if I hoped to make the train go faster by my efforts, and +the car with its seats and its windows trembled continually, as ours +does now." + +And Posdnicheff rose abruptly, took a few steps, and sat down again. + +"Oh, I am afraid, I am afraid of railway carriages. Fear seizes me. I +sat down again, and I said to myself: 'I must think of something else. +For instance, of the inn keeper at whose house I took tea.' And then, in +my imagination arose the dvornik, with his long beard, and his grandson, +a little fellow of the same age as my little Basile. My little Basile! +My little Basile! He will see the musician kiss his mother! What +thoughts will pass through his poor soul! But what does that matter to +her! She loves. + +"And again it all began, the circle of the same thoughts. I suffered +so much that at last I did not know what to do with myself, and an idea +passed through my head that pleased me much,--to get out upon the rails, +throw myself under the cars, and thus finish everything. One thing +prevented me from doing so. It was pity! It was pity for myself, evoking +at the same time a hatred for her, for him, but not so much for him. +Toward him I felt a strange sentiment of my humiliation and his victory, +but toward her a terrible hatred. + +"'But I cannot kill myself and leave her free. She must suffer, she must +understand at least that I have suffered,' said I to myself. + +"At a station I saw people drinking at the lunch counter, and directly I +went to swallow a glass of vodki. Beside me stood a Jew, drinking also. +He began to talk to me, and I, in order not to be left alone in my +compartment, went with him into his third-class, dirty, full of smoke, +and covered with peelings and sunflower seeds. There I sat down beside +the Jew, and, as it seemed, he told many anecdotes. + +"First I listened to him, but I did not understand what he said. He +noticed it, and exacted my attention to his person. Then I rose and +entered my own compartment. + +"'I must consider,' said I to myself, 'whether what I think is true, +whether there is any reason to torment myself.' I sat down, wishing to +reflect quietly; but directly, instead of the peaceful reflections, the +same thing began again. Instead of the reasoning, the pictures. + +"'How many times have I tormented myself in this way,' I thought (I +recalled previous and similar fits of jealousy), 'and then seen it end +in nothing at all? It is the same now. Perhaps, yes, surely, I shall +find her quietly sleeping. She will awaken, she will be glad, and in her +words and looks I shall see that nothing has happened, that all this is +vain. Ah, if it would only so turn out!' 'But no, that has happened too +often! Now the end has come,' a voice said to me. + +"And again it all began. Ah, what torture! It is not to a hospital +filled with syphilitic patients that I would take a young man to deprive +him of the desire for women, but into my soul, to show him the demon +which tore it. The frightful part was that I recognized in myself an +indisputable right to the body of my wife, as if her body were entirely +mine. And at the same time I felt that I could not possess this body, +that it was not mine, that she could do with it as she liked, and that +she liked to do with it as I did not like. And I was powerless against +him and against her. He, like the Vanka of the song, would sing, before +mounting the gallows, how he would kiss her sweet lips, etc., and he +would even have the best of it before death. With her it was still +worse. If she HAD NOT DONE IT, she had the desire, she wished to do it, +and I knew that she did. That was worse yet. It would be better if she +had already done it, to relieve me of my uncertainty. + +"In short, I could not say what I desired. I desired that she might not +want what she MUST want. It was complete madness." + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +"At the station before the last, when the conductor came to take the +tickets, I took my baggage and went out on the car platform, and +the consciousness that the climax was near at hand only added to my +agitation. I was cold, my jaw trembled so that my teeth chattered. +Mechanically I left the station with the crowd, I took a tchik, and I +started. I looked at the few people passing in the streets and at the +dvorniks. I read the signs, without thinking of anything. After going +half a verst my feet began to feel cold, and I remembered that in the +car I had taken off my woollen socks, and had put them in my travelling +bag. Where had I put the bag? Was it with me? Yes, and the basket? + +"I bethought myself that I had totally forgotten my baggage. I took out +my check, and then decided it was not worth while to return. I continued +on my way. In spite of all my efforts to remember, I cannot at this +moment make out why I was in such a hurry. I know only that I was +conscious that a serious and menacing event was approaching in my life. +It was a case of real auto-suggestion. Was it so serious because I +thought it so? Or had I a presentiment? I do not know. Perhaps, too, +after what has happened, all previous events have taken on a lugubrious +tint in my memory. + +"I arrived at the steps. It was an hour past midnight. A few isvotchiks +were before the door, awaiting customers, attracted by the lighted +windows (the lighted windows were those of our parlor and reception +room). Without trying to account for this late illumination, I went up +the steps, always with the same expectation of something terrible, and +I rang. The servant, a good, industrious, and very stupid being, named +Gregor, opened the door. The first thing that leaped to my eyes in the +hall, on the hat-stand, among other garments, was an overcoat. I ought +to have been astonished, but I was not astonished. I expected it. +'That's it!' I said to myself. + +"When I had asked Gregor who was there, and he had named +Troukhatchevsky, I inquired whether there were other visitors. He +answered: 'Nobody.' I remember the air with which he said that, with +a tone that was intended to give me pleasure, and dissipate my doubts. +'That's it! that's it!' I had the air of saying to myself. 'And the +children?' + +"'Thank God, they are very well. They went to sleep long ago.' + +"I scarcely breathed, and I could not keep my jaw from trembling. + +"Then it was not as I thought. I had often before returned home with the +thought that a misfortune had awaited me, but had been mistaken, and +everything was going on as usual. But now things were not going on as +usual. All that I had imagined, all that I believed to be chimeras, all +really existed. Here was the truth. + +"I was on the point of sobbing, but straightway the demon whispered in +my ear: 'Weep and be sentimental, and they will separate quietly, and +there will be no proofs, and all your life you will doubt and suffer.' +And pity for myself vanished, and there remained only the bestial need +of some adroit, cunning, and energetic action. I became a beast, an +intelligent beast. + +"'No, no,' said I to Gregor, who was about to announce my arrival. 'Do +this, take a carriage, and go at once for my baggage. Here is the check. +Start.' + +"He went along the hall to get his overcoat. Fearing lest he might +frighten them, I accompanied him to his little room, and waited for him +to put on his things. In the dining-room could be heard the sound of +conversation and the rattling of knives and plates. They were eating. +They had not heard the ring. 'Now if they only do not go out,' I +thought. + +"Gregor put on his fur-collared coat and went out. I closed the door +after him. I felt anxious when I was alone, thinking that directly I +should have to act. How? I did not yet know. I knew only that all was +ended, that there could be no doubt of his innocence, and that in an +instant my relations with her were going to be terminated. Before, I had +still doubts. I said to myself: 'Perhaps this is not true. Perhaps I am +mistaken.' Now all doubt had disappeared. All was decided irrevocably. +Secretly, all alone with him, at night! It is a violation of all duties! +Or, worse yet, she may make a show of that audacity, of that insolence +in crime, which, by its excess, tends to prove innocence. All is clear. +No doubt. I feared but one thing,--that they might run in different +directions, that they might invent some new lie, and thus deprive me of +material proof, and of the sorrowful joy of punishing, yes, of executing +them. + +"And to surprise them more quickly, I started on tiptoe for the +dining-room, not through the parlor, but through the hall and the +children's rooms. In the first room slept the little boy. In the second, +the old nurse moved in her bed, and seemed on the point of waking, and +I wondered what she would think when she knew all. And pity for myself +gave me such a pang that I could not keep the tears back. Not to wake +the children, I ran lightly through the hall into my study. I dropped +upon the sofa, and sobbed. 'I, an honest man, I, the son of my parents, +who all my life long have dreamed of family happiness, I who have never +betrayed! . . . And here my five children, and she embracing a musician +because he has red lips! No, she is not a woman! She is a bitch, a dirty +bitch! Beside the chamber of the children, whom she had pretended to +love all her life! And then to think of what she wrote me! And how do +I know? Perhaps it has always been thus. Perhaps all these children, +supposed to be mine, are the children of my servants. And if I had +arrived to-morrow, she would have come to meet me with her coiffure, +with her corsage, her indolent and graceful movements (and I see her +attractive and ignoble features), and this jealous animal would have +remained forever in my heart, tearing it. What will the old nurse say? +And Gregor? And the poor little Lise? She already understands things. +And this impudence, this falsehood, this bestial sensuality, that I know +so well,' I said to myself. + +"I tried to rise. I could not. My heart was beating so violently that +I could not hold myself upon my legs. 'Yes, I shall die of a rush of +blood. She will kill me. That is what she wants. What is it to her to +kill? But that would be too agreeable to him, and I will not allow him +to have this pleasure. + +"Yes, here I am, and there they are. They are laughing, they. . . . Yes, +in spite of the fact that she is no longer in her early youth, he has +not disdained her. At any rate, she is by no means ugly, and above +all, not dangerous to his dear health, to him. Why did I not stifle +her then?' said I to myself, as I remembered that other scene of the +previous week, when I drove her from my study, and broke the furniture. + +"And I recalled the state in which I was then. Not only did I recall it, +but I again entered into the same bestial state. And suddenly there came +to me a desire to act, and all reasoning, except such as was necessary +to action, vanished from my brain, and I was in the condition of a +beast, and of a man under the influence of physical excitement pending a +danger, who acts imperturbably, without haste, and yet without losing a +minute, pursuing a definite object. + +"The first thing that I did was to take off my boots, and now, having +only stockings on, I advanced toward the wall, over the sofa, where +firearms and daggers were hanging, and I took down a curved Damascus +blade, which I had never used, and which was very sharp. I took it from +its sheath. I remember that the sheath fell upon the sofa, and that I +said to myself: 'I must look for it later; it must not be lost.' + +"Then I took off my overcoat, which I had kept on all the time, and with +wolf-like tread started for THE ROOM. I do not remember how I proceeded, +whether I ran or went slowly, through what chambers I passed, how I +approached the dining-room, how I opened the door, how I entered. I +remember nothing about it." + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +"I Remember only the expression of their faces when I opened the door. I +remember that, because it awakened in me a feeling of sorrowful joy. +It was an expression of terror, such as I desired. Never shall I forget +that desperate and sudden fright that appeared on their faces when they +saw me. He, I believe, was at the table, and, when he saw or heard me, +he started, jumped to his feet, and retreated to the sideboard. Fear +was the only sentiment that could be read with certainty in his face. +In hers, too, fear was to be read, but accompanied by other impressions. +And yet, if her face had expressed only fear, perhaps that which +happened would not have happened. But in the expression of her face +there was at the first moment--at least, I thought I saw it--a feeling +of ennui, of discontent, at this disturbance of her love and happiness. +One would have said that her sole desire was not to be disturbed IN THE +MOMENT OF HER HAPPINESS. But these expressions appeared upon their +faces only for a moment. Terror almost immediately gave place to +interrogation. Would they lie or not? If yes, they must begin. If not, +something else was going to happen. But what? + +"He gave her a questioning glance. On her face the expression of anguish +and ennui changed, it seemed to me, when she looked at him, into an +expression of anxiety for HIM. For a moment I stood in the doorway, +holding the dagger hidden behind my back. Suddenly he smiled, and in a +voice that was indifferent almost to the point of ridicule, he said: + +"'We were having some music.' + +"'I did not expect--,' she began at the same time, chiming in with the +tone of the other. + +"But neither he nor she finished their remarks. The same rage that I had +felt the previous week took possession of me. I felt the need of giving +free course to my violence and 'the joy of wrath.' + +"No, they did not finish. That other thing was going to begin, of which +he was afraid, and was going to annihilate what they wanted to say. +I threw myself upon her, still hiding the dagger, that he might not +prevent me from striking where I desired, in her bosom, under the +breast. At that moment he saw . . . and, what I did not expect on his +part, he quickly seized my hand, and cried: + +"'Come to your senses! What are you doing? Help! Help!' + +"I tore my hands from his grasp, and leaped upon him. I must have been +very terrible, for he turned as white as a sheet, to his lips. His eyes +scintillated singularly, and--again what I did not expect of him--he +scrambled under the piano, toward the other room. I tried to follow him, +but a very heavy weight fell upon my left arm. It was she. + +"I made an effort to clear myself. She clung more heavily than ever, +refusing to let go. This unexpected obstacle, this burden, and this +repugnant touch only irritated me the more. I perceived that I was +completely mad, that I must be frightful, and I was glad of it. With +a sudden impulse, and with all my strength, I dealt her, with my left +elbow, a blow squarely in the face. + +"She uttered a cry and let go my arm. I wanted to follow the other, but +I felt that it would be ridiculous to pursue in my stockings the lover +of my wife, and I did not wish to be grotesque, I wished to be terrible. +In spite of my extreme rage, I was all the time conscious of the +impression that I was making upon others, and even this impression +partially guided me. + +"I turned toward her. She had fallen on the long easy chair, and, +covering her face at the spot where I had struck her, she looked at me. +Her features exhibited fear and hatred toward me, her enemy, such as the +rat exhibits when one lifts the rat-trap. At least, I saw nothing in her +but that fear and hatred, the fear and hatred which love for another had +provoked. Perhaps I still should have restrained myself, and should +not have gone to the last extremity, if she had maintained silence. But +suddenly she began to speak; she grasped my hand that held the dagger. + +"'Come to your senses! What are you doing? What is the matter with you? +Nothing has happened, nothing, nothing! I swear it to you!' + +"I might have delayed longer, but these last words, from which I +inferred the contrary of what they affirmed,--that is, that EVERYTHING +had happened,--these words called for a reply. And the reply must +correspond to the condition into which I had lashed myself, and which +was increasing and must continue to increase. Rage has its laws. + +"'Do not lie, wretch. Do not lie!' I roared. + +"With my left hand I seized her hands. She disengaged herself. Then, +without dropping my dagger, I seized her by the throat, forced her to +the floor, and began to strangle her. With her two hands she clutched +mine, tearing them from her throat, stifling. Then I struck her a blow +with the dagger, in the left side, between the lower ribs. + +"When people say that they do not remember what they do in a fit of +fury, they talk nonsense. It is false. I remember everything. + +"I did not lose my consciousness for a single moment. The more I lashed +myself to fury, the clearer my mind became, and I could not help seeing +what I did. I cannot say that I knew in advance what I would do, but at +the moment when I acted, and it seems to me even a little before, I knew +what I was doing, as if to make it possible to repent, and to be able to +say later that I could have stopped. + +"I knew that I struck the blow between the ribs, and that the dagger +entered. + +"At the second when I did it, I knew that I was performing a horrible +act, such as I had never performed,--an act that would have frightful +consequences. My thought was as quick as lightning, and the deed +followed immediately. The act, to my inner sense, had an extraordinary +clearness. I perceived the resistance of the corset and then something +else, and then the sinking of the knife into a soft substance. She +clutched at the dagger with her hands, and cut herself with it, but +could not restrain the blow. + +"Long afterward, in prison when the moral revolution had been effected +within me, I thought of that minute, I remembered it as far as I could, +and I co-ordinated all the sudden changes. I remembered the terrible +consciousness which I felt,--that I was killing a wife, MY wife. + +"I well remember the horror of that consciousness and I know vaguely +that, having plunged in the dagger, I drew it out again immediately, +wishing to repair and arrest my action. She straightened up and cried: + +"'Nurse, he has killed me!' + +"The old nurse, who had heard the noise, was standing in the doorway. I +was still erect, waiting, and not believing myself in what had happened. +But at that moment, from under her corset, the blood gushed forth. Then +only did I understand that all reparation was impossible, and promptly +I decided that it was not even necessary, that all had happened in +accordance with my wish, and that I had fulfilled my desire. I waited +until she fell, and until the nurse, exclaiming, 'Oh, my God!' ran to +her; then only I threw away the dagger and went out of the room. + +"'I must not be agitated. I must be conscious of what I am doing,' I +said to myself, looking neither at her nor at the old nurse. The latter +cried and called the maid. I passed through the hall, and, after having +sent the maid, started for my study. + +"'What shall I do now?' I asked myself. + +"And immediately I understood what I should do. Directly after entering +the study, I went straight to the wall, took down the revolver, and +examined it attentively. It was loaded. Then I placed it on the table. +Next I picked up the sheath of the dagger, which had dropped down +behind the sofa, and then I sat down. I remained thus for a long time. +I thought of nothing, I did not try to remember anything. I heard a +stifled noise of steps, a movement of objects and of tapestries, then +the arrival of a person, and then the arrival of another person. Then +I saw Gregor bring into my room the baggage from the railway; as if any +one needed it! + +"'Have you heard what has happened?' I asked him. 'Have you told the +dvornik to inform the police?' + +"He made no answer, and went out. I rose, closed the door, took the +cigarettes and the matches, and began to smoke. I had not finished one +cigarette, when a drowsy feeling came over me and sent me into a deep +sleep. I surely slept two hours. I remember having dreamed that I was on +good terms with her, that after a quarrel we were in the act of making +up, that something prevented us, but that we were friends all the same. + +"A knock at the door awoke me. + +"'It is the police,' thought I, as I opened my eyes. 'I have killed, I +believe. But perhaps it is SHE; perhaps nothing has happened.' + +"Another knock. I did not answer. I was solving the question: 'Has it +happened or not? Yes, it has happened.' + +"I remembered the resistance of the corset, and then. . . . 'Yes, it has +happened. Yes, it has happened. Yes, now I must execute myself,' said I +to myself. + +"I said it, but I knew well that I should not kill myself. Nevertheless, +I rose and took the revolver, but, strange thing, I remembered that +formerly I had very often had suicidal ideas, that that very night, on +the cars, it had seemed to me easy, especially easy because I thought +how it would stupefy her. Now I not only could not kill myself, but I +could not even think of it. + +"'Why do it?' I asked myself, without answering. + +"Another knock at the door. + +"'Yes, but I must first know who is knocking. I have time enough.' + +"I put the revolver back on the table, and hid it under my newspaper. I +went to the door and drew back the bolt. + +"It was my wife's sister,--a good and stupid widow. + +"'Basile, what does this mean?' said she, and her tears, always ready, +began to flow. + +"'What do you want?' I asked roughly. + +"I saw clearly that there was no necessity of being rough with her, but +I could not speak in any other tone. + +"'Basile, she is dying. Ivan Fedorowitch says so.' + +"Ivan Fedorowitch was the doctor, HER doctor, her counsellor. + +"'Is he here?' I inquired. + +"And all my hatred of her arose anew. + +"Well, what? + +"'Basile, go to her! Ah! how terrible it is!' said she. + +"'Go to her?' I asked myself; and immediately I made answer to myself +that I ought to go, that probably that was the thing that is usually +done when a husband like myself kills his wife, that it was absolutely +necessary that I should go and see her. + +"'If that is the proper thing, I must go,' I repeated to myself. 'Yes, +if it is necessary, I shall still have time,' said I to myself, thinking +of my intention of blowing my brains out. + +"And I followed my sister-in-law. 'Now there are going to be phrases and +grimaces, but I will not yield,' I declared to myself. + +"'Wait,' said I to my sister-in-law, 'it is stupid to be without boots. +Let me at least put on my slippers.'" + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +"Strange thing! Again, when I had left my study, and was passing through +the familiar rooms, again the hope came to me that nothing had happened. +But the odor of the drugs, iodoform and phenic acid, brought me back to +a sense of reality. + +"'No, everything has happened.' + +"In passing through the hall, beside the children's chamber, I saw +little Lise. She was looking at me, with eyes that were full of fear. I +even thought that all the children were looking at me. As I approached +the door of our sleeping-room, a servant opened it from within, and +came out. The first thing that I noticed was HER light gray dress upon +a chair, all dark with blood. On our common bed she was stretched, with +knees drawn up. + +"She lay very high, upon pillows, with her chemise half open. Linen had +been placed upon the wound. A heavy smell of iodoform filled the room. +Before, and more than anything else, I was astonished at her face, which +was swollen and bruised under the eyes and over a part of the nose. This +was the result of the blow that I had struck her with my elbow, when +she had tried to hold me back. Of beauty there was no trace left. I saw +something hideous in her. I stopped upon the threshold. + +"'Approach, approach her,' said her sister. + +"'Yes, probably she repents,' thought I; 'shall I forgive her? Yes, she +is dying, I must forgive her,' I added, trying to be generous. + +"I approached the bedside. With difficulty she raised her eyes, one of +which was swollen, and uttered these words haltingly: + +"'You have accomplished what you desired. You have killed me.' + +"And in her face, through the physical sufferings, in spite of the +approach of death, was expressed the same old hatred, so familiar to me. + +"'The children . . . I will not give them to you . . . all the +same. . . . She (her sister) shall take them.' . . . + +"But of that which I considered essential, of her fault, of her treason, +one would have said that she did not think it necessary to say even a +word. + +"'Yes, revel in what you have done.' + +"And she sobbed. + +"At the door stood her sister with the children. + +"'Yes, see what you have done!' + +"I cast a glance at the children, and then at her bruised and swollen +face, and for the first time I forgot myself (my rights, my pride), and +for the first time I saw in her a human being, a sister. + +"And all that which a moment before had been so offensive to me now +seemed to me so petty,--all this jealousy,--and, on the contrary, what +I had done seemed to me so important that I felt like bending over, +approaching my face to her hand, and saying: + +"'Forgive me!' + +"But I did not dare. She was silent, with eyelids lowered, evidently +having no strength to speak further. Then her deformed face began to +tremble and shrivel, and she feebly pushed me back. + +"'Why has all this happened? Why?' + +"'Forgive me,' said I. + +"'Yes, if you had not killed me,' she cried suddenly, and her eyes shone +feverishly. 'Forgiveness--that is nothing. . . . If I only do not die! +Ah, you have accomplished what you desired! I hate you!' + +"Then she grew delirious. She was frightened, and cried: + +"'Fire, I do not fear . . . but strike them all . . . He has gone. . . . +He has gone.' . . . + +"The delirium continued. She no longer recognized the children, not even +little Lise, who had approached. Toward noon she died. As for me, I was +arrested before her death, at eight o'clock in the morning. They took +me to the police station, and then to prison, and there, during eleven +months, awaiting the verdict, I reflected upon myself, and upon my past, +and I understood it. Yes, I began to understand from the third day. The +third day they took me to the house." . . . + +Posdnicheff seemed to wish to add something, but, no longer having the +strength to repress his sobs, he stopped. After a few minutes, having +recovered his calmness, he resumed: + +"I began to understand only when I saw her in the coffin." . . . + +He uttered a sob, and then immediately continued, with haste: + +"Then only, when I saw her dead face, did I understand all that I had +done. I understood that it was I, I, who had killed her. I understood +that I was the cause of the fact that she, who had been a moving, +living, palpitating being, had now become motionless and cold, and that +there was no way of repairing this thing. He who has not lived through +that cannot understand it." + +***** + +We remained silent a long time. Posdnicheff sobbed and trembled before +me. His face had become delicate and long, and his mouth had grown +larger. + +"Yes," said he suddenly, "if I had known what I now know, I should never +have married her, never, not for anything." + +Again we remained silent for a long time. + +"Yes, that is what I have done, that is my experience, We must +understand the real meaning of the words of the Gospel,--Matthew, V. +28,--'that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed +adultery'; and these words relate to the wife, to the sister, and not +only to the wife of another, but especially to one's own wife." + +THE END. + + +If the reading of this book has interested you, do not fail to get its +sequel, entitled "KREUTZER SONATA BEARING FRUIT," by Pauline Grayson, +which is an exceedingly interesting narrative showing one of the results +of the ideas set forth in "Kreutzer Sonata." It is bound in paper +covers and will be sent by mail, postage paid, upon receipt of 25 cents. +Address all orders to J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 57 Rose Street, +New York. + + + + +LESSON OF "THE KREUTZER SONATA." + +I have received, and still continue to receive, numbers of letters from +persons who are perfect strangers to me, asking me to state in plain +and simple language my own views on the subject handled in the story +entitled "The Kreutzer Sonata." With this request I shall now endeavor +to comply. + +My views on the question may be succinctly stated as follows: Without +entering into details, it will be generally admitted that I am accurate +in saying that many people condone in young men a course of conduct with +regard to the other sex which is incompatible with strict morality, +and that this dissoluteness is pardoned generally. Both parents and +the government, in consequence of this view, may be said to wink at +profligacy, and even in the last resource to encourage its practice. I +am of opinion that this is not right. + +It is not possible that the health of one class should necessitate the +ruin of another, and, in consequence, it is our first duty to turn a +deaf ear to such an essential immoral doctrine, no matter how strongly +society may have established or law protected it. Moreover, it needs to +be fully recognized that men are rightly to be held responsible for +the consequences of their own acts, and that these are no longer to be +visited on the woman alone. It follows from this that it is the duty of +men who do not wish to lead a life of infamy to practice such continence +in respect to all woman as they would were the female society in which +they move made up exclusively of their own mothers and sisters. + +A more rational mode of life should be adopted which would include +abstinence from all alcoholic drinks, from excess in eating and from +flesh meat, on the one hand, and recourse to physical labor on the +other. I am not speaking of gymnastics, or of any of those occupations +which may be fitly described as playing at work; I mean the genuine toil +that fatigues. No one need go far in search of proofs that this kind of +abstemious living is not merely possible, but far less hurtful to health +than excess. Hundreds of instances are known to every one. This is my +first contention. + +In the second place, I think that of late years, through various reasons +which I need not enter, but among which the above-mentioned laxity +of opinion in society and the frequent idealization of the subject in +current literature and painting may be mentioned, conjugal infidelity +has become more common and is considered less reprehensible. I am of +opinion that this is not right. The origin of the evil is twofold. It is +due, in the first place, to a natural instinct, and, in the second, to +the elevation of this instinct to a place to which it does not rightly +belong. This being so, the evil can only be remedied by effecting a +change in the views now in vogue about "falling in love" and all that +this term implies, by educating men and women at home through family +influence and example, and abroad by means of healthy public opinion, to +practice that abstinence which morality and Christianity alike enjoin. +This is my second contention. + +In the third place I am of opinion that another consequence of the false +light in which "falling in love," and what it leads to, are viewed +in our society, is that the birth of children has lost its pristine +significance, and that modern marriages are conceived less and less from +the point of view of the family. I am of opinion that this is not right. +This is my third contention. + +In the fourth place, I am of opinion that the children (who in our +society are considered an obstacle to enjoyment--an unlucky accident, as +it were) are educated not with a view to the problem which they will be +one day called on to face and to solve, but solely with an eye to +the pleasure which they may be made to yield to their parents. The +consequence is, that the children of human beings are brought up for +all the world like the young of animals, the chief care of their parents +being not to train them to such work as is worthy of men and women, but +to increase their weight, or add a cubit to their stature, to make them +spruce, sleek, well-fed, and comely. They rig them out in all manner of +fantastic costumes, wash them, over-feed them, and refuse to make them +work. If the children of the lower orders differ in this last respect +from those of the well-to-do classes, the difference is merely formal; +they work from sheer necessity, and not because their parents recognize +work as a duty. And in over-fed children, as in over-fed animals, +sensuality is engendered unnaturally early. + +Fashionable dress to-day, the course of reading, plays, music, dances, +luscious food, all the elements of our modern life, in a word, from the +pictures on the little boxes of sweetmeats up to the novel, the tale, +and the poem, contribute to fan this sensuality into a strong, consuming +flame, with the result that sexual vices and diseases have come to be +the normal conditions of the period of tender youth, and often continue +into the riper age of full-blown manhood. And I am of opinion that this +is not right. + +It is high time it ceased. The children of human beings should not be +brought up as if they were animals; and we should set up as the object +and strive to maintain as the result of our labors something better and +nobler than a well-dressed body. This is my fourth contention. + +In the fifth place, I am of opinion that, owing to the exaggerated and +erroneous significance attributed by our society to love and to the +idealized states that accompany and succeed it, the best energies of our +men and women are drawn forth and exhausted during the most promising +period of life; those of the men in the work of looking for, choosing, +and winning the most desirable objects of love, for which purpose lying +and fraud are held to be quite excusable; those of the women and girls +in alluring men and decoying them into liaisons or marriage by the most +questionable means conceivable, as an instance of which the present +fashions in evening dress may be cited. I am of opinion that this is not +right. + +The truth is, that the whole affair has been exalted by poets and +romancers to an undue importance, and that love in its various +developments is not a fitting object to consume the best energies of +men. People set it before them and strive after it, because their view +of life is as vulgar and brutish as is that other conception frequently +met with in the lower stages of development, which sees in luscious +and abundant food an end worthy of man's best efforts. Now, this is not +right and should not be done. And, in order to avoid doing it, it is +only needful to realize the fact that whatever truly deserves to be held +up as a worthy object of man's striving and working, whether it be the +service of humanity, of one's country, of science, of art, not to speak +of the service of God, is far above and beyond the sphere of personal +enjoyment. Hence, it follows that not only to form a liaison, but +even to contract marriage, is, from a Christian point of view, not a +progress, but a fall. Love, and all the states that accompany and follow +it, however we may try in prose and verse to prove the contrary, never +do and never can facilitate the attainment of an aim worthy of men, but +always make it more difficult. This is my fifth contention. + +How about the human race? If we admit that celibacy is better and nobler +than marriage, evidently the human race will come to an end. But, if the +logical conclusion of the argument is that the human race will become +extinct, the whole reasoning is wrong. + +To that I reply that the argument is not mine; I did not invent it. That +it is incumbent on mankind so to strive, and that celibacy is preferable +to marriage, are truths revealed by Christ 1,900 years ago, set forth in +our catechisms, and professed by us as followers of Christ. + +Chastity and celibacy, it is urged, cannot constitute the ideal of +humanity, because chastity would annihilate the race which strove +to realize it, and humanity cannot set up as its ideal its own +annihilation. It may be pointed out in reply that only that is a true +ideal, which, being unattainable, admits of infinite gradation in +degrees of proximity. Such is the Christian ideal of the founding of +God's kingdom, the union of all living creatures by the bonds of love. +The conception of its attainment is incompatible with the conception +of the movement of life. What kind of life could subsist if all +living creatures were joined together by the bonds of love? None. Our +conception of life is inseparably bound up with the conception of a +continual striving after an unattainable ideal. + +But even if we suppose the Christian ideal of perfect chastity realized, +what then? We should merely find ourselves face to face on the one hand +with the familiar teaching of religion, one of whose dogmas is that the +world will have an end; and on the other of so-called science, which +informs us that the sun is gradually losing its heat, the result of +which will in time be the extinction of the human race. + +Now there is not and cannot be such an institution as Christian +marriage, just as there cannot be such a thing as a Christian liturgy +(Matt. vi. 5-12; John iv. 21), nor Christian teachers, nor church +fathers (Matt. xxiii. 8-10), nor Christian armies, Christian law courts, +nor Christian States. This is what was always taught and believed by +true Christians of the first and following centuries. A Christian's +ideal is not marriage, but love for God and for his neighbor. +Consequently in the eyes of a Christian relations in marriage not only +do not constitute a lawful, right, and happy state, as our society and +our churches maintain, but, on the contrary, are always a fall. + +Such a thing as Christian marriage never was and never could be. Christ +did not marry, nor did he establish marriage; neither did his disciples +marry. But if Christian marriage cannot exist, there is such a thing as +a Christian view of marriage. And this is how it may be formulated: A +Christian (and by this term I understand not those who call themselves +Christians merely because they were baptized and still receive the +sacrament once a year, but those whose lives are shaped and regulated +by the teachings of Christ), I say, cannot view the marriage relation +otherwise than as a deviation from the doctrine of Christ,--as a sin. +This is clearly laid down in Matt. v. 28, and the ceremony called +Christian marriage does not alter its character one jot. A Christian +will never, therefore, desire marriage, but will always avoid it. + +If the light of truth dawns upon a Christian when he is already married, +or if, being a Christian, from weakness he enters into marital relations +with the ceremonies of the church, or without them, he has no other +alternative than to abide with his wife (and the wife with her husband, +if it is she who is a Christian) and to aspire together with her to free +themselves of their sin. This is the Christian view of marriage; and +there cannot be any other for a man who honestly endeavors to shape his +life in accordance with the teachings of Christ. + +To very many persons the thoughts I have uttered here and in "The +Kreutzer Sonata" will seem strange, vague, even contradictory. They +certainly do contradict, not each other, but the whole tenor of our +lives, and involuntarily a doubt arises, "on which side is truth,--on +the side of the thoughts which seem true and well-founded, or on the +side of the lives of others and myself?" I, too, was weighed down +by that same doubt when writing "The Kreutzer Sonata." I had not the +faintest presentiment that the train of thought I had started would lead +me whither it did. I was terrified by my own conclusion, and I was at +first disposed to reject it, but it was impossible not to hearken to the +voice of my reason and my conscience. And so, strange though they may +appear to many, opposed as they undoubtedly are to the trend and tenor +of our lives, and incompatible though they may prove with what I have +heretofore thought and uttered, I have no choice but to accept them. +"But man is weak," people will object. "His task should be regulated by +his strength." + +This is tantamount to saying, "My hand is weak. I cannot draw a straight +line,--that is, a line which will be the shortest line between two given +points,--and so, in order to make it more easy for myself, I, intending +to draw a straight, will choose for my model a crooked line." + +The weaker my hand, the greater the need that my model should be +perfect. + +LEO TOLSTOI. + + + + +IVAN THE FOOL. + +Copyright, 1891, by CHAS. L. WEBSTER & CO. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +In a certain kingdom there lived a rich peasant, who had three +sons--Simeon (a soldier), Tarras-Briukhan (fat man), and Ivan (a +fool)--and one daughter, Milania, born dumb. Simeon went to war, to +serve the Czar; Tarras went to a city and became a merchant; and Ivan, +with his sister, remained at home to work on the farm. + +For his valiant service in the army, Simeon received an estate with high +rank, and married a noble's daughter. Besides his large pay, he was in +receipt of a handsome income from his estate; yet he was unable to make +ends meet. What the husband saved, the wife wasted in extravagance. One +day Simeon went to the estate to collect his income, when the steward +informed him that there was no income, saying: + +"We have neither horses, cows, fishing-nets, nor implements; it is +necessary first to buy everything, and then to look for income." + +Simeon thereupon went to his father and said: + +"You are rich, batiushka [little father], but you have given nothing +to me. Give me one-third of what you possess as my share, and I will +transfer it to my estate." + +The old man replied: "You did not help to bring prosperity to our +household. For what reason, then, should you now demand the third part +of everything? It would be unjust to Ivan and his sister." + +"Yes," said Simeon; "but he is a fool, and she was born dumb. What need +have they of anything?" + +"See what Ivan will say." + +Ivan's reply was: "Well, let him take his share." + +Simeon took the portion allotted to him, and went again to serve in the +army. + +Tarras also met with success. He became rich and married a merchant's +daughter, but even this failed to satisfy his desires, and he also went +to his father and said, "Give me my share." + +The old man, however, refused to comply with his request, saying: "You +had no hand in the accumulation of our property, and what our household +contains is the result of Ivan's hard work. It would be unjust," he +repeated, "to Ivan and his sister." + +Tarras replied: "But he does not need it. He is a fool, and cannot +marry, for no one will have him; and sister does not require anything, +for she was born dumb." Turning then to Ivan he continued: "Give me half +the grain you have, and I will not touch the implements or fishing-nets; +and from the cattle I will take only the dark mare, as she is not fit to +plow." + +Ivan laughed and said: "Well, I will go and arrange matters so that +Tarras may have his share," whereupon Tarras took the brown mare with +the grain to town, leaving Ivan with one old horse to work on as before +and support his father, mother, and sister. + + +CHAPTER II. + +It was disappointing to the Stary Tchert (Old Devil) that the brothers +did not quarrel over the division of the property, and that they +separated peacefully; and he cried out, calling his three small devils +(Tchertionki). + +"See here," said he, "there are living three brothers--Simeon the +soldier, Tarras-Briukhan, and Ivan the Fool. It is necessary that +they should quarrel. Now they live peacefully, and enjoy each other's +hospitality. The Fool spoiled all my plans. Now you three go and work +with them in such a manner that they will be ready to tear each other's +eyes out. Can you do this?" + +"We can," they replied. + +"How will you accomplish it?" + +"In this way: We will first ruin them to such an extent that they will +have nothing to eat, and we will then gather them together in one place +where we are sure that they will fight." + +"Very well; I see you understand your business. Go, and do not return to +me until you have created a feud between the three brothers--or I will +skin you alive." + +The three small devils went to a swamp to consult as to the best means +of accomplishing their mission. They disputed for a long time--each +one wanting the easiest part of the work--and not being able to agree, +concluded to draw lots; by which it was decided that the one who was +first finished had to come and help the others. This agreement being +entered into, they appointed a time when they were again to meet in the +swamp--to find out who was through and who needed assistance. + +The time having arrived, the young devils met in the swamp as agreed, +when each related his experience. The first, who went to Simeon, said: +"I have succeeded in my undertaking, and to-morrow Simeon returns to his +father." + +His comrades, eager for particulars, inquired how he had done it. + +"Well," he began, "the first thing I did was to blow some courage into +his veins, and, on the strength of it, Simeon went to the Czar and +offered to conquer the whole world for him. The Emperor made him +commander-in-chief of the forces, and sent him with an army to fight the +Viceroy of India. Having started on their mission of conquest, they were +unaware that I, following in their wake, had wet all their powder. +I also went to the Indian ruler and showed him how I could create +numberless soldiers from straw. + +"Simeon's army, seeing that they were surrounded by such a vast number of +Indian warriors of my creation, became frightened, and Simeon commanded +to fire from cannons and rifles, which of course they were unable to +do. The soldiers, discouraged, retreated in great disorder. Thus Simeon +brought upon himself the terrible disgrace of defeat. His estate was +confiscated, and to-morrow he is to be executed. All that remains for +me to do, therefore," concluded the young devil, "is to release him +to-morrow morning. Now, then, who wants my assistance?" + +The second small devil (from Tarras) then related his story. + +"I do not need any help," he began. "My business is also all right. My +work with Tarras will be finished in one week. In the first place I made +him grow thin. He afterward became so covetous that he wanted to possess +everything he saw, and he spent all the money he had in the purchase +of immense quantities of goods. When his capital was gone he still +continued to buy with borrowed money, and has become involved in such +difficulties that he cannot free himself. At the end of one week the +date for the payment of his notes will have expired, and, his goods +being seized upon, he will become a bankrupt; and he also will return to +his father." + +At the conclusion of this narrative they inquired of the third devil how +things had fared between him and Ivan. + +"Well," said he, "my report is not so encouraging. The first thing I did +was to spit into his jug of quass [a sour drink made from rye], +which made him sick at his stomach. He afterward went to plow his +summer-fallow, but I made the soil so hard that the plow could scarcely +penetrate it. I thought the Fool would not succeed, but he started to +work nevertheless. Moaning with pain, he still continued to labor. I +broke one plow, but he replaced it with another, fixing it securely, and +resumed work. Going beneath the surface of the ground I took hold of the +plowshares, but did not succeed in stopping Ivan. He pressed so hard, +and the colter was so sharp, that my hands were cut; and despite my +utmost efforts, he went over all but a small portion of the field." + +He concluded with: "Come, brothers, and help me, for if we do not +conquer him our whole enterprise will be a failure. If the Fool is +permitted successfully to conduct his farming, they will have no need, +for he will support his brothers." + + +CHAPTER III. + +Ivan having succeeded in plowing all but a small portion of his land, he +returned the next day to finish it. The pain in his stomach continued, +but he felt that he must go on with his work. He tried to start his +plow, but it would not move; it seemed to have struck a hard root. It +was the small devil in the ground who had wound his feet around the +plowshares and held them. + +"This is strange," thought Ivan. "There were never any roots here +before, and this is surely one." + +Ivan put his hand in the ground, and, feeling something soft, grasped +and pulled it out. It was like a root in appearance, but seemed +to possess life. Holding it up he saw that it was a little devil. +Disgusted, he exclaimed, "See the nasty thing," and he proceeded to +strike it a blow, intending to kill it, when the young devil cried out: + +"Do not kill me, and I will grant your every wish." + +"What can you do for me?" + +"Tell me what it is you most wish for," the little devil replied. + +Ivan, peasant-fashion, scratched the back of his head as he thought, and +finally he said: + +"I am dreadfully sick at my stomach. Can you cure me?" + +"I can," the little devil said. + +"Then do so." + +The little devil bent toward the earth and began searching for roots, +and when he found them he gave them to Ivan, saying: "If you will +swallow some of these you will be immediately cured of whatsoever +disease you are afflicted with." + +Ivan did as directed, and obtained instant relief. + +"I beg of you to let me go now," the little devil pleaded; "I will pass +into the earth, never to return." + +"Very well; you may go, and God bless you;" and as Ivan pronounced the +name of God, the small devil disappeared into the earth like a flash, +and only a slight opening in the ground remained. + +Ivan placed in his hat what roots he had left, and proceeded to plow. +Soon finishing his work, he turned his plow over and returned home. + +When he reached the house he found his brother Simeon and his wife +seated at the supper-table. His estate had been confiscated, and he +himself had barely escaped execution by making his way out of prison, +and having nothing to live upon had come back to his father for support. + +Turning to Ivan he said: "I came to ask you to care for us until I can +find something to do." + +"Very well," Ivan replied; "you may remain with us." + +Just as Ivan was about to sit down to the table Simeon's wife made a wry +face, indicating that she did not like the smell of Ivan's sheep-skin +coat; and turning to her husband she said, "I shall not sit at the table +with a moujik [peasant] who smells like that." + +Simeon the soldier turned to his brother and said: "My lady objects to +the smell of your clothes. You may eat in the porch." + +Ivan said: "Very well, it is all the same to me. I will soon have to go +and feed my horse any way." + +Ivan took some bread in one hand, and his kaftan (coat) in the other, +and left the room. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +The small devil finished with Simeon that night, and according to +agreement went to the assistance of his comrade who had charge of +Ivan, that he might help to conquer the Fool. He went to the field and +searched everywhere, but could find nothing but the hole through which +the small devil had disappeared. + +"Well, this is strange," he said; "something must have happened to my +companion, and I will have to take his place and continue the work he +began. The Fool is through with his plowing, so I must look about me +for some other means of compassing his destruction. I must overflow his +meadow and prevent him from cutting the grass." + +The little devil accordingly overflowed the meadow with muddy water, +and, when Ivan went at dawn next morning with his scythe set and +sharpened and tried to mow the grass, he found that it resisted all his +efforts and would not yield to the implement as usual. + +Many times Ivan tried to cut the grass, but always without success. At +last, becoming weary of the effort, he decided to return home and have +his scythe again sharpened, and also to procure a quantity of bread, +saying: "I will come back here and will not leave until I have mown all +the meadow, even if it should take a whole week." + +Hearing this, the little devil became thoughtful, saying: "That Ivan is +a koolak [hard case], and I must think of some other way of conquering +him." + +Ivan soon returned with his sharpened scythe and started to mow. + +The small devil hid himself in the grass, and as the point of the scythe +came down he buried it in the earth and made it almost impossible for +Ivan to move the implement. He, however, succeeded in mowing all but +one small spot in the swamp, where again the small devil hid himself, +saying: "Even if he should cut my hands I will prevent him from +accomplishing his work." + +When Ivan came to the swamp he found that the grass was not very thick. +Still, the scythe would not work, which made him so angry that he worked +with all his might, and one blow more powerful than the others cut off a +portion of the small devil's tail, who had hidden himself there. + +Despite the little devil's efforts he succeeded in finishing his work, +when he returned home and ordered his sister to gather up the grass +while he went to another field to cut rye. But the devil preceded him +there, and fixed the rye in such a manner that it was almost impossible +for Ivan to cut it; however, after continuous hard labor he succeeded, +and when he was through with the rye he said to himself: "Now I will +start to mow oats." + +On hearing this, the little devil thought to himself: "I could not +prevent him from mowing the rye, but I will surely stop him from mowing +the oats when the morning comes." + +Early next day, when the devil came to the field, he found that the oats +had been already mowed. Ivan did it during the night, so as to avoid +the loss that might have resulted from the grain being too ripe and dry. +Seeing that Ivan again had escaped him, the little devil became greatly +enraged, saying: + +"He cut me all over and made me tired, that fool. I did not meet such +misfortune even on the battle-field. He does not even sleep;" and the +devil began to swear. "I cannot follow him," he continued. "I will go +now to the heaps and make everything rotten." + +Accordingly he went to a heap of the new-mown grain and began his +fiendish work. After wetting it he built a fire and warmed himself, and +soon was fast asleep. + +Ivan harnessed his horse, and, with his sister, went to bring the rye +home from the field. + +After lifting a couple of sheaves from the first heap his pitchfork came +into contact with the little devil's back, which caused the latter to +howl with pain and to jump around in every direction. Ivan exclaimed: + +"See here! What nastiness! You again here?" + +"I am another one!" said the little devil. "That was my brother. I am +the one who was sent to your brother Simeon." + +"Well," said Ivan, "it matters not who you are. I will fix you all the +same." + +As Ivan was about to strike the first blow the devil pleaded: "Let me go +and I will do you no more harm. I will do whatever you wish." + +"What can you do for me?" asked Ivan. + +"I can make soldiers from almost anything." + +"And what will they be good for?" + +"Oh, they will do everything for you!" + +"Can they sing?" + +"They can." + +"Well, make them." + +"Take a bunch of straw and scatter it on the ground, and see if each +straw will not turn into a soldier." + +Ivan shook the straws on the ground, and, as he expected, each straw +turned into a soldier, and they began marching with a band at their +head. + +"Ishty [look you], that was well done! How it will delight the village +maidens!" he exclaimed. + +The small devil now said: "Let me go; you do not need me any longer." + +But Ivan said: "No, I will not let you go just yet. You have converted +the straw into soldiers, and now I want you to turn them again into +straw, as I cannot afford to lose it, but I want it with the grain on." + +The devil replied: "Say: 'So many soldiers, so much straw.'" + +Ivan did as directed, and got back his rye with the straw. + +The small devil again begged for his release. + +Ivan, taking him from the pitchfork, said: "With God's blessing you may +depart"; and, as before at the mention of God's name, the little devil +was hurled into the earth like a flash, and nothing was left but the +hole to show where he had gone. + +Soon afterward Ivan returned home, to find his brother Tarras and his +wife there. Tarras-Briukhan could not pay his debts, and was forced to +flee from his creditors and seek refuge under his father's roof. Seeing +Ivan, he said: "Well, Ivan, may we remain here until I start in some new +business?" + +Ivan replied as he had before to Simeon: "Yes, you are perfectly welcome +to remain here as long as it suits you." + +With that announcement he removed his coat and seated himself at the +supper-table with the others. But Tarras-Briukhan's wife objected to the +smell of his clothes, saying: "I cannot eat with a fool; neither can I +stand the smell." + +Then Tarras-Briukhan said: "Ivan, from your clothes there comes a bad +smell; go and eat by yourself in the porch." + +"Very well," said Ivan; and he took some bread and went out as ordered, +saying, "It is time for me to feed my mare." + + +CHAPTER V. + +The small devil who had charge of Tarras finished with him that night, +and according to agreement proceeded to the assistance of the other two +to help them conquer Ivan. Arriving at the plowed field he looked +around for his comrades, but found only the hole through which one had +disappeared; and on going to the meadow he discovered the severed tail +of the other, and in the rye-field he found yet another hole. + +"Well," he thought, "it is quite clear that my comrades have met with +some great misfortune, and that I will have to take their places and +arrange the feud between the brothers." + +The small devil then went in search of Ivan. But he, having finished +with the field, was nowhere to be found. He had gone to the forest to +cut logs to build homes for his brothers, as they found it inconvenient +for so many to live under the same roof. + +The small devil at last discovered his whereabouts, and going to the +forest climbed into the branches of the trees and began to interfere +with Ivan's work. Ivan cut down a tree, which failed, however, to fall +to the ground, becoming entangled in the branches of other trees; yet he +succeeded in getting it down after a hard struggle. In chopping down the +next tree he met with the same difficulties, and also with the third. +Ivan had supposed he could cut down fifty trees in a day, but he +succeeded in chopping but ten before darkness put an end to his labors +for a time. He was now exhausted, and, perspiring profusely, he sat down +alone in the woods to rest. He soon after resumed his work, cutting down +one more tree; but the effort gave him a pain in his back, and he was +obliged to rest again. Seeing this, the small devil was full of joy. + +"Well," he thought, "now he is exhausted and will stop work, and I will +rest also." He then seated himself on some branches and rejoiced. + +Ivan again arose, however, and, taking his axe, gave the tree a terrific +blow from the opposite side, which felled it instantly to the ground, +carrying the little devil with it; and Ivan, proceeding to cut the +branches, found the devil alive. Very much astonished, Ivan exclaimed: + +"Look you! Such nastiness! Are you again here?" + +"I am another one," replied the devil. "I was with your brother Tarras." + +"Well," said Ivan, "that makes no difference; I will fix you." And he +was about to strike him a blow with the axe when the devil pleaded: + +"Do not kill me, and whatever you wish you shall have." + +Ivan asked, "What can you do?" + +"I can make for you all the money you wish." + +Ivan then told the devil he might proceed, whereupon the latter began to +explain to him how he might become rich. + +"Take," said he to Ivan, "the leaves of this oak tree and rub them in +your hands, and the gold will fall to the ground." + +Ivan did as he was directed, and immediately the gold began to drop +about his feet; and he remarked: + +"This will be a fine trick to amuse the village boys with." + +"Can I now take my departure?" asked the devil, to which Ivan replied, +"With God's blessing you may go." + +At the mention of the name of God, the devil disappeared into the earth. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The brothers, having finished their houses, moved into them and lived +apart from their father and brother. Ivan, when he had completed his +plowing, made a great feast, to which he invited his brothers, telling +them that he had plenty of beer for them to drink. The brothers, +however, declined Ivan's hospitality, saying, "We have seen the beer +moujiks drink, and want none of it." + +Ivan then gathered around him all the peasants in the village and +with them drank beer until he became intoxicated, when he joined the +Khorovody (a street gathering of the village boys and girls, who sing +songs), and told them they must sing his praises, saying that in return +he would show them such sights as they had never before seen in their +lives. The little girls laughed and began to sing songs praising Ivan, +and when they had finished they said: "Very well; now give us what you +said you would." + +Ivan replied, "I will soon show you," and, taking an empty bag in his +hand, he started for the woods. The little girls laughed as they said, +"What a fool he is!" and resuming their play they forgot all about him. + +Some time after Ivan suddenly appeared among them carrying in his hand +the bag, which was now filled. + +"Shall I divide this with you?" he said. + +"Yes; divide!" they sang in chorus. + +So Ivan put his hand into the bag and drew it out full of gold coins, +which he scattered among them. + +"Batiushka," they cried as they ran to gather up the precious pieces. + +The moujiks then appeared on the scene and began to fight among +themselves for the possession of the yellow objects. In the melee one +old woman was nearly crushed to death. + +Ivan laughed and was greatly amused at the sight of so many persons +quarrelling over a few pieces of gold. + +"Oh! you duratchki" (little fools), he said, "why did you almost crush +the life out of the old grandmother? Be more gentle. I have plenty more, +and I will give them to you;" whereupon he began throwing about more of +the coins. + +The people gathered around him, and Ivan continued throwing until he +emptied his bag. They clamored for more, but Ivan replied: "The gold +is all gone. Another time I will give you more. Now we will resume our +singing and dancing." + +The little children sang, but Ivan said to them, "Your songs are no +good." + +The children said, "Then show us how to sing better." + +To this Ivan replied, "I will show you people who can sing better than +you." With that remark Ivan went to the barn and, securing a bundle +of straw, did as the little devil had directed him; and presently a +regiment of soldiers appeared in the village street, and he ordered them +to sing and dance. + +The people were astonished and could not understand how Ivan had +produced the strangers. + +The soldiers sang for some time, to the great delight of the villagers; +and when Ivan commanded them to stop they instantly ceased. + +Ivan then ordered them off to the barn, telling the astonished and +mystified moujiks that they must not follow him. Reaching the barn, +he turned the soldiers again into straw and went home to sleep off the +effects of his debauch. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +The next morning Ivan's exploits were the talk of the village, and news +of the wonderful things he had done reached the ears of his brother +Simeon, who immediately went to Ivan to learn all about it. + +"Explain to me," he said; "from whence did you bring the soldiers, and +where did you take them?" + +"And what do you wish to know for?" asked Ivan. + +"Why, with soldiers we can do almost anything we wish--whole kingdoms +can be conquered," replied Simeon. + +This information greatly surprised Ivan, who said: "Well, why did you +not tell me about this before? I can make as many as you want." + +Ivan then took his brother to the barn, but he said: "While I am willing +to create the soldiers, you must take them away from here; for if it +should become necessary to feed them, all the food in the village would +last them only one day." + +Simeon promised to do as Ivan wished, whereupon Ivan proceeded to +convert the straw into soldiers. Out of one bundle of straw he made an +entire regiment; in fact, so many soldiers appeared as if by magic that +there was not a vacant spot in the field. + +Turning to Simeon Ivan said, "Well, is there a sufficient number?" + +Beaming with joy, Simeon replied: "Enough! enough! Thank you, Ivan!" + +"Glad you are satisfied," said Ivan, "and if you wish more I will make +them for you. I have plenty of straw now." + +Simeon divided his soldiers into battalions and regiments, and after +having drilled them he went forth to fight and to conquer. + +Simeon had just gotten safely out of the village with his soldiers when +Tarras, the other brother, appeared before Ivan--he also having heard +of the previous day's performance and wanting to learn the secret of +his power. He sought Ivan, saying: "Tell me the secret of your supply of +gold, for if I had plenty of money I could with its assistance gather in +all the wealth in the world." + +Ivan was greatly surprised on hearing this statement, and said: "You +might have told me this before, for I can obtain for you as much money +as you wish." + +Tarras was delighted, and he said, "You might get me about three +bushels." + +"Well," said Ivan, "we will go to the woods, or, better still, we +will harness the horse, as we could not possibly carry so much money +ourselves." + +The brothers went to the woods and Ivan proceeded to gather the oak +leaves, which he rubbed between his hands, the dust falling to the +ground and turning into gold pieces as quickly as it fell. + +When quite a pile had accumulated Ivan turned to Tarras and asked if he +had rubbed enough leaves into money, whereupon Tarras replied: "Thank +you, Ivan; that will be sufficient for this time." + +Ivan then said: "If you wish more, come to me and I will rub as much as +you want, for there are plenty of leaves." + +Tarras, with his tarantas (wagon) filled with gold, rode away to the +city to engage in trade and increase his wealth; and thus both brothers +went their way, Simeon to fight and Tarras to trade. + +Simeon's soldiers conquered a kingdom for him and Tarras-Briukhan made +plenty of money. + +Some time afterward the two brothers met and confessed to each other +the source from whence sprang their prosperity, but they were not yet +satisfied. + +Simeon said: "I have conquered a kingdom and enjoy a very pleasant life, +but I have not sufficient money to procure food for my soldiers;" while +Tarras confessed that he was the possessor of enormous wealth, but the +care of it caused him much uneasiness. + +"Let us go again to our brother," said Simeon; "I will order him to make +more soldiers and will give them to you, and you may then tell him that +he must make more money so that we can buy food for them." + +They went again to Ivan, and Simeon said: "I have not sufficient +soldiers; I want you to make me at least two divisions more." But Ivan +shook his head as he said: "I will not create soldiers for nothing; you +must pay me for doing it." + +"Well, but you promised," said Simeon. + +"I know I did," replied Ivan; "but I have changed my mind since that +time." + +"But, fool, why will you not do as you promised?" + +"For the reason that your soldiers kill men, and I will not make any +more for such a cruel purpose." With this reply Ivan remained stubborn +and would not create any more soldiers. + +Tarras-Briukhan next approached Ivan and ordered him to make more money; +but, as in the case of Tarras, Ivan only shook his head, as he said: +"I will not make you any money unless you pay me for doing it. I cannot +work without pay." + +Tarras then reminded him of his promise. + +"I know I promised," replied Ivan; "but still I must refuse to do as you +wish." + +"But why, fool, will you not fulfill your promise?" asked Tarras. + +"For the reason that your gold was the means of depriving Mikhailovna of +her cow." + +"But how did that happen?" inquired Tarras. + +"It happened in this way," said Ivan. "Mikhailovna always kept a cow, +and her children had plenty of milk to drink; but some time ago one of +her boys came to me to beg for some milk, and I asked, 'Where is your +cow?' when he replied, 'A clerk of Tarras-Briukhan came to our home +and offered three gold pieces for her. Our mother could not resist the +temptation, and now we have no milk to drink. I gave you the gold pieces +for your pleasure, and you put them to such poor use that I will not +give you any more.'" + +The brothers, on hearing this, took their departure to discuss as to the +best plan to pursue in regard to a settlement of their troubles. + +Simeon said: "Let us arrange it in this way: I will give you the half of +my kingdom, and soldiers to keep guard over your wealth; and you give me +money to feed the soldiers in my half of the kingdom." + +To this arrangement Tarras agreed, and both the brothers became rulers +and very happy. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Ivan remained on the farm and worked to support his father, mother, and +dumb sister. Once it happened that the old dog, which had grown up on +the farm, was taken sick, when Ivan thought he was dying, and, taking +pity on the animal, placed some bread in his hat and carried it to him. +It happened that when he turned out the bread the root which the little +devil had given him fell out also. The old dog swallowed it with the +bread and was almost instantly cured, when he jumped up and began to wag +his tail as an expression of joy. Ivan's father and mother, seeing +the dog cured so quickly, asked by what means he had performed such a +miracle. + +Ivan replied: "I had some roots which would cure any disease, and the +dog swallowed one of them." + +It happened about that time that the Czar's daughter became ill, and her +father had it announced in every city, town, and village that whosoever +would cure her would be richly rewarded; and if the lucky person should +prove to be a single man he would give her in marriage to him. + +This announcement, of course, appeared in Ivan's village. + +Ivan's father and mother called him and said: "If you have any of those +wonderful roots, go and cure the Czar's daughter. You will be much +happier for having performed such a kind act--indeed, you will be made +happy for all your after life." + +"Very well," said Ivan; and he immediately made ready for the journey. +As he reached the porch on his way out he saw a poor woman standing +directly in his path and holding a broken arm. The woman accosted him, +saying: + +"I was told that you could cure me, and will you not please do so, as I +am powerless to do anything for myself?" + +Ivan replied: "Very well, my poor woman; I will relieve you if I can." + +He produced a root which he handed to the poor woman and told her to +swallow it. + +She did as Ivan told her and was instantly cured, and went away +rejoicing that she had recovered the use of her arm. + +Ivan's father and mother came out to wish him good luck on his journey, +and to them he told the story of the poor woman, saying that he +had given her his last root. On hearing this his parents were much +distressed, as they now believed him to be without the means of curing +the Czar's daughter, and began to scold him. + +"You had pity for a beggar and gave no thought to the Czar's daughter," +they said. + +"I have pity for the Czar's daughter also," replied Ivan, after which +he harnessed his horse to his wagon and took his seat ready for his +departure; whereupon his parents said: "Where are you going, you +fool--to cure the Czar's daughter, and without anything to do it with?" + +"Very well," replied Ivan, as he drove away. + +In due time he arrived at the palace, and the moment he appeared on +the balcony the Czar's daughter was cured. The Czar was overjoyed and +ordered Ivan to be brought into his presence. He dressed him in the +richest robes and addressed him as his son-in-law. Ivan was married to +the Czarevna, and, the Czar dying soon after, Ivan became ruler. Thus +the three brothers became rulers in different kingdoms. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +The brothers lived and reigned. Simeon, the eldest brother, with his +straw soldiers took captive the genuine soldiers and trained all alike. +He was feared by every one. + +Tarras-Briukhan, the other brother, did not squander the gold he +obtained from Ivan, but instead greatly increased his wealth, and at +the same time lived well. He kept his money in large trunks, and, while +having more than he knew what to do with, still continued to collect +money from his subjects. The people had to work for the money to pay the +taxes which Tarras levied on them, and life was made burdensome to them. + +Ivan the Fool did not enjoy his wealth and power to the same extent +as did his brothers. As soon as his father-in-law, the late Czar, was +buried, he discarded the Imperial robes which had fallen to him and told +his wife to put them away, as he had no further use for them. Having +cast aside the insignia of his rank, he once more donned his peasant +garb and started to work as of old. + +"I felt lonesome," he said, "and began to grow enormously stout, and yet +I had no appetite, and neither could I sleep." + +Ivan sent for his father, mother, and dumb sister, and brought them to +live with him, and they worked with him at whatever he chose to do. + +The people soon learned that Ivan was a fool. His wife one day said to +him, "The people say you are a fool, Ivan." + +"Well, let them think so if they wish," he replied. + +His wife pondered this reply for some time, and at last decided that +if Ivan was a fool she also was one, and that it would be useless to go +contrary to her husband, thinking affectionately of the old proverb that +"where the needle goes there goes the thread also." She therefore cast +aside her magnificent robes, and, putting them into the trunk +with Ivan's, dressed herself in cheap clothing and joined her dumb +sister-in-law, with the intention of learning to work. She succeeded so +well that she soon became a great help to Ivan. + +Seeing that Ivan was a fool, all the wise men left the kingdom and only +the fools remained. They had no money, their wealth consisting only +of the products of their labor. But they lived peacefully together, +supported themselves in comfort, and had plenty to spare for the needy +and afflicted. + + +CHAPTER X. + +The old devil grew tired of waiting for the good news which he expected +the little devils to bring him. He waited in vain to hear of the ruin of +the brothers, so he went in search of the emissaries which he had sent +to perform that work for him. After looking around for some time, and +seeing nothing but the three holes in the ground, he decided that they +had not succeeded in their work and that he would have to do it himself. + +The old devil next went in search of the brothers, but he could learn +nothing of their whereabouts. After some time he found them in their +different kingdoms, contented and happy. This greatly incensed the +old devil, and he said, "I will now have to accomplish their mission +myself." + +He first visited Simeon the soldier, and appeared before him as a +voyevoda (general), saying: "You, Simeon, are a great warrior, and I +also have had considerable experience in warfare, and am desirous of +serving you." + +Simeon questioned the disguised devil, and seeing that he was an +intelligent man took him into his service. + +The new General taught Simeon how to strengthen his army until it became +very powerful. New implements of warfare were introduced. + +Cannons capable of throwing one hundred balls a minute were also +constructed, and these, it was expected, would be of deadly effect in +battle. + +Simeon, on the advice of his new General, ordered all young men above a +certain age to report for drill. On the same advice Simeon established +gun-shops, where immense numbers of cannons and rifles were made. + +The next move of the new General was to have Simeon declare war against +the neighboring kingdom. This he did, and with his immense army marched +into the adjoining territory, which he pillaged and burned, destroying +more than half the enemy's soldiers. This so frightened the ruler of +that country that he willingly gave up half of his kingdom to save the +other half. + +Simeon, overjoyed at his success, declared his intention of marching +into Indian territory and subduing the Viceroy of that country. + +But Simeon's intentions reached the ears of the Indian ruler, who +prepared to do battle with him. In addition to having secured all +the latest implements of warfare, he added still others of his own +invention. He ordered all boys over fourteen and all single women to +be drafted into the army, until its proportions became much larger than +Simeon's. His cannons and rifles were of the same pattern as Simeon's, +and he invented a flying-machine from which bombs could be thrown into +the enemy's camp. + +Simeon went forth to conquer the Viceroy with full confidence in his own +powers to succeed. This time luck forsook him, and instead of being the +conqueror he was himself conquered. + +The Indian ruler had so arranged his army that Simeon could not even +get within shooting distance, while the bombs from the flying-machine +carried destruction and terror in their path, completely routing his +army, so that Simeon was left alone. + +The Viceroy took possession of his kingdom and Simeon had to fly for his +life. + +Having finished with Simeon, the old devil next approached Tarras. He +appeared before him disguised as one of the merchants of his kingdom, +and established factories and began to make money. The "merchant" paid +the highest price for everything he purchased, and the people ran after +him to sell their goods. Through this "merchant" they were enabled to +make plenty of money, paying up all their arrears of taxes as well as +the others when they came due. + +Tarras was overjoyed at this condition of affairs and said: "Thanks to +this merchant, now I will have more money than before, and life will be +much pleasanter for me." + +He wished to erect new buildings, and advertised for workmen, offering +the highest prices for all kinds of labor. Tarras thought the people +would be as anxious to work as formerly, but instead he was much +surprised to learn that they were working for the "merchant." Thinking +to induce them to leave the "merchant," he increased his offers, but the +former, equal to the emergency, also raised the wages of his workmen. +Tarras, having plenty of money, increased the offers still more; but +the "merchant" raised them still higher and got the better of him. Thus, +defeated at every point, Tarras was compelled to abandon the idea of +building. + +Tarras next announced that he intended laying out gardens and erecting +fountains, and the work was to be commenced in the fall, but no one +came to offer his services, and again he was obliged to forego his +intentions. Winter set in, and Tarras wanted some sable fur with which +to line his great-coat, and he sent his man to procure it for him; but +the servant returned without it, saying: "There are no sables to be had. +The 'merchant' has bought them all, paying a very high price for them." + +Tarras needed horses and sent a messenger to purchase them, but he +returned with the same story as on former occasions--that none were to +be found, the "merchant" having bought them all to carry water for an +artificial pond he was constructing. Tarras was at last compelled to +suspend business, as he could not find any one willing to work for him. +They had all gone over to the "merchant's" side. The only dealings the +people had with Tarras were when they went to pay their taxes. His money +accumulated so fast that he could not find a place to put it, and his +life became miserable. He abandoned all idea of entering upon the new +venture, and only thought of how to exist peaceably. This he found +it difficult to do, for, turn which way he would, fresh obstacles +confronted him. Even his cooks, coachmen, and all his other servants +forsook him and joined the "merchant." With all his wealth he had +nothing to eat, and when he went to market he found the "merchant" had +been there before him and had bought up all the provisions. Still, the +people continued to bring him money. + +Tarras at last became so indignant that he ordered the "merchant" out +of his kingdom. He left, but settled just outside the boundary line, and +continued his business with the same result as before, and Tarras was +frequently forced to go without food for days. It was rumored that the +"merchant" wanted to buy even Tarras himself. On hearing this the latter +became very much alarmed and could not decide as to the best course to +pursue. + +About this time his brother Simeon arrived in the kingdom, and said: +"Help me, for I have been defeated and ruined by the Indian Viceroy." + +Tarras replied: "How can I help you, when I have had no food myself for +two days?" + + +CHAPTER XI. + +The old devil, having finished with the second brother, went to Ivan the +Fool. This time he disguised himself as a General, the same as in the +case of Simeon, and, appearing before Ivan, said: "Get an army together. +It is disgraceful for the ruler of a kingdom to be without an army. You +call your people to assemble, and I will form them into a fine large +army." + +Ivan took the supposed General's advice, and said: "Well, you may form +my people into an army, but you must also teach them to sing the songs I +like." + +The old devil then went through Ivan's kingdom to secure recruits for +the army, saying: "Come, shave your heads [the heads of recruits are +always shaved in Russia] and I will give each of you a red hat and +plenty of vodki" (whiskey). + +At this the fools only laughed, and said: "We can have all the vodki we +want, for we distill it ourselves; and of hats, our little girls make +all we want, of any color we please, and with handsome fringes." + +Thus was the devil foiled in securing recruits for his army; so +he returned to Ivan and said: "Your fools will not volunteer to be +soldiers. It will therefore be necessary to force them." + +"Very well," replied Ivan, "you may use force if you want to." + +The old devil then announced that all the fools must become soldiers, +and those who refused, Ivan would punish with death. + +The fools went to the General; and said: "You tell us that Ivan will +punish with death all those who refuse to become soldiers, but you have +omitted to state what will be done with us soldiers. We have been told +that we are only to be killed." + +"Yes, that is true," was the reply. + +The fools on hearing this became stubborn and refused to go. + +"Better kill us now if we cannot avoid death, but we will not become +soldiers," they declared. + +"Oh! you fools," said the old devil, "soldiers may and may not be +killed; but if you disobey Ivan's orders you will find certain death at +his hands." + +The fools remained absorbed in thought for some time and finally went to +Ivan to question him in regard to the matter. + +On arriving at his house they said: "A General came to us with an order +from you that we were all to become soldiers, and if we refused you were +to punish us with death. Is it true?" + +Ivan began to laugh heartily on hearing this, and said: "Well, how I +alone can punish you with death is something I cannot understand. If I +was not a fool myself I would be able to explain it to you, but as it is +I cannot." + +"Well, then, we will not go," they said. + +"Very well," replied Ivan, "you need not become soldiers unless you wish +to." + +The old devil, seeing his schemes about to prove failures, went to the +ruler of Tarakania and became his friend, saying: "Let us go and +conquer Ivan's kingdom. He has no money, but he has plenty of cattle, +provisions, and various other things that would be useful to us." + +The Tarakanian ruler gathered his large army together, and equipping it +with cannons and rifles, crossed the boundary line into Ivan's kingdom. +The people went to Ivan and said: "The ruler of Tarakania is here with a +large army to fight us." + +"Let them come," replied Ivan. + +The Tarakanian ruler, after crossing the line into Ivan's kingdom, +looked in vain for soldiers to fight against; and waiting some time and +none appearing, he sent his own warriors to attack the villages. + +They soon reached the first village, which they began to plunder. + +The fools of both sexes looked calmly on, offering not the least +resistance when their cattle and provisions were being taken from them. +On the contrary, they invited the soldiers to come and live with them, +saying: "If you, dear friends, find it is difficult to earn a living in +your own land, come and live with us, where everything is plentiful." + +The soldiers decided to remain, finding the people happy and prosperous, +with enough surplus food to supply many of their neighbors. They were +surprised at the cordial greetings which they everywhere received, and, +returning to the ruler of Tarakania, they said: "We cannot fight with +these people--take us to another place. We would much prefer the dangers +of actual warfare to this unsoldierly method of subduing the village." + +The Tarakanian ruler, becoming enraged, ordered the soldiers to destroy +the whole kingdom, plunder the villages, burn the houses and provisions, +and slaughter the cattle. + +"Should you disobey my orders," said he, "I will have every one of you +executed." + +The soldiers, becoming frightened, started to do as they were ordered, +but the fools wept bitterly, offering no resistance, men, women, and +children all joining in the general lamentation. + +"Why do you treat us so cruelly?" they cried to the invading soldiers. +"Why do you wish to destroy everything we have? If you have more need +of these things than we have, why not take them with you and leave us in +peace?" + +The soldiers, becoming saddened with remorse, refused further to +pursue their path of destruction--the entire army scattering in many +directions. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +The old devil, failing to ruin Ivan's kingdom with soldiers, transformed +himself into a nobleman, dressed exquisitely, and became one of +Ivan's subjects, with the intention of compassing the downfall of his +kingdom--as he had done with that of Tarras. + +The "nobleman" said to Ivan: "I desire to teach you wisdom and to render +you other service. I will build you a palace and factories." + +"Very well," said Ivan; "you may live with us." + +The next day the "nobleman" appeared on the Square with a sack of gold +in his hand and a plan for building a house, saying to the people: "You +are living like pigs, and I am going to teach you how to live decently. +You are to build a house for me according to this plan. I will +superintend the work myself, and will pay you for your services in +gold," showing them at the same time the contents of his sack. + +The fools were amused. They had never before seen any money. Their +business was conducted entirely by exchange of farm products or by +hiring themselves out to work by the day in return for whatever they +most needed. They therefore glanced at the gold pieces with amazement, +and said, "What nice toys they would be to play with!" In return for the +gold they gave their services and brought the "nobleman" the produce of +their farms. + +The old devil was overjoyed as he thought, "Now my enterprise is on a +fair road and I will be able to ruin the Fool--as I did his brothers." + +The fools obtained sufficient gold to distribute among the entire +community, the women and young girls of the village wearing much of it +as ornaments, while to the children they gave some pieces to play with +on the streets. + +When they had secured all they wanted they stopped working and the +"noblemen" did not get his house more than half finished. He had neither +provisions nor cattle for the year, and ordered the people to bring him +both. He directed them also to go on with the building of the palace and +factories. He promised to pay them liberally in gold for everything they +did. No one responded to his call--only once in awhile a little boy or +girl would call to exchange eggs for his gold. + +Thus was the "nobleman" deserted, and, having nothing to eat, he went +to the village to procure some provisions for his dinner. He went to +one house and offered gold in return for a chicken, but was refused, the +owner saying: "We have enough of that already and do not want any more." + +He next went to a fish-woman to buy some herring, when she, too, refused +to accept his gold in return for fish, saying: "I do not wish it, my +dear man; I have no children to whom I can give it to play with. I have +three pieces which I keep as curiosities only." + +He then went to a peasant to buy bread, but he also refused to accept +the gold. "I have no use for it," said he, "unless you wish to give it +for Christ's sake; then it will be a different matter, and I will tell +my baba [old woman] to cut a piece of bread for you." + +The old devil was so angry that he ran away from the peasant, spitting +and cursing as he went. + +Not only did the offer to accept in the name of Christ anger him, but +the very mention of the name was like the thrust of a knife in his +throat. + +The old devil did not succeed in getting any bread, and in his efforts +to secure other articles of food he met with the same failure. The +people had all the gold they wanted and what pieces they had they +regarded as curiosities. They said to the old devil: "If you bring us +something else in exchange for food, or come to ask for Christ's sake, +we will give you all you want." + +But the old devil had nothing but gold, and was too lazy to work; +and being unable to accept anything for Christ's sake, he was greatly +enraged. + +"What else do you want?" he said. "I will give you gold with which you +can buy everything you want, and you need labor no longer." + +But the fools would not accept his gold, nor listen to him. Thus the old +devil was obliged to go to sleep hungry. + +Tidings of this condition of affairs soon reached the ears of Ivan. The +people went to him and said: "What shell we do? This nobleman appeared +among us; he is well dressed; he wishes to eat and drink of the best, +but is unwilling to work, and does not beg for food for Christ's sake. +He only offers every one gold pieces. At first we gave him everything he +wanted, taking the gold pieces in exchange just as curiosities; but +now we have enough of them and refuse to accept any more from him. What +shall we do with him? he may die of hunger!" + +Ivan heard all they had to say, and told them to employ him as a +shepherd, taking turns in doing so. + +The old devil saw no other way out of the difficulty and was obliged to +submit. + +It soon came the old devil's turn to go to Ivan's house. He went there +to dinner and found Ivan's dumb sister preparing the meal. She was often +cheated by the lazy people, who while they did not work, yet ate up all +the gruel. But she learned to know the lazy people from the condition of +their hands. Those with great welts on their hands she invited first +to the table, and those having smooth white hands had to take what was +left. + +The old devil took a seat at the table, but the dumb girl, taking his +hands, looked at them, and seeing them white and clean, and with long +nails, swore at him and put him from the table. + +Ivan's wife said to the old devil: "You must excuse my sister-in-law; +she will not allow any one to sit at the table whose hands have not been +hardened by toil, so you will have to wait until the dinner is over and +then you can have what is left. With it you must be satisfied." + +The old devil was very much offended that he was made to eat with +"pigs," as he expressed it, and complained to Ivan, saying: "The foolish +law you have in your kingdom, that all persons must work, is surely the +invention of fools. People who work for a living are not always forced +to labor with their hands. Do you think wise men labor so?" + +Ivan replied: "Well, what do fools know about it? We all work with our +hands." + +"And for that reason you are fools," replied the devil. "I can teach you +how to use your brains, and you will find such labor more beneficial." + +Ivan was surprised at hearing this, and said: + +"Well, it is perhaps not without good reason that we are called fools." + +"It is not so easy to work with the brain," the old devil said. +"You will not give me anything to eat because my hands have not the +appearance of being toil-hardened, but you must understand that it is +much harder to do brain-work, and sometimes the head feels like bursting +with the effort it is forced to make." + +"Then why do you not select some light work that you can perform with +your hands?" Ivan asked. + +The devil said: "I torment myself with brain-work because I have pity +for you fools, for, if I did not torture myself, people like you would +remain fools for all eternity. I have exercised my brain a great deal +during my life, and now I am able to teach you." + +Ivan was greatly surprised and said: "Very well; teach us, so that when +our hands are tired we can use our heads to replace them." + +The devil promised to instruct the people, and Ivan announced the fact +throughout his kingdom. + +The devil was willing to teach all those who came to him how to use the +head instead of the hands, so as to produce more with the former than +with the latter. + +In Ivan's kingdom there was a high tower, which was reached by a long, +narrow ladder leading up to the balcony, and Ivan told the old devil +that from the top of the tower every one could see him. + +So the old devil went up to the balcony and addressed the people. + +The fools came in great crowds to hear what the old devil had to say, +thinking that he really meant to tell them how to work with the head. +But the old devil only told them in words what to do, and did not give +them any practical instruction. He said that men working only with their +hands could not make a living. The fools did not understand what he +said to them and looked at him in amazement, and then departed for their +daily work. + +The old devil addressed them for two days from the balcony, and at the +end of that time, feeling hungry, he asked the people to bring him some +bread. But they only laughed at him and told him if he could work better +with his head than with his hands he could also find bread for himself. +He addressed the people for yet another day, and they went to hear him +from curiosity, but soon left him to return to their work. + +Ivan asked, "Well, did the nobleman work with his head?" + +"Not yet," they said; "so far he has only talked." + +One day, while the old devil was standing on the balcony, he became +weak, and, falling down, hurt his head against a pole. + +Seeing this, one of the fools ran to Ivan's wife and said, "The +gentleman has at last commenced to work with his head." + +She ran to the field to tell Ivan, who was much surprised, and said, +"Let us go and see him." + +He turned his horses' heads in the direction of the tower, where the old +devil remained weak from hunger and was still suspended from the pole, +with his body swaying back and forth and his head striking the lower +part of the pole each time it came in contact with it. While Ivan +was looking, the old devil started down the steps head-first--as they +supposed, to count them. + +"Well," said Ivan, "he told the truth after all--that sometimes from +this kind of work the head bursts. This is far worse than welts on the +hands." + +The old devil fell to the ground head-foremost. Ivan approached him, +but at that instant the ground opened and the devil disappeared, leaving +only a hole to show where he had gone. + +Ivan scratched his head and said: "See here; such nastiness! This is yet +another devil. He looks like the father of the little ones." + +Ivan still lives, and people flock to his kingdom. His brothers come to +him and he feeds them. + +To every one who comes to him and says, "Give us food," he replies: +"Very well; you are welcome. We have plenty of everything." + +There is only one unchangeable custom observed in Ivan's kingdom: The +man with toil-hardened hands is always given a seat at the table, while +the possessor of soft white hands must be contented with what is left. + + + + +A LOST OPPORTUNITY. + + "Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother + sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" . . . . + "So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye + from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their + trespasses."--ST. MATTHEW xviii., 21-35. + +In a certain village there lived a peasant by the name of Ivan +Scherbakoff. He was prosperous, strong, and vigorous, and was considered +the hardest worker in the whole village. He had three sons, who +supported themselves by their own labor. The eldest was married, the +second about to be married, and the youngest took care of the horses and +occasionally attended to the plowing. + +The peasant's wife, Ivanovna, was intelligent and industrious, while her +daughter-in-law was a simple, quiet soul, but a hard worker. + +There was only one idle person in the household, and that was Ivan's +father, a very old man who for seven years had suffered from asthma, and +who spent the greater part of his time lying on the brick oven. + +Ivan had plenty of everything--three horses, with one colt, a cow +with calf, and fifteen sheep. The women made the men's clothes, and in +addition to performing all the necessary household labor, also worked in +the field; while the men's industry was confined altogether to the farm. + +What was left of the previous year's supply of provisions was ample for +their needs, and they sold a quantity of oats sufficient to pay their +taxes and other expenses. + +Thus life went smoothly for Ivan. + +The peasant's next-door neighbor was a son of Gordey Ivanoff, called +"Gavryl the Lame." It once happened that Ivan had a quarrel with him; +but while old man Gordey was yet alive, and Ivan's father was the head +of the household, the two peasants lived as good neighbors should. +If the women of one house required the use of a sieve or pail, they +borrowed it from the inmates of the other house. The same condition of +affairs existed between the men. They lived more like one family, the +one dividing his possessions with the other, and perfect harmony reigned +between the two families. + +If a stray calf or cow invaded the garden of one of the farmers, the +other willingly drove it away, saying: "Be careful, neighbor, that your +stock does not again stray into my garden; we should put a fence up." +In the same way they had no secrets from each other. The doors of their +houses and barns had neither bolts nor locks, so sure were they of +each other's honesty. Not a shadow of suspicion darkened their daily +intercourse. + +Thus lived the old people. + +In time the younger members of the two households started farming. It +soon became apparent that they would not get along as peacefully as the +old people had done, for they began quarrelling without the slightest +provocation. + +A hen belonging to Ivan's daughter-in-law commenced laying eggs, which +the young woman collected each morning, intending to keep them for the +Easter holidays. She made daily visits to the barn, where, under an old +wagon, she was sure to find the precious egg. + +One day the children frightened the hen and she flew over their +neighbor's fence and laid her egg in their garden. + +Ivan's daughter-in-law heard the hen cackling, but said: "I am very busy +just at present, for this is the eve of a holy day, and I must clean and +arrange this room. I will go for the egg later on." + +When evening came, and she had finished her task, she went to the barn, +and as usual looked under the old wagon, expecting to find an egg. But, +alas! no egg was visible in the accustomed place. + +Greatly disappointed, she returned to the house and inquired of her +mother-in-law and the other members of the family if they had taken it. +"No," they said, "we know nothing of it." + +Taraska, the youngest brother-in-law, coming in soon after, she also +inquired of him if he knew anything about the missing egg. "Yes," +he replied; "your pretty, crested hen laid her egg in our neighbors' +garden, and after she had finished cackling she flew back again over the +fence." + +The young woman, greatly surprised on hearing this, turned and looked +long and seriously at the hen, which was sitting with closed eyes beside +the rooster in the chimney-corner. She asked the hen where it laid the +egg. At the sound of her voice it simply opened and closed its eyes, but +could make no answer. + +She then went to the neighbors' house, where she was met by an old +woman, who said: "What do you want, young woman?" + +Ivan's daughter-in-law replied: "You see, babushka [grandmother], my hen +flew into your yard this morning. Did she not lay an egg there?" + +"We did not see any," the old woman replied; "we have our own hens--God +be praised!--and they have been laying for this long time. We hunt +only for the eggs our own hens lay, and have no use for the eggs other +people's hens lay. Another thing I want to tell you, young woman: we do +not go into other people's yards to look for eggs." + +Now this speech greatly angered the young woman, and she replied in the +same spirit in which she had been spoken to, only using much stronger +language and speaking at greater length. + +The neighbor replied in the same angry manner, and finally the women +began to abuse each other and call vile names. It happened that old +Ivan's wife, on her way to the well for water, heard the dispute, and +joined the others, taking her daughter-in-law's part. + +Gavryl's housekeeper, hearing the noise, could not resist the temptation +to join the rest and to make her voice heard. As soon as she appeared on +the scene, she, too, began to abuse her neighbor, reminding her of many +disagreeable things which had happened (and many which had not happened) +between them. She became so infuriated during her denunciations that she +lost all control of herself, and ran around like some mad creature. + +Then all the women began to shout at the same time, each trying to +say two words to another's one, and using the vilest language in the +quarreller's vocabulary. + +"You are such and such," shouted one of the women. "You are a thief, a +schlukha [a mean, dirty, low creature]; your father-in-law is even now +starving, and you have no shame. You beggar, you borrowed my sieve and +broke it. You made a large hole in it, and did not buy me another." + +"You have our scale-beam," cried another woman, "and must give it back +to me;" whereupon she seized the scale-beam and tried to remove it from +the shoulders of Ivan's wife. + +In the melee which followed they upset the pails of water. They tore the +covering from each other's head, and a general fight ensued. + +Gavryl's wife had by this time joined in the fracas, and he, crossing +the field and seeing the trouble, came to her rescue. + +Ivan and his son, seeing that their womenfolk were being badly used, +jumped into the midst of the fray, and a fearful fight followed. + +Ivan was the most powerful peasant in all the country round, and it +did not take him long to disperse the crowd, for they flew in all +directions. During the progress of the fight Ivan tore out a large +quantity of Gavryl's beard. + +By this time a large crowd of peasants had collected, and it was with +the greatest difficulty that they persuaded the two families to stop +quarrelling. + +This was the beginning. + +Gavryl took the portion of his beard which Ivan had torn out, and, +wrapping it in a paper, went to the volostnoye (moujiks' court) and +entered a complaint against Ivan. + +Holding up the hair, he said, "I did not grow this for that bear Ivan to +tear out!" + +Gavryl's wife went round among the neighbors, telling them that they +must not repeat what she told them, but that she and her husband were +going to get the best of Ivan, and that he was to be sent to Siberia. + +And so the quarrelling went on. + +The poor old grandfather, sick with asthma and lying on the brick oven +all the time, tried from the first to dissuade them from quarrelling, +and begged of them to live in peace; but they would not listen to his +good advice. He said to them: "You children are making a great fuss and +much trouble about nothing. I beg of you to stop and think of what a +little thing has caused all this trouble. It has arisen from only one +egg. If our neighbors' children picked it up, it is all right. God bless +them! One egg is of but little value, and without it God will supply +sufficient for all our needs." + +Ivan's daughter-in-law here interposed and said, "But they called us +vile names." + +The old grandfather again spoke, saying: "Well, even if they did call +you bad names, it would have been better to return good for evil, and +by your example show them how to speak better. Such conduct on your part +would have been best for all concerned." He continued: "Well, you had a +fight, you wicked people. Such things sometimes happen, but it would +be better if you went afterward and asked forgiveness and buried your +grievances out of sight. Scatter them to the four winds of heaven, for +if you do not do so it will be the worse for you in the end." + +The younger members of the family, still obstinate, refused to profit +by the old man's advice, and declared he was not right, and that he only +liked to grumble in his old-fashioned way. + +Ivan refused to go to his neighbor, as the grandfather wished, saying: +"I did not tear out Gavryl's beard. He did it himself, and his son tore +my shirt and trousers into shreds." + +Ivan entered suit against Gavryl. He first went to the village justice, +and not getting satisfaction from him he carried his case to the village +court. + +While the neighbors were wrangling over the affair, each suing the +other, it happened that a perch-bolt from Gavryl's wagon was lost; and +the women of Gavryl's household accused Ivan's son of stealing it. + +They said: "We saw him in the night-time pass by our window, on his way +to where the wagon was standing." "And my kumushka [sponsor]," said one +of them, "told me that Ivan's son had offered it for sale at the kabak +[tavern]." + +This accusation caused them again to go into court for a settlement of +their grievances. + +While the heads of the families were trying to have their troubles +settled in court, their home quarrels were constant, and frequently +resulted in hand-to-hand encounters. Even the little children followed +the example of their elders and quarrelled incessantly. + +The women, when they met on the riverbank to do the family washing, +instead of attending to their work passed the time in abusing each +other, and not infrequently they came to blows. + +At first the male members of the families were content with accusing +each other of various crimes, such as stealing and like meannesses. But +the trouble in this mild form did not last long. + +They soon resorted to other measures. They began to appropriate one +another's things without asking permission, while various articles +disappeared from both houses and could not be found. This was done out +of revenge. + +This example being set by the men, the women and children also followed, +and life soon became a burden to all who took part in the strife. + +Ivan Scherbakoff and "Gavryl the Lame" at last laid their trouble before +the mir (village meeting), in addition to having been in court and +calling on the justice of the peace. Both of the latter had grown tired +of them and their incessant wrangling. One time Gavryl would succeed in +having Ivan fined, and if he was not able to pay it he would be locked +up in the cold dreary prison for days. Then it would be Ivan's turn to +get Gavryl punished in like manner, and the greater the injury the one +could do the other the more delight he took in it. + +The success of either in having the other punished only served to +increase their rage against each other, until they were like mad dogs in +their warfare. + +If anything went wrong with one of them he immediately accused his +adversary of conspiring to ruin him, and sought revenge without stopping +to inquire into the rights of the case. + +When the peasants went into court, and had each other fined and +imprisoned, it did not soften their hearts in the least. They would only +taunt one another on such occasions, saying: "Never mind; I will repay +you for all this." + +This state of affairs lasted for six years. + +Ivan's father, the sick old man, constantly repeated his good advice. He +would try to arouse their conscience by saying: "What are you doing, my +children? Can you not throw off all these troubles, pay more attention +to your business, and suppress your anger against your neighbors? There +is no use in your continuing to live in this way, for the more enraged +you become against each other the worse it is for you." + +Again was the wise advice of the old man rejected. + +At the beginning of the seventh year of the existence of the feud it +happened that a daughter-in-law of Ivan's was present at a marriage. At +the wedding feast she openly accused Gavryl of stealing a horse. Gavryl +was intoxicated at the time and was in no mood to stand the insult, so +in retaliation he struck the woman a terrific blow, which confined her +to her bed for more than a week. The woman being in delicate health, the +worst results were feared. + +Ivan, glad of a fresh opportunity to harass his neighbor, lodged a +formal complaint before the district-attorney, hoping to rid himself +forever of Gavryl by having him sent to Siberia. + +On examining the complaint the district-attorney would not consider it, +as by that time the injured woman was walking about and as well as ever. + +Thus again Ivan was disappointed in obtaining his revenge, and, not +being satisfied with the district-attorney's decision, had the case +transferred to the court, where he used all possible means to push his +suit. To secure the favor of the starshina (village mayor) he made him +a present of half a gallon of sweet vodki; and to the mayor's pisar +(secretary) also he gave presents. By this means he succeeded in +securing a verdict against Gavryl. The sentence was that Gavryl was to +receive twenty lashes on his bare back, and the punishment was to be +administered in the yard which surrounded the court-house. + +When Ivan heard the sentence read he looked triumphantly at Gavryl to +see what effect it would produce on him. Gavryl turned very white on +hearing that he was to be treated with such indignity, and turning his +back on the assembly left the room without uttering a word. + +Ivan followed him out, and as he reached his horse he heard Gavryl +saying: "Very well; my spine will burn from the lashes, but something +will burn with greater fierceness in Ivan's household before long." + +Ivan, on hearing these words, instantly returned to the court, and going +up to the judges said: "Oh! just judges, he threatens to burn my house +and all it contains." + +A messenger was immediately sent in search of Gavryl, who was soon found +and again brought into the presence of the judges. + +"Is it true," they asked, "that you said you would burn Ivan's house and +all it contained?" + +Gavryl replied: "I did not say anything of the kind. You may give me as +many lashes as you please--that is, if you have the power to do so. +It seems to me that I alone have to suffer for the truth, while he," +pointing to Ivan, "is allowed to do and say what he pleases." Gavryl +wished to say something more, but his lips trembled, and the words +refused to come; so in silence he turned his face toward the wall. + +The sight of so much suffering moved even the judges to pity, and, +becoming alarmed at Gavryl's continued silence, they said, "He may do +both his neighbor and himself some frightful injury." + +"See here, my brothers," said one feeble old judge, looking at Ivan and +Gavryl as he spoke, "I think you had better try to arrange this matter +peaceably. You, brother Gavryl, did wrong to strike a woman who was in +delicate health. It was a lucky thing for you that God had mercy on +you and that the woman did not die, for if she had I know not what dire +misfortune might have overtaken you! It will not do either of you any +good to go on living as you are at present. Go, Gavryl, and make friends +with Ivan; I am sure he will forgive you, and we will set aside the +verdict just given." + +The secretary on hearing this said: "It is impossible to do this on the +present case. According to Article 117 this matter has gone too far to +be settled peaceably now, as the verdict has been rendered and must be +enforced." + +But the judges would not listen to the secretary, saying to him: "You +talk altogether too much. You must remember that the first thing is to +fulfill God's command to 'Love thy neighbor as thyself,' and all will be +well with you." + +Thus with kind words the judges tried to reconcile the two peasants. +Their words fell on stony ground, however, for Gavryl would not listen +to them. + +"I am fifty years old," said Gavryl, "and have a son married, and never +from my birth has the lash been applied to my back; but now this bear +Ivan has secured a verdict against me which condemns me to receive +twenty lashes, and I am forced to bow to this decision and suffer the +shame of a public beating. Well, he will have cause to remember this." + +At this Gavryl's voice trembled and he stopped speaking, and turning his +back on the judges took his departure. + +It was about ten versts' distance from the court to the homes of the +neighbors, and this Ivan travelled late. The women had already gone +out for the cattle. He unharnessed his horse and put everything in its +place, and then went into the izba (room), but found no one there. + +The men had not yet returned from their work in the field and the women +had gone to look for the cattle, so that all about the place was quiet. +Going into the room, Ivan seated himself on a wooden bench and soon +became lost in thought. He remembered how, when Gavryl first heard the +sentence which had been passed upon him, he grew very pale, and turned +his face to the wall, all the while remaining silent. + +Ivan's heart ached when he thought of the disgrace which he had been the +means of bringing upon Gavryl, and he wondered how he would feel if the +same sentence had been passed upon him. His thoughts were interrupted by +the coughing of his father, who was lying on the oven. + +The old man, on seeing Ivan, came down off the oven, and slowly +approaching his son seated himself on the bench beside him, looking at +him as though ashamed. He continued to cough as he leaned on the table +and said, "Well, did they sentence him?" + +"Yes, they sentenced him to receive twenty lashes," replied Ivan. + +On hearing this the old man sorrowfully shook his head, and said: "This +is very bad, Ivan, and what is the meaning of it all? It is indeed +very bad, but not so bad for Gavryl as for yourself. Well, suppose his +sentence IS carried out, and he gets the twenty lashes, what will it +benefit you?" + +"He will not again strike a woman," Ivan replied. + +"What is it he will not do? He does not do anything worse than what you +are constantly doing!" + +This conversation enraged Ivan, and he shouted: "Well, what did he do? +He beat a woman nearly to death, and even now he threatens to burn my +house! Must I bow to him for all this?" + +The old man sighed deeply as he said: "You, Ivan, are strong and free to +go wherever you please, while I have been lying for years on the oven. +You think that you know everything and that I do not know anything. No! +you are still a child, and as such you cannot see that a kind of madness +controls your actions and blinds your sight. The sins of others are ever +before you, while you resolutely keep your own behind your back. I know +that what Gavryl did was wrong, but if he alone should do wrong there +would be no evil in the world. Do you think that all the evil in the +world is the work of one man alone? No! it requires two persons to work +much evil in the world. You see only the bad in Gavryl's character, but +you are blind to the evil that is in your own nature. If he alone were +bad and you good, then there would be no wrong." + +The old man, after a pause, continued: "Who tore Gavryl's beard? Who +destroyed his heaps of rye? Who dragged him into court?--and yet you +try to put all the blame on his shoulders. You are behaving very badly +yourself, and for that reason you are wrong. I did not act in such a +manner, and certainly I never taught you to do so. I lived in peace with +Gavryl's father all the time we were neighbors. We were always the best +of friends. If he was without flour his wife would come to me and say, +'Diadia Frol [Grandfather], we need flour.' I would then say: 'My good +woman, go to the warehouse and take as much as you want.' If he had no +one to care for his horses I would say, 'Go, Ivanushka [diminutive of +Ivan], and help him to care for them.' If I required anything I would go +to him and say, 'Grandfather Gordey, I need this or that,' and he would +always reply, 'Take just whatever you want.' By this means we passed an +easy and peaceful life. But what is your life compared with it? As the +soldiers fought at Plevna, so are you and Gavryl fighting all the time, +only that your battles are far more disgraceful than that fought at +Plevna." + +The old man went on: "And you call this living! and what a sin it +all is! You are a peasant, and the head of the house; therefore, the +responsibility of the trouble rests with you. What an example you set +your wife and children by constantly quarrelling with your neighbor! +Only a short time since your little boy, Taraska, was cursing his aunt +Arina, and his mother only laughed at it, saying, 'What a bright child +he is!' Is that right? You are to blame for all this. You should think +of the salvation of your soul. Is that the way to do it? You say one +unkind word to me and I will reply with two. You will give me one slap +in the face, and I will retaliate with two slaps. No, my son; Christ did +not teach us foolish people to act in such a way. If any one should say +an unkind word to you it is better not to answer at all; but if you +do reply do it kindly, and his conscience will accuse him, and he will +regret his unkindness to you. This is the way Christ taught us to live. +He tells us that if a person smite us on the one cheek we should offer +unto him the other. That is Christ's command to us, and we should follow +it. You should therefore subdue your pride. Am I not right?" + +Ivan remained silent, but his father's words had sunk deep into his +heart. + +The old man coughed and continued: "Do you think Christ thought us +wicked? Did he not die that we might be saved? Now you think only of +this earthly life. Are you better or worse for thinking alone of it? Are +you better or worse for having begun that Plevna battle? Think of your +expense at court and the time lost in going back and forth, and what +have you gained? Your sons have reached manhood, and are able now to +work for you. You are therefore at liberty to enjoy life and be happy. +With the assistance of your children you could reach a high state of +prosperity. But now your property instead of increasing is gradually +growing less, and why? It is the result of your pride. When it becomes +necessary for you and your boys to go to the field to work, your enemy +instead summons you to appear at court or before some kind of judicial +person. If you do not plow at the proper time and sow at the proper time +mother earth will not yield up her products, and you and your children +will be left destitute. Why did your oats fail this year? When did +you sow them? Were you not quarrelling with your neighbor instead of +attending to your work? You have just now returned from the town, where +you have been the means of having your neighbor humiliated. You have +succeeded in getting him sentenced, but in the end the punishment will +fall on your own shoulders. Oh! my child, it would be better for you +to attend to your work on the farm and train your boys to become good +farmers and honest men. If any one offend you forgive him for Christ's +sake, and then prosperity will smile on your work and a light and happy +feeling will fill your heart." + +Ivan still remained silent. + +The old father in a pleading voice continued: "Take an old man's advice. +Go and harness your horse, drive back to the court, and withdraw all +these complaints against your neighbor. To-morrow go to him, offer to +make peace in Christ's name, and invite him to your house. It will be +a holy day (the birth of the Virgin Mary). Get out the samovar and +have some vodki, and over both forgive and forget each other's sins, +promising not to transgress in the future, and advise your women and +children to do the same." + +Ivan heaved a deep sigh but felt easier in his heart, as he thought: +"The old man speaks the truth;" yet he was in doubt as to how he would +put his father's advice into practice. + +The old man, surmising his uncertainty, said to Ivan: "Go, Ivanushka; do +not delay. Extinguish the fire in the beginning, before it grows large, +for then it may be impossible." + +Ivan's father wished to say more to him, but was prevented by the +arrival of the women, who came into the room chattering like so many +magpies. They had already heard of Gavryl's sentence, and of how he +threatened to set fire to Ivan's house. They found out all about it, and +in telling it to their neighbors added their own versions of the +story, with the usual exaggeration. Meeting in the pasture-ground, they +proceeded to quarrel with Gavryl's women. They related how the latter's +daughter-in-law had threatened to secure the influence of the manager of +a certain noble's estate in behalf of his friend Gavryl; also that the +school-teacher was writing a petition to the Czar himself against Ivan, +explaining in detail his theft of the perchbolt and partial destruction +of Gavryl's garden--declaring that half of Ivan's land was to be given +to them. + +Ivan listened calmly to their stories, but his anger was soon aroused +once more, when he abandoned his intention of making peace with Gavryl. + +As Ivan was always busy about the household, he did not stop to speak to +the wrangling women, but immediately left the room, directing his steps +toward the barn. Before getting through with his work the sun had set +and the boys had returned from their plowing. Ivan met them and asked +about their work, helping them to put things in order and leaving the +broken horse-collar aside to be repaired. He intended to perform some +other duties, but it became too dark and he was obliged to leave them +till the next day. He fed the cattle, however, and opened the gate that +Taraska might take his horses to pasture for the night, after which he +closed it again and went into the house for his supper. + +By this time he had forgotten all about Gavryl and what his father had +said to him. Yet, just as he touched the door-knob, he heard sounds of +quarrelling proceeding from his neighbor's house. + +"What do I want with that devil?" shouted Gavryl to some one. "He +deserves to be killed!" + +Ivan stopped and listened for a moment, when he shook his head +threateningly and entered the room. When he came in, the apartment was +already lighted. His daughter-in-law was working with her loom, while +the old woman was preparing the supper. The eldest son was twining +strings for his lapti (peasant's shoes made of strips of bark from the +linden-tree). The other son was sitting by the table reading a book. The +room presented a pleasant appearance, everything being in order and the +inmates apparently gay and happy--the only dark shadow being that cast +over the household by Ivan's trouble with his neighbor. + +Ivan came in very cross, and, angrily throwing aside a cat which lay +sleeping on the bench, cursed the women for having misplaced a pail. +He looked very sad and serious, and, seating himself in a corner of the +room, proceeded to repair the horse-collar. He could not forget Gavryl, +however--the threatening words he had used in the court-room and those +which Ivan had just heard. + +Presently Taraska came in, and after having his supper, put on his +sheepskin coat, and, taking some bread with him, returned to watch over +his horses for the night. His eldest brother wished to accompany him, +but Ivan himself arose and went with him as far as the porch. The night +was dark and cloudy and a strong wind was blowing, which produced a +peculiar whistling sound that was most unpleasant to the ear. Ivan +helped his son to mount his horse, which, followed by a colt, started +off on a gallop. + +Ivan stood for a few moments looking around him and listening to the +clatter of the horse's hoofs as Taraska rode down the village street. +He heard him meet other boys on horseback, who rode quite as well as +Taraska, and soon all were lost in the darkness. + +Ivan remained standing by the gate in a gloomy mood, as he was unable +to banish from his mind the harassing thoughts of Gavryl, which the +latter's menacing words had inspired: "Something will burn with greater +fierceness in Ivan's household before long." + +"He is so desperate," thought Ivan, "that he may set fire to my house +regardless of the danger to his own. At present everything is dry, and +as the wind is so high he may sneak from the back of his own building, +start a fire, and get away unseen by any of us. + +"He may burn and steal without being found out, and thus go unpunished. I +wish I could catch him." + +This thought so worried Ivan that he decided not to return to his house, +but went out and stood on the street-corner. + +"I guess," thought Ivan to himself, "I will take a walk around the +premises and examine everything carefully, for who knows what he may be +tempted to do?" + +Ivan moved very cautiously round to the back of his buildings, not +making the slightest noise, and scarcely daring to breathe. Just as he +reached a corner of the house he looked toward the fence, and it seemed +to him that he saw something moving, and that it was slowly creeping +toward the corner of the house opposite to where he was standing. He +stepped back quickly and hid himself in the shadow of the building. Ivan +stood and listened, but all was quiet. Not a sound could be heard but +the moaning of the wind through the branches of the trees, and the +rustling of the leaves as it caught them up and whirled them in all +directions. So dense was the darkness that it was at first impossible +for Ivan to see more than a few feet beyond where he stood. + +After a time, however, his sight becoming accustomed to the gloom, he +was enabled to see for a considerable distance. The plow and his other +farming implements stood just where he had placed them. He could see +also the opposite corner of the house. + +He looked in every direction, but no one was in sight, and he thought +to himself that his imagination must have played him some trick, leading +him to believe that some one was moving when there really was no one +there. + +Still, Ivan was not satisfied, and decided to make a further examination +of the premises. As on the previous occasion, he moved so very +cautiously that he could not hear even the sound of his own footsteps. +He had taken the precaution to remove his shoes, that he might step the +more noiselessly. When he reached the corner of the barn it again seemed +to him that he saw something moving, this time near the plow; but it +quickly disappeared. By this time Ivan's heart was beating very fast, +and he was standing in a listening attitude when a sudden flash of light +illumined the spot, and he could distinctly see the figure of a man +seated on his haunches with his back turned toward him, and in the act +of lighting a bunch of straw which he held in his hand! Ivan's heart +began to beat yet faster, and he became terribly excited, walking up and +down with rapid strides, but without making a noise. + +Ivan said: "Well, now, he cannot get away, for he will be caught in the +very act." + +Ivan had taken a few more steps when suddenly a bright light flamed +up, but not in the same spot in which he had seen the figure of the man +sitting. Gavryl had lighted the straw, and running to the barn held it +under the edge of the roof, which began to burn fiercely; and by the +light of the fire he could distinctly see his neighbor standing. + +As an eagle springs at a skylark, so sprang Ivan at Gavryl, saying: "I +will tear you into pieces! You shall not get away from me this time!" + +But "Gavryl the Lame," hearing footsteps, wrenched himself free from +Ivan's grasp and ran like a hare past the buildings. + +Ivan, now terribly excited, shouted, "You shall not escape me!" and +started in pursuit; but just as he reached him and was about to grasp +the collar of his coat, Gavryl succeeded in jumping to one side, and +Ivan's coat became entangled in something and he was thrown violently +to the ground. Jumping quickly to his feet he shouted, "Karaool! +derji!"(watch! catch!) + +While Ivan was regaining his feet Gavryl succeeded in reaching his +house, but Ivan followed so quickly that he caught up with him before he +could enter. Just as he was about to grasp him he was struck on the head +with some hard substance. He had been hit on the temple as with a stone. +The blow was struck by Gavryl, who had picked up an oaken stave, and +with it gave Ivan a terrible blow on the head. + +Ivan was stunned, and bright sparks danced before his eyes, while he +swayed from side to side like a drunken man, until finally all became +dark and he sank to the ground unconscious. + +When he recovered his senses, Gavryl was nowhere to be seen, but all +around him was as light as day. Strange sounds proceeded from the +direction of his house, and turning his face that way he saw that his +barns were on fire. The rear parts of both were already destroyed, +and the flames were leaping toward the front. Fire, smoke, and bits of +burning straw were being rapidly whirled by the high wind over to where +his house stood, and he expected every moment to see it burst into +flames. + +"What is this, brother?" Ivan cried out, as he beat his thighs with his +hands. "I should have stopped to snatch the bunch of burning straw, and, +throwing it on the ground, should have extinguished it with my feet!" + +Ivan tried to cry out and arouse his people, but his lips refused to +utter a word. He next tried to run, but he could not move his feet, and +his legs seemed to twist themselves around each other. After several +attempts he succeeded in taking one or two steps, when he again began to +stagger and gasp for breath. It was some moments before he made another +attempt to move, but after considerable exertion he finally reached +the barn, the rear of which was by this time entirely consumed; and +the corner of his house had already caught fire. Dense volumes of smoke +began to pour out of the room, which made it difficult to approach. + +A crowd of peasants had by this time gathered, but they found it +impossible to save their homes, so they carried everything which they +could to a place of safety. The cattle they drove into neighboring +pastures and left some one to care for them. + +The wind carried the sparks from Ivan's house to Gavryl's, and it, too, +took fire and was consumed. The wind continued to increase with great +fury, and the flames spread to both sides of the street, until in a very +short time more than half the village was burned. + +The members of Ivan's household had great difficulty in getting out of +the burning building, but the neighbors rescued the old man and +carried him to a place of safety, while the women escaped in only their +night-clothes. Everything was burned, including the cattle and all the +farm implements. The women lost their trunks, which were filled with +quantities of clothing, the accumulation of years. The storehouse and +all the provisions perished in the flames, not even the chickens being +saved. + +Gavryl, however, more fortunate than Ivan, saved his cattle and a few +other things. + +The village was burning all night. + +Ivan stood near his home, gazing sadly at the burning building, and +he kept constantly repeating to himself: "I should have taken away the +bunch of burning straw, and have stamped out the fire with my feet." + +But when he saw his home fall in a smouldering heap, in spite of the +terrible heat he sprang into the midst of it and carried out a charred +log. The women seeing him, and fearing that he would lose his life, +called to him to come back, but he would not pay any attention to them +and went a second time to get a log. Still weak from the terrible blow +which Gavryl had given him, he was overcome by the heat, and fell into +the midst of the burning mass. Fortunately, his eldest son saw him fall, +and rushing into the fire succeeded in getting hold of him and carrying +him out of it. Ivan's hair, beard, and clothing were burned entirely +off. His hands were also frightfully injured, but he seemed indifferent +to pain. + +"Grief drove him crazy," the people said. + +The fire was growing less, but Ivan still stood where he could see it, +and kept repeating to himself, "I should have taken," etc. + +The morning after the fire the starosta (village elder) sent his son to +Ivan to tell him that the old man, his father, was dying, and wanted to +see him to bid him good-bye. + +In his grief Ivan had forgotten all about his father, and could not +understand what was being said to him. In a dazed way he asked: "What +father? Whom does he want?" + +The elder's son again repeated his father's message to Ivan. "Your +aged parent is at our house dying, and he wants to see you and bid you +good-bye. Won't you go now, uncle Ivan?" the boy said. + +Finally Ivan understood, and followed the elder's son. + +When Ivan's father was carried from the oven, he was slightly injured +by a big bunch of burning straw falling on him just as he reached the +street. To insure his safety he was removed to the elder's house, which +stood a considerable distance from his late home, and where it was not +likely that the fire would reach it. + +When Ivan arrived at the elder's home he found only the latter's wife +and children, who were all seated on the brick oven. The old man was +lying on a bench holding a lighted candle in his hand (a Russian custom +when a person is dying). Hearing a noise, he turned his face toward the +door, and when he saw it was his son he tried to move. He motioned for +Ivan to come nearer, and when he did so he whispered in a trembling +voice: "Well, Ivanushka, did I not tell you before what would be the +result of this sad affair? Who set the village on fire?" + +"He, he, batiushka [little father]; he did it. I caught him. He placed +the bunch of burning straw to the barn in my presence. Instead of +running after him, I should have snatched the bunch of burning straw +and throwing it on the ground have stamped it out with my feet; and then +there would have been no fire." + +"Ivan," said the old man, "death is fast approaching me, and remember +that you also will have to die. Who did this dreadful thing? Whose is +the sin?" + +Ivan gazed at the noble face of his dying father and was silent. His +heart was too full for utterance. + +"In the presence of God," the old man continued, "whose is the sin?" + +It was only now that the truth began to dawn upon Ivan's mind, and that +he realized how foolish he had acted. He sobbed bitterly, and fell on +his knees before his father, and, crying like a child, said: + +"My dear father, forgive me, for Christ's sake, for I am guilty before +God and before you!" + +The old man transferred the lighted candle from his right hand to the +left, and, raising the former to his forehead, tried to make the sign of +the cross, but owing to weakness was unable to do so. + +"Glory to Thee, O Lord! Glory to Thee!" he exclaimed; and turning his +dim eyes toward his son, he said: "See here, Ivanushka! Ivanushka, my +dear son!" + +"What, my dear father?" Ivan asked. + +"What are you going to do," replied the old man, "now that you have no +home?" + +Ivan cried and said: "I do not know how we shall live now." + +The old man closed his eyes and made a movement with his lips, as if +gathering his feeble strength for a final effort. Slowly opening his +eyes, he whispered: + +"Should you live according to God's commands you will be happy and +prosperous again." + +The old man was now silent for awhile and then, smiling sadly, he +continued: + +"See here, Ivanushka, keep silent concerning this trouble, and do not +tell who set the village on fire. Forgive one sin of your neighbor's, +and God will forgive two of yours." + +Grasping the candle with both hands, Ivan's father heaved a deep sigh, +and, stretching himself out on his back, yielded up the ghost. + +***** + +Ivan for once accepted his father's advice. He did not betray Gavryl, +and no one ever learned the origin of the fire. + +Ivan's heart became more kindly disposed toward his old enemy, feeling +that much of the fault in connection with this sad affair rested with +himself. + +Gavryl was greatly surprised that Ivan did not denounce him before all +the villagers, and at first he stood in much fear of him, but he soon +afterward overcame this feeling. + +The two peasants ceased to quarrel, and their families followed their +example. While they were building new houses, both families lived +beneath the same roof, and when they moved into their respective homes, +Ivan and Gavryl lived on as good terms as their fathers had done before +them. + +Ivan remembered his dying father's command, and took deeply to heart +the evident warning of God that A FIRE SHOULD BE EXTINGUISHED IN THE +BEGINNING. If any one wronged him he did not seek revenge, but instead +made every effort to settle the matter peaceably. If any one spoke to +him unkindly, he did not answer in the same way, but replied softly, and +tried to persuade the person not to speak evil. He taught the women and +children of his household to do the same. + +Ivan Scherbakoff was now a reformed man. + +He lived well and peacefully, and again became prosperous. + +Let us, therefore, have peace, live in brotherly love and kindness, and +we will be happy. + + + + +"POLIKUSHKA;" + +OR, The Lot of a Wicked Court Servant. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Polikey was a court man--one of the staff of servants belonging to the +court household of a boyarinia (lady of the nobility). + +He held a very insignificant position on the estate, and lived in a +rather poor, small house with his wife and children. + +The house was built by the deceased nobleman whose widow he still +continued to serve, and may be described as follows: The four walls +surrounding the one izba (room) were built of stone, and the interior +was ten yards square. A Russian stove stood in the centre, around which +was a free passage. Each corner was fenced off as a separate inclosure +to the extent of several feet, and the one nearest to the door (the +smallest of all) was known as "Polikey's corner." Elsewhere in the room +stood the bed (with quilt, sheet, and cotton pillows), the cradle (with +a baby lying therein), and the three-legged table, on which the meals +were prepared and the family washing was done. At the latter also +Polikey was at work on the preparation of some materials for use in his +profession--that of an amateur veterinary surgeon. A calf, some hens, +the family clothes and household utensils, together with seven persons, +filled the little home to the utmost of its capacity. It would indeed +have been almost impossible for them to move around had it not been for +the convenience of the stove, on which some of them slept at night, and +which served as a table in the day-time. + +It seemed hard to realize how so many persons managed to live in such +close quarters. + +Polikey's wife, Akulina, did the washing, spun and wove, bleached her +linen, cooked and baked, and found time also to quarrel and gossip with +her neighbors. + +The monthly allowance of food which they received from the noblewoman's +house was amply sufficient for the whole family, and there was always +enough meal left to make mash for the cow. Their fuel they got free, and +likewise the food for the cattle. In addition they were given a small +piece of land on which to raise vegetables. They had a cow, a calf, and +a number of chickens to care for. + +Polikey was employed in the stables to take care of two stallions, and, +when necessary, to bleed the horses and cattle and clean their hoofs. + +In his treatment of the animals he used syringes, plasters, and various +other remedies and appliances of his own invention. For these services +he received whatever provisions were required by his family, and a +certain sum of money--all of which would have been sufficient to enable +them to live comfortably and even happily, if their hearts had not been +filled with the shadow of a great sorrow. + +This shadow darkened the lives of the entire family. + +Polikey, while young, was employed in a horse-breeding establishment in +a neighboring village. The head stableman was a notorious horse-thief, +known far and wide as a great rogue, who, for his many misdeeds, was +finally exiled to Siberia. Under his instruction Polikey underwent a +course of training, and, being but a boy, was easily induced to perform +many evil deeds. He became so expert in the various kinds of wickedness +practiced by his teacher that, though he many times would gladly have +abandoned his evil ways, he could not, owing to the great hold these +early-formed habits had upon him. His father and mother died when he was +but a child, and he had no one to point out to him the paths of virtue. + +In addition to his other numerous shortcomings, Polikey was fond of +strong drink. He also had a habit of appropriating other people's +property, when the opportunity offered of his doing so without being +seen. Collar-straps, padlocks, perch-bolts, and things even of greater +value belonging to others found their way with remarkable rapidity and +in great quantities to Polikey's home. He did not, however, keep +such things for his own use, but sold them whenever he could find a +purchaser. His payment consisted chiefly of whiskey, though sometimes he +received cash. + +This sort of employment, as his neighbors said, was both light and +profitable; it required neither education nor labor. It had one +drawback, however, which was calculated to reconcile his victims to +their losses: Though he could for a time have all his needs supplied +without expending either labor or money, there was always the +possibility of his methods being discovered; and this result was sure to +be followed by a long term of imprisonment. This impending danger made +life a burden for Polikey and his family. + +Such a setback indeed very nearly happened to Polikey early in his +career. He married while still young, and God gave him much happiness. +His wife, who was a shepherd's daughter, was a strong, intelligent, +hard-working woman. She bore him many children, each of whom was said to +be better than the preceding one. + +Polikey still continued to steal, but once was caught with some small +articles belonging to others in his possession. Among them was a pair +of leather reins, the property of another peasant, who beat him severely +and reported him to his mistress. + +From that time on Polikey was an object of suspicion, and he was twice +again detected in similar escapades. By this time the people began to +abuse him, and the clerk of the court threatened to recruit him into +the army as a soldier (which is regarded by the peasants as a great +punishment and disgrace). His noble mistress severely reprimanded him; +his wife wept from grief for his downfall, and everything went from bad +to worse. + +Polikey, notwithstanding his weakness, was a good-natured sort of man, +but his love of strong drink had so overcome every moral instinct that +at times he was scarcely responsible for his actions. This habit he +vainly endeavored to overcome. It often happened that when he returned +home intoxicated, his wife, losing all patience, roundly cursed him and +cruelly beat him. At times he would cry like a child, and bemoan his +fate, saying: "Unfortunate man that I am, what shall I do? LET MY EYES +BURST INTO PIECES if I do not forever give up the vile habit! I will not +again touch vodki." + +In spite of all his promises of reform, but a short period (perhaps a +month) would elapse when Polikey would again mysteriously disappear from +his home and be lost for several days on a spree. + +"From what source does he get the money he spends so freely?" the +neighbors inquired of each other, as they sadly shook their heads. + +One of his most unfortunate exploits in the matter of stealing was in +connection with a clock which belonged to the estate of his mistress. +The clock stood in the private office of the noblewoman, and was so old +as to have outlived its usefulness, and was simply kept as an heirloom. +It so happened that Polikey went into the office one day when no one was +present but himself, and, seeing the old clock, it seemed to possess +a peculiar fascination for him, and he speedily transferred it to his +person. He carried it to a town not far from the village, where he very +readily found a purchaser. + +As if purposely to secure his punishment, it happened that the +storekeeper to whom he sold it proved to be a relative of one of the +court servants, and who, when he visited his friend on the next holiday, +related all about his purchase of the clock. + +An investigation was immediately instituted, and all the details of +Polikey's transaction were brought to light and reported to his noble +mistress. He was called into her presence, and, when confronted with the +story of the theft, broke down and confessed all. He fell on his knees +before the noblewoman and plead with her for mercy. The kind-hearted +lady lectured him about God, the salvation of his soul, and his future +life. She talked to him also about the misery and disgrace he brought +upon his family, and altogether so worked upon his feelings that he +cried like a child. In conclusion his kind mistress said: "I will +forgive you this time on the condition that you promise faithfully to +reform, and never again to take what does not belong to you." + +Polikey, still weeping, replied: "I will never steal again in all my +life, and if I break my promise may the earth open and swallow me up, +and let my body be burned with red-hot irons!" + +Polikey returned to his home, and throwing himself on the oven spent the +entire day weeping and repeating the promise made to his mistress. + +From that time on he was not again caught stealing, but his life became +extremely sad, for he was regarded with suspicion by every one and +pointed to as a thief. + +When the time came round for securing recruits for the army, all +the peasants singled out Polikey as the first to be taken. The +superintendent was especially anxious to get rid of him, and went to +his mistress to induce her to have him sent away. The kind-hearted and +merciful woman, remembering the peasant's repentance, refused to grant +the superintendent's request, and told him he must take some other man +in his stead. + + +CHAPTER II. + +One evening Polikey was sitting on his bed beside the table, preparing +some medicine for the cattle, when suddenly the door was thrown wide +open, and Aksiutka, a young girl from the court, rushed in. Almost out +of breath, she said: "My mistress has ordered you, Polikey Illitch [son +of Ilia], to come up to the court at once!" + +The girl was standing and still breathing heavily from her late exertion +as she continued: "Egor Mikhailovitch, the superintendent, has been +to see our lady about having you drafted into the army, and, Polikey +Illitch, your name was mentioned among others. Our lady has sent me to +tell you to come up to the court immediately." + +As soon as Aksiutka had delivered her message she left the room in the +same abrupt manner in which she had entered. + +Akulina, without saying a word, got up and brought her husband's boots +to him. They were poor, worn-out things which some soldier had given +him, and his wife did not glance at him as she handed them to him. + +"Are you going to change your shirt, Illitch?" she asked, at last. + +"No," replied Polikey. + +Akulina did not once look at him all the time he was putting on his +boots and preparing to go to the court. Perhaps, after all, it was +better that she did not do so. His face was very pale and his lips +trembled. He slowly combed his hair and was about to depart without +saying a word, when his wife stopped him to arrange the ribbon on his +shirt, and, after toying a little with his coat, she put his hat on for +him and he left the little home. + +Polikey's next-door neighbors were a joiner and his wife. A thin +partition only separated the two families, and each could hear what the +other said and did. Soon after Polikey's departure a woman was heard to +say: "Well, Polikey Illitch, so your mistress has sent for you!" + +The voice was that of the joiner's wife on the other side of the +partition. Akulina and the woman had quarrelled that morning about some +trifling thing done by one of Polikey's children, and it afforded her +the greatest pleasure to learn that her neighbor had been summoned into +the presence of his noble mistress. She looked upon such a circumstance +as a bad omen. She continued talking to herself and said: "Perhaps she +wants to send him to the town to make some purchases for her household. +I did not suppose she would select such a faithful man as you are to +perform such a service for her. If it should prove that she DOES want to +send you to the next town, just buy me a quarter-pound of tea. Will you, +Polikey Illitch?" + +Poor Akulina, on hearing the joiner's wife talking so unkindly of her +husband, could hardly suppress the tears, and, the tirade continuing, +she at last became angry, and wished she could in some way punish her. + +Forgetting her neighbor's unkindness, her thoughts soon turned in +another direction, and glancing at her sleeping children she said to +herself that they might soon be orphans and she herself a soldier's +widow. This thought greatly distressed her, and burying her face in her +hands she seated herself on the bed, where several of her progeny were +fast asleep. Presently a little voice interrupted her meditations by +crying out, "Mamushka [little mother], you are crushing me," and the +child pulled her nightdress from under her mother's arms. + +Akulina, with her head still resting on her hands, said: "Perhaps it +would be better if we all should die. I only seem to have brought you +into the world to suffer sorrow and misery." + +Unable longer to control her grief, she burst into violent weeping, +which served to increase the amusement of the joiner's wife, who had +not forgotten the morning's squabble, and she laughed loudly at her +neighbor's woe. + + +CHAPTER III. + +About half an hour had passed when the youngest child began to cry and +Akulina arose to feed it. She had by this time ceased to weep, and after +feeding the infant she again fell into her old position, with her face +buried in her hands. She was very pale, but this only increased her +beauty. After a time she raised her head, and staring at the burning +candle she began to question herself as to why she had married, and as +to the reason that the Czar required so many soldiers. + +Presently she heard steps outside, and knew that her husband was +returning. She hurriedly wiped away the last traces of her tears as she +arose to let him pass into the centre of the room. + +Polikey made his appearance with a look of triumph on his face, threw +his hat on the bed, and hastily removed his coat; but not a word did he +utter. + +Akulina, unable to restrain her impatience, asked, "Well, what did she +want with you?" + +"Pshaw!" he replied, "it is very well known that Polikushka is +considered the worst man in the village; but when it comes to business +of importance, who is selected then? Why, Polikushka, of course." + +"What kind of business?" Akulina timidly inquired. + +But Polikey was in no hurry to answer her question. He lighted his pipe +with a very imposing air, and spit several times on the floor before he +replied. + +Still retaining his pompous manner, he said, "She has ordered me to +go to a certain merchant in the town and collect a considerable sum of +money." + +"You to collect money?" questioned Akulina. + +Polikey only shook his head and smiled significantly, saying: + +"'You,' the mistress said to me, 'are a man resting under a grave +suspicion--a man who is considered unsafe to trust in any capacity; but +I have faith in you, and will intrust you with this important business +of mine in preference to any one else.'" + +Polikey related all this in a loud voice, so that his neighbor might +hear what he had to say. + +"'You promised me to reform,' my noble mistress said to me, 'and I will +be the first to show you how much faith I have in your promise. I want +you to ride into town, and, going to the principal merchant there, +collect a sum of money from him and bring it to me.' I said to my +mistress: 'Everything you order shall be done. I will only too gladly +obey your slightest wish.' + +"Then my mistress said: 'Do you understand, Polikey, that your future lot +depends upon the faithful performance of this duty I impose upon you?' +I replied: 'Yes, I understand everything, and feel that I will succeed in +performing acceptably any task which you may impose upon me. I have been +accused of every kind of evil deed that it is possible to charge a man +with, but I have never done anything seriously wrong against you, +your honor.' In this way I talked to our mistress until I succeeded in +convincing her that my repentance was sincere, and she became greatly +softened toward me, saying, 'If you are successful I will give you the +first place at the court.'" + +"And how much money are you to collect?" inquired Akulina. + +"Fifteen hundred rubles," carelessly answered Polikey. + +Akulina sadly shook her head as she asked, "When are you to start?" + +"She ordered me to leave here to-morrow," Polikey replied. "'Take any +horse you please,' she said. 'Come to the office, and I will see you +there and wish you God-speed on your journey.'" + +"Glory to Thee, O Lord!" said Akulina, as she arose and made the sign +of the cross. "God, I am sure, will bless you, Illitch," she added, in a +whisper, so that the people on the other side of the partition could not +hear what she said, all the while holding on to his sleeve. "Illitch," +she cried at last, excitedly, "for God's sake promise me that you will +not touch a drop of vodki. Take an oath before God, and kiss the cross, +so that I may be sure that you will not break your promise!" + +Polikey replied in most contemptuous tones: "Do you think I will dare to +touch vodki when I shall have such a large sum of money in my care?" + +"Akulina, have a clean shirt ready for the morning," were his parting +words for the night. + +So Polikey and his wife went to sleep in a happy frame of mind and full +of bright dreams for the future. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Very early the next morning, almost before the stars had hidden +themselves from view, there was seen standing before Polikey's home a +low wagon, the same in which the superintendent himself used to ride; +and harnessed to it was a large-boned, dark-brown mare, called for some +unknown reason by the name of Baraban (drum). Aniutka, Polikey's +eldest daughter, in spite of the heavy rain and the cold wind which was +blowing, stood outside barefooted and held (not without some fear) the +reins in ore hand, while with the other she endeavored to keep her green +and yellow overcoat wound around her body, and also to hold Polikey's +sheepskin coat. + +In the house there were the greatest noise and confusion. The morning +was still so dark that the little daylight there was failed to penetrate +through the broken panes of glass, the window being stuffed in many +places with rags and paper to exclude the cold air. + +Akulina ceased from her cooking for a while and helped to get Polikey +ready for the journey. Most of the children were still in bed, very +likely as a protection against the cold, for Akulina had taken away the +big overcoat which usually covered them and had substituted a shawl of +her own. Polikey's shirt was all ready, nice and clean, but his shoes +badly needed repairing, and this fact caused his devoted wife much +anxiety. She took from her own feet the thick woollen stockings she was +wearing, and gave them to Polikey. She then began to repair his shoes, +patching up the holes so as to protect his feet from dampness. + +While this was going on he was sitting on the side of the bed with his +feet dangling over the edge, and trying to turn the sash which confined +his coat at the waist. He was anxious to look as clean as possible, and +he declared his sash looked like a dirty rope. + +One of his daughters, enveloped in a sheepskin coat, was sent to a +neighbor's house to borrow a hat. + +Within Polikey's home the greatest confusion reigned, for the court +servants were constantly arriving with innumerable small orders which +they wished Polikey to execute for them in town. One wanted needles, +another tea, another tobacco, and last came the joiner's wife, who by +this time had prepared her samovar, and, anxious to make up the quarrel +of the previous day, brought the traveller a cup of tea. + +Neighbor Nikita refused the loan of the hat, so the old one had to be +patched up for the occasion. This occupied some time, as there were many +holes in it. + +Finally Polikey was all ready, and jumping on the wagon started on his +journey, after first making the sign of the cross. + +At the last moment his little boy, Mishka, ran to the door, begging to +be given a short ride; and then his little daughter, Mashka, appeared on +the scene and pleaded that she, too, might have a ride, declaring that +she would be quite warm enough without furs. + +Polikey stopped the horse on hearing the children, and Akulina placed +them in the wagon, together with two others belonging to a neighbor--all +anxious to have a short ride. + +As Akulina helped the little ones into the wagon she took occasion to +remind Polikey of the solemn promise he had made her not to touch a drop +of vodki during the journey. + +Polikey drove the children as far as the blacksmith's place, where he +let them out of the wagon, telling them they must return home. He then +arranged his clothing, and, setting his hat firmly on his head, started +his horse on a trot. + +The two children, Mishka and Mashka, both barefooted, started running at +such a rapid pace that a strange dog from another village, seeing them +flying over the road, dropped his tail between his legs and ran home +squealing. + +The weather was very cold, a sharp cutting wind blowing continuously; +but this did not disturb Polikey, whose mind was engrossed with pleasant +thoughts. As he rode through the wintry blasts he kept repeating to +himself: "So I am the man they wanted to send to Siberia, and whom they +threatened to enroll as a soldier--the same man whom every one abused, +and said he was lazy, and who was pointed out as a thief and given the +meanest work on the estate to do! Now I am going to receive a large sum +of money, for which my mistress is sending me because she trusts me. I +am also riding in the same wagon that the superintendent himself uses +when he is riding as a representative of the court. I have the same +harness, leather horse-collar, reins, and all the other gear." + +Polikey, filled with pride at thought of the mission with which he had +been intrusted, drew himself up with an air of pride, and, fixing his +old hat more firmly on his head, buttoned his coat tightly about him and +urged his horse to greater speed. + +"Just to think," he continued; "I shall have in my possession three +thousand half-rubles [the peasant manner of speaking of money so as to +make it appear a larger sum than it really is], and will carry them in +my bosom. If I wished to I might run away to Odessa instead of taking +the money to my mistress. But no; I will not do that. I will surely +carry the money straight to the one who has been kind enough to trust +me." + +When Polikey reached the first kabak (tavern) he found that from long +habit the mare was naturally turning her head toward it; but he would +not allow her to stop, though money had been given him to purchase +both food and drink. Striking the animal a sharp blow with the whip, he +passed by the tavern. The performance was repeated when he reached the +next kabak, which looked very inviting; but he resolutely set his face +against entering, and passed on. + +About noon he arrived at his destination, and getting down from the +wagon approached the gate of the merchant's house where the servants of +the court always stopped. Opening it he led the mare through, and (after +unharnessing her) fed her. This done, he next entered the house and had +dinner with the merchant's workingman, and to them he related what an +important mission he had been sent on, making himself very amusing by +the pompous air which he assumed. Dinner over, he carried a letter to +the merchant which the noblewoman had given him to deliver. + +The merchant, knowing thoroughly the reputation which Polikey bore, +felt doubtful of trusting him with so much money, and somewhat anxiously +inquired if he really had received orders to carry so many rubles. + +Polikey tried to appear offended at this question, but did not succeed, +and he only smiled. + +The merchant, after reading the letter a second time and being convinced +that all was right, gave Polikey the money, which he put in his bosom +for safe-keeping. + +On his way to the house he did not once stop at any of the shops he +passed. The clothing establishments possessed no attractions for him, +and after he had safely passed them all he stood for a moment, feeling +very pleased that he had been able to withstand temptation, and then +went on his way. + +"I have money enough to buy up everything," he said; "but I will not do +so." + +The numerous commissions which he had received compelled him to go to +the bazaar. There he bought only what had been ordered, but he could +not resist the temptation to ask the price of a very handsome sheep-skin +coat which attracted his attention. The merchant to whom he spoke looked +at Polikey and smiled, not believing that he had sufficient money to +purchase such an expensive coat. But Polikey, pointing to his breast, +said that he could buy out the whole shop if he wished to. He thereupon +ordered the shop-keeper to take his measure. He tried the coat on and +looked himself over carefully, testing the quality and blowing upon the +hair to see that none of it came out. Finally, heaving a deep sigh, he +took it off. + +"The price is too high," he said. "If you could let me have it for +fifteen rubles--" + +But the merchant cut him short by snatching the coat from him and +throwing it angrily to one side. + +Polikey left the bazaar and returned to the merchant's house in high +spirits. + +After supper he went out and fed the mare, and prepared everything for +the night. Returning to the house he got up on the stove to rest, and +while there he took out the envelope which contained the money and +looked long and earnestly at it. He could not read, but asked one of +those present to tell him what the writing on the envelope meant. It +was simply the address and the announcement that it contained fifteen +hundred rubles. + +The envelope was made of common paper and was sealed with dark-brown +sealing wax. There was one large seal in the centre and four smaller +ones at the corners. Polikey continued to examine it carefully, even +inserting his finger till he touched the crisp notes. He appeared to +take a childish delight in having so much money in his possession. + +Having finished his examination, he put the envelope inside the lining +of his old battered hat, and placing both under his head he went to +sleep; but during the night he frequently awoke and always felt to +know if the money was safe. Each time that he found that it was safe he +rejoiced at the thought that he, Polikey, abused and regarded by every +one as a thief, was intrusted with the care of such a large sum of +money, and also that he was about to return with it quite as safely as +the superintendent himself could have done. + + +CHAPTER V. + +Before dawn the next morning Polikey was up, and after harnessing the +mare and looking in his hat to see that the money was all right, he +started on his return journey. + +Many times on the way Polikey took off his hat to see that the money was +safe. Once he said to himself, "I think that perhaps it would be better +if I should put it in my bosom." This would necessitate the untying of +his sash, so he decided to keep it still in his hat, or until he should +have made half the journey, when he would be compelled to stop to feed +his horse and to rest. + +He said to himself: "The lining is not sewn in very strongly and the +envelope might fall out, so I think I had better not take off my hat +until I reach home." + +The money was safe--at least, so it seemed to him--and he began to +think how grateful his mistress would be to him, and in his excited +imagination he saw the five rubles he was so sure of receiving. + +Once more he examined the hat to see that the money was safe, and +finding everything all right he put on his hat and pulled it well down +over his ears, smiling all the while at his own thoughts. + +Akulina had carefully sewed all the holes in the hat, but it burst out +in other places owing to Polikey's removing it so often. + +In the darkness he did not notice the new rents, and tried to push the +envelope further under the lining, and in doing so pushed one corner of +it through the plush. + +The sun was getting high in the heavens, and Polikey having slept but +little the previous night and feeling its warm rays fell fast asleep, +after first pressing his hat more firmly on his head. By this action +he forced the envelope still further through the plush, and as he rode +along his head bobbed up and down. + +Polikey did not awake till he arrived near his own house, and his first +act was to put his hand to his head to learn if his hat was all right. +Finding that it was in its place, he did not think it necessary to +examine it and see that the money was safe. Touching the mare gently +with the whip she started into a trot, and as he rode along he arranged +in his own mind how much he was to receive. With the air of a man +already holding a high position at the court, he looked around him with +an expression of lofty scorn on his face. + +As he neared his house he could see before him the one room which +constituted their humble home, and the joiner's wife next door carrying +her rolls of linen. He saw also the office of the court and his +mistress's house, where he hoped he would be able presently to prove +that he was an honest, trustworthy man. + +He reasoned with himself that any person can be abused by lying tongues, +but when his mistress would see him she would say: "Well done, Polikey; +you have shown that you can be honest. Here are three--it may be +five--perhaps ten--rubles for you;" and also she would order tea for +him, and might treat him to vodki--who knows? + +The latter thought gave him great pleasure, as he was feeling very cold. + +Speaking aloud he said: "What a happy holy-day we can have with ten +rubles! Having so much money, I could pay Nikita the four rubles fifty +kopecks which I owe him, and yet have some left to buy shoes for the +children." + +When near the house Polikey began to arrange his clothes, smoothing +down his fur collar, re-tying his sash, and stroking his hair. To do the +latter he had to take off his hat, and when doing so felt in the lining +for the envelope. Quicker and quicker he ran his hand around the lining, +and not finding the money used both hands, first one and then the other. +But the envelope was not to be found. + +Polikey was by this time greatly distressed, and his face was white with +fear as he passed his hand through the crown of his old hat. Polikey +stopped the mare and began a diligent search through the wagon and +its contents. Not finding the precious envelope, he felt in all his +pockets--BUT THE MONEY COULD NOT BE FOUND! + +Wildly clutching at his hair, he exclaimed: "Batiushka! What will I do +now? What will become of me?" At the same time he realized that he was +near his neighbors' house and could be seen by them; so he turned the +mare around, and, pulling his hat down securely upon his head, he rode +quickly back in search of his lost treasure. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The whole day passed without any one in the village of Pokrovski having +seen anything of Polikey. During the afternoon his mistress inquired +many times as to his whereabouts, and sent Aksiutka frequently to +Akulina, who each time sent back word that Polikey had not yet returned, +saying also that perhaps the merchant had kept him, or that something +had happened to the mare. + +His poor wife felt a heavy load upon her heart, and was scarcely able to +do her housework and put everything in order for the next day (which was +to be a holy-day). The children also anxiously awaited their father's +appearance, and, though for different reasons, could hardly restrain +their impatience. The noblewoman and Akulina were concerned only in +regard to Polikey himself, while the children were interested most in +what he would bring them from the town. + +The only news received by the villagers during the day concerning +Polikey was to the effect that neighboring peasants had seen him running +up and down the road and asking every one he met if he or she had found +an envelope. + +One of them had seen him also walking by the side of his tired-out +horse. "I thought," said he, "that the man was drunk, and had not fed +his horse for two days--the animal looked so exhausted." + +Unable to sleep, and with her heart palpitating at every sound, Akulina +lay awake all night vainly awaiting Polikey's return. When the cock +crowed the third time she was obliged to get up to attend to the fire. +Day was just dawning and the church-bells had begun to ring. Soon all +the children were also up, but there was still no tidings of the missing +husband and father. + +In the morning the chill blasts of winter entered their humble home, and +on looking out they saw that the houses, fields, and roads were thickly +covered with snow. The day was clear and cold, as if befitting the +holy-day they were about to celebrate. They were able to see a long +distance from the house, but no one was in sight. + +Akulina was busy baking cakes, and had it not been for the joyous shouts +of the children she would not have known that Polikey was coming up the +road, for a few minutes later he came in with a bundle in his hand and +walked quietly to his corner. Akulina noticed that he was very pale and +that his face bore an expression of suffering--as if he would like to +have cried but could not do so. But she did not stop to study it, but +excitedly inquired: "What! Illitch, is everything all right with you?" + +He slowly muttered something, but his wife could not understand what he +said. + +"What!" she cried out, "have you been to see our mistress?" + +Polikey still sat on the bed in his corner, glaring wildly about him, +and smiling bitterly. He did not reply for a long time, and Akulina +again cried: + +"Eh? Illitch! Why don't you answer me? Why don't you speak?" + +Finally he said: "Akulina, I delivered the money to our mistress; and +oh, how she thanked me!" Then he suddenly looked about him, with an +anxious, startled air, and with a sad smile on his lips. Two things in +the room seemed to engross the most of his attention: the baby in the +cradle, and the rope which was attached to the ladder. Approaching the +cradle, he began with his thin fingers quickly to untie the knot in the +rope by which the two were connected. After untying it he stood for a +few moments looking silently at the baby. + +Akulina did not notice this proceeding, and with her cakes on the board +went to place them in a corner. + +Polikey quickly hid the rope beneath his coat, and again seated himself +on the bed. + +"What is it that troubles you, Illitch?" inquired Akulina. "You are not +yourself." + +"I have not slept," he answered. + +Suddenly a dark shadow crossed the window, and a minute later the girl +Aksiutka quickly entered the room, exclaiming: + +"The boyarinia commands you, Polikey Illitch, to come to her this +moment!" + +Polikey looked first at Akulina and then at the girl. + +"This moment!" he cried. "What more is wanted?" + +He spoke the last sentence so softly that Akulina became quieted in +her mind, thinking that perhaps their mistress intended to reward her +husband. + +"Say that I will come immediately," he said. + +But Polikey failed to follow the girl, and went instead to another +place. + +From the porch of his house there was a ladder reaching to the attic. +Arriving at the foot of the ladder Polikey looked around him, and seeing +no one about, he quickly ascended to the garret. + +***** + +Meanwhile the girl had reached her mistress's house. + +"What does it mean that Polikey does not come?" said the noblewoman +impatiently. "Where can he be? Why does he not come at once?" + +Aksiutka flew again to his house and demanded to see Polikey. + +"He went a long time ago," answered Akulina, and looking around with an +expression of fear on her face, she added, "He may have fallen asleep +somewhere on the way." + +About this time the joiner's wife, with hair unkempt and clothes +bedraggled, went up to the loft to gather the linen which she had +previously put there to dry. Suddenly a cry of horror was heard, and +the woman, with her eyes closed, and crazed by fear, ran down the ladder +like a cat. + +"Illitch," she cried, "has hanged himself!" + +Poor Akulina ran up the ladder before any of the people, who had +gathered from the surrounding houses, could prevent her. With a loud +shriek she fell back as if dead, and would surely have been killed had +not one of the spectators succeeded in catching her in his arms. + +Before dark the same day a peasant of the village, while returning from +the town, found the envelope containing Polikey's money on the roadside, +and soon after delivered it to the boyarinia. + + + + +THE CANDLE. + + "Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a + tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not + evil."--ST. MATTHEW V. 38, 39. + +It was in the time of serfdom--many years before Alexander II.'s +liberation of the sixty million serfs in 1862. In those days the people +were ruled by different kinds of lords. There were not a few who, +remembering God, treated their slaves in a humane manner, and not as +beasts of burden, while there were others who were seldom known to +perform a kind or generous action; but the most barbarous and tyrannical +of all were those former serfs who arose from the dirt and became +princes. + +It was this latter class who made life literally a burden to those +who were unfortunate enough to come under their rule. Many of them had +arisen from the ranks of the peasantry to become superintendents of +noblemen's estates. + +The peasants were obliged to work for their master a certain number of +days each week. There was plenty of land and water and the soil was rich +and fertile, while the meadows and forests were sufficient to supply the +needs of both the peasants and their lord. + +There was a certain nobleman who had chosen a superintendent from the +peasantry on one of his other estates. No sooner had the power to govern +been vested in this newly-made official than he began to practice the +most outrageous cruelties upon the poor serfs who had been placed under +his control. Although this man had a wife and two married daughters, +and was making so much money that he could have lived happily without +transgressing in any way against either God or man, yet he was filled +with envy and jealousy and deeply sunk in sin. + +Michael Simeonovitch began his persecutions by compelling the peasants +to perform more days of service on the estate every week than the laws +obliged them to work. He established a brick-yard, in which he forced +the men and women to do excessive labor, selling the bricks for his own +profit. + +On one occasion the overworked serfs sent a delegation to Moscow +to complain of their treatment to their lord, but they obtained no +satisfaction. When the poor peasants returned disconsolate from the +nobleman their superintendent determined to have revenge for their +boldness in going above him for redress, and their life and that of +their fellow-victims became worse than before. + +It happened that among the serfs there were some very treacherous people +who would falsely accuse their fellows of wrong-doing and sow seeds +of discord among the peasantry, whereupon Michael would become greatly +enraged, while his poor subjects began to live in fear of their lives. +When the superintendent passed through the village the people would run +and hide themselves as from a wild beast. Seeing thus the terror which +he had struck to the hearts of the moujiks, Michael's treatment of them +became still more vindictive, so that from over-work and ill-usage the +lot of the poor serfs was indeed a hard one. + +There was a time when it was possible for the peasants, when driven to +despair, to devise means whereby they could rid themselves of an inhuman +monster such as Simeonovitch, and so these unfortunate people began to +consider whether something could not be done to relieve THEM of their +intolerable yoke. They would hold little meetings in secret places to +bewail their misery and to confer with one another as to which would +be the best way to act. Now and then the boldest of the gathering would +rise and address his companions in this strain: "How much longer can +we tolerate such a villain to rule over us? Let us make an end of it at +once, for it were better for us to perish than to suffer. It is surely +not a sin to kill such a devil in human form." + +It happened once, before the Easter holidays, that one of these meetings +was held in the woods, where Michael had sent the serfs to make a +clearance for their master. At noon they assembled to eat their dinner +and to hold a consultation. "Why can't we leave now?" said one. "Very +soon we shall be reduced to nothing. Already we are almost worked to +death--there being no rest, night or day, either for us or our poor +women. If anything should be done in a way not exactly to please him he +will find fault and perhaps flog some of us to death--as was the case +with poor Simeon, whom he killed not long ago. Only recently Anisim +was tortured in irons till he died. We certainly cannot stand this much +longer." "Yes," said another, "what is the use of waiting? Let us act at +once. Michael will be here this evening, and will be certain to abuse us +shamefully. Let us, then, thrust him from his horse and with one blow of +an axe give him what he deserves, and thus end our misery. We can then +dig a big hole and bury him like a dog, and no one will know what became +of him. Now let us come to an agreement--to stand together as one man +and not to betray one another." + +The last speaker was Vasili Minayeff, who, if possible, had more cause +to complain of Michael's cruelty than any of his fellow-serfs. The +superintendent was in the habit of flogging him severely every week, and +he took also Vasili's wife to serve him as cook. + +Accordingly, during the evening that followed this meeting in the woods +Michael arrived on the scene on horseback. He began at once to find +fault with the manner in which the work had been done, and to complain +because some lime-trees had been cut down. + +"I told you not to cut down any lime-trees!" shouted the enraged +superintendent. "Who did this thing? Tell me at once, or I shall flog +every one of you!" + +On investigation, a peasant named Sidor was pointed out as the guilty +one, and his face was roundly slapped. Michael also severely punished +Vasili, because he had not done sufficient work, after which the master +rode safely home. + +In the evening the serfs again assembled, and poor Vasili said: "Oh, +what kind of people ARE we, anyway? We are only sparrows, and not men at +all! We agree to stand by each other, but as soon as the time for action +comes we all run and hide. Once a lot of sparrows conspired against a +hawk, but no sooner did the bird of prey appear than they sneaked off in +the grass. Selecting one of the choicest sparrows, the hawk took it away +to eat, after which the others came out crying, 'Twee-twee!' and found +that one was missing. 'Who is killed?' they asked. 'Vanka! Well, he +deserved it.' You, my friends, are acting in just the same manner. When +Michael attacked Sidor you should have stood by your promise. Why didn't +you arise, and with one stroke put an end to him and to our misery?" + +The effect of this speech was to make the peasants more firm in their +determination to kill their superintendent. The latter had already given +orders that they should be ready to plough during the Easter holidays, +and to sow the field with oats, whereupon the serfs became stricken +with grief, and gathered in Vasili's house to hold another indignation +meeting. "If he has really forgotten God," they said, "and shall +continue to commit such crimes against us, it is truly necessary that we +should kill him. If not, let us perish, for it can make no difference to +us now." + +This despairing programme, however, met with considerable opposition +from a peaceably-inclined man named Peter Mikhayeff. "Brethren," said +he, "you are contemplating a grievous sin. The taking of human life is a +very serious matter. Of course it is easy to end the mortal existence of +a man, but what will become of the souls of those who commit the deed? +If Michael continues to act toward us unjustly God will surely punish +him. But, my friends, we must have patience." + +This pacific utterance only served to intensify the anger of Vasili. +Said he: "Peter is forever repeating the same old story, 'It is a sin to +kill any one.' Certainly it is sinful to murder; but we should consider +the kind of man we are dealing with. We all know it is wrong to kill a +good man, but even God would take away the life of such a dog as he is. +It is our duty, if we have any love for mankind, to shoot a dog that +is mad. It is a sin to let him live. If, therefore, we are to suffer at +all, let it be in the interests of the people--and they will thank +us for it. If we remain quiet any longer a flogging will be our only +reward. You are talking nonsense, Mikhayeff. Why don't you think of the +sin we shall be committing if we work during the Easter holidays--for +you will refuse to work then yourself?" + +"Well, then," replied Peter, "if they shall send me to plough, I will +go. But I shall not be going of my own free will, and God will know +whose sin it is, and shall punish the offender accordingly. Yet we must +not forget him. Brethren, I am not giving you my own views only. The law +of God is not to return evil for evil; indeed, if you try in this way to +stamp out wickedness it will come upon you all the stronger. It is not +difficult for you to kill the man, but his blood will surely stain your +own soul. You may think you have killed a bad man--that you have gotten +rid of evil--but you will soon find out that the seeds of still greater +wickedness have been planted within you. If you yield to misfortune it +will surely come to you." + +As Peter was not without sympathizers among the peasants, the poor serfs +were consequently divided into two groups: the followers of Vasili and +those who held the views of Mikhayeff. + +On Easter Sunday no work was done. Toward the evening an elder came to +the peasants from the nobleman's court and said: "Our superintendent, +Michael Simeonovitch, orders you to go to-morrow to plough the field for +the oats." Thus the official went through the village and directed the +men to prepare for work the next day--some by the river and others by +the roadway. The poor people were almost overcome with grief, many +of them shedding tears, but none dared to disobey the orders of their +master. + +On the morning of Easter Monday, while the church bells were calling the +inhabitants to religious services, and while every one else was about to +enjoy a holiday, the unfortunate serfs started for the field to plough. +Michael arose rather late and took a walk about the farm. The domestic +servants were through with their work and had dressed themselves for the +day, while Michael's wife and their widowed daughter (who was visiting +them, as was her custom on holidays) had been to church and returned. A +steaming samovar awaited them, and they began to drink tea with Michael, +who, after lighting his pipe, called the elder to him. + +"Well," said the superintendent, "have you ordered the moujiks to plough +to-day?" + +"Yes, sir, I did," was the reply. + +"Have they all gone to the field?" + +"Yes, sir; all of them. I directed them myself where to begin." + +"That is all very well. You gave the orders, but are they ploughing? +Go at once and see, and you may tell them that I shall be there after +dinner. I shall expect to find one and a half acres done for every +two ploughs, and the work must be well done; otherwise they shall be +severely punished, notwithstanding the holiday." + +"I hear, sir, and obey." + +The elder started to go, but Michael called him back. After hesitating +for some time, as if he felt very uneasy, he said: + +"By the way, listen to what those scoundrels say about me. Doubtless +some of them will curse me, and I want you to report the exact words. I +know what villains they are. They don't find work at all pleasant. They +would rather lie down all day and do nothing. They would like to eat and +drink and make merry on holidays, but they forget that if the ploughing +is not done it will soon be too late. So you go and listen to what is +said, and tell it to me in detail. Go at once." + +"I hear, sir, and obey." + +Turning his back and mounting his horse, the elder was soon at the field +where the serfs were hard at work. + +It happened that Michael's wife, a very good-hearted woman, overheard +the conversation which her husband had just been holding with the elder. +Approaching him, she said: + +"My good friend, Mishinka [diminutive of Michael], I beg of you to +consider the importance and solemnity of this holy-day. Do not sin, for +Christ's sake. Let the poor moujiks go home." + +Michael laughed, but made no reply to his wife's humane request. Finally +he said to her: + +"You've not been whipped for a very long time, and now you have become +bold enough to interfere in affairs that are not your own." + +"Mishinka," she persisted, "I have had a frightful dream concerning you. +You had better let the moujiks go." + +"Yes," said he; "I perceive that you have gained so much flesh of late +that you think you would not feel the whip. Lookout!" + +Rudely thrusting his hot pipe against her cheek, Michael chased his wife +from the room, after which he ordered his dinner. After eating a hearty +meal consisting of cabbage-soup, roast pig, meat-cake, pastry with +milk, jelly, sweet cakes, and vodki, he called his woman cook to him and +ordered her to be seated and sing songs, Simeonovitch accompanying her +on the guitar. + +While the superintendent was thus enjoying himself to the fullest +satisfaction in the musical society of his cook the elder returned, +and, making a low bow to his superior, proceeded to give the desired +information concerning the serfs. + +"Well," asked Michael, "did they plough?" + +"Yes," replied the elder; "they have accomplished about half the field." + +"Is there no fault to be found?" + +"Not that I could discover. The work seems to be well done. They are +evidently afraid of you." + +"How is the soil?" + +"Very good. It appears to be quite soft." + +"Well," said Simeonovitch, after a pause, "what did they say about me? +Cursed me, I suppose?" + +As the elder hesitated somewhat, Michael commanded him to speak and tell +him the whole truth. "Tell me all," said he; "I want to know their exact +words. If you tell me the truth I shall reward you; but if you conceal +anything from me you will be punished. See here, Catherine, pour out a +glass of vodki to give him courage!" + +After drinking to the health of his superior, the elder said to himself: +"It is not my fault if they do not praise him. I shall tell him the +truth." Then turning suddenly to the superintendent he said: + +"They complain, Michael Simeonovitch! They complain bitterly." + +"But what did they say?" demanded Michael. "Tell me!" + +"Well, one thing they said was, 'He does not believe in God.'" + +Michael laughed. "Who said that?" he asked. + +"It seemed to be their unanimous opinion. 'He has been overcome by the +Evil One,' they said." + +"Very good," laughed the superintendent; "but tell me what each of them +said. What did Vasili say?" + +The elder did not wish to betray his people, but he had a certain grudge +against Vasili, and he said: + +"He cursed you more than did any of the others." + +"But what did he say?" + +"It is awful to repeat it, sir. Vasili said, 'He shall die like a dog, +having no chance to repent!'" + +"Oh, the villain!" exclaimed Michael. "He would kill me if he were not +afraid. All right, Vasili; we shall have an accounting with you. And +Tishka--he called me a dog, I suppose?" + +"Well," said the elder, "they all spoke of you in anything but +complimentary terms; but it is mean in me to repeat what they said." + +"Mean or not you must tell me, I say!" + +"Some of them declared that your back should be broken." + +Simeonovitch appeared to enjoy this immensely, for he laughed outright. +"We shall see whose back will be the first to be broken," said he. "Was +that Tishka's opinion? While I did not suppose they would say anything +good about me, I did not expect such curses and threats. And Peter +Mikhayeff--was that fool cursing me too?" + +"No; he did not curse you at all. He appeared to be the only silent one +among them. Mikhayeff is a very wise moujik, and he surprises me very +much. At his actions all the other peasants seemed amazed." + +"What did he do?" + +"He did something remarkable. He was diligently ploughing, and as I +approached him I heard some one singing very sweetly. Looking between +the ploughshares, I observed a bright object shining." + +"Well, what was it? Hurry up!" + +"It was a small, five-kopeck wax candle, burning brightly, and the wind +was unable to blow it out. Peter, wearing a new shirt, sang beautiful +hymns as he ploughed, and no matter how he handled the implement the +candle continued to burn. In my presence he fixed the plough, shaking +it violently, but the bright little object between the colters remained +undisturbed." + +"And what did Mikhayeff say?" + +"He said nothing--except when, on seeing me, he gave me the holy-day +salutation, after which he went on his way singing and ploughing as +before. I did not say anything to him, but, on approaching the other +moujiks, I found that they were laughing and making sport of their +silent companion. 'It is a great sin to plough on Easter Monday,' they +said. 'You could not get absolution from your sin if you were to pray +all your life.'" + +"And did Mikhayeff make no reply?" + +"He stood long enough to say: 'There should be peace on earth and +good-will to men,' after which he resumed his ploughing and singing, the +candle burning even more brightly than before." + +Simeonovitch had now ceased to ridicule, and, putting aside his guitar, +his head dropped on his breast and he became lost in thought. Presently +he ordered the elder and cook to depart, after which Michael went behind +a screen and threw himself upon the bed. He was sighing and moaning, as +if in great distress, when his wife came in and spoke kindly to him. He +refused to listen to her, exclaiming: + +"He has conquered me, and my end is near!" + +"Mishinka," said the woman, "arise and go to the moujiks in the field. +Let them go home, and everything will be all right. Heretofore you have +run far greater risks without any fear, but now you appear to be very +much alarmed." + +"He has conquered me!" he repeated. "I am lost!" + +"What do you mean?" demanded his wife, angrily. "If you will go and +do as I tell you there will be no danger. Come, Mishinka," she added, +tenderly; "I shall have the saddle-horse brought for you at once." + +When the horse arrived the woman persuaded her husband to mount the +animal, and to fulfil her request concerning the serfs. When he reached +the village a woman opened the gate for him to enter, and as he did so +the inhabitants, seeing the brutal superintendent whom everybody feared, +ran to hide themselves in their houses, gardens, and other secluded +places. + +At length Michael reached the other gate, which he found closed also, +and, being unable to open it himself while seated on his horse, he +called loudly for assistance. As no one responded to his shouts he +dismounted and opened the gate, but as he was about to remount, and had +one foot in the stirrup, the horse became frightened at some pigs and +sprang suddenly to one side. The superintendent fell across the +fence and a very sharp picket pierced his stomach, when Michael fell +unconscious to the ground. + +Toward the evening, when the serfs arrived at the village gate, their +horses refused to enter. On looking around, the peasants discovered +the dead body of their superintendent lying face downward in a pool of +blood, where he had fallen from the fence. Peter Mikhayeff alone had +sufficient courage to dismount and approach the prostrate form, his +companions riding around the village and entering by way of the back +yards. Peter closed the dead man's eyes, after which he put the body in +a wagon and took it home. + +When the nobleman learned of the fatal accident which had befallen his +superintendent, and of the brutal treatment which he had meted out to +those under him, he freed the serfs, exacting a small rent for the use +of his land and the other agricultural opportunities. + +And thus the peasants clearly understood that the power of God is +manifested not in evil, but in goodness. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories, by +Leo Tolstoi + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KREUTZER SONATA *** + +***** This file should be named 689.txt or 689.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/8/689/ + +Produced by Judith Boss and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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