'To Elyénushka,
To the fairest soul
God has sent on earth:
Alexándrovna!'"
CHAPTER VIII
THE WOMAN'S LEGEND
Matróna is silent.
You see that the peasants
Have seized the occasion—
They are not forgetting
To drink to the health
Of the beautiful lady!
But noticing soon
That Matróna is silent,
In file they approach her.
"What more will you tell us?" 10
"What more?" says Matróna,
"My fame as the 'lucky one'
Spread through the volost,
Since then they have called me
'The Governor's Lady.'
You ask me, what further?
I managed the household,
And brought up my children.
You ask, was I happy?
Well, that you can answer 20
Yourselves. And my children?
Five sons! But the peasant's
Misfortunes are endless:
They've robbed me of one."
She lowers her voice,
And her lashes are trembling,
But turning her head
She endeavours to hide it.
The peasants are rather
Confused, but they linger: 30
"Well, neighbour," they say,
"Will you tell us no more?"
"There's one thing: You're foolish
To seek among women
For happiness, brothers."
"That's all?"
"I can tell you
That twice we were swallowed
By fire, and that three times
The plague fell upon us; 40
But such things are common
To all of us peasants.
Like cattle we toiled,
My steps were as easy
As those of a horse
In the plough. But my troubles
Were not very startling:
No mountains have moved
From their places to crush me;
And God did not strike me 50
With arrows of thunder.
The storm in my soul
Has been silent, unnoticed,
So how can I paint it
To you? O'er the Mother
Insulted and outraged,
The blood of her first-born
As o'er a crushed worm
Has been poured; and unanswered
The deadly offences 60
That many have dealt her;
The knout has been raised
Unopposed o'er her body.
But one thing I never
Have suffered: I told you
That Sítnikov died,
That the last, irreparable
Shame had been spared me.
You ask me for happiness?
Brothers, you mock me! 70
Go, ask the official,
The Minister mighty,
The Tsar—Little Father,
But never a woman!
God knows—among women
Your search will be endless,
Will lead to your graves.
"A pious old woman
Once asked us for shelter;
The whole of her lifetime 80
The Flesh she had conquered
By penance and fasting;
She'd bathed in the Jordan,
And prayed at the tomb
Of Christ Jesus. She told us
The keys to the welfare
And freedom of women
Have long been mislaid—
God Himself has mislaid them.
And hermits, chaste women, 90
And monks of great learning,
Have sought them all over
The world, but not found them.
They're lost, and 'tis thought
By a fish they've been swallowed.
God's knights have been seeking
In towns and in deserts,
Weak, starving, and cold,
Hung with torturing fetters.
They've asked of the seers, 100
The stars they have counted
To learn;—but no keys!
Through the world they have journeyed;
In underground caverns,
In mountains, they've sought them.
At last they discovered
Some keys. They were precious,
But only—not ours.
Yet the warriors triumphed:
They fitted the lock 110
On the fetters of serfdom!
A sigh from all over
The world rose to Heaven,
A breath of relief,
Oh, so deep and so joyful!
Our keys were still missing….
Great champions, though,
Till to-day are still searching,
Deep down in the bed
Of the ocean they wander, 120
They fly to the skies,
In the clouds they are seeking,
But never the keys.
Do you think they will find them?
Who knows? Who can say?
But I think it is doubtful,
For which fish has swallowed
Those treasures so priceless,
In which sea it swims—
God Himself has forgotten!" 130
PART IV.
Dedicated to Serge Petrovitch Botkin
A FEAST FOR THE WHOLE VILLAGE
PROLOGUE
A very old willow
There is at the end
Of the village of "Earthworms,"
Where most of the folk
Have been diggers and delvers
From times very ancient
(Though some produced tar).
This willow had witnessed
The lives of the peasants:
Their holidays, dances, 10
Their communal meetings,
Their floggings by day,
In the evening their wooing,
And now it looked down
On a wonderful feast.
The feast was conducted
In Petersburg fashion,
For Klímka, the peasant
(Our former acquaintance),
Had seen on his travels 20
Some noblemen's banquets,
With toasts and orations,
And he had arranged it.