hunter notes

Chapter 18 Baijing Grassland (2)
"Where is he?" Pavlusha asked. "In the old paper mill." "Do you often go there?" "Of course, my brother Avyushka and I are paper millers." "Oh, you work there!  … . . . " "So, what's the matter?" asked Fei Jia. "That's right. Once, my brother Avyushika, Fyodor of Mihai, Ivanshika with the squinting eyes, another Ivanshika from Red Hill, Ivanshika Su Khorukov, and the others, there were a dozen of us in all—all the work shifts are here; we had to stay overnight in the paper field, and we could have gone home, but the overseer Nazaro The husband is not allowed to go, he said: "Brothers, why do you want to go home, there is a lot of work tomorrow, brothers, you should not go back." We stayed and we all slept together, Avyushi Ka said: 'Friends, what should we do when the house god comes?'... Before he finished speaking, he heard someone walking above us; The boards under our feet bent and creaked; then he passed over our heads; suddenly the water splashed on the wheels; the wheels rang, rang, and turned; We were wondering: who opened the gate and let the water flow out; but the wheel turned a few times and stopped. The fellow went to the upper door again, and came down the ladder. When he went There seemed to be no hurry; the escalators were being trampled... Lo and behold, he came to the door, and stayed there for a while, when suddenly there was a bang, and the whole door swung open. We were startled Big jump, look - there is nothing... Suddenly I saw the lattice on a bucket move, rise up, soak in the water, float around in the air, as if someone was rinsing it, and then returned to the bucket. Arrived at the original place. Then the hook on the other bucket came off the nail and hung up again; then it seemed that someone was going towards the door, and suddenly coughed loudly, like a sheep, but the sound was very loud. Very...we all huddled together in fright, and crawled under each other...We were so frightened then!"

"Really!" said Pavlusha, "why is he coughing?" "I don't know, maybe it's damp."

Everyone was silent for a moment. "How is it?" asked Feija, "are the potatoes cooked?" Pavlusha tasted them. "No, it's not cooked yet... Listen, the sound of splashing water," he went on, turning his face toward the river, "maybe it's a barracuda... Look there's a little star falling down there."

"Hey, brothers, let me tell you something," Kostya began in a shrill voice, "Listen, I heard it from my father the other day."

"Okay, let's listen," Fei Jia said encouragingly. "You all know Gavrila, the carpenter in Omura?" "Yes, of course." "Do you know why he is always so unhappy and keeps silent? The reason why he is so unhappy is: One time, Papa said, one time he went in the woods to pick walnuts. But he got lost, and he didn't know where he was going. He walked, and he walked, and it's a hell of a time, brethren! Can't find the way Well, it was already midnight at that time. He sat down under a tree. He was going to wait until dawn to talk, so he sat down and dozed off. No. He dozed off again, and someone called him again. He looked around again, and saw a mermaid sitting on a branch in front of him, swaying, calling him over; The moon shone brightly and made everything clear—see everything, brethren. She called to him, and she was all bright and white, sitting on a branch like a grouper Or a boat like a fish, or like a crucian carp, also white and silvery... The carpenter Gavrila was shocked, but, my brothers, the mermaid just laughed and kept talking to him. Beckoning him to come over. Gavrila was already on his feet, already wanting to hear what the mermaid had to say, but, my brothers, maybe God pointed him out. He crossed himself... But when he drew The cross is already very difficult, brothers, he said that his hands are like stones, and he can't move... Ah, it's so disgusting!... After he made the cross, brothers, the mermaid stopped laughing and suddenly Weeping... She was crying and wiping her eyes with her hair, which was green and like marijuana. Gavrila looked at her, looked at her, and began to ask her:' Lin Yao, why are you crying?" The mermaid said to him, "You shouldn't make the sign of the cross. People, you should live happily with me for the rest of your life; but now I'm crying, and I'm sad because you made the sign of the sign of the cross." ;and not only grieve alone, I want you to be grieved for the rest of your life too.' She said this, brothers, and disappeared, and Gavrila immediately understood how to get out of the woods... But from that time Since then, he's always been unhappy."

"Ah!" said Figa, after a moment's silence, "how could this elf of the woods hurt Christian's soul? Didn't he not listen to her?"

"That's right!" said Kostya. "Gavrila said it. Her voice was so thin and sad, like a toad."

"Did your father tell it himself?" Fei Jia asked again. "I said it myself. I was lying on a high plank bed, and I heard everything." "It's so strange! Why is he unhappy?... She must like him, that's why she called him." "Ah, she still likes him!" Yiliuxia continued, "That's not true! She wanted to tickle him, that's what she wanted. Those mermaids like to do this kind of thing." "Maybe there are mermaids here too." Fei Jia said.

"No," Kostya replied, "it's clean and wide here. It's just that the river is too close."

Everyone is silent.Suddenly, there was a long, loud, almost moaning sound in the distance.This is an indescribable night sound, which often occurs in the dead of night. It rises up, stays in the air, slowly dissipates, and finally seems to calm down.It sounds like there is no sound at all, but there is still a sound.Someone seemed to be shouting for a long time from the sky, and someone else answered him with a shrill laugh, as if in the woods, and then a faint hiss drifted across the river.The children looked at each other and trembled... "God bless us!" Yiluxia murmured. "Ha ha, you cowards!" cried Pavlusha, "what's there to be afraid of? Look, the potatoes are cooked." (Everyone gathers to the pot and begins to eat the hot potatoes; only Fanny Ya doesn't move.) "What's the matter with you?" Pavlusha asked.

But he didn't crawl out from under his mat.The pot is quickly emptied.

"Comrades," Ilyusia began, "have you heard what happened in our Farnese place a few days ago?"

"Is that what happened on the embankment?" Fei Jia asked. "Yes, yes, on the dike, on the broken dike. It's an uneven place, very uneven, and desolate. There are hollows and valleys all around, and there are always snakes in the valleys. .”

"Well, what happened? Tell me..." "It happened. Ferga, you may not know that there is a drowned man buried in our place. He was buried a long, long time ago. He drowned when the pond was still deep; but his grave is still visible, though not very clearly, it is a mound of earth... Just a few days ago, the steward called Yermir the hound, Tell him: 'Yermir, go to the post office.' Our Yermir goes to the post office a lot; he tortures all his dogs to death, and they don't know why they don't live long in his hands. , hardly ever fed, but he is a very good dog-hunter and does everything well. So Yermir rode to the post office, but he was delayed in the city and came back drunk Yes. The night was very bright and the moon was shining brightly...Yermir rode past the embankment, he must pass this way. Yermir the dog hunter was walking and saw the drowned man There was a little sheep walking around on the tomb, with snow-white curly hair, and it looked very cute. Yermir thought to himself: "Let me catch it, and I can't let it go away." He said He got off the horse, caught it and held it in his arms... The sheep was all right. Yermir went up to the horse, but when the horse saw him, it stared, snorted, and shook its head. but he drank it, and rode on with the lamb, and went on. He put the sheep before him. He stared at it, and the sheep looked straight into his eyes. The hounds Fuyermir became frightened and thought to himself, I have never seen a sheep staring at a person like this, but it was nothing, so he stroked its fur and said, "baa, baa!" The sheep suddenly grinned. Opened the corner of his mouth, and called him: 'baa, baa'..."

Before the storyteller had finished these last words, the two dogs stood up simultaneously with a jerk, and barking in alarm, rushed from the fire and disappeared into the darkness.The children were terrified to death.Vanya jumped up from under his mat.Pavlusha yelled and ran after the dog.Their barking soon died away... only the frantic gallop of a herd of frightened horses could be heard.Pavlusha yelled loudly: "Ahui! Ahei!..." After a while, the barking disappeared, and Pavlusha's voice was far away... Not long after, the children looked at each other in confusion , as if waiting for something to happen...Suddenly there was the sound of hooves of a horse, and the horse suddenly stopped beside the fire. Pavlusha grabbed the mane and jumped off the horse deftly.The two dogs also jumped into the glowing circle, sat down immediately, and stuck out their red tongues.

"What's the matter over there? What happened?" asked the children. "Nothing," replied Pavlusha, waving to the horse. "Perhaps the dog smelled something. I think it was a wolf." He added frankly, breathing rapidly with his whole chest.

I couldn't help admiring Pavlusha for a while.He is very cute at the moment.His unbeautiful face, animated by the gallop of his horse, expressed strong courage and firm determination.He doesn't have a stick in his hand, and he can go alone to drive away wolves in the middle of the night without hesitation... "What a wonderful boy!" I looked at him and thought to myself.

"Have you ever seen a wolf?" asked the timid Kostya. "There are always many wolves here," answered Pavlusha, "but they only come out to frighten people in winter." He crouched again before the fire.As he sat down, he put his hand on the back of a dog's shaggy head, and the blissful beast looked sideways at Pavlusha with gratitude and pride, and did not look back for a long time.

Vanya got under the matting again. "Ilyusha, what a terrible thing you have told us." Fei Jia spoke. He was the son of a rich peasant, so he often took the lead in speaking. (He didn't say much himself, as if he was afraid of lowering his status.) "These two dogs also barked like hell... Really, I heard that your place is not very peaceful."

"Varnavies? . . . That's not right! Of course it's not peaceful! It's said that the old lord, the dead lord, was seen there many times. He was said to be wearing a long-legged coat, moaning, and looking for him on the ground. Something. Old Mr. Trofimitch met him once and asked him: 'Master Ivan Ivanitch, what are you looking for on the ground?'"

"He asked him?" Fei Jia interrupted in surprise. "Yes, ask him."

"Oh, Trofimitch is so brave... Well, what did that man say?"

"'I'm looking for the weeds,' said the voice in a low voice. 'What are you doing with the weeds, Master Ivan Ivanitch?' Trofimitch, I want to come out, come out...'"

"Really!" said Ferga, "probably he hasn't lived long enough." "How strange!" said Kostya, "I thought the dead could only be seen on Death Day." I can see it." Yiluxia continued confidently, this person, I found, knows all the superstitions in the countryside better than others... "But on the Memorial Day, you can see that it is the turn of the year Living people who are going to die. Just go and sit on the steps of the chapel door at night and keep looking at the road. The people who walk on the road in front of you are the people who will die this year. Last year, Granny Ulyona from our place came to the chapel door up the steps."

"Well, did she see anyone?" Kostya asked curiously. "Of course it did. At first she sat for a long time, didn't see a person, didn't hear anything... It just seemed that there was a dog somewhere that kept barking and barking... Suddenly, she saw a man wearing only a shirt The boy was walking on the road. She looked carefully—it was Ivanshika Fedoseyev..."

"Is that the one who died in spring?" Fei Jia interrupted. "It was him. He was walking with his head bowed... Ullona recognized him... But then she saw a woman walking. She looked carefully and, oh my God! It was she who was walking on the road , is Uluona herself."

"Really herself?" asked Fei Jia. "It was indeed herself." "Why, didn't she die?"

"A year's not over yet. Look at her, she's terribly weak."

Everyone fell silent again.Pavlusha threw a handful of dead branches into the fire.They were instantly blackened in the sudden burst of flame, crackled, smoked, bent, and turned up at the burning end.The flames fluttered and shone in all directions, especially upwards.Suddenly, a white dove flew from nowhere and flew straight into the flames, bathed in red flames all over. It circled in place for a while in terror, and then flew away flapping its wings.

"The pigeon must have lost its way," said Pavlusia. "Now it has to fly and stay where it is, and stay there until dawn."

(End of this chapter)