hunter notes

Chapter 19 Baijing Grassland (3)
"Hey, Pavlusya," said Kostya, "is it true that a sincere soul flies into the sky, eh?"

Pavlusha added another handful of dead branches to the fire. "Perhaps so," he said at last. "Pavlusya, let me ask you," began Feija, "do you also see signs of the sky in Sharamov?" "The sun disappeared all of a sudden, didn't it? Of course you did." "Probably you Are you scared too?"

"It's not just us. Our lord, though he told us long ago that you were about to see the omen, was frightened to death when it got dark. In the servant's house, when the cook saw the sky When it got dark, guess what, she broke all the casserole pots in the stove with a fork, and she said, 'Who wants to eat now, it's the end of the world.' So the soup came out. In In our village, elder brother, there are still such legends, saying that the white wolf is going to run around and eat people, the raptors are going to fly there, and that Tulixika is going to appear."

"What is Tolishika?" asked Kostya. "Don't you know?" Yiluxia continued enthusiastically, "Hey, buddy, where are you from? You don't even know about Tulishika? You are full of ignorant people in your village who don't understand anything! Tuoli Shika is a very strange person, and he is about to come. He is very strange, and he cannot be caught after he comes. Sticks to chase him and surround him, but he will do the blindfold—he blindfolded their eyes, and they would fight each other themselves. Put him in prison, for example, and he demanded to drink from a spoon Get some water, and when the spoon is brought to him, he will get into the spoon and disappear. If he is locked up with shackles, as long as his hands struggle, the shackles will come off. This is the loss of strength Shika is going to go through the country and the city; this Tolishika, the cunning man, is coming to seduce the Christians... Alas, but there is nothing they can do about him... Such a strange and cunning man he is."

"Well, yes," continued Pavlusha, in his unhurried voice, "that's the man. We've been waiting for him there. The old people say that when the omens begin to appear , Tolishika is coming. And then the omens did appear. All the people ran out into the streets, into the fields, and waited for something to happen. Our place, you know, is a very wide place. Everyone look there, All of a sudden, a man came from the mountain on the other side of the village. He looked very strange and had such a strange head... Everyone shouted loudly: "Ah, Tulishika is here! Ah, Tulishika is here!" and they ran away in all directions. Our mayor crawled into the ditch; the mayor's wife was stuck under the gate, and she yelled so loudly that her watchdog was frightened, and the dog broke free from the chain, jumped the fence, and ran into the woods; and There was Kuzka's father, Doro Fitch, who jumped into the oat-field, squatted down, and hurriedly began to cry like a quail, and said: "The murderous enemy may take pity on the birds." Everyone was frightened like this !... Who would have expected that the person who came was our cooper, Huavila, who bought a wooden barrel and put the empty wooden barrel on his head."

The children laughed, and then there was a silence, as is often the case with people talking in the open.I look around: the night is solemn and majestic; the damp coolness of midnight replaces the dry warmth of midnight, and the night will hang like a soft tent over the sleeping field for a long time; The sound and the rustle, the first dew of the dawn is still a long time away.There is no moon in the sky.The moon rises very late these days.Countless golden stars seem to be competing to twinkle and flow towards the direction of the Milky Way.Indeed, when you look at them, you seem to faintly feel that the earth is revolving at high speed... Strange, sharp and painful screams suddenly came from the river twice, and after a while, they repeated in the distance... Kos Jia shivered. "What's that sound?" "It's the cry of a heron." Pavlusha replied calmly.

"Heron." Kostya repeated... "Pavlusya, what did I hear last night," he said after a pause, "maybe you know..."

"What did you hear?" "That's what I heard. I was going from Stone Ridge to Shashikino, and at first I always walked in our hazel woods, and then I came to a meadow—you know, in the valley." Where the sharp turn—isn't there a puddle there? You know, the puddle is still full of reeds. I walked by this puddle. Brothers, I suddenly heard a thing whining in this puddle. groaning, so sad, so pitiful. Woo-woo... Woo-woo... Woo-woo! I'm terrified, brethren! It's late, and the sound is so miserable. I'm really I'm about to cry... What the hell is going on here? Huh?"

"The summer before last, a band of robbers drowned Arkin, the forester, in this puddle," said Pavlusha. "Perhaps his ghost complained there."

"So that's the case, brothers." Kostya opened his already big eyes and said... "I didn't know that Ah Jin drowned in this puddle; Scared."

"However, I heard that there are some very small toads there," continued Pavlusha, "and these toads sound very sad."

"Toad? Ah, no, that's not a toad... How could it be... (The heron croaks again on the river.) Hey, this guy!" Kostya couldn't help saying, "It seems to be a forest monster."

"The forest demon doesn't know how to bark, he's dumb," Yi Liuxia continued, "he can only clap his hands, clapping and clapping..."

"Why, have you seen the forest demon?" Fei Jia interrupted him with a sarcasm.

"No, I haven't, and I hope I won't. But someone else has. We had a farmer with us the other day who was charmed, and he led him, and led him through the woods, old man It was walking around on a piece of land... and finally returned home at dawn."

"So did he see him?" "Yes. He said he was very big, dark, covering his body, as if hiding behind a tree, so that people could not see clearly, as if hiding from the moon, with a pair of big eyes watching, Watching, blinking..."

"Ah!" Fei Jia shuddered slightly, shrugged his shoulders, and shouted, "Bah! . . . "

"Why did this bad thing come into the world?" said Pavlusha. "Really!"

"Don't scold, be careful not to be heard by him." Yi Liuxia said.Everyone fell silent again. "Look, look, fellows," came Vanya's childish voice suddenly, "look at the stars in the sky—swarming like bees!" Xiaolian came, supported by his small fists, and slowly raised his big calm eyes.All the children raised their eyes to the sky, and it took a long time for them to lower their eyes.

"Hello, Vanya," said Ferja kindly, "how is your sister Anutka?"

"Very good." Vanya replied somewhat vaguely. "Ask her, why doesn't she come to play with us?..."

"I do not know."

"You tell her, let her come here to play."

"I'll tell her."

"Tell her that I have a present for her."

"Send me too?"

"For you too." Vanya took a breath.

"Forget it, I don't want it. You should give it to her, she treats us so well." Vanya leaned his head on the ground again.Pavlusha stood up and picked up the empty pot. "Where are you going?" Figa asked him. "Go to the river and get some water. I want to drink some water." The two dogs stood up and followed him.

"Be careful, don't fall into the river!" Yi Liuxia shouted at him. "How could he fall?" said Figa. "He will be careful."

"Yes, he will be careful. But it's hard to tell. When he bent down to fetch water, the water monster would grab his hand and drag him down. Afterwards, people said: This man fell into the water... Where did it actually fall?..." He listened for a while, and then said, "Listen, he got into the reed."

The reeds were indeed parting there, making a whistling sound. "Is it true?" asked Kostya, "that fool Akulina has gone mad since she fell into the water."

"It's been since then... What has it become now! But I heard that she used to be a beauty. The water monster ruined her appearance. He probably didn't expect that someone would rescue her so soon. He ruined her face right under the water."

(I have also met this Akulina more than once. Covered in rags, she is terribly thin, with a face as black as coal, with bleary-eyed eyes and permanent baring teeth, and she often spends hours on end Stepping somewhere on the road, pressing his bony hands tightly to his chest, slowly switching his feet like a wild animal in a cage. No matter what was said to her, she didn’t understand, only convulsively laughing occasionally Laughing.) "I heard," continued Kostya, "that Akulina jumped into the river because she was cheated by her lover."

"It's because of this."

"Do you remember Huaxia?" Kostya continued sadly. "Which Huaxia?" Fei Jia asked. "That's the drowned one," Kostya replied, "in this river."

"What a wonderful little boy! Oh, what a nice little boy! His mother, Fekrista, loves him very much, and loves Huacia very much! She, Fekrista, seems to have a premonition that he will be here It’s like a catastrophe in the water. In summer, sometimes Huaxia and our little friends go to the river to take a bath together, and she will tremble all over.”

"Other women thought nothing of it, even though they took the laundry tub and wriggled past it, Fekrista didn't. She put the laundry tub on the ground and called him: 'Come back, come back, my baby Oh, come back, my darling!' God knows how he drowned. He was playing on the bank, and his mother was there, raking hay. All of a sudden, I heard someone blowing bubbles in the water. Only Vasia's hat was left floating on the water. After that Fekrista lost her mind: she used to go and lie where her son was drowned; and there she lay, brethren, and sang Come—remember, Huaxia used to sing such a song—and she sang it too, and she cried and complained to God..."

"Look, Pavlusha is back," said Feiga.Pavlusha returned to the fire with the pot full of water in her hand.

"Well, guys," he began after a moment's silence, "something's not quite right."

"What's the matter?" Kostya asked hastily. "I heard Huaxia's voice." The children were all trembling with fright. "What's the matter with you, what's the matter with you?" Kostya murmured.

"Indeed, I was just bending down to scoop water when I heard Huaxia's voice calling me, as if from under the water: 'Bavlusia, hello, Pavlusia, come here.' I Backed away a few steps. But I still went to fetch water."

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" said the children, crossing themselves. "It's the water monster calling you, Pavlusha," said Feijia. "We were talking about him, about Huasia." "Oh, that's a bad omen," said Ilyusia calmly. "Well, it doesn't matter, let it go!" Pavlusha said firmly, and sat down again, "Life or death." The children were silent.Obviously, it was Bavlusha's words that made a deep impression on them.They began to lie down before the fire, as if ready to sleep.

"What noise?" Kostya asked suddenly, raising her head.Pavlusha listened carefully. "That's the sound of a little woodsnipe flying by." "Where are they flying to?" "I heard that they are flying to a place where there is no winter." "Is there such a place?"

"some."

"Is it very far away?" "Very far, far away, on the other side of the warm sea." Kostya sighed and closed her eyes.

I've been here with the kids for over three hours.The moon has finally risen.I didn't notice it right away because it was just a thin bend.The moonless night seemed as bright as it ever was...but the stars, so high in the sky not so long ago, were about to fall to the dark side of the earth; all was as still as dawn Everything was silent at that time, and everything was immersed in the silent sleep before dawn.There was no strong smell in the air, and it seemed to be filled with moisture again... What a short summer night! ... The children's conversation and the fire stopped at the same time ... Even the dog dozed off; under the faint and faint starlight, I could see that the horse was also hanging its head to rest ... A slight drowsiness dominated me , sleepy and fell asleep.

A breeze blew across my face.I opened my eyes, it was already dawn.Although not a single place is yet illuminated by the red light of the morning glow, the east has already turned pale.Everything around me was visible, though still a little blurry.The gray sky lightened, turned blue, and grew colder; the stars shimmered sometimes, and sometimes disappeared; floating on.My body responds to it with a slight but pleasant shiver.I stood up quickly and walked over to the children.They were all sleeping soundly around the smoky fire, only Pavlusha raised her body and looked at me attentively.

I nodded to him and headed home along the smoky river.I hadn't gone two versts, and all around me, on the vast wet meadows, on the green hills ahead, on these forests after forests, and on the long dusty road behind me, was shining brightly. On the red-stained bushes, on the bluish surface of the river under the mist--they are all full of fresh and burning morning light, at first bright red, then scarlet, golden yellow... everything is moving I woke up, woke up, sang, made noise, and talked.Here and there great drops of dew glowed red like brilliant diamonds; the clear and clear bells, as if they had been washed by the morning coolness, rang, and suddenly a herd of refreshed horses was led by those familiar The children rushed past me... Unfortunately, I must add: Bavlusha died during this year.Unfortunately, this excellent child was not drowned, but fell to his death from a horse.

(End of this chapter)