hunter notes

Chapter 58: The Living Corpse (1)
The long-suffering fatherland - the land of the Russian people!Faye Yutchev There is a French proverb: "A dry fisherman, a wet hunter, looks miserable." Fishing people have not become my hobby, so I can't tell whether the fisherman's mood is high in sunny weather, and whether there is rainy weather. The joy of seeing a lot of fish can offset some of the unhappiness of getting wet.But for hunters, rain is indeed a disaster.Once I went to Belev County with Yermolay to hunt grouse, and this kind of misfortune happened just in time.It has been raining non-stop since early morning.We tried various ways of sheltering from the rain—we put the rubber poncho almost on top of our heads, and we stood under the tree again, trying to reduce the rain... Needless to say, the rubber poncho hindered the shooting, but water leaked in unceremoniously.But to stand under the tree, at first it seemed that there was no rain, but then the water on the leaves suddenly poured down, and every branch watered us, as if flowing from a water pipe, a cold stream The water got into the tie and ran down the spine... It couldn't be worse, as Yermolay said.

"No, Pyotr Petrovich," he cried at last, "that's impossible! . . . No hunting to-day. A dog's nose won't work if it's wet, and a gun won't fire. . . Pooh! Bad luck! "

"So what to do?" I asked. "Well, let's go to Alexeyevka. You probably don't know—there's such a farm, which belongs to your old lady, about eight versts away. We'll spend the night there, and to-morrow . . . "

"Come back here tomorrow?" "No, not here again... I know the whole area over Alexeyevka, the partridge hunting is much better than here!" I didn't ask my loyal friend. The reason why my traveling companion didn't take me there at first was that we came to my mother's farm on the same day.To tell you the truth, I had never known such a farm before this.There was one wing in the farm, very old, but unoccupied, so it was clean.I passed a very comfortable night in this house.

I woke up very early the next day.The sun had just risen, there was no cloud in the sky, and everything was shining with a double intensity: the light of the fresh morning sun and the light of yesterday's downpour.While they were harnessing my buggy, I went for a walk in the little garden—which had been an orchard, and was now deserted.Oh, how lovely it is to be out in the open air, under the bright sky, where the larks twitter, and their loud voices seem to drop silver pearls!There must be dew on their wings, and their singing seems to be wet with dew.I even took off my hat and breathed happily.On the slope of a shallow gorge, beside a fence, is an apiary; a winding path leads there, lined with dense weeds and nettles, and above them protrude out of nowhere. Comes from the dark green pointed stalk of marijuana.

I followed the path all the way to the apiary.Next to the apiary is a shed made of a fence, the so-called winter hive, which is used for placing beehives in winter.I looked through the half-open door: dark, still, very dry, with a scent of mint and melissa.In the corner of the room was a plank, on which lay a small human body covered with a quilt... I was about to leave... "Sir, hello, sir! Pyotr Petrovich!" I heard a thin, slow, hoarse voice The sound is like the rustling of swamp moss.

I stood still. "Pyotr Petrovich! Come here!" the voice continued.

It came to me from the planks I had noticed in the corner.I looked over and was horrified.Before me lay a living human body, but what was it?The head was shriveled, all bronze, like an icon in an old painting, the nose was narrow and blade-like; the lips were barely visible, showing white teeth and two eyes, and a few strands of yellow hair were sparse under the turban. exposed on the forehead.Next to the chin, on the folds of the quilt, there were two small hands, also bronze in color, moving there, fingers stroking slowly like thin sticks.I took a closer look: the face is not only not ugly, it is actually very beautiful - but it is terrible to look at, and I always feel that it is different.On the metal cheeks of this face, I saw a smile that was trying to be... trying to be faked, and I was even more afraid of this face.

"Don't you recognize me, sir?" said the voice again softly, and the words seemed to come from slightly trembling lips. "How did you recognize me! I'm Lucrelia... Do you still remember it? In Spasskoye, at your old lady's, the leader of the round dance... Remember, I used to be the lead singer?"

"Lukelia!" I cried, "Is this you? Really?" "It's me, sir, it's me, I'm Lucrelia." I didn't know what to say, and stared blankly. It was a swarthy dull face with two bright lifeless eyes staring at me.Really?This mummy is Lucrelia, the most beautiful of all the servants in my family—slim, plump, fair and ruddy, smiling, singing and dancing Lucrelia!Lucrelia, clever Lucrelia, all the young lads in our area were after her; I was a sixteen-year-old kid, and I admired her to myself!
"My God, Lucrelia," I finally said, "how did you become like this?"

"I'm in trouble! Don't hate me, sir, don't hate me for my misfortune, sit on this cask, sit nearer, or you won't hear me... Look, my voice is so Weakness! . . . Oh, I'm so glad to see you! How did you come to Alexeyevka?"

Lucrelia's voice was weak, but it didn't stop. "Yermolay the hunter brought me here. But please tell me..."

"My misfortune? Well, sir. It was a long time ago, six or seven years ago. I was just betrothed to Vasily Polekov—do you remember? Well-proportioned, curly-haired, who served as pantryman for your old lady! You were no longer in the country, but went to Moscow to study. Vasili and I were very much in love, and I thought of him all the time. Things It happened in spring. One night...it was almost dawn...but I couldn't sleep. The nightingale was singing so beautifully in the garden!...I couldn't help it, so I got up and went to the steps to listen to it. It sang , chanting... Suddenly I heard a voice calling me, it was Huaxili's voice, calling very softly: "Lukelia!..." I turned my head to look at the cloud, maybe I was not fully awake, I stepped on a I fell down the steps and fell all the way to the ground. I didn't seem to be hurt badly, because I got up immediately and went back to my room. It's just that something in my body - in my internal organs - seemed to be broken... . . . give me a breather . . . for a moment . . . sir."

Lucrelia fell silent, and I looked at her in amazement. What surprised me most was that when she told her story, she was almost happy, without sighing or groaning, without saying anything about her suffering, and without trying to provoke her. sympathy from others.

"Since then," continued Lucrelia, "I've grown thinner and weaker, my skin has become darker and darker, it's become difficult for me to walk, and then my legs are useless, I can't stand or sit, and I have to keep walking Lying down. I don't want to drink or eat, and my body is getting worse. Your old lady took mercy on me, called a doctor, and sent me to the hospital. But it couldn't cure me. And not even A doctor could tell what was wrong with me. He tried everything: scalding my back with a hot iron, putting me in ice, all to no avail. At last my body was completely hard ...then the gentlemen decided: I am ill. But the master's house cannot accommodate the disabled...and send me here—because my relatives are here. That's how I live."

Lucrelia was silent, and tried to put on a smile again. "Oh, what a miserable situation you're in!" I exclaimed... What to say next, I asked her: "How is Vasily Polekov?" That was a very stupid question.

Lucrelia turned her eyes slightly to the side. "How about Polekov? After suffering for a while, he married another man, a girl from the village of Glenoye. You know the village of Glenoye? It's not far from us. The girl's name is Agrafena. He loved me very much, but he was too young to be single all his life. But how could I be with him again? His wife is very nice and kind-hearted, and they already have children .He works as a housekeeper for a neighbor here, and your old lady gave him a citizenship certificate and allowed him to go. Thank God, he lives well."

"Have you been lying here all this time?" I asked again. "I've been lying like this, my lord, for seven years. I lie here in the summer, in this little room; and when it's cold, they take me into the dressing-room in the bathroom, and I lie Lying there." "Who's going to serve you and take care of you?" "There are a few good people here too. They didn't leave me alone. Besides, I don't need much. Food, I hardly eat. Water Well, there is always clean spring water in that cup. I can get this cup because I can still move one hand. There is a little girl here, an orphan, who comes to see me occasionally, and I am grateful to her. She was here just now... Didn't you meet her? She's a lovely little girl, with fair skin. She brought me flowers, I like flowers very much. We don't have flowers in the garden here— They used to be there, but they disappeared later. But the wild flowers are also very good, more fragrant than the flowers in the garden. Like lily of the valley...there is nothing better!"

"Aren't you lonely and bored, my poor Lucrelia?" "What can I do? To tell you the truth, it was hard at first; but then I got used to it and got over it, and it didn't matter. Some people are worse than me."

"How do you say that?" "There are people who have no place to stay! Others are blind or deaf! But I, by God's grace, have good eyesight and can hear everything. Voles digging in the ground hole, I can hear it. I can smell any smell, even the faintest! Buckwheat blooms in the field, or the linden blossoms in the garden, don't tell me, I'll be the first I smell it. As long as there is a little wind blowing from that place, I have no reason to blame God? There are many people in the world who are more miserable than me. For example, some healthy people are easy to commit sins; but I can’t talk about sins. Yes. A few days ago Father Alexei came to give me communion, and he told me: "You don't need to repent, can you still commit crimes like you?" I replied: "Then the ideological What about sins, Father?' 'Well,' he said, laughing, 'the sins are not great.'"

"But I'm afraid I don't even have sinful thoughts," Lucrelia went on, "because I've gotten into the habit of not thinking, especially not of the past. The time will pass so quickly."

I was really surprised to hear this. "Lukelia, you've been here all alone. How can you stop the thoughts in your head from being born? Maybe you're always sleeping?"

"Oh, no, sir! I can't sleep that much. I don't have much pain, but there's always a pain in my insides and in my bones, and it won't let me sleep well. No . . . I'm just like that Lying, lying, thinking of nothing; I just feel that I am alive and breathing, that's all. I look and listen. The bees buzz in the hive; sometimes the pigeons sit on the roof and coo I cooed; sometimes the hen came with her chicks to peck at the bread crumbs; or a sparrow or a butterfly came flying, and I was very happy. The year before last, a swallow made a nest in the corner of the house and hatched little swallows Come on. What a wonderful sight! A swallow flies in, stops on the nest, feeds the young swallows, and flies out. In a blink of an eye, another swallow flies in to replace it. The swallows flew past the open door, and the little swallows immediately twittered and opened their mouths... I was still waiting for them the next year, but I heard that a hunter shot them to death here. How could this man So greedy? A swallow is only slightly bigger than a beetle... How cruel are you hunters!"

"I don't hit swallows." I said quickly. "Once," Lucrelia began again, "how funny! A rabbit ran in, really! Chased by a dog, perhaps, it kept running through the door! . . . and sat next to me, And sat there for a long time, sticking his nose and beard up, like an officer! It looked at me. It knew I wouldn't hurt it. Then it stood up, jumped to the door, walked to the door, and looked back , ran away immediately! How funny!"

Lucrelia looked at me... as if saying, "Aren't these fun?" I laughed to satisfy her wish.She bit her dry lips.

"When it comes to winter, of course I don't feel very comfortable, because it's too dark. It's a pity to light candles. Besides, what's the use of lighting them? Although I can read and often like to read, what kind of books do I read? There are no candles here. No books; but yes, tell me how to get it, how to get the books? Father Alexei once brought me an almanac to amuse me, but he found that it didn't work, so he took it away. But although it was dark, You can actually hear some sounds: crickets chirping, or mice scratching somewhere. It's a good time, don't miss it!"

"Sometimes I pray," Lucrelia went on after a short break, "but I don't know many prayers. And why should I bother God? What can I ask for? What do I need?" God knows better than I. He made me bear the cross, which means he loves me. We have experienced this. I have read "Our Lord", "Ave Maria", "Praise to All Sufferers", Just lay there carefree again. Nothing wrong!"

About 2 minutes passed.I did not break the silence, and sat quietly on the narrow wooden barrel used as a stool.The unfortunate creature lying before me had infected me with her cruel stony rigidity, and I seemed to be paralyzed too.

(End of this chapter)