登陆注册
15467400000059

第59章 HAPPINESS(1)

A FLOCK of sheep was spending the night on the broad steppe road that is called the great highway. Two shepherds were guarding it. One, a toothless old man of eighty, with a tremulous face, was lying on his stomach at the very edge of the road, leaning his elbows on the dusty leaves of a plantain; the other, a young fellow with thick black eyebrows and no moustache, dressed in the coarse canvas of which cheap sacks are made, was lying on his back, with his arms under his head, looking upwards at the sky, where the stars were slumbering and the Milky Way lay stretched exactly above his face.

The shepherds were not alone. A couple of yards from them in the dusk that shrouded the road a horse made a patch of darkness, and, beside it, leaning against the saddle, stood a man in high boots and a short full- skirted jacket who looked like an overseer on some big estate. Judging from his upright and motionless figure, from his manners, and his behaviour to the shepherds and to his horse, he was a serious, reasonable man who knew his own value; even in the darkness signs could be detected in him of military carriage and of the majestically condescending expression gained by frequent intercourse with the gentry and their stewards.

The sheep were asleep. Against the grey background of the dawn, already beginning to cover the eastern part of the sky, the silhouettes of sheep that were not asleep could be seen here and there; they stood with drooping heads, thinking. Their thoughts, tedious and oppressive, called forth by images of nothing but the broad steppe and the sky, the days and the nights, probably weighed upon them themselves, crushing them into apathy; and, standing there as though rooted to the earth, they noticed neither the presence of a stranger nor the uneasiness of the dogs.

The drowsy, stagnant air was full of the monotonous noise inseparable from a summer night on the steppes; the grasshoppers chirruped incessantly; the quails called, and the young nightingales trilled languidly half a mile away in a ravine where a stream flowed and willows grew.

The overseer had halted to ask the shepherds for a light for his pipe.

He lighted it in silence and smoked the whole pipe; then, still without uttering a word, stood with his elbow on the saddle, plunged in thought. The young shepherd took no notice of him, he still lay gazing at the sky while the old man slowly looked the overseer up and down and then asked:

"Why, aren't you Panteley from Makarov's estate?" "That's myself," answered the overseer.

"To be sure, I see it is. I didn't know you -- that is a sign you will be rich. Where has God brought you from?""From the Kovylyevsky fields."

"That's a good way. Are you letting the land on the part-crop system?" "Part of it. Some like that, and some we are letting on lease, and somefor raising melons and cucumbers. I have just come from the mill."A big shaggy old sheep-dog of a dirty white colour with woolly tufts about its nose and eyes walked three times quietly round the horse, trying to seem unconcerned in the presence of strangers, then all at once dashed suddenly from behind at the overseer with an angry aged growl; the other dogs could not refrain from leaping up too.

"Lie down, you damned brute," cried the old man, raising himself on his elbow; "blast you, you devil's creature."When the dogs were quiet again, the old man resumed his former attitude and said quietly:

"It was at Kovyli on Ascension Day that Yefim Zhmenya died. Don't speak of it in the dark, it is a sin to mention such people. He was a wicked old man. I dare say you have heard.""No, I haven't"

"Yefim Zhmenya, the uncle of Styopka, the blacksmith. The whole district round knew him. Aye, he was a cursed old man, he was! I knew him for sixty years, ever since Tsar Alexander who beat the French was brought from Taganrog to Moscow. We went together to meet the dead Tsar, and in those days the great highway did not run to Bahmut, but from Esaulovka to Gorodishtche, and where Kovyli is now, there were bustards' nests -- there was a bustard's nest at every step. Even then I had noticed that Yefim had given his soul to damnation, and that the Evil One was inhim. I have observed that if any man of the peasant class is apt to be silent, takes up with old women's jobs, and tries to live in solitude, there is no good in it, and Yefim from his youth up was always one to hold his tongue and look at you sideways, he always seemed to be sulky and bristling like a cock before a hen. To go to church or to the tavern or to lark in the street with the lads was not his fashion, he would rather sit alone or be whispering with old women. When he was still young he took jobs to look after the bees and the market gardens. Good folks would come to his market garden sometimes and his melons were whistling. One day he caught a pike, when folks were looking on, and it laughed aloud, 'Ho-ho- ho-ho!' ""It does happen," said Panteley.

The young shepherd turned on his side and, lifting his black eyebrows, stared intently at the old man.

"Did you hear the melons whistling?" he asked.

"Hear them I didn't, the Lord spared me," sighed the old man, "but folks told me so. It is no great wonder . . . the Evil One will begin whistling in a stone if he wants to. Before the Day of Freedom a rock was humming for three days and three nights in our parts. I heard it myself. The pike laughed because Yefim caught a devil instead of a pike."The old man remembered something. He got up quickly on to his knees and, shrinking as though from the cold, nervously thrusting his hands into his sleeves, he muttered in a rapid womanish gabble:

同类推荐
  • 得道梯橙锡杖经

    得道梯橙锡杖经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 大乘起信论

    大乘起信论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Anne of Avonlea

    Anne of Avonlea

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 卷施阁甲集

    卷施阁甲集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Desire of Ages

    The Desire of Ages

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 循环的列车

    循环的列车

    慢慢发现生活就是一辆循环的列车,愿意去相信生命中最重要的人离开了,上天会安排有另外一种方法让他在下一站继续守护你!他从未离开,爱从未离开,应该积极去面对生活!迎接生活的每一天!加油!
  • 追求自我

    追求自我

    从小独自生活,无父无母的三娃子在这个冷漠的社会如何成长,如何走出幼时的阴霾,如何成为一个顶天立地的男人,呼风唤雨,笑傲寰宇,,,,,我不是大人物,我不是奇才,但是我是我,敢于面对真我的我
  • 重生之宠物精灵系统

    重生之宠物精灵系统

    从地球穿越而来的骚年小志,没错,你没听错,就是小志,他在宠物小精灵的世界收服、培育宠物小精灵,在世界旅行冒险!与他一起穿越过来的还有超万能,超坑人的系统。啥子都能兑换,大师球不要9999999,只要9999,快来购买,节日期间半价。宠物,物品,都能兑换,快来和他一起冒险吧!此书为练手作品,一天一更,作者是学生,上学期间不更!
  • 龙遨九天

    龙遨九天

    三世重生,踏入修真奇程。几段爱情,令其刻骨铭心。七把玄刃,解开身世之谜。前世今生,一切皆非自己。众神诅咒,每每抱憾终生。一场阴谋,触发惊天大劫。
  • 点盏声音的灯

    点盏声音的灯

    《点盏声音的灯》选取了作者黄云多年来发表在各大报刊上的多篇故事,有作者因为自身残疾的感受和关于生命的思考的小故事。这些故事折射出人性的温馨、闪光处;亦有美好的爱情故事,让人从中收获成熟;更有天马行空的推理悬疑故事,通过层层解密、步步深入,创造了一个充满智慧的空间,令人在阅读过程中如身临其境……《点盏声音的灯》是“巅峰阅读文库”系列之一。
  • 斗灵玖天

    斗灵玖天

    一个少,经过无数的辗转逐步走向巅峰的故事
  • 龙血旗兵

    龙血旗兵

    话说盘古开天,天下分为四大部洲:东胜神洲,南赡部洲,西牛贺洲,北俱卢洲。四洲分别由赤帝,青帝,白帝和玄帝统治。龙血旗兵,是玄帝身边的特种兵,天下最厉害的旗兵,由玄帝直接掌管,忽一日,玄帝被害,龙血旗兵落入奸人之手,从此腥风血雨,天下大乱
  • 夏小麦减肥记

    夏小麦减肥记

    人到中年万事肥。夏小麦与脂肪宣战走了曲曲折折N条路。从周围的姐妹减肥方法中借鉴,一开始单纯的为减肥而减肥,到后来认识到运动将成为生命中不可或缺的一部分。有益有趣。她进行了不同的尝试。本文将一个中年白领的兴致勃勃地生活状态真实纪录,给人一种轻松快乐的文字享受。
  • 实用谈判技法大全

    实用谈判技法大全

    谈判涉及到日常生活的方方面面,谈判技法的运用能帮助你解决很多生活难题,本书综述了谈判中的实用技法,概述了谈判策略和技巧,对谈判学习者非常适用。与《当代实用演讲技法大全》《当代实用辩论技法大全》等书是一套。全书共分7篇42章,详细总结了有关谈判的各种知识及其在各个方面的应用。
  • 荒天域主

    荒天域主

    强者独尊,自强不息。在强者的道路上行走。一将功成万骨枯。