登陆注册
26280600000022

第22章 DREAMS(2)

"God knows what to make of you," Ptaha persisted in addressing the tramp. "Peasant you are not, and gentleman you are not, but some sort of a thing between. . . . The other day I was washing a sieve in the pond and caught a reptile -- see, as long as a finger, with gills and a tail. The first minute I thought it was a fish, then I looked -- and, blow it! if it hadn't paws. It was not a fish, it was a viper, and the deuce only knows what it was. . . . So that's like you. . . . What's your calling?""I am a peasant and of peasant family," sighed the tramp. "My mamma was a house serf. I don't look like a peasant, that's true, for such has been my lot, good man. My mamma was a nurse with the gentry, and had every comfort, and as I was of her flesh and blood, I lived with her in the master's house. She petted and spoiled me, and did her best to take me out of my humble class and make a gentleman of me. I slept in a bed, every day I ate a real dinner, I wore breeches and shoes like a gentleman's child. What my mamma ate I was fed on, too; they gave her stuffs as a present, and she dressed me up in them. . . . We lived well! I ate so many sweets and cakes in my childish years that if they could be sold now it would be enough to buy a goo d horse. Mamma taught me to read and write, she instilled the fear of God in me from my earliest years, and she so trained me that now I can't bring myself to utter an unrefined peasant word. And I don't drink vodka, my lad, and am neat in my dress, and know how to behave with decorum in good society. If she is still living, God give her health; and if she is dead, then, O Lord, give her soul peace in Thy Kingdom, wherein the just are at rest."The tramp bared his head with the scanty hair standing up like a brush on it, turned his eyes upward and crossed himself twice.

"Grant her, O Lord, a verdant and peaceful resting-place," he said in a drawling voice, more like an old woman's than a man's. "Teach Thyservant Xenia Thy justifications, O Lord! If it had not been for my beloved mamma I should have been a peasant with no sort of understanding! Now, young man, ask me about anything and I understand it all: the holy Scriptures and profane writings, and every prayer and catechi**. I live according to the Scriptures. . . . I don't injure anyone, I keep my flesh in purity and continence, I observe the fasts, I eat at fitting times. Another man will take no pleasure in anything but vodka and lewd talk, but when I have time I sit in a corner and read a book. I read and I weep and weep.""What do you weep for?"

"They write so patheticallyl For some books one gives but a five- kopeck piece, and yet one weeps and sighs exceedingly over it.""Is your father dead?" asked Ptaha.

"I don't know, good man. I don't know my parent; it is no use concealing it. I judge that I was mamma's illegitimate son. My mamma lived all her life with the gentry, and did not want to marry a ****** peasant. . . .""And so she fell into the master's hands," laughed Ptaha.

"She did transgress, that's true. She was pious, God-fearing, but she did not keep her maiden purity. It is a sin, of course, a great sin, there's no doubt about it, but to make up for it there is, maybe, noble blood in me. Maybe I am only a peasant by class, but in nature a noble gentleman."The "noble gentleman" uttered all this in a soft, sugary tenor, wrinkling up his narrow forehead and emitting creaking sounds from his red, frozen little nose. Ptaha listened and looked askance at him in wonder, continually shrugging his shoulders.

After going nearly five miles the constables and the tramp sat down on a mound to rest.

"Even a dog knows his name," Ptaha muttered. "My name is Andryushka, his is Nikandr; every man has his holy name, and it can't be forgotten. Nohow.""Who has any need to know my name?" sighed the tramp, leaning his cheek on his fist. "And what advantage would it be to me if they did know it? If I were allowed to go where I would -- but it would only make things worse. I know the law, Christian brothers. Now I am a tramp who doesn'tremember his name, and it's the very most if they send me to Eastern Siberia and give me thirty or forty lashes; but if I were to tell them my real name and description they would send me back to hard labour, I know!""Why, have you been a convict?"

"I have, dear friend. For four years I went about with my head shaved and fetters on my legs.""What for?"

"For murder, my good man! When I was still a boy of eighteen or so, my mamma accidentally poured arsenic instead of soda and acid into my master's glass. There were boxes of all sorts in the storeroom, numbers of them; it was easy to make a mistake over them."The tramp sighed, shook his head, and said:

"She was a pious woman, but, who knows? another man's soul is a slumbering forest! It may have been an accident, or maybe she could not endure the affront of seeing the master prefer another servant. . . . Perhaps she put it in on purpose, God knows! I was young then, and did not understand it all . . . now I remember that our master had taken another mistress and mamma was greatly disturbed. Our trial lasted nearly two years. . . . Mamma was condemned to penal servitude for twenty years, and I, on account of my youth, only to seven.""And why were you sentenced?"

同类推荐
  • 彊村语业

    彊村语业

    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。
  • 金匮要略浅注

    金匮要略浅注

    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。
  • 送陈嘏登第作尉归觐

    送陈嘏登第作尉归觐

    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。
  • S151

    S151

    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。
  • 夏小正

    夏小正

    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
  • 末日无限游戏

    末日无限游戏

    末日降临,电影,小说,游戏,动漫中的生物全部降临地球。幸运之神的护佑:唯一隐藏天赋,拥有此天赋的传承者将得到天道的庇护,自身幸运将永远处于最高点。评价:未知。“无限游戏ol,开启!”
  • 奇葩侦探怪神偷:孤岛别墅

    奇葩侦探怪神偷:孤岛别墅

    奇异别墅,惊现女鬼,女鬼的信,等你破解真意,奇异密码,奇异手法,请期待哟!
  • 妄言尘世

    妄言尘世

    《妄言尘世》是一本随笔集,按照余秋雨先生走出的路子,和评论家将之视为标杆的尺度丈量,有不少文章可以归结为历史文化散文。汇总完该书,一向不愿算账的我居然拨拉了一回心中的算盘。入选进来的作品全是近15年写下的,而自以为还耐读的篇章多是近七八年的收获。算起来自己走进写作的天地已有30年了。可是其间有半数时光都没涉足这个领域。而进入这个领域后又有将近一半的时间近乎练笔。由此看出,历史文化散文还真不是轻易就能摆弄成的。我有些胆大了。
  • 霸道校草:甜心小公主

    霸道校草:甜心小公主

    1.希望大家喜欢这个作品。2.霸道校草撞见自己一见钟情的女孩,三番五次的逗她,kisskisskiss....3.请多支持哦!
  • 深瞳毁灭

    深瞳毁灭

    一少年,流落他乡,其天生擅观云纹知天象,预测气象准确无误,甚至童言无忌说过破解星云神文就可以驾驭、俘获宇宙······云纹神道,与天同在。天象之目,毁灭星辰。五行矿脉,漂移星系。信手推移星系,侧目堕落星辰。毁灭与诞生,全在一念间。
  • 广陵散

    广陵散

    她,一个来自现代的少女,从小不被父母关心,只有哥哥南玺仁对她好。却莫名其妙的卷入一场宫廷争斗中。他,一个流落民间的皇太子,却不愿再回宫廷,而他总因她而改变,这是宿命,还是孽缘?--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 重生之超级败家子

    重生之超级败家子

    没事逛直播,一个不小心打赏了百万!无聊看小说,一个不注意培养了新神!偶尔创创业,一个没留神公司上市了!咱是散财经帝,女人?不着急!重生十分钟就够了,都市最强败家子,时刻都有他的传说!
  • 丛林传说

    丛林传说

    那是一个星球,还是一个巨岛?那是史前文明,还是人类未来?掠夺,反抗;疯狂,贪婪;人性,神明;丛林在哪里?究竟有着什么传说?
  • Helen of Troy

    Helen of Troy

    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。
  • 青雉茶楼

    青雉茶楼

    -听说你是游魂野鬼,-听说你是遭人迫害,-听说你是死于非命,-听说你充满怨和念。-何不往那茶楼,那儿的店家会帮助你,去完那生前的遗愿,去报那死时的仇恨,会助你度过那轮回,转世重生。