Short Fiction, Leo Tolstoy [general ebook reader .txt] 📗

clear that that is not possible. Jishka Why not? Grishka Because⁠ ⁠… On Property

An old carpenter is mending the railings on a veranda. A boy of seven, the son of the master of the house, is watching the man working.

Boy How well you work! What is your name? Carpenter My name? They used to call me Hrolka, and now they call me Hrol, and even Hrol Savich330 when they speak respectfully. Boy How well you work, Frol Savich. Carpenter As long as you have to work, you may as well do good work. Boy Have you got a veranda in your house? Carpenter In our house? We have a veranda, my boy, yours here is nothing to compare with it. A veranda with no windows. And if you step onto it, well, you can’t believe your eyes. That’s the kind of veranda we’ve got. Boy You are making fun. No, seriously, tell me: have you a veranda like this? I want to know. Carpenter My dear child, how can the likes of us have a veranda? It’s a blessing if we’ve a roof over our heads, and you say, “a veranda!” I’ve been thinking about having a roof built ever since last spring. I’ve just managed to pull down the old one, but the new one isn’t finished, and the house is standing there and getting damp ithout it. Boy Surprised. But why? Carpenter Why? Just because I am not able to do it. Boy How so? If you are able to work for us? Carpenter I can work all right for you, but not for myself. Boy Why? I can’t understand. Please explain. Carpenter You will understand when you are grown up. I am able to do your work, but as for my own, I can’t do it. Boy But why? Carpenter Because I need wood for that, and I haven’t got any. It has to be bought. I have nothing to buy it with. When I have finished my work here, and your mother pays me, just you tell her to pay me well. Then I’ll drive to the forest, get five ash-trees or so to bring home and finish my roof. Boy Do you mean you haven’t a forest of your own? Carpenter We have such big forests that you can walk three whole days and not reach the end. But, worse luck, they don’t belong to us. Boy Mother says all her trouble comes from our forest; she has continual worries about it. Carpenter That’s the worst of it. Your mother is worried by having too much wood, and I’m worried by having none at all. But here I am gabbling with you and forgetting my work. And the likes of us don’t get made much of for doing that. Resumes his work. Boy When I grow up I shall arrange to have just the same as everybody else, so that all of us are equal. Carpenter Mind you grow up quickly, that I may still be alive. Then, mind you, don’t forget.⁠ ⁠… Where have I put my plane? On Children

A Lady with her children⁠—a Schoolboy of fourteen, a girl of five, Janichka, are walking in the garden. An Old Peasant Woman approaches them.

Lady What do you want, Matresha? Old Woman I have come again to ask a favour of your ladyship. Lady What is it? Old Woman I am simply ashamed to speak, your ladyship, but that don’t help. My daughter, the one for whom you stood godmother, has got another baby. God has given her a boy this time. She sent me to ask your ladyship if you would do her a favour, and have the child christened into our Orthodox faith.331 Lady But didn’t she have a child very recently? Old Woman Well, that’s just as you think. A year ago in Lent. Lady How many grandchildren have you got now? Old Woman I could hardly tell you, dear lady. All of them are still babes. Such a misfortune! Lady How many children has your daughter? Old Woman This is the seventh child, your ladyship, and all alive. I wish God had taken some back to Him. Lady How can you speak like that? Old Woman I can’t help it. That’s how one comes to sin. But then our misery is so great. Well, your ladyship, are you willing to help us, and stand godmother to the child? Believe me, on my soul, lady, we have not even got anything to pay the priest; bread itself is scarce in the house. All the children are small. My son-in-law is working away from home, and I am alone with my daughter. I am old, and she is expecting or nursing the whole time, and what work can you ask her to do with all that? So it is me that has to do everything. And that hungry lot all the while asking for food. Lady Are there really seven children? Old Woman Seven, your ladyship, sure. Just the eldest girl begins to help a bit; all the rest are little. Lady But why do they have such a lot of children? Old Woman How can one help that, dear lady? He comes now and then for a short stay, or just for a feast day. They are young, and he lives near in town. I wish he had to go somewhere far away. Lady That’s the way! Some people are sad because they have no children, or their children die, and you complain of having too many. Old Woman They are too many. We have not the means to keep them. Well, your ladyship, may I cheer her up with your consent? Lady Well, I will stand godmother to this one like the others. It is a boy, you say? Old Woman It’s a small baby, but very strong; he’s got good lungs. What day do you order the christening to be? Lady Whenever you like. Old Woman thanks her and goes. Janichka Mother, why is it that some people have children and some have not? You have, Matresha, has, but Parasha hasn’t any. Lady Parasha is not married. People have