Chapter 38 38 sad

Carpenter Grigory.Petrov, who was a well-known craftsman in Garchin, and at the same time the most unpromising peasant, was driving a sleigh to take his sick wife to the Zemstvo hospital.The distance was thirty versts, and the roads were so bad that even the government postman was hard to deal with, and Grigory the carpenter was a big slob.There was a biting cold wind blowing head-on.In the sky, no matter where you look, there are dense layers of swirling snow everywhere.The snow was so heavy that you couldn't tell whether it fell from the sky or was blown from the ground.Except for the vast expanse of snow, there are no fields, telephone poles and woods to be seen.Whenever a strong cold wind hit, Grigory could not see the yoke in front of him.The thin old horse struggled to pull the sled step by step.All its energy was spent pulling its legs out of the deep snow and pulling its head.The carpenter hurried on his way.He often jumped up from the driver's seat uneasily, and from time to time he whipped the horse's back.

You, Matrona, don't cry, he murmured, hold back.God willing, we'll make it to the hospital.Then, in the blink of an eye, that sick Pavel of yours.Ivanitch will give you a potion, or order someone to bleed you, or he will rub your body with alcohol if the old man is happy, and your lumbago will be cured.Pavel.Ivanitch will do his best, he'll yell and stamp his feet, but he'll do his best, sir, and kindness, God bless him, and as soon as we arrive he'll run out of his consulting room, Then I kept counting: what happened?He would yell, why did he arrive only now?Why don't you come on time?Am I a dog that has to hang around you ghosts all day long?Why don't you come in the morning?Go back, get the hell out of me!Come again tomorrow!Then I begged him: Master Doctor!Pavel.Ivanitch!Good sir!Hey, you are stepping, I will make you dazed, evil spirit!drive!

The carpenter whipped his scrawny horse, without even looking at his wife, and continued to whisper to himself: master!I'm telling the truth, like I swear on the cross to the face of God: We're on our way before daybreak.But how can I arrive on time?Since the Holy Mother of God was angry and sent such a blizzard.Your old man also knows that no matter how good a horse is, it won't be able to keep up, let alone my old horse.Your old man also saw it: that's not a horse, that's a disgrace!But Pavel.Ivanitch would frown and shout: I know you people.There is always a reason!Especially you, Grishka!I already knew what you were like!I'm afraid I went into another five or six taverns along the way!I answered him thus: Am I a villain, or a heretic?The old woman is about to die, dying, I don't have the heart to go to the tavern!What did you say, forgive me!To hell with those taverns!So Pavel.Ivanitch ordered you to be taken to the hospital.I knelt down and said to him: Pavel.Ivanitch!master!We are so grateful to you!Forgive us fools, bastards, and don't be angry with us peasants!You should throw us out, but you still worry about us, old man, look at your feet covered in snow!Pavel.Ivanitch would look at me like he was about to hit me, and say: Instead of plopping down on your knees, fool, you'd better take a few glasses of white wine as usual, and pity your poor old woman.I should really beat you up!You're right, you deserve it, Pavel.Ivanitch, just beat me up!Since you are our benefactor, dear father, how can we not kneel down?My lord, I speak the truth as if to God you spit in my eyes if I lie: if only my Matrona, that is, the old woman, is cured and can manage the house again, Then no matter what your old man tells me to do, I will do it for you!Cigarette case, if you want, I can use Karelian birch. ] There are also croquet, and wooden poles for skittles. I can make them the same as foreign products, and I will do all these things for you!You will not be charged a penny!In Moscow, such small cigarette packs cost four rubles, but I don't want a penny from you.The doctor will smile and say: OK, OK, OK, I understand it!It's a pity you're a drunk, my wife, but you know how to deal with gentlemen, and there's no gentlemen I can't talk to for a while, God bless you, don't get lost.Look at this blizzard!Mesmerized my eyes.

And so the carpenter muttered endlessly.He babbled and babbled, just trying to lighten his heavy heart a little.There are many words on the tongue, but many more thoughts and questions in the mind.Sadness hit the carpenter suddenly, completely out of his expectation, so that he couldn't wake up now, calm down, and think seriously.Until then he had lived a carefree life, like one in a drunken stupor, knowing neither sorrow nor joy, but now he felt suddenly heavy and miserable.The carefree slacker and drunk was unconsciously transformed into someone else, bustling, preoccupied, anxious to get on his way, even fighting a blizzard.

The carpenter remembered that the misfortune began yesterday evening.He came home last night, drunk as usual, as usual, swearing and throwing old punches again.The old woman glanced at her enemy, a look he had never seen before.Her old eyes, once full of pain and tenderness, like those of a beaten and underfed dog, were now hard and hard, like a saint on an icon or someone dying.Sadness begins with those strange, ominous eyes.The carpenter who was frightened hurriedly borrowed an old horse from the neighbor, and immediately sent the old woman to the hospital, hoping that Pavel.Ivanitch could use some powder or ointment to bring back the eyes of the old woman.

You, Matrona, he muttered again, if PavelWhen Ivanitch asked me if I would hit you, you said: I never did!I will never hit you again.I swear to God by the cross!Besides, did I beat you because of my vicious nature?Just hit it casually, it doesn't make sense.I feel sorry for you.It wouldn't be so sad if it were someone else, but now I'm in a hurry to send you to the doctor and I've tried my best.Look at the snowstorm, it's so big!God, be angry!Just please bless us not to get lost What, back pain?Matrona, why do you always refuse to agree?Let me ask you: Is your waist still hurting?

He wondered that the snow on the old woman's face didn't melt with age.Strangely, that face somehow looked particularly thin, with sallowness in the gray, stern and rigid. Oh, stupid woman!The carpenter muttered, "I'm telling you in good conscience, God is my witness, but you, whoa, what a stupid woman!"If this happens again, I simply won't send you to the hospital! The carpenter dropped the reins and hesitated.He didn't dare to look back at the old woman: he was afraid!If you ask her anything, she will not answer, which is also scary.Finally, in order to find out, he didn't look back, but just touched her hand.The hands are cold, and after pulling them up, they fall down like whips.

So she died.trouble! Now the carpenter cried.He not only pitied the old woman, but also felt depressed.He thought: Things are changing so fast in this world!His grief had just begun, but why did it immediately end.He hasn't had time to live a good life with the old woman, express his affection to her, love her, why she is dead.He had lived with her for forty years, but those forty years passed like a fog.Drinking, fighting, being poor, not having a good day.Moreover, as if deliberately annoying him, just when he realized that he had to love the old woman, he couldn't live without her, and he was really sorry for her, but the old woman died.

Yes, she often goes begging!He recalled the past, I sent her to beg someone for bread, trouble!She, stupid woman, just wish she could live another ten years, otherwise, she might think that I am really that kind of person.Holy Mother, where the hell am I going?There is no need to go to the doctor now, it is time to be buried.go back! The carpenter turned his horse around and whipped his horse hard.The road becomes more and more difficult to walk.Now, not even the yoke was visible.Sometimes the sled bumped into a bush, and something black and bruised his hand flashed before his eyes.The field of vision became white again, and the wind and snow swirled.

Just live it all over again, thought the carpenter. He recalled that forty years ago Matrona had been a young, pretty, happy girl from a well-to-do family.Parents marry their daughter to him, hoping that he will have good craftsmanship.He could have lived a good life, but unfortunately, after the wedding, he was so drunk that he fell headfirst on the heating kang, and has been in a daze ever since, as if he hadn't woken up until this moment.He did remember the wedding, but after the wedding, even if you beat him to death, he would not remember anything except drinking, lying down, and beating his wife.Forty years passed in this way.

The dense snow gradually turned gray.Dusk has come. Where am I going?The carpenter suddenly woke up, and it was time to bury her, but I went to the hospital like a fool! The carpenter turned the sled again, and drew the horse again.The old horse gathered all his energy, sniffed his nose, and began to trot.After the carpenter whipped its back one after another, there was a crashing sound. Although he didn't look back, he knew that it was the dead old woman's head hitting the sled.The sky is getting darker and the wind is getting colder and biting I'll do it all over again, the carpenter thought, I'll get a new set of tools, take the order and give the money to the old woman Yes! Then he accidentally lost the reins.He searched and tried to pick up the rein, but he couldn't.His hands can't move Forget it, he thought to himself, anyway, the horse knows the way, and it will pull it home.Right now, I really want to take a nap. Before the burial, before the requiem, it's best to take a rest. The carpenter closed his eyes and began to doze off.Presently he heard the horse freeze.He opened his eyes and saw that there was a pile of dark things in front of him, like a small wooden house, or a big haystack He really wanted to get out of the sledge and find out what was the matter, but he was too lazy to freeze to death, and he fell asleep peacefully. When he woke up, he found that he was lying in a large room with painted walls.Bright sunlight poured in from the window.When the carpenter saw many people in front of the bed, the first thing he did was to show that he was a steady and sensible person. Come to the Granny's Requiem, folks!He said, and tell the owner Oh, forget it, forget it!you lie down!Someone interrupted him. My God, it's Pavel.Ivanitch!The carpenter saw the doctor beside him and said in surprise, sir!Benefactor! He wanted to jump out of bed and kneel down to the doctor with a plop, but he felt that his limbs were not obeying him. master!where are my legsWhere's the arm? Say goodbye to your arms and legs, all frozen!Alas, alas, why are you crying, you have lived your whole life, thank God!I am afraid that you have lived for sixty years, and you have lived enough! I am sad, sir, I am sad!Please be magnanimous and forgive me!It would be nice to live another five or six years Why? The horse was borrowed and had to be returned to someone else to bury the old woman. How can things in this world change so quickly!master!Pavel.Ivanitch!The Karelian birch cigarette case has not yet been done, the croquet has not yet been done The doctor waved his hand and walked out of the ward.The carpenter is finished.