March 21, 2025 • 48 mins
Rediscover the timeless allure of dramatic storytelling with "Classic Drama Audiobooks." This podcast brings full-length classic drama novels to life, immersing listeners in captivating tales of human emotion, conflict, and resolution. Perfect for book lovers and drama enthusiasts, each episode transports you into the heart of celebrated literary masterpieces. Experience the beauty of the written word, beautifully narrated for your listening pleasure.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kashtanka a story, Part one misbehavior. A young dog, a
reddish mongrel between a doxen and a yard dog, very
like a fox in face, was running up and down
the pavement, looking uneasily from side to side. From time
to time she stopped and whining and lifting first one
chilled paw and then another, tried to make up her
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mind how it could have happened that she was lost.
She remembered very well how she had passed the day,
and how in the end she had found herself on
this unfamiliar pavement. The day had begun by her master,
Luca Alexandritch's, putting on his hat, taking something wooden under
his arm, wrapped up in a red handkerchief, and calling
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Kashtanka come along. Hearing her name, the mongrel had come
out from under the work table where she slept on
the shavings, stretched herself voluptuously and run after her master.
The people Luka Alexandritch worked for lived a very long
way off, so that before he could get to any
one of them, the carpet had several times to step
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into a tavern to fortify himself. Kashtanka remembered that on
the way She had behaved extremely improperly in her delight
that she was being taken for a walk. She jumped about, dashed,
barking after the trains, ran into yards and chased other dogs.
The carpenter was continually losing sight of her, stopping and
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angrily shouting at her. Once he had, even with an
expression of fury in his face, taken her fox like
ear in his fist, smacked her and said emphatically, plague,
take you, you pest. After having left the work where
it had been bespoken, Luca Alexandrich went into his sisters,
and there had something to eat and drink. From his sisters.
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He had gone to see a bookbinder he knew, from
the bookbinders to a tavern, from the tavern to another crony's,
and so on. In short By the time Kashtanka found
herself on the unfamiliar pavement, it was getting dusk, and
the carpenter was as drunk as a cob. He was
waving his arms and breathing. Heavily muttered in sin, my
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mother bore me ah sins, sins here. Now we are
walking along the street and looking at the street lamps.
But when we die we shall burn in a fiery
gehina or He fell into a good natured tone, called
Kashdanka to him, and said to her, you, Kashtanka, are
an insect of a creature and nothing else Beside a man.
(02:28):
You are much the same as a joiner beside a
cabinet maker. While he talked to her in that way,
there was suddenly a burst of music. Kashtanka looked round
and saw that a regiment of soldiers was coming straight
towards her. Unable to endure the music, which unhinged her nerves,
she turned round and round and wailed. To her great surprise,
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the carpenter, instead of being frightened whining and barking, gave
a broad grin, drew himself up to attention, and saluted
with all his five fingers. Seeing that her master did
not protest, Kashtanka whined louder than ever and dashed across
the road to the opposite pavement. When she recovered herself,
the band was not playing and the regiment was no
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longer there. She ran across the road to the spot
where she had left her master, but alas the carpenter
was no longer there, she dashed forward, then back again,
and ran across the road once more, but the carpenter
seemed to have vanished into the earth. Kashtanka began sniffing
the pavement, hoping to find her master by the scent
(03:34):
of his tracks. But some wretch had been that way
just before in new rubber galoshes, and now all delicate
scents were mixed with an acute stench of India rubber,
so that it was impossible to make out anything. Kashtanka
ran up and down and did not find her master.
And meanwhile it had got dark. The street lamps were
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lighted on both sides of the road, and lights appeared
in the windows. Big fluffies snowflakes were falling and painting
white the pavement, the horses backs, and the cabmen's caps.
And the darker the evening grew, the whiter were all
these objects unknown. Customers kept walking incessantly to and fro
obstructing her field of vision and shoving against her with
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their feet. All mankind. Kashdanka divided into two uneven parts,
masters and customers. Between them there was an essential difference.
The first had the right to beat her, and the
second she had the right to nip by the calves
of their legs. These customers were hurrying off somewhere and
paid no attention to her. When it got quite dark,
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Kashdunka was overcome by despair and horror. She huddled up
in an entrance and began whining piteously. The long days
journeying with Luca, Alexandrich had exhausted her. Her ears and
her paws were freezing, and what was more, she was
terribly hungry. Only twice in the whole day had she
tasted a morsel. She had eaten a little taste at
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a bookbinder's, and in one of the taverns she had
found a sausage skin on the floor near the counter.
That was all. If she had been a human being,
she would have certainly thought, no, it is impossible to
live like this. I must shoot myself Part two A
mysterious stranger. But she thought of nothing. She simply whined.
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When her head and back were entirely plastered over with
the soft, feathery snow, and she had sunk into a
painful doze of exhaustion. All at once, the door of
the entrance clicked, creaked, and struck her on the side
she jumped up. A man belonging to the class of
customers came out as Kashnunka, whined and got under his feet.
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He could not help noticing her. He bent down to
her and asked, doggie, where do you come from? Have
I hurt you? Oh? Poor thing, poor thing? Come, don't
be cross, don't be cross. I I'm sorry. Kush Danka
looked at the stranger through the snow flakes that hung
on her eyelashes, and saw before her a short, fat
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little man with a plump, shaven face, wearing a top
hat and a fur coat that swung open. What are
you whining for? He went on, knocking the snow off
her back with his fingers. Where is your master? I
suppose you are lost? Ah, poor doggie, what are we
going to do now? Catching in the stranger's voice a warm,
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cordial note, Kashdanka licked his hand and whined still more pitifully.
Oh you nice, funny thing, said the stranger, a regular fox. Well,
there's nothing for it. You must come along with me.
Perhaps you will be of use for something. Well. He
clicked with his lips and made a sign to Kushtanka
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with his hand, which could only mean one thing, come along,
Kashtanka went. Not more than half an hour later, she
was sitting on the floor in a big light room,
and leaning her head against her side, was looking with
tenderness and curiosity at the stranger who was sitting at
the table dining. He ate and threw pieces to her.
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At first he gave her bread and the green rind
of cheese, then a piece of meat, half a pie,
and chicken bones. While through hunger. She ate so quickly
that she had not time to distinguish the taste. And
the more she ate, the more acute was the feeling
of hunger. Your masters don't feed you properly, said the stranger,
seeing with what ferocious greediness she swallowed the morsels without
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munching them. And how thin you are, nothing but skin
and bones. Kashdanka ate a great deal, and yet did
not satisfy her hunger, but was simply stupefied with eating.
After dinner, she lay down in the middle of the room,
stretched her legs, and, conscious of an agreeable weariness all
over her body, wagged her tail while her new master,
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lounging in an easy chair, smoked a cigar. She wagged
her tail and considered the question whether it was better
at the stranger's or at the carpenter's. The stranger's surroundings
were poor and ugly. Besides the easy chairs, the sofa,
the lamps, and the rugs, there was nothing, and the
room seemed empty. At the carpenter's the whole place was
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stuffed full of things. He had a table, a bench,
a heap of shavings, planes, chisels, saws, a cage with
a goldfinch, a basin. The stranger's room smelt of nothing,
while there was always a thick fog in the carpenter's
room and a glorious smell of glue, varnish and shavings.
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On the other hand, the stranger had one great superiority.
He gave her a great deal to eat and to
do him full justice. When Kashtanka sat facing the table
and looking wistfully at him, he did not once hit
or kick her, and did not once shout go away,
damned brute. When he had finished his cigar, her new
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master went out out, and a minute later came back
holding a little mattress in his hands. Hey, you dog,
come here, he said, laying the mattress in the corner
near the dog. Lie down here, go to sleep. Then
he put out the lamp and went away. Kush Dunka
lay down on the mattress and shut her eyes. The
sound of a bark rose from the street, and she
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would have liked to answer it, but all at once
she was overcome with unexpected melancholy. She thought of Luca Alexandrich,
of his son Fadushka, and her snug little place under
the bench, she remembered. On the long winter evenings, when
the carpenter was planing or reading the paper aloud, Fadyusha
usually played with her. He used to pull her from
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under the bench by her hind legs and play such
tricks with her that she saw green before her eyes
and ached in every joint. He would make her walk
on her hind legs, use her as a bell, that is,
shake her violently by the tail so that she squeak
and barked, and give her tobacco to sniff. The following
trick was particularly agonizing. Fadushka would tie a piece of
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meat to a thread and give it to Kashtanka, and
then when she had swallowed it, he would, with a
loud laugh, pull it back again from her. Stomach, and
the more lurid were her memories, the more loudly and
miserably Kashtanka whined. But soon exhaustion and warmth prevailed over melancholy.
She began to fall asleep. Dogs ran by in her imagination,
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among them a shaggy old poodle whom she had seen
that day in the street, with a white patch on
his eye and tufts of wool by his nose. Fadushka
ran after the poodle with a chisel in his hand.
Then all at once he too was covered with shaggy wool,
and began merrily barking beside Kashtanka. Kashtanka and he good
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naturedly sniffed each other's noses and merrily ran down the street.
Part three knew and very agreeable acquaintances. When Kashtanka woke up,
it was already light, and a sound rose from the street,
such as only comes in the daytime. There was not
a soul in the room. Kashdanka stretched, yawned, and cross
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and ill humored walked about the room. She sniffed the
corners and the furniture, looked into the passage, and found
nothing of interest there besides the door that led into
the passage. There was another door. After thinking a little,
Kashdanka scratched on it with both paws, opened it, and
went into the adjoining room. Here, on the bed covered
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with a rug, a customer in whom she recognized the
stranger of yesterday, lay asleep or she growled, but recollecting
yesterday's dinner, wagged her tail and began sniffing. She sniffed
the stranger's clothes and boots and thought they smelt of horses.
In the bedroom was another door, also closed. Kashdanka scratched
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at the door, leaned her chest against it, opened it,
and was instantly aware of a strange and very suspicious smell.
Foreseeing an unpleasant encounter. Growling and looking about her, Kashdanka
walked into a little room with a dirty wall paper
and drew back in alarm. She saw something surprising and terrible.
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A gray gander came straight towards her, hissing, with its
neck bowed down to the floor and its wings outspread.
Not far from him, on a little mattress lay a
white tom cat. Seeing Kashtanka, he jumped up, arched his back,
wagged his tail with his hair standing on end, and
he too hissed at her. The dog was frightened in earnest,
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but not caring to betray her alarm, began barking loudly
and dashed at the cat. The cat arched his back
more than ever, mewed and gave Kashtanka a smack on
the head with his paw. Kashtanka jumped back, squatted on
all four pause, and craning her nose towards the cat,
went off into loud, shrill barks. Meanwhile, the gander came
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up behind and gave her a painful peck in the back.
Kashdanka leaped up and dashed at the gander. What's this?
They heard a loud, angry voice, and the stranger came
into the room in his dressing gown with a cigar
between his teeth. What's the meaning of this? To your places?
He went up to the cat, flicked him on his
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arched back, and said, shielder, timofeyitch, what's the meaning of this?
Have you got up a fight? Ah? You old rascal?
Lie down, And turning to the gander, he shouted, Ivan ivanitch,
go home. The cat obediently lay down on his mattress.
And closed his eyes. Judging from the expression of his
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face and whiskers, he was displeased with himself for having
lost his temper and got into a fight. Kashdanka began
whining resentfully, while the gander craned his neck and began
saying something rapidly, excitedly, distinctly, but quite unintelligibly. All right,
all right, said his master, yawning. You must live in
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peace and friendship. He stroked Kashtanka and went on, and you,
red hair, don't be frightened. They are capital company. They
won't annoy you. Stay. What are we to call you?
You can't go on without a name, My dear. The
stranger thought a moment and said, I tell you what
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you shall be, Auntie. Do you understand auntie, And repeating
the word auntie several times, he went out. Kashtanka sat
down and began watching. The cat sat motionless on his
little mattress and pretended to be asleep. The gander, craning
his neck and stamping, went on talking rapidly and excitedly
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about something. Apparently it was a very clever gander. After
every long tirade, he always said back with an air
of wonder and made a show of being highly delighted
with his own speech. Listening to him and answering rrror,
Kashdanka fell to sniffing the corners. In one of the
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corners she found a little trough in which she saw
some soaked peas and a sop of rye crusts. She
tried the peas, they were not nice. She tried the
sopped red and began eating it. The gander was not
at all offended that the strange dog was eating his food,
but on the contrary, topped even more excitedly, and to
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show his confidence, went to the trough and ate a
few peas himself, and parts one through three, part four
marbles on a hurdle. A little while afterwards, the stranger
came in again and brought a strange thing with him,
like a hurdle, or like the figure pie on the
cross piece. On the top of this roughly made wooden
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frame hung a bell, and a pistol was also tied
to it. There were strings from the tongue of the
bell and the trigger of the pistol. The stranger put
the frame in the middle of the room, spent a
long time tying and untying something, then looked at the
gander and said, Ivan Ivanitch, if you please. The gander
went up to him and stood in an expectant attitude. Now,
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then said the stranger, let us begin at the very beginning.
First of all, bow and make a curtsey. Look sharp.
Ivan Ivanitch craned his neck, nodded in all directions, and
scraped with his foot right. Bravo, now die. The gander
lay on his back and stuck his legs in the air.
After performing a few more similar unimportant tricks, the stranger
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suddenly clutched at his head, and, assuming an expression of horror, shouted,
help fire, we are burning. Ivan Ivanitch ran to the frame,
took the string in his beak and set the bell ringing.
The stranger was very much pleased. He stroked the gander's
neck and said, Bravo, Ivan Ivanitch. Now pretend that you
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are a jeweler selling gold and diamonds. Imagine now that
you go to your shop and find thieves there. What
would you do in that case? The gander took the
other string in his beak and pulled it, and at
once a deafening report was heard. Kashtanka was highly delighted
with the bell ringing, and the shot threw her into
so much ecstasy that she ran round the frame barking.
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Anti lie down, cried the stranger be quiet. Ivan Ivanitch's
task was not ended with the shooting for a whole
hour afterwards. The stranger drove the gander round him on
a cord, cracking a whip, and the gander had to
jump over barriers and through hoops. He had to rear,
that is, sit on his tail and wave his legs
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in the air. Kashtanka could not take her eyes off
ivan Ivanitch, wriggled with delight and several times fell to
running after him with shrill barks. After exhausting the gander
and himself, the stranger wiped the sweat from his brow
and cried, marya, fetch havronya Ivanova here. A minute later
there was the sound of grunting. Kashtanka growled, assumed a
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very valiant air, and to be on the safe side,
went nearer to the stranger. The door opened, an old
woman looked in and saying something led in a black
and very ugly sow, paying no attention to Kashtanka's growls.
The sow lifted up her little hoof and grunted good humoredly.
Apparently it was very agreeable to her to see her master,
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the cat and ivan Ivanitch. When she went up to
the cat and gave him a light tap on the
stomach with her hoof, and then made some remark to
the gander, a great deal of good nature was expressed
in her movements and the quivering of her tail. Kashtanka
realized at once that to growl and bark at such
a character was useless. The master took away the frame
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and cried, Fyodor Timafeyitch, if you please. The cat, stretched
lazily and reluctantly, as though performing a duty, went up
to the sal Come let us begin with the Egyptian pyramid,
began the master. He spent a long time explaining something,
then gave the word of command one, two three. At
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the word three, Ivan Ivanitch flapped his wings and jumped
on to the sow's back. When balancing himself with his
wings and his neck, he got a firm foothold on
the pristly back. Showed her Timofeyitch listlessly and lazily, with
manifest disdain and with an air of scorning his act,
and not caring a pin for it, climbed on to
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the sal's back, then reluctantly mounted on to the gander
and stood on his hind legs. The result was what
the stranger called the Egyptian pyramid. Kashtanka yapped with delight,
but at that moment the old cat yawned and, losing
his balance, rolled off the gander. Ivan Ivanitch lurched and
fell off too. The stranger shouted, waved his hands, and
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began explaining something again. After spending an hour over the pyramid,
their indefatigable master proceeded to teach ivan Ivanitch to ride
on the cat, then began to teach the cat to smoke,
and so on. The lesson ended in the strangers wiping
the spot off his brow and going away. Fyodor Timofeyitch
gave a disdainful sniff, lay down on his mattress and
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closed his eyes. Ivan Ivanitch went to the trough and
the pig was taken away by the old woman. Thanks
to the number of her new impressions, Kashtanka hardly noticed
how the day passed, and in the evening she was
installed with her mattress in the room with the dirty
wall paper and spent the night in the society of
Fyodor Timofeyitch and the Gander Part five Talent Talent. A
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month passed, Kashtanka had grown used to having a nice
dinner every evening and being called Auntie. She had grown
used to the stranger too, and to her new companions.
Life was comfortable and easy. Every day began in the
same way. As a rule. Ivan Ivanitch was the first
to wake up and at once went up to Aunty
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or to the cat, twisting his neck and beginning to
talk excitedly and persuasively, but as before, unintelligibly. Sometimes he
would crane up his head in the air and utter
a long monolog At first, Kashtanka thought he talked so
much because he was very clever, but after a little
time had passed she lost all her respect for him.
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When he went up to her with his long speeches,
she no longer wagged her tail, but treated him as
a tiresome chatterbox who would not let anyone sleep, and
without the slightest ceremony, answered him with rurr. Fyodor Timofeyitch
was a gentleman of a very different sort. When he
woke He did not utter a sound, did not stir,
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and did not even open his eyes. He would have
been glad not to wake, for as was evident, he
was not greatly in love with life. Nothing interested him.
He showed an apathetic and nonshal want attitude to everything.
He disdained everything, and even while eating his delicious dinner,
sniffed contemptuously. When she woke, Kashtanka began walking about the
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room and sniffing the corners. She and the cat were
the only ones allowed to go all over the flat.
The gander had not the right to cross the threshold
of the room with a dirty wall paper. And Havronya
Ivanovna lived somewhere in a little outhouse in the yard
and made her appearance only during the lessons. Their master
got up late and immediately after drinking his tea, began
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teaching them their tricks. Every day, the frame, the whip
and the hoop were brought in, and every day almost
the same performance took place. The lesson lasted three or
four hours, so that sometimes Fyodor Timofeyitch was so tired
that he staggered about like a drunken man, and ivan
Ivanitch opened his beak and breathed heavily, while their master
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became red in the face and could not mop the
sweat from his brow fast enough. The lesson and the
dinner made the day very interesting, but the evenings were tedious.
As a rule. Their master went off somewhere in the
evening and took the cat and the gander with him.
Left alone, Auntie lay down on her little mattress and
began to feel sad. Melancholy crept on her imperceptibly and
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took possession of her by degrees, as darkness does of
a room. It began with the dogs losing every inclination
to bark, to eat, to run about the rooms, and
even to look at things. Then vague figures, half dogs,
half human beings, with countenances attractive, pleasant, but incomprehensible, would
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appear in her imagination. When they came, Auntie wagged her tail,
and it seemed to her that she had somewhere, at
some time seen them and loved them. And as she
dropped asleep, she always felt that those figures smelt of
blue shavings and varnish. When she had grown quite used
to her new life, and from a thin long mongrel
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had changed into a sleek, well groomed dog. Her master
looked at her one day before the lesson and said,
it's high time, Auntie, to get to business. You have
kicked up your heels in idleness long enough. I want
to make an artiste of you. Do you want to
be an artiste? And he began teaching her various accomplishments.
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At the first lesson, he taught her how to stand
and walk on her hind legs, which she liked extremely.
At the second lesson, she had to jump on her
hind legs and catch some sugar, which her teacher held
high above her head. After that, in the following lessons,
she danced, ran, tied to a chord, howled to music,
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rang the bell, and fired the pistol, and in a
month could successfully replace Fyodor Timofeyitch in the Egyptian pyramid.
She learned very eagerly and was pleased with her own success.
Running with her tongue out on the cord, leaping through
the hoop, and riding on old field Timofeyitch gave her
the greatest enjoyment. She accompanied every successful trick with a shrill,
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delighted bark, while her teacher wondered. Was also delighted and
rubbed his hands. Its talent. Its talent, he said, unquestionable talent.
You will certainly be successful. And Auntie grew so used
to the word talent that every time her master pronounced it,
she jumped up as if it had been her name.
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Part six. An uneasy night. Auntie had a doggy dream
that a porter ran after her with a broom, and
she woke up in a fright. It was quite dark
and very stuffy in the room. The fleas were biting.
Auntie had never been afraid of darkness before, but now
for some reason, she felt frightened and inclined to bark.
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Her master heaved a loud sigh in the next room.
Then soon afterwards the sow grunted in her sty, and
then all was still again. When one thinks about eating,
one's heart grows lighter. And Aunty began thinking how that
day she had stolen the leg of a chicken from
Fyodor Timotheyitch, and had hidden it in the drawing room
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between the cupboard and the wall, where there were a
great many spider's webs and a great deal of dust.
Would it not be as well to go now and
look whether the chicken leg were still there or not.
It was very possible that her master had found it
and eaten it. But she must not go out of
the room before morning. That was the rule. Aunty shut
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her eyes to go to sleep as quickly as possible,
for she knew by experience that the sooner you go
to sleep, the sooner the morning comes. But all at
once there was a strange scream not far from her,
which made her start and jump up on all four legs.
It was Ivan, Ivanitch, and his cry was not babbling
and persuasive as usual, but a wild, shrill, unnatural scream,
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like the squeak of a door opening. Unable to distinguish
anything in the darkness, and not understanding what was wrong,
Auntie felt still more frightened and growled. Or some time
passed as long as it takes to beat a good bone.
The scream was not repeated. Little by little, Auntie's uneasiness
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passed off, and she began to doze. She dreamed of
two big black dogs with tufts of last year's coat
left on their haunches and sides. They were eating out
of a big basin some swill, from which there came
a white steam and a most appetizing smell. From time
to time, they looked round at Auntie, showed their teeth
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and growled, we are not going to give you any
But a peasant in a fur coat ran out of
the house and drove them away with a whip. Then
Auntie went up to the basin and began eating. But
as soon as the peasant went out of the gate,
the two black dogs rushed at her groul, and all
at once there was again a shrill scream. Tiji kiji gee,
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cried Ivan Ivanitch. Aunty woke, jumped up, and without leaving
her mattress went off into a yelping bark. It seemed
to her that it was not Ivanny Vanitch that was screaming,
but some one else, And for some reason, the sow
again grunted in her sty. Then there was the sound
of shuffling slippers, and the master came into the room
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in his dressing gown with a candle in his hand.
The flickering light danced over the dirty wall paper and
the ceiling and chased away the darkness. Antie saw that
there was no stranger in the room. Ivan Ivanitch was
sitting on the floor and was not asleep. His wings
were spread out, and his beak was open, and altogether
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he looked as though he were very tired and thirsty.
Old Fyodor Timofeyitch was not asleep either, He too must
have been awakened by the scream Ivan Ivanitch, what's the
matter with you? The master asked the gander, Why are
you screaming? Are you ill? The gander did not answer.
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The Master touched him on the neck, stroked his back,
and said, you are a queer chap. You don't sleep yourself,
and you don't let other people. When the Master went out,
carrying the candle with him, there was darkness again. Auntie
felt frightened. The gander did not scream, but again she
fancied that there was some stranger in the room. What
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was most dreadful was that this stranger could not be bitten,
as he was unseen and had no shape. And for
some reason she thought that something very bad would certainly
happen that night. Fyodor Timofayitch was uneasy too. Auntie could
hear him shifting on his mattress, yawning and shaking his head.
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Somewhere in the street, there was a knocking at the gate,
and the sow grunted in her sty. Aunty began to whine,
stretched out her front paws, and laid her head down
upon them. She fancied that in the knocking at the gate,
in the grunting of the sow, who was for some
reason awake, in the darkness and the stillness, there was
(30:16):
something as miserable and dreadful as in Ivan Ivanitch's scream.
Everything was in agitation and anxiety. But why who was
the stranger who could not be seen? Then two dim
flashes of green gleamed for a minute near Aunty. It
was Fyodor Timavyitch, for the first time of their whole acquaintance,
(30:37):
coming up to her. What did he want? Aunty licked
his paw, and, not asking why he had come, howled
softly and on various notes. Kiji cried Ivan Ivanitch, Kuiji.
The door opened again, and the master came in with
a candle. The gander was sitting in the same attitude
(30:58):
as before, with his beak open and his wings spread out.
His eyes were closed. Ivan Ivanitch, his master called him.
The gander did not stir. His master sat down before
him on the floor, looked at him in silence for
a minute, and said Ivan Ivanitch, what is it? Are
(31:18):
you dying? Oh? I remember now, I remember, he cried
out and clutched at his head. I know why it is.
It's because the horse stepped on you to day. My god,
my god. Anty did not understand what her master was saying,
but she saw from his face that he too was
(31:39):
expecting something dreadful. She stretched out her head towards the
dark window, where it seemed to her some stranger was
looking in, and howled. He is dying, Aunty, said her master,
and wrung his hands. Yes, yes, he is dying. Death
has come into your room. What are we to do?
(32:01):
Pale and agitated, the Master went back into his room,
sighing and shaking his head. Aunty was afraid to remain
in the darkness and followed her master into his bedroom.
He sat down on the bed and repeated several times,
my god, what's to be done? Aunty walked about round
his feet, and, not understanding why she was wretched and
(32:23):
why they were all so uneasy, and trying to understand,
watched every movement he made. Fyodor Timofeyitch, who rarely left
his little mattress, came into the master's bedroom too, and
began rubbing himself against his feet. He shook his head
as though he wanted to shake painful thoughts out of it,
(32:44):
and kept peeping suspiciously under the bed. The Master took
a saucer, poured some water from his washstand into it,
and went to the gander again. Drink ivan Ivanitch, he said, tenderly,
setting the saucer before him. Drink, darling, But ivan Ivanitch
did not stir and did not open his eyes. His
(33:05):
master bent his head down to the saucer and dipped
his beak into the water, but the gander did not drink.
He spread his wings wider than ever, and his head
remained lying in the saucer. No, there's nothing to be
done now, sighed his master. It's all over. Ivan Ivanitch
is gone, and shining drops such as one sees on
(33:28):
the window pane when it rains, trickled down his cheeks.
Not understanding what was the matter. Aunty and Fyodor Timofeyitch
snuggled up to him and looked with horror at the gander.
Poor ivan Ivanitch, said the master, sighing mournfully. And I
was dreaming I would take you in the spring into
the country and would walk with you on the green grass.
(33:51):
Dear creature, my good comrade, you are no more? How
shall I do without you? Now? It's it seemed to
Auntie that the same thing would happen to her, That is,
that she too, there was no knowing why would close
her eyes, stretch out her paws, open her mouth, and
(34:12):
everyone would look at her with horror. Apparently the same
reflections were passing through the brain of Fyodor Timofeyitch. Never
before had the old cat been so morose and gloomy.
It began to get light, and the unseen stranger who
had so frightened Auntie was no longer in the room.
(34:33):
When it was quite daylight, the porter came in, took
the gander and carried him away, and soon afterwards the
old woman came in and took away the troth. Auntie
went into the drawing room and looked behind the cupboard.
Her master had not eaten the chicken bone. It was
lying in its place among the dust and spider's webs.
(34:55):
But Auntie felt sad and dreary and wanted to cry.
She did not even sniff at the bone, but went
under the sofa, sat down there and began softly whining
in a thin voice, end of parts four through six,
an unsuccessful debut. One fine evening, the master came into
(35:16):
the room with a dirty wall paper and rubbing his hands.
Said well. He meant to say something more, but went
away without saying it. Aunty, who during her lessons had
thoroughly studied his face and intonations, divined that he was agitated, anxious,
and she fancied angry. Soon afterwards he came back and said,
(35:38):
to day, I shall take with me Aunty and kyode
her Timofeyitch. To day, Aunty, you will take the place
of poor ivan Ivanitch in the Egyptian pyramid. Goodness knows
how it will be. Nothing is ready, nothing has been
thoroughly studied. There have been few rehearsals. We shall be disgraced.
We shall come to grief. Then he went out again,
(36:01):
and a minute later came back in his fur coat
and top hat. Going up to the cat, he took
him by the fore paws and put him inside the
front of his coat, while Fyodor Timafeyitch appeared completely unconcerned
and did not even trouble to open his eyes to him,
It was apparently a matter of absolute indifference whether he
remained lying down or were lifted up by his paws,
(36:24):
whether he rested on his mattress or under his master's
fur coat. Come along, Andy, said her master, wagging her
tail and understanding nothing. Antie followed him. A minute later
she was sitting in a sledge by her master's feet,
and heard him, shrinking with cold and anxiety, mutter to himself,
we shall be disgraced, We shall come to grief. The
(36:48):
sledge stopped at a big, strange looking house, like a
soup ladle turned upside down. The long entrance to this house,
with its three glass doors, was lighted up with a
dozen brilliant lams. The doors opened with a resounding noise,
and like jaws, swallowed up the people who were moving
to and fro at the entrance. There were a great
(37:09):
many people. Horses too often ran up to the entrance,
but no dogs were to be seen. The master took
Auntie in his arms and thrust her in his coat,
where Fyodor Timafeyitch already was. It was dark and stuffy there,
but warm. For an instant, two green sparks flashed at her.
It was the cat who opened his eyes, on being
(37:32):
disturbed by his neighbour's cold, rough paws. Auntie licked his ears, and,
trying to settle herself as comfortably as possible, moved uneasily,
crushed him under her cold paws, and casually poked her
head out from under the coat, but at once growled
angrily and tucked it in again. It seemed to her
that she had seen a huge, badly lighted room full
(37:54):
of monsters. From behind screens and gratings which stretched on
both sides of the room, horrible faces looked out, faces
of horses with horns, with long ears, and one fat,
huge countenance with a tail instead of a nose, and
two long, gnawed bones sticking out of his mouth. The
(38:15):
cat mewed huskily under Auntie's paws, but at that moment
the coat was flung open. The master said, hop and
Fyodor Timafeyitch, and Auntie jumped to the floor. They were
now in a little room with gray plank walls. There
was no other furniture in it, but a little table
with a looking glass on it, a stool and some
(38:35):
rags hung about the corners, and instead of a lamp
or candles, there was a bright ban shaped light attached
to a little pipe fixed in the wall. Yoda Timafeyitch,
licked his coat, which had been ruffled by Auntie, went
under the stool and lay down. Their master, still agitated
and rubbing his hands, began undressing. He undressed as he
(38:57):
usually did at home when he was preparing to get
under the rug, that is, took off everything but his
under linen. Then he sat down on the stool, and
looking in the looking glass, began playing the most surprising
tricks with himself. First of all, he put on his
head a wig with a parting and with two tufts
of hair standing up like horns. Then he smeared his
(39:20):
face thickly with something white, and over the white color
painted his eyebrows, his mustaches, and red on his cheeks.
His antics did not end with that. After smearing his
face and neck, he began putting himself into an extraordinary
and incongruous costume such as Auntie had never seen before,
either in houses or in the street. Imagined very full
(39:43):
trousers made of chintz covered with big flowers, such as
is used in working class houses for curtains and covering furniture.
Trousers which buttoned up just under his arm pits, one
trouser leg was made of brown chintz, the other of
bright yellow, almost lost in these. He then put on
a short chintz jacket with a big scalloped collar and
(40:06):
a gold star on the back, stoppings of different colors,
and green slippers. Everything seemed going round before Auntie's eyes
and in her soul. The white faced, sack like figure
smelt like her master. Its voice, too, was the familiar
master's voice. But there were moments when Auntie was tortured
(40:26):
by doubts, and then she was ready to run away
from the parti colored figure and to bark the new place,
the fan shaped light, the smell, the transformation that had
taken place in her master. All this aroused in her
a vague dread and a foreboding that she would certainly
meet with some horror, such as the big face with
the tail instead of a nose. And then somewhere through
(40:51):
the wall, some hateful band was playing, and from time
to time she heard an incomprehensible roar. Only one thing
reassured her. That was the imperturbability of Fyodor Timofeyitch. He
dozed with the utmost tranquility under the stool and did
not open his eyes even when it was moved, a
(41:12):
man in a dress coat and a white waistcoat peeped
into the little room and said, miss Arabella has just
gone on after her. You Their master made no answer.
He drew a small box from under the table, sat
down and waited. From his lips and his hands. It
could be seen that he was agitated, and Auntie could
hear how his breathing came in gasps. Mister George, come on,
(41:37):
someone shouted behind the door. Their master got up and
crossed himself three times, then took the cat from under
the stool and put him in the box. Come, Auntie,
he said softly. Auntie, who could make nothing out of it,
went up to his hands. He kissed her on the
head and put her beside Fyodor Timofeyitch then followed darkness
(42:00):
et He trampled on the cat, scratched at the walls
of the box, and was so frightened that she could
not utter a sound. While the box swayed and quivered
as though it were on the waves. Here we are again,
her master shouted aloud, here we are again, And he
felt that after that shout the box struck against something
(42:20):
hard and left off swaying. There was a loud, deep roar.
Someone was being slapped, and that someone, probably the monster
with the tail instead of a nose, roared and laughed
so loud that the locks of the box trembled. In
response to the roar, there came a shrill, squeaky laugh
from her master, such as he never laughed at home. Ha,
(42:43):
he shouted, trying to shout above the roar, honored friends,
I have only just come from the station. My grannies
kicked the bucket and left me a fortune. There is
something very heavy in the box. It must be gold. Haha.
I bet there's a million here. We'll open it and look.
The lock of the box clicked. The bright light dazzled
(43:06):
Auntie's eyes. She jumped out of the box, and, deafened
by the roar, ran quickly round her master and broke
into a shrill bark. Ha exclaimed her master, Uncle Kyodo Timofeyitch,
beloved aunt dear relations the devil take you. He fell
on his stomach on the sand, seized the cat and Auntie,
(43:28):
and fell to embracing them. While he held Auntie tight
in his arms. She glanced round into the world into
which fate had brought her and impressed by its immensity,
was for a minute dumbfounded with amazement and delight. Then
jumped out of her master's arms, and, to express the
intensity of her emotions, whirled round and round on one
(43:49):
spot like a top. This new world was big and
full of bright light. Wherever she looked, on all sides,
from floor to ceiling, there were faces, faces, faces, and
nothing else. Auntie, I beg you to sit down, shouted
her master. Remembering what that meant, Auntie jumped on to
(44:10):
a chair and sat down. She looked at her master.
His eyes looked at her gravely and kindly as always,
but his face, especially his mouth and teeth, were made
grotesque by a broad, immovable grin. He laughed, skipped about,
twitched his shoulders, and made a show of being very
merry in the presence of the thousands of faces. Auntie
(44:32):
believed in his merriment all at once, felt all over
her that those thousands of faces were looking at her.
Lifted up her fox like head and howled joyously. You
sit there, Auntie, her master said to her, while Uncle
and I will dance the Kamarinsky. Jyodor Timofeyitch stood looking
about him indifferently, waiting to be made to do something silly.
(44:57):
He danced listlessly, carelessly, sullenly, and one could see from
his movements, his tail, and his ears that he had
a profound contempt for the crowd, the bright light, his master,
and himself. When he had performed his allotted task, he
gave a yawn and sat down. Now, Auntie said her master,
(45:17):
we'll have first a song and then a dance, shall we.
He took a pipe out of his pocket and began playing. Auntie,
who could not endure music, began moving uneasily in her
chair and howled. A roar of applause rose from all sides.
Her master bowed, and, when all was still again, went
on playing. Just as he took one very high note,
(45:41):
someone high up among the audience uttered a loud exclamation.
Auntie cried, a child's voice. Why it's kashdanka, kashtanka, it
is declared, a cracked, drunken tenor kushdanka, strike me dead, fidushka,
it is kashdanka, kashdanka. Here, someone in the gallery gave
a whistle, and two voices, one a boy's and one
(46:04):
a man's, called loudly, kashdanka. Kashdanka. Auntie started and looked
where the shouting came from. Two faces, one hairy, drunken
and grinning, the other chubby, rosy, cheeked and frightened, looking
dazed her eyes as the bright light had dazed them before,
she remembered, fell off the chair, struggled on the sand,
(46:26):
then jumped up and with a delighted yap, dashed towards
those faces. There was a deafening roar, interspersed with whistles
and a shrill, childish shout. Kashdanka, Kashdanka Aunty leaped over
the barrier, then across someone's shoulders. She found herself in
a box. To get into the next tier, she had
(46:48):
to leap over a high wall. Auntie jumped, but did
not jump high enough and slipped back down the wall.
Then she was passed from hand to hand, licked hands
and faces, kept mounting higher and higher, and at last
got into the gallery. Half an hour afterwards, Kashdanka was
in the street, following the people who smelt of glue
(47:10):
and varnish. Luka Alexandrich staggered and instinctively, taught by experience,
tried to keep as far from the gutter as possible
in sin. My mother bore me, he muttered, And you, Kashdanka,
are a thing of little understanding. Beside a man, you
are like a joiner, beside a cabinet maker. Vidyushka walked
(47:33):
beside him, wearing his father's cap. Kashdanka looked at their backs,
and it seemed to her that she had been following
them for ages, and was glad that there had not
been a break for a minute in her life. She
remembered the little room with dirty wallpaper, the gander Fyodor, Timofeyitch,
the delicious dinners, the lessons, the circus, But all that
(47:57):
seemed to her now like a long, tan angled, oppressive dream.
End of Part seven. End of Kashtanka by Anton Chekhov,
translated by Constance Garnett,
Kashtanka a story, Part one misbehavior. A young dog, a
reddish mongrel between a doxen and a yard dog, very
like a fox in face, was running up and down
the pavement, looking uneasily from side to side. From time
to time she stopped and whining and lifting first one
chilled paw and then another, tried to make up her
(00:21):
mind how it could have happened that she was lost.
She remembered very well how she had passed the day,
and how in the end she had found herself on
this unfamiliar pavement. The day had begun by her master,
Luca Alexandritch's, putting on his hat, taking something wooden under
his arm, wrapped up in a red handkerchief, and calling
(00:41):
Kashtanka come along. Hearing her name, the mongrel had come
out from under the work table where she slept on
the shavings, stretched herself voluptuously and run after her master.
The people Luka Alexandritch worked for lived a very long
way off, so that before he could get to any
one of them, the carpet had several times to step
(01:01):
into a tavern to fortify himself. Kashtanka remembered that on
the way She had behaved extremely improperly in her delight
that she was being taken for a walk. She jumped about, dashed,
barking after the trains, ran into yards and chased other dogs.
The carpenter was continually losing sight of her, stopping and
(01:22):
angrily shouting at her. Once he had, even with an
expression of fury in his face, taken her fox like
ear in his fist, smacked her and said emphatically, plague,
take you, you pest. After having left the work where
it had been bespoken, Luca Alexandrich went into his sisters,
and there had something to eat and drink. From his sisters.
(01:43):
He had gone to see a bookbinder he knew, from
the bookbinders to a tavern, from the tavern to another crony's,
and so on. In short By the time Kashtanka found
herself on the unfamiliar pavement, it was getting dusk, and
the carpenter was as drunk as a cob. He was
waving his arms and breathing. Heavily muttered in sin, my
(02:05):
mother bore me ah sins, sins here. Now we are
walking along the street and looking at the street lamps.
But when we die we shall burn in a fiery
gehina or He fell into a good natured tone, called
Kashdanka to him, and said to her, you, Kashtanka, are
an insect of a creature and nothing else Beside a man.
(02:28):
You are much the same as a joiner beside a
cabinet maker. While he talked to her in that way,
there was suddenly a burst of music. Kashtanka looked round
and saw that a regiment of soldiers was coming straight
towards her. Unable to endure the music, which unhinged her nerves,
she turned round and round and wailed. To her great surprise,
(02:50):
the carpenter, instead of being frightened whining and barking, gave
a broad grin, drew himself up to attention, and saluted
with all his five fingers. Seeing that her master did
not protest, Kashtanka whined louder than ever and dashed across
the road to the opposite pavement. When she recovered herself,
the band was not playing and the regiment was no
(03:13):
longer there. She ran across the road to the spot
where she had left her master, but alas the carpenter
was no longer there, she dashed forward, then back again,
and ran across the road once more, but the carpenter
seemed to have vanished into the earth. Kashtanka began sniffing
the pavement, hoping to find her master by the scent
(03:34):
of his tracks. But some wretch had been that way
just before in new rubber galoshes, and now all delicate
scents were mixed with an acute stench of India rubber,
so that it was impossible to make out anything. Kashtanka
ran up and down and did not find her master.
And meanwhile it had got dark. The street lamps were
(03:55):
lighted on both sides of the road, and lights appeared
in the windows. Big fluffies snowflakes were falling and painting
white the pavement, the horses backs, and the cabmen's caps.
And the darker the evening grew, the whiter were all
these objects unknown. Customers kept walking incessantly to and fro
obstructing her field of vision and shoving against her with
(04:17):
their feet. All mankind. Kashdanka divided into two uneven parts,
masters and customers. Between them there was an essential difference.
The first had the right to beat her, and the
second she had the right to nip by the calves
of their legs. These customers were hurrying off somewhere and
paid no attention to her. When it got quite dark,
(04:40):
Kashdunka was overcome by despair and horror. She huddled up
in an entrance and began whining piteously. The long days
journeying with Luca, Alexandrich had exhausted her. Her ears and
her paws were freezing, and what was more, she was
terribly hungry. Only twice in the whole day had she
tasted a morsel. She had eaten a little taste at
(05:03):
a bookbinder's, and in one of the taverns she had
found a sausage skin on the floor near the counter.
That was all. If she had been a human being,
she would have certainly thought, no, it is impossible to
live like this. I must shoot myself Part two A
mysterious stranger. But she thought of nothing. She simply whined.
(05:25):
When her head and back were entirely plastered over with
the soft, feathery snow, and she had sunk into a
painful doze of exhaustion. All at once, the door of
the entrance clicked, creaked, and struck her on the side
she jumped up. A man belonging to the class of
customers came out as Kashnunka, whined and got under his feet.
(05:47):
He could not help noticing her. He bent down to
her and asked, doggie, where do you come from? Have
I hurt you? Oh? Poor thing, poor thing? Come, don't
be cross, don't be cross. I I'm sorry. Kush Danka
looked at the stranger through the snow flakes that hung
on her eyelashes, and saw before her a short, fat
(06:08):
little man with a plump, shaven face, wearing a top
hat and a fur coat that swung open. What are
you whining for? He went on, knocking the snow off
her back with his fingers. Where is your master? I
suppose you are lost? Ah, poor doggie, what are we
going to do now? Catching in the stranger's voice a warm,
(06:29):
cordial note, Kashdanka licked his hand and whined still more pitifully.
Oh you nice, funny thing, said the stranger, a regular fox. Well,
there's nothing for it. You must come along with me.
Perhaps you will be of use for something. Well. He
clicked with his lips and made a sign to Kushtanka
(06:50):
with his hand, which could only mean one thing, come along,
Kashtanka went. Not more than half an hour later, she
was sitting on the floor in a big light room,
and leaning her head against her side, was looking with
tenderness and curiosity at the stranger who was sitting at
the table dining. He ate and threw pieces to her.
(07:11):
At first he gave her bread and the green rind
of cheese, then a piece of meat, half a pie,
and chicken bones. While through hunger. She ate so quickly
that she had not time to distinguish the taste. And
the more she ate, the more acute was the feeling
of hunger. Your masters don't feed you properly, said the stranger,
seeing with what ferocious greediness she swallowed the morsels without
(07:34):
munching them. And how thin you are, nothing but skin
and bones. Kashdanka ate a great deal, and yet did
not satisfy her hunger, but was simply stupefied with eating.
After dinner, she lay down in the middle of the room,
stretched her legs, and, conscious of an agreeable weariness all
over her body, wagged her tail while her new master,
(07:57):
lounging in an easy chair, smoked a cigar. She wagged
her tail and considered the question whether it was better
at the stranger's or at the carpenter's. The stranger's surroundings
were poor and ugly. Besides the easy chairs, the sofa,
the lamps, and the rugs, there was nothing, and the
room seemed empty. At the carpenter's the whole place was
(08:18):
stuffed full of things. He had a table, a bench,
a heap of shavings, planes, chisels, saws, a cage with
a goldfinch, a basin. The stranger's room smelt of nothing,
while there was always a thick fog in the carpenter's
room and a glorious smell of glue, varnish and shavings.
(08:38):
On the other hand, the stranger had one great superiority.
He gave her a great deal to eat and to
do him full justice. When Kashtanka sat facing the table
and looking wistfully at him, he did not once hit
or kick her, and did not once shout go away,
damned brute. When he had finished his cigar, her new
(08:59):
master went out out, and a minute later came back
holding a little mattress in his hands. Hey, you dog,
come here, he said, laying the mattress in the corner
near the dog. Lie down here, go to sleep. Then
he put out the lamp and went away. Kush Dunka
lay down on the mattress and shut her eyes. The
sound of a bark rose from the street, and she
(09:21):
would have liked to answer it, but all at once
she was overcome with unexpected melancholy. She thought of Luca Alexandrich,
of his son Fadushka, and her snug little place under
the bench, she remembered. On the long winter evenings, when
the carpenter was planing or reading the paper aloud, Fadyusha
usually played with her. He used to pull her from
(09:44):
under the bench by her hind legs and play such
tricks with her that she saw green before her eyes
and ached in every joint. He would make her walk
on her hind legs, use her as a bell, that is,
shake her violently by the tail so that she squeak
and barked, and give her tobacco to sniff. The following
trick was particularly agonizing. Fadushka would tie a piece of
(10:08):
meat to a thread and give it to Kashtanka, and
then when she had swallowed it, he would, with a
loud laugh, pull it back again from her. Stomach, and
the more lurid were her memories, the more loudly and
miserably Kashtanka whined. But soon exhaustion and warmth prevailed over melancholy.
She began to fall asleep. Dogs ran by in her imagination,
(10:32):
among them a shaggy old poodle whom she had seen
that day in the street, with a white patch on
his eye and tufts of wool by his nose. Fadushka
ran after the poodle with a chisel in his hand.
Then all at once he too was covered with shaggy wool,
and began merrily barking beside Kashtanka. Kashtanka and he good
(10:52):
naturedly sniffed each other's noses and merrily ran down the street.
Part three knew and very agreeable acquaintances. When Kashtanka woke up,
it was already light, and a sound rose from the street,
such as only comes in the daytime. There was not
a soul in the room. Kashdanka stretched, yawned, and cross
(11:15):
and ill humored walked about the room. She sniffed the
corners and the furniture, looked into the passage, and found
nothing of interest there besides the door that led into
the passage. There was another door. After thinking a little,
Kashdanka scratched on it with both paws, opened it, and
went into the adjoining room. Here, on the bed covered
(11:37):
with a rug, a customer in whom she recognized the
stranger of yesterday, lay asleep or she growled, but recollecting
yesterday's dinner, wagged her tail and began sniffing. She sniffed
the stranger's clothes and boots and thought they smelt of horses.
In the bedroom was another door, also closed. Kashdanka scratched
(11:59):
at the door, leaned her chest against it, opened it,
and was instantly aware of a strange and very suspicious smell.
Foreseeing an unpleasant encounter. Growling and looking about her, Kashdanka
walked into a little room with a dirty wall paper
and drew back in alarm. She saw something surprising and terrible.
(12:21):
A gray gander came straight towards her, hissing, with its
neck bowed down to the floor and its wings outspread.
Not far from him, on a little mattress lay a
white tom cat. Seeing Kashtanka, he jumped up, arched his back,
wagged his tail with his hair standing on end, and
he too hissed at her. The dog was frightened in earnest,
(12:44):
but not caring to betray her alarm, began barking loudly
and dashed at the cat. The cat arched his back
more than ever, mewed and gave Kashtanka a smack on
the head with his paw. Kashtanka jumped back, squatted on
all four pause, and craning her nose towards the cat,
went off into loud, shrill barks. Meanwhile, the gander came
(13:07):
up behind and gave her a painful peck in the back.
Kashdanka leaped up and dashed at the gander. What's this?
They heard a loud, angry voice, and the stranger came
into the room in his dressing gown with a cigar
between his teeth. What's the meaning of this? To your places?
He went up to the cat, flicked him on his
(13:29):
arched back, and said, shielder, timofeyitch, what's the meaning of this?
Have you got up a fight? Ah? You old rascal?
Lie down, And turning to the gander, he shouted, Ivan ivanitch,
go home. The cat obediently lay down on his mattress.
And closed his eyes. Judging from the expression of his
(13:49):
face and whiskers, he was displeased with himself for having
lost his temper and got into a fight. Kashdanka began
whining resentfully, while the gander craned his neck and began
saying something rapidly, excitedly, distinctly, but quite unintelligibly. All right,
all right, said his master, yawning. You must live in
(14:11):
peace and friendship. He stroked Kashtanka and went on, and you,
red hair, don't be frightened. They are capital company. They
won't annoy you. Stay. What are we to call you?
You can't go on without a name, My dear. The
stranger thought a moment and said, I tell you what
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you shall be, Auntie. Do you understand auntie, And repeating
the word auntie several times, he went out. Kashtanka sat
down and began watching. The cat sat motionless on his
little mattress and pretended to be asleep. The gander, craning
his neck and stamping, went on talking rapidly and excitedly
(14:53):
about something. Apparently it was a very clever gander. After
every long tirade, he always said back with an air
of wonder and made a show of being highly delighted
with his own speech. Listening to him and answering rrror,
Kashdanka fell to sniffing the corners. In one of the
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corners she found a little trough in which she saw
some soaked peas and a sop of rye crusts. She
tried the peas, they were not nice. She tried the
sopped red and began eating it. The gander was not
at all offended that the strange dog was eating his food,
but on the contrary, topped even more excitedly, and to
(15:36):
show his confidence, went to the trough and ate a
few peas himself, and parts one through three, part four
marbles on a hurdle. A little while afterwards, the stranger
came in again and brought a strange thing with him,
like a hurdle, or like the figure pie on the
cross piece. On the top of this roughly made wooden
(15:58):
frame hung a bell, and a pistol was also tied
to it. There were strings from the tongue of the
bell and the trigger of the pistol. The stranger put
the frame in the middle of the room, spent a
long time tying and untying something, then looked at the
gander and said, Ivan Ivanitch, if you please. The gander
went up to him and stood in an expectant attitude. Now,
(16:21):
then said the stranger, let us begin at the very beginning.
First of all, bow and make a curtsey. Look sharp.
Ivan Ivanitch craned his neck, nodded in all directions, and
scraped with his foot right. Bravo, now die. The gander
lay on his back and stuck his legs in the air.
After performing a few more similar unimportant tricks, the stranger
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suddenly clutched at his head, and, assuming an expression of horror, shouted,
help fire, we are burning. Ivan Ivanitch ran to the frame,
took the string in his beak and set the bell ringing.
The stranger was very much pleased. He stroked the gander's
neck and said, Bravo, Ivan Ivanitch. Now pretend that you
(17:05):
are a jeweler selling gold and diamonds. Imagine now that
you go to your shop and find thieves there. What
would you do in that case? The gander took the
other string in his beak and pulled it, and at
once a deafening report was heard. Kashtanka was highly delighted
with the bell ringing, and the shot threw her into
so much ecstasy that she ran round the frame barking.
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Anti lie down, cried the stranger be quiet. Ivan Ivanitch's
task was not ended with the shooting for a whole
hour afterwards. The stranger drove the gander round him on
a cord, cracking a whip, and the gander had to
jump over barriers and through hoops. He had to rear,
that is, sit on his tail and wave his legs
(17:47):
in the air. Kashtanka could not take her eyes off
ivan Ivanitch, wriggled with delight and several times fell to
running after him with shrill barks. After exhausting the gander
and himself, the stranger wiped the sweat from his brow
and cried, marya, fetch havronya Ivanova here. A minute later
there was the sound of grunting. Kashtanka growled, assumed a
(18:10):
very valiant air, and to be on the safe side,
went nearer to the stranger. The door opened, an old
woman looked in and saying something led in a black
and very ugly sow, paying no attention to Kashtanka's growls.
The sow lifted up her little hoof and grunted good humoredly.
Apparently it was very agreeable to her to see her master,
(18:31):
the cat and ivan Ivanitch. When she went up to
the cat and gave him a light tap on the
stomach with her hoof, and then made some remark to
the gander, a great deal of good nature was expressed
in her movements and the quivering of her tail. Kashtanka
realized at once that to growl and bark at such
a character was useless. The master took away the frame
(18:54):
and cried, Fyodor Timafeyitch, if you please. The cat, stretched
lazily and reluctantly, as though performing a duty, went up
to the sal Come let us begin with the Egyptian pyramid,
began the master. He spent a long time explaining something,
then gave the word of command one, two three. At
(19:14):
the word three, Ivan Ivanitch flapped his wings and jumped
on to the sow's back. When balancing himself with his
wings and his neck, he got a firm foothold on
the pristly back. Showed her Timofeyitch listlessly and lazily, with
manifest disdain and with an air of scorning his act,
and not caring a pin for it, climbed on to
(19:34):
the sal's back, then reluctantly mounted on to the gander
and stood on his hind legs. The result was what
the stranger called the Egyptian pyramid. Kashtanka yapped with delight,
but at that moment the old cat yawned and, losing
his balance, rolled off the gander. Ivan Ivanitch lurched and
fell off too. The stranger shouted, waved his hands, and
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began explaining something again. After spending an hour over the pyramid,
their indefatigable master proceeded to teach ivan Ivanitch to ride
on the cat, then began to teach the cat to smoke,
and so on. The lesson ended in the strangers wiping
the spot off his brow and going away. Fyodor Timofeyitch
gave a disdainful sniff, lay down on his mattress and
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closed his eyes. Ivan Ivanitch went to the trough and
the pig was taken away by the old woman. Thanks
to the number of her new impressions, Kashtanka hardly noticed
how the day passed, and in the evening she was
installed with her mattress in the room with the dirty
wall paper and spent the night in the society of
Fyodor Timofeyitch and the Gander Part five Talent Talent. A
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month passed, Kashtanka had grown used to having a nice
dinner every evening and being called Auntie. She had grown
used to the stranger too, and to her new companions.
Life was comfortable and easy. Every day began in the
same way. As a rule. Ivan Ivanitch was the first
to wake up and at once went up to Aunty
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or to the cat, twisting his neck and beginning to
talk excitedly and persuasively, but as before, unintelligibly. Sometimes he
would crane up his head in the air and utter
a long monolog At first, Kashtanka thought he talked so
much because he was very clever, but after a little
time had passed she lost all her respect for him.
(21:27):
When he went up to her with his long speeches,
she no longer wagged her tail, but treated him as
a tiresome chatterbox who would not let anyone sleep, and
without the slightest ceremony, answered him with rurr. Fyodor Timofeyitch
was a gentleman of a very different sort. When he
woke He did not utter a sound, did not stir,
(21:48):
and did not even open his eyes. He would have
been glad not to wake, for as was evident, he
was not greatly in love with life. Nothing interested him.
He showed an apathetic and nonshal want attitude to everything.
He disdained everything, and even while eating his delicious dinner,
sniffed contemptuously. When she woke, Kashtanka began walking about the
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room and sniffing the corners. She and the cat were
the only ones allowed to go all over the flat.
The gander had not the right to cross the threshold
of the room with a dirty wall paper. And Havronya
Ivanovna lived somewhere in a little outhouse in the yard
and made her appearance only during the lessons. Their master
got up late and immediately after drinking his tea, began
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teaching them their tricks. Every day, the frame, the whip
and the hoop were brought in, and every day almost
the same performance took place. The lesson lasted three or
four hours, so that sometimes Fyodor Timofeyitch was so tired
that he staggered about like a drunken man, and ivan
Ivanitch opened his beak and breathed heavily, while their master
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became red in the face and could not mop the
sweat from his brow fast enough. The lesson and the
dinner made the day very interesting, but the evenings were tedious.
As a rule. Their master went off somewhere in the
evening and took the cat and the gander with him.
Left alone, Auntie lay down on her little mattress and
began to feel sad. Melancholy crept on her imperceptibly and
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took possession of her by degrees, as darkness does of
a room. It began with the dogs losing every inclination
to bark, to eat, to run about the rooms, and
even to look at things. Then vague figures, half dogs,
half human beings, with countenances attractive, pleasant, but incomprehensible, would
(23:39):
appear in her imagination. When they came, Auntie wagged her tail,
and it seemed to her that she had somewhere, at
some time seen them and loved them. And as she
dropped asleep, she always felt that those figures smelt of
blue shavings and varnish. When she had grown quite used
to her new life, and from a thin long mongrel
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had changed into a sleek, well groomed dog. Her master
looked at her one day before the lesson and said,
it's high time, Auntie, to get to business. You have
kicked up your heels in idleness long enough. I want
to make an artiste of you. Do you want to
be an artiste? And he began teaching her various accomplishments.
(24:22):
At the first lesson, he taught her how to stand
and walk on her hind legs, which she liked extremely.
At the second lesson, she had to jump on her
hind legs and catch some sugar, which her teacher held
high above her head. After that, in the following lessons,
she danced, ran, tied to a chord, howled to music,
(24:42):
rang the bell, and fired the pistol, and in a
month could successfully replace Fyodor Timofeyitch in the Egyptian pyramid.
She learned very eagerly and was pleased with her own success.
Running with her tongue out on the cord, leaping through
the hoop, and riding on old field Timofeyitch gave her
the greatest enjoyment. She accompanied every successful trick with a shrill,
(25:06):
delighted bark, while her teacher wondered. Was also delighted and
rubbed his hands. Its talent. Its talent, he said, unquestionable talent.
You will certainly be successful. And Auntie grew so used
to the word talent that every time her master pronounced it,
she jumped up as if it had been her name.
(25:29):
Part six. An uneasy night. Auntie had a doggy dream
that a porter ran after her with a broom, and
she woke up in a fright. It was quite dark
and very stuffy in the room. The fleas were biting.
Auntie had never been afraid of darkness before, but now
for some reason, she felt frightened and inclined to bark.
(25:51):
Her master heaved a loud sigh in the next room.
Then soon afterwards the sow grunted in her sty, and
then all was still again. When one thinks about eating,
one's heart grows lighter. And Aunty began thinking how that
day she had stolen the leg of a chicken from
Fyodor Timotheyitch, and had hidden it in the drawing room
(26:12):
between the cupboard and the wall, where there were a
great many spider's webs and a great deal of dust.
Would it not be as well to go now and
look whether the chicken leg were still there or not.
It was very possible that her master had found it
and eaten it. But she must not go out of
the room before morning. That was the rule. Aunty shut
(26:34):
her eyes to go to sleep as quickly as possible,
for she knew by experience that the sooner you go
to sleep, the sooner the morning comes. But all at
once there was a strange scream not far from her,
which made her start and jump up on all four legs.
It was Ivan, Ivanitch, and his cry was not babbling
and persuasive as usual, but a wild, shrill, unnatural scream,
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like the squeak of a door opening. Unable to distinguish
anything in the darkness, and not understanding what was wrong,
Auntie felt still more frightened and growled. Or some time
passed as long as it takes to beat a good bone.
The scream was not repeated. Little by little, Auntie's uneasiness
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passed off, and she began to doze. She dreamed of
two big black dogs with tufts of last year's coat
left on their haunches and sides. They were eating out
of a big basin some swill, from which there came
a white steam and a most appetizing smell. From time
to time, they looked round at Auntie, showed their teeth
(27:43):
and growled, we are not going to give you any
But a peasant in a fur coat ran out of
the house and drove them away with a whip. Then
Auntie went up to the basin and began eating. But
as soon as the peasant went out of the gate,
the two black dogs rushed at her groul, and all
at once there was again a shrill scream. Tiji kiji gee,
(28:07):
cried Ivan Ivanitch. Aunty woke, jumped up, and without leaving
her mattress went off into a yelping bark. It seemed
to her that it was not Ivanny Vanitch that was screaming,
but some one else, And for some reason, the sow
again grunted in her sty. Then there was the sound
of shuffling slippers, and the master came into the room
(28:28):
in his dressing gown with a candle in his hand.
The flickering light danced over the dirty wall paper and
the ceiling and chased away the darkness. Antie saw that
there was no stranger in the room. Ivan Ivanitch was
sitting on the floor and was not asleep. His wings
were spread out, and his beak was open, and altogether
(28:49):
he looked as though he were very tired and thirsty.
Old Fyodor Timofeyitch was not asleep either, He too must
have been awakened by the scream Ivan Ivanitch, what's the
matter with you? The master asked the gander, Why are
you screaming? Are you ill? The gander did not answer.
(29:09):
The Master touched him on the neck, stroked his back,
and said, you are a queer chap. You don't sleep yourself,
and you don't let other people. When the Master went out,
carrying the candle with him, there was darkness again. Auntie
felt frightened. The gander did not scream, but again she
fancied that there was some stranger in the room. What
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was most dreadful was that this stranger could not be bitten,
as he was unseen and had no shape. And for
some reason she thought that something very bad would certainly
happen that night. Fyodor Timofayitch was uneasy too. Auntie could
hear him shifting on his mattress, yawning and shaking his head.
(29:54):
Somewhere in the street, there was a knocking at the gate,
and the sow grunted in her sty. Aunty began to whine,
stretched out her front paws, and laid her head down
upon them. She fancied that in the knocking at the gate,
in the grunting of the sow, who was for some
reason awake, in the darkness and the stillness, there was
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something as miserable and dreadful as in Ivan Ivanitch's scream.
Everything was in agitation and anxiety. But why who was
the stranger who could not be seen? Then two dim
flashes of green gleamed for a minute near Aunty. It
was Fyodor Timavyitch, for the first time of their whole acquaintance,
(30:37):
coming up to her. What did he want? Aunty licked
his paw, and, not asking why he had come, howled
softly and on various notes. Kiji cried Ivan Ivanitch, Kuiji.
The door opened again, and the master came in with
a candle. The gander was sitting in the same attitude
(30:58):
as before, with his beak open and his wings spread out.
His eyes were closed. Ivan Ivanitch, his master called him.
The gander did not stir. His master sat down before
him on the floor, looked at him in silence for
a minute, and said Ivan Ivanitch, what is it? Are
(31:18):
you dying? Oh? I remember now, I remember, he cried
out and clutched at his head. I know why it is.
It's because the horse stepped on you to day. My god,
my god. Anty did not understand what her master was saying,
but she saw from his face that he too was
(31:39):
expecting something dreadful. She stretched out her head towards the
dark window, where it seemed to her some stranger was
looking in, and howled. He is dying, Aunty, said her master,
and wrung his hands. Yes, yes, he is dying. Death
has come into your room. What are we to do?
(32:01):
Pale and agitated, the Master went back into his room,
sighing and shaking his head. Aunty was afraid to remain
in the darkness and followed her master into his bedroom.
He sat down on the bed and repeated several times,
my god, what's to be done? Aunty walked about round
his feet, and, not understanding why she was wretched and
(32:23):
why they were all so uneasy, and trying to understand,
watched every movement he made. Fyodor Timofeyitch, who rarely left
his little mattress, came into the master's bedroom too, and
began rubbing himself against his feet. He shook his head
as though he wanted to shake painful thoughts out of it,
(32:44):
and kept peeping suspiciously under the bed. The Master took
a saucer, poured some water from his washstand into it,
and went to the gander again. Drink ivan Ivanitch, he said, tenderly,
setting the saucer before him. Drink, darling, But ivan Ivanitch
did not stir and did not open his eyes. His
(33:05):
master bent his head down to the saucer and dipped
his beak into the water, but the gander did not drink.
He spread his wings wider than ever, and his head
remained lying in the saucer. No, there's nothing to be
done now, sighed his master. It's all over. Ivan Ivanitch
is gone, and shining drops such as one sees on
(33:28):
the window pane when it rains, trickled down his cheeks.
Not understanding what was the matter. Aunty and Fyodor Timofeyitch
snuggled up to him and looked with horror at the gander.
Poor ivan Ivanitch, said the master, sighing mournfully. And I
was dreaming I would take you in the spring into
the country and would walk with you on the green grass.
(33:51):
Dear creature, my good comrade, you are no more? How
shall I do without you? Now? It's it seemed to
Auntie that the same thing would happen to her, That is,
that she too, there was no knowing why would close
her eyes, stretch out her paws, open her mouth, and
(34:12):
everyone would look at her with horror. Apparently the same
reflections were passing through the brain of Fyodor Timofeyitch. Never
before had the old cat been so morose and gloomy.
It began to get light, and the unseen stranger who
had so frightened Auntie was no longer in the room.
(34:33):
When it was quite daylight, the porter came in, took
the gander and carried him away, and soon afterwards the
old woman came in and took away the troth. Auntie
went into the drawing room and looked behind the cupboard.
Her master had not eaten the chicken bone. It was
lying in its place among the dust and spider's webs.
(34:55):
But Auntie felt sad and dreary and wanted to cry.
She did not even sniff at the bone, but went
under the sofa, sat down there and began softly whining
in a thin voice, end of parts four through six,
an unsuccessful debut. One fine evening, the master came into
(35:16):
the room with a dirty wall paper and rubbing his hands.
Said well. He meant to say something more, but went
away without saying it. Aunty, who during her lessons had
thoroughly studied his face and intonations, divined that he was agitated, anxious,
and she fancied angry. Soon afterwards he came back and said,
(35:38):
to day, I shall take with me Aunty and kyode
her Timofeyitch. To day, Aunty, you will take the place
of poor ivan Ivanitch in the Egyptian pyramid. Goodness knows
how it will be. Nothing is ready, nothing has been
thoroughly studied. There have been few rehearsals. We shall be disgraced.
We shall come to grief. Then he went out again,
(36:01):
and a minute later came back in his fur coat
and top hat. Going up to the cat, he took
him by the fore paws and put him inside the
front of his coat, while Fyodor Timafeyitch appeared completely unconcerned
and did not even trouble to open his eyes to him,
It was apparently a matter of absolute indifference whether he
remained lying down or were lifted up by his paws,
(36:24):
whether he rested on his mattress or under his master's
fur coat. Come along, Andy, said her master, wagging her
tail and understanding nothing. Antie followed him. A minute later
she was sitting in a sledge by her master's feet,
and heard him, shrinking with cold and anxiety, mutter to himself,
we shall be disgraced, We shall come to grief. The
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sledge stopped at a big, strange looking house, like a
soup ladle turned upside down. The long entrance to this house,
with its three glass doors, was lighted up with a
dozen brilliant lams. The doors opened with a resounding noise,
and like jaws, swallowed up the people who were moving
to and fro at the entrance. There were a great
(37:09):
many people. Horses too often ran up to the entrance,
but no dogs were to be seen. The master took
Auntie in his arms and thrust her in his coat,
where Fyodor Timafeyitch already was. It was dark and stuffy there,
but warm. For an instant, two green sparks flashed at her.
It was the cat who opened his eyes, on being
(37:32):
disturbed by his neighbour's cold, rough paws. Auntie licked his ears, and,
trying to settle herself as comfortably as possible, moved uneasily,
crushed him under her cold paws, and casually poked her
head out from under the coat, but at once growled
angrily and tucked it in again. It seemed to her
that she had seen a huge, badly lighted room full
(37:54):
of monsters. From behind screens and gratings which stretched on
both sides of the room, horrible faces looked out, faces
of horses with horns, with long ears, and one fat,
huge countenance with a tail instead of a nose, and
two long, gnawed bones sticking out of his mouth. The
(38:15):
cat mewed huskily under Auntie's paws, but at that moment
the coat was flung open. The master said, hop and
Fyodor Timafeyitch, and Auntie jumped to the floor. They were
now in a little room with gray plank walls. There
was no other furniture in it, but a little table
with a looking glass on it, a stool and some
(38:35):
rags hung about the corners, and instead of a lamp
or candles, there was a bright ban shaped light attached
to a little pipe fixed in the wall. Yoda Timafeyitch,
licked his coat, which had been ruffled by Auntie, went
under the stool and lay down. Their master, still agitated
and rubbing his hands, began undressing. He undressed as he
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usually did at home when he was preparing to get
under the rug, that is, took off everything but his
under linen. Then he sat down on the stool, and
looking in the looking glass, began playing the most surprising
tricks with himself. First of all, he put on his
head a wig with a parting and with two tufts
of hair standing up like horns. Then he smeared his
(39:20):
face thickly with something white, and over the white color
painted his eyebrows, his mustaches, and red on his cheeks.
His antics did not end with that. After smearing his
face and neck, he began putting himself into an extraordinary
and incongruous costume such as Auntie had never seen before,
either in houses or in the street. Imagined very full
(39:43):
trousers made of chintz covered with big flowers, such as
is used in working class houses for curtains and covering furniture.
Trousers which buttoned up just under his arm pits, one
trouser leg was made of brown chintz, the other of
bright yellow, almost lost in these. He then put on
a short chintz jacket with a big scalloped collar and
(40:06):
a gold star on the back, stoppings of different colors,
and green slippers. Everything seemed going round before Auntie's eyes
and in her soul. The white faced, sack like figure
smelt like her master. Its voice, too, was the familiar
master's voice. But there were moments when Auntie was tortured
(40:26):
by doubts, and then she was ready to run away
from the parti colored figure and to bark the new place,
the fan shaped light, the smell, the transformation that had
taken place in her master. All this aroused in her
a vague dread and a foreboding that she would certainly
meet with some horror, such as the big face with
the tail instead of a nose. And then somewhere through
(40:51):
the wall, some hateful band was playing, and from time
to time she heard an incomprehensible roar. Only one thing
reassured her. That was the imperturbability of Fyodor Timofeyitch. He
dozed with the utmost tranquility under the stool and did
not open his eyes even when it was moved, a
(41:12):
man in a dress coat and a white waistcoat peeped
into the little room and said, miss Arabella has just
gone on after her. You Their master made no answer.
He drew a small box from under the table, sat
down and waited. From his lips and his hands. It
could be seen that he was agitated, and Auntie could
hear how his breathing came in gasps. Mister George, come on,
(41:37):
someone shouted behind the door. Their master got up and
crossed himself three times, then took the cat from under
the stool and put him in the box. Come, Auntie,
he said softly. Auntie, who could make nothing out of it,
went up to his hands. He kissed her on the
head and put her beside Fyodor Timofeyitch then followed darkness
(42:00):
et He trampled on the cat, scratched at the walls
of the box, and was so frightened that she could
not utter a sound. While the box swayed and quivered
as though it were on the waves. Here we are again,
her master shouted aloud, here we are again, And he
felt that after that shout the box struck against something
(42:20):
hard and left off swaying. There was a loud, deep roar.
Someone was being slapped, and that someone, probably the monster
with the tail instead of a nose, roared and laughed
so loud that the locks of the box trembled. In
response to the roar, there came a shrill, squeaky laugh
from her master, such as he never laughed at home. Ha,
(42:43):
he shouted, trying to shout above the roar, honored friends,
I have only just come from the station. My grannies
kicked the bucket and left me a fortune. There is
something very heavy in the box. It must be gold. Haha.
I bet there's a million here. We'll open it and look.
The lock of the box clicked. The bright light dazzled
(43:06):
Auntie's eyes. She jumped out of the box, and, deafened
by the roar, ran quickly round her master and broke
into a shrill bark. Ha exclaimed her master, Uncle Kyodo Timofeyitch,
beloved aunt dear relations the devil take you. He fell
on his stomach on the sand, seized the cat and Auntie,
(43:28):
and fell to embracing them. While he held Auntie tight
in his arms. She glanced round into the world into
which fate had brought her and impressed by its immensity,
was for a minute dumbfounded with amazement and delight. Then
jumped out of her master's arms, and, to express the
intensity of her emotions, whirled round and round on one
(43:49):
spot like a top. This new world was big and
full of bright light. Wherever she looked, on all sides,
from floor to ceiling, there were faces, faces, faces, and
nothing else. Auntie, I beg you to sit down, shouted
her master. Remembering what that meant, Auntie jumped on to
(44:10):
a chair and sat down. She looked at her master.
His eyes looked at her gravely and kindly as always,
but his face, especially his mouth and teeth, were made
grotesque by a broad, immovable grin. He laughed, skipped about,
twitched his shoulders, and made a show of being very
merry in the presence of the thousands of faces. Auntie
(44:32):
believed in his merriment all at once, felt all over
her that those thousands of faces were looking at her.
Lifted up her fox like head and howled joyously. You
sit there, Auntie, her master said to her, while Uncle
and I will dance the Kamarinsky. Jyodor Timofeyitch stood looking
about him indifferently, waiting to be made to do something silly.
(44:57):
He danced listlessly, carelessly, sullenly, and one could see from
his movements, his tail, and his ears that he had
a profound contempt for the crowd, the bright light, his master,
and himself. When he had performed his allotted task, he
gave a yawn and sat down. Now, Auntie said her master,
(45:17):
we'll have first a song and then a dance, shall we.
He took a pipe out of his pocket and began playing. Auntie,
who could not endure music, began moving uneasily in her
chair and howled. A roar of applause rose from all sides.
Her master bowed, and, when all was still again, went
on playing. Just as he took one very high note,
(45:41):
someone high up among the audience uttered a loud exclamation.
Auntie cried, a child's voice. Why it's kashdanka, kashtanka, it
is declared, a cracked, drunken tenor kushdanka, strike me dead, fidushka,
it is kashdanka, kashdanka. Here, someone in the gallery gave
a whistle, and two voices, one a boy's and one
(46:04):
a man's, called loudly, kashdanka. Kashdanka. Auntie started and looked
where the shouting came from. Two faces, one hairy, drunken
and grinning, the other chubby, rosy, cheeked and frightened, looking
dazed her eyes as the bright light had dazed them before,
she remembered, fell off the chair, struggled on the sand,
(46:26):
then jumped up and with a delighted yap, dashed towards
those faces. There was a deafening roar, interspersed with whistles
and a shrill, childish shout. Kashdanka, Kashdanka Aunty leaped over
the barrier, then across someone's shoulders. She found herself in
a box. To get into the next tier, she had
(46:48):
to leap over a high wall. Auntie jumped, but did
not jump high enough and slipped back down the wall.
Then she was passed from hand to hand, licked hands
and faces, kept mounting higher and higher, and at last
got into the gallery. Half an hour afterwards, Kashdanka was
in the street, following the people who smelt of glue
(47:10):
and varnish. Luka Alexandrich staggered and instinctively, taught by experience,
tried to keep as far from the gutter as possible
in sin. My mother bore me, he muttered, And you, Kashdanka,
are a thing of little understanding. Beside a man, you
are like a joiner, beside a cabinet maker. Vidyushka walked
(47:33):
beside him, wearing his father's cap. Kashdanka looked at their backs,
and it seemed to her that she had been following
them for ages, and was glad that there had not
been a break for a minute in her life. She
remembered the little room with dirty wallpaper, the gander Fyodor, Timofeyitch,
the delicious dinners, the lessons, the circus, But all that
(47:57):
seemed to her now like a long, tan angled, oppressive dream.
End of Part seven. End of Kashtanka by Anton Chekhov,
translated by Constance Garnett,
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