The Russian Masters: Works by Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev and More. Максим Горький
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СКАЧАТЬ good. Is that your work too?

      WIFE

      No, the neighbors must have done it.

      MAN

      Fine people our neighbors are. It's strange, there are so many good people in the world, and yet a man can die of hunger. Why is it?

      WIFE

      You've turned so sad. Your face is growing pale. What is the matter?

       Do you see anything?

      MAN

      Yes, as I was joking, the terrible image of poverty glided in front of me and stopped there, in the corner. Do you see it? Arms stretched out in complaint, a child abandoned in the woods, a praying voice, and the stillness of a human desert. Help! No one hears. Help, I'm dying! No one hears. Look, wife, look! See the dark, gloomy shadows there, quivering and rising like black smoke from a long, terrible chimney leading into hell. Look! And I'm in the midst of them!

      WIFE

      I'm afraid. I can't look in that dark corner. Did you see all that in the street?

      MAN Yes, I saw it in the street, and soon it'll be that way with us.

      WIFE

      No, God will not permit it.

      MAN

      Then why does He permit it to happen to others?

      WIFE

      We're better than others. We are good people. We never offend Him.

      MAN

      You think so? I do a lot of swearing.

      WIFE

      You're not bad.

      MAN

      Yes, I am bad. When I walk along the street and see all the things that don't belong to us, I feel as if I had tusks like a boar. Oh, how much money I haven't got! Listen, my dear wife. I was walking in the park to-day, that lovely park, where the paths are straight as arrows and the beech-trees like kings wearing crowns—

      WIFE

      And I was walking in the city streets. Shops everywhere, such beautiful shops!

      MAN

      I saw men, beautifully dressed, carrying canes, and I thought: "I haven't anything like that."

      WIFE

      I saw elegantly dressed women, wearing dainty shoes that make your feet beautiful, and pretty hats from under which your eyes shine impenetrably, and silk skirts that make such a mysterious rustle; and I thought: "I haven't a good hat or a silk skirt."

      MAN

      A ruffian jostled me. I showed him my tusks, and he fled in disgrace to hide himself in the crowd.

      WIFE

      A well-dressed lady jostled me, but I didn't even look at her, I felt so embarrassed.

      MAN

      Men rode by on proud, fiery horses. And I have nothing like that.

      WIFE

      She had diamonds in her ears. You felt like kissing them.

      MAN

      Red and green automobiles glided past noiselessly like phantoms with burning eyes, and people sat in them and laughed and looked lazily from one side to the other. And I have nothing like it.

      And I have no diamonds, no emeralds, no pure white pearls.

      MAN

      I saw a fine restaurant on the Island. It was brightly illuminated, like heaven, and they were eating there. Black-coated monsters carried around butter and bread and wine and beer, and people ate and drank. My little wife, I'm hungry! I want something to eat!

      WIFE

      Dearie, you're running around all the time, and that makes you still hungrier. You'd better sit down. I'll kneel beside you, and you can take a piece of paper and draw a beautiful, beautiful building.

      MAN

      My inspiration is also hungry. It draws nothing but edible landscapes. My palaces are like portly cakes with fat stuffing, and my churches like sausages. But I see tears in your eyes. What is it, my dear wife?

      WIFE

      I feel so miserable not to be able to help you.

      MAN

      You make me ashamed of myself. I am a strong man with a good mind; I am able, talented, and healthy, and yet I can't do a thing. My dear wife, my little fairy is crying, and I am not able to help her. A woman's tears are her husband's disgrace, I am ashamed.

      WIFE

      But it isn't your fault that people don't appreciate you.

      MAN

      My ears are burning just as they used to when I was a boy and had had them boxed. Why, you are hungry too, and I, egoist that I am, haven't noticed it. It's mean of me.

      WIFE

      My dear, I don't feel hungry.

      MAN

      It's unfair, it's contemptible. That ruffian who jostled me was right. He saw I was a fat pig and that's all, a boar with sharp tusks but a stupid head.

      WIFE.

      If you are going to keep on reproaching yourself, I'll cry again.

      MAN

СКАЧАТЬ