Moscow Peter Boil 4 Girls 33
Cre Wallace
Outside in the forest there was deep snow. The white snow had crustedthe branches of the pine trees, and piled itself up them till theybent under its weight. Now and then a snow-laden branch would bend toofar, and huge lumps of snow fell crashing to the ground under thetrees. Then the branch would swing up, and the snow covered it againwith a cold white burden. Sitting in the hut you could hear thecrashing again and again out in the forest, as the tired branchesflung down their loads of snow. Yes, and now and then there was thehowling of wolves far away.
Little Maroosia heard them, and thought of them out there in the darkas they galloped over the snow. She sat closer to Vanya, her brother,and they were both as near as they could get to the door of thestove, where they could see the red fire burning busily, keeping thewhole hut warm. The stove filled a quarter of the hut, but that wasbecause it was a bed as well. There were blankets on it, and in thoseblankets Vanya and Maroosia rolled up and went to sleep at night, aswarm as little baking cakes.
The hut was made of pine logs cut from the forest. You could see themarks of the axe. Old Peter was the grandfather of Maroosia and Vanya.He lived alone with them in the hut in the forest, because theirfather and mother were both dead. Maroosia and Vanya could hardlyremember them, and they were very happy with old Peter, who was verykind to them and did all he could to keep them warm and well fed. Helet them help him in everything, even in stuffing the windows withmoss to keep the cold out when winter began. The moss kept the lightout too, but that did not matter. It would be all the jollier in thespring when the sun came pouring in.
Besides old Peter and Maroosia and Vanya there were Vladimir andBayan. Vladimir was a cat, a big black cat, as stately as an emperor,and just now he was lying in Vanya's arms fast asleep. Bayan was a[13]dog, a tall gray wolf-dog. He could jump over the table with a singlebound. When he was in the hut he usually lay underneath the table,because that was the only place where he could lie without being inthe way. And, of course at meal times he was in the way even there.Just now he was out with old Peter.
Vladimir stirred suddenly in Vanya's lap, and a minute later theyheard the scrunch of boots in the snow, and the stamping of oldPeter's feet trying to get the snow off his boots. Then the dooropened, and Bayan pushed his way in and shook himself, and lickedMaroosia and Vanya and startled Vladimir, and lay down under the tableand came out again, because he was so pleased to be home. And oldPeter came in after him, with his gun on his back and a hare in hishand. He shook himself just like Bayan, and the snow flew off likespray. He hung up his gun, flung the hare into a corner of the hut,and laughed.
Vanya and Maroosia had jumped up to welcome him, and when he openedhis big sheepskin coat, they tumbled into it together and clung to hisbelt. Then he closed the big woolly coat over the top of them and theysquealed; and he opened it a little way and looked down at them overhis beard, and then closed it again for a moment before letting themout. He did this every night, and Bayan always barked when they wereshut up inside.
Then old Peter took his big coat off and lifted down the samovar fromthe shelf. The samovar is like a big tea-urn, with a red-hot fire inthe middle of it keeping the water boiling. It hums like a bee on thetea-table, and the steam rises in a little jet from a tiny hole in thetop. The boiling water comes out of a tap at the bottom. Old Peterthrew in the lighted sticks and charcoal, and made a draught to drawthe heat, and then set the samovar on the table with the little firecrackling in its inside. Then he cut some big lumps of black bread.Then he took a great saucepan full of soup, that was simmering on thestove, and emptied it into a big wooden bowl. Then he went to the wallwhere, on three nails, hung three wooden spoons, deep like ladles.There were one big spoon, for old Peter; and two little spoons, onefor Vanya and one for Maroosia.
Then came the stories. Old Peter made another glass of tea forhimself, not for the children. His throat was old, he said, and took alot of keeping wet; and they were young, and would not sleep if theydrank tea too near bedtime. Then he threw a log of wood into thestove. Then he lit a short little pipe, full of very strong tobacco,[16]called Mahorka, which has a smell like hot tin. And he puffed, and thesmoke got in his eyes, and he wiped them with the back of his bighand.
All the time he was doing this Vanya and Maroosia were snugglingtogether close by the stove, thinking what story they would ask for,and listening to the crashing of the snow as it fell from the treesoutside. Now that old Peter was at home, the noise made them feelcomfortable and warm. Before, perhaps, it made them feel a littlefrightened.
"Well, well," said old Peter, combing his great gray beard with hisfingers, and looking out at them with twinkling eyes from under hisbig bushy eyebrows. "Have I ever told you the story of 'The Silver[17]Saucer and the Transparent Apple'?"
There was once an old peasant, and he must have had more brains underhis hair than ever I had, for he was a merchant, and used to takethings every year to sell at the big fair of Nijni Novgorod. Well, Icould never do that. I could never be anything better than an oldforester.
God knows best, and He makes some merchants and some foresters, andsome good and some bad, all in His own way. Anyhow this one was amerchant, and he had three daughters. They were none of them so bad tolook at, but one of them was as pretty as Maroosia. And she was thebest of them too. The others put all the hard work on her, while they[19]did nothing but look at themselves in the looking-glass and complainof what they had to eat. They called the pretty one "Little Stupid,"because she was so good and did all their work for them. Oh, they werereal bad ones, those two. We wouldn't have them in here for a minute.
Well, the time came round for the merchant to pack up and go to thebig fair. He called his daughters, and said, "Little pigeons," just asI say to you. "Little pigeons," says he, "what would you like me tobring you from the fair?"
The old merchant says, "Long hair, short sense," just as I say toMaroosia; but he promised the little pretty one, who was so good thather sisters called her stupid, that if he could get her a silversaucer and a transparent apple she should have them.
The three sisters waited till he came back. The two elder ones lookedin the looking-glass, and thought how fine they would look in the newnecklace and the new dress; but the little pretty one took care of herold mother, and scrubbed and dusted and swept and cooked, and everyday the other two said that the soup was burnt or the bread notproperly baked.
"Well, little one," says the old merchant, "and don't you want yourfairing too? I went from one end of the market to the other before Icould get what you wanted. I bought the silver saucer from an old Jew,and the transparent apple from a Finnish hag."
Well, they all had their fairings, and the two elder sisters, the badones, they ran off and put on the new dress and the new necklace, andcame out and strutted about, preening themselves like herons, now onone leg and now on the other, to see how they looked. But LittleStupid, she just sat herself down beside the stove, and took thetransparent apple and set it in the silver saucer, and she laughedsoftly to herself. And then she began spinning the apple in thesaucer.
Round and round the apple spun in the saucer, faster and faster, tillyou couldn't see the apple at all, nothing but a mist like a littlewhirlpool in the silver saucer. And the little good one looked at it,and her eyes shone like yours.
"Spinning an apple in a saucer and staring at it, the little stupid,"they said, as they strutted about the room, listening to the rustle ofthe new dress and fingering the bright round stones of the necklace.
"Spin, spin, apple in the silver saucer." This is what she said. "Spinso that I may see the world. Let me have a peep at the little fatherTzar on his high throne. Let me see the rivers and the ships and thegreat towns far away."
And the bad ones, they saw how her eyes shone, and they came and[23]looked over her shoulder, and saw how all the world was there, in thespinning apple and the silver saucer. And the old father came andlooked over her shoulder too, and he saw the market at Nijni Novgorod.
And the little pretty one, Little Stupid, went on staring into theglass whirlpool in the saucer, spinning the apple, and seeing all theworld she had never seen before, floating there before her in thesaucer, brighter than leaves in sunlight.
So the little one jumped up, and found the baskets, and went with themto the forest. But before she started she ran to her father, who wascounting his money, and was not too pleased to be interrupted, forfigures go quickly out of your head when you have a lot of them toremember. She asked him to take care of the silver saucer and thetransparent apple for fear she would lose them in the forest.
"Very well, little bird," says the old man, and he put the things in a[25]box with a lock and key to it. He was a merchant, you know, and thatsort are always careful about things, and go clattering about with alot of keys at their belt. I've nothing to lock up, and never had, andperhaps it is just as well, for I could never be bothered with keys.
They went deep into the forest, picking berries, and the little onepicked so fast that she soon had a basket full. She was picking andpicking, and did not see what the bad ones were doing. They werefetching the axe.
The little one stood up to straighten her back, which ached after somuch stooping, and she saw her two sisters standing in front of her,looking at her cruelly. Their baskets lay on the ground quite empty.They had not picked a berry. The eldest had the axe in her hand.
When the sun went down the bad ones came home, and they wailed withfalse voices, and rubbed their eyes to make the tears come. They madetheir eyes red and their noses too, and they did not look any prettierfor that.
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