Chekhov's 1890 work thief Physician Yergunov was a shallow, dull man, known in the county as a blowhard and a drunkard.One day, during Easter week, he went to Lippino to do some shopping for the hospital and came back in the evening.The doctor was afraid that he would miss the time and hoped that he would come back earlier, so he gave him one of his best horses for use. At first the weather was not bad, and everything was quiet, but near eight o'clock a heavy snowstorm came, and the doctor, only about seven versts from home, was completely lost. ... He couldn't drive a horse well, and he didn't know the way, so he took chances and drove the horse wherever he saw, hoping that the horse would go back by itself.After about two hours in this way, the horse was tired and he was stiff with cold.It seemed to him that he was not on his way home, but back at Rippino.But at this moment, amidst the whistling of the wind and snow, a muffled barking of a dog was finally heard, and a dim red spot of light appeared in front of it, gradually revealing a tall gate and a long fence with nails nailed to it. Nails with the tip pointing up.Then a curved water-lifting boom appeared in the wall.The wind blows away the snow mist in front of his eyes, so that the original red spot of light is now a small, low house with a tall reed roof.Among the three small windows, there is a window hung with a red cloth, and a lamp is burning.

Whose yard is this?The doctor remembered that on the right side of the main road, six or seven miles from the hospital, there was an inn owned by Andrei Chelikov.He also remembered that Chelikov had been beaten to death not long ago by some coachmen, leaving behind the old woman and her daughter Lyubka, who had been in the hospital about two years before.The inn has a bad reputation, and it is not without danger to come to this place at night and use other people's horses.But there is no other way.The doctor found a pistol from his bag, cleared his throat severely, and tapped the window frame several times with his riding whip.

"Hi, is anyone here?" he called. "Good old lady, let me come in to get warm!" A black dog gave a rough bark and rolled like a ball under the hooves of the horse, and then sprang out another white dog, and another black dog, and there were about ten dogs in all!The doctor spotted the biggest dog, raised his whip, and whipped it with all his strength.The dog was not big, but had high legs. It raised its pointed face and let out a thin, piercing whine. The doctor stood by the window for a long time and kept knocking on the window.But then, inside the enclosure, the hoarfrost turned red on the trees beside the house, the door creaked open, and a woman, all fully clothed, came out with a lantern in her hand.

"Grandma, let me keep warm," said the doctor. "I drove to the hospital, but I'm lost now. The weather is bad, God bless you. Don't be afraid, we're one of our own, Granny." "All of us are at home, and we didn't invite anyone to come," the man said sharply, "Why did you knock on the window for no reason? The door is not locked." The doctor drove the car into the yard and stopped on the porch. "Pray tell the workmen, old woman, to take my horse away," said he. "I'm not an old lady." She is indeed not an old lady.When she put out the lantern, the light fell on her face, and the doctor saw the black eyebrows and recognized Lyubka.

"Where are the workers now?" she said, going into the room. "Some went to bed drunk, and some went to Rippino early in the morning. Today is a holiday." Ergunov tied up his horse in the lean-to, but when he heard the neighing of another horse, he realized that there was another horse standing in the dark, and felt that the horse had a Cossack saddle.It can be seen that there are other people in the house besides the hostess.To be on the safe side, the doctor unsaddled his saddle and went into the room with it and his purchases. He entered the first room, which was spacious, with a burning fire and the smell of freshly mopped floors.Beside the table under the statue sat a thin, thin man, about forty years old, with a small, thin, hazel beard, and wearing a blue shirt.The man, named Kalashnikov, was a wicked liar and horse thief, whose father and uncle kept a restaurant in the village of Bogarevka, and managed to sell stolen horses.He also came to the hospital more than once, but not to see a doctor, but to discuss with the doctor about horses: he asked the doctor if he had any horses to sell, and would the old man be willing to exchange his bay red mare for a light yellow one? little gelding.Now his hair was oiled, and his ears glittered with silver earrings, in short, he looked festive.He frowned, drooped his lower lip, and was concentrating on reading a large torn album.Another man was lying straight on the floor beside the stove. His face, shoulders and chest were covered with a short leather jacket. It seemed that he was fast asleep.Beside him lay a new pair of boots, and nearby were two puddles of blackened, melted snow.The soles of the boots are studded with shiny iron soles.

Kalashnikov saw the doctor and greeted him. "Yes, the weather is bad..." said Ergunov, rubbing his frozen knees with his palms. "The snow was pouring into my collar, and I was so wet that I could wring out water. My pistol is probably..." He took out the pistol, looked it over for a while, and put it back in the bag.But the pistol made no difference at all, and the man continued to read his book. "Yes, it's bad weather. . . . I'm lost, and I'd probably freeze to death if it weren't for the dogs barking here. That's going to be troublesome. But where's the mistress?"

"The old woman has gone to Rippino, and the daughter is cooking supper..." Kalashnikov replied. Silence followed.The doctor shivered, groaned, breathed hot air into his hands, shrank his body, and pretended to be very cold and tired.From the yard came the incessant barking of dogs.This makes people feel bored. "Are you from Bogarevka?" the doctor asked the man sharply. "Yes, from Bogarevka." The doctor had nothing to do, so he began to think about that Bogarevka.It was a big village, situated in a deep valley, so when one rode a horse along the road on a moonlit night, if one looked down into the dark valley and looked up at the sky, one would feel that the moon was hanging in a bottomless abyss. Up above, here is the end of the world.The road leading down was so steep, winding, and narrow that every time you rode down to Bogarevka for the cure of an epidemic or vaccination, you had to shout loudly, or Whistle; otherwise, if you meet a large truck head-on, you will get stuck, and you will not be able to pass each other.The villagers of Bogalevka were famous gardeners and horse thieves.Their orchards were so plentiful that in the spring the whole village was buried in the white blossoms of the cherry trees, and in the summer they sold cherries for three kopecks a barrel.You only have to pay three kopecks and you can eat as much as you want.The wives of those villagers are handsome, well-fed and well-fed, and they like to dress up beautifully. They don't even do any work on weekdays, just sit on the earth platform and catch lice in each other's hair.

But then, footsteps sounded.Lyubka entered the room, a girl of about twenty, in a red dress, with bare feet. ... She squinted at the doctor, then walked from one corner to another, back and forth twice.Instead of simply walking, she puffed up her chest and took small steps.Apparently, she liked to walk up and down the freshly mopped floor barefoot, taking off her shoes to do so. Kalashnikov laughed for some reason and beckoned her to come over with his finger. She went up to that table, and he pointed out to her the picture in the book of the prophet Elijah, who had gone up into the sky in a three-horse cart.Lyubka rested her elbows on the table, her braid hanging down over her shoulders.It was a long dark brown braid with a red ribbon at the end that almost touched the floor.

She laughed too. "It's a wonderful picture, wonderful!" said Kalashnikov. "Brilliant!" he repeated, making a gesture with both hands as if to pull the reins for Elijah. The wind howled in the furnace.Something growled and squeaked, as if a big dog had bit a mouse by the neck. "Hey, the devil has lost his temper!" said Lyubka. "It's the wind," Kalashnikov said.He was silent for a while, raised his eyes to look at the doctor, and asked: "Osip Vasilyitch, according to you scholars, are there ghosts in the world?" "How can I tell you, old man?" replied the doctor, shrugging one shoulder. "Scientifically speaking, then of course there are no ghosts, because it is superstition. But if you look at the matter as simply as you and I are now, then simply say that there are ghosts. . . . I've been through a lot. . . I was a doctor in the Dragoons after I graduated from school. Of course, I went to war, got decorations and Red Cross medals, but at the signing of the Peace of Santo Stefano Finally, I came back to Russia and worked in the Zemstvo. Just because I have traveled the world, I can say that I have seen things that no one else has ever seen in a dream.

I've even seen ghosts, not ghosts with horns or tails, that's all nonsense.To be honest, I have seen something similar to ghosts. " "Where did you see it?" asked Kalashnikov. "I've seen it in many places. You don't have to look far away. Let's say last year. Well, here, near this inn, I met a ghost...just don't mention him at night. I remember, That time I was going to the village of Goreshino to vaccinate people. Of course, I was traveling in a buggy as usual, that is to say, on a horse, with the necessary equipment and, besides, I had I had my watch and other things with me, so I was on my way, on the lookout for anything to go wrong.

... There are a lot of homeless people of all kinds.I walked to Snake Valley, this damn place, and I was about to go downhill, when suddenly, good guy, a person walked by.His hair was black, his eyes were black, and his whole face looked as if it had been smoked. ... He walked up to the horse, grabbed the rein on the left, and shouted: "Stop!"He looked at the horse, then at me, and then he let go of the rein, and didn't say anything nasty, but said, "Where are you going?" He grinned, and his eyes were fierce. . . . I thought: Hey, What a ghost you are! I said, "I'm going to vaccinate."What's the matter with you? ’ And he said, “If that’s the case, then vaccinate me too.” He rolled up his sleeves and poked his arm right up to my nose. And I, of course, stopped talking nonsense to him and just vaccinated him. , so as to avoid him. After that, I looked at my lancet, and it was completely rusted." The man sleeping next to the stove suddenly turned over and lifted the short leather jacket covering his face.The doctor couldn't help being taken aback, because he recognized the man as the stranger he had met in Snake Valley earlier.The man's hair, beard, and eyes were as black as oily smoke, and his face was swarthy, too, and on his right cheek was a mole the size of a lentil.He looked at the doctor mockingly, and said, "There was a thing about pulling the left rein. As for the cowpox and all, that's your bullshit, sir. I never told you about cowpox." The doctor panicked. "I'm not talking about you," he said. "Since you are lying down, you should lie down." This dark-faced man had never been to the hospital, and the doctors had no idea who he was or where he came from.Looking at him now, the doctor secretly concluded that this man must be a gypsy man.The fellow got up, stretched himself, yawned loudly, went up to Lyubka and Kalashnikov, sat down beside them, and began to read the book too.A look of emotion and envy came across his sleepy face. "Look, Merik," Lyubka said to him, "get me some of these horses, and I'll put them in a cart and drive up to the sky." "Sinners don't go to heaven," said Kalashnikov. "That's a saint's business." Then Lyubka set the table, brought a large piece of pickled lard and some pickles, and a large wooden plate of roast beef, already cut into small pieces, and a frying pan with cabbage fried in it. Sausage, oil squeaks in the pan.There was also a ground glass white wine bottle on the table. When they poured wine into the glass, there was a scent of orange peel that permeated the whole room. The doctor was upset because Kalashnikov and the dark-faced Merik were only talking to each other and ignored him as if he was not in the room.But he wanted very much to talk to them, to brag, to drink and eat, and, if possible, to flirt with Lyubka.Five times she sat down beside him at dinner, her handsome shoulder brushing against him as if by accident, and now and then she reached out and stroked her thick thigh.She is a healthy, smiling, and active girl. She sits down and stands up for a while. Even when she is sitting, she turns her body all the time. The child, and she was turning around so that her elbow or her knee was bound to touch someone. Another thing that made the doctor unhappy was that the two men stopped drinking after each drinking a glass of wine, leaving him alone to drink, which was rather awkward.But he couldn't help it, drank a second glass, then a third, and ate the whole sausage.He hoped that the two men would see him and treat him as his own family, so he decided to compliment them. "You guys from Bogarevka are good men!" he said, shaking his head. "How can one be called a hero?" asked Kalashnikov. "Here, let's take a horse for example. Stealing horses is not a small skill!" "Well, what a fellow! They're just drunkards and thieves." "There were good times, but that's over," said Merik after a pause. "Old Phyllia may be the only one left alive now among their people, but even he is blind." "Yes, Filia is the only one left," said Kalashnikov, sighing. "He's about seventy now. He's got one eye gouged out by the German expatriate, and the other's gone too. It's got cataracts. The police chief in the district used to say, 'Hey, you Ah, Shamir②! ’ All the peasants also called him Shamir, Shamir, but now they don’t call him anything else but One-Eyed Filia.Back then, he was really a hero!One night, together with the dead Andrei Grigoritch, Liuba's father, he made his way into Rozhnovo, where at that time a cavalry regiment was stationed.Not afraid of the sentinels, they took away nine army horses at once, the best horses, and sold them all the next morning to Afonka the Gypsy for twenty rubles.yes!Now people steal the horses of drunks or sleeping people, and they don't fear God at all. They even tear off the boots from the drunk's feet, and then lead the horse two hundred versts away in fear. , went to a market, and haggled about the price like a Jew, until the policeman caught him as a fool.It's not fun, it's embarrassing!Needless to say, these are worthless guys. " "And Merik?" asked Lyubka. "Melik is not from our place," Kalashnikov said. "He's from Kharkov. He's from Mischlic. It's true that he's a good guy. No problem, he's a good guy." Lyubka looked at Merik cunningly and cheerfully, and said: "Yes, no wonder he let those good people be stuffed in a hole in the ice." "What's going on here?" asked the doctor. "That's right..." said Merik, laughing.Filya stole three horses from the tenant farmers in Samoilovka, and they thought it was me.There were ten tenant farmers in Samoilovka, plus thirty laborers, all Morokans. . . . Once, at the fair, they sent a man over and said to me, 'Come over to us, Merrick, we've got some new horses from the market.' And I, of course, would like to I rushed over to them. Thirty of them tied my arms behind my back and dragged me to the river. They said: We will show you how to steal a horse. They have already opened a hole in the ice, At this time, another one was cut out at a distance of a few yards from the side. Then they took a rope, tied a loop on one end of the rope, put it around my two armpits, and tied a rope to the other end of the rope. A crooked stick. This stick, you know, goes from one hole in the ice to the other. Well, they stuck it in one hole in the ice and stretched it out to the other. And for me, all my old clothes No change, still wearing leather jacket and boots, plopped into the ice hole! They stood there, some kicked me into the water, some hit me with the ax handle, and then pulled me across the ice, from the other side Pulled out of an ice hole. Lyubka shuddered and curled up into a ball. "At first I was feverish," continued Merik, "and when they pulled me out I was lying on the snow and I couldn't move, and the Molokans stood beside me and beat my knees with sticks. and elbow. I ached like hell! They beat me for a while and went away. . . . I was frozen all over, and my clothes were frozen, and I tried to get up, but I couldn't. Thank goodness, there was a bitch who made it A car drove by and pulled me away." During this period, the doctor drank five or six glasses of wine.He was in a cheerful mood, and wanted to say something unusual and wonderful, to show that he was also a good man who was not afraid of anything. "Well, in our province of Penza..." he began. Because he drank so much that his eyes were dimmed, and perhaps because they caught him twice when he lied, the two men ignored him and didn't even answer his questions.What's more, they talked about their affairs in front of him without any shyness, and he couldn't help trembling and feeling cold in his heart.It showed that they didn't think much of him at all. Kalashnikov's demeanor was dignified, like that of a calm and deliberate man.He talked at the beginning and the end, and made the sign of the sign of the cross over his mouth every time he yawned. No one would have guessed that he was a thief, a thief who robbed the poor and heartless. He was exiled to Siberia and redeemed with money by his father and uncle, who were as much a thief and a villain as himself.Merik assumed the air of a hero.Seeing that Lyubka and Kalashnikov admired him, he thought he was a good man, now put his hands on his hips, now puffed out his chest, now stretched himself so that the stool creaked. ...After supper, Kalashnikov did not get up, but sat praying to the idol, and shook hands with Merik.Merik also prayed and shook Kalashnikov's hand.Lyubka cleared the table, sprinkled it with mint molasses, fried hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, and two bottles of sweet wine. "Andrei Grigoritch to heaven and eternal rest," said Kalashnikov, clinking glasses with Merik. "We used to meet here when he was alive, or at Brother Martin's. My God, my God! What kind of people they were, and what kind of talk! It was very interesting! There was Martin, there was Filya, there was Sturkotey Fyodor. . . . Everything had a style, something like that. . . What a joy!" Lyubka went out, and came back a moment later wearing a green kerchief and a string of beads. "Melik, look what Kalashnikov brought me today!" she says. She looked in the mirror and shook her head a few times to make the beads ring.Then she opened a trunk and took out first a calico dress with little red and light blue flowers, and now another red dress with ruffles that rustled like paper, Suddenly a new turban was pulled out, blue base with rainbow hues.She showed these things, smiling and clapping her hands, as if she was surprised that she had so many treasures. Kalashnikov took the shamisen, set the strings, and began to play.The doctor couldn't understand what kind of tune he was playing, whether it was joyful or sad, because the tune was sometimes sad and made people want to cry, and sometimes cheered up. Suddenly Merrick jumped, landed, stamped his heels on the ground where he had landed, then spread his arms, and moved from the table to the stove with the heels of his boots alone, from the stove to the box, and then As if bitten by a snake, he jumped up, knocked the soles of his two iron shoes in mid-air, and then squatted and jumped, stretching his two legs forward in turn.Lyubka waved his hands, screamed desperately, and jumped up after him.At first she moved menacingly sideways, as if she was going to sneak up behind someone and punch him, and at the same time she stamped the floor with her heel as fast as Merik stamped the heel of his boot.Then she spun around like a top and squatted down slightly, and her red dress bulged like a bell. Merik looked at her viciously, bared his teeth, and squatted all the way up to her, as if he was going to lift his foot to crush her to death, while she jumped up, threw her head back, and waved her arms as if A large bird fluttered across the room, flapping its wings and barely touching the ground. ... "Hey, girl like a ball of fire!" the doctor sat on the box and watched them dance, thinking to himself. "What a fire! It would be too little to sacrifice everything for her. ..." He secretly regretted: why is he a doctor instead of an ordinary farmer?Why did he wear a coat and a fob with a gilt key on it, instead of a blue shirt with a cord around his waist?In that case he would have the courage to sing, dance, drink, and throw his arms around Lyubka like Merik. ...Because of the violent stomping, shouting, and noise, the bowls in the sideboard jingled, and the flames on the candles kept beating. The thread broke, the beads fell apart, the beads spilled on the floor, the green kerchief fell from her head, Lyubka transformed into a red cloud with two shining black eyes, Merik's arms and legs seemed It's about to fall apart. But suddenly, Merik stomped his foot one last time and stood still, motionless. . . . Lyubka, terribly exhausted and breathless, threw herself on his chest and clung to him as if leaning against a pillar.As for him, he put his arms around her, looked her in the eyes, and said softly and kindly, as if jokingly: "I will definitely find out where your old woman hides her money. I will kill her and kill you with a knife." Cut the throat of the little boy, and then set fire to the inn. ... People will think that you were burned to death, and I will take your money and go to Kuban.I'll keep a large herd of horses there, and buy a lot of sheep. ..." Lyubka didn't answer anything, just looked at him guiltily, and asked: "Melik, how is Cuban's place?" " He said nothing, went up to the box, sat down, and fell silent.Most likely he was thinking about Cuban. "I must go, though," said Kalashnikov, standing up. "Probably Filia is waiting for me. Good-bye, Liuba!" The doctor went out into the yard to have a look, for fear that Kalashnikov might ride off on his horse.Fengxue is still showing off its power.Dense layers of snow drifted across the yard, and long strips of snow caught weeds and shrubs and danced in the yard.In the wilderness outside the wall, some giants in white shrouds, with their wide sleeves opened, turned constantly.They fell and rose again, flailing their arms and fighting.What a strong wind, what a strong wind!The bare birch and cherry trees, unable to bear the rough caress of the wind, stooped deeply to the ground, and cried out, "My God, what crime have we committed that you make us guard this Land, won't you let us go?" "Hey!" Kalashnikov snapped, and mounted his horse.The gate was half open, and a tall snowdrift rose beside it. "Hey, hurry up!" Kalashnikov yelled at the horse.His small, short-legged horse began to walk, with its belly sunk in the snowdrift.Kalashnikov turned white in the snow, and soon he and his horse walked out of the gate and disappeared. When the doctor returned to the room, Lyubka was crawling on the floor picking up beads.Merrick is not there. "What a beautiful girl!" thought the doctor, lying down on the bench and putting the leather jacket under his head. "Oh, if only Merik wasn't here!" Lyubka was very excited by crawling up and down on the floor next to the bench. He thought to himself: If there is no Merik here, then he will stand up immediately and hug her. As for what will happen in the future, that will be known.Yes, she is still a girl, but she may not be a virgin, and even if she is a virgin, why should she be polite in a den of thieves?At this moment Liuboka collected all the beads and went out.After the candle was lit, the flame had already burned to the paper on the candlestick.The doctor put the pistol and matches beside him, and blew out the candle.The light from the ever-burning lamp in front of the statue flickered so badly that it hurt his eyes, and spots of light danced on the ceiling, the floor, and the pantry cabinet.In the light and shadow he seemed to see Lyubka, who was strong and full-bosomed: now she turned around like a top, and now she was exhausted by the dance and gasped for breath. "Oh, if only the devil would take Merik away!" thought he. The light of the ever-burning lamp flickered one last time, snapped, and went out. Someone, probably Merrick, came into the room and sat down on the bench.He was smoking a pipe, and the light from the pipe illuminated for a split second his dark cheeks and the moles on them.The smoke he exhaled was foul, and the healer's throat was itching. "You smoke too much, damn it!" said the doctor. "It's almost nauseating." "I mixed oat flower in the tobacco," said Merrick, after a moment's silence. "This way, your chest feels better." He smoked for a while, spit a few mouthfuls, and went out again.After half an hour, a light flickered in the front hall.Merik appeared in a fur coat and hat, and then Lyubka with a candle in his hand. "You stay, Merik!" said Lyubka in a beseeching voice. "No, Liuba. Don't keep me." "Listen to me, Merik," said Lyubka, her voice soft and lingering. "I know you'll find Mommy's money, kill her and me, go off to Cuban and fall in love with some other girl, and that's up to you. I just ask you one thing, my darling: Stay!" "No, I'm going to have fun, . . . " said Merik, pulling on his belt. "You can't have fun. . . . You know, you came here on foot, so what horse are you riding now?" Merik bent over Lyubka and whispered in her ear.She looked towards the door and laughed through her tears. "He's asleep, the big talker, . . . " she said. Merik put his arms around her, kissed her hard, and went out.The doctor put the pistol in his pocket, jumped up quickly, and ran out after him. "Get out of the way!" he said to Lyubka, who quickly barred the door in the vestibule. "Get out of the way! Why are you standing here?" "What are you doing out there?" "To see my horse." Lyubka looked him up from below with playfulness and affection. "What's there to see in a horse? Look at me, . . . " she said, and stooping, touched the little gilt key on his watch-chain with her finger. "Get out of the way, or he'll ride off on my horse!" said the doctor. "Get out of the way, devil!" he cried, angrily hitting her on the shoulder with his fist and squeezing her hard with his chest, trying to push her away from the door, but she clung to the latch like a man of iron. . "I told you, he's going to run away!" "Where? He won't run away." Panting, she rubbed her sore shoulder, looked him up again, blushed, and laughed. "You don't go, my darling, . . . " she said. "I'm bored alone." The doctor looked into her eyes, pondered for a moment, and hugged her, but she didn't resist. "Come on, stop messing around and get out of the way!" he demanded. She didn't speak. "I heard it just now," he said. "You told Merik you loved him." "Where is it... I know who I love, I know." She touched the little key again with her finger, and whispered: "Give me this..." The doctor untied the small key and handed it to her.She suddenly stretched her neck, listened carefully, and made a serious face. The doctor felt that her eyes were cold and cunning.He thought of his horse, and at this moment, pushed her off effortlessly, and ran into the yard.In the lean-to was a sleeping pig snoring evenly and lazily, a cow bumped something with its horns... The doctor lit a match and saw the pig, the cow, and some lights coming from all directions. He jumped at the dog, but the horse was gone.He waved his arms, yelled at the dogs, tripped over snowdrifts, sank in snow, and ran outside the gate, peering into the darkness.He squinted his eyes, but saw only snowflakes flying, clearly forming various shapes: now and then a pale smiling face of a dead man emerged from the darkness, and now a white horse ran past, and a woman in a tulle dress rode On the horse, sometimes a long line of white swans flew overhead. ... The doctor was angry and cold, trembling all over, not knowing what to do, took out his pistol and shot at the dogs, but missed a single one, at last he ran back to the house. As he entered the hall, he distinctly heard someone slipping out of the room and knocking on the door.The room was dark.The doctor pushed the door, but it was locked.So he struck matches one by one and ran back to the hall, from there into the kitchen, from the kitchen into a small room hung with women's dresses and skirts, smelling of cornflowers and fennel, Next to the upper stove was a bed with pillows piled up as high as a mountain. This was probably the room where the old woman, Lyubka's mother, lived.From here he went into another room, also small.In this room he saw Lyubka.She slept on a box, covered with a colorful quilt sewn from scraps of cloth, and pretended to be asleep.Above the head of her bed, a long burning lamp was burning. "Where is my horse?" asked the doctor sharply. Lyubka did not move. "Where is my horse, I ask you?" the doctor asked again, his voice becoming more severe, and he took off the quilt from her body. "I'm asking you, mother ghost!" he cried. She jumped up, knelt on the box, grabbed the shirt with one hand, pulled the quilt with the other, and shrank back against the wall. ... She looked at the doctor with disgust and fear, like a captured wild animal, her eyes slyly following his movements, not letting go of even the smallest movement. "Tell me, where is the horse, or I will kill you!" the doctor yelled. "Go away, you bastard!" she said hoarsely. The doctor grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and tore it in one fell swoop.At this time, he couldn't bear it anymore, so he hugged the girl with all his strength.But panting out of breath, she broke free from his embrace, freed one hand (the other hand was entangled in the torn shirt), made a fist, and aimed at the top of his head to hit him. His head was dizzy with pain, and his ears were buzzing and throbbing.He stepped back, and this time he was hit again, this time on the temple.He staggered, holding on to the door frame to keep from falling, then groped into the room where his things were, and lay down on the bench.He lay down for a while, took out the matchbox from his pocket, struck a match, and struck one match after another for no reason. He struck the match, blew it out, threw it under the table, then struck another one, and kept all the matches in this way. until all the matches are struck. At this time, the air outside the window turned blue, and the rooster crowed.Ergunov's head was still hurting, and there was a ringing in his ears, as if he was sitting under a railway bridge and listening to a train passing overhead.He managed to put on his fur coat and hat, but he couldn't find the saddle and the big bag he had bought. His bag was empty. No wonder when he walked in from the yard earlier, someone slipped into this room. go out. He took a poker in the kitchen to keep the dog from biting, and went outside, leaving the door open.风雪已经停了，外面静悄悄的。 ……他走出大门，白色的旷野象是死了，清晨的天空中连一只飞鸟也没有。道路两旁和远处有一片颜色发青的小树林。 医士开始思忖医师在医院里会怎样迎接他，会说些什么话。这件事一定要好好想一想，事先对各种问话准备好答复；可是他的这些想法变得模模糊糊，终于消失了。他一面走，一面专心想着柳勃卡，想着跟他一块儿度过这个夜晚的汉子们。 他想起柳勃卡打他第二下以后，怎样向地板弯下腰去拾起被子，她那根蓬松的辫子怎样垂到地板上。他脑子里乱哄哄的，他不由得暗想：为什么这个世界上有医师，有医士，有商人，有文书，有农民，而不光是有自由人呢？是啊，自由的鸟雀是有的，自由的野兽是有的，自由的美利克也是有的，他们不怕谁，也不需要谁！那么，是什么人出的主意，是什么人硬说，早晨必须起床，中午应该吃饭，晚上定要睡觉，医师的职位比医士高，人得住在房间里，只准爱自己的老婆？为什么不恰恰相反，晚上吃饭，白天睡觉呢？啊，要是能不管是谁的马，骑上就走，要是能够象魔鬼似的策马狂奔，跟风赛跑，穿过旷野、树林、峡谷，要是能爱上姑娘们，要是能嘲笑所有的人，……那有多好呀！ 医士把火钩子丢在雪地里，前额靠在一棵桦树的冰凉的白树干上，沉思不语。他那灰色而单调的生活，他那点薪水，他那卑下的职位，那个药房，那种为药膏、药罐忙碌不休的生活，依他看来，真叫人瞧不上眼，惹人厌恶。 “谁说找乐子是犯罪？”他烦恼地问自己。“哼，凡是说这种话的人，从来也没象美利克或者卡拉希尼科夫那样自由自在地生活过，也没爱过象柳勃卡那样的女人。他们一辈子讨饭，生活得毫无乐趣，只爱自己的象癞蛤蟆一般的老婆。” 他现在这样想自己：如果他至今没做贼，做骗子，或者做强盗，那也只是因为他没有那种本领，或者还没遇到适当的机会罢了。 一年半过去了。春天，复活节后，有一天，早已被医院辞退而且至今没找到工作的医士，晚间从烈彼诺村一家饭铺里走出来，沿着街道，漫无目的地慢慢走着。 他走出村子，来到旷野上。那儿弥漫着春天的气息，刮着温暖亲切的和风。安静的星夜从天空俯视大地。我的上帝啊，天空是多么深邃，它多么广阔无垠地笼罩着这个世界呀！ 这个世界创造得挺好，只是，医士暗想，为什么，有什么理由，把人们分成清醒的和酗酒的，有职业的和被辞退的，等等？为什么清醒的和吃饱的人就安安稳稳坐在自己家里，酗酒的和挨饿的人却得在旷野上徘徊，寻不到安身之处呢？为什么没有工作、领不到薪水的人就一定会挨饿，没有衣服穿，没有靴子穿呢？这是谁想出来的？为什么天上的飞禽和树林里的走兽并不工作，也不领薪水，却生活得逍遥自在呢？ 远处，有一片美丽的深红色的霞光在地平线的上方展现、颤抖。医士站住，看了很久，心里仍旧在想：为什么昨天他拿走别人一个茶炊，在酒店里换酒喝了，那就是犯罪呢？why? 大路上驶过两辆大板车，一辆车上睡着一个女人，另一辆车上坐着一个老人，没有戴帽子。……“老大爷，这是什么地方在着火？”医士问道。 “安德烈·契利科夫客栈。……”老人回答说。 于是医士想起一年半以前，在冬天，他在那家客栈碰到过的事，想起美利克怎样夸口。于是他想象老太婆和柳勃卡怎样让人割断喉咙，被火焚化，他不禁嫉妒起美利克来了。他又往那家饭铺走去，一路上瞧着那些富足的酒店老板、牲口贩子和铁匠的房子，心里思忖：要是夜间能摸进一个比较富裕的人的家里，那该多好啊！ "Notes" ①一八七八年俄土战争后俄土两国于土耳其圣斯忒法诺城缔结的和约。 ②沙米尔（１７９７—１８７１），高加索山民宗教民族主义运动的组织者，在高加索东北地区建立了一个特殊的伊斯兰教国家，对俄国作战二十五年。 ③即柳勃卡。 ④十八世纪产生于俄国的一个从东正教分离出来的教派，主张教徒都有独立解释《圣经》的权利，取消教会和祭司，反对举行仪式，提倡“自我修道”。 ⑤俄国旧长度单位，１俄丈等于２。１３４米。