Chapter 31 Chapter 31 Sparrow Hill ①

①Sparrow Hill: The mountainous area on the right bank of the Moskva River in Moscow, about 60 to 70 meters above the river surface.Since 1935 it has been renamed Mount Lenin. The thunderstorm had disappeared without a trace, and a rainbow of seven colors stretched across Moscow like an arched bridge.One end of it falls into the Moskva River, as if sucking water from the river.High up, on the hill, two dark figures could be seen between two clumps of trees. They were Wallander, Karloviev, and Hippo.They rode on three black horses, well-saddled, and looked across the river at the city and the broken sun shining on the thousands of west-facing windows, and at the beautiful little towers of the convent.

① Refers to the Moscow convent, famous for imprisoning Sophia after Peter the Great overthrew his sister Sophia. There was a whistling sound in the air, and Azazeller came at a gallop, closely followed by the master and Margarita in his black cloak.The three landed together beside those who were waiting for them. After a brief silence, Wallander spoke: "I have to bother you both, Margarita Nikolaevna and Master! But don't be angry with me. I don't think I will make you both regret it. Well, then, He only said to the master, "Go and bid farewell to this city. The time has come, we should leave here." Wallander said, raising the hand with the black bell glove, pointing to across the river.Countless fiery suns on the opposite bank are burning the windowpanes, and above these suns there is a layer of clouds, black smoke and water vapor--these are emitted by the scorched city during the day.

The master got off his horse, left several knights, dragged his black cloak on the ground and ran towards the cliff of the mountain wind.The master stared at the city in front of him, and for a moment, a kind of worry and melancholy crept into his heart, but this feeling was soon replaced by a sweet feeling of bewilderment, and then turned into facing the wandering world again. , The excitement of living in no fixed place. "This is a farewell! You must clearly understand this." The master whispered to himself, licking his chapped lips.He began to listen to his heart quietly, and he wanted to remember exactly what happened in his heart at this moment.He felt that the agitation in his heart gradually turned into a deep and very strong sense of grievance.But the feeling didn't last long, it disappeared, and for some reason a sense of aloofness re-emerged, which was finally replaced by a premonition of eternal peace.

Several riders waited silently for the master.They saw, on the edge of the cliff, a tall black figure made various postures, sometimes with its head held high, as if wishing to see the whole city and its surroundings at a glance, and sometimes bowed its head in meditation, as if to exhaust the ground under its feet. The mystery of the trampled grass. Still unwilling to be lonely, Hippo broke the silence.He appealed to Woland: "Master, please allow me to whistle my farewell before the flight." "You'll startle the lady," Wallander replied. "Besides, don't forget that all your nonsense for the day is over."

"Oh, no, no, my lord, promise him," said Marguerite hastily.She sat on the saddle now, with her hands on her hips, and the back of her long black cloak trailed to the ground, like an Amazon, "Just let him blow. I feel a little sentimental before I go on a long journey. My lord , that's natural too. Even when a man knows that the end of his journey will be happy, doesn't he? So, you allow him to make everyone happy, or I'm afraid I'll end up crying, That would ruin a great itinerary!" ① Or translated as "Amazon woman", a tribe of warriors and warriors in ancient Greek mythology formed the kingdom of women.The myth about the Amazons was widely spread in the Middle Ages. Someone once searched for this woman country in America, so the Amazon River was named.

Wallander nodded to the hippo.The hippopotamus immediately cheered up, jumped off the horse, put two fingers into its mouth, puffed up its cheeks and blew hard.Margarita only felt a rumbling sound in her ears, and the sitting horse suddenly raised its front hooves, and there was the sound of dry branches falling to the ground in the woods, a large group of crows and sparrows flew up, and a tall dust column Spin to the river.From a distance, I saw the hats of several passengers being blown into the river on the ferry near the pier in the Moscow River.The master trembled a little at the whistle, but instead of turning his head, he made gestures of all sorts with greater unease—he raised one hand in the air, as if threatening the city.Hippo looked back rather conceitedly.

"Blow it, it's true," Karloviev commented, seemingly magnanimously, "it did blow it, but, to be fair, it's a very common thing!" "Originally, I've never been a choir conductor." Hippo replied with a sullen face, while suddenly winking at Margaret. "Let me try as I did in my early years!" Karloviev said, rubbing his hands and blowing on his fingers. "But take care, take care," said Woland on his horse, gravely, "and don't make a fuss to the point of injury!" "My lord, please don't worry," Karloviev replied, covering his heart with one hand, "I'm kidding, just kidding..." As he spoke, he straightened up and immediately grew a lot taller. , as if his whole body was made of rubber.Then he cleverly hooked the fingers of his right hand into a flower shape, twisted his body to one side twice like a screw, and then suddenly turned back in the opposite direction, and at the same time let out a hum whistle.

Margaret did not hear, but saw the whistle, for it blew her, with her fiery horse, a good ten yards away.A large elephant tree next to her was blown uprooted, and the ground opened many large cracks, extending to the river. A large piece of land on the river bank, together with the dock facilities and restaurants on the ground, were all moved into the river.The river rolled like boiling soup, setting off high waves, and the entire ferry was thrown to the green low-lying land on the other side of the river, but all the passengers on board were safe and sound.A crow, blown to death by the whistle of the bassoon, landed in front of Marguerite's snorting horse.The whistling alarmed the master, who put his head in his hands and hurried back to his companions who were waiting for him.

"Here, how's it going?" Woland asked the master immediately, "Have all the accounts been cleared? Have you bid farewell?" "Yes, we all said goodbye," the master replied.He collected himself, and looked boldly straight in Wallander's face. At this time, Woland's terrible voice resounded through the mountains and fields, like the loud sound of a great bell. "It's time!!" Then there was a piercing whoosh from the hippopotamus and a loud laugh from him. Several steeds rushed forward together, and in an instant, the knights soared into the sky and galloped away.Margaret felt only the biting and tearing of her fierce horse.Wallander's huge cloak was blown up by the wind and fluttered over the heads of all the knights. It had gradually completely covered the dusk sky.Taking advantage of the moment when the corner of the black veil was slightly blown aside, Margaret looked back in the Mercedes-Benz, and she saw that not only were there no colorful towers in the city and the planes circling on the towers behind her, , and the city itself was gone, it had sunk into the ground and all that was left was a cloud of smoke.