SCENE VIII
The same and RISPOLÓZHENSKY
RISPOLÓZHENSKY. [Entering] I've come to you, my dear Agraféna Kondrátyevna. I was going to have a talk with Samsón Sílych, but he was busy, I saw, so I thought: now, I'll go to Agraféna Kondrátyevna. By the way, is that vodka, near you? I'll just take a thimbleful, Agraféna Kondrátyevna. [Drinks.
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. With my compliments, my dear sir. Please sit down, won't you? How are you getting along?
RISPOLÓZHENSKY. What a life I live! Well, I'm just loafing, Agraféna Kondrátyevna; you know yourself, my family's large, business is dull. But I don't grumble; it's a sin to grumble, Agraféna Kondrátyevna.
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. That's the last thing in the world to do, my dear sir.
RISPOLÓZHENSKY. Whoever grumbles, I think, offends against God, Agraféna
Kondrátyevna. This is the way it happened—
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. What are your front names, my dear sir? I keep forgetting.
RISPOLÓZHENSKY. Sysóy Psoich, my dear Agraféna Kondrátyevna.
USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. What does Psoich mean, my jewel? What lingo is that[1]?
[Footnote 1: The name lends itself to the interpretation, "son of a dog (pes).">[
RISPOLÓZHENSKY. I can't tell you positively: they called my father
Psoy—well, naturally, that makes me Psoich.
USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. But, Psoich, like that, Psoich! However, that's nothing; there are worse, my jewel.
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. Well, Sysóy Psoich, what was it you were going to tell us?
RISPOLÓZHENSKY. Well, it was like this, my dear Agraféna Kondrátyevna: it isn't as if it were a proverb, in a kind of fable, but a real occurrence. I'll just take a thimbleful, Agraféna Kondrátyevna. [Drinks.
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. Help yourself, my dear sir, help yourself.
RISPOLÓZHENSKY. [Sits down] There was an old man, a venerable old man—Here, I've forgotten where it was, my dear madam—only it was in some desert spot. He had twelve daughters, my dear madam; each younger than the other! He didn't have the strength to work himself; his wife, too, was very old, the children were still small; and one has to eat and drink. What they had was used up by the time they were old, and there was no one to give them food and drink. Where could they find refuge with their little children? Then he set to thinking this way, then that way.—No, my dear lady, that's where thinking won't do any good. "I'll go," he said, "to the crossroads; perhaps I can get something from charitable people." He sat all day. "God'll help you," they told him. Sits there another day "God'll help you!" Well, my dear lady, he began to murmur.
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. Holy saints!
RISPOLÓZHENSKY. "Good Lord!" he said, "I'm no extortioner, I'm no usurer—it would be better," he said, "to lay hands on myself."
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. Merciful heavens!
RISPOLÓZHENSKY. And lo! my dear madam, there came a dream to him in the night——