XI
Yes, that is the adventure that befell the miller. Such a strange adventure it was that to this day no one has decided whether it really happened or not. If you say it was all a falsehood, I can answer that the miller was not a man to tell lies. Then, Gavrilo the workman is still living at the mill, and though he confesses himself that he was thoroughly drunk that night, he remembers clearly that the miller opened the door for him, and that his master’s face was whiter than flour. And Yankel came back at dawn, and Opanas reached home drunk and without his boots, so it seems as if the miller could not really have dreamt it after all.
But then, again, take this: how could it be true, when the whole affair would have taken a year to happen and yet the miller ran barefoot into Galya’s cottage the very next morning? A great many people actually saw him, and wondered why the miller was tearing barefoot across the fields to visit the girl.
The best plan, I think, is not to look too closely into the story. Whether it happened or whether it didn’t, I’ll give you a piece of advice. If you know a miller, or any man who keeps two taverns and who abuses the Jews and yet fleeces the people like sheep, tell your friend this story. I recommend it to you; the plan has been tried. Whether he gives up his business or not, he will at least bring you a mugful of vodka that, for once, won’t be diluted with water.
There are people, of course, and this too has been found to be true, who will growl at you like dogs as soon as you tell them the story. People like them I answer with these words: Grumble and growl as much as you like, but I give you fair warning: take care the same thing doesn’t happen to you!
And I say this because, you see, the people of Novokamensk have more than once seen that very same devil again. Ever since he has had a taste of the miller, he doesn’t want to go home without some dainty morsel. So he flies about, peering in every direction like a lost bird.
Therefore, take care, good people, that something evil doesn’t befall you.
And now, good-bye! If I haven’t told the story to suit your taste, don’t think ill of me, I’m only a plain man.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Mahorka: a very cheap smoking mixture made from the stems of tobacco.
[B] Taiga: the Siberian forest.
[C] Toyon: Chief.
[D] The Polyesie (The Woods), a district in southwestern or Little Russia.
[E] Bandura, an ancient oriental musical instrument of the lute family.
[F] The Little Russians shave their heads bare, leaving only a long tuft of hair in the middle.
[G] Gorelka: corn-whiskey.
[H] An interwoven mass of the stems of herbaceous plants often met with on the steppes of Russia.
[I] Ten days after the Jewish New Year, which is celebrated in the early Autumn, comes Yom Kippur, or the day of Purification, called by the peasants of Little Russia the “Day of Atonement.” A superstition exists among them that on this day the Jewish Devil Khapun (the Snatcher) carries off one Jew each year out of the Synagogue. This superstition probably had its origin in the extremely impressive ceremonies which the Jews carry out at this season with extraordinary zeal under the eyes of the Christian village population.
[J] Kvass: a foamy, fermented drink, made of brown flour and hops.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.