Vasíly Leoníditch. Has it been sold them?
Theodore Ivánitch. No, they have not yet come to any agreement. They are too stingy?
Vasíly Leoníditch. Eh? Well, we must try and persuade them. (To the PEASANTS.) Here, I say, are you buying land? Eh?
First Peasant. That's just it. We have made an offering as how we should like to acquire the possession of the land.
Vasíly Leoníditch. Then you should not be so stingy, you know. Just let me tell you how necessary land is to peasants! Eh, what? It's very necessary, isn't it?
First Peasant. That's just it. The land appears as the very first and foremost necessity to a peasant. That's just it.
Vasíly Leoníditch. Then why be so stingy? Just you think what land is! Why, one can sow wheat on it in rows! I tell you, you could get eighty bushels of wheat, at a rouble and a half a bushel—that would be 120 roubles. Eh, what? Or else mint! I tell you, you could collar 400 roubles off an acre by sowing mint!
First Peasant. That's just it. All sorts of products one could put into action if one had the right understanding.
Vasíly Leoníditch. Mint! Decidedly mint! I have learnt about it, you know. It's all printed in books. I can show them you. Eh, what?
First Peasant. That's just it, all concerns are clearer to you through your books. That's learnedness, of course.