[1] A sort of white bread of a particular shape, which is very popular amongst the Russian peasantry.
When the audience had had its laugh out, and had finished joking at the captain's proposal, the serious-minded gardener Pavluguine asked—
"But, after all, captain, what's to be done? What do you advise us to do?"
"I—I advise you not to move hand or foot. If the rain destroys the street, let it. It isn't our fault."
"Some of the houses are tumbling down already."
"Leave them alone, let them fall! If they come down the town must pay damages, and if the authorities refuse, bring the matter before a magistrate. For just consider where the water comes from; doesn't it come down from the town? Well, that shows the town is to blame for the houses being destroyed."
"They will say it's rain water."
"But in the town the rain doesn't wash down the houses, does it? The town makes you pay rates and gives you no vote to help you claim your rights. The town destroys your life and your property, and yet holds you responsible for them. Pitch into the town on every side!"
And one half of the dwellers in the street, convinced by the radical Kouvalda, decided to wait till the storm-waters of the town had washed down their hovels.
The more serious half got the schoolmaster to write out an elaborate, convincing report for presentation to the town authorities. In this report, the refusal to carry out the town regulations was based on such solid reasons that the municipality was bound to take them into consideration. The dwellers in the street were granted permission to use the refuse left after the rebuilding of the barracks, and five horses from the fire brigade were lent to cart the rubbish. Besides this it was decided to lay a drain down the street.