"He leads Petrov into The stable and sets him 700 In front of a gallon Of vodka, and tells him: 'Now, drink and start crying, ''Oh, oh, little Fathers! Oh, oh, little. Mothers! Have mercy! Have mercy!'''
"Petrov does his bidding; He howls, and the Barin, Perched up on the balcony, Listens in rapture. 710 He drinks in the sound Like the loveliest music. And who could help laughing To hear him exclaiming, 'Don't spare him, the villain! The im-pu-dent rascal! Just teach him a lesson!' Petrov yells aloud Till the vodka is finished. Of course in the end 720 He is perfectly helpless, And four peasants carry him Out of the stable. His state is so sorry That even the Barin Has pity upon him, And says to him sweetly, 'Your own fault it is, Little peasant, you know!'"
"You see what a kind heart 730 He has, the Pomyéshchick," Says Prov, and old Vlásuchka Answers him quietly, "A saying there is: 'Praise the grass--in the haystack, The lord--in his coffin.'
"Twere well if God took him. Petrov is no longer Alive. That same evening He started up, raving, 740 At midnight the pope came, And just as the day dawned He died. He was buried, A cross set above him, And God alone knows What he died of. It's certain That we never touched him, Nay, not with a finger, Much less with a stick. Yet sometimes the thought comes: Perhaps if that accident 751 Never had happened Petrov would be living. You see, friends, the peasant Was proud more than others, He carried his head high, And never had bent it, And now of a sudden-- Lie down for the Barin! Fall flat for his pleasure! 760 The thing went off well, But Petrov had not wished it. I think he was frightened To anger the commune By not giving in, And the commune is foolish, It soon will destroy you.... The ladies were ready To kiss the old peasant, They brought fifty roubles 770 For him, and some dainties. 'Twas Klímka, the scamp, The unscrupulous sinner, Who worked his undoing....
"A servant is coming To us from the Barin, They've finished their lunch. Perhaps they have sent him To summon the Elder. I'll go and look on 780 At the comedy there."
With him go the strangers, And some of the women And men follow after, For mid-day has sounded, Their rest-time it is, So they gather together To stare at the gentry, To whisper and wonder. They stand in a row At a dutiful distance 10 Away from the Prince....