| Well, we kept him, and baptized him, and he still lives happily with us. | Ну, и приняли его, окрестили, вот он и живёт, хорош. |
| At first I used to call him 'Beetle,' because he really did buzz sometimes, and went creeping and buzzing through the rooms just like a beetle. | Я его вначале Жуком звала, - он, бывало, ужжал особенно, совсем жук, ползёт и ужжит на все горницы. |
| You must love him. He is a good soul." | Люби его - он простая душа! |
| I did love Ivan, and admired him inexpressibly. | Я и любил Ивана и удивлялся ему до немоты. |
| On Saturday when, after punishing the children for the transgressions of the week, grandfather went to vespers, we had an indescribably happy time in the kitchen. Tsiganok would get some cockroaches from the stove, make a harness of thread for them with great rapidity, cut out a paper sledge, and soon two pairs of black horses were prancing on the clean, smooth, yellow table. Ivan drove them at a canter, with a thin splinter of wood as a whip, and urged them on, shouting: | По субботам, когда дед, перепоров детей, нагрешивших за неделю, уходил ко всенощной, в кухне начиналась неописуемо забавная жизнь: Цыганок доставал из-за печи чёрных тараканов, быстро делал нитяную упряжь, вырезывал из бумаги сани, и по жёлтому, чисто выскобленному столу разъезжала четвёрка вороных, а Иван, направляя их бег тонкой лучиной, возбуждённо визжал: |
| "Now they have started for the Bishop's house." | - За архереем поехали! |
| Then he gummed a small piece of paper to the back of one of the cockroaches and sent him to run behind the sledge. "We forgot the bag," he explained. | Приклеивал на спину таракана маленькую бумажку, гнал его за санями и объяснял: -Мешок забыли. |
| "The monk drags it with him as he runs. Now then, gee-up!" | Монах бежит, тащит! |
| He tied the feet of another cockroach together with cotton, and as the insect hopped along, with its head thrust forward, he cried, clapping his hands: | Связывал ножки таракана ниткой; насекомое ползло, тыкаясь головой, а Ванька кричал, прихлопывая ладонями: |
| "This is the deacon coming out of the wine-shop to say vespers." | - Дьячок из кабака к вечерней идёт! |
| After this he showed us a mouse which stood up at the word of command, and walked on his hind legs, dragging his long tail behind him and blinking comically with his lively eyes, which were like black glass beads. |
