| Он показывал мышат, которые под его команду стояли и ходили на задних лапах, волоча за собою длинные хвосты, смешно мигая чёрненькими бусинами бойких глаз. |
| He made friends of mice, and used to carry them about in his bosom, and feed them with sugar and kiss them. | С мышами он обращался бережно, носил их за пазухой, кормил изо рта сахаром, целовал и говорил убедительно: |
| "Mice are clever creatures," he used to say in a tone of conviction. "The house-goblin is very fond of them, and whoever feeds them will have all his wishes granted by the old hob-goblin." | - Мышь - умный житель, ласковый, её домовой очень любит! Кто мышей кормит, тому и дед-домовик мирволит... |
| He could do conjuring tricks with cards and coins too, and he used to shout louder than any of the children; in fact, there was hardly any difference between them and him. | Он умел делать фокусы с картами, деньгами, кричал больше всех детей и почти ничем не отличался от них. |
| One day when they were playing cards with him they made him "booby" several times in succession, and he was very much offended. He stuck his lips out sulkily and refused to play any more, and he complained to me afterward, his nose twitching as he spoke: | Однажды дети, играя с ним в карты, оставили его "дураком" несколько раз кряду, - он очень опечалился, обиженно надул губы и бросил игру, и потом жаловался мне, шмыгая носом: |
| "It was a put-up job! | - Знаю я, они уговорились! |
| They were signaling to one another and passing the cards about under the table. | Они перемигивались, карты совали друг другу под столом. |
| Do you call that playing the game? | Разве это игра? |
| If it comes to trickery I 'm not so bad at it myself." | Жульничать я сам умею не хуже... |
| Yet he was nineteen years old and bigger than all four of us put together. | Ему было девятнадцать лет, и был он больше всех нас четверых, взятых вместе. |
| I have special memories of him on holiday evenings, when grandfather and Uncle Michael went out to see their friends, and curly headed, untidy Uncle Jaakov appeared with his guitar while grandmother prepared tea with plenty of delicacies, and vodka in a square bottle with red flowers cleverly molded in glass on its lower part. Tsiganok shone bravely on these occasions in his holiday attire. Creeping softly and sideways came Gregory, with his colored spectacles gleaming; came Nyanya Eugenia pimply, red-faced and fat like a Toby-jug, with cunning eyes and a piping voice; came the hirsute deacon from Uspenski, and other dark slimy people bearing a resemblance to pikes and eels. |
