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| Grandmother was silent a minute, shaking her head, before she burst out again: | Бабушка, качая головою, молчит минуту и вдруг снова точно вспыхнет вся. |
| "And I saw some fiends too, one wintry night, when it was snowing. | - А то, проклятых, видела я; это тоже ночью, зимой, вьюга была. |
| I was coming across the Dinkov Causeway the place where, if you remember, your Uncle Michael and your Uncle Jaakov tried to drown your father in an ice-hole and I was just going to take the lower path, when there came the sounds of hissing and hooting, and I looked up and saw a team of three raven-black horses tearing towards me. On the coachman's place stood a great fat devil, in a red nightcap, with protruding teeth. He was holding the reins, made of forged iron chains, with outstretched arms, and as there was no way round, the horses flew right over the pond, and were hidden by a cloud of snow. | Иду я через Дюков овраг, где, помнишь, сказывала, отца-то твоего Яков да Михайло в проруби в пруде хотели утопить? Ну, вот, иду; только скувырнулась по тропе вниз, на дно, ка-ак засвистит, загикает по оврагу! Гляжу, а на меня тройка вороных мчится, и дородный такой чёрт в красном колпаке колом торчит, правит ими, на облучок встал, руки вытянул, держит вожжи из кованых цепей. А по оврагу езды не было, и летит тройка прямо в пруд, снежным облаком прикрыта. |
| All those sitting in the sledge behind were devils too; there they sat, hissing and screaming and waving their nightcaps. In all, seven troikas like this tore by, as if they had been fire-engines, all with black horses, and all carrying a load of thoroughbred devils. They pay visits to each other, you know, and drive about in the night to their different festivities. | И сидят в санях тоже всё черти; свистят, кричат, колпаками машут, - да эдак-то семь троек проскакало, как пожарные, и все кони вороной масти, и все они - люди, проклятые отцами-матерьми; такие люди чертям на потеху идут, а те на них ездят, гоняют их по ночам в свои праздники разные. |
| I expect that was a devil's wedding that I saw." | Это я, должно, свадьбу бесовскую видела... |
| One had to believe grandmother, because she spoke so simply and convincingly. | Не верить бабушке нельзя - она говорит так просто, убедительно. |
| But the best of all her stories was the one which told how Our Lady went about the suffering earth, and how she commanded the woman-brigand, or the "Amazon-chief" Engalichev, not to kill or rob Russian people. And after that came the stories about Blessed Alexei; about Ivan the Warrior, and Vassili the Wise; of the Priest Kozlya, and the beloved child of God; and the terrible stories of Martha Posadnitz, of Baba Ustye the robber chief, of Mary the sinner of Egypt, and of sorrowing mothers of robber sons. The fairy-tales, and stories of old times, and the poems which she knew were without number. |
