Whispers of the Volga. Seven Translated Russian Fables, Tales, and Stories in English
Text1.LITTLE GIRL AND MUSHROOMS
Two girls were walking home and carrying mushrooms from the forest. They had to cross the railway tracks. They thought the train was still far away, so they crossed the tracks. Suddenly the train came into view. The older girl ran back, and the younger girl dropped the mushrooms and started to pick them up. The train was very close. The older girl shouted: “Drop the mushrooms! Run!
But the little girl did not hear and continued to collect them. The driver, unable to stop the train, ran over the little girl.
The older girl screamed and cried. Passengers were watching from the windows of the wagons. When the train passed, everyone saw that the girl was lying face down between the rails and did not move.
After a while, the girl raised her head, jumped to her feet, picked mushrooms and ran to her sister.
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2.A PEASANT AND WATER’S GOD
A peasant dropped his ax into the river. He sat down on the bank and began to cry.
The waterman heard, took pity on the peasant, got him a golden ax
a golden ax from the river and asked: “Is this your ax?”
The peasant answers: “No, it’s not mine.”
The waterman brought another, silver ax. The peasant
again said: “This is not my ax.”
Then the waterman brought an iron axe. The peasant rejoiced and said: “This is my ax.”
The waterman gave the peasant all three axes because he was telling the truth.
At home, the peasant showed his comrades the axes and told them what had happened to him. Then another peasant also wanted the golden ax. He went to the river, deliberately threw his ax into the water, sat on the bank and cried.
The waterman brought back the golden ax and asked: “Is this your ax?” The peasant rejoiced and shouted: “Mine, mine!”
He thought that the waterman would give him this ax. But the waterman did not give him the golden ax” and did not give back his own ax, because the peasant had not told the truth.
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3.POOR PEOPLE
Jeanne, the fisherman’s wife, sits by the fire in the fish hut, mending an old sail. It is dark and cold outside and the wind is howling. There is a storm on the sea. But the hut is warm and cozy. The earthen floor is cleanly swept, the fire is burning in the cooker. Five children sleep on the bed.
Her husband has been out to sea in his boat since morning and hasn’t come back yet. Jeanne hears the waves crashing and the wind whistling. She’s scared.
The old wooden clock hits ten, then eleven, and still her husband has not arrived. Her husband does not spare himself, in the cold and in the storm, he catches fish.
She works from morning till night.” But food is not plentiful. The children have no shoes, and in summer and winter they run around barefoot. But Zhanna does not complain. “Thank God, the children are healthy,” she thinks. Then she thinks of her husband again: “Where is he right now?” “God save him!” – she says. It is still early to go to bed. Jeanne gets up, puts a warm shawl over her head, lights a lantern and goes outside to see if the sea is calmer, if the lamp on the lighthouse is lit, and if her husband’s boat can be seen.