Пиковая дама / The Queen of Spades. Александр Пушкин

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Пиковая дама / The Queen of Spades - Александр Пушкин


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it done me to have been a sergeant in the Guard from my cradle? Where has it brought me? To the ::th Regiment, and to a fort stranded on the frontier of the Kirghiz-Kaïsak Steppes!”

      I dined at Andréj Karlovitch’s, in the company of his old aide de camp. Strict German economy was the rule at his table, and I think that the dread of a frequent guest at his bachelor’s table contributed not a little to my being so promptly sent away to a distant garrison.

      The next day I took leave of the General, and started for my destination.

      Chapter III. The Little Poet

      The little fort of Bélogorsk lay about forty versts[28] from Orenburg. From this town the road followed along by the rugged banks of the R. Yaïk. The river was not yet frozen, and its lead-coloured waves looked almost black contrasted with its banks white with snow. Before me stretched the Kirghiz Steppes. I was lost in thought, and my reverie was tinged with melancholy. Garrison life did not offer me much attraction. I tried to imagine what my future chief, Commandant Mironoff, would be like. I saw in my mind’s eye a strict, morose old man, with no ideas beyond the service, and prepared to put me under arrest for the smallest trifle.

      Twilight was coming on; we were driving rather quickly.

      “Is it far from here to the fort?” I asked the driver.

      “Why, you can see it from here,” replied he.

      I began looking all round, expecting to see high bastions, a wall, and a ditch. I saw nothing but a little village, surrounded by a wooden palisade. On one side three or four haystacks, half covered with snow; on another a tumble-down windmill, whose sails, made of coarse limetree bark, hung idly down.

      “But where is the fort?” I asked, in surprise.

      “There it is yonder, to be sure,” rejoined the driver, pointing out to me the village which we had just reached.

      I noticed near the gateway an old iron cannon. The streets were narrow and crooked, nearly all the izbás[29] were thatched. I ordered him to take me to the Commandant, and almost directly my kibitka stopped before a wooden house, built on a knoll near the church, which was also in wood.

      No one came to meet me. From the steps I entered the ante-room. An old pensioner, seated on a table, was busy sewing a blue patch on the elbow of a green uniform. I begged him to announce me.

      “Come in, my little father,” he said to me; “we are all at home.”

      I went into a room, very clean, but furnished in a very homely manner. In one corner there stood a dresser with crockery on it. Against the wall hung, framed and glazed, an officer’s commission. Around this were arranged some bark pictures[30], representing the “Taking of Kustrin” and of “Otchakóf”[31], “The Choice of the Betrothed,” and the “Burial of the Cat by the Mice.” Near the window sat an old woman wrapped in a shawl, her head tied up in a handkerchief. She was busy winding thread, which a little, old, one-eyed man in an officer’s uniform was holding on his outstretched hands.

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      Примечания

      1

      Celebrated general under Petr’ the Great, and the Tzarina Anna Iwanofna; banished by her successor, the Tzarina Elizabeth Petrofna.

      2

      Savéliitch, son of Savéli.

      3

      Means pedagogue. Foreign teachers have adopted it to signify their profession.

      4

      One who has not yet attained full age. Young gentlemen who have not yet served are so called.

      5

      Dvorovuiye lyudi, that is to say, courtyard people, or serfs, who inhabit the quarters.

      6

      Eudosia, daughter of Basil.

      7

      Diminutive of Petr, Peter.

      8

      Anastasia, daughter of Garassim.

      9

      Orenburg, capital of the district of Orenburg, which – the most easterly one of European Russia – extends into Asia.

      10

      Touloup, short pelisse, not reaching to the knee.

      11

      John, son of John.

      12

      One kopek = small bit of copper money.

Примечания

1

Celebrated general under Petr’ the Great, and the Tzarina Anna Iwanofna; banished by her successor, the Tzarina Elizabeth Petrofna.

2

Savéliitch, son of Savéli.

3

Means pedagogue. Foreign teachers have adopted it to signify their profession.

4

One who has not yet attained full age. Young gentlemen who have not yet served are so called.

5

Dvorovuiye lyudi, that is to say, courtyard people, or serfs, who inhabit the quarters.

6

Eudosia, daughter of Basil.

7

Diminutive of Petr, Peter.

8

Anastasia, daughter of Garassim.

9

Orenburg, capital of the district of Orenburg, which – the most easterly one of European Russia – extends into Asia.

10

Touloup, short pelisse, not reaching to the knee.

11

John, son of John.

12

One kopek = small bit of copper money.

13

The rouble was then worth, as is now the silver rouble, about 3s. 4d. English money.

14

Kvass,” kind of cider; common drink in Russia.

15

Whirlwind of snow.

16

Curtain made of the inner bark of the limetree which covers the hood of a kibitka.

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<p>28</p>

One verstá or verst (pronounced viorst) equal to 1165 yards English.

<p>29</p>

Peasant cottages.

<p>30</p>

Loubotchnyia, i.e., coarse illuminated engravings.

<p>31</p>

Taken by Count Münich.