MATRYONA. That girl was born a snake! (To Gavrilo.) So where did you come from? Have you gone in for bumping people! Look what a mess you are! Looks like you got a beating, but it wasn’t enough, that’s for sure.
GAVRILO. You think that’s a good thing, don’t you, beating up people! A lot to be proud of! And do you know why it is they’re always beating up people?
MATRYONA. Why is it? Tell me, why?
GAVRILO. It’s from ignorance.
MATRYONA. From ignorance? Didn’t he beat you enough? Let’s go, I’ll take you to the master again.
GAVRILO. But what is this, really now! Let me go! (He tears himself loose.) As it is, I’d like to drown myself because of you.
MATRYONA. Great! Parasha wants to drown herself too, so the two of you can do it together and get yourselves off our hands.
GAVRILO. Well, I know I’m nothing special, but why take it out on your daughter? Because of you she has no life at all. That’s even rather mean on your part.
MATRYONA. You lowdown creature! How dare you talk like that to your mistress?
GAVRILO. You know, it’s that ignorance in you that’s making you so stormy.
MATRYONA. Shut up! I’m going to take away all your rights right now.
GAVRILO. What rights? I don’t have any. And why should I shut up? I’ll shout all over town that you’re a tyrant with your stepdaughter. Put that in your pipe and smoke it! (He leaves.)
Narkis enters.
MATRYONA. Is that you, Narkis?
NARKIS (churlishly). No, it’s not me.
MATRYONA. How can you be so rude to me! The mistress desires to have a tender talk with you, she now has such a desire…
NARKIS. Is that so! Anything else?
MATRYONA. You’re nothing but an ill-bred peasant.
NARKIS. So I’m a peasant. I don’t make myself out to be a gentleman. Just because you took me when I was a coachman and made me into a merchant’s assistant and steward, you think just like that I’m one of your gentlemen, how do you like that! But you get me that piece of paper that makes me a nobleman by birth, and then you can ask me for politeness.
MATRYONA. Why do you think in such an impossible way!
NARKIS. Maybe impossible, but that’s how I am. I was ignorant, awkward, coarse, and that’s how I’ve stayed. And it doesn’t bother me at all because that’s the way I like it.
MATRYONA. Why are you so cold with me today?
NARKIS. So I’m cold, that means I’m cold.
MATRYONA. But why?
NARKIS. No special reason. I’ve heard a lot about pirates.
MATRYONA. What pirates?
NARKIS. They’ve shown up in our parts… about a hundred and fifty of them. They go about in gangs through the woods and on the water in boats.
MATRYONA. But somebody’s lying, they must be!
NARKIS. Who knows, maybe they’re lying.
MATRYONA. So what about it? Are you afraid, perhaps?
NARKIS. Now what have you thought up! A lot I need to be afraid!
MATRYONA. What did you come for? Is there something you want?
NARKIS. At the moment I’m in very great need of…
MATRYONA. Of what?
NARKIS. Money.
MATRYONA. What money, what are you talking about!
NARKIS. The ordinary kind, what the government puts out. What did you think, play money? I’m not a child; I don’t want to play with it. Give me a thousand rubles.
MATRYONA. You’re out of your mind! It was just a little while ago…
NARKIS. Exactly, it was just a little while ago. Only if I’m stating a need, then that means I have a need. Because, since I want to be a merchant quickly, without fail, that means I must have a thousand rubles.
MATRYONA. You’re a barbarian, a barbarian!
NARKIS. Exactly so, I’m a barbarian, you’re right there. I don’t take any pity on you.
MATRYONA. You’re robbing me, you know.
NARKIS. And why shouldn’t I rob you if I can? Why should I be such a fool to say no to my good luck?
MATRYONA. You’re so greedy. Don’t you have a lot already?
NARKIS. A lot or not a lot, but if I have this certain desire, then you should hand it over, no point in talking about it. Some joke that would be if I didn’t take the money from you.
MATRYONA. Oh you…Merciful God!… what am I going to do with you!
NARKIS. We’ve had enough of this, it can’t be helped! You should have thought about all that before…
MATRYONA. But where can I get you money?
NARKIS. That’s not my problem.
MATRYONA. But do some thinking yourself, you blockhead, think!
NARKIS. A lot I need to do that! What’s that to do with me! I’m to beat my brains out for you, how do you like that! Let the turkeys think. I’ve lived all my life without thinking; whatever comes into my head at the moment, that’s it.
MATRYONA. You damn bloodsucker! (She wants to leave.)
NARKIS. Wait, don’t go. I don’t want any money. I was just joking.
MATRYONA. That’s better.
NARKIS. What I really want is to get married to your stepdaughter, Parasha.
MATRYONA. After that aren’t you really a filthy cur?
NARKIS. And along with it money, the dowry, the whole works.
MATRYONA. Ooh! Damn you! Your covetous eyes should be put out.
NARKIS. So do me a big favor and make the wedding soon. Otherwise I’ll make a mess you’ll never straighten out. Whatever my heart desires let it have! And please, don’t keep me waiting. So there you have it, short and sweet! I’m not in the mood to talk with you any more. (He leaves.)
MATRYONA. He’s bedeviled me, how he’s bedeviled me! I’ve put a noose on my own neck. He’s drained my soul right out of my body. My feet can’t move. As if lightning struck me! If this girl could only be smashed down by a log somewhere I think I could make a vow to go on a pilgrimage all the way to Kiev.
Parasha comes out.
And where do you think you’re running off to?
PARASHA. Go quick. Father’s calling you.
MATRYONA. You go first, I’ll follow you.
PARASHA. I’m no drummer boy, to march in front of you. (She comes down from the porch.)
MATRYONA. What are you aiming to do? You’re not going to get your way; I won’t let you hang around the yard at night.
PARASHA. Then in that case I’ll go out on the street, since you’ve started the conversation. Even if there’s no reason for it, I’ll go out there. Go into the house, he’s calling you, you’ve been told.
MATRYONA. Even if I’m torn in two, I’ll have my way.
PARASHA. You’ve tormented me, tormented me to pieces. What do you want from me? (She steps right up in front of her.)
MATRYONA. What do you mean, what do I want? My first duty is to keep an eye on you!
PARASHA. Keep an eye on yourself.
MATRYONA. You can’t lay down the law to me.
PARASHA. Nor can you lay down the law to me.
MATRYONA. I have to answer to your father for you, you trash…
PARASHA. There’s no need for you to imagine what can’t be. You don’t have to answer for anything, you know that yourself, you’re just worked up by hate. Why should it bother you if I take a walk in the yard? After all, I’m not married yet! That’s the only fun we girls have, taking a stroll in the summer evening, breathing the open air. Can’t you understand, out in the open, my own boss, doing what I please.
MATRYONA. I know why you’ve come out. It wasn’t for nothing that Narkis was talking.
PARASHA. You should be ashamed to bring up Narkis.
MATRYONA. No, there’s no…
Voice of Kuroslepov: “Matryona!”
Oh why don’t you drop dead! You’ve worn me out! You’re driving me into my grave!
PARASHA. Why are you tyrannizing over me? Even a wild beast in the woods has some feeling. Do you think we girls have an awful lot of freedom
? Do I have much time that’s my own? The truth is I’m always somebody else’s, always owned by somebody else. When I’m young I’m supposed to work for my father and mother, then to get married and be my husband’s slave, his absolute slave. So you want me to give you this little bit of freedom that’s so precious, so short? You can take everything from me, everything, but I won’t give you my freedom… I’ll fight for that to the death!
MATRYONA. Oh, she’s going to kill me! She’ll kill me!
Kuroslepov comes out onto the porch. Silan comes in through the gate.
KUROSLEPOV. Matryona! Why must I keep calling you!
MATRYONA. Calm your daughter, calm her down! She wants to kill me.
PARASHA. You don’t have to calm me down, I’m calm enough.
MATRYONA. What a family I’ve fallen in with, it’s like hard labor. I’d have done better to stay an old maid with my father.
KUROSLEPOV. Now she remembers!
MATRYONA. They loved me there, they indulged me, even now they’re all concerned about me.
SILAN. Shout louder. Almost the whole town is at the gate; maybe they think it’s a fire.
KUROSLEPOV. Take a broom to her!
MATRYONA (to Silan). God help you if you do! What I wouldn’t do to you… (To Kuroslepov.) You’re the one who spoiled your daughter, you! You people have one thing on your mind, you want to ruin me. Order your daughter to give in. I won’t move from the spot.
KUROSLEPOV. Praskovya, give in.
PARASHA. But what am I supposed to give in to? I come out for a walk in the yard, and she gets after me. What does she think I am? Why does she disrespect me? I have more honor than she does! It’s an insult to me, a bitter insult!
MATRYONA. Answer her, you hairy clown…
KUROSLEPOV. Silanty, I told you to take a broom to her!
MATRYONA. I’ll take a broom to you! Tell me, sleepy peepers, is it my job to watch out for her or not?
PARASHA. There’s no need to watch out for somebody who can watch out for herself! Don’t say words like that to me!
KUROSLEPOV. All right, that’s enough! Anyone would think we’re at the bazaar! I told you to give in.
PARASHA. You too say, “Give in”? All right then, if that’s what you want, I’ll give in. (To Matryona.) Only here’s what I’m going to tell you in my father’s presence… it’s for the last time, so remember what I said! From now on I’m going to go whenever and wherever I want. And if you try and stop me, I’ll show you what it means to take freedom from a single girl. Daddy, you listen! I don’t get much chance to talk with you, so I’ll tell you right now. You people insulted me, a single girl. My conscience tells me not to quarrel with you, but I don’t have enough will power to keep quiet. After this I’ll keep quiet a whole year if need be, but this is what I’m going to tell you. Don’t try to take away my precious freedom, don’t dishonor my reputation, don’t set a guard over me! If I want what’s good for me, then I’ll guard myself, but if you try and watch over me…it’s not your place to watch over me! (She leaves.)
Kuroslepov, head lowered, follows after her. Matryona, following him, grumbles and curses to herself.
SILAN (strikes the watchman’s metal plate). Keep watch!
ACT TWO
Decor of Act One. After nine o’clock. Towards the end of the act it is dark on the stage. Gradoboev, Silan, Sidorenko, and Zhigunov enter through the gate.
GRADOBOEV. Tell me, old fool, are the master and mistress still asleep?
SILAN. They must not be; they want supper.
GRADOBOEV. Why so late?
SILAN. They’ve been quarreling all the time. They cussed each other out for a long time, that’s why they’re late.
GRADOBOEV. And how is the case coming along?
SILAN. How should I know! Speak with the master.
GRADOBOEV. Sidorenko, Zhigunov, wait for me at the gate.
SIDORENKO and ZHIGUNOV. Yes, sir, Your Honor.
Gradoboev goes off into the house through the porch.
SIDORENKO (to Silan, giving him a snuff box). Have some snuff; it’s scented with birch.
SILAN. With some ashes?
SIDORENKO. A little.
SILAN. And crushed glass?
SIDORENKO. I put in some, in proportion.
SILAN. But why should I take snuff, why take it, my friend? I’ve gotten old; nothing affects me, it doesn’t get to me. Now if you could just put in more glass to give it some strength… shake a man up, that would be something! No, to get my spirits high it’s got to reach my brain.
They go off through the gate. Parasha comes down from the porch.
PARASHA. It’s quiet… nobody… And how my heart is yearning. Vasya’s probably not around. There’s nobody I can while away an hour with, nobody to warm my heart! (She sits down under the tree.) I’ll sit down and think about how some live free, happy. And are there many of those happy ones? Even if there’s not happiness, but just to live like human beings… There’s a star falling. Where to? And where’s my star, what’s going to happen to it? Must I keep on putting up with things? Where does a person get the strength to put up with it all! (She becomes pensive and then starts to sing.)
O thou freedom, mine so dear,
Freedom dear, a maiden girl—
The maid through market strolled.6
Vasya and Gavrilo enter.
GAVRILO. Did you come out for a walk?
PARASHA. For a walk, Gavryusha. It’s stifling in the house.
GAVRILO. Right now’s the best time to take a walk, Miss, and for talking with girls this is the most pleasant time for the heart. That’s the way it is, Miss. It’s like some kind of daydream or a dream of magic. From what I observe, Miss, you, Praskovya Pavlinovna, don’t care to love me?
PARASHA. Listen, Gavryusha, you know a person can get fed up with all this! How many times have you asked me! You know I love somebody else, so why?
GAVRILO. That’s so, Miss. I suppose even in the future I shouldn’t have any hopes.
PARASHA. What’s going to be in the future, my dear, only God knows. Is my heart really free? It’s just that while I love Vasya there’s no point in making a nuisance of yourself. You’d do better to keep an eye out that nobody comes. I want to have a talk with him…
GAVRILO. That’s something I can easily do, Miss. Because from my feeling heart, if only in this little thing, I want to be pleasant to you. (He goes off.)
PARASHA. That’s a good man! (To Vasya.) Vasya, when?
VASYA. Daddy’s business is in rack and ruin.
PARASHA. I know. But after all, you’re alive. We can live, that’s all we need.
VASYA. That’s true enough…
PARASHA. So what about it then? You know in our town there’s an old custom of carrying off brides.7 Of course, it’s mostly done with the parents’ consent, but a lot get carried off even without any consent. People have gotten used to it; there won’t be any talk. There’s only one thing bad, my father probably won’t give us any money.
VASYA. Well, there you are!
PARASHA. But what’s so important about that, my dear! You have hands; I have hands.
VASYA. I’d better get up my courage and come some time to bow down to your father.
PARASHA. Vasya, darling, I don’t have much patience.
VASYA. But how would it be, really. Judge for yourself.
PARASHA. You’re free to go about, but just think, darling, of the things I have to put up with. I’m telling you right out, I don’t have the patience, I don’t have it!
VASYA. Just a little more, Parasha. Put up with it a little more for me.
PARASHA. Vasya, what I said wasn’t any joke, understand that! You can see, I’m trembling all over. When I say I lack patience, that means I won’t have it much longer.
VASYA. Enough now! What are you trying to do, scare me!
PARASHA. A lot you’re scared! You’ve gotten scared at my words, but if you could only look into my soul and see what’s there! It’s black the
re, Vasya, black. Do you know what goes on in a person’s soul when patience is at an end? (Almost in a whisper.) Do you know what that is, my boy, the end, the end to one’s patience?
VASYA. But my God!… What can I do! Don’t you think I’m sorry?
PARASHA (squeezes up to him). Then hold me, hold me tight, don’t let me go. The end to patience is either the water or the noose.
VASYA. There there now. As soon as our business affairs get a bit better then I’ll go straight to your father. And if that doesn’t work out we’ll go ahead without his consent.
PARASHA. But when, when? Say the day! I’ll stop living till that day. I’ll make my heart die; I’ll squeeze it with both hands.
VASYA. All that’s as God wills. We have some receipts, some old debts, to collect; we have to go to Moscow…
PARASHA. But didn’t you hear what I said? Do you think I’m fooling myself, just thinking up things? (She cries.)
VASYA. Come now, really! What’s the matter with you!
PARASHA. Didn’t you hear me at all? Was it just for nothing that I tore my heart from my breast for you? It hurts me so, it hurts! I’m not just babbling nonsense! What kind of man are you anyway? A good-for-nothing, are you? A word and an act, with me they’re the same thing. You’re leading me on, leading me on, but for me it’s a matter of life and death. For me it’s unbearable torture, I can’t stand it another hour, and you come at me with, “When God wills, and we have to go to Moscow to collect debts!” Either you don’t believe me or you were born such no-good trash that you’re not worth looking at, let alone loving.
VASYA. But what’s gotten into you? All of a sudden…
PARASHA. Oh God, why this punishment! What a boy, what a crybaby I’m stuck with! You talk as if you’re being put upon. You look at me as if you’re stealing something. Or is it possible you don’t love me, that you’re deceiving me? It makes me sick to look at you, it only makes me lose heart. (She wants to go.)
VASYA. Wait, Parasha, wait!
PARASHA (stops). So then! You’ve finally decided something. Thank God! It’s about time!
VASYA. But why are you going off angry like this? Is that the way to say good-bye? Really now! (He embraces her.)
PARASHA. All right, say something. Oh my darling boy!
Without a Dowry and Other Plays Page 12