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'Perhaps' says he, 'the Enemy, the Destroyer of Souls, will spare the birds, at least. So they were all in such a scare! But he that was coming was our cooper Vavila; he had bought himself a new pitcher, and had put the empty pitcher over his head. All the boys laughed; and again there was a silence for a while, as often happens when people are talking in the open air.
And he sighed and shook his head as he said it. Vavila threw something on the fire, stamped on it and at once it was very dark; the vision vanished, and as before there were only the fields, the sky with the stars, and the noise of the birds hindering each other from sleep. And the landrail called, it seemed, in the very place where the fire had been.
"Get in, we will give you a lift as far as Kuzmenki, then you go straight on and we turn off to the left." Vavila got into the cart with the barrel and the old man and Lipa got into the other. They moved at a walking pace, Vavila in front. "My baby was in torment all day," said Lipa. "He looked at me with his little eyes and said nothing; he wanted to speak and could not.
"Your yoke's nowhere," said the young man; "it is not to be seen." "You are a regular Vavila." The old man picked up an ember, blew on it only his eyes and nose were lighted up then, when they had found the yoke, he went with the light to Lipa and looked at her, and his look expressed compassion and tenderness. "You are a mother," he said; "every mother grieves for her child."
Vavila!" the old man called to him. "Yes!" "Vavila, when anyone dies how long does his soul walk the earth?" Vavila stopped the horse and only then answered: "Nine days. My uncle Kirilla died and his soul lived in our hut thirteen days after." "How do you know?" "For thirteen days there was a knocking in the stove." "Well, that's all right.
But a minute passed, and again she could see the two carts and the old man and lanky Vavila. The carts creaked as they went out on the road. "Are you holy men?" Lipa asked the old man. "No. We are from Firsanovo." "You looked at me just now and my heart was softened. And the young man is so gentle. I thought you must be holy men." "Are you going far?" "To Ukleevo."
Here I do not want to die, my dear, I would be glad to live another twenty years; so there has been more of the good. And great is our mother Russia!" and again he gazed to each side and looked round. "Grandfather," Lipa asked, "when anyone dies, how many days does his soul walk the earth?" "Who can tell! Ask Vavila here, he has been to school. Now they teach them everything.
If only her mother, Praskovya, had been with her, or Crutch, or the cook, or some peasant! "Boo-oo!" cried the bittern. "Boo-oo!" And suddenly she heard clearly the sound of human speech: "Put the horses in, Vavila!" By the wayside a camp fire was burning ahead of her: the flames had died down, there were only red embers. She could hear the horses munching.
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