American library books ยป Other ยป Short Fiction by Fyodor Sologub (hot novels to read txt) ๐Ÿ“•

Read book online ยซShort Fiction by Fyodor Sologub (hot novels to read txt) ๐Ÿ“•ยป.   Author   -   Fyodor Sologub



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seem like some fabulous kingdom.

Again there is a slight wavering stir in the sea of the heat-exhausted ears of rye, studded over with little blue flowers which lower timidly their sweetly-dazed heads from sultriness.

Natasha and her brother Boris are walking together, on an inviting narrow path among the golden waves of rye.

How high the rye is! One can barely see the green roof of the old house on the right for the tall stalks, and the semicircular window in the mezzanine: and on the left the little grey, rough huts of the village.

Natasha and Boris follow one another. All around them the dry ears of rye waver and rustle, and among them are the blue-eyed little cornflowers. The two fragilely slender human silhouettes answered to the same wavering motion.

Natasha goes ahead. She turns to see why Boris has lagged behind. The boy, brown and slender, with large burning eyes, attired in his linen jacket, is gathering the little blue flowers. He has already gathered almost as many as his hands can hold.

XXXVIII

Natasha, laughing, says to her brother: โ€œEnough, my dear, enough. I shanโ€™t be able to carry them all.โ€

โ€œYouโ€™ll do it easily enough, never fear!โ€ Boris answers cheerfully.

Natasha stretches out her sunburnt hand to take the flowers. The sheaf of blue cornflowers, spreading across her breast, almost hides her, she is so slender.

Again Boris addresses her cheerfully: โ€œWell, is it heavy?โ€

Natasha laughs. Her face lights up with the joy of gratitude, and with a cheerful, childlike determination. โ€œI will carry these, but no more!โ€ she says.

โ€œI want to gather as many as possible for you.โ€ Borisโ€™s voice is serious; โ€œbecause you know we may not see each other for some time.โ€ There is a quaver in his voice as he says this.

โ€œPerhaps, never,โ€ Natasha, growing pensive, replies.

Both faces become sad and careworn.

Boris, frowning, glances sideways, and asks: โ€œNatasha, are you going with him?โ€

Natasha knows that Boris is inquiring about Mikhail Lvovich, who is now sending her on a dangerous business, and who has also promised to send Boris on some foolhardy errand. The brave are so often foolhardy.

โ€œNo, I am going alone,โ€ Natasha replies, โ€œhe will only lead me later to the spot.โ€

Boris looks at Natasha with gloomy, envious eyes, and asks rather cautiously: โ€œAre you frightened, Natasha?โ€

Natasha smiles. And what pride there is in her smile! She speaks, and her voice is tranquil: โ€œNo, Boris, I feel happy.โ€

Boris observes that her face is really happy, and that her dark, flaming eyes are cheerful enough. Looking at her thus, her tranquillity communicates itself to him, and inspires him with a calm confidence in himself and in the business in hand.

The children go farther. Boris again gathers the cornflowers. Natasha is musing about something. She has broken off an ear of rye, and is absently nibbling at the grain.

XXXIX

It is a long, hot, sultry day. The inexorable Dragon looks down indifferently upon the children. Unwearying, he aims his bright, vivid shafts at the sunburnt, fiery-eyed lad and at the slender, erect, black-eyed girl. His blazing shafts are evil, and they are well aimed; and his strong clear light is pitilessโ โ€”but she walks on, and in her eyes there is hope, and in her eyes there is resolution, and in her dark eyes there is a flame which sets the soul afire to achieve deeds beyond the powers of man.

Natasha suddenly pauses at the end of the path by the dusty road. Her eyes look at Boris full of tender admiration. It is evident that she desires to stamp upon her memory all the beloved features of the familiar tanned faceโ โ€”the curve of the dense brows, the rigid set of the red lips, the firm outlines of the chin, the stern profile.

Natasha sighs lightly and addresses Boris gently and cheerfully:

โ€œEnough, dearest. They may not let me into the train with a heap like this. They will say: โ€˜This should be put in the luggage van.โ€™โ€Šโ€

Both laugh carelessly. And still Boris is loath to leave the cornflowers. He says:

โ€œOnly a few more. I want you to have a gigantic bouquet.โ€

โ€œYou would have everything gigantic!โ€ Natasha returns good-humouredly.

But her face is serious. She knows how deep this quality is in him, and how significant. Boris looks at her, and in answer repeats his favourite, his most intimate thought:

โ€œYes, it is true. I love all bigness, all immoderation. In everything! In everything! If we only acted like this always! And gave ourselves wholly to a thing! Oh, how different life would be!โ€

Natasha, lost in thought, repeats: โ€œYes, big things, things beyond the powers of man. To make life lavish. Only no stinginess, no trembling for oneโ€™s skin. Far better to dieโ โ€”to gather all life into one little knot, and to throw it away!โ€

โ€œYes, yes,โ€ says Boris, and his eyes, dark as night, glow with the fury of a yet distant storm. โ€œWe must have no care for lives, but be lavish with them, lavish to the endโ โ€”only then may we reach our goal!โ€

They cross the road and again walk calmly along a narrow path. Her dress is white among the golden waves. Natasha stretches out her slender hand, the ears of rye rustle dryly and solid seeds of ripe rye fall into it. They are struck from above by the vivid shafts of the pitiless Dragon.

The children are walking on, conscious of their vow. They go trustingly, and they do not know that he who sends them is a traitor, and that their sacrifice is vain.

XL

What is this dry rustling all around? It is the rye. But where are the little cornflowers, where is Boris? The little blue-eyed flowers are in the rye, and Boris has been hanged.

โ€œAnd I?โ€ Natasha asks herself in a strange, oppressive perplexity. She looks round her like one just awakened.

โ€œWhy am I here?โ€

She answers herself: โ€œI escaped. A lucky chance saved me.โ€

Natasha is oppressed by the thought. How had she survived it? โ€œFar better if I had perished!โ€

It

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