LITTLE GIRLS WISER THAN OLD PEOPLE
It was an early Easter. In the yards lay snow,
and rills ran down the village. A large puddle had
run down from a manure pile into a lane between
two farms. And at this puddle two girls, one older
than the other, had met. Both of them had been
dressed by their mothers in new clothes. The little
girl had a blue dress, and the elder a yellow one
with a design. Both had their heads wrapped in red
kerchiefs.
After prayers in the Church, the two girls went to
the puddle, where they showed their new garments
to each other, and began to play. They wanted to
plash in the water. The little girl started to go into
the puddle with her shoes on, but the older girl said
to her:
“Don’t go, Malasha, your mother will scold
you. I will take off my shoes, and you do the same.’’
The girls took off their shoes, raised their skirts,
and walked through the puddle toward each other.
Malasha stepped in up to her ankles, and said:
“It is deep, Akulka, I am afraid.’’
“Never mind,’’ she replied, “it wil upl not be any
deeper. Come straight toward me !’’
They came closer to each other. Akulka said:
“Malasha, look out, and do not splash it up, but
walk softly.’’
She had barely said that when Malasha
plumped her foot into the water and bespattered Akulka’s new dress, and not only her dress, but also
her nose and eyes. When Akulka saw the spots on
her dress, she grew angry at Malasha, and scolded
her, and ran after her, and wanted to strike her.
Malasha was frightened and, seeing what trouble
she had caused, jumped out of the puddle and ran
home.
Akulka’s mother passed by; she saw her
daughter’s dress bespattered and soiled.
“Where, accursed one, did you get yourself so
dirty?’’
“Malasha has purposely splashed it on me.’’
Akulka’s mother grasped Malasha and gave
her a knock on the nape of her neck. Malasha
began to howl, and her mother ran out of the house.
“Why do you strike my daughter?’’ she began
to scold her neighbour.
One word brought back another, and the women
began to quarrel. The men, too, ran out, and a big
crowd gathered in the street. All were crying, and
nobody could hear his neighbour. They scolded
and cursed each other; one man gave another man
a push, and a fight had begun, when Akulka’s
grandmother came out. She stepped in the midst of
the peasants, and began to talk to them:
“What are you doing, dear ones ? Consider the
holiday. This is a time for rejoicing. And see what
sin you are doing !’’
They paid no attention to the old woman, and
almost knocked her off her feet. She would never
have stopped them, if it had not been for Akulka
and Malasha.
While the women exchanged words, Akulka
wiped off her dress, and went back to the puddle
in the lane. She picked up a pebble and began to
scratch the ground so as to let the water off into the
street. While she was scratching, Malasha came up
and began to help her. She picked up a chip and
widened the rill.
The peasants had begun to fight, just as the
water went down the rill toward the place where
the old woman was trying to separate the men. The
girls ran, one from one side of the rill, the other
from the other side.
“Look out, Malasha, look out !’’ shouted
Akulka.
Malasha wanted to say something herself, but
could not speak for laughter. The girls were running
and laughing at a chip which was bobbing up and
down the rill. They ran straight into the crowd of
the peasants. The old woman saw them and said to
the peasants:
“Shame on you before God, men ! You have
started fighting on account of these two girls, and
they have long ago forgotten it: the dear children
have been playing nicely together. They are wiser
than you.’’
The men looked at the girls, and they felt
ashamed. Then they laughed at themselves, and
scattered to their farms.
-Count Leo N. Tolstoy
(Adapted from a translation
by Leo Wiener)