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Chapter 9 - The rebellious1 mood of the Boguchárovo peasants
Until Prince Andrey settled in Bogucharovo its owners had always been absentees, and its peasants were of quite a different character from those of Bald Hills. They differed from them in speech, dress, and disposition2. They were called steppe peasants. The old prince used to approve of them for their endurance at work when they came to Bald Hills to help with the harvest or to dig ponds, and ditches, but he disliked them for their boorishness3.
Prince Andrey’s last stay at Bogucharovo, when he introduced hospitals and schools and reduced the quitrent the peasants had to pay, had not softened4 their disposition but had on the contrary strengthened in them the traits of character the old prince called boorishness. Various obscure rumors6 were always current among them: at one time a rumor5 that they would all be enrolled7 as Cossacks; at another of a new religion to which they were all to be converted; then of some proclamation of the Tsar’s and of an oath to the Tsar Paul in 1797 (in connection with which it was rumored8 that freedom had been granted them but the landowners had stopped it), then of Peter Fedorovich’s return to the throne in seven years’ time, when everything would be made free and so “simple” that there would be no restrictions9. Rumors of the war with Bonaparte and his invasion were connected in their minds with the same sort of vague notions of Antichrist, the end of the world, and “pure freedom.”
In the vicinity of Bogucharovo were large villages belonging to the crown or to owners whose serfs paid quitrent and could work where they pleased. There were very few resident landlords in the neighborhood and also very few domestic or literate10 serfs, and in the lives of the peasantry of those parts the mysterious undercurrents in the life of the Russian people, the causes and meaning of which are so baffling to contemporaries, were more clearly and strongly noticeable than among others. One instance, which had occurred some twenty years before, was a movement among the peasants to emigrate to some unknown “warm rivers.” Hundreds of peasants, among them the Bogucharovo folk, suddenly began selling their cattle and moving in whole families toward the southeast. As birds migrate to somewhere beyond the sea, so these men with their wives and children streamed to the southeast, to parts where none of them had ever been. They set off in caravans11, bought their freedom one by one or ran away, and drove or walked toward the “warm rivers.” Many of them were punished, some sent to Siberia, many died of cold and hunger on the road, many returned of their own accord, and the movement died down of itself just as it had sprung up, without apparent reason. But such undercurrents still existed among the people and gathered new forces ready to manifest themselves just as strangely, unexpectedly, and at the same time simply, naturally, and forcibly. Now in 1812, to anyone living in close touch with these people it was apparent that these undercurrents were acting12 strongly and nearing an eruption13.
Alpatych, who had reached Bogucharovo shortly before the old prince’s death, noticed an agitation14 among the peasants, and that contrary to what was happening in the Bald Hills district, where over a radius15 of forty miles all the peasants were moving away and leaving their villages to be devastated16 by the Cossacks, the peasants in the steppe region round Bogucharovo were, it was rumored, in touch with the French, received leaflets from them that passed from hand to hand, and did not migrate. He learned from domestic serfs loyal to him that the peasant Karp, who possessed17 great influence in the village commune and had recently been away driving a government transport, had returned with news that the Cossacks were destroying deserted18 villages, but that the French did not harm them. Alpatych also knew that on the previous day another peasant had even brought from the village of Visloukhovo, which was occupied by the French, a proclamation by a French general that no harm would be done to the inhabitants, and if they remained they would be paid for anything taken from them. As proof of this the peasant had brought from Visloukhovo a hundred rubles in notes (he did not know that they were false) paid to him in advance for hay.
More important still, Alpatych learned that on the morning of the very day he gave the village Elder orders to collect carts to move the princess’ luggage from Bogucharovo, there had been a village meeting at which it had been decided19 not to move but to wait. Yet there was no time to waste. On the fifteenth, the day of the old prince’s death, the Marshal had insisted on Princess Marya’s leaving at once, as it was becoming dangerous. He had told her that after the sixteenth he could not be responsible for what might happen. On the evening of the day the old prince died the Marshal went away, promising20 to return next day for the funeral. But this he was unable to do, for he received tidings that the French had unexpectedly advanced, and had barely time to remove his own family and valuables from his estate.
For some thirty years Bogucharovo had been managed by the village Elder, Dron, whom the old prince called by the diminutive21 “Dronushka.”
Dron was one of those physically22 and mentally vigorous peasants who grow big beards as soon as they are of age and go on unchanged till they are sixty or seventy, without a gray hair or the loss of a tooth, as straight and strong at sixty as at thirty.
Soon after the migration23 to the “warm rivers,” in which he had taken part like the rest, Dron was made village Elder and overseer of Bogucharovo, and had since filled that post irreproachably24 for twenty-three years. The peasants feared him more than they did their master. The masters, both the old prince and the young, and the steward25 respected him and jestingly called him “the Minister.” During the whole time of his service Dron had never been drunk or ill, never after sleepless26 nights or the hardest tasks had he shown the least fatigue27, and though he could not read he had never forgotten a single money account or the number of quarters of flour in any of the endless cartloads he sold for the prince, nor a single shock of the whole corn crop on any single acre of the Bogucharovo fields.
Alpatych, arriving from the devastated Bald Hills estate, sent for his Dron on the day of the prince’s funeral and told him to have twelve horses got ready for the princess’ carriages and eighteen carts for the things to be removed from Bogucharovo. Though the peasants paid quitrent, Alpatych thought no difficulty would be made about complying with this order, for there were two hundred and thirty households at work in Bogucharovo and the peasants were well to do. But on hearing the order Dron lowered his eyes and remained silent. Alpatych named certain peasants he knew, from whom he told him to take the carts.
Dron replied that the horses of these peasants were away carting. Alpatych named others, but they too, according to Dron, had no horses available: some horses were carting for the government, others were too weak, and others had died for want of fodder28. It seemed that no horses could be had even for the carriages, much less for the carting.
Alpatych looked intently at Dron and frowned. Just as Dron was a model village Elder, so Alpatych had not managed the prince’s estates for twenty years in vain. He a model steward, possessing in the highest degree the faculty29 of divining the needs and instincts of those he dealt with. Having glanced at Dron he at once understood that his answers did not express his personal views but the general mood of the Bogucharovo commune, by which the Elder had already been carried away. But he also knew that Dron, who had acquired property and was hated by the commune, must be hesitating between the two camps: the masters’ and the serfs’. He noticed this hesitation30 in Dron’s look and therefore frowned and moved closer up to him.
“Now just listen, Dronushka,” said he. “Don’t talk nonsense to me. His excellency Prince Andrey himself gave me orders to move all the people away and not leave them with the enemy, and there is an order from the Tsar about it too. Anyone who stays is a traitor31 to the Tsar. Do you hear?”
“I hear,” Dron answered without lifting his eyes.
Alpatych was not satisfied with this reply.
“Eh, Dron, it will turn out badly!” he said, shaking his head.
“The power is in your hands,” Dron rejoined sadly.
“Eh, Dron, drop it!” Alpatych repeated, withdrawing his hand from his bosom32 and solemnly pointing to the floor at Dron’s feet. “I can see through you and three yards into the ground under you,” he continued, gazing at the floor in front of Dron.
“You drop this nonsense and tell the people to get ready to leave their homes and go to Moscow and to get carts ready for tomorrow morning for the princess’ things. And don’t go to any meeting yourself, do you hear?”
Dron suddenly fell on his knees.
“Yakov Alpatych, discharge me! Take the keys from me and discharge me, for Christ’s sake!”
“Stop that!” cried Alpatych sternly. “I see through you and three yards under you,” he repeated, knowing that his skill in beekeeping, his knowledge of the right time to sow the oats, and the fact that he had been able to retain the old prince’s favor for twenty years had long since gained him the reputation of being a wizard, and that the power of seeing three yards under a man is considered an attribute of wizards.
Dron got up and was about to say something, but Alpatych interrupted him.
“What is it you have got into your heads, eh? . . . What are you thinking of, eh?”
“What am I to do with the people?” said Dron. “They’re quite beside themselves; I have already told them . . . ”
“Quite beside themselves, Yakov Alpatych; they’ve fetched another barrel.”
“Well, then, listen! I’ll go to the police officer, and you tell them so, and that they must stop this and the carts must be got ready.”
“I understand.”
Alpatych did not insist further. He had managed people for a long time and knew that the chief way to make them obey is to show no suspicion that they can possibly disobey. Having wrung35 a submissive “I understand” from Dron, Alpatych contented36 himself with that, though he not only doubted but felt almost certain that without the help of troops the carts would not be forthcoming.
And so it was, for when evening came no carts had been provided. In the village, outside the drink shop, another meeting was being held, which decided that the horses should be driven out into the woods and the carts should not be provided. Without saying anything of this to the princess, Alpatych had his own belongings37 taken out of the carts which had arrived from Bald Hills and had those horses got ready for the princess’ carriages. Meanwhile he went himself to the police authorities.
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1
rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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boorishness
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softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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enrolled
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| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
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rumored
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| adj.传说的，谣传的v.传闻( rumor的过去式和过去分词 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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9
restrictions
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| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
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literate
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| n.学者；adj.精通文学的，受过教育的 | |
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11
caravans
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| （可供居住的）拖车（通常由机动车拖行）( caravan的名词复数 )； 篷车； （穿过沙漠地带的）旅行队（如商队） | |
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12
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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13
eruption
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| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
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14
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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radius
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| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
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16
devastated
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| v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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18
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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22
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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migration
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| n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙 | |
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24
irreproachably
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| adv.不可非难地，无过失地 | |
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25
steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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26
sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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28
fodder
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| n.草料；炮灰 | |
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29
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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31
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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32
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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33
furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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35
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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36
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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