Повести Белкина / The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin. Александр Пушкин

a deep impression upon me. The hero of it I never saw again. It is said that Silvio commanded a detachment of Insurgents during the revolt under Alexander Ypsilanti[15], and that he was killed in the battle of Skulyani.

      The Snowstorm

      Horses dash across the slopes,

      Trampling snow deep-drifted …

      By the wayside stands a church,

      Lonely cross uplifted.

      * * *

      Suddenly a snowstorm flings

      Tufted flakes about us,

      O’er the sledge with whistling wing

      Flies a crow to flout us.

      Weird his cry, foreboding grief!

      Gathering their forces,

      Manes upraised, toward the dark

      Peer the speeding horses …

Zhukovsky[16]

      Toward the end of the year 1811, a memorable period for us, the good Gavrila Gavrilovich R – was living on his estate of Nenaradovo. He was celebrated throughout the district for his hospitality and kind-heartedness. The neighbors were constantly visiting him: some to eat and drink; some to play “Boston” at five kopecks[17] with his wife, Praskovya Petrovna; and some to look at their daughter, Marya Gavrilovna, a pale, slender girl of seventeen. She was considered wealthy, and many desired her for themselves or for their sons.

      Marya Gavrilovna had been brought up on French novels, and consequently was in love. The object of her choice was a poor sub-lieutenant, who was then on leave of absence in his village.

      It need scarcely be mentioned that the young man returned her passion with equal ardor, and that the parents of his beloved one, observing their mutual inclination, forbade their daughter to think of him, and gave him a worse reception than if he were a retired assessor[18].

      Our lovers corresponded with each other and daily saw each other alone in the little pine wood or near the old chapel. There they exchanged vows of eternal love, lamented their cruel fate, and formed various plans. Corresponding and conversing in this way, they arrived quite naturally at the following conclusion:

      If we cannot exist without each other, and the will of hard-hearted parents stands in the way of our happiness, why cannot we do without their consent?