"This depression's enough" "to make you hang yourself." "I've had enough of it!" "Of course, I slept all night." "Then got up and drank tea with my husband," "then went back to bed." "After all, there's nothing else to do." "Oh, Lord, how boring it is!" "It was better when I was single." "Although we were poor, at least there was some freedom." "But now..." "No life!" "Incarceration!" "I'm a merchant's wife, married to the eminent merchant" "Zinovi Borisovich Ismailov." "The ant drags along its straw, the bird builds its nest, the farm labourers pour out the flour but I alone have nothing to do." "I alone am depressed, to me alone life is unkind, me, the merchant's wife." "Will there be mushrooms today?" "Yes, there will." "You know, I'm very fond of mushrooms, especially with buckwheat gruel." "Whether the sun is shining or a storm raging it's all the same to me now." " What are you singing for?" "Have you nothing else to do?" " What can I do?" "Why ever did we take the likes of you into our house?" "I kept saying to my son :" "don't marry Katerina." "But he wouldn't listen." "Fine sort of wife:" "five years married and still not produced a child!" " Oh, how depressed I am, so very depressed." " Aha!" " Oh, how depressed I am, so very depressed." " Aha!" "How happy I should be were I a mother at last!" "What nonsense!" "You'd like to hook some youngster and make off with him." "No, don't try that on : the fence is high, the dogs are loose, the workers trusty." "And I'm always on the alert." "Get the poison ready for the rats." "They've eaten all the flour again." "You're a rat yourself!" "You should have the poison!" "Speak up!" "The dam at the mill has burst." "There's an enormous breach." "What shall we do now?" "As if we hadn't enough work already." "I'll have to go myself." "Go, then!" "Without the master nothing will get done." "People can't be relied upon!" "What are you sniggering about?" "Look, father: here's the new labourer." " All right." "Where did you work before?" " At the Kalganovs'." "Why did they throw you out?" "The horses are ready." "Well, it can't be helped." "Say goodbye to your wife." "Goodbye, Zinovi." "Say goodbye to your wife." "Not like that!" "On your knees!" "On your knees!" "Come on!" "Why are you standing there?" "Why did you stay behind?" "That new labourer, he's a dreadful woman-chaser." "Name any female who's taken his fancy :" "he'll get her into trouble." "He's got it all : tall and handsome with a good figure." "He used to work at the Kalganovs'." "Started carrying on with the mistress and got fired for it." " Help!" " Listen, a nightingale!" "Hey, Aksinya!" " Help!" " A sow is singing like a nightingale!" " Devil!" "Now let me go!" " What a pretty voice!" "Let me get hold of her arm!" "Here's a nice smooth place!" "Oh, Lord, she's a fine piece of woman!" "You shameless creature, don't pinch!" "My skirt is torn to pieces!" "Aksinya!" "Go on, hit him, Aksinya!" " What!" "Let go!" " Help me!" " Don't let go!" " What a pretty voice!" "Hold still, Aksinya!" "Get hold of her, Sergey!" " Get him off me!" " Stand still!" "What a pretty song!" "Squeeze her!" "Stop, woman!" "You have to laugh and laugh, what fun!" "He'll make us die of laughter." "Look out!" "Here's the mistress!" " What's the matter with you?" " They've torn my skirt to ribbons." "Let the woman go." "So you enjoy mocking a woman?" "Who else can we make fun of?" "So a woman's only there for you to make fun of, is she?" "What other reason is there?" "Oh, you swine!" "Now, now!" "You men certainly think a lot of yourselves." "Do you think you're the only ones who are strong and brave, the only ones with any wisdom?" "Haven't you heard about the times when women kept the whole family from starving?" "And how in wartime women gave the enemy a beating?" "There have been times when women sacrificed their lives for their husbands or sweethearts." "But this means nothing to you." "Well, I'll give you a good thrashing to show you what a woman is good for." "I've a suggestion to make to you." "Well?" "Let's try a bit of wrestling." "All right, let's try." "Out of the way, everybody!" "Why have you stopped?" "I forgot..." "Withyouinmyarms" "I'm thinking..." "Whataboutit?" "I've plenty of strength in me!" "Let go, let go!" "Oh, Seryozha, let go!" "What's all this?" "I was just passing by and caught my foot in a sack." "And fell." "He tried to help me up and fell down, too." "That's exactly what happened." "What are you standing around for?" "Who's going to do your work for you?" "What do you think you're paid for?" "Spongers, loafers, drunkards!" "Get out." "Don't hang around." "Go to your room!" "Just you wait:" "when your husband gets back" "I'll tell him everything." "When I'm sad, I stare out of the window disconsolately." "There's a little nest beneath the roof." "In it coo the dove and his lady." "Together they fly high up in the sky." "I love to watch them so, and watching them often makes me weep because I envy his lady's happiness." "Yet I'm like a prisoner, locked up with a man I don't love." "Denied my freedom" "I cannot go on living." "I've got no nest like that lady dove and above all I've got no one who loves me." "Joylessly the days pass by." "How drearily my life will go on!" "I'm all alone." "All alone..." "Why am I being punished by fate so harshly?" "Who's there?" "Who's that knocking?" " Please don't be afraid." "It's me." " Who?" " Sergey." "Sergey?" "What is it?" " What do you want here at night?" " Just a small matter." "What small matter?" "Come here, then I'll tell you." " Well, what is it?" " I've come to ask if I can borrow a book." " What book?" " To have a read." "I haven't any books." "I can't read anyway, and my husband doesn't read books." "I'm dying of boredom." " Well, why don't you get married?" " Who to?" "A daughter of the house would never have me and I've no use for common girls." "They're so ill-educated and I'm a man of fine feelings." "That's why I'm bored." "I'm bored, too." "No wonder!" "If only I could read books..." "Books are food for the heart and mind." "Yet it's love alone that brings us happiness." "Now let's suppose you did have a bit on the side, like all the other women do." "In your position you'd find it pretty well impossible to meet him." "Say he was someone here in this very house?" "Do you think I don't understand?" "I've been in service for years and seen enough of women's lot." "Yes..." "Allright,Sergey,goawaynow." " I'll be on my way." " Goodbye." "I see you're faring no better than me." "What are you saying?" "But it's in your power to change this." "That's not true!" "Oh, yes, it is true!" "Leave me alone!" "What do you want here with me?" "Leave me alone!" "Or else I'll jump out of the window!" " What for?" " Stop it!" "Help!" "Let me go!" " You're my life!" " Let me go!" "I don't want to!" "You alone are my joy!" "Go away, for goodness' sake." "I'm a married woman." "You don't love your husband." "I've given him my word." "So don't press me!" "Katerina!" " The old man!" " Are you in bed?" "I'm just going." "Well, all right." " Go, quick." " I shan't go anywhere away from here." "The old man will lock the doors." "To a lover windows can be a doorway." "Come, my Katya!" "That's what old age means:" "you can't sleep." "You're all the time thinking burglars are on the prowl and wanting to rob us." "I wander around to see if there's a burglar anywhere." "When I was young" "I couldn't sleep either, but for a different reason!" "I used to hang around under the windows of other men's wives, singing songs, talking whatever nonsense came into my head, sometimes even climbed through the windows." "I've had a good life, I'll say so!" "Zinovi doesn't take after me." "If I were his age, how I'd..." "I'd get her and..." "There's a light in the window." "Seems she can't sleep." "Of course, she's a young woman, and hot-blooded, too." "And there's no one to console her." "Now, if I were younger, just ten years or so..." "Goodbye, Katya!" "What's all this?" "I can hear somebody's voice." " Wait a bit longer." " Better have a look." "It's getting light." " The nights used to be endless." " Here's treachery, treachery!" "Katerina's betraying her husband and has found a lover." " Your're too late, Boris Timofeyevich!" " But now these nights" " Ah, hell, what a scandal, - we've spent together" " God in heaven!" " have flown by as though on wings." " Goodbye, Katya!" " Goodbye!" " Seryozha!" " Katya!" "All right, just you wait." " Stop!" "Where have you been?" " Wherever it was, I'm not there now." "He's spent the night with my son's wife." "Hey, everybody!" " Don't shout like that!" " I'll shout if I want." "I'm the boss!" "Come here, everybody!" "I've caught a thief!" "Well, what do you want of me now?" "I want to give you five hundred lashes." "Lord have mercy!" "Give me the whip!" "Take his shirt off!" "Well, mate, you asked for it." "And you're certainly going to get it." " Will you flog him yourself, master?" " I'll do it myself!" "Katerina!" "What's all this?" "I'm asleep!" "Asleep?" "Not so long ago you came to the window and counted the stars as you waited for dawn." "Look, Katerina!" "I've caught a thief." "Now I'm going to thrash him." "Come on!" "Let's start!" " Look, Katerina, I've drawn blood." " Let him go!" " Look!" " Let him go!" "You've got plenty of blood, my friend." "No wonder you're so lecherous." "Open the door!" "It's locked!" "Open up!" " We'll get rid of some of your blood." " All you people there!" " You'll soon feel less energetic, you villain!" " Help me, someone!" "Why don't you cry out, blast you!" "Trying to show off in front of a woman?" "I'll get a scream out of you!" "Now!" "Now!" "Just coming!" "Shut up, stay put!" "I'll throw myself out of the window!" " Hang on to her!" " You'll not stop me!" "Don't show off in front of a woman!" "Just yell, then I'll stop!" "Now!" "Now!" "I'm tired out." "Would you like me to carry on, master?" "No, that'll do." "We can't do too much at once or he'll peg out." "Take him off to the storeroom." "We'll flog him again tomorrow." "Well, what now?" "That's really made me hungry." "Is there anything left from supper?" "Hey there!" "Are you deaf?" "There are some mushrooms left." "Just the thing!" "Bring me some mushrooms." "They're delicious mushrooms." "You're really an expert, Katerina, at preparing mushrooms." "Go along and get dressed." "You're wandering around the yard almost naked." "Go on..." "No, stop!" "My insides are on fire." "Bring some water." "I won't." " What did you say?" "How dare you!" " I do dare!" " How dare you!" " I do dare!" "How dare you!" "So what?" "What's the matter with me?" "Well, you had mushrooms late at night." "Lots of people die after eating them." "Call the priest, Katerina dear." "Maybe it's true that death is approaching." "How it burns... burnslikefire." "My life has been long and my sins many." "Bring the priest here!" "God, oh, God!" "It's so painful!" "Where are the storeroom keys?" "I can't breathe." "Oh, Boris Timofeyevich, why have you left us?" "To whom have you abandoned" "Zinovi Borisovich and me?" "What will Zinovi and I do now without you?" "Why should it happen to him?" "He was still a strong old boy." "He'd eaten mushrooms at night, you know." "A lot of people die after eating them." "That's so." ""Oh, these mushrooms and cold soups are too much,"" "as Nikolai Vasilyich Gogol said, that great writer of our Russian land." "Yes indeed, people get strange ideas when they're dying." "Boris Timofeyevich said he was dying like a rat." "Only that can't be right:" "a rat dies but a human being passes away." "Strange..." "But that doesn't stop us saying a requiem for him." "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." "Sergey!" "Seryozha!" "Now you're mine!" "What will become of us?" " You're mine!" " Yes." "Oh, my dear!" "You are my only love!" "You belong to me only, to me and me alone." "I'll die rather than be separated from you." "Oh!" "Seryozha!" "Katya..." " Our love is nearing its end." " Why?" "Zinovi Borisovich will be coming back, your lawful husband." "How do you think I'm going to feel, seeing you go to bed with your lawful husband?" "That won't happen." "Katerina Lvovna, Katenka." "I'm not like other men who don't care about anything as long as they've got a woman's soft body to caress." "I'm a sensitive person, you know." "I can feel what love is." "Oh, why did I fall in love with you and burn with passion just for you?" "Can it really be an honour for you, an eminent merchant's wife, to be my mistress?" "Oh, Katya, what I'd give to become your husband in God's eyes!" "As it is, we can meet only at night, and in daylight we're afraid to show our faces to the world." "Don't upset yourself, Sergey." "I'll make you a merchant and we'll live together properly." "How will you manage that?" "That's not your worry." "Don't be sad, Sergey, don't be downhearted." "You're mine now!" "My Sergey!" "Don't despair, Sergey!" "You'll be mine for ever." "Seryozha!" "Dearest!" "I'll not fear anyone, I'll make you my husband." "I'll not be afraid of anyone." "Boris Timofeyevich tried to interfere and he's gone:" "dead, buried and forgotten." "Only I remember him at nights." "His fearful face often appears before me." "No!" "No!" "Go away!" "Katerina Lvovna!" "You murderess!" "I've come to find out how you and Sergey are keeping my son's bed warm." "Leave me in peace!" "Go away!" "Out of my sight!" "You murderess!" "The day of revenge is approaching," "Katerina!" "Your hour is coming, too!" "Oh, Sergey, wake up!" "Well?" "What do you want?" "Sergey, Seryozha, look and see!" "The fearful ghost of Boris Timofeyevich is standing there." "Nonsense, there's no one there." "Calm down, Katya." "I'm scared, Seryozha." "Save me, please save me." "Darling, dearest one!" "Press me closer to your heart!" " Listen, Sergey, Sergey!" " Well?" " Can you hear it?" " What?" "Someone's walking softly, softly." "It's your imagination again." "No." "No." "The dogs didn't bark, so it's someone they know." "Can you hear?" "Someone's coming." " Yes, I can." " Hide somewhere." "It's Zinovi Borisovich, my husband." "Now we're really in the soup!" "Hide, quick, hide!" "He's listening at the door." "Just you wait!" "Katerina!" " Who's there?" " Open the door!" " I can't make it out." "Who's there?" " It's me!" " Who?" " Me, can't you hear?" " I can't make it out." " Look, it's me, Zinovi Borisovich." "And how are you getting on?" "I haven't been going to any theatres, nor to any balls, either." " So you've been at home all the time?" " Yes, I have." "I see!" "Well, that's fine then." "But how did my father die?" "Well, he just died." "We gave him a good funeral." "And why is the bed made up for two?" " I was expecting you any time." " Thanks for that anyway." " And what might that thing be?" " Where?" "Here!" "From what I can make out it's a man's belt." "I found it in the garden and fastened my skirt with it." "We've been hearing some things about your skirts." "What have you heard then?" "We've heard a lot about your affairs." " What have you heard?" " We've heard everything." "I don't like people talking to me in that insolent way." "Kindly explain what " affairs" you're talking about." "You know absolutely nothing about it." "I'm the one who knows all." "I won't allow anyone to talk to me about my " affairs" ." "Just you wait, Katerina, I'll get to the bottom of it." "I'll give you sheer hell." "I'll beat the living daylights out of you." "You disgust me, ugh, you pathetic tradesman!" "I'm responsible for the family's honour." " I demand the truth!" " What good will that do you?" " Tell me!" " You'd never understand anything!" "Go on!" " Sergey!" " Who's that?" "Come out and protect me!" "Sergey, my dearest love!" " Oh, you rogues!" "Come here, everybody!" " You won't get away!" " I... knewit ... all ..." " Hold him tighter, Sergey!" "You swine!" "Help!" "Oh, they're strangling me!" "Get a priest..." "I'll give you a priest all right!" "Well, that's the end of that." " Let's have some light, Katya." " Hurry up!" "Just finishing." "That's all." "It's done..." " Kiss me, kiss me." " Katya..." "Now you are my husband." "Once a lady friend of mine crazy was on drinking wine!" "Then I had a kindly mate, wine and vodka he drank straight!" "And as for my godfather dear, his only interest was in beer!" "That whole family of mine couldn't last a day without good wine!" "Why should they then outstrip me?" "I drink vodka enough for three!" "I can drink the whole day through, nights and days and evenings, too, summer, spring and winter deep, drink until I fall asleep!" "I shall drink for evermore, I'm a jolly sort, for sure!" "Singing's fine when there's something to drink." "But when there's nothing to drink, then there's nothing to sing about." "And why is there nothing to drink?" "Because I'm broke." "I've got an unlucky star, other people have got lucky stars." "That Sergey, he had absolutely nothing and now he can swim in vodka." "Why did she choose Sergey for her husband and not me?" "What's he got that I haven't?" "Arms, legs, head, belly, and all in the right place." "I've just got an unlucky star." "I like to have a good swig!" "Here's the cellar." "The mistress often stands near it and keeps on staring..." "Must be some good wine in there..." "She stares and stares..." "Well, I'll just have a look." "Must really be some good wines in there!" "Oh, heavens!" "What am I to do?" "A dead body!" "Killed!" "Murdered!" "And I stupidly thought at first:" "has all the food gone bad?" "I'll have a look." "Oh, God, a dead body!" "Ah!" "Help!" "Quick!" "Ah!" "People, help me!" "Get the police!" "Who is fairer than the sun in the sky?" "We know of none fairer than the sun in the sky!" "Katerina Lvovna is fairer than the sun in the sky!" "Really lovely!" "May I?" "A kiss!" "A kiss!" "Have they gone all shy?" "Long live Katerina Lvovna!" "She's fairer than the sun in the sky!" "Give her a kiss!" "Give her a kiss!" "What's the matter?" "The lock's broken." "That's where Zinovi Borisovich is." "It's true, it's broken." "Hush, hush." " When they all go home, we'll escape!" " They're whispering..." "Bit early isn't it, it's not yet night." "Help yourselves, please." "Katerina Lvovna is fairer than the sun in the sky!" "Who is fairer than the sun in the sky?" "Give her a kiss!" "Sergey, we must escape." "Someone's broken the lock." "They must have seen the body there." " What about the business?" " Let's take all the money." "It'll be enough for us to live on." "Everyone seems to be asleep." "Go and get the money quickly, there's not a moment to lose!" "Oh, where's he got to?" "Coming!" "What's this?" "It's too late." "Oh, Sergey, we're done for." " What do you mean : done for?" "Let's run for it!" " Wherever to?" "Who's there?" "The police!" "How do you do?" "How do you do?" "You didn't invite us." "Aren't we good enough for you?" "But here we are anyway!" "A little matter has arisen!" "So, what a lot of guests!" "Looks as if a lot of wine's been drunk!" "There's a little matter of a certain kind, to put it bluntly, there's a little matter!" "Don't keep beating about the bush, put the handcuffs on, then!" "Oh, Sergey, forgive me!" "Forgive me!" "Put the handcuffs on, then!" "Get the handcuffs on!" "Look sharp!" "Let me go!" " Get him!" " Let me go!" " Keep a tight hold of them!" " Quick!" "Quick!" "Don't you dare!" "Handcuff them both!" "Off to prison with them!" "Oh, Sergey, forgive me!" "Verst after verst, one by one, creeps by in an endless procession." "The heat of the day now is done." "The sun on the steppes is now setting." "Ah, road, where the chains have been dragging, where bones of the dead are still lying, where blood and sweat have been flowing, to the echoes of the groans of the dying!" "Ah, road, where the chains have been dragging, where bones of the dead are still lying, where blood and sweat have been flowing, to the echoes of the groans of the dying!" "We shall rest when the day's work is done." "But the first rays of sunrise will find us counting the versts one by one," "our fetters still clanging behind us." "Ah, steppes, you are so endless, days and nights so countless, the thoughts we think so cheerless" "and the guards we have so heartless!" "Ah, steppes, you are so endless, days and nights so countless, the thoughts we think so cheerless and the guards we have so heartless!" "Stepanych!" "Let me go through." "Here's twenty kopecks to buy some vodka!" "Stepanych!" "Oh, women!" "Women!" "What a lecherous lot!" "Oh, well." "All right then, go along!" "Thank you!" "Seryozha!" "My dearest!" "At last!" "I've gone the whole day without seeing you." "Seryozha!" "Even the pain in my legs has gone and the tiredness" "and the anguish..." "Everything is forgotten once I'm with you." "Seryozha!" "Have you also forgotten the wrong you've done?" "What wrong?" " Whose fault is it I'm a convict?" " Seryozha!" " Get away!" " Seryozha, oh, forgive me!" "Get out, you've ruined my life!" "Oh, Seryozha, forgive me!" "Oh, God, what torment!" "Seryozha!" "Fine sort of merchant's wife!" "You're just a hussy." "Greetings!" "How do you manage to go everywhere?" "I gave the sentry twenty-five kopecks." "And where do you get so much money from?" "From my rich merchant's wife." "Your rich merchant's wife?" "Then she's a fool, that rich merchant's wife of yours!" " Yes, she's a fool, for sure." " What a fool!" "Sonyetka, my darling, I want to ask you to grant me my heart's desire!" " And what is that desire?" " You must know what it is!" "What a cheeky fellow you are!" "Run off to that rich merchant's wife of yours!" "I'm sick of her, I'm absolutely sick of her!" "Why did you carry on with her then?" "For what I could get out of it!" "Do you think I'll give you what you want just to please you?" " Well, you've got it wrong!" " Wait, Sonyetka!" " I can't make out what you want!" " I love you!" "Prove it then!" "What do you want me to do?" "Can you see?" "My stockings are torn and I'm cold." " Get me some others!" " Wherever from?" " From your rich merchant's wife." " All right." "All right, I'll get some!" " Katya!" " Seryozha, so you've come?" "Don't be angry, forgive me." "Seryozha!" "You're all I have, you know, my love." "And you've hurt me cruelly, Seryozha!" "Katya!" "Forgive me, I'm in a bad way." "This is the last time we'll see each other." "Why?" "Seryozha?" "I'm going to town to the hospital." "The fetters have rubbed my legs so sore, the pain's intolerable." "But you can't!" "What shall I do without you?" " They'll keep on at me!" " They will!" "But I can't go on any longer." "It hurts so!" "I can't exist even a minute without you!" "What am I to do?" "I can't, Seryozha!" "Don't leave me!" "If only I could get hold of some woollen stockings from somewhere!" "That would certainly help!" "Stockings?" "Why didn't you say so before?" "Here are some stockings, take them!" "Oh, Katya, thank you, my dearest!" "Here, take them." " I'll be back in a moment!" " Where are you going?" "I'll be back in a moment." "Seryozha!" "Why has he gone off?" "The merchant's wife with passionate fire still is burning." "But cold is now her lover's desire, to know her he has no yearning!" "Nothing more is left to her." "She's lost her freedom and her bridegroom, too!" "Now Katerina is lonely, her yearning awful." "Now everything torments Katerina, everything torments her." "Let me go!" "Alone and filled with yearning!" "Not one night can she sleep." "Without Sergey it'll be dull for Katerina." "Without Sergey, without Sergey!" "Attention!" "What are you yelling for?" "Shut up!" "I'll do you!" "There..." "Sergey,Sonyetka." "Where?" "Shut up!" "I'll do you!" "In the wood, right in a grove, there's a lake," "almost round and very deep." "And the water in it is black, black like my conscience." "And when the wind blows in the wood, waves rise up on the lake." "Huge waves." "And then it's frightening." "In autumn there are always waves on the lake." "And the water is black and the waves huge." "Huge, black waves." "Do you know, Sonyetka, who we resemble?" "Adam and Eve." "But it's not at all like paradise here!" "Nonsense, we've just been in paradise together." "Thank you, Katerina Lvovna, thank you for the stockings!" "Look how fine they look on my legs." "Seryozha put them on for me and kissed my legs to make them warm!" "Oh, Seryozha, my Seryozha!" "Katerina's a fool, she couldn't keep Sergey." "What a fool!" "And you won't see your stockings again." "They're mine now!" "I'm warm now!" "On your feet!" "Back to your places!" "Oh, we've got to get up." "We've got to get moving again!" "Hey, old girl!" "Do you hear?" "Stand somewhere else." "Or you'll fall into the water..." "Do you hear?" "Help!" "Don't move there!" "Watch it!" "Attention!" "Back to your places!" "We trudge along day after day, clanging our fetters behind us, wearily counting the versts, raising the dust all around us!" "Oh, why is our life so gloomy, so frightful and hopeless?" "Were we then born to live such a life?"