Viy — Страница 29

The silence was dreadful; the candles
flickered, pouring light all over the church. The philosopher turned one
page, then another, and noticed that he was not reading what was in the book
at all. In fear he crossed himself and began to sing. This cheered him
somewhat: the reading went ahead, and pages flashed by one after another.
Suddenly . . . amidst the silence . . . the iron lid of the coffin burst
with a crack and the dead body rose. It was still more horrible than the
first time. Its teeth clacked horribly, row against row; its lips twitched
convulsively and, with wild shrieks, incantations came rushing out. Wind
whirled through the church, icons fell to the floor, broken glass dropped
from the windows. The doors tore from their hinges, and a numberless host of
monsters flew into God's church. A terrible noise of wings and scratching
claws filled the whole church. Everything flew and rushed about, seeking the
philosopher everywhere.
Khoma's head cleared of the last trace of drunkenness. He just kept
crossing himself and reading prayers at random. And at the same time he
heard the unclean powers flitting about him, all but brushing him with the
tips of their wings and repulsive tails. He did not have the courage to look
at them closely; he only saw the whole wall occupied by a huge monster
standing amidst its own tangled hair as in a forest; through the web of hair
two eyes stared horribly, the eyebrows raised slightly. Above it in the air
there was something like an immense bubble, with a thousand tongs and
scorpion stings reaching from its middle. Black earth hung on them in lumps.
They all looked at him, searching, unable to see him, surrounded by the
mysterious circle.
"Bring Viy! Go get Viy!" the words of the dead body rang out.
And suddenly there was silence in the church; the wolves' howling could
be heard far away, and soon heavy footsteps rang out in the church; with a
sidelong glance he saw them leading in some squat, hefty, splay-footed man.
He was black earth all over. His earth-covered legs and arms snick out like
strong, sinewy roots. Heavily he trod, stumbling all the time. His long
eyelids were lowered to the ground. With horror Khoma noticed that the face
on him was made of iron. He was brought in under the arms and put right by
the place where Khoma stood.
"Lift my eyelids, I can't see!" Viy said in a subterranean voice-- and
the entire host rushed to lift his eyelids.
"Don't look!" some inner voice whispered to the philosopher. He could
not help himself and looked.
"There he is!" Viy cried and fixed an iron finger on him. And all that
were there fell upon the philosopher. Breathless, he crashed to the ground
and straightaway the spirit flew out of him in terror.
A cockcrow rang out.