Viy — Страница 4

Fortified with these supplies, the grammarians, rhetoricians, philosophers,
and theologians would continue on their way. However, the further they went,
the smaller the crowd became. Almost all of them would have reached home,
leaving only those whose parental nests were further away than the others.
Once during such a journey three students turned off the high road in
order to provide themselves with victuals at the first farmstead they
happened upon, because their sack had long been empty. These were: the
theologian Khalyava, the philosopher Khoma Brut, and the rhetorician Tiberiy
Gorobets.
The theologian was a tall, broad-shouldered man, and of an extremely
strange character: whatever lay near him he was sure to steal. On other
occasions his character was extremely glum, and when he got drunk he would
hide in the weeds, and it would cost the seminary enormous efforts to find
him there.
The philosopher Khoma Brut was of a merry disposition. He liked very
much to lie about and smoke his pipe. When he drank, he was sure to hire
musicians and dance the trepak. He often got a taste of the "big peas," but
with perfectly philosophical indifference, saying what will be, will be.
The rhetorician Tiberiy Gorobets did not yet have the right to grow a
mustache, drink vodka, and smoke a pipe. All he had was his topknot, and
therefore his character was not much developed at that time; but judging by
the big bumps on the forehead with which he often came to class, one could
suppose he would make a fine warrior. The theologian Khalyava and the
philosopher Khoma often pulled him by the topknot as a sign of their
patronage and employed him as their deputy.
It was already evening when they turned off the high road. The sun had
just gone down and the warmth of the day was still in the air. The
theologian and the philosopher walked along silently smoking their pipes;
the rhetorician Tiberiy Gorobets knocked the heads off burdocks growing on
the roadside with a stick. The road went among stands of oak and hazel
bushes that dotted the meadows. The plain was occasionally disrupted by
slopes and small hills, green and round as cupolas. A field of ripening
grain showed in two places, making it known that some village must soon
appear. But it was more than an hour since they had passed the strips of
grain and no dwelling had come along yet. Twilight was already darkening the
sky, and only in the west was there a pale remnant of vermilion radiance,
"What the devil!" said the philosopher Khoma Brut. "It certainly looked
as if there'd be a farmstead."
The theologian said nothing; he looked around, then put his pipe back
in his mouth, and they all went on their way.
"By God!" the philosopher said, stopping again.