Viy — Страница 5

"It's as dark as the
devil's fist."
"Maybe there'll be some farm further on," said the theologian, without
releasing his pipe.
Meanwhile, however, it was already night, and a rather dark night at
that, Clouds made it gloomier still, and by all tokens neither stars nor
moon were to be expected. The students noticed that they had lost their way
and for a long while had not been walking on the road.
The philosopher, after feeling in all directions with his feet, at last
said abruptly:
"But where's the road?"
The theologian pondered silendy and observed:
"Yes, it's a dark night."
The rhetorician stepped to one side and tried to feel for the road on
all fours, but his hands kept ending up in fox holes. Everywhere there was
nothing but steppe where it seemed no one passed. The travelers made another
effort to move forward a bit, but everywhere was the same wilderness. The
philosopher tried shouting, but his voice was completely muffled on all
sides and met no response. Only a little later came a faint wailing that
resembled the howling of a wolf.
"Well, what do we do now?" said the philosopher.
"Why, we stay and spend the night in the fields!" said the theologian,
and he went to his pocket to get his tinderbox and light up his pipe again.
But the philosopher could not agree to that. He had always been in the habit
of packing away a ten-pound hunk of bread and some four pounds of lard
before going to bed and this time felt a sort of unbearable solitude in his
stomach. Besides, for all his merry disposition, the philosopher was
somewhat afraid of wolves.
"No, Khalyava, we can't," he said. "What, lie down and stretch out like
some dog without fortifying ourselves? Let's try again, maybe we'll happen
onto some dwelling and manage to get at least a glass of vodka for the
night."
At the word vodka the theologian spat to one side and observed:
"Sure, there's no point staying in the fields."
The students went on and, to their greatest joy, fancied they heard a
distant barking. Figuring out the direction, they listened, set off more
cheerfully and, after going a little further, saw a light.
"A farmstead! By God, a farmstead!" said the philosopher.
His anticipation did not disappoint him; in a short while they indeed
saw a small farmstead that consisted of just two cottages sharing the same
yard. There was light in the windows. A dozen plum trees stuck up by the
paling. Peeking through cracks in the boards of the gates, the students saw
a yard filled with ox carts. Just then stars appeared here and there in the
sky.
"Watch out, brothers, don't hang back! We must get a night's lodging at
all costs!"
The three learned men knocked at the gate with one accord and shouted:
"Open up!"
The door of one cottage creaked, and a minute later the students saw
before them an old woman in a sheepskin coat.