THE ELECTION MEETING
There were many men gathered in the little boy's house, for the time
of the zemstvo was drawing near, and the men of the village must
choose one of their number to go away to the large city which was
the capital of the district to help make laws for the district. That
is what the zemstvo is for. The noblemen go, of course, and every
village chooses one villager to go.
They met in the little boy's house to choose their delegate, partly
because the little boy's father was starosta, and partly because his
house was the largest. Though they were many, there was room for them
all on the bench of masonry that ran around the four walls of the room,
and was covered in the most honorable places with bright calico. It was
a very cold day, and the bench was as far as possible from the stove,
but they were not cold, for the chinks between the upright boards which
made the walls of the starosta's house were well stopped with tow,
and, besides, the men all had on their warm kaftans, or over-blouses,
and their fur-lined boots.
There was a great deal of talking, and the little boy's mother and
sisters were very busy with the samovar, making tea and handing it
round. They had to be very careful to keep the water in the samovar
boiling madly, for tea is not good unless it scalds your mouth. At
least so they think in the little boy's village.
The little boy had been told that he must keep very still; but it is
as hard to keep a little Russian boy still as a little American boy,
for both are very fond of play. The little boy did not find it amusing,
and presently he crept very quietly toward the door.
"Where are you going?" asked his mother.
"To see grandmamma," answered the little boy.
"Be careful not to disturb her; she is busy," said the mother.
The little boy ran quickly out of the room.
The grandmother was indeed busy. She had her short skirt turned back,
a short-handled broom of twigs in her hand, a great earthen jar of
water beside her, and she was hard at work scrubbing the floor.
"Wipe your feet very clean," she said, "and don't bring dirt upon my
nice floor."
The little boy wiped his feet very clean, and tiptoed across to the
stove. It was really quite amusing to watch his grandmother scrub,
especially when the water made little pools in the hollows, worn by
many years of walking over the clay floor, and she had to flirt it
out with little whisks of the broom. He watched her very quietly until
she had shaken out her broom and emptied the jar into a great tub in
the court. Then she came back and sank heavily into her chair, saying:
"Ouf! little grandmother is tired!"
"Too tired to spin, little grandma!" exclaimed the little boy eagerly.
The grandmother smiled. "But not too tired for a story--is that what
the little boy means?"
"Oh, you're not, you're not!" cried the little boy gleefully.
"Listen then, and I will tell you about
"THE FOX AND THE HEDGEHOG"
A Hedgehog met Master Reinecke in a field, and said to him, "Hello,
Master! Whither away?"
"Oh, I'm just loafing around!" answered the Fox.
"Tell me, now," said Reinecke after a while to the Hedgehog, "how
manifold is your understanding?"
"Threefold," answered the Hedgehog.
"Why, how is that?" asked the Fox.
"Why, you see, I have one sense above, one below, and the third
everywhere," replied the Hedgehog; and added, "And how manifold is
your understanding?"
"Oh, mine is seventy-sevenfold," answered the Fox.
"Well, well!" said the Hedgehog.
Thereupon they walked along through the fields, and so eagerly were
they talking that they gave no heed to the way, and presently stumbled
into a Wolf's den. Then was good counsel precious! How should they
ever get out of this scrape?
Said Reinecke to the Hedgehog, "Come now, search around in your
head-piece for a means of getting out of this pickle."
"I should have done that before," answered the Hedgehog, "but I
was afraid that by and by you would curse me. How shall I, a little
Hedgehog, with only a threefold understanding, devise anything better
than you, who have a seventy-sevenfold understanding?"
However, after talking back and forth a long time, the Hedgehog made
this suggestion, "Say, Reinecke, just seize me by the ear and throw
me up out of the den, because I am the smaller."
"Yes, but how shall I get out?"
"Oh, just stick up your tail and I will pull you out!"
So Reinecke seized the Hedgehog by the ear and tossed him up out
of the den. Then he called upon him to keep his word. "Hello there,
Gossip, now pull me out!"
"Do you know what," answered the Hedgehog, "I'll tell you something. I
have only a threefold understanding, and yet I found a way of
helping myself. Now do you help yourself with your seventy-sevenfold
understanding."
By this time a moujik came along, and finding the Fox in the den he
made short work with him. But the Hedgehog crept away through the
thicket with his threefold understanding, while Reinecke, with all
his seventy-sevenfold understanding, was carried off by the moujik.
"Reinecke was too proud of himself," said the little boy.
"It is a great sin to be proud," observed the grandmother. "The pop
said so on Sunday in church."
There was a pause. Then the little boy said coaxingly:
"You are tired yet, little grandmother!"
"It was a short story," replied the grandmother, patting the little
boy on the shoulder, "and grandmother is a little tired still. She
will tell you the story of
"MASTER REINECKE AND GOCKELING, THE COCK"
Once upon a time, Reinecke, the Fox, met Gockeling, the Cock, and
said to him, "Come, show me how your hens cackle!"
The Cock, quite willing, stretched out his neck and began to crow,
when in a trice Reinecke pounced upon him and seized him by the throat.
"O Reinecke!" cried the Cock, "first give thanks to God, who has sent
you so good a meal!"
And Reinecke fell into the Cock's trap, for he stood upon his hind
legs and began to give thanks. Quick as thought the Cock flew up into
the nearest tree, and cried to Reinecke:
"Well, cousin, how does my fresh meat taste?"
"That was very clever of the Cock," said the little boy. "But,
grandmother, I don't think that Fox belonged to our mir, for he was not
at all clever. He must have belonged to your mother's mother's mir."
"You are perfectly right," replied the grandmother. "That is a story
from her mir. And as it is a very short story, I shall tell you just
one more."
So the grandmother told the story of
THE DISAPPOINTED BEAR
Once upon a time a little old woman, who was walking in the forest,
climbed up into a wild-cherry tree to gather cherries. Now a Bear
espied her, and he came under the tree and cried, "Come down, old
woman, that I may eat you!"
"Go along with you!" answered the old woman. "Why should you eat a
scrawny old woman like me? Here, gnaw upon my shoe till I come down,
and I will take you to my house; I have two little children there,
named Janko and Mirko; they will make you a right savory dish. So
have patience till you get them."
So said the little old woman and threw down one of her shoes. Master
Petz gnawed and gnawed upon it, but the more he gnawed the hungrier
he grew. Greatly enraged, he screamed up to the old woman:
"Come down, you old wench, and let me eat you!"
"Just wait a little longer, till the old wench has gathered enough
cherries," she answered. "Here, gnaw this other shoe awhile; she'll
soon come down and show you the way to her house." So saying, she
threw down the other shoe.
When Petz found that the second shoe was no juicier than the first he
made no further effort, but contented himself with thinking of the
fat little children at the old woman's house. When she had gathered
cherries enough, down she came and went home, the Bear tramping along
behind her.
When they reached the house the old woman said, "I'll tell you what,
first let me give the children a good supper, that they may be all
the fatter; and meanwhile do you run about till evening to get up a
better appetite."
So Petz went away and ran about in the woods all the rest of the day,
and at evening he came back to the hut.
"Here I am, little mother!" he cried; "now bring out Janko and Mirko,
and see me polish them off. I am starving to death!"
"Oho!" answered the little old woman from within, "Janko has made the
door fast with bolts, and I have just put Mirko to sleep. I couldn't
think of waking him. And little mother is so old and weak that she
can't unbolt the door alone. Come some other day."
Then Master Petz perceived that he had been fooled, and he walked
reluctantly away, with drooping snout and an empty stomach.
"I'm glad he didn't get Janko and Mirko," said the little boy.