KHATUNA. THE GIRL WITH THE DOLL

The sarafan was really beautiful. It was made of red chintz, decorated with white patterns, embroidered with colored braid and beads. Nazar estimated how much money he still had left, looked at his daughter, sighed heavily, and went to the tradeswoman.

«Good day! What price do you ask for such a sarafan?» Nazar asked the owner of the goods.

«Six rubles, but this was the last one. I’ll bring the same one back only in two weeks,» the saleswoman chattered. «Right now I can offer a few other cuts and colors. It will be cheaper, but without beads and braid.»

«Well, Ulyana, we’ll have to wait two weeks,» Nazar said, stroking his daughter on the head.

Ulyana’s face turned red, grimaced, and bitter tears flowed down her cheeks.

«I don’t want to wait so long!» he girl sobbed.

Not wanting to lose a client, the tradeswoman quickly figured out what to do.

«I live in Nikolina Balka, ten versts from here. At home, I have the same sarafan of the appropriate size. So if you decide, come tomorrow. So be it, I’ll give it to you for five rubles.»

«Well, what can I do,» Nazar sighed. «I have to please my daughter. I’ll come to you tomorrow for a sarafan by noon.»

Having made an agreement with the tradeswoman, the blacksmith got into the cart with his daughter and headed home.

CHAPTER 3. A MEETING

By noon the next day, Nazar, as promised, arrived to Nikolina Balka and bought a gift from the tradeswoman promised to his daughter. But on the way back, something unexpected happened: when leaving the village, the cart suddenly creaked strongly, and then a wheel fell off. Nazar had to spend a lot of time repairing the damage. When at last everything was fixed, he, being late, set off again. Despite the unfortunate incident, Nazar rode along the deserted road in high spirits, whistling and singing a Cossack song. It seemed that the whole steppe around him was singing along with its chirping of birds and the chirping of crickets hiding in the tall grass, which swayed slightly in the light steppe wind. Carried away by the road, Nazar did not immediately notice how dusk had fallen. The birds stopped singing. And almost in the middle of the way, near the hills, in a deserted area, a strong wind suddenly arose, driving from nowhere black heavy thunderclouds. Lightning flashed – and in a few seconds the rainfall began to fall. The horse whinnied in fright and rushed forward.

Suddenly Nazar noticed that a pack of wolves was rapidly approaching him from the side of the hills from a wooded gully. These wolves were almost twice the size of those whom he had ever seen in his life. Their fur stood on end, their eyes, bloodshot, glowed in the dark with bright red lights, and huge fangs were visible from their grinning mouths with tongues hanging to one side. Nazar stood up in the cart at full height and with his hands trembling with fear and horror began to shake the reins and shout to the horse:

«Well, come on, honey, help me out! Faster! Faster! Please! Take me out of here! Do not let die a cruel death!»

The horse, as if understanding its master, galloped as fast as it could, snorting its nostrils and uttering a wheezing sound. The wolves, having caught up with the wagon and ominously clicking their teeth, tried to surround it on both sides. Nazar’s life flashed through his head, he remembered his wife and children who could be left without him. Fear seemed to intoxicate and deafen him. Nazar no longer even looked back at the wolves. In front of him he saw only a horse rushing forward and heard the beating of his heart, which was sometimes drowned out by the sound of the hooves of a faithful friend rushing in terror. Already almost resigned to his terrible fate, the blacksmith caught himself thinking that he was still alive. Nazar turned back and found that those wolves were gone. He was filled with joy. Exhaling a sigh of relief, he slowed down the horse’s pace, but still felt his heart pounding and tearing from his chest.

After riding a little more, Nazar noticed in the darkness away from the road, in a clearing by the hills, illuminated by the gentle light of the moon, the outlines of the figure of a little girl sitting on a wet stone. He jumped off the cart and walked up to her, making his way through the thicket of low-growing bushes. The seemingly stranger with large brown eyes and thick black hair, carelessly gathered in a braid and hidden under a kerchief, was about seven years old. Her clothes were soaking wet from the rain. The girl looked at him from under her brows with an adult serious look, tightly clutching a beautiful doll with unusually expressive eyes, similar to the little owner herself.

«Where are you from, girl? Whose are you?» Nazar asked the little girl.

«I’m from here,» the girl said in a hoarse voice that sounded like an adult, while continuing to stare at Nazar with an attentive and, as it seemed to him, incredulously evil gaze. He even doubted for a moment that this was a child. The girl, as if noticing this doubt in him, suddenly smiled and quickly changed her expression to a really childlike and naive one.

«What are you doing here?» Nazar asked.

In response, the little stranger suddenly whimpered and, wiping her tears with her hands, continued, «I’m an orphan. My father and mother died. I live here in the forest, in a big hollow in a tree. I eat what I can find. It’s hard for me, Sir. Take me with you, or I’ll be lost here.»

Seeing her plaintive and questioning expression in her eyes, Nazar shuddered in his heart. He remembered what had just happened to him, and he could not leave a defenseless girl at night in such inclement weather on a deserted wasteland to certain death. The blacksmith took the orphan in his arms, carried her to his cart, wrapped her in an old blanket, and hurried home.

A worried wife with children met him near the yard. She held a kerosene lamp in her hand, peering into the darkness of the road running down the hill. Noticing her husband, Galina exclaimed, «Nazarushka! Where have you been for so long? We searched for you a long time. All eyes have overlooked… Oh, my God! Who is this? What miracle is this?» she asked Nazar in surprise when she saw the girl.

«I got very wet, Galya. Let’s go to the hut. I’ll tell you everything there,» he answered in a tired voice.

In the house Galina pulled out the dry clothes of her daughters from the chest, helped the stranger soaked through to change, and then quickly put food on the table.

At dinner Nazar told everything that happened to him – both about the wolves and about the girl. The orphan, having seated her doll next to him on a chair, silently and with great appetite devoured the food that was put on the plate by the caring hostess.

«What is your name, girl?» Nazar asked.

«Pelageya,» the girl muttered with a displeased look, furrowing her eyebrows.

«Call us dad and mom. Now we will be your parents. We have two daughters, and we will raise a third. Maybe there will be enough food for everyone,» the artisan continued, glancing at his wife.

Suddenly Vasilisa, Nazar’s youngest daughter, jumped up from the table and ran to the doll sitting next to the girl.

«Oh, what a beauty!» she exclaimed, approaching the toy. «And what eyes!»

Ulyana, who at this time was spinning in front of the mirror, holding a sarafan brought by Nazar, was also interested in the doll. The girl put the new thing aside, intending to go closer to the unusual toy, but immediately stopped, startled by the unexpected scream of the little guest.

«Don’t you dare touch my doll!» Pelageya shouted in some kind of animal-like wild voice and, like a fierce cat, rushed to her thing, snatching it from Vasilisa’s hands. Shrinking and clutching the doll tightly to her chest, Pelageya cast an evil glance from under her brows towards Nazar and Galina, who were stunned and surprised by her action.

«Well, it’s getting late. It’s time to go to bed. We have to get up early tomorrow. There is a lot of work to be done at home and in the household,» yawning, Nazar said after a silent pause.

Ulyana went up to the girl and took her hand: «Let’s go, Pelageyushka! Vasilisa and I will show you our children’s bedchamber. There’s room for everyone. We also have dolls there. And other toys.»

Pelageya, as if cautiously, continuing to hold the doll tightly to her, followed Ulyana. But on the threshold to the girls’ room, she suddenly stood rooted to the spot, staring at the icon with a candle, standing in the corner on a shelf nailed to the wall. Despite the persuasion of the sisters, Pelageya never entered the room. Noticing in the hut another small room with a small window and looking at it with a cursory glance, she turned to Nazar and, with a fake smile, asked him in some pretextual sweet voice, «Daddy, will you give me this little room? It would be more comfortable for me to live in.»

«Well, take it, since you like it so much,» he answered with a surprised face and ordered Galina to make a bed for Pelageya.

Tired and exhausted after a hard day, Nazar retired to his room and within a quarter of an hour began to snore, falling into a deep and unbroken sleep. His wife, meanwhile, put the girls to bed, poured milk into a bowl for the cat and then checked whether the front door was locked with an iron bar for the night. When she was done, she went to bed, too.

Around midnight, Galina suddenly woke up to the feeling that someone pulled the door leading to the bedroom, which was locked on a hook. At first, she thought that perhaps she was just dreaming, but nevertheless she was wary and decided to postpone sleep, listening to the silence, which was broken only by the singing of crickets outside the window and snoring of Nazar sleeping next to her.

Some time has passed. Nothing was happening. Galina already wanted to fall asleep again, but suddenly she heard a wolf howl in the hills and in the window which was looking over the fence, she noticed something flashed, for a moment, blocking the moonlight, which slightly illuminated the dark room.

«Probably a night bird. But somehow today wolves are howling unusually close to home,» she thought, drawing attention to the rare, quiet, but agitated neigh of the horse in the stable.

Suddenly, behind the door, there was a creak of a wooden floor, a rustle and a strange sound, similar to a whisper, which was suddenly interrupted by the hiss and growl of the house cat. Concerned about her children sleeping in the next room, Galina decided to go out and see what was happening there. She lit a kerosene lamp, quietly walked to the door and, listening, opened it. First of all, Galina hurried to her daughters: she pulled the door handle, but realized that the girls had locked themselves on a hook from the inside. Then she quietly entered Pelageya’s room – the girl was sleeping peacefully in an embrace with a doll, her face turned to the wall. After checking the locks on the front door again, Galina calmed down a bit and returned to the bedroom. All night long she did not close her eyes, and only at dawn, with the beginning of the crowing of the roosters, she managed to fall asleep.

CHAPTER 4. AN INCIDENT ON THE MOUNTAIN

In the morning, the whole family gathered at the table for breakfast.

«Mom, did you hear how loudly and close the wolves howled last night? Vasilisa and I became scared, we even locked our door on the hook,» said Ulyana.

«Yes, I heard. It’s really too close. Probably, there is little game in the hills and steppe. They want to eat. It’s right that you and Vasilisa locked yourself in just in case. From now on, lock the door on the hook every night,» Galina answered, casting a glance at Pelageya, who was sitting with tousled hair and eating a bagel, washing it down with milk, while clumsily and childishly staining her mouth and clothes.

«A child is a child,» thought Galina, smiling slightly, trying to extinguish her anxiety and doubts.

«Mommy, can we go to the village to Nikolka with Varya today? Their father was supposed to arrive from Stavropol yesterday with a wagon train. He promised them goodies and gifts of all kinds from there to bring. Ulyana and I are very curious to look at them. And we will take Pelageyushka with us, let her also be friends with our friends,» Vasilisa turned to her mother.

Galina, seeing Nazar’s approving look, allowed the girls to visit the village, but first asked to help her with the household – to milk the goats and feed the chickens. When the children went out into the yard and walked towards the goat pen, the animals began to behave unexpectedly agitated. As if frightened of something, they ran into a heap on the opposite side at the wall of the barn and began to watch Pelageya warily.

«Strangely. This is not good,» Galina thought to herself. «How many times have people been here, but they have never looked at anyone so frightened before… Well, come on,» she said to the girls, «go to Nikolka and Varya now. I’ll milk the goats myself.»

…Having invited guests to the house, Varya’s and Nikolka’s mother sat all the children at the table, gave them tea with cheesecakes and distributed colorful lollipops brought by her husband from Stavropol, cast in the shape of fir-trees, towers and figures of various animals.