Collected Shorter Fiction, Volume 2

Elisha was neither rich nor poor. He had formerly gone out carpentering, but now that he was growing old he stayed at home and kept bees. One of his sons had gone away to find work, the other was living at home. Elisha was a kindly and cheerful old man. It is true he drank sometimes, and he took snuff, and was fond of singing; but he was a peaceable man, and lived on good terms with his family and with his neighbours. He was short and dark, with a curly beard, and, like his patron saint Elisha, he was quite bald-headed.

The two old men had taken a vow long since and had arranged to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem together: but Efím could never spare the time; he always had so much business on hand; as soon as one thing was finished he started another. First he had to arrange his grandson’s marriage; then to wait for his youngest son’s return from the army, and after that he began building a new hut.

One holiday the two old men met outside the hut and, sitting down on some timber, began to talk.

‘Well,’ asked Elisha, ‘when are we to fulfil our vow?’

Efím made a wry face.

‘We must wait,’ he said. ‘This year has turned out a hard one for me. I started building this hut thinking it would cost me something over a hundred rubles, but now it’s getting on for three hundred and it’s still not finished. We shall have to wait till the summer. In summer, God willing, we will go without fail.’

‘It seems to me we ought not to put it off, but should go at once,’ said Elisha. ‘Spring is the best time.’

‘The time’s right enough, but what about my building? How can I leave that?’

‘As if you had no one to leave in charge! Your son can look after it.’

‘But how? My eldest son is not trustworthy – he sometimes takes a glass too much.’

‘Ah, neighbour, when we die they’ll get on without us. Let your son begin now to get some experience.’

‘That’s true enough; but somehow when one begins a thing one likes to see it done.’

‘Eh, friend, we can never get through all we have to do. The other day the women-folk at home were washing and house-cleaning for Easter. Here something needed doing, there something else, and they could not get everything done. So my eldest daughter-in-law, who’s a sensible woman, says: “We may be thankful the holiday comes without waiting for us, or however hard we worked we should never be ready for it.” ’

Efím became thoughtful.

‘I’ve spent a lot of money on this building,’ he said, ‘and one can’t start on the journey with empty pockets. We shall want a hundred rubles apiece – and it’s no small sum.’

Elisha laughed.

‘Now, come, come, old friend!’ he said, ‘you have ten times as much as I, and yet you talk about money. Only say when we are to start, and though I have nothing now I shall have enough by then.’

Efím also smiled.

‘Dear me, I did not know you were so rich!’ said he. ‘Why, where will you get it from?’

‘I can scrape some together at home, and if that’s not enough, I’ll sell half a score of hives to my neighbour. He’s long been wanting to buy them.’

‘If they swarm well this year, you’ll regret it.’

‘Regret it! Not I, neighbour! I never regretted anything in my life, except my sins. There’s nothing more precious than the soul.’

‘That’s so; still it’s not right to neglect things at home.’

‘But what if our souls are neglected? That’s worse. We took the vow, so let us go! Now, seriously, let us go!’

II

ELISHA succeeded in persuading his comrade. In the morning, after thinking it well over, Efím came to Elisha.

‘You are right,’ said he, ‘let us go. Life and death are in God’s hands. We must go now, while we are still alive and have the strength.’

A week later the old men were ready to start. Efím had money enough at hand. He took a hundred rubles himself, and left two hundred with his wife.

Elisha, too, got ready. He sold ten hives to his neighbour, with any new swarms that might come from them before the summer. He took seventy rubles for the lot. The rest of the hundred rubles he scraped together from the other members of his household, fairly clearing them all out. His wife gave him all she had been saving up for her funeral; and his daughter-in-law also gave him what she had.

Efím gave his eldest son definite orders about everything: when and how much grass to mow, where to cart the manure, and how to finish off and roof the cottage. He thought out everything, and gave his orders accordingly. Elisha, on the other hand, only explained to his wife that she was to keep separate the swarms from the hives he had sold, and to be sure to let the neighbour have them all, without any tricks. As to household affairs, he did not even mention them.

‘You will see what to do and how to do it, as the needs arise,’ he said. ‘You are the masters, and will know how to do what’s best for yourselves.’