Kuzma Vassilyevitch saw just before his own face the
hooked nose, the thick moustache and the piercing
eyes of the stranger with the three buttons on his
cuff ... and although the eyes were in the place of
the moustache and the nose itself seemed upside down,
Kuzma Vassilyevitch was not in the least surprised,
but, on the contrary, thought that this was how it
ought to be; he was even on the point of saying to
the nose, “Hullo, brother Grigory,” but
he changed his mind and preferred ... preferred to
set off with Colibri to Constantinople at once for
their forthcoming wedding, as she was a Turk and the
Tsar promoted him to be an actual Turk.
XXII
And opportunely a little boat appeared: he lifted
his foot to get into it and though through clumsiness
he stumbled and hurt himself rather badly, so that
for some time he did not know where anything was, yet
he managed it and getting into the boat, floated on
the big river, which, as the River of Time, flows
to Constantinople in the map on the walls of the Nikolaevsky
High School. With great satisfaction he floated
down the river and watched a number of red ducks which
continually met him; they would not let him come near
them, however, and, diving, changed into round, pink
spots. And Colibri was going with him, too, but
to escape the sultry heat she hid, under the boat
and from time to time knocked on the bottom of it....
And here at last was Constantinople. The houses,
as houses should, looked like Tyrolese hats; and the
Turks had all big, sedate faces; only it did not do
to look at them too long: they began wriggling,
making faces and at last melted away altogether like
thawing snow. And here was the palace in which
he would live with Colibri.... And how well everything
was arranged in it! Walls with generals’
gold lace on it, everywhere epaulettes, people blowing
trumpets in the corners and one could float into the
drawing-room in the boat. Of course, there was
a portrait of Mahomet.... Only Colibri kept running
ahead through the rooms and her plaits trailed after
her on the floor and she would not turn round, and
she kept growing smaller and smaller.... And now
it was not Colibri but a boy in a jacket and he was
the boy’s tutor and he had to climb after the
boy into a telescope, and the telescope got narrower
and narrower, till at last he could not move ... neither
backwards nor forwards, and something fell on his
back ... there was earth in his mouth.
XXIII
Kuzma Vassilyevitch opened his eyes. It was daylight
and everything was still ... there was a smell of
vinegar and mint. Above him and at his sides
there was something white; he looked more intently:
it was the canopy of a bed. He wanted to raise
his head ... he could not; his hand ... he could not
do that, either. What was the meaning of it?
He dropped his eyes.... A long body lay stretched
Copyrights
Knock, Knock, Knock and Other Stories from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
