A MALEFACTOR
by Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)
translated by Constance Garnett
"Denis Grigoryev!" the magistrate begins. "Come nearer, and answer my questions. On the seventh of this July the railway watchman, Ivan Semyonovitch Akinfov, going along the line in the morning, found you at the hundred-and-forty-first mile engaged in unscrewing a nut by which the rails are made fast to the sleepers. Here it is, the nut! . . . With the aforesaid nut he detained you. Was that so?"
"Wha-at?"
"Was this all as Akinfov states?"
"To be sure, it was."
"Very good; well, what were you unscrewing the nut for?"
"Wha-at?"
"Drop that 'wha-at' and answer the question; what were you unscrewing the nut for?"
"If I hadn't wanted it I shouldn't have unscrewed it," croaks Denis, looking at the ceiling.
"What did you want that nut for?"
"The nut? We make weights out of those nuts for our lines."
"Who is 'we'?"
"We, people. . . . The Klimovo peasants, that is."
"Listen, my man; don't play the idiot to me, but speak sensibly. It's no use telling lies here about weights!"
"I've never been a liar from a child, and now I'm telling lies . . ." mutters Denis, blinking. "But can you do without a weight, your honour? If you put live bait or maggots on a hook, would it go to the bottom without a weight? . . . I am telling lies," grins Denis. . . . "What the devil is the use of the worm if it swims on the surface! The perch and the pike and the eel-pout always go to the bottom, and a bait on the surface is only taken by a shillisper, not very often then, and there are no shillispers in our river. . . . That fish likes plenty of room."
"Why are you telling me about shillispers?"
"Wha-at? Why, you asked me yourself! The gentry catch fish that way too in our parts. The silliest little boy would not try to catch a fish without a weight. Of course anyone who did not understand might go to fish without a weight. There is no rule for a fool."
"So you say you unscrewed this nut to make a weight for your fishing line out of it?"
"What else for? It wasn't to play knuckle-bones1 with!"
"But you might have taken lead, a bullet . . . a nail of some sort. . . ."
"You don't pick up lead in the road, you have to buy it, and a nail's no good. You can't find anything better than a nut. . . . It's heavy, and there's a hole in it."
"He keeps pretending to be a fool! as though he'd been born yesterday or dropped from heaven! Don't you understand, you blockhead, what unscrewing these nuts leads to? If the watchman had not noticed it the train might have run off the rails, people would have been killed -- you would have killed people."
"God forbid, your honour! What should I kill them for? Are we heathens or wicked people? Thank God, good gentlemen, we have lived all our lives without ever dreaming of such a thing. . . . Save, and have mercy on us, Queen of Heaven! . . . What are you saying?"
"And what do you suppose railway accidents do come from? Unscrew two or three nuts and you have an accident."
Denis grins, and screws up his eye at the magistrate incredulously.
"Why! how many years have we all in the village been unscrewing nuts, and the Lord has been merciful; and you talk of accidents, killing people. If I had carried away a rail or put a log across the line, say, then maybe it might have upset the train, but. . . pouf! a nut!"
"But you must understand that the nut holds the rail fast to the sleepers!"
"We understand that. . . . We don't unscrew them all . . . we leave some. . . . We don't do it thoughtlessly . . . we understand. . . ."
Denis yawns and makes the sign of the cross over his mouth.2
"Last year the train went off the rails here," says the magistrate. "Now I see why!"
"What do you say, your honour?"
"I am telling you that now I see why the train went off the rails last year. . . . I understand!"
"That's what you are educated people for, to understand, you kind gentlemen. The Lord knows to whom to give understanding. . . . Here you have reasoned how and what, but the watchman, a peasant like ourselves, with no understanding at all, catches one by the collar and hauls one along. . . . You should reason first and then haul me off. It's a saying that a peasant has a peasant's wit. . . . Write down, too, your honour, that he hit me twice -- in the jaw and in the chest."
"When your hut was searched they found another nut. . . . At what spot did you unscrew that, and when?"
"You mean the nut which lay under the red box?"
"I don't know where it was lying, only it was found. When did you unscrew it?"
"I didn't unscrew it; Ignashka, the son of one-eyed Semyon3, gave it me. I mean the one which was under the box, but the one which was in the sledge in the yard Mitrofan and I unscrewed together."
"What Mitrofan?"
"Mitrofan Petrov. . . . Haven't you heard of him? He makes nets in our village and sells them to the gentry. He needs a lot of those nuts. Reckon a matter of ten for each net."
"Listen. Article 1081 of the Penal Code lays down that every wilful damage of the railway line committed when it can expose the traffic on that line to danger, and the guilty party knows that an accident must be caused by it . . . (Do you understand? Knows! And you could not help knowing what this unscrewing would lead to . . .) is liable to penal servitude."
"Of course, you know best. . . . We are ignorant people. . . . What do we understand?"
"You understand all about it! You are lying, shamming!"
"What should I lie for? Ask in the village if you don't believe me. Only a bleak is caught without a weight, and there is no fish worse than a gudgeon, yet even that won't bite without a weight."
"You'd better tell me about the shillisper next," said the magistrate, smiling.
"There are no shillispers in our parts. . . . We cast our line without a weight on the top of the water with a butterfly; a mullet may be caught that way, though that is not often."
"Come, hold your tongue."
A silence follows. Denis shifts from one foot to the other, looks at the table with the green cloth on it, and blinks his eyes as though what was before him was not the cloth but the sun. The magistrate writes rapidly.
"Can I go?" asks Denis after a long silence.
"No. I must take you under guard and send you to prison."
Denis leaves off blinking and, raising his thick eyebrows, looks inquiringly at the magistrate.
"How do you mean, to prison? Your honour! I have no time to spare, I must go to the fair; I must get three roubles from Yegor for some tallow! . . ."
"Hold your tongue; don't interrupt."
"To prison. . . . If there was something to go for, I'd go; but just to go for nothing! What for? I haven't stolen anything, I believe, and I've not been fighting. . . . If you are in doubt about the arrears, your honour, don't believe the elder. . . . You ask the agent . . . he's a regular heathen, the elder, you know."
"Hold your tongue."
I am holding my tongue, as it is," mutters Denis; "but that the elder has lied over the account4, I'll take my oath for it. . . . There are three of us brothers: Kuzma Grigoryev, then Yegor Grigoryev, and me, Denis Grigoryev."
"You are hindering me. . . . Hey, Semyon," cries the magistrate, "take him away!"
"There are three of us brothers," mutters Denis, as two stalwart soldiers take him and lead him out of the room. "A brother is not responsible for a brother. Kuzma does not pay, so you, Denis, must answer for it. . . . Judges indeed! Our master the general is dead -- the Kingdom of Heaven be his -- or he would have shown you judges. . . . You ought to judge sensibly, not at random. . . . Flog if you like, but flog someone who deserves it, flog with conscience."
NOTES
1knuckle-bones: a game where players throw sticks at a pattern made of knuckle-bones
2mouth: superstitious gesture to keep the devil from entering his mouth
3one-eyed Semyon: typical Russian peasant nickname
4account: the list of those who did and did not pay taxes
THE MALEFACTOR
by Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)
translated by Marian Fell
"Denis Grigorieff," began the magistrate, "come nearer and answer my questions. While patrolling the track on the seventh of last July, Ivan Akinfoff, the railroad watchman, found you at the one hundred and forty-first verst unscrewing one of the nuts that fasten the rails to the ties. Here is the nut you had when he arrested you. Is this true?"
"What's that?"
"Did everything happen as Akinfoff reports?"
"Yes, just as he reports."
"Very well. Now, what was your object in unscrewing that nut?"
"What's that?"
"Stop your 'What's that?' and answer my question; why did you unscrew that nut?"
"If I hadn't needed the nut I wouldn't have unscrewed it," grunted Denis, glancing at the ceiling.
"What did you need it for?"
"What for? We make sinkers out of nuts."
"Whom do you mean by 'we'?"
"We -- the people, the peasants of Klimoff."
"Look here, man, no playing the idiot! Talk sense, and don't lie to me about sinkers!"
"I never lied in my life," muttered Denis, blinking. "How can one possibly fish without sinkers, your honour? If you baited your hook with a shiner or a roach, do you think it would sink to the bottom without a sinker? You tell me I am lying!" laughed Denis. "A fine bait a shiner would make, floating on the top of the water! Bass and pike and eels always take ground bait; a floating bait would only be taken by a garfish, and they won't often take it. Anyway, we haven't any garfish in our river; they like the open."
"Why are you talking to me about garfish?"
"What's that? Didn't you ask me about fishing? All the gentlemen with us fish like that. The smallest boy knows more than to fish without a sinker. Of course, there are some people who don't know anything, and they go fishing without sinkers. Fools obey no laws."
"So you tell me you unscrewed this nut to use as a weight?"
"What else should I have unscrewed it for? To play knuckle-bones with?"
"But you might have made a weight out of a piece of lead or a bullet or a nail or something."
"Lead does not grow on every bush; it has to be bought; and a nail wouldn't do. There is nothing so good to make a weight of as a nut. It is heavy and has a hole in it."
"What a fool he is pretending to be! You act as if you were one day old or had just dropped from the clouds. Don't you see, you donkey, what the consequences of this unscrewing must be? If the watchman hadn't found you, one of the trains might have run off the track and killed everybody, and you would have killed them!"
"God forbid, your honour! Do you think we are wicked heathen? Praise be to God, kind master, not only have we never killed anybody, we have never even thought of it! Holy Mother preserve us and have mercy upon us! How can you say such things?"
Denis smirked and winked incredulously at the magistrate. "Huh! For how many years has the whole village been unscrewing nuts, and not an accident yet? If I were to carry a rail away, or even to put a log across the track, then, perhaps, the train might upset, but, Lord! a nut -- pooh!"
"But can't you understand that the nuts fasten the rails to the ties?"
"Yes, we understand that, and so we don't unscrew them all; we always leave some; we do it carefully; we understand."
Denis yawned and made the sign of the cross over his mouth.
"A train ran off the track not far from here last year," said the magistrate. "Now I know why."
"What did you say?"
"Now, I say, I know why that train ran off the track last year."
"Yes; you have been educated to know these things, kind master; you can understand just why everything is; but that watchman is a peasant who doesn't know anything; he just grabbed me by the coat collar and dragged me away. One ought to judge first and drag afterward. But a peasant has the sense of a peasant. You might write down, your honour, that he hit me twice -- in the mouth and in the chest."
"Another nut was found when your house was searched. Where did you unscrew that one, and when?"
"Do you mean the nut that was lying under the little red chest?"
"I haven't any idea where it was lying, but it was found. Where did you unscrew it?"
"I didn't unscrew it; it was given to me by Ignashka, the son of one-eyed Simon. That is, I am speaking of the nut under the little chest; the one in the sleigh in the courtyard, Mitrofan and I unscrewed together."
"Which Mitrofan?"
"Mitrofan Petroff. Haven't you heard of him? He's the man that makes fishing-nets and sells them to the gentlemen. He needs a lot of nuts in his business -- a dozen to every net."
"Listen! In Article 1081 of the Code it says that 'Whoever intentionally commits an act of injury to a railroad, whereby an accident might result to the trains, and who knows that such an accident might result' -- do you hear that? 'who knows' -- 'shall be severely punished.' You could not but have known what this unscrewing would lead to. The sentence is exile and hard labour."
"Of course, you know that better than I do. We people live in darkness. How can we know such things?"
"You know all about it perfectly well. You are lying and shamming ignorance."
"Why should I lie? Ask anybody in the village if you don't believe me. They never catch a thing but roach without a sinker; even gudgeons hardly ever bite unless you use one."
"Now you are going to begin on those garfish again!" smiled the magistrate.
"We don't have garfish in our river. If we let the bait float on the top without a sinker we sometimes catch a perch, but not often."
"Oh, stop talking!"
Silence fell. Denis stood first on one leg and then on the other and stared at the table, winking rapidly as if he saw the sun before his eyes and not a green table-cover. The magistrate was writing quickly.
"I shall have to arrest you and send you to prison."
Denis stopped winking, raised his heavy eyebrows, and looked inquiringly at the magistrate.
"How do you mean -- to prison? Your honour, I haven't time! I have to go to the fair to collect the three roubles that Gregory owes me for tallow."
"Stop talking! Don't interrupt!"
"To prison! If there was any reason, of course I'd go, but, living as I do -- what is it for? I haven't robbed any one; I haven't even been fighting. If it's the payment of my rent you are thinking about, you mustn't believe what the bailiff says, your honour. Ask any one of the gentlemen; that bailiff is a thief, sir!"
"Stop talking!"
"I'll stop," mumbled Denis. "All the same, I'll swear under oath that the bailiff has muddled his books. There are three brothers in our family -- Kuzma and Gregory and I -- "
"You are interrupting me. Here, Simon!" called the magistrate, "take this man away."
"There are three brothers in our family," murmured Denis as two strapping soldiers took hold of him and led him out of the room. "I can't be responsible for my brother. Kuzma won't pay his debts, and I, Denis, have to suffer! You call yourselves judges! If our old master, the general, were alive he would teach you judges your business. You ought to be reasonable, and not condemn so wildly. Flog a man if he deserves it -- "