Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Sleepy Stories. I'm your host, Lucy,
Speaker 1: and my friends and I will be reading you a
Speaker 1: sleepy bedtime story every week to relax you and to
Speaker 1: help you to drift off into a RESTful sleep. From
Speaker 1: time to time, we will also read you a relaxing,
Speaker 1: peaceful meditation that will take you somewhere beautiful and calming.
Speaker 1: Once we have read the stories, we will then read
Speaker 1: them a second time, but this time they will be
Speaker 1: ready even slower. This will help you to relax even more.
Speaker 1: Before we begin, I would like you to close your
Speaker 1: eyes and breathe in and out nice and deeply. Take
Speaker 1: a few seconds to inhale, and then hold your breath
Speaker 1: for a few seconds more, and then release and breathe out.
Speaker 1: Do this a few times if you need to, while
Speaker 1: you listen to the music and you listen to my voice,
Speaker 1: give yourself time to let your body relax and your
Speaker 1: mind settle. It's important that we allow time for us
Speaker 1: to feel safe, cozy, and completely at ease. And now
Speaker 1: it's time for this week's story.
Speaker 2: The Shoemaker and the Devil. It was Christmas Eve. Marya
Speaker 2: had long been snoring on the stove all the paraffin
Speaker 2: in the little lamp had burnt out, but Fyodor Nilov
Speaker 2: still sat at work. He would long ago have flung
Speaker 2: aside his work and gone out into the street. But
Speaker 2: a customer from kolakology Lean, who had a fortnight before
Speaker 2: ordered some boots had been in the previous day, had
Speaker 2: abused him roundly and had ordered him to finish the
Speaker 2: boots at once before the morning service. It's a convict's life,
Speaker 2: Feudora grumbled as he worked. Some people have been asleep
Speaker 2: long ago. Others are enjoying themselves while you sit here
Speaker 2: like some caine and sow for the devil knows whom.
Speaker 2: To save himself from accidentally falling asleep, he kept taking
Speaker 2: a bottle from under the table and drinking out of it,
Speaker 2: and after every pull at it, he twisted his head
Speaker 2: and said aloud, what is the reason? Kindly tell me
Speaker 2: that customers enjoy themselves while I am forced to sit
Speaker 2: and work for them because they have money and I
Speaker 2: am a beggar. He hated all his customers, especially the
Speaker 2: one who lived on in Colcomne Lane. He was a
Speaker 2: gentleman of gloomy appearance, with long hair, a yellow face,
Speaker 2: blue spectacles, and a husky voice. He had a German
Speaker 2: name which one could not pronounce. It was impossible to
Speaker 2: tell what was his calling and what he did. When
Speaker 2: a fortnight before Feodor had gone to take his measure,
Speaker 2: he the customer was sitting on the floor pounding something
Speaker 2: in a mortar. Before Feodor had time to say good morning,
Speaker 2: the contents of the mortar suddenly flared up and burned
Speaker 2: with a bright red flame. There was a stink of
Speaker 2: sulfur and burnt feathers, and the room was filled with
Speaker 2: a thick, pink sar smoke, so that Fyodor sneezed five times.
Speaker 2: And as he returned home afterwards, he thought anyone who
Speaker 2: feared God would not have anything to do with things
Speaker 2: like that. When there was nothing left in the bottle,
Speaker 2: Fyodor put the boots on the table and sank into thought.
Speaker 2: He leaned his heavy head on his fist and began
Speaker 2: thinking of his poverty, of his hard life with no
Speaker 2: glimmer of light in it. Then he thought of the rich,
Speaker 2: of their big houses, and their carriages, of their hundred
Speaker 2: rouble notes. How nice it would be if the houses
Speaker 2: of these rich men, the devil flay them, were smashed,
Speaker 2: If their horses died, if their fur coats and sable
Speaker 2: cats got shabby, How splendid it would be if they're rich,
Speaker 2: little by little changed into beggars, having nothing, and he,
Speaker 2: a poor shoemaker, were to become rich and were to
Speaker 2: lord it over some other poor shoemaker. On Christmas Eve,
Speaker 2: dreaming like this, Fyodor suddenly thought of his work and
Speaker 2: opened his eyes. Here's a go, he thought, looking at
Speaker 2: the boots. The job has been finished ever so long ago,
Speaker 2: and I go on sitting here. I must take the
Speaker 2: boots to the gentleman. He wrapped up the work in
Speaker 2: a red handkerchief, put on his things, and went out
Speaker 2: into the street. A fine, hard snow was falling, pricking
Speaker 2: the face as though with needles. It was cold, slippery, dark.
Speaker 2: The gas lamps burned dimly, and for some reason there
Speaker 2: was a smell of paraffin in the street, so that
Speaker 2: Fyodor coughed and cleared his throat. Rich men were driving
Speaker 2: to and fro on the road, and every rich man
Speaker 2: had a ham and a bottle of vodka in his hands.
Speaker 2: Rich young ladies peeped at Fyodor out of the carriages
Speaker 2: and sledges, put out their tongues and shouted laughing. Beggar
Speaker 2: beggar Students, officers and merchants walked behind Fyodor, jeering at
Speaker 2: him and crying, drunkard, drunkard, infidel cobbler, soul of a
Speaker 2: boot leg beggar. All of this was insulting, but Fyodor
Speaker 2: held his tongue and only spat in disgust. But when
Speaker 2: Kuzma Leboydkin from Warsaw, a master boot maker, met him
Speaker 2: and said I've married a rich woman and I have
Speaker 2: men working under me, while you are a beggar and
Speaker 2: have nothing to eat, Feodor could not refrain from running
Speaker 2: after him. He pursued him till he found himself in
Speaker 2: col Cooney Lane. His customer lived in the fourth house
Speaker 2: from the corner, on the very top floor. To reach him,
Speaker 2: one had to go through a long, dark courtyard and
Speaker 2: then to climb up a very high, slippery staircase, which
Speaker 2: tottered under one's feet. When Feodor went into him, he
Speaker 2: was sitting on the floor pounding something in a mortar,
Speaker 2: just as he had been the fortnight before. Your honor,
Speaker 2: I have brought your boots, said Fyodor sullenly. The customer
Speaker 2: got up and began trying on the boots in silence.
Speaker 2: Desiring to help him, Fyodor went down on one knee
Speaker 2: and pulled off his old boot, but at once jumped
Speaker 2: up and staggered toward the door in horror. The customer
Speaker 2: had not a foot, but a hoof like a horse's. Aha,
Speaker 2: thought Fyodor years ago. The first thing should have been
Speaker 2: to cross himself, then to leave everything and run downstairs.
Speaker 2: But he immediately reflected that he was meeting a devil
Speaker 2: for the first time, for the first and probably the
Speaker 2: last time, and not to take advantage of his services
Speaker 2: would be foolish. He controlled himself and determined to try
Speaker 2: his luck. Clasping his hands behind him to avoid making
Speaker 2: the sign of the cross, he coughed respectfully and began.
Speaker 2: They say, there is nothing on earth more evil and
Speaker 2: impurer than the devil. But I am of the opinion,
Speaker 2: your honor, that the devil is highly educated. He has,
Speaker 2: excuse my saying it, hoofs and a tail behind, but
Speaker 2: he has more brains than many a student. I like
Speaker 2: you for what you say, said the devil, flattered. Thank you, shoemaker,
Speaker 2: what do you want? And without loss of time, the
Speaker 2: shoemaker began complaining of his luck. He began by saying
Speaker 2: that from his childhood up he had envied the rich.
Speaker 2: He had always resented it that all people did not
Speaker 2: live alike in big houses and drive with good horses. Why,
Speaker 2: he asked, was he poor? How was he worse than
Speaker 2: Cosmo Luboydkin from Warsaw, who had his own house and
Speaker 2: whose wife wore a hat. He had the same sort
Speaker 2: of nose, the same hands, feet, head and back as
Speaker 2: the rich. And so why was he forced to work
Speaker 2: when others were enjoying themselves? Why was he married to
Speaker 2: Marya and not to a lady's smelling of scent? He
Speaker 2: had often seen beautiful young ladies in the houses of
Speaker 2: rich customers, but they either took no notice of him whatever,
Speaker 2: or else sometimes left laughed and whispered to each other,
Speaker 2: what a red nose that shoemaker has. It was true
Speaker 2: that Marya was a good, kind, hard working woman, but
Speaker 2: she was not educated. Her hand was heavy and hit hard,
Speaker 2: and if one had occasion to speak of politics or
Speaker 2: anything intellectual before her, she would put her spoken and
Speaker 2: talk the most awful nonsense. What do you want? Then
Speaker 2: his customer interrupted him, I beg you your honor, satan ivanitch,
Speaker 2: to be graciously pleased to make me a rich man. Certainly,
Speaker 2: only for that, you must give me up your soul
Speaker 2: before the cocks crow. Go and sign on this paper
Speaker 2: here that you give me up your soul, Your honor,
Speaker 2: said Fyodor politely. When you ordered a pair of boots
Speaker 2: for me, I did not ask for the money in advance.
Speaker 2: One has first to carry out the order and then
Speaker 2: ask for payment. Oh, very well, the customer assented. A
Speaker 2: bright flame suddenly flared up in the mortar, A pink,
Speaker 2: thick smoke came puffing out, and there was a smell
Speaker 2: of burnt feathers and sulfur. When the smoke had subsided,
Speaker 2: Fyodor rubbed his eyes and saw that he was no
Speaker 2: longer Fyodor, no longer a shoemaker, but quite a different man,
Speaker 2: wearing a waistcoat and a watch chain and a new
Speaker 2: pair of trousers, and that he was sitting in an
Speaker 2: armchair at a big table. Two footmen were handing him dishes,
Speaker 2: bowing low and saying, kindly, eat your honor, and may
Speaker 2: it do you good? What wealth? The footman handed him
Speaker 2: a big piece of roast mutton and a dish of cucumbers,
Speaker 2: and then brought in a frying pan of roast goose,
Speaker 2: and a little afterwards boiled pork with horseradish cream. And
Speaker 2: how dignified, how genteel it all was, feodor ate, and
Speaker 2: before each dish drank a big glass of excellent vodka,
Speaker 2: like some general or some count. After the pork he
Speaker 2: was handed some boiled grain, moistened with goose fat, then
Speaker 2: an omelet with bacon fat, then fried liver, and he
Speaker 2: went on eating and was delighted. What more they served too,
Speaker 2: a pie with onion and steam turnip with kvass. How
Speaker 2: is it that gentry don't burst with such meals? He thought?
Speaker 2: In conclusion, they handed him a big pot of honey.
Speaker 2: After dinner, the devil appeared in blue spectacles and asked,
Speaker 2: with a low bow, are you satisfied with your dinner?
Speaker 2: Fyodor Pantalich? But Fyodor could not answer one word. He
Speaker 2: was so stuffed after his dinner the feeling of repletion
Speaker 2: was unpleasant, oppressive, And to distract his thoughts, he looked
Speaker 2: at the boot on his left foot. For a boot
Speaker 2: like that, I used not to take less than seven
Speaker 2: and a half roubles, what shoemaker made it, He asked,
Speaker 2: Kusma le Boydkin answered the footman send for him. The
Speaker 2: fool Kuzma le Boydkin from Warsaw soon made his appearance.
Speaker 2: He stopped in a respectful attitude at the door and asked,
Speaker 2: what are your orders? Your honor, hold your tongue, cried Fyodor,
Speaker 2: and stamped his foot. Don't dare to argue. Remember your
Speaker 2: place as a cobbler, blockhead, you don't know how to
Speaker 2: make boots. I'll beat your ugly fizz to a jelly.
Speaker 2: Why have you come for money? What money be off?
Speaker 2: Come on Saturday boy, give him a cuff. But at
Speaker 2: once he recalled what a life the customers used to
Speaker 2: lead him to, and he felt heavy at heart. And
Speaker 2: to distract his attention, he took a fat pocket book
Speaker 2: out of his pocket and began counting his money. There
Speaker 2: was a great deal of money, but Feodor wanted more still.
Speaker 2: The devil in the blue spectacles brought him another notebook,
Speaker 2: fatter still, but he wanted even more, and the more
Speaker 2: he counted it, the more discontented he became. In the evening,
Speaker 2: the evil one brought him a full bosomed lady in
Speaker 2: a red dress and said that this was his new wife.
Speaker 2: He spent the whole evening kissing her and eating gingerbreads.
Speaker 2: And at night he went to bed on a soft,
Speaker 2: downy feather bed, turned from side to side and could
Speaker 2: not go to sleep. He felt uncanny. We have a
Speaker 2: great deal of money, he said to his wife. We
Speaker 2: must look out, or thieves will be breaking in. You
Speaker 2: had better go and look with a candle. He did
Speaker 2: not sleep all night, and kept getting up to see
Speaker 2: if his box was all right. In the morning he
Speaker 2: had to go to church, to Manton's. In church, the
Speaker 2: same honor is done to rich and poor alike. When
Speaker 2: Fyodor was poor, he used to pray in church like this, God,
Speaker 2: forgive me a sinner. He said the same thing. Now
Speaker 2: though he had become rich, What difference was there? And
Speaker 2: after death, Theodor rich would not be buried in gold,
Speaker 2: not in diamonds, but in the same black earth as
Speaker 2: the poorest beggar. Theodor would burn in the same fire
Speaker 2: as cobblers. Theodor resented all this, and two he felt
Speaker 2: weighed down all over by his dinner, and instead of prayer,
Speaker 2: he had all sorts of thoughts in his head about
Speaker 2: his box of money, about thieves, about his bartered ruined soul.
Speaker 2: He came out of church in a bad temper. To
Speaker 2: drive away his unpleasant thoughts, as he had often done before,
Speaker 2: he struck up a song at the top of his voice.
Speaker 2: But as soon as he began, a policeman ran up
Speaker 2: and said, with his fingers to the peak of his cap,
Speaker 2: your honor, gentlefolk must not sing in the street. You
Speaker 2: are not a shoemaker. Theodor leaned his back against a
Speaker 2: fence and fell to thinking what could he do to
Speaker 2: amuse himself. Your honor, a porter shouted to him, don't
Speaker 2: lean against the fence, you will spoil your fur coat.
Speaker 2: Theodor went into a shop and bought himself the very
Speaker 2: best concertina, then went out into the street playing it.
Speaker 2: Everybody pointed at him and laughed, and a gentleman too.
Speaker 2: The cabman jeered at him like some cobbler. Is it
Speaker 2: the proper thing for gentlefolk to be disorderly in the street.
Speaker 2: A policeman said to him, you had better go into
Speaker 2: a tavern, your honor, give us a trifle for Christ's sake.
Speaker 2: The beggars wailed surrounding Feodor on all sides. In earlier days,
Speaker 2: when he was a shoemaker. The beggars took no notice
Speaker 2: of him. Now they wouldn't let him pass. And at
Speaker 2: home his new wife, the lady was waiting for him,
Speaker 2: dressed in a green blouse and a red skirt. He
Speaker 2: meant to be attentive to her, and had just lifted
Speaker 2: his arm to give her a good clout on the back,
Speaker 2: but she said angrily, peasant, ignorant, lout. You don't know
Speaker 2: how to behave with ladies. If you love me, you
Speaker 2: will kiss my hand. I don't allow you to beat me.
Speaker 2: This is a blasted existence, thought Fyodor. People do lead
Speaker 2: a life. You mustn't sang, You mustn't play the concertina,
Speaker 2: You mustn't have a lark with a lady poo. He
Speaker 2: had no sooner sat down to tea with the lady
Speaker 2: when the evil spirit in the blue spectacles appeared and said, come, Fyodor, pantaliitch,
Speaker 2: I have performed my part of the bargain. Now sign
Speaker 2: your paper and come along with me. And he dragged
Speaker 2: Fyodor to hell, straight to the furnace, and devils flew
Speaker 2: up from all directions and shouted fool, blockhead ass. There
Speaker 2: was a fearful smell of paraffin in hell enough to
Speaker 2: suffocate one, and suddenly it all vanished. Theodor opened his
Speaker 2: eyes and saw his table, the boots, and the tin lamp.
Speaker 2: The lamp glass was black, and from the faint light
Speaker 2: on the wick came clouds of stinking smoke, as from
Speaker 2: a chimney. Near the table stood the customer in the
Speaker 2: blue spectacles, shouting angrily, fool, blockhead ass. I'll give you
Speaker 2: a lesson, you scoundrel. You took the order a fortnight ago,
Speaker 2: and the boots aren't ready yet. Do you suppose I
Speaker 2: want to come trapesing around here half a dozen times
Speaker 2: a day for my boots, you wretch, you brute Fyodor
Speaker 2: shook his head and set to work on the boots.
Speaker 2: The customer went on swearing and threatening him for a
Speaker 2: long time. At last, when he subsided, Theodor asked, sullenly,
Speaker 2: and what is your occupation, sir? I make Bengal lights
Speaker 2: and fireworks. I am a pyrotechnician. They began ringing for mountins.
Speaker 2: Theodor gave the customer the boots, took the money for them,
Speaker 2: and went to church. Carriages and sledges with bearskin rugs
Speaker 2: were dashing to and fro in the street. Merchants, ladies
Speaker 2: officers were walking along the pavement together with the humbler folk,
Speaker 2: but Theodor did not envy them, nor repine at his lot.
Speaker 2: It seemed to him now that rich and poor were
Speaker 2: equally badly off. Some were able to drive a carriage,
Speaker 2: and others to sing songs at the top of their
Speaker 2: voice and to play the concertina. But one and the
Speaker 2: same thing, the same grave was awaiting all alike. And
Speaker 2: there was nothing in life for which one would give
Speaker 2: the devil, even a tiny scrap of one's soule. The
Speaker 2: shoemaker and the devil. It was Christmas eve. Marya had
Speaker 2: long been snoring on the stove. All the paraffin in
Speaker 2: the little lamp had burnt out, but Fyodor Nilov still
Speaker 2: sat at work. He would long ago have flung aside
Speaker 2: his work and gone out into the street. But a
Speaker 2: customer from colacology Lean, who had a fortnight before ordered
Speaker 2: some boots had been in the previous day, had abused
Speaker 2: him roundly and had ordered him to finish the boots
Speaker 2: at once before the morning service. It's a convict's life,
Speaker 2: Feudora grumbled as he worked. Some people have been asleep
Speaker 2: long ago. Others are enjoying themselves while you sit here
Speaker 2: like some Caine and sow for the devil knows whom.
Speaker 2: To save himself from accidentally falling asleep, he kept taking
Speaker 2: a bottle from under the table and drinking out of it,
Speaker 2: And after every pull at it, he twisted his head
Speaker 2: and said aloud, what is the reason? Kindly tell me
Speaker 2: that customers enjoy themselves while I am forced to sit
Speaker 2: and work for them them because they have money and
Speaker 2: I am a beggar. He hated all his customers, especially
Speaker 2: the one who lived on in Colcogne Lane. He was
Speaker 2: a gentleman of gloomy appearance, with long hair, a yellow face,
Speaker 2: blue spectacles, and a husky voice. He had a German
Speaker 2: name which one could not pronounce. It was impossible to
Speaker 2: tell what was his calling and what he did. When
Speaker 2: a fortnight before Fyodor had gone to take his measure,
Speaker 2: he the customer was sitting on the floor pounding something
Speaker 2: in a mortar. Before Fyodor had time to say good morning,
Speaker 2: the contents of the mortar suddenly flared up and burned
Speaker 2: with a bright red flame. There was a stink of
Speaker 2: sulfur and burnt feathers, and the room was filled with
Speaker 2: a thick pink smoke, so that Fyodor sneezed five times,
Speaker 2: And as he returned home afterwards, he thought anyone who
Speaker 2: feared God would not have anything to do with things
Speaker 2: like that. When there was nothing left in the bottle,
Speaker 2: Fyodor put the boots on the table and sank into thought.
Speaker 2: He leaned his heavy head on his fist and began
Speaker 2: thinking of his poverty, of his hard life with no
Speaker 2: glimmer of light in it. Then he thought of the rich,
Speaker 2: of their big houses and their carriages, of their hundred
Speaker 2: rouble notes. How nice it would be if the houses
Speaker 2: of these rich men, the devil flay them, were smashed,
Speaker 2: if their horses died, if their fur coats and sable
Speaker 2: cats got shabby. How splendid it would be if they're
Speaker 2: rich little by little, changed into beggars, having nothing, and he,
Speaker 2: a poor shoemaker, were to become rich and were to
Speaker 2: lord it over some other poor shoemaker. On Christmas Eve,
Speaker 2: dreaming like this, Fyodor suddenly thought of his work and
Speaker 2: opened his eyes. Here's a go, he thought, looking at
Speaker 2: the boots. The job has been finished ever so long ago,
Speaker 2: and I go on sitting here. I must take the
Speaker 2: boots to the gentlemen. He wrapped up the work in
Speaker 2: a red handkerchief, put on his things, and went out
Speaker 2: into the street. A fine, hard snow was falling, pricking
Speaker 2: the face as though with needles. It was cold, slippery, dark.
Speaker 2: The gas lamps burned dimly, and for some reason there
Speaker 2: was a smell of paraffin in the street, so that
Speaker 2: Fyodor coughed and cleared his throat. Rich Men were driving
Speaker 2: to and fro on the road, and every rich man
Speaker 2: had a ham and a bottle of vodka in his hands.
Speaker 2: Rich young ladies peeped at Fyodor out of the carriages
Speaker 2: and sledges, put out their tongues and shouted, laughing beggar beggar. Students,
Speaker 2: officers and merchants walked behind Fyodor, jeering at him and crying, drunkard, drunkard,
Speaker 2: infidel cobbler, soul of a boot leg beggar. All of
Speaker 2: this was insulting, but Fyodor held his tongue and only
Speaker 2: spat in disgust. But when Kuzma le Boydkin from Warsaw,
Speaker 2: a master boot maker, met him and said, I've married
Speaker 2: a rich woman, and I have men working under me,
Speaker 2: while you are a beggar and have nothing to eat.
Speaker 2: Fyodor could not refrain from running after him. He pursued
Speaker 2: him till he found himself in Colkooney Lane. His customer
Speaker 2: lived in the fourth house from the corner, on the
Speaker 2: very top floor. To reach him, one had to go
Speaker 2: through a long, dark courtyard, and then to climb up
Speaker 2: a very high, slippery staircase, which tottered under one's feet.
Speaker 2: When Fyodor went into him, he was sitting on the
Speaker 2: floor pounding something in a mortar, just as he had
Speaker 2: been the fortnight before. Your honor, I have brought your boots,
Speaker 2: said Fyodor, sullenly. The customer got up and began trying
Speaker 2: on the boots in silence. Desiring to help him, Fyodor
Speaker 2: went down on one knee and pulled off his old boot,
Speaker 2: but at once jumped up and staggered toward the door
Speaker 2: in horror. The customer had not a foot, but a
Speaker 2: hoof like a horse's. Aha, thought Fyodor. Years ago, the
Speaker 2: first thing should have been to cross himself, then to
Speaker 2: leave everything and run downstairs. But he immediately reflected that
Speaker 2: he was meeting a devil for the first time, for
Speaker 2: the first and probably the last time, and not to
Speaker 2: take advantage of his services would be foolish. He controlled
Speaker 2: himself and determined to try his luck. Clasping his hands
Speaker 2: behind him to avoid making the sign of the cross,
Speaker 2: he coughed respectfully and began. They say, there is nothing
Speaker 2: on earth more evil and impurer than the devil. But
Speaker 2: I am of the opinion, your honor, that the devil
Speaker 2: is highly educated. He has, excuse my saying it, hoofs
Speaker 2: and a tail behind, but he has more brains than
Speaker 2: many a student. I like you for what you say,
Speaker 2: said the devil, flattered. Thank you, shoemaker, what do you want?
Speaker 2: And without loss of time, the shoemaker began complaining of
Speaker 2: his lot. He began by saying that from his childhood
Speaker 2: up he had envied the rich. He had always resented
Speaker 2: it that all people did not live alike in big
Speaker 2: houses and drive with good horses. Why, he asked, was
Speaker 2: he poor? How was he worse than Cosmo Luboydkin from Warsaw,
Speaker 2: who had his own house and whose wife wore a hat.
Speaker 2: He had the same sort of nose, the same hands, feet,
Speaker 2: head and back as the rich? And so why was
Speaker 2: he forced to work? When others were enjoying themselves. Why
Speaker 2: was he married to Marya and not to a lady's
Speaker 2: smelling of scent? He had often seen beautiful young ladies
Speaker 2: in the houses of ris customers, but they either took
Speaker 2: no notice of him whatever, or else sometimes laughed and
Speaker 2: whispered to each other. What a red nose that shoemaker has.
Speaker 2: It was true that Marya was a good, kind, hard
Speaker 2: working woman, but she was not educated. Her hand was
Speaker 2: heavy and hit hard, and if one had occasion to
Speaker 2: speak of politics or anything intellectual before her, she would
Speaker 2: put her spoken and talk the most awful nonsense. What
Speaker 2: do you want, then, his customer interrupted him. I beg you,
Speaker 2: your honor, satan Ivanitch, to be graciously pleased to make
Speaker 2: me a rich man. Certainly, only for that, you must
Speaker 2: give me up your soul before the cocks crow. Go
Speaker 2: and sign on this paper here that you give me
Speaker 2: up your soul, your honor, said Fyodor politely. When you
Speaker 2: ordered a pair of boots for me, I did not
Speaker 2: ask for the money in advance. One has first to
Speaker 2: carry out the order and then ask for payment. Oh
Speaker 2: very well, the customer assented. A bright flame suddenly flared
Speaker 2: up in the mortar, A pink, thick smoke came puffing out,
Speaker 2: and there was a smell of burnt feathers and sulfur.
Speaker 2: When the smoke had subsided, Fyodor rubbed his eyes and
Speaker 2: saw that he was no longer Fyodor, no longer a shoemaker,
Speaker 2: but quite a different man, wearing a waistcoat and a
Speaker 2: watchchain and a new pair of trousers, and that he
Speaker 2: was sitting in an armchair at a big table. Two
Speaker 2: footmen were handing him dishes, bowing low and saying, kindly,
Speaker 2: eat your honor, and may it do you good? What wealth?
Speaker 2: The footman handed him a big piece of roast mutton,
Speaker 2: and a dish of cucumbers, and then brought in a
Speaker 2: frying pan of roast goose, and a little afterwards boiled
Speaker 2: pork with horseradish cream. And how dignified, how genteel it
Speaker 2: all was, feodor ate, and before each dish drank a
Speaker 2: big glass of excellent vodka, like some general or some count.
Speaker 2: After the pork, he was handed some boiled grain moistened
Speaker 2: with goose fat, then an omelet with bacon fat, then
Speaker 2: fried liver, and he went on eating, and was delighted.
Speaker 2: What more They served too a pie with onion and
Speaker 2: steam turnip with vlass. How is it that gentry don't
Speaker 2: burst with such meals? He thought? In conclusion, they handed
Speaker 2: him a big pot of honey. After dinner, the devil
Speaker 2: appeared in blue spectacles and asked, with a low bow,
Speaker 2: are you satisfied with your dinner? Fyodor pantaliach, But Fyodora
Speaker 2: could not answer one word. He was so stuffed after
Speaker 2: his dinner the feeling of repletion was unpleasant, oppressive, and
Speaker 2: to distract his thoughts, he looked at the boot on
Speaker 2: his left foot. For a boot like that, I used
Speaker 2: not to take less than seven and a half roubles.
Speaker 2: What shoemaker made it? He asked, Kusma le Boydkin answered
Speaker 2: the footman send for him the fool Kuzma le Boydkin
Speaker 2: from Warsaw soon made his appearance. He stopped in a
Speaker 2: respectful attitude at the door and asked, what are your orders?
Speaker 2: Your honor, hold your tongue, cried Fyodor and stamped his foot.
Speaker 2: Don't dare to argue. Remember your place as a car blockhead.
Speaker 2: You don't know how to make boots. I'll be your
Speaker 2: ugly fizz to a jelly. Why have you come for money?
Speaker 2: What money be off? Come on Saturday, boy, give him
Speaker 2: a cuff. But at once he recalled what a life
Speaker 2: the customers used to lead him to, and he felt
Speaker 2: heavy at heart. And to distract his attention, he took
Speaker 2: a fat pocketbook out of his pocket and began counting
Speaker 2: his money. There was a great deal of money, but
Speaker 2: Feodor wanted more. Still. The devil in the blue spectacles
Speaker 2: brought him another notebook, fatter still, but he wanted even more,
Speaker 2: and the more he counted it, the more discontented he became.
Speaker 2: In the evening, the evil one brought him a full
Speaker 2: bosomed lady in a red dress and said that this
Speaker 2: was his new wife. He spent the whole evening kissing
Speaker 2: her and eating gingerbreads, And at night he went to
Speaker 2: bed on a soft, downy feather bed, turned from side
Speaker 2: to side and could not go to sleep. He felt uncanny.
Speaker 2: We have a great deal of money, he said to
Speaker 2: his wife. We must look out, or thieves will be
Speaker 2: breaking in. You had better go and look with a candle.
Speaker 2: He did not sleep all night, and kept getting up
Speaker 2: to see if his box was all right. In the morning,
Speaker 2: he had to go to church to Martin's in church,
Speaker 2: the same honor is done to rich and poor alike.
Speaker 2: When Feodor was poor, he used to pray, and like this, God,
Speaker 2: forgive me a sinner. He said the same thing. Now
Speaker 2: though he had become rich, What difference was there? And
Speaker 2: after death, Fyodor rich would not be buried in gold,
Speaker 2: not in diamonds, but in the same black earth as
Speaker 2: the poorest beggar. Theodor would burn in the same fire
Speaker 2: as cobblers. Theodor resented all this, and two he felt
Speaker 2: weighed down all over by his dinner, and instead of prayer,
Speaker 2: he had all sorts of thoughts in his head, about
Speaker 2: his box of money, about thieves, about his bartered, ruined soul.
Speaker 2: He came out of church in a bad temper. To
Speaker 2: drive away his unpleasant thoughts, as he had often done before,
Speaker 2: he struck up a song at the top of his voice.
Speaker 2: But as soon as he began, a policeman ran up
Speaker 2: and said, with his fingers to the peak of his cap,
Speaker 2: your honor, gentlefolk, must not sing in the street. You
Speaker 2: are not a shoemaker. Theodor leaned his back against a
Speaker 2: fence and fell to thinking what could he do to
Speaker 2: amuse himself. Your honor. A porter shouted to him, don't
Speaker 2: lean against the fence, you will spoil your fur coat.
Speaker 2: Theodor went into a shop and bought himself the very
Speaker 2: best concertina, then went out into the street playing it.
Speaker 2: Everybody pointed at him and laughed, and a gentleman too.
Speaker 2: The cabman jeered at him him like some cobbler. Is
Speaker 2: it the proper thing for gentlefolk to be disorderly in
Speaker 2: the street. A policeman said to him, you had better
Speaker 2: go into a tavern, your honor. Give us a trifle
Speaker 2: for Christ's sake. The beggars wailed, surrounding Fyodor on all sides.
Speaker 2: In earlier days, when he was a shoemaker, the beggars
Speaker 2: took no notice of him. Now they wouldn't let him pass.
Speaker 2: And at home his new wife, the lady was waiting
Speaker 2: for him, dressed in a green blouse and a red skirt.
Speaker 2: He meant to be attentive to her, and had just
Speaker 2: lifted his arm to give her a good clout on
Speaker 2: the back. But she said angrily, peasant, ignorant lout, you
Speaker 2: don't know how to behave with ladies. If you love me,
Speaker 2: you will kiss my hand. I don't allow you to
Speaker 2: beat me. This is a blasted existence, thought Fyodor. People
Speaker 2: do lead a life. You mustn't sang, You mustn't play
Speaker 2: the concertina. You mustn't have a lark with a lady. Phew,
Speaker 2: he had no sooner sat down to tea with the
Speaker 2: lady when the evil spirit in the Blue spectacles appeared
Speaker 2: and said, come, Fyodor pantaliitch, I have performed my part
Speaker 2: of the bargain. Now sign your paper and come along
Speaker 2: with me. And he dragged Fyodor to Hell, straight to
Speaker 2: the furnace, and devils flew up from all directions and shouted,
Speaker 2: fool blockhead ass. There was a fearful smell of paraffin
Speaker 2: in Hell, enough to suffocate one, and suddenly it all vanished.
Speaker 2: Theodor opened his eyes and saw his table, the boots,
Speaker 2: and the tin lamp. The lamp glass was black, and
Speaker 2: from the faint light on the wick came clouds of
Speaker 2: stinking smoke as from a chimney. Near the table stood
Speaker 2: the customer in the Blue spectacles, shouting angrily, fool blockhead ass.
Speaker 2: I'll give you a lesson, you scoundrel. You took the
Speaker 2: order a fortnight ago, and the boots aren't ready yet.
Speaker 2: Do you suppose I want to come trapesing around here
Speaker 2: half a dozen times a day for my boots, you wretch,
Speaker 2: you brute. Theodor shook his head and set to work
Speaker 2: on the boots. The customer went on swearing and threatening
Speaker 2: him for a long time. At last, when he subsided,
Speaker 2: Theodor asked, sullenly, and what is your occupation, sir? I
Speaker 2: make Bengal lights and fireworks. I am a pyrotechnician. They
Speaker 2: began ringing for matins. Theodor gave the customer the boots,
Speaker 2: took the money for them, and went to church. Carriages
Speaker 2: and sledges with bearskin rugs were dashing to and fro
Speaker 2: in the street. Merchants, ladies officers were walking along the
Speaker 2: pavement together with the humbler folk. But Theodor did not
Speaker 2: envy them, nor repine at his lot. It seemed to
Speaker 2: him now that rich and poor were equally badly off.
Speaker 2: Some were able to drive in a carriage, and others
Speaker 2: to sing songs at the top of their voice and
Speaker 2: to play the concertina. But one and the same thing,
Speaker 2: the same grave was awaiting all alike. And there was
Speaker 2: nothing in life for which one would give the devil
Speaker 2: even a tiny scrap of one's.
Speaker 3: Soul, built thund