Russian Poetry
POEMS IN PROSE
| Download PDF |
Russian Literature – Russian Poetry – Children’s books – Ivan Turgenev – Poems – Obsolete Russian Words and their meaning
< < < The Contented Man
The Dog > > >
The Correspondent
Two friends are sitting at a table and drinking tea.
A sudden noise has arisen in the street. Plaintive moans, violent oaths, outbursts of malicious laughter have become audible.
“Some one is being beaten,” remarked one of the friends, after having cast a glance out of the window.
“A criminal? A murderer?” inquired the other.—”See here, no matter who it is, such chastisement without trial is not to be tolerated. Let us go and defend him.”
“But it is not a murderer who is being beaten.”
“Not a murderer? A thief, then? Never mind, let us go, let us rescue him from the mob.”
“It is not a thief, either.”
“Not a thief? Is it, then, a cashier, a railway employee, an army contractor, a Russian Mæcenas, a lawyer, a well-intentioned editor, a public philanthropist?… At any rate, let us go, let us aid him!”
“No … they are thrashing a correspondent.”
“A correspondent?—Well, see here now, let’s drink a glass of tea first.”
July, 1878.

Translated from the Russian by Isabel F. Hapgood
< < < The Contented Man
The Dog > > >
Russian Literature – Russian Poetry – Children’s books – Ivan Turgenev – Poems – Obsolete Russian Words and their meaning
Copyright holders – Public Domain
| If you liked this article, subscribe , put likes, write comments! Share on social networks Find us on Facebook or Twitter |
- Poèmes et peinture, semaine du 14 décembre 2025
- Poems and painting, Week of December 14, 2025
- Poèmes et peinture, semaine du 7 décembre 2025
- Poems and painting, Week of December 7, 2025
- Poèmes et peinture, semaine du 30 novembre 2025
- Poems and painting, Week of November 30, 2025
© 2023 Akirill.com – All Rights Reserved
