Ivan Turgenev

“ I got up late, and did nothing but walk about in the fields all day. I went near the old oak at the border of the wood and examined carefully all about.
Towards evening I sat down near the window of my study, and my old housekeeper brought me a cup of tea, but I did not touch it. I could come to no resolution, and asked myself if I was not going mad. The sun was sinking without a cloud in the heavens, when all at once the landscape took a hue of almost supernatural purple, under which shining tint foliage and grass were motionless, and seemed turned to stone. ”

“ Ellis embraced me in a strange manner; she almost pushed me. I looked at her and all my blood froze. Any one that has seen a human face express, unexpectedly and without apparent cause, the most living fear, will understand my feeling. Fear, the most poignant terror, contracted and distorted the features of Ellis. I never saw anything like it on a living face. An inanimate phantom, a superhuman creature, a shadow, and this unheard-of fright. "Ellis! what is the matter?" demanded I.
"She! it is she!" responded Ellis with effort. "It is she!" ”

“ It was no longer herbage that seemed to glide under our feet, but the summits of great trees. How strange was the sight, from above, of this forest, with its pointed summits lighted by the moon! One could have supposed it to be an enormous prone beast, asleep and snoring with a dull and indefinite rumble. Every now and then we passed over a glade, and I saw the jagged outline of the shadow projected by the trees. From time to time a hare put forth its plaintive cry in the thicket. Plaintive too was the cry of the screech-owl that passed near us. ”

“ One night I went under the old oak, but saw nothing extraordinary. I hardly regret these strange interviews. I have meditated much on my adventure. I feel sure that science cannot explain it, and that legends and traditions report nothing similar. Who was Ellis? A vision, a Soul in pain, an evil spirit, a vampire? It often seemed to me that Ellis was a woman I had known formerly. I made immense efforts to recall where I had seen her—once—to-day, at this moment I remember—where? No! all confounds itself in my memory as in a dream. ”

“ It was a moving force, insurmountable, not to be arrested, which formless, sightless, thoughtless, sees all and knows all; as eager as a bird of prey to seize its victim, cunning as a serpent, and like a serpent licking and killing its prey with its icy sting.
"Ellis! Ellis!" cried I, shuddering, "it is death! it is death!"
The plaintive sound that I had already heard came from the lips of Ellis, but this time with more of the accent of human despair. ”

“ Churches raised themselves above a mass of plank roofs and dark orchards. A large bridge was defined in black over the river in one of its turnings. Gilded domes and metal crosses shone with glimmering lustre. Silent against the sky were marked long well-cranks, amid bushy willows, and as silently a white road entered straight as an arrow at one end of the town, and silently emerged at the other end, to be lost in the monotonous obscurity of endless plains.
"What town is this?" I asked Ellis. ”

“ At some distance from me a road bordered with small willows passed by a birch wood. This place was known to me. I began to recollect all the events of the night, and shivered in thinking of the horrible vision that had presented itself to my eyes. "But why?" said I to myself, "why was Ellis so terrified? must she, she also, submit to his rule? Perhaps she is not immortal, perhaps she is predestined to destruction—to annihilation. How is it possible?" ”

“ The roaring of the tempest, the chill blast from the depths of the abysses, the sounding of the waves striking the cliff, whence one seemed to catch now and then piteous cries or a discharge of artillery in the distance, or yet again the tolling of bells, the grinding of pebbles rolling on the shore, at times the cry of an invisible, sea-gull ,on a break in the sky the dim silhouette of a vessel, everything told of death—death and fear. ”

“ We are in the land of legends. The same thin vapor touching the earth that I had noticed at Schwetzingen extends here in all directions. In the valleys, especially, it is most marked. I can count five—six—ten distinct shadows upon the slopes of the mountains, and over the whole vast and monotonous extent the moon reigns peacefully. The air is light and lively: I feel light myself, and singularly calm.
"Ellis," said I, "don’t you love this country?" ”

“ A light wind rose, and the moon shone brilliantly in the blue heavens. Under its cold rays, the leaves of the trees quivered, now black, now silver. My housekeeper came in with a lighted wax candle, but a gust from the window put it out. I rose hastily, drew my hat over my eyes, and took long strides towards the part of the wood where stood the old oak. ”

“ No, it is not Versailles; a little palace, in a style of architecture just as rococo, stands out against a wood of bushy oaks. The moon is rather dull, veiled by a slight mist, and over the ground is what appears to be a thin cloud of steam: the eye cannot determine whether it is the reflection of the moon, or really vapor. ”

“ One could distinguish cries of "Kill him! hang him! drown! burn! at it! go ahead! No quarter!" I heard all, even to the panting of exhausted lungs, and yet, far as my sight could reach, nothing appeared—no change in the aspect of the country. Before us the river flowed silent and dark, and the shores appeared even more rude and deserted than formerly. I turned to Ellis; she placed a finger on her lips.
"Stepan Timoféitch! [3] here is Stepan Timoféitch!" A cry rose from all parts of the plain, "Long live our little father, our hetman, our foster-father." ”

“ Then the air was disturbed and darkened above the ruin, and I thought I saw myriads of shadows landing and defiling, millions of forms, some with helmets, others with pikes. The rays of the moon divided into innumerable blue stars on these helmets and pikes, and all this army, all the multitude pressed, pushed, advanced, enlarged. It seemed animated with unspeakable energy, capable of overthrowing the world. ”

“ In an instant the little wood of stunted firs and the mossy gardens that surround Petersburg had flown beneath us. We directed ourselves right south. Sky and earth became little by little darker and darker. Sickly night, sickly day, sickly city—we left all far behind.
XXIII. We flew more slowly than usual, and my eyes could follow the changes that showed themselves by degrees in my native land. It was an endless panorama: woods, heaths, fields, ravines, rivers, widely separated churches and villages, and then again fields, ravines, rivers. ”

“ I felt a vapor rise to me, red, warm, dull, and of dubious odor. Too many human lives were amassed in the rout. I was hesitating, when, shrill and hard as the grinding of old iron, the voice of a lorette rose to me. This shameless voice affected me like the bite of vermin, and I figured, to myself a face stony, mean, bloated, a true Parisian expression, usurer’s eyes, white and red paint, frizzled hair, a crude bunch of artificial flowers in a little hat, agnails and a monstrous crinoline. ”

“ When I flew it seemed as if one drank my heart’s blood, or as if it exuded like the sap of an incised birch-tree in summer. All that is not natural. And Ellis?—she plays with me like a cat with a mouse, and yet she does not seem to wish me ill. We’ll, I’ll never trust myself with her again. I will consider as long as I can—and—— But if she drank my blood?—horrible! Besides, such rapid flights must do me harm. They say that in England it is forbidden to go more than seventy-five miles an hour on the railways." I pondered for a ‘long time; but at ten o’clock that evening I was near the old oak. ”

“ Along the roof, at the ends of the thatch-poles, stood rooks like sentinels, all eager to finish their morning toilet, and projected sharply against the milky sky. Suddenly they rose all together, flew to some distance, and arranged themselves in a line without a cry. In the near wood sounded thrice the hoarse cluck of a moor-cock already in search of wild berries in the damp herbage. Feeling a slight shivering, I went in and threw myself on my bed, where a deep sleep soon secured me.
XI. The following night, when I got near the old oak, Ellis came to meet me like an old acquaintance. ”

“ It was strange at this height, and so far from all living creatures, to see this energetic and bold life, this irresistible volition. While continuing victoriously to cleave the air, without stop or stay, the cranes from time to time exchanged cries with their comrade at the apex of the triangle; and there was something of gravity and pride, of a sentiment of absolute confidence in these ringing cries, in this aerial conversation. "We will fly to the end in spite of fatigue," they seemed to say, encouraging each other. ”

“ But you are a phantom, you have no body." All my ideas were upset. "Who are you—a vapor, a mist, a form of air? Give myself to you? First tell me who you are. Have you lived on the earth? Where do you come from?" ”

“ Sombre mountains, rugged and clothed with woods, grew and flew under our eyes, followed by other mountains, with their undulations, their ravines, their glades, their points of light from cottages sleeping on the borders of brooks. Mountains ever succeeded mountains. ”

“ But what mean certain sounds, perfectly distinct and clear, as from a harmonica, that I hear whenever one speaks before me of the death of anybody? They become stronger and stronger, louder and louder. And why this doleful shiver at the sole thought of annihilation?
Notes ↑ The Russian people give to the Germans the nickname "Heron."↑ War-cry of pirates of the Volga.↑ Stepan Razine, Don Cossack, pirate on the Volga and. Caspian, and chief of an insurrection in the seventeenth century, was broken on the wheel alive.↑ In the Russian army, officers of the same name are distinguished by a number. ”