Varvara

“ Grushina answered in a sympathetic outburst: "That's how they're trying to catch him. And why not, he'd be a great catch, especially for Marfushka. She never dreamt of anyone like him."
"Really, I don't know what to do," confessed Varvara. "He's become so obstinate lately—it's simply awful. Believe me, my head's in a constant whirl. He'll really marry and then there's nothing for me but the streets."
"Don't worry, darling Varvara," said Grushina consolingly. "Don't think about it. He'll never marry anyone but you. He's used to you." ”

“ Peredonov fixed his troubled eyes upon him, and asked:
"Are you a friend to me or an enemy?"
"A friend, a friend, Ardasha!" replied Volodin.
"A friend with true love is like a beetle behind the stove," said Varvara.
"Not a beetle but a ram," corrected Peredonov. "Well, you and I will drink together, Pavloushka, only we two. And you, Varvara, drink also—we'll drink together, we two."
Volodin said with a snigger:
"If Varvara Dmitrievna drinks with us, it won't be two but three."
"Two, I say," repeated Peredonov morosely.
"Husband and wife are one Satan," said Varvara, and began to laugh. ”

“ Then a new thought came into his mind—to put on a pair of corsets so that he should not be taken for an old man if he happened to bend over. He asked Varvara for a pair of corsets, but Varvara's corsets proved to be too tight—they would not come together.
"They ought to have been bought earlier," he said savagely. "You never think of anything in time."
"What man wears corsets?" said Varvara. "No one does."
"Veriga does," said Peredonov.
"Yes, Veriga is an old man, but you, Ardalyon Borisitch, thank God, are in your prime." ”

“ Volodin sat on his heels just behind Peredonov and handed him the books, preserving at the same time an air of profound comprehension on his sheepish face, his protruded lips and heavy forehead expressing his sense of importance. Varvara looked at them through the door. She said laughing:
"They've got a new joke!"
But Grushina interrupted her:
"No, dearest Varvara Dmitrievna, you shouldn't say that. Things might be very unpleasant if they found out. Especially if it happens to be an instructor. The authorities are dreadfully afraid that the instructors will teach the boys to rebel." ”

“ Varvara gave a forced laugh.
"I burnt it. What good was it to me?" she said. "Why should I keep it? I'm not making a collection of envelopes. You can't get any money for envelopes. You can only get money for empty bottles at a pub."
Peredonov walked gloomily about the rooms and growled:
"There are all sorts of Princesses—we know that. Perhaps this Princess lives here."
Varvara pretended not to understand his suspicions, but yet trembled violently.
When, towards evening, Peredonov strolled past Vershina's cottage, she stopped him. ”

“ He was already beginning to believe that Varvara would marry him. Varvara was angry; she considered Volodin a fool, and moreover, his wages were only three-quarters of Peredonov's.
Prepolovenskaya wanted to marry Peredonov to her sister, the fat daughter of a priest. That is why she tried to create a quarrel between Peredonov and Varvara.
"Why are you trying to marry us?" asked Varvara, in an irritated way. "You'd better try to marry your little fool of a sister to Pavel Vassilyevitch." ”

“ Varvara, to get even with Peredonov for the troubles he had caused her before their wedding, sometimes agreed with him and encouraged him to think that his fancies and superstitions had a basis in reality. She told him that he had many enemies and that they had every reason to envy him. ”

“ Varvara was a girl of some twenty-three summers, of middle height, thin, but possessing a face which, without being actually beautiful, had the rare quality of charm, and might fascinate even to the extent of passionate regard. ”

“ Varvara listened with a smile.
"Make all the row you want," she thought malignantly.
It seemed to her that it was only his rage; he must have guessed that they had fooled him and was angry. He wouldn't go out of his mind—a fool has no mind to go out of. And even if he did—well, madness cheers the stupid!
"Do you know, Ardalyon Borisitch," said Khripatch, "you look very unwell?"
"I have a headache," said Peredonov morosely.
"Do you know, my friend," continued the Head-Master in a cautious voice, "I would advise you not to come to the gymnasia at present. ”

“ Peredonov did not dare to find out from the Princess herself—Varvara constantly frightened him by saying that the Princess was a very great lady, and he thought that if he wrote to her it might cause him extreme unpleasantness. He did not know precisely what they could do to him if the Princess complained of him, but this made him think of dreadful possibilities. Varvara said to him:
"Don't you know aristocrats? You must wait until they act of themselves. But once you remind them, they get offended, and it'll be the worse for you. They're so touchy. ”

“ As soon as Peredonov left to play billiards Varvara went off to see Grushina. They argued for a long time, and at last decided to mend the matter with another letter. Varvara knew that Grushina had friends in Peterburg. With their assistance it would be easy to get the letter posted in Peterburg.
Just as on the first occasion, Grushina for a long time pretended to have scruples.
"Oh, Varvara Dmitrievna darling!" she said. "Even the first letter makes me tremble. I'm always afraid. Whenever I see a police inspector near the house I almost faint. ”

“ Peredonov suddenly remembered yesterday's erli. "There," he thought, "he complains about his mother, because she bore him. He doesn't want to be Pavloushka. It's certain that he envies me. It may be that he's thinking of marrying Varvara and of getting into my skin." And he looked anxiously at Volodin.
He must try to marry him to someone.
At night in the bedroom Varvara said to Peredonov:
"You think that all these girls who are running after you are really good-looking? They're all trash, and I'm prettier than any of them." ”

“ He's got such a mean face."
"She has only one dress, a black one," he went on, referring to Marta.
"Vershina will make her a new one," said Varvara with spiteful envy, "she'll make all her dowry for her. She's such a beauty that even the horses are frightened," she grumbled on quietly, looking maliciously at Mourin.
"It's time for you to marry too," said Prepolovenskaya. "What are you waiting for, Ardalyon Borisitch?"
The Prepolovenskys already saw that after the second letter Peredonov was determined to marry Varvara. They also believed in the letter. ”

“ "Of course no one will consider," said Anisim, and he heaved a sigh. "There is no God, anyway, you know, mamma, so what considering can there be?"
Varvara looked at him with surprise, burst out laughing, and clasped her hands. Perhaps because she was so genuinely surprised at his words and looked at him as though he were a queer person, he was confused.
"Perhaps there is a God, only there is no faith. When I was being married I was not myself. ”

“ Anania listened with pleasure to Aunt Varvara's suggestive stories and questions. Though the trains were shrieking within a few yards and the amorous cats were miouing among the columns of the Pantheon, he so identified himself with the old woman's recollections that he fancied he had only to open the door, to find himself in a lonely Sardinian landscape on the top of a nuraghe watched by a giant, or rapt in the savage excitement of a race of Barbs, in the company of a philosophic and contemplative old shepherd with soul turbid and great like the clouds. ”

“ Varvara's hopes revived. She said:
"Once we're married, he won't keep me any longer on the run. I'll do the sitting and he can do the running for me."
On Saturday after dinner Peredonov went to play billiards. His thoughts were heavy and melancholy. He thought:
"It's awful to live among hostile and envious people. But what can one do—they can't all be inspectors! That's the struggle for existence!" ”

“ He refused the Madeira on the ground that he was not used to drinking wine at that hour of the day. He talked about the local news, about the approaching changes in the composition of the district court. But it was very noticeable that he and Peredonov moved in different circles of local society.
They did not make a long visit. Varvara was glad when they left; they just came and went. She said with relief as she took off her clothes:
"Well, thank God they've gone. I didn't know what to talk to them about. When you don't know people you can't tell how to get at them." ”

“ Volodin sat down on a chair with an expression of bliss on his face, looked at them with his bulging eyes and laughed with the same sheep-like bleating laughter.
"What happened then?" asked Grushina, winking at the others.
"Well, it was all little sheep and little sheep, and then I woke up," concluded Volodin.
"A sheep has sheepish dreams," growled Peredonov. "It isn't such great shakes being Tsar of the sheep."
"I also had a dream," said Varvara with an impudent smile, "only I can't tell it before men. I'll tell it to you alone." ”

“ Do you hear, Klavdiushka?" shouted Peredonov.
Varvara smiled. Peredonov muttered:
"All sorts of women are prowling around here. A watch should be kept. One got into my bedroom; she asked to be taken on as cook. But why should I have a pug-nosed cook?"
Volodin laughed bleatingly and said:
"There are women walking about in the street, but they have nothing to do with us, and we shan't let them join us at our table."
The three of them sat down at the table. They began to drink vodka, and to eat tarts. They drank more than they ate. Peredonov was gloomy. ”

“ Strike us not, Varuna, with those dread weapons which, Asura, at thy bidding wound the sinner. Let us not pass away from light to exile. Scatter, that we may live, the men who hate us 8. O mighty Varuna, now and hereafter, even as of old, will we speak forth our worship. For in thyself, invincible God, thy statutes never to be moved are fixed as on a mountain. 9. Move far from me what sins I have committed: let me not suffer, King, for guilt of others. Full many a morn remains to dawn upon us: in these, O Varuna, while we live direct us. ”

“ VARUNA, in early Hindu mythology, the greatest, with Indra, of the gods of the Rig Veda. He is invoked with his double Mitra in some dozen hymns. As contrasted with Indra the war god, Varuna is the lord of the natural laws, the up- holder of the physical and moral order of the universe. His power is limitless, his anger at wrong-doing unassuageable, and he is omniscient. He makes the sunshine; the wind is his breath; river valleys are hollowed out at his command. Unlike Indra, Varuna has no myths related of him. ”

“ Víravara ! What man is as devoted to his sovereign as thou, who, by the sacrifice of thy noble only son, hast bestowed on this king Śúdraka life and a kingdom?" Then that young girl Víravatí, the daughter of Víravara, came up, and embraced the head of her slain brother, and weeping, blinded with excessive grief, she broke her heart and so died. And the king saw and heard all this from his concealment.
Then Víravara's wife Dharmavatí said to him, " We have ensured the prosperity of the king, so now I have something to say to you. ”

“ Adoration to the varaha (incarnation of God Vishnu) who lifts up the earth with ease and under whose hoofs the mount Meru (the golden mountain) tinkles. May the foremost God, varaha, dispel my foes; who is Krishna, Vishnu and the lord of gods; who is the enemy of the demon, Kamsa; who killed (the demons) Mura, Naraka and Ravana (in his different incarnations) ; who in his huge and extensive form, raised like a clod of clay, by the tip of his tusk, the Earth encircled by oceans and full of mountains and rivers. ”

“ Varuṇa's omniscience is often dwelt on. He knows the flight of the birds in the sky, the path of ships in the ocean, the course of the far-travelling wind. He beholds all the secret things that have been or shall be done. He witnesses men's truth and falsehood. No creature can even wink without him. As a moral governor Varuṇa stands far above any other deity. ”

“ And Víravara went on persistently in the direction of the weeping, and reached a tank outside the city, and saw there that woman in the middle of the water uttering this lament, “Hero! merciful man! Generous man! How can I live without you?” And Víravara, who was followed by the king, said with astonishment, “Who are you, and why do you thus weep?”—Then she answered him, “Dear Víravara, know that I am this earth, and king Śúdraka is now my righteous lord, but on the third day from this his death will take place, and whence shall I obtain such another lord? ”

“ As Varuna became gradually greatest, so did Indra in turn. But Varuna was a philosopher's god, not a warrior's; and Varuna was not double and mystical. So even the priest (Agni) leaves Varuna, and with the warrior takes more pleasure in his twin Indra; of him making an All-god, a greatest god. Varuna is passive; Indra is energetic; but Indra does not struggle for his lordship. Inspired by soma, he smites, triumphs, punishes. Victor already, he descends upon his enemies and with a blow destroys them. It is rarely that he feels the effect of battle; he never doubts its issue. ”

“ He who should leap over the sky and beyond it, would not escape the king Varuna: he has his spies, the spies of the heavens, who go through the world; he has his thousand eyes which look on the earth. The king Varuna sees everything, all that which is between the two worlds and beyond them: he reckons the winking of the eye of all creatures: The world is in his hand like the dice in the hand of the gamester. Let thy sevenfold bands, O Varuna, let thy bands of wrath which are thrice linked together, let them enfold the man with a lying tongue, let them leave free the man with a truthful tongue! ”