dy could endure it no longer.--"Tatyana!" said she....
"Good gracious!--I am amazed! Is it possible that thou didst not love
thy son? How is it that thy appetite has not disappeared?--How canst
thou eat that cabbage-soup?"

"My Vasya is dead," replied the woman softly, and tears of suffering
again began to stream down her sunken cheeks,--"and, of course, my own
end has come also: my head has been taken away from me while I am still
alive. But the cabbage-soup must not go to waste; for it is salted"

The lady-mistress merely shrugged her shoulders and went away. She got
salt cheaply.

May, 1878.

THE AZURE REALM

O azure realm! O realm of azure, light, youth, and happiness! I have
beheld thee ... in my dreams.

There were several of us in a beautiful, decorated boat. Like the breast
of a swan the white sail towered aloft beneath fluttering pennants.

I did not know who my companions were; but with all my being I felt that
they were as young, as merry, as happy as I was!

And I paid no heed to them. All about me I beheld only the shoreless
azure sea, all covered with a fine rippling of golden scales, and
over-head an equally shoreless azure sea, and in it, triumphantly and,
as it were, smilingly, rolled on the friendly sun.

And among us, from time to time, there arose laughter, ringing and
joyous as the laughter of the gods!

Or suddenly, from some one's lips, flew forth words, verses replete with
wondrous beauty and with inspired power ... so that it seemed as though
the very sky resounded in reply to them, and round about the sea
throbbed with sympathy.... And then blissful silence began again.

Diving lightly through the soft waves, our swift boat glided on. It was
not propelled by the breeze; it was ruled by our own sportive hearts.
Whithersoever we wished, thither did it move, obediently, as though it
were gifted with life.

We encountered islands, magical, half-transparent islands with the hues
of precious stones, jacinths and emeralds. Intoxicating perfumes were
wafted from the surrounding shores; some of these islands pelted us with
a rain of white roses and lilies-of-the-valley; from others there rose
up suddenly long-winged birds, clothed in rainbow hues.

The birds circled over our heads, the lilies and roses melted in the
pearly foam, which slipped along the smooth sides of our craft.

In company with the flowers and the birds, sweet, sweet sounds were
wafted to our ears.... We seemed