nd.

Korzh saw the sacks,--and was mollified. "Such a Petrus, quite unheard
of! yes, and did I not love him? Was he not to me as my own son?" And
the old fellow carried on his fiction until it reduced him to tears.
Pidorka began to tell him some passing gipsies had stolen Ivas; but
Petro could not even recall him--to such a degree had the Devil's
influence darkened his mind! There was no reason for delay. The Pole
was dismissed, and the wedding-feast prepared; rolls were baked,
towels and handkerchiefs embroidered; the young people were seated at
table; the wedding-loaf was cut; banduras, cymbals, pipes, kobzi,
sounded, and pleasure was rife....

A wedding in the olden times was not like one of the present day. My
grandfather's aunt used to tell--what doings!--how the maidens--in
festive head-dresses of yellow, blue, and pink ribbons, above which
they bound gold braid; in thin chemisettes embroidered on all the
seams with red silk, and strewn with tiny silver flowers; in morocco
shoes, with high iron heels--danced the gorlitza as swimmingly as
peacocks, and as wildly as the whirlwind; how the youths--with their
ship-shaped caps upon their heads, the crowns of gold brocade, with a
little slit at the nape where the hair-net peeped through, and two
horns projecting, one in front and another behind, of the very finest
black lambskin; in kuntushas of the finest blue silk with red
borders--stepped forward one by one, their arms akimbo in stately
form, and executed the gopak; how the lads--in tall Cossack caps, and
light cloth svitkas, girt with silver embroidered belts, their short
pipes in their teeth--skipped before them, and talked nonsense. Even
Korzh could not contain himself, as he gazed at the young people, from
getting gay in his old age. Bandura in hand, alternately puffing at
his pipe and singing, a brandy-glass upon his head, the greybeard
began the national dance amid loud shouts from the merry-makers. What
will not people devise in merry mood! They even began to disguise
their faces. They did not look like human beings. They are not to be
compared with the disguises which we have at our weddings nowadays.
What do they do now? Why, imitate gipsies and Moscow pedlars. No! then
one used to dress himself as a Jew, another as the Devil: they would
begin by kissing each other, and end by seizing each other by the
hair.... God be with them! you laughed till you held your sides. They
dressed themselves in Turkish and T