Free The Night Before Christmas by Nikolái Gógol Page B

considering the next step. He was dying to have a good chat with the deacon’s other guests: Mikita the tar trader, for one, who traveled to Poltava every two weeks and brought back such jokes that all villagers split their sides from laughter. A full bottle of spiced vodka also caressed his imagination. The overall picture was very tempting, but the blackness of the night provoked his bottomless laziness, and he pictured even more vividly his warm cot and himself in it, smoking a pipe and listening through the doze to the carolers outside. If he had been alone he would have stayed, without a doubt, but
kum
’s presence made such an obvious display of laziness rather awkward. Chub finished cursing and addressed his
kum
again. “So no moon, eh?”
    â€œNone.”
    â€œWonders. Can I have a pinch of your snuff? Such nice tobacco you always have; where do you buy it?”
    â€œNice? Wouldn’t make an old chicken sneeze,”
kum
complained, closing his bark snuffbox.
    â€œI remember old innkeeper Zozulia once brought tobacco from Nezhin. What a tobacco it was! So, what shall we do,
kum
? Dark outside.”
    â€œLet’s stay in,”
kum
decided, and placed a hand on the door.
    If
kum
hadn’t said that, Chub would have certainly stayed, but now he just had to do the opposite. He took a decisive step off the porch. Immediately he regretted it but consoled himself that at least
he
had made the decision.
Kum
expressed no disappointment or surprise; he just sighed, scratched his back with a stick, and the two
kums
set off for the deacon’s.
    *   *   *
    N ow, let’s see what Chub’s beautiful daughter is up to.
    Oksana wasn’t yet seventeen. The whole world—that is, both sides of Dikanka—talked about her beauty. Young men followed her in hordes, and even ifshe wore a potato sack she would have outshined all other girls. Oksana knew her reputation and behaved accordingly. Little by little her admirers lost patience and settled for less unattainable objects—all except Vakula, who continued his pursuit despite being treated as badly as the rest.
    After her father left, Oksana sat for a long time at her little mirror, transfixed by her charming reflection. “Why did people decide to call me pretty? They just made it up; I’m not pretty at all.” But the fresh face in the mirror with its shining black eyes and a charming smirk immediately proved the opposite. “Still, do they really think my eyes have no equals? And my lips? My nose? And what’s so good about my raven braids? At night one might get scared by the way they wrap around my head like two serpents. No, I know I’m not beautiful at all.” But the stunning reflection caught her eye again. “Of course I’m beautiful! How happy I’ll make my husband! He’ll forget himself, he’ll choke me with kisses.”
    â€œIncredible,” Vakula said to himself, entering the house quietly. “For a whole hour she’s been staring at herself and still hasn’t hadenough.”

    â€œIs there anyone worthy of my beauty among those clowns?” Oksana continued. “Look how gracefully I walk, look at the ribbons in my hair, look at the rich gold braid my father bought me so I could marry the first among men!” At this she smirked again, turned around, and saw Vakula. The beauty frowned, blushing with annoyance, and the combination increased her loveliness to such a degree that no less than a million kisses could have done it justice.
    â€œI see you got here fast enough. You all do, the moment father is out the door. Now, is my trunk ready?”
    â€œIt will be ready, my heart, as soon as the holidays are over. For two days I worked on it, didn’t leave my smithy. The iron I used on it I didn’t use even on the captain’s carriage back in Poltava. And the decorations on it—you can walk everywhere and not find such