'Ugh!' exclaimed Fedya with a slight shiver, and a shrug of the shoulders; 'pfoo.' 'And how does such an unclean brood come to exist in the world?' said Pavel; 'it's a wonder.' 'Don't speak ill of it; take care, it will hear you,' said Ilyusha. Again there was a silence. 'Look, look, brothers,' suddenly came Vanya's childish voice; 'look at God's little stars; they are swarming like bees!' He put his fresh little face out from under his rug, leaned on his little fist, and slowly lifted up his large soft eyes. The eyes of all the boys were raised to the sky, and they were not lowered quickly. 'Well, Vanya,' began Fedya caressingly, 'is your sister Anyutka well?' 'Yes, she is very well,' replied Vanya with a slight lisp. 'You ask her, why doesn't she come to see us?' 'I don't know.' 'You tell her to come.' 'Very well.' 'Tell her I have a present for her.' 'And a present for me too?' 'Yes, you too.' Vanya sighed. 'No; I don't want one. Better give it to her; she is so kind to us at home.' And Vanya laid his head down again on the ground. Pavel got up and took the empty pot in his hand. 'Where are you going?' Fedya asked him. 'To the river, to get water; I want some water to drink.' The dogs got up and followed him. 'Take care you don't fall into the river!' Ilyusha cried after him. 'Why should he fall in?' said Fedya. 'He will be careful.' 'Yes, he will be careful. But all kinds of things happen; he will stoop over, perhaps, to draw the water, and the water-spirit will clutch him by the hand, and drag him to him. Then they will say, "The boy fell into the water." ... Fell in, indeed! ... "There, he has crept in among the reeds," he added, listening. The reeds certainly 'shished,' as they call it among us, as they were parted. 'But is it true,' asked Kostya, 'that crazy Akulina has been mad ever since she fell into the water?' 'Yes, ever since.... How dreadful she is now! But they say she was a beauty before then. The water-spirit bewitched her. I suppose he did not expect they would get her out so soon. So down there at the bottom he bewitched her.' (I had met this Akulina more than once. Covered with rags, fearfully thin, with face as black as a coal, blear-eyed and for ever grinning, she would stay whole hours in one place in the road, stamping with her feet, pressing her fleshless hands to her breast, and slowly shifting from one leg to the other, like a wild beast in a cage. She understood nothing that was said to her, and only chuckled spasmodically from time to time.) 'But they say,' continued Kostya, 'that Akulina threw herself into the river because her lover had deceived her.' 'Yes, that was it.' 'And do you remember Vasya? added Kostya, mournfully. 'What Vasya?' asked Fedya.