_Filimón._ Well, I don’t care: I’ll give you some money in advance. _Miller._ Only this? _Filimón._ It will do for the present; what more do you want? _Miller_ (_aside_). You won’t get off with less than half a rouble. _Filimón._ What are you going to tell me now? _Miller._ What is it now, early in the morning? _Filimón._ Not very late yet, the sun has not yet set behind the woods. _Miller._ Turn three times around, towards the sun. _Filimón._ What for? _Miller._ That’s what I need in my sorcery. Do as you are told! _Filimón._ To please you, I’ll turn around. (_Turns around once._) _Miller._ Once more, towards the sun. _Filimón_ (turning around). Here it is, and towards the sun. _Miller._ Now stand against this tree. (_Filimón is about to start for the tree, but the Miller says_): No, no, stop! Have you a kerchief? _Filimón_ (_taking out his handkerchief_). Here it is. _Miller._ Close your eyes tight, and tie your kerchief over them. That’s all right! Now listen: you must stand quiet, and don’t move from the spot, nor speak a word to anyone, while I go and see the elder. _Filimón_ (_does all the Miller commands him to do_). But suppose someone should come and ask me why I am standing there, and why my eyes are tied up? _Miller._ Not a word to anybody; but you may grumble to yourself. _Filimón._ May I sing a song? _Miller._ You will frighten all. No, you must not. _Filimón_ (_aside_). What is it all going to be? _Miller._ Stand still and don’t move! Ippolít Fédorovich Bogdanóvich. (1743-1803.) Ippolít Bogdanóvich, the son of a minor official, entered the mathematical school connected with the Senate; at fourteen years of age he began to study at the University and to write verses under the guidance of Kheráskov. He then served as secretary of legation in Saxony, and later was connected with the Government Archives. His reputation rests only on his _Psyche_, which is a paraphrase in verse of La Fontaine’s _Les amours de Psyché et de Cupidon_, itself an imitation of an episode in Apuleius’s _Golden Ass_. It is a mock-heroic in the style of Máykov’s _Eliséy_ (see p. 263), and was immensely popular at the end of the eighteenth century, and even Dmítriev, Púshkin and Byelínski found pleasure in reading it. There are traces in his poems of an intimate acquaintance with the Russian popular literature, from which are introduced many characters. The poem found so many admirers because it was an expression of the reverse side of the philosophy, of the eighteenth century, with its frivolity and superficiality. PSYCHE FROM BOOK I The goddess donned her ancient gala dress, and seated in the shell, as they paint in pictures, glided over the waters on two large dolphins.