Savva and the Life of Man: Two plays by Leonid AndreyevAndreyev, Leonid
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Savva and the Life of Man: Two plays by Leonid Andreyev
Andreyev, Leonid
Russian drama -- Translations into English
PARALYTIC _(crying)_
I can't walk.
MAN IN OVERCOAT _(fussily)_
Oh, that's it? That's what's the matter with you, eh? Come, I'll give
you a lift. Get up.
PARALYTIC
I can't.
PASSER-BY
Won't his legs work? What you want to do is to put him on his feet,
and then he'll hop away by himself. Isn't that right, old man?
MAN IN OVERCOAT
You take hold of him on that side, and I'll take this one. Well, old
man, get a move on you. You won't have to suffer long now.
PASSER-BY
There he goes hop, hop. That's right. Go it, go it, old man, and you
won't get left. _(He goes away)_
FRIAR _(smiling happily)_
They started him going all right. Clever, isn't it? He is galloping
away at a great rate too. Good-bye, old gran'pa.
LIPA _(crying)_
Lord! Lord!
FRIAR _(pained)_
What's the matter? Don't cry, for pity's sake. What are you crying
for? There is no cause for crying.
LIPA
No cause do you say, Vassya? I am crying for joy. Why aren't you glad,
Vassya? Don't you believe in the miracle?
FRIAR
Yes, I do. But I can't bear to see all this. They all behave like
drunks, and shout and make a noise. You can't understand what they are
talking about. They crushed that woman. _(With pain and disgust)_ They
squeezed the life out of her. Oh, Lord, I simply can't! And the whole
business. Father Kirill keeps grunting "Oui, oui, oui." _(Laughs
sadly)_ Why is he grunting?
LIPA _(sternly)_
You learned that from Savva.
FRIAR
No, I didn't. Tell me, why is he grunting? _(Laughs sadly)_ Why?
_[Yegor Tropinin enters dressed in holiday attire, his beard and hair
combed. He looks extremely solemn and stern._
YEGOR
Why are you here, eh? And in that kind of dress? You're a fine sight.
LIPA
I had no time to get dressed.
YEGOR
But you found time to get here. What you have no business to do you
have time for, but what you should do you have no time for. Go home
and get dressed. It isn't proper. Who has ever seen such a thing?
LIPA
Oh, papa!
YEGOR
There is nothing to "oh" about. It's all right, papa is papa, but you
see I am properly dressed. I dressed and then went out. That's the
right way to do. Yes. It's a pleasure to look at myself sideways. I
dressed as was proper, yes. On a day like this you ought to give a
hand at the counter. Tony has disappeared, and Polya can't do all the
work herself. You needn't be making such a face now.
MERCHANT _(passing by)_
Congratulate you on the miracle, Mr. Tropinin!
YEGOR
Thank you, brother, the same to you. Wait, I'll go with you. You are a
goose, Olympiada. You have always been a goose, and you have remained
a goose to this day.
MERCHANT
You'll have a fine trade now.
YEGOR
If it please the Lord! Why are you so late? Have you been sleeping?
You keep sleeping, all of you, all the time. _(They go out)_
FRIAR
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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