Like weak, straddling beetles Shut up to be frozen In cold empty huts By the pitiless peasants. The servants are crawling All over the courtyard. Their master long since Has forgotten about them, And left them to live 150 As they can. They are hungry, All old and decrepit, And dressed in all manners, They look like a crowd In a gipsy encampment. And some are now dragging A net through the pond: "God come to your help! Have you caught something, brothers?" "One carp--nothing more; 160 There used once to be many, But now we have come To the end of the feast!" "Do try to get five!" Says a pale, pregnant woman, Who's fervently blowing A fire near the pond. "And what are those pretty Carved poles you are burning? They're balcony railings, 170 I think, are they not?" "Yes, balcony railings." "See here. They're like tinder; Don't blow on them, Mother! I bet they'll burn faster Than you find the victuals To cook in the pot!" "I'm waiting and waiting, And Mityenka sickens Because of the musty 180 Old bread that I give him. But what can I do? This life--it is bitter!" She fondles the head Of a half-naked baby Who sits by her side In a little brass basin, A button-nosed mite. "The boy will take cold there, The basin will chill him," 190 Says Prov; and he wishes To lift the child up, But it screams at him, angry. "No, no! Don't you touch him," The mother says quickly, "Why, can you not see That's his carriage he's driving? Drive on, little carriage! Gee-up, little horses! You see how he drives!" 200 The peasants each moment Observe some new marvel; And soon they have noticed A strange kind of labour Proceeding around them: One man, it appears, To the door has got fastened; He's toiling away To unscrew the brass handles, His hands are so weak 210 He can scarcely control them. Another is hugging Some tiles: "See, Yegorshka, I've dug quite a heap out!" Some children are shaking An apple-tree yonder: "You see, little Uncles, There aren't many left, Though the tree was quite heavy." "But why do you want them? 220 They're quite hard and green." "We're thankful to get them!"