Eugene Oneguine [Onegin]

She trembled and grew deadly pale. Or a swift meteor, may be, Across the gloom of heaven would sail And disappear in space; then she Would haste in agitation dire To mutter her concealed desire Ere the bright messenger had set. When in her walks abroad she met A friar black approaching near,(50) Or a swift hare from mead to mead Had run across her path at speed, Wholly beside herself with fear, Anticipating woe she pined, Certain misfortune near opined. [Note 50: The Russian clergy are divided into two classes: the white or secular, which is made up of the mass of parish priests, and the black who inhabit the monasteries, furnish the high dignitaries of the Church, and constitute that swarm of useless drones for whom Peter the Great felt such a deep repugnance.] VII Wherefore? She found a secret joy In horror for itself alone, Thus Nature doth our souls alloy, Thus her perversity hath shown. Twelfth Night approaches. Merry eves!(51) When thoughtless youth whom nothing grieves, Before whose inexperienced sight Life lies extended, vast and bright, To peer into the future tries. Old age through spectacles too peers, Although the destined coffin nears, Having lost all in life we prize. It matters not. Hope e’en to these With childlike lisp will lie to please. [Note 51: Refers to the “Sviatki” or Holy Nights between Christmas Eve and Twelfth Night. Divination, or the telling of fortunes by various expedients, is the favourite pastime on these occasions.] VIII Tattiana gazed with curious eye On melted wax in water poured; The clue unto some mystery She deemed its outline might afford. Rings from a dish of water full In order due the maidens pull; But when Tattiana’s hand had ta’en A ring she heard the ancient strain: _The peasants there are rich as kings, They shovel silver with a spade, He whom we sing to shall be made Happy and glorious_. But this brings With sad refrain misfortune near. Girls the _kashourka_ much prefer.(52) [Note 52: During the “sviatki” it is a common custom for the girls to assemble around a table on which is placed a dish or basin of water which contains a ring. Each in her turn extracts the ring from the basin whilst the remainder sing in chorus the “podbliudni pessni,” or “dish songs” before mentioned. These are popularly supposed to indicate the fortunes of the immediate holder of the ring. The first-named lines foreshadow death; the latter, the “kashourka,” or “kitten song,” indicates approaching marriage. It commences thus: “The cat asked the kitten to sleep on the stove.”] IX Frosty the night; the heavens shone; The wondrous host of heavenly spheres Sailed silently in unison— Tattiana in the yard appears In a half-open dressing-gown And bends her mirror on the moon, But trembling on the mirror dark The sad moon only could remark. List! the snow crunches—he draws nigh! The girl on tiptoe forward bounds And her voice sweeter than the sounds Of clarinet or flute doth cry: “What is your name?” The boor looked dazed, And “Agathon” replied, amazed.(53) [Note 53: The superstition is that the name of the future husband may thus be discovered.] X Tattiana (nurse the project planned) By night prepared for sorcery, And in the bathroom did command To lay two covers secretly. But sudden fear assailed Tattiana, And I, remembering Svetlana,(54) Become alarmed. So never mind! I’m not for witchcraft now inclined. So she her silken sash unlaced, Undressed herself and went to bed And soon Lel hovered o’er her head.(55) Beneath her downy pillow placed, A little virgin mirror peeps. ’Tis silent all. Tattiana sleeps. [Note 54: See Note 30.] [Note 55: Lel, in Slavonic mythology, corresponds to the Morpheus of the Latins. The word is evidently connected with the verb “leleyat” to fondle or soothe, likewise with our own word “to lull.”] XI A dreadful sleep Tattiana sleeps. She dreamt she journeyed o’er a field All covered up with snow in heaps, By melancholy fogs concealed. Amid the snowdrifts which surround A stream, by winter’s ice unbound, Impetuously clove its way With boiling torrent dark and gray; Two poles together glued by ice, A fragile bridge and insecure, Spanned the unbridled torrent o’er; Beside the thundering abyss Tattiana in despair unfeigned Rooted unto the spot remained. XII As if against obstruction sore Tattiana o’er the stream complained; To help her to the other shore No one appeared to lend a hand. But suddenly a snowdrift stirs, And what from its recess appears? A bristly bear of monstrous size! He roars, and “Ah!” Tattiana cries. He offers her his murderous paw; She nerves herself from her alarm And leans upon the monster’s arm, With footsteps tremulous with awe Passes the torrent But alack! Bruin is marching at her back! XIII She, to turn back her eyes afraid, Accelerates her hasty pace, But cannot anyhow evade Her shaggy myrmidon in chase. The bear rolls on with many a grunt: A forest now she sees in front With fir-trees standing motionless In melancholy loveliness, Their branches by the snow bowed down. Through aspens, limes and birches bare, The shining orbs of night appear; There is no path; the storm hath strewn Both bush and brake, ravine and steep, And all in snow is buried deep. XIV The wood she enters—bear behind,— In snow she sinks up to the knee; Now a long branch itself entwined Around her neck, now violently Away her golden earrings tore; Now the sweet little shoes she wore, Grown clammy, stick fast in the snow; Her handkerchief she loses now; No time to pick it up! afraid, She hears the bear behind her press, Nor dares the skirting of her dress For shame lift up the modest maid. She runs, the bear upon her trail, Until her powers of running fail. XV She sank upon the snow. But Bruin Adroitly seized and carried her; Submissive as if in a swoon, She cannot draw a breath or stir. He dragged her by a forest road Till amid trees a hovel showed, By barren snow heaped up and bound, A tangled wilderness around. Bright blazed the window of the place, Within resounded shriek and shout: “My chum lives here,” Bruin grunts out. “Warm yourself here a little space!” Straight for the entrance then he made And her upon the threshold laid. XVI Recovering, Tania gazes round; Bear gone—she at the threshold placed; Inside clink glasses, cries resound As if it were some funeral feast. But deeming all this nonsense pure, She peeped through a chink of the door. What doth she see? Around the board Sit many monstrous shapes abhorred. A canine face with horns thereon, Another with cock’s head appeared, Here an old witch with hirsute beard, There an imperious skeleton; A dwarf adorned with tail, again A shape half cat and half a crane. XVII Yet ghastlier, yet more wonderful, A crab upon a spider rides, Perched on a goose’s neck a skull In scarlet cap revolving glides. A windmill too a jig performs And wildly waves its arms and storms; Barking, songs, whistling, laughter coarse, The speech of man and tramp of horse. But wide Tattiana oped her eyes When in that company she saw Him who inspired both love and awe, The hero we immortalize. Onéguine sat the table by And viewed the door with cunning eye. XVIII All bustle when he makes a sign: He drinks, all drink and loudly call; He smiles, in laughter all combine; He knits his brows—’tis silent all. He there is master—that is plain; Tattiana courage doth regain And grown more curious by far Just placed the entrance door ajar. The wind rose instantly, blew out The fire of the nocturnal lights; A trouble fell upon the sprites; Onéguine lightning glances shot; Furious he from the table rose; All arise. To the door he goes. XIX Terror assails her. Hastily Tattiana would attempt to fly, She cannot—then impatiently She strains her throat to force a cry— She cannot—Eugene oped the door And the young girl appeared before Those hellish phantoms. Peals arise Of frantic laughter, and all eyes And hoofs and crooked snouts and paws, Tails which a bushy tuft adorns, Whiskers and bloody tongues and horns, Sharp rows of tushes, bony claws, Are turned upon her. All combine In one great shout: she’s mine! she’s mine! XX “Mine!” cried Eugene with savage tone. The troop of apparitions fled, And in the frosty night alone Remained with him the youthful maid. With tranquil air Onéguine leads Tattiana to a corner, bids Her on a shaky bench sit down; His head sinks slowly, rests upon Her shoulder—Olga swiftly came— And Lenski followed—a light broke— His fist Onéguine fiercely shook And gazed around with eyes of flame; The unbidden guests he roughly chides— Tattiana motionless abides. XXI The strife grew furious and Eugene Grasped a long knife and instantly Struck Lenski dead—across the scene Dark shadows thicken—a dread cry Was uttered, and the cabin shook— Tattiana terrified awoke. She gazed around her—it was day. Lo! through the frozen windows play Aurora’s ruddy rays of light— The door flew open—Olga came, More blooming than the Boreal flame And swifter than the swallow’s flight. “Come,” she cried, “sister, tell me e’en Whom you in slumber may have seen.” XXII But she, her sister never heeding, With book in hand reclined in bed, Page after page continued reading, But no reply unto her made. Although her book did not contain The bard’s enthusiastic strain, Nor precepts sage nor pictures e’en, Yet neither Virgil nor Racine Nor Byron, Walter Scott, nor Seneca, Nor the _Journal des Modes_, I vouch, Ever absorbed a maid so much: Its name, my friends, was Martin Zadeka, The chief of the Chaldean wise, Who dreams expound and prophecies. XXIII Brought by a pedlar vagabond Unto their solitude one day, This monument of thought profound Tattiana purchased with a stray Tome of “Malvina,” and but three(56) And a half rubles down gave she; Also, to equalise the scales, She got a book of nursery tales, A grammar, likewise Petriads two, Marmontel also, tome the third; Tattiana every day conferred With Martin Zadeka. In woe She consolation thence obtained— Inseparable they remained. [Note 56: “Malvina,” a romance by Madame Cottin.] XXIV The dream left terror in its train. Not knowing its interpretation, Tania the meaning would obtain Of such a dread hallucination. Tattiana to the index flies And alphabetically tries The words _bear, bridge, fir, darkness, bog, Raven, snowstorm, tempest, fog, Et cetera_; but nothing showed Her Martin Zadeka in aid, Though the foul vision promise made Of a most mournful episode, And many a day thereafter laid A load of care upon the maid. XXV “But lo! forth from the valleys dun With purple hand Aurora leads, Swift following in her wake, the sun,”(57) And a grand festival proceeds.