Читать книгу Sapphire fairy. Prose in English - Natalia Patratskaya - Страница 3

The vicissitudes of fate in the palace could be fully understood. Katerina accepted the fate and decided to wait for a free life after serving in the Marble Palace.

The fact that it can substitute any person on the orders of the queen, she has already learned well. It could have been worse if the king himself or the queen’s favorite paid attention to her. Katerina from the maid cleaning in her room, knew that in such cases the maid of honor did not survive. They are stretched with a smile to a glass of drink, and after that no one sees them.

The queen is jealous for her own good and for the good of the whole country. The grandmother, who was with the queen of another country shortly before a terrible night, taught her to cook poisons.

Grandma Queen came to the wedding of the Prince of Navarre, and learned from the experience of the Queen herself. Cunning and poison – these are two components of her reign, and her sons were sick. The blood came from their pores, and the mother ruled behind them. The tsarina absorbed these stories from her grandmother and did not yield to power in the palace, even though her husband, the king, was sitting on the throne.

The maids of honor met all her requirements. The ambassadors knew who was in charge of the palace, and they gave the Queen all the necessary honors. And yet Katerina did not escape the plight of a beautiful woman. The ambassador told the tsar himself about the failed love with the maid of honor Katerina. The king was very interested in his story. He wanted to be the first, until the queen to the maid of honor Catherine someone slipped.

The king himself came to the maid of honor.

Katerina unwittingly opened the door for the king. She felt a chill of horror at her fate. Fear bound her, but she could not let the king in. The king was tipsy, the sea was knee-deep. He spoke merrily to the maid of honor. She slowly became involved in the conversation. She did not dare to repel the gentle movements of the king. The king was a master of love without love. The tenderness of his hands replaced any love.

He insinuatingly brought Katerina to an absolute understanding of the importance of the moment when she herself was ready to rush into the arms of the king. She took off her dress and helped the king undress. Love with the king so swallowed maid of honor that she simply forgot about everything. The king left, and the maid of honor waited for the Queen’s revenge.

Soon Katerina realized that she was getting harder from the king day by day. The maid of honor decided to marry Ulan Cyril, but he was sent to the army on the orders of the king and fatherland. For many years the maid of honor did not serve the tsarina, therefore their composition was constantly changing. Catherine had to leave the prestigious service at the court of Her Majesty.

For the service she received the title of princess and the village of Bronze dipper. By this time, Katerina’s parents had moved to the northern capital, living in a three-story stone house near Nevsky Prospect. The young princess in an interesting position moved to her parents and moved from the Marble Palace.

Katerina’s soul breathed freedom of movement, freedom of choice of dress. Now she could change her dress! The maid of honor walked, resembling each other with their palace outfits, like uhlans in uniform. Katerina and Mama went to the Gostiny Dvor shop to choose fabrics and ribbons.

She bought everything that she modestly requested.

Katerina began to write poetry, which did not please her parents very much, but they were so happy about her daughter’s return that they forgave her everything! She began to attend evenings of poets, read her poems in the evenings, but women were rarely indulged in praise, and she became bored with injustice. She went deep into domestic affairs and wrote on the table if she really wanted to write poetry.

Sometimes Katerina attended balls, but rather modest and not in the Marble Palace. She went to the theater with mamma. Life was calm and streamlined. Katerina read newspapers and books. Her parents tried to find her a fiancé, but she rejected everyone, which did not prevent her from continuing to be a beautiful, flourishing girl.

Pregnancy gradually increased. Hidden deadlines quickly passed. Katherine was noticed by the master Yakov Timofeevich, who lived next door. He had an estate, and not one. Due to the income of the village, he quietly lived in the capital, without bad habits. The pair they are good. Parents began to smile to their neighbor, they already dreamed of their future grandchildren…

Ulan Kirill did not arrive in the Northern Capital by the time. Barin Yakov Timofeevich came to a state of despair. Cyril came from the war, nervous and wounded, dissatisfied with everything on this earth. Catherine’s parents for anxiety did not know what to do.

But Cyril accidentally met a woman on the avenue and often came to her house, very strange for decent people. Katerina nervously experienced the changes that had happened to Cyril. Between them it was as if a ray of yellow sapphire light had passed, so it seemed to her. Their relationship became cool. She understood by her feminine sense that now she had better get married. Parents constantly hinted at Katerina about Yakov Timofeyevich.

Barin Yakov Timofeevich sighed freely when he realized that the girl began to treat him well and suggested that Katerina get married. She agreed. The wedding went well, with good taste. Soon, by mutual agreement, new relatives in the same wall hacked the door and two apartments connected.

The autumn gray sky was replaced by a frosty clear sky. Rare cirrus clouds did not prevent the sun from illuminating the first ice on the reservoirs of the city. The people and gentlemen with pleasure changed coats with capes on fur coats and casings, if they were. Long skirts swayed under fur jackets. Furs spread the smell of snuff, which poured clothes against moths. Snuff was kept in snuffboxes, it was considered supremely chic to sniff tobacco and sneeze for health. Smoke streamed from the chimneys of the houses. On the avenue rolled carriages and horses.

On a frosty morning Katerina gave birth to a boy Ilya. Jacob Timofeevich was overwhelmingly pleased with the heir. The son of the king did not know who his real father was. For the child prepared a children’s room, in which hung a crib attached to the ceiling. The boy’s parents brought him up according to all the rules and started learning to read early. Five years later, God sent them a girl, Masha.

Katerina walked with the children herself. She liked to raise children. At home, her parents and servants from the village helped her, but she did not trust anyone to raise her children while they were small. Yakov Timofeevich dreamed that Ilya would become a lawyer. And the boy met his hopes. He studied well and entered the law faculty of the university. Yakov Timofeevich and Katerina were a quiet couple, without great needs and costs. Everything went well with them. Their villages flourished.

And the yields were good. Their parents lived long and were tactful enough not to disturb them, but only to help. Ilya and Masha grew up under the supervision of parents, grandparents and servants. Everything good sometimes changes dramatically. The parents of Jacob and Katerina died one by one.

Their homesteads were left unattended. And immediately incomes from villages became less, and expenses in the Northern capital increased very quickly, and children grew rapidly. Barin Yakov Timofeevich had to go through the villages and bring relative order to them. He fell ill from an unusual job and died in one of the villages called the Copper Bucket, before reaching the northern capital.

Katerina tried to connect with the villages. The villages brought less and less means to its existence. She did not dare to leave the children to the servants for a long time, but she had to. Arriving in the village Copper Bucket, she realized that in the city they no longer live, will have to lead a rural lifestyle. She decided to take her daughter Masha to her and send money to her son to study. So she did. The door between the apartments in the house was walled up. One apartment rented. The houses required repairs and were not very expensive.

For some time, Katerina has adjusted the village life. One day she looked at the yellow sapphire, and it seemed to her that he was not satisfied with her life. Or sapphire did not like life in the village. Sometimes she perceived the radiance of a stone as a lively response to her troubles. How could a queen of honor, a lady from the royal retinue, live in the village? Could not. And she remembered Ulana Cyril. She thought that if ulan is alive, he still loves her.

Katerina appointed a new manager of all the villages and went to the Northern capital, taking with her the means of subsistence in the city.

First of all, she started repairing her house, then updated her wardrobe, then found Kirill. Forget the first love he could not yet. By this time he had become a beautiful and docile man. Life has taught him a lot. Katerina and Kirill got married and restored the second apartment.

Catherine’s daughter Masha grew up, but did not look like her mother. She was not distinguished by her mother’s beauty and stateliness, so there was no hope that she would become the Queen’s maid of honor. Masha looked like her father, Yakov Timofeevich, in everything. She had no bad habits, but there were few good ones. Masha was married to an equally calm guy who had no particular desires. Previously, his desire was dictated by his mother, now Masha, if she herself was not lazy to desire anything.

Both were melancholic.

The kids have grown up. Katerina could calmly read books again. She read the book The History of the Clans of the Russian Nobility with great interest. Katerina took herself to the nobles, but she really wanted to find ancestors in the book! One was a pity that all the nobles were counted in the male line from the rulers of the ancient clan.

And if you trace all the boyars and princes to the nineteenth century, in which Katherine lived, it turned out that the princes destroyed themselves from generation to generation.

How? With great chic they married and married almost relatives in different generations. Of course, there were newcomers from other clans, but people tried to keep their clan along the line of the ancient clan.

The women who married people from another kind disappeared from the lists of princely families. It turned out that the more and more I looked through Katerina’s book, the more I met stories about barren men, sons of great clans.

Some of the princely family survived, but it was very clear that the story now and then turned back to find the ancestors of the omnipotent at other times. The surnames were constantly changing in a somewhat strange way: the name of the whole clan was obtained from the nickname. Katerina came to the conclusion that she definitely did not have direct ancestors from the ancient race, but she did not exclude lateral branches.

Cyril did not condemn Katerina’s addiction to books; he knew one thing: if the wife reads, it means that the house is quiet. And he was at peace with her. They lived quite well. Cyril had no children of his own.

Daughter Masha surprised her relatives by going to live in the village, to the estate of her mother. Her husband Anton Ivanovich left with Masha. In parting, Katerina presented Masha the Sapphire Straw Widow.

The son of Katerina Ilya graduated from the university. He became a handsome and intelligent man. Outwardly, he looked like Katerina. Ilya took the personal lawyer Prince Voronov, who often visited the court. The prince’s daughter, Lizonka, fell in love with the handsome gray-eyed Ilya. The prince himself was not against the marriage of his daughter.

He perfectly understood that such an Ilya, a hardworking and decent person, can save and replenish the wealth accumulated by the ancestors. And Ilya looked like a king…

The love of the young princess was hot-tempered. All her houses were called Lizonkoy. She was a flying moth. Her knobs hovered over the piano keys. Her skirts flew over the grand palace of the prince. Thin and light, graceful and beautiful girl enveloped with their fluids noble Ilya. Next to her, he seemed to be an even taller and stronger man. Lysonka had a pronounced temperament. Live and agile girl. For a long time she was not angry. Not a lot worried. In life, she had everything, in terms of income and wealth.

Wedding Lizonka asked to make a magnificent, but without a lot of people. They collected an entire sleigh train and drove around the central streets of the Northern capital with bells. Sable fur coat with an ermine collar perfectly kept Lizonka warm during the trip. To live young remained in the palace of the prince.

Ilya calmly endured his wife’s quirks and fit well into his father-in-law’s palace. The love of the young was dictated by Lizonkoy herself. Her irrepressible temperament. But they had no children for a long time. Smart wife, as a noble noblewoman, to protect against pregnancy used a gold ring. Ilya mentally experienced the absence of children, not knowing about the golden ring.

But they were young. He had a lot of work, as the prince, Lizonka’s father, had his own factories in the city. The workers were not always submissive. Yes, and suppliers had relative decency. Masha did not visit her brother. Home to his mother, Ilya almost did not go. Masha and Ilya did not find a common language. Brother was further separated from his sister.

A child appeared in Ilya’s family. This Lisa finally decided to become a mother and gave birth to a girl. Ilya was very happy with her daughter, and she most of all loved to climb her big dad. Her mom was constantly in business and very often absent from home. With the child sat nurse-nanny. Little girl again fluttered in search of adventure in the northern capital. She often spent time with her friends than with a child.

The granddaughter of the king lived not far from the palace, on the channel with golden sphinxes. But the king did not know about his granddaughter and about his son, who lived practically next to him, even by the standards of the nineteenth century.

Elapsed time, two or three hundred years. One day, people came to mine copper in carts, and even stumbled upon a chest, which the gnomes pelted with earth, and next to the skeletons lay the servants of the khan-eyed khan. People took the chest and carried it to freedom, the Queen was immediately informed to the northern capital.

The queen ordered to deliver a chest to her, but some of the stones along the road disappeared along with the people. Not without it. She did not know, she did not know that it was impossible to distribute these gems, it was impossible to look at them for a long time.

The queen died from the radiance of stones. In place of the queen, the king came. He knew about the misfortune with the queen, so he kept the chest closed in his chambers. The king called the fortuneteller to himself and asked him what the power of the stones was. She was a great inventor, but she foresaw a lot.

The fortune teller said that the stones have tremendous energy, incomprehensible to her, and it is better to remove them from the king’s chambers. I obeyed the king fortuneteller. Removed gems from the king. He ordered one of them to make jewelry, so that all of them were beautiful and different in taste.

The king decided to give away all the gems for the benefit of himself and his fatherland. Jewelers, who made the jewelry, died more often than other jewelers. And they made jewels for ambassadors out of those stones, decided to give them away at holidays, assemblies. One jewelery made of yellow sapphire, the king himself called the “Straw widow.”

Katerina’s granddaughter, Varvara, grew up as a beautiful, stately gray-eyed girl with a large light brown braid, and a satin bow was adorned at the top of the braid. From the age of 14, they sent matchmakers to her. To her grandmother, the girl only once went to the banks of the Neva. Grandma was pleased with her granddaughter and was very sorry that she lived in the village, but Varvara’s mother, Marya Yakovlevna, refused to go to the city.

Varvara’s father, Anton Ivanovich, was transformed in the village. Here, no one considered him as lullaby, as in a city. Here he was revered as a smart and strong man. In the village he was in his place. Most often, Anton Ivanovich could be seen in the forge. He liked to work with a heavy hammer. Blacksmith he was excellent. In the village with him, the people began to build stout houses.

They built a good mill for everyone. Anton Ivanovich was the father of his family for all villagers. Marya Yakovlevna, in moments of sadness, took out a gift from her mother – the Sapphire “Straw Widow”. Sapphire was not very fond of life in the village, but he approved of the actions of Anton Ivanovich and meekly endured the sad glances of Marya Yakovlevna. Sapphire lay in his golden frame and sad with his mistress.

In the village a tragic event occurred. One rebellious horse kicked Anton Ivanovich so hard when she was shod, that he fell down and soon died. Marya Yakovlevna was numb from grief and practically did not move herself. Barbara bothered around her mother. Mother solemnly, as far as was possible in her situation, gave the sapphire “The Straw Widow” to Barbara and died.

The girl was 15 years old. In memory of her mother, she had a sapphire, but her daughter considered him mom’s trinket and put it behind the stove. Without sapphire, she felt better, he mysteriously acted on her badly, he interfered with her yellow eye. In a word, sapphire and Varvara did not like. She was left alone. She endured the sad state of losing her father and mother with great difficulty.

Near the village grew forest. She was unknown to shyness, she was born near the forest. Barbara began to walk in the woods for strawberries, for raspberries, for mushrooms. Her friends took little interest; she preferred solitude in the forest. Instead of a gun, she took with her a light bow and arrows.

A neighbor, at her request, made arrowheads. Bow for her bent master, who knew the properties of the tree, but more often for people he wove baskets. Barbara shot well at a small target. She did not hope to kill the archery bear, and she needed her for complacency. From the bow Varvara could shoot a duck on the fly.

A friend of the girl showed up the most unexpected – an elk. This marvelous animal with branchy horns always went on the path when Barbara went into the forest. The first time the girl was frightened by an elk and turned back to the house. The elk stopped and began to beat his hoof on the ground, as if he asked: come back, do not go.

Barbara stopped, turned to the moose, and approached him, as if he were a simple horse. Barbara knew how to handle horses, but preferred to walk, not ride a horse. And elk? Barbara did not know what to expect from an elk. In the bag she had a piece of bread. She broke off half and stretched the elk. Elk with huge soft lips took the bread from the palm of Barbara.

Barbara began to talk to him, and then said a simple phrase:

– Elk, come with me.

And the elk went with her. Varvara patted his withers. Elk shook his head. Barbara did not collect anything that day, but she was calm in her heart. She walked a little with the elk, with this slim and proud animal from the forest world. And again she said:

– Elk, let’s go home.

The elk turned and went to accompany her home. When the hut began to shine through the trees, the elk stopped. Barbara understood him and said:

– Elk, go to the forest. We’ll meet Again.

Elk obediently went to the forest. Elk met Barbarian several times in the forest. The meetings of Varvara with the elk were noticed by Andrew, the son of the manager, who was once appointed by Maria Yakovlevna. Andrei asked:

– Barbara, what kind of friendship do you have with a wild moose?

“I don’t know, but the elk is waiting for me constantly on the path when I go into the forest.”

“Did you feed him bread?”

– Yes.

– Barbara, friendship with a moose is interesting, are you not afraid? Why do you carry a bow?

– I like to hit the mark.

– Barbara, marry me! I understand it’s hard for you to live alone.

– Let’s get married, but in a year.

Barbara married handsome Andrew, but he was soon called to the army. He returned as a completely sick person, and yet they had a daughter, Masha, when Varvara turned 25 years old.

Six months after the death of Andrei Varvara Antonovna married a second time, for the widowed man Artem Ivanovich, his son Mitya left his wife. The life of Barbara became poorer and more difficult. Artem Ivanovich and Barbara decided to go to Siberia, to look for happiness. They stopped in a village, put a house with a roof over his head.

Artem Ivanovich met with a political exile, helped him. The exile was literate, he began to teach literacy Mitya, and mother was not allowed to teach Masha. The girl’s neighbors fed rye bread with milk, and it was very tasty, went for a treat. In Siberia, the sticks did not grow on trees, happiness did not smile, but the cold was harsh.

Masha’s parents decided to return to their homeland, to their native village, where their relatives helped them, and they stayed in the village. Artem Ivanovich worked as a tailor, went with his wife to the villages. Together they sewed clothes to the one who invited, they received mostly products for the work. So they kept and fed the family.

They had a sewing machine.

Varvara Antonovna helped her husband to sew clothes, but manually. She knew how to sew with her hands, like a sewing machine – such smooth stitches were obtained. During the raid of strange people in uniform, the family was confiscated from the family. Varvara began working as a cook and feeding combiners. Artem Ivanovich died.

Varvara was left alone with the children from Artem Ivanovich, – Volodya and Misha, they were helped by Masha, who at that time was already working along the party line. Mitya was already an adult, he studied, got married, but unsuccessfully, worked in the city finance department as an accountant, later as a teacher, died at the front.

A group of gamblers played cards; the group was headed by a woman Varya, Varvara Antonovna. The players behaved very excitedly, considering their age: Katerina was 5—6 years old, Sergey was 3, Tolya was 7. Baba Vary had a task: to sit on that day with the children of her two younger sons, who went out with their wives.

Cards tired, took the lotto. The grandmother called the numbers, and the children locked them on their cards with pennies or round metal plates, very much like pennies. The year was 1956—1957 … The house in which the children and grandmother played was a small, wooden one. In this house lived Tolya with his mother and stepfather. Yes, the son of Baba Vari was a boy’s stepfather, but a favorite, and the boy calmly called him dad.

Katerina with Baba Varya and her parents lived in a large brick house. This is probably where their parents were, while the children with their grandmother were in a wooden house. Did not relatively young parents celebrate New Year? For a very long time, the children played cards and then lotto. But the next New Year, Lena met in a large leather chair in Uncle Vasya’s house. The receiver twisted two songs. Everything around was festive, and for the first time Katerina and Tolia danced something like a waltz “On the hills…” to the joyful cries of an adult generation.

Katerina was not loved by her mother when Baba Varya visited Tolya’s mother.

Years passed quickly. She and her mother now lived in a brick house, next to the school where Katerina studied. Not only that, her teacher of Russian language was their neighbor.

The teacher was extremely beautiful and slim, with hair laid in the form of a cockscomb. In those days, they wrote feathers and dipped the pens of pens in the inkpots, which spilled ink well. Katerina, when she was on duty, went for a tray with inkpoints to the teacher, but there were no chance meetings with her half-cousin Tolya either.

Katerina’s parents were taken to another country, probably because they were trying to make a clothes demonstrator out of her in a fashion house. The fashion house was across the street from the Toli house.

During the winter holidays, Katerina returned to her hometown. She went to her friend Tanya, and then to Tole and his mother. Tolya grew up, became a handsome guy and looked like an actor playing in a famous film. At that time, he was in high school. Katerina Tolya liked, but they just sat at the table, and she went home.

Lived woman Varya 90 years. She has never been to a doctor. All the teeth themselves fell out. All children were born outside the hospital. In 80 years, she had a single operation. After discharge, she herself ran out onto the porch of the hospital. Medicines did not drink. With coffee is not met. Read not learned. She was able to speak boils. She knew how not to clash with others. She went through many wars and hunger strikes, one of her favorite dishes was: boiling water, crackers, onions, salt…

Theophanes continued to develop the theme of the two chests of the ladies of the Subsoil. He knew perfectly well that one chest with gems, collected by the Khan’s people and containing a radioactive element, was distributed as souvenirs. This chest carried negatively charged elements.

The fate of the yellow sapphire “The Straw Widow,” he represented and knew that the gem justified its name. Now he wanted to find a chest with a positive set of gems.

For further experiments, Feofan needed to wait for the birth of another heroine for Katerina. He traced the lives of people embedded in the computer system of the office of movement. Katerina had to be sent at the right time to a certain place on Earth.

The soul of Katerina and the soul of her heroine among the people would have to be combined without much discomfort. The difficulty was that the heroine changed the place of life, but he found a way to overcome this obstacle.

This time, Katerina was not abducted from the tile courtyard. She was already a recognized lady, capable of accepting assignments without youthful maximalism, and still young enough to enter the soul of a young girl.

The transfer of Katerina and her company in time was made, as usual, from a flying saucer, the dimensions of which for people were so small that it could be taken for a balloon, but not for an aircraft. The flying saucer hovered over the desired object, the landing force descended to the ground to meet in the image of ordinary people.

Katerina was studying in the sixth grade by this time. Not far from two-storey houses, a new microdistrict was built from five-storey houses. Happy people lived in them, but the children studied in the same school located in this new neighborhood. The neighborhood adjoined the red barracks.

The house was a two-story, of eight apartments. In the room of Katerina there was a stove, so big that it was rather part of the wall, but with its own corner, which came into the room, as if this corner was a stove. The stove was heated in the hallway, so the wall on the side of the room was just warm. A tortoise was constantly warming on the floor near the stove, which was attracted by the heat of the stove. She warmed herself at the stove, crawling around the room.

Turtle liked to eat cool cabbage leaves. She sat at the stove and gnawed cabbage leaves. If food delivery was delayed, the turtle crawled onto the bedside mat. So she said she wants to eat. Katerina woke up, lowered her legs… and quickly lifted them in order not to step on her little girlfriend.

She took the turtle in her hands, twirled her in her hands, looked at the amazing eyes of the animal and the shell. Katerina brought food for the turtle. It was a turtle turtle. The furniture in the room was with high legs. The turtle was visible anywhere in the room, and the closet was so close to the floor that the turtle didn’t crawl under it. Katerina found the turtle quickly.

Katerina waved her magic wand, but it did not hit at that time. The girl woke up in a train at the age of seven, she sat by the window and looked at her house, which they were driving slowly. Outside the window flashed her playground. She saw her woman Varia, who was sitting on her favorite stool. The girl wanted to cry, but her mother sat next to her, and on the table lay a newspaper for 1958.

Katerina was born in the maternity hospital, standing on a city street, parallel to which the river flowed. Those years are shrouded in time. The street of those times was very decent. On it stood vigorous houses of three-four floors of yellowish color. In the courtyard of the long brick house Katerina had the nickname Beauty. She did not know who gave her this nickname, but sometimes she was called that, at that time she was five or six years old. She was a big girl and was taller than her peers.

By the age of seven, Katerina had two long braids, but at four she still had a haircut with a four-sided bang. Her friend Tanechka also went with this hairdo. The girls were friends under the views of their grandmothers. The playground was quite large, it was located along the length of the house. On the one hand, it was bounded by a house, and on the other hand, by a picket fence, followed by the railway.

Here is a place and raised Katerina to eight years. Tanya’s father was a designer. They lived decently for those times. They had a two-room apartment in the next doorway. Tanya’s grandmother was very intelligent and constantly made comments to Katerina because of her pimples or because of her nose. She Katerina fed several times with Tanya. Katerina, with her constant appetite, increased Tanya’s ability to absorb food.

The girls played hide and seek in the designer’s room several times and hid behind the closet, so that there was a free corner behind it. Most of all, Katerina liked yellow, sharply sharpened pencils and white sheets of paper on the table. The Tanechka family was soon given a three-room apartment in a brick house located on the same street, and they moved. Tanya was born with a sister. The ways of the girls diverged forever…