| When he discovered that the German woman was in love with him, he planned to play a practical joke on her. He told 'her to meet him in the garden at night, and invited two of his friends to come with him, hiding them in the garden among the bushes. | Вот купец заметил, что немка влюбилась в него, и затеял посмеяться над нею: позвал ее к себе в сад ночью, а сам пригласил двоих приятелей и спрятал их в саду, в кустах. |
| "Wonderful! | - Чудесно! |
| When the German woman came, he said, 'Here she is, all there!' | Ну, пришла немка, то да се, я - вот она, дескать, вся тут! |
| And to her, he said, 'I am no use to you, lady; I am married. But I have brought two of my friends to you. One of them is a widower, and the other a bachelor.' | А он ей говорит: я тебе, барыня, не могу отвечать, я - женатый, а вот припас я для тебя двух приятелев, так они - один вдов, другой холост. |
| The German woman - ach! she gave him such a slap on the face that he fell over the garden bench, and then she trampled his ugly mug and his thick head with her heel I I had brought her there, for I was dvornik at the lawyer's house. I looked through a chink in the fence, and saw how the soup was boiling. | Немка - ах! - да как хлобыснет его по харе, он -опрокинулся через скамью, а она его, в морду-то, башмаком да каблуком! А я ее провожал, - я дворником был у судьи; гляжу в щель, сквозь забор - вижу, кипит похлебка. |
| Then the friends sprang out upon her, and seized her by the hair, and I dashed over the fence, and beat them off. 'You must not do this, Mr. Merchants!' I said. | Тут выскочили приятели на нее да - за косы, а я перемахнул через забор, растолкал их, этак, баю, нельзя, господа купцы! |
| The lady had come trustfully, and he had imagined that she had evil intentions. | Барыня к нему со всей душой, а он придумал срамно. |
| I took her away, and they threw a brick at me, and bruised my head. | Увел ее, а они мне кирпичом голову прошибли... |
| She was overcome with grief, and almost beside herself. She said to me, as we crossed the yard: | Затосковала она, ходит по двору сама не своя и говорит мне: |
| 'I shall go back to my own people, the Germans, as soon as my husband dies!' | "Уеду я к своим, к немцам, Яков, как только муж помрет, - уеду!" |
| I said to her, | Я говорю: |
| ' Of course you must go back to them.' | "Конешно, надо уезжать!" |
| And when the lawyer died, she went away. | Номер судья, и уехала она. |
| She was very kind, and so clever, tool And the lawyer was kind, too, - God rest his soul!" | Ласковая была, разумная такая. И судья тоже ласковый был, упокой господи... |
| Not being quite sure that I had understood the meaning of this story, I was silent. | Недоумевая, не понимая смысла этой истории, я молчу. |
| I was conscious of something familiar, something which had happened before, something pitiless and blind about it. But what could I say? | Чувствую в этом что-то знакомое, безжалостное, нелепое, но - что сказать? |
| "Do you think that is a good story?" asked Yaakov. | - Хороша история? - спрашивает Яков. |
