The Works of Nikolai Gogol, Vol. 1

knew what it had cost her to persuade her father to take her along, who himself would have been glad to do it sooner if not for the wicked stepmother, who had learned to hold him in her hands just as skillfully as he held the reins of his old mare, now dragging along to be sold after long service. The restless spouse... but we have forgotten that she too sat there on the height of the cart in a fancy wool, greasy jacket, upon which, as if it were ermine fur, were sewn little tails of only a red color, in a rich plakhta a traditional wrap-around skirt that looked like a checkerboard, and in a colorful chintz ochipok a traditional female head covering, which lent a certain special importance to her red, full face, across which flitted something so unpleasant, so wild, that everyone immediately hurried to shift their startled gaze to the daughter's cheerful little face.

The Psel a river in Ukraine began to reveal itself to the eyes of our travelers; from afar, a coolness already wafted, which seemed more palpable after the grueling, destructive heat. Through the dark and light-green leaves of the osokor black poplar trees, birches, and poplars scattered carelessly along the meadow, be-