Across the Border

The round-faced young man, who was diligently scraping the bark off a bird-cherry twig, startled at the unexpected call and turned sharply around.

On the path by which he usually climbed from the river up into the forest, stood a woman with a basket. She was wearing bast shoes, a sarafan of some indeterminate, old-womanish dull color, and a white scarf tied "like a duck." The ordinary village outfit somehow did not match either her bright face or her slender, agile, lively figure. The young man felt embarrassed by his faded shirt and his worn protective riding breeches.

– Are you deaf or what? I'm asking you. Do you see the calves here near the hut?..