Peasants

The servant at the Moscow hotel “Slavyanskiy Bazar,” Nikolai Chikildeev, fell ill. His legs went numb and his gait changed, so that one day, while walking down the corridor, he tripped and fell along with the tray on which ham with peas had been served. He had to give up his place. The money he had—both his own and his wife’s—he spent on treatment. There was nothing left to live on; without work it became boring. And he decided that he should probably go back home to the countryside. At home, people say, even it’s easier to get sick, and it’s cheaper to live; and for good reason they say: home walls help.