Act 1 — SCENE 2. FILIMÓN AND THE FORMER
Reading edition
Miller (noticing him). Ah! I am getting a guest. I’ll earn a penny this day. (To Filimón.) Godspeed, young man!
Filimón. My respects, old man.
Miller. Whence come you, whither tend you?
Filimón. Not farther than my business takes me.
Miller. Of your own will, or by compulsion?
Filimón. I am looking for horses: my roan and grey have gotten away from me; they are fine horses, such fine horses. (Aside.) He is a fortune-teller: I’ll try my fortune with him. (To the Miller.) Say, old man, I want to ask you——
Miller. What is it you want? As you please, I am at your service.
Filimón. That’s good! And I’ll pay you for it. Tell me my fortune: shall I find my horses?
Miller. Shall you find your horses?
Filimón. That’s it, old man. I am very anxious to find out about them.
Miller. Now, how about that; is there going to be anything? (Stretches out his hand to him.)
Filimón. First tell me, old man, and then we’ll see.
Miller (turns away from him, and angrily begins a song):
Tell the fortune: As the guess is, So is the pay.
Filimón. But, old man, I expect to pay you.
Miller.
’Tis with a promise As with a chair: If you sit and do not eat, Then your belly is not full.
Filimón. Believe me, I am not lying to you.
Miller.
If it’s so, All this talking is in vain; Take out your purse, Don’t talk uselessly, Count out the money. (Puts out his hand, and looks in his eyes.)
Filimón. Well, I don’t care: I’ll give you some money in advance.
Miller. Only this?
Filimón. It will do for the present; what more do you want?
Miller (aside). You won’t get off with less than half a rouble.
Filimón. What are you going to tell me now?
Miller. What is it now, early in the morning?
Filimón. Not very late yet, the sun has not yet set behind the woods.
Miller. Turn three times around, towards the sun.
Filimón. What for?
Miller. That’s what I need in my sorcery. Do as you are told!
Filimón. To please you, I’ll turn around. (Turns around once.)
Miller. Once more, towards the sun.
Filimón (turning around). Here it is, and towards the sun.
Miller. Now stand against this tree. (Filimón is about to start for the tree, but the Miller says): No, no, stop! Have you a kerchief?
Filimón (taking out his handkerchief). Here it is.
Miller. Close your eyes tight, and tie your kerchief over them. That’s all right! Now listen: you must stand quiet, and don’t move from the spot, nor speak a word to anyone, while I go and see the elder.
Filimón (does all the Miller commands him to do). But suppose someone should come and ask me why I am standing there, and why my eyes are tied up?
Miller. Not a word to anybody; but you may grumble to yourself.
Filimón. May I sing a song?
Miller. You will frighten all. No, you must not.
Filimón (aside). What is it all going to be?
Miller. Stand still and don’t move!
Ippolít Fédorovich Bogdanóvich. (1743-1803.)
Ippolít Bogdanóvich, the son of a minor official, entered the mathematical school connected with the Senate; at fourteen years of age he began to study at the University and to write verses under the guidance of Kheráskov. He then served as secretary of legation in Saxony, and later was connected with the Government Archives. His reputation rests only on his Psyche, which is a paraphrase in verse of La Fontaine’s Les amours de Psyché et de Cupidon, itself an imitation of an episode in Apuleius’s Golden Ass. It is a mock-heroic in the style of Máykov’s Eliséy (see p. 263), and was immensely popular at the end of the eighteenth century, and even Dmítriev, Púshkin and Byelínski found pleasure in reading it. There are traces in his poems of an intimate acquaintance with the Russian popular literature, from which are introduced many characters. The poem found so many admirers because it was an expression of the reverse side of the philosophy, of the eighteenth century, with its frivolity and superficiality.