Mothers & Daughters: Mikhail Ivanovich

MIKHAIL IVANOVICH

Summer 1840.

Nanny Nastya was not entirely healthy at the beginning of summer, therefore a young maid named Parasha was temporarily assigned to Vera for games and walks. One morning they were playing “little towns” in the front garden. Parasha broke branches of white and purple lilacs and made little alleys by sticking them into the ground. They built houses from wood chips and pegs; ponds and wells were made from pieces of glass covered with earth, and fences and gates were fashioned from twigs. Thus, they made entire cities where they took Vera’s dolls for walks. Suddenly Bug, who was lying nearby curled up in a ball, raised her head and, pricking her ears, began to growl.

“Tsits! What are you doing, dummy?” they shouted at her. Bug, however, did not obey. Now rising to her feet, she growled more fiercely.

Mikhail Ivanovich & Marya Mikhailovna Toptygin.^[1]

Parasha stood in the front garden and looked through the bushes into the field that separated the dacha from Saratov. At that very moment, there was a drumming, clicking, and rattling of something metal. Bug, barking like mad, all wheezing and bristled, disappeared behind the gate in one rushing jump. Vera and Parasha chased after her into the yard and saw some men at the gate with two huge bears in chains. Around them, dancing to the drum, clicking its wooden jaws, was a boy dressed as a goat. The men drummed, shouting their orders to the bears who stood on their hind legs, as they growled and rattled their chains. Zhuchka began to bark. The chaos was terrible! At first, Vera was scared, but then, when everyone poured out onto the porch to watch the bears dance, Vera laughed a lot, looking at their club-footed movements. (One of them, the very large bear, was especially funny!) The men were paid, and the bears (a father and daughter it turns out,) named Mikhail Ivanovich and Marya Mikhailovna Toptygin, were likewise compensated. They were treated to bread, sugar, and vodka, which they very deftly drank, taking the glasses in their furry paws. The traveling entertainers then went home, and Vera returned to the front garden, back to her “little town.”

Vera was going upstairs to her nursery to straighten her hair and dress before lunch when Dasha’s frightened whisper stopped her in her tracks.

“Young lady! Ah, young lady!” she said. “Do you hear? The big bear just ran away! He broke free from the chain and ran into the grove!”

“That’s not true!” said Vera. “Who told you that?”

“Fock’s coachman said so, and Vanka, the “fool” saw him too. They both ran into him at the grove and saw his handlers running around trying to catch him. It’s so scary!”

“Verà,” Antonia’s voice rang out, “que faites vous là bas! Venez, je vous arrangerai pour le diner.”[2]

Antonia only spoke to the children in French. It was in this manner of immersion, she maintained, that the girls would learn it the quickest. There was a time when the girls did not even know that Antonia spoke Russian.

At dinner, Vera conveyed the news about the bear to Lelya, who immediately (and loudly) announced it to everyone at the table.

“Is that true?” asked Dede Andrushka, turning to Yakov, the footman serving at the table.

“I have heard the rumors, Andrei Mikhailovich,” said Yakov, “but I do not know for certain.”

“It is true, Andrei Mikhailovich,” said the young lackeys, Konstantin and Peter, confirming Dasha’s story.

Baba Lena was alarmed.

“Don’t worry, Mamochka,” said Uncle Rostya, “these bears have neither claws nor teeth.”

Uncle Rostya had come to the dacha for the summer from St. Petersburg, where he was studying at the artillery school.

“What does he need claws and teeth for?” said Baba Lena. “He can just strangle you if he wishes!”

“Yes, I agree,” said Helena Andreevna, “falling into a bear hug is not entirely pleasant.”

“I will make an order to find out for sure,” said Dede Andrushka. “If it is true that we have an escaped bear on our hands, it will not be difficult to catch him by surrounding the grove with a raid.”

“Verochka, why do you look so scared?” asked Aunt Katya.

“Why did you bulge your eyes, as if you were choking?” Lelya screamed.

“What lovely expressions, Lelya! Aren’t you ashamed to say something so stupid?” said Helena Andreevna. “What are you thinking about, Verochka, what’s troubling you?”

“It is just…” said Vera.

“Don’t you dare be afraid,” Helena Andreevna continued. “The bear—if it ran away—will be caught today.”

“I’m not afraid!” said Vera.

Vera was afraid. No matter how hard she tried, she could not forget that a huge bear had settled in her grove and could freely come and eat them at any moment. The wind rose in the evening. The tall trees rustled, and the shutters creaked. Now and again a door slammed somewhere. Vera felt even more frightened. She kept listening and shuddering every minute. When she was put to bed, she could not fall asleep. It seemed to her that the door was about to open, and along with the howl of the wind, a terrible growling bear could be heard. She regretted that Nanny Nastya was sick and could not tell her stories! She tried to ask Antonia to talk to her, but she replied that she was very busy, and continued to write in the adjacent room.

“Why are you not sleeping?” asked Lelya.

“I don’t know, Lelya. Have you heard any news? Did they catch the bear?”

“Oh, no!” said Lelya, shaking her head importantly. “They say he is hiding in our ravine!” She exchanged glances with Masha (Helena Andreevna’s maid,) who was undressing her and spoke in a whisper. “Do you know that bears always go out at night to hunt for prey? And our ravine is close!”

“Ah! Don’t say that!” cried Vera, covering her ears.

Lelya sat down in her shirt on the edge of her bed, wrapped her arms around her knees and rocking back and forth, sang in a mournful voice an old fairy tale that had long been familiar to them:

“I am a squeaky, squeaky bear.

Yes, on a fake leg that’s a spare.

While the villages are sleeping,

I’ll roll in squeaking,

For a tasty midnight treat.”

He found a girl awake in her bed

Whom he thought would look better dead.

“I will eat this girl”

He said with a twirl

“She’ll be such tender MEAT!”

With this last word (which she screamed loud) Lelya suddenly pounced on Vera, shouting even louder: “Ay! Here he is! The bear! Save us!”

Vera screamed in a voice that was not her own, and trembling, threw herself on the neck of Antonia, who had come running in fright.

They had made such a noise that the aunts came running from downstairs to find out what was going on. Baba Lena and Helena Andreevna were already about to go up the stairs, but Aunt Katya, fearing for Helena Andreevna, who was sick, shouted to them from above.

“It is nothing,” said Aunt Katya. “Vera was just having a nightmare.”

Everything calmed down. Baba Lena escorted Helena Andreevna back to the living room where they were playing cards with Dede Andrushka. She then went upstairs to check on Vera, who was still shaking in her bed. Antonia was sitting next to Vera, calming her down and scolding Lelya, who was already very embarrassed.

“Lelya! Honestly!” said Baba Lena.

“It’s alright,” assured Vera. “I am no longer afraid.”

In truth, Vera was really very embarrassed by her fright, which caused a commotion in the whole dacha.
For several days after this, Vera’s thoughts lingered on the bear. She was afraid to remain alone on the balcony at dusk and constantly looked around at every rustle when walking around. The fear eventually subsided, and she, like the others, completely forgot about the bear.[3]

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