Владимир Набоков - Комментарии к «Евгению Онегину» Александра Пушкина

   Tatiana with a curious gaze
   looks at the submerged wax:
   with its wondrously cast design,
 4 to her a wondrous something it proclaims.
   From a dish full of water
   rings come out in succession;
   and when her ring turned up,
 8 'twas to a ditty of the ancient days:
   “There all the countrymen are rich;
   they heap up silver by the spadeful!
   To those we sing to will come Good
12 and Glory!” But portends bereavements
   the pitiful tune of this dit:
   to maidens' hearts sweeter is “Kit.”29

   The night is frosty; the whole sky is clear;
   the splendid choir of heavenly luminaries
   so gently, so unisonally flows....
 4 Tatiana, in her low-cut frock,
   into the wide courtyard comes out;
   she trains a mirror on the moon;
   but in the dark glass only
 8 the sad moon trembles....
   Hark!... the snow creaks... a passer-by; the maiden
   flits up to him on tiptoe —
   and her little voice sounds
12 more tender than a reed pipe's strain:
   “What is your name?”30 He looks,
   and answers: “Agafón.”

   On the nurse's advice, Tatiana,
   planning that night to conjure,
   has ordered in the bathhouse secretly
 4 a table to be laid for two.
   But suddenly Tatiana is afraid....
   And I — at the thought of Svetlana —
   I am afraid; so let it be...
 8 we're not to conjure with Tatiana.
   Tatiana has removed
   her silken sash, undressed,
   and gone to bed. Lel hovers over her,
12 while under her pillow of down
   there lies a maiden's looking glass.
   Now all is hushed. Tatiana sleeps.

   And dreams a wondrous dream Tatiana.
   She dreams that she
   over a snowy lawn is walking,
 4 surrounded by sad gloom.
   In front of her, between the snowdrifts,
   dins, swirls its wave
   a churning, dark, and hoary torrent,
 8 by the winter not chained; two thin poles, glued
   together by a piece of ice
   (a shaky, perilous small bridge),
   are laid across the torrent; and before
12 the dinning deep,
   full of perplexity,
   she stopped.

   As at a vexing separation,
   Tatiana murmurs at the brook;
   sees nobody who from the other side
 4 might offer her a hand.
   But suddenly a snowdrift stirred,
   and who appeared from under it?
   A large bear with a ruffled coat;
 8 Tatiana uttered “Ach!” and he went roaring
   and a paw with sharp claws
   stretched out to her. Nerving herself,
   she leaned on it with trembling hand
12 and worked her way with apprehensive steps
   across the brook; walked on —
   and what then? The bear followed her.

   She, to look back not daring,
   accelerates her hasty step;
   but from the shaggy footman
 4 can in no way escape;
   grunting, the odious bear keeps lumbering on.
   Before them is a wood; the pines
   are stirless in their frowning beauty;
 8 all their boughs are weighed down
   by snow flocks; through the summits
   of aspens, birches, lindens bare
   the beam of the night luminaries shines;
12 there is no path; shrubs, precipices, all
   are drifted over by the blizzard,
   plunged deep in snow.

   Into the forest goes Tatiana; the bear follows;
   up to her knee comes yielding snow;
   now by the neck a long branch suddenly
 4 catches her, or by force it tears
   out of her ears their golden pendants;
   now in the crumbly snow sticks fast
   a small wet shoe come off her charming foot;
 8 now she lets fall her handkerchief —
   she has no time to pick it up,
   is frightened, hears the bear behind her,
   and even is too shy to raise
12 with tremulous hand the hem of her dress;
   she runs; he keeps behind her;
   and then she has no force to run.

   Into the snow she's fallen; the bear deftly
   snatches her up and carries her;
   she is insensibly submissive;
 4 stirs not, breathes not;
   he rushes her along a forest road;
   sudden, 'mongst trees, there is a humble hut;
   dense wildwood all around; from every side
 8 'tis drifted over with desolate snow,
   and brightly glows a window;
   and in the hut are cries and noise;
   the bear quoth: “Here's my gossip,
12 do warm yourself a little in his home!”
   and straight he goes into the hallway
   and on the threshold lays her down.

   Tatiana comes to, looks:
   no bear; she's in a hallway;
   behind the door there's shouting and the jingle
 4 of glasses as at some big funeral.
   Perceiving not a drop of sense in this,
   she furtively looks through the chink
   —  and what then? She sees... at a table
 8 monsters are seated in a circle:
   one horned and dog-faced;
   another with a rooster's head;
   here is a witch with a goat's beard;
12 here, prim and proud, a skeleton;
   yonder, a dwarf with a small tail; and there,
   something half crane, half cat.

   More frightful still, and still more wondrous:
   there is a crab astride a spider;
   there on a goose's neck
 4 twirls a red-calpacked skull;
   there a windmill the squat-jig dances
   and rasps and waves its vanes.
   Barks, laughter, singing, whistling, claps,
 8 the parle of man, the stamp of steed!31
   But what were the thoughts of Tatiana
   when 'mongst the guests she recognized
   him who was dear to her and awesome —
12 the hero of our novel!
   Onegin at the table sits
   and through the door stealthily gazes.

   He gives the signal — and all bustle;
   he drinks — all drink and all cry out;
   he laughs — all burst out laughing;
 4 knits his brows — all are silent;
   he is the master there, 'tis plain;
   and Tanya is already not so awestruck,
   and being curious now she opens
 8 the door a little....
   Sudden the wind blows, putting out
   the light of the nocturnal flambeaux;
   the gang of goblins flinches;
12 Onegin, his eyes flashing,
   making a clatter rises from the table;
   all rise; he marches to the door.

   And fear assails her; hastily
   Tatiana strains to flee:
   not possible; impatiently
 4 tossing about, she wants to scream —
   cannot; Eugene has pushed the door,
   and to the gaze of the infernal specters
   the girl appears; ferocious laughter
 8 wildly resounds; the eyes of all,
   hooves, curved proboscises,
   tufted tails, tusks,
   mustaches, bloody tongues,
12 horns, and fingers of bone —
   all point as one at her,
   and everybody cries: “Mine! Mine!”

   “Mine!” Eugene fiercely said,
   and in a trice the whole gang vanished;
   the youthful maid remained with him
 4 twain in the frosty dark;
   Onegin gently draws Tatiana32
   into a corner and deposits her
   upon a shaky bench
 8 and lets his head sink on her shoulder;
   all of a sudden Olga enters,
   followed by Lenski; light gleams forth;
   Onegin brings back his raised arm
12 and wildly his eyes roam,
   and he berates the unbidden guests;
   Tatiana lies barely alive.