KHATUNA. THE GIRL WITH THE DOLL. VLADIMIR GRECHINOV
by me and said that you wanted to see me. It is necessary-so it is necessary. As soon as I figured out my affairs, I went to you.»
«Good day, Granny Efrosinya!» Galina greeted her happily. «Yes, you haven’t come to see us for a long time. We were already getting bored. I kept getting ready to visit you too, but in no way – now children, now household chores… Well, let’s go, let’s go to the hut to the table, otherwise the samovar is already getting cold. Forgive me for distracting from urgent matters, but I really need to know what awaits us in the future. Now something has become alarming in my soul.»
«Time for you, Galinushka, I will always find when it’s necessary,» the fortune-teller continued in response, having entered the hut and sitting down at a table. «And that’s right, I have a lot of things to do these days. Someone asks to tell fortunes, another one to make a love spell, and the other one to lift curses. So, last Thursday Ustinya came to me. Well, Tryphon’s wife. She was crying, ulcers, said, all of a sudden, have appeared down her legs for no reason. It hurt to step. And it all started after she found the charmed coins right at the gate of Pantelei. And I asked her, why did you pick up other people’s coins? They were not meant for you! I conjured over her, gave her a decoction of herbs, and told her to throw those coins away from people’s eyes,» said Efrosinya, looking at the treats. «Oh, you always have wonderful baked food, Galinushka! Every time I try it and every time I’m overjoyed’ the old woman praised the hostess, taking a bite of a large patterned spice-cake and washing it down with tea from a saucer.
«Help yourself, Granny Efrosinya. Eat, don’t be shy! I know you love something sweet,» Galina smiled. «In the morning I baked everything myself. It’s nice that you liked it.»
«Well, what gnaws at you, Galinushka, if you called me so urgently? Or did anything happen?» asked Efrosinya.
In response, the hostess told the fortune-teller about how Nazar picked up the girl in a deserted place and about the strange events that began to occur afterwards.
«Let me, Galinushka, tell fortunes on this girl. The whole story that you just told is too suspicious for me,» said the old woman.
Pushing the cup and saucer aside, she pulled an old battered deck out of her skirt pocket. She quickly shuffled it, pulled three cards out of the middle at once, and spread them out on the table with the back side. Then she began to take out more cards one at a time from the deck and lay them around. As soon as the fortune-teller turned over all the cards front side, she gasped.
«Look, look, Galinushka,» she called the hostess closer to her. «You see: the queen of spades has fallen in the middle, and all the cards around it are also in black suits. It’s as if some kind of witch and nearby evil spirits gathered. Only one thing is strange: I’m guessing at a girl, and the cards show me an adult woman.»
«Maybe you are wrong, Granny Efrosinya?» Galina was puzzled. «Besides me, there are no more women here.»
«I could be wrong because of old age,» the old woman answered with barely noticeable resentment, «but these cards have not been lying to me for many years. I sense something unkind in this, Galinushka. Some kind of trouble awaits you and your family. And so far I don’t even know how to help.»
«Oh, Efrosinya, teach me how to be, how to ward off trouble from the house,» Galina lamented.
«I need to think about it. And now it’s time for me to go home,» said the sorceress, looking out the window. «It will soon be evening, and the way from you is not short.»
Efrosinya collected the cards, put the deck in her skirt pocket and got up from the table.
«Oh, wait, granny!» Galina caught herself, taking a small paper roll from the table near the wooden stove. «I almost forgot! Here I have prepared some goodies for you, so don’t refuse to accept them from us.»
«Thank you very much, Galinushka! You are a glorious hostess!» smiled the fortune-teller and took the gift.
She took a couple of steps towards the exit, but suddenly stood rooted to the spot, turned to Galina, and with her hand on her chin exclaimed with an anxious expression on her face, «Good gracious! And isn’t it Khatuna by any chance?!»
«What did you say, granny?» asked Galina not hearing her.
Without having time to answer, the old woman suddenly noticed how the door of the next room opened slightly and behind her appeared part of Pelageya’s face, who was staring at her with one eye. Frightened by something, the fortune-teller hurried, «Oh, it’s time for me, it’s time, Galinushka! I must go home!» and hurried out of the hut into the courtyard.
Already at the exit at the gate, she said in a low voice to the hostess who was accompanying her, «We have this Saturday, Galinushka, the Apple Feast of the Saviour4 is coming. Take the apples to the Church to consecrate them, and at the same time take this girl there. Let’s see how she behaves. And I’ll come to you on Sunday again. You will tell me what happened and how.»
Galina listened to the advice of the fortune-teller and on a holiday, collecting a basket of apples and putting the pies baked the day before, she went to the village church with the children in the morning. She strictly ordered her daughters not to tell Pelageya that they would go to church…
«Pelageyushka, come with us!» Ulyana called her, straightening a new sundress on herself. «Today there will be festivities in the village. There is no need to sit at home on such a day!»
Pelageya reluctantly agreed, and the girls with Galina went to the center of the village.
Carried away by the road, they imperceptibly turned to the church.
«Why did you stand up like an idol?» Ulyana was surprised. «Let’s go inside! We need to consecrate pies and apples.»
The girl pulled the named sister by the hand, but she pulled her palm and answered sharply, «I have nothing to do there! There are already a lot of people there. I’d rather wait here.»
No matter how the girls and Galina persuaded the little obstinate, she flatly refused to even approach the temple.
«Well, okay, what to do with you. Wait for us here!» said Galina, grabbed a heavy basket of fruit and pies and headed with her daughters towards the church…
After a while they appeared at the exit from the temple. The joyful Vasilisa was carrying two large red apples in her hands.
«Here, take it, Pelageyushka!» she said. «They say that if you make a wish and eat a consecrated apple, then your wish will come true.»
«Here’s another, what nonsense!» Pelageya muttered with displeasure. «I don’t need anything!»
«Well, eat at least a piece,» Vasilisa persisted. «The apple in the Transfiguration of the Lord is not simple. You’ll see!»
But Pelageya did not give in to any persuasion. In the end, she got angry, knocked the fruits out of Vasilisa’s hands and, turning around, ran along the road towards the house.
«Yes… Evidently, Efrosinya was speaking the truth,» Galina thought to herself and together with her daughters quickened her pace to catch up with Pelageya.
CHAPTER 6. AN ANCIENT LEGEND
The next day, Efrosinya, as promised, again came to visit. Galina, in anticipation of her arrival, melted the samovar, baked pancakes and laid the table, decorating it with fruits and apple pie.
As soon as the fortune-teller entered the courtyard, she immediately asked in a half-whisper from the hostess if she had taken Pelageya to the church the previous day. In response, Galina told her what and how it was. Looking around, Efrosinya entered the hut and carefully looked at it inside.
«And where is this girl
The Apple Feast of the Saviour or Apple Spas is an Eastern Slavic folk name for the Feast of the Transfiguration, which is celebrated on August 19.