A Spark Neglected Burns the house – II

It was getting dark when Ivan reached home. Only his old father was there.

Ivan sat down, thinking. He remembered the look on Gabriel’s face when the

sentence was read out; he had turned pale and turned his face to the wall. Ivan

began to pity Gabriel. Then he heard his old father cough, and saw him getting up

and sitting in his bed holding on to the wall. The old man coughed again, cleared

his throat with difficulty, and said, “Well, has he been condemned?”

“Yes, to twenty strokes.” replied Ivan

“Ah! It’s a bad business. You are doing wrong, Ivan!”

“He nearly killed my daughter-in-law and is now threatening to burn our

house down. Am I to thank him for all that?”

The old man said, “You think I see nothing because I have been lying in my

bed all these years. Ah! my boy, I do see; it is you that can’t see, because hatred

has made you blind. You say he acted badly. Even if he did, there could be no

quarrel as long as you acted rightly. Who pulled the hair out of his beard? Who

dragged him to the law court? That is not the way his father and I lived. If he

happened to be short of flour one of the women would come and say, ‘We want

some flour, uncle’, ‘Take what you need.’ If he had no one to drive his horses to

pasture, I would say, ‘go, Ivan and mind his horses,’ and he would do the same

for me. But look at the way you live now. What are you teaching the women and

children? Why, the other day your son, Taras, was swearing at your neighbour

Irena and calling her names. His mother listened and laughed! “Is that right? Is

that what Christ taught us? If any one swears at you or curses you, be silent, and

his own conscience will accuse him. If some one offends you or injured you, do

not try to take revenge; forgive him, and his conscience will speak to him. That

is what Christ taught us!” Ivan sat silent and listened.

The old man paused. He coughed again, cleared his throat with difficulty,

and went on: “What have you gained from all this? Are you better off or worse

than before? You have no time to attend to your own affairs. Why did the crops

fail this year? Because the devil persuaded you to go to the law court when you

should have been ploughing the field. So that is your gain from this quarrel! Go

to the court right now and put an end to this affair once and for all. And in the

morning make it up with Gabriel, and get him to come and have tea with us.”

Ivan knew his father was right, but he did not know how to begin.

“You should put it off, Ivan,” said the old man.

“Do go and put an end to the affair now. Put out the fire before it spreads.

The sooner, the better.”

Just then the women came in from the pasture after a fresh quarrel with

Gabriel household. They began telling how Gabriel was going to take revenge

on Ivan. He was sending another petition, to the *Tsar himself this time, about

Ivan. Every thing would be there in the petition. Ivan heard they and all his

bitterness towards Gabriel returned; and he gives up the idea of making it up

with Gabriel.

Ivan went to the cattle-shed to feed the cattle. As he was returning to the

house, he overhead Gabriel from the other side of the fence cursing and swear-

ing at someone. “What the devil is he good for?” he was saying. “He is only fit to

be killed!” Taras was going to take the horses to the pasture for the night. Ivan

went out with him and saw him off with the boys from the other families. He

remembered the bitterness with which Gabriel had said, “Something of his will

burn worse than that.” And his heart grew heavy.

“Every thing is dry,” thought Ivan. “He will come up at the back some-

where, set fire to the thatch, and be off.” The thought fixed itself so firmly in his

mind that instead of going back into the house, he crept quietly along the fence.

Everything was quite. As he got near the shed, he thought he saw something

moving at the far end. He walked up quietly and saw someone lighting a handful

of straw and putting it under the thatch. Ivan stopped and held his breath. Then

something burst into bright flame. The thatch of the cattle-shed was on fire, and

in the light Gabriel’s figure was clearly visible.

Ivan rushed upon Gabriel, who stepped aside cleverly and ran. Ivan over-

took him and seized his coat. It tore right off, and Ivan fell down. He recover his

feet and ran, crying, “help! seize him! murder!” He overtook Gabriel again and

was about to catch him, when something struck him on the head and knocked him

down. Gabriel had seized a heavy wooden stick that lay near the gate and struck

out with all his might.

When Ivan came to his senses, Gabriel was no longer there. It was light

day, and he could hear a roaring sound. Turning, he saw that his house was on

fire. People came running. But it was too late to do anything.

“What is this, friends?” Ivan cried, lifting his arms and striking his knees.

“Why, all I had to do was just to snatch the straw out and stamp on it! What is

this, friends?” He tried to recover his feet and run to the house, but his legs

failed him. The neighbours were carrying their belongings out of their own houses.

After Ivan’s house Gabriel’s house caught fire. The wind rose, and the spread to

the fire other side of the street. Ivan kept repeating, “What is this, friends? I need

only have snatched it and stamped on it!” From Ivan’s house they just manage to

rescue his old father. The family escaped in the clothes they had on; every thing

except the horses was lost – the cattle, the hens, and ploughs, clothes, and their

store of grain.

The fire lasted all night and half the village was burnt down. Ivan kept

repeating, “What is this, friends? I could easily have put it out!” In the morning

the village Elder’s son came to him.

“Uncle Ivan,” he said, “your father is dying. He wants to see you. Do hurry

up.”

Ivan’s father had received some burns and had been carried to the village

Elder’s house on the other side of village. Ivan’s father was lying on the bench,

looking towards the door.

“What did I tell you, Ivan?” said the old man. “Who burnt out the village?”

“It was he, father. I caught him in the act.”

“Ivan, I am dying and you in your turn will have to die. Whose is the sin?

Before God, say whose is the sin?” Only then Ivan came to his senses and

understood.

“Mine, father,” he confessed, and fell on his knees before his father, “I have

sinned before you and before God.”

“Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,” said the old man. Again he turned to

Ivan.

“What must you do now, Ivan?”

Ivan was crying bitterly.

“I don’t know how we are going to live.” He said.

“You will manage” the old man said, “as long as you obey God’s will!” He

paused and said. “Mind, Ivan! Don’t tell who started the fire! Hide another

man’s sin and God will forgive two of yours,” A few minutes later the old man

died.

Ivan did not tell anybody and no one knew what had caused the fire. At first

Gabriel was afraid and wondered why Ivan told nobody. Then he got used to it.

Ivan and Gabriel left off quarrelling, so their families left off too. While the

houses were being rebuilt, both families lived in the same house. Although they

have could move further. They built next to each other and remained neighbours

as before. They lived as good neighbours should. Ivan remembered his old father’s

command to obey God’s law and to put out a fire at the first spark. If anyone did

him an injury, he no longer tried to take revenge, but tried to set matters right.

And Ivan prospered and soon was even better off than before.