“It was an autumn evening. Not far from the village of Lebedkina, on the edge of the forest, sat a handsome guy, about twenty-two, in a thin old army coat, and a low hat decorated with ribbons. He twirled his whip, humming a song and looking at the herd of master's horses grazing in the depths of the forest; Beside him lay a bag of bread, a handful of hemp with strands of horsehair, and a new, unfinished bast shoe. The sun had already set. It drizzled occasionally..."