“It’s completely dark outside; the rain has stopped; only drops could be heard from the roof. In the village, lights flashed in different places. The old woman and the merchant came to the hut; in it, near the table, a splinter was burning brightly, stuck between the teeth of a long light; on a bench by the windows sat a small girl of about thirteen in a soiled shirt and held on her lap a fat, white-haired boy in a cotton shirt...”