Boris is walking through the courtyard carrying a lantern.
BORIS
That's what old age means:
you can't sleep.
You're all the time thinking burglars
are on the prowl;
I wander around to see if there's a burglar anywhere.
When I was young I couldn't sleep either,
but for a different reason!
I used to hang around under the windows of other men's wives,
singing songs, talking whatever nonsense came into my head,
sometimes even climbed through the windows;
I've had a good life,
I'll say so!
Zinoviy doesn't take after me:
can't even respect his own wife,
if I were his age,
how I'd
Ay!
I'd get her and …
He, he, he! …
He notices a light shining in Katerina's room.
There's a light in the window.
Seems she can't sleep;
of course, she's a young woman;
hot blooded too
and there's no one to console her.
Ah!
Now if I were younger,
just ten years or so,
what I'd do!
She'd have it hot from me;
hot, yes, by God, so hot,
it'd even be good enough for her!
A healthy woman like that
and no man around, no man,
no man, no man ,
no man, no man around;
no man, no man at all.
No man, no man,
no man, no man;
it's dull for a woman without a man,
I'll go and see her, yes I will!
At the window Katerina and Sergey are saying farewell.
SERGEY
Goodbye, Katya, goodbye!
Sergey climbs out of the window and down the drainpipe.
BORIS
What's all this?
I can hear somebody's voice;
better have a look.
KATERINA
Wait a bit longer.
SERGEY
It's getting light.
KATERINA
The nights always used to drag on, endlessly,
but now these last seven nights
that we've spent together
have flown by as though on wings.
BORIS
Here's treachery, treachery!
Katerina's betraying her husband
and has found a lover.
Who is he?
You're too late, Boris Timofeyevich!
Ah, hell, what a scandal,
God in heaven!
SERGEY
It's true, when you're with a lover,
time passes more quickly.
Goodbye, Katya!
BORIS
What a scoundrel!
KATERINA
Goodbye, Seryozha!
SERGEY
Katya!
BORIS
It's Sergey, that new labourer,
the swine.
He's the thief...
All right, just you wait.
KATERINA
Seryozha, goodbye, goodbye!
SERGEY
Katya, goodbye, goodbye!
Sergey comes out. Boris seizes him by the collar.
BORIS
Stop! Where have you been?
SERGEY
Wherever it was, I'm not there now.
BORIS
So that's it, of all our treasures he had to choose the best:
he's spent the night with my son's wife.
Hey, everybody! Hey!
SERGEY
Don't shout like that!
BORIS
I'll shout if I want,
I'm the boss around here!
Come here, everybody! I've caught a thief!
The labourers run in half-dressed.
SERGEY
Well, what do you want of me now?
BORIS
I want to give you five hundred lashes.
SERVANTS and LABOURERS
Lord have mercy!
BORIS
to the porter
Give me the whip!
Come on, look lively!
Take his shirt off!
The porter runs off for the whip.
SHABBY PEASANT
Well, mate, you asked for it...
And you're certainly going to get it...
Shabby peasant strips off Sergey's shirt.
PORTER
Are you going to flog him yourself, master,
or get someone else to do it?
BORIS
I'll do it myself!
Katerina! Katerina!
Katerina! Katerina!
Katerina! Katerina!
Katerina appears at the window.
KATERINA
What's all this? I'm asleep!
BORIS
to Katerina
Asleep? Asleep?
No so long ago
you came to the window
and counted the stars as you waited for dawn.
Look, Katerina, I've caught a thief,
now I'm going to thrash him.
Come on! Let's start!
Boris flogs Sergey.
Look, Katerina,
what an entertaining sight:
I've drawn blood,
I've drawn blood,
right, let's give him some more,
just to entertain ourselves, to entertain ourselves.
KATERINA
Let him go, I tell you,
let him go!
BORIS
You've got plenty of blood, my friend,
no wonder you're so lecherous.
KATERINA
Open the door!
Open the door!
It's locked!
Open up, open up!
BORIS
We'll get rid of some of that blood for you,
you'll soon feel less energetic, you scoundrel, you villain!
Why don't you cry out, blast you,
trying to show off in front of a woman?
I'll get a scream out of you!
Take that, and that, and that!
Again, again, again, again!
KATERINA
All you people there!
Help me, someone!
Oh! let him go;
whoever opens the door for me
will be rewarded with my love.
I'll jump out of the window!
Come on! Quickly!
SHABBY PEASANT
to Katerina
Just coming, just coming...
LABOURERS
Ha, ha, ha!...
BORIS
Shut up, stay put!
KATERINA
You'll not stop me, you'll not stop me!
She climbs down the drainpipe and hurls herself at Boris. The servants seize her and hold her.
You brute! You brute! I won't let you!
Let go ... you monster,
let go, let go,
let go, let me go!
Let me go!
Let go, let go, let go,
let go, let go, let go,
let go, let go!
BORIS
Hang on to her!
Why are you standing there like a statue, not saying anything?
Don't show off in front of a woman!
So you won't speak? You won't speak?
Just yell, then I'll stop!
Now! Now! Now!
Now! Now!
stops flogging
I'm tired out.
PORTER
Would you like me to carry on, master?
BORIS
No, that'll do,
we can't do too much at once,
or he'll peg out.
Take him off to the store room,
we'll flog him again tomorrow.
Sergey is carried away and Katerina is released.
BORIS
to Katerina
Well, what now?
That's really made me hungry.
Is there anything left from supper?
Hey there! Are you deaf?
KATERINA
There are some mushrooms left.
BORIS
Just the thing!
Bring me some mushrooms.
Exit Katerina.
PORTER
Sergey's been locked in the store room, here's the key.
BORIS
Go quickly to the mill
and find Zinoviy Borisovich.
Tell him to come home as quickly as he can,
tell him there's trouble at home.
Exit porter. Katerina returns.
KATERINA
aside
I've put in some poison.
The old man'll snuff it
from rat poison!
Boris eats the mushrooms.
BORIS
They're delicious mushrooms,
you're really an expert, Katerina,
at preparing mushrooms.
Go along and get dressed,
you're wandering around the yard
almost naked.
Go on...
No, stop!
My inside's on fire...
Bring some ... water.
KATERINA
I won't.
BORIS
What? What did you say?
How dare you...
KATERINA
I do dare!
BORIS
You dare...
KATERINA
I dare!
BORIS
You slut!
He raises his hand threateningly at Katerina, then falls to the ground.
KATERINA
Well!
BORIS
What's the matter with me?
KATERINA
Well, you had mushrooms late at night...
Lots of people die after eating them.
BORIS
Call the priest, Katerina dear,
call the priest, maybe it's true
that death is approaching.
How it burns ... burns …
burns like fire.
My life has been long
and my sins many.
Bring the priest here, the priest!
God, O God! It's so painful...
So painful...
KATERINA
Where are the store room keys?
She searches Boris, takes the keys and goes out.
BORIS
I can't breathe...
In the distance is heard the singing of the foremen coming to work. Their voices get nearer and nearer.
LABOURERS
See, the dawn is breaking,
see, the dawn is breaking. Hey!
The sky is getting lighter,
the sky is getting lighter. Hey!
Mustn't waste time like this,
hey, to work, and quickly, fellows. Hey!
The barns await us, that's for sure.
The barns await us, that's for sure. Hey!
And the flour that feeds us waits,
and the flour that feeds us waits. Hey!
Our master's fierce and cruel
just like a crocodile. Hey!
Enter labourers.
BORIS
One of you run
and fetch the priest...
I'm in a bad way.
FIRST FOREMAN
In a moment...
SECOND FOREMAN
Maybe you'd like us
to carry you into the house?
BORIS
No, it's better here.
The sun will soon be rising,
put me down here.
The keys...
SECOND FOREMAN
What?
BORIS
Get the keys.
She's a trollop...
SECOND FOREMAN
He must be raving!
THIRD FOREMAN
Yes, he's certainly raving.
SECOND FOREMAN
Must mean he's really bad.
THIRD FOREMAN
He looks bad.
SECOND FOREMAN
Maybe he's going to die.
THIRD FOREMAN
Yes, he is...
SECOND FOREMAN
That's what I'm saying, he's going to die.
Enter first foreman and the priest.
PRIEST
Who's dying around here?
FIRST FOREMAN
This chap.
PRIEST
Ah! "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit …"
BORIS
to the priest
Father, hear my confession.
My sins are many.
But you must know this:
mine is not a natural death,
rats die like this,
and the rat poison,
is a white powder...
Enter Katerina.
pointing to Katerina
It was herl It was her!
falls back senseless
PRIEST
He's dead.
FOREMEN
Amen.
KATERINA
Oh, Boris Timofeyevich,
why have you left us?
To whom have you abandoned
Zinoviy and me?
What will Zinoviy and I
do now without you?
PRIEST
to Katerina
Why should it happen to him?
He was still a strong old boy.
KATERINA
He'd eaten mushrooms at night, you know,
a lot of people die after eating them.
PRIEST
That's so.
"Oh, these mushrooms and cold soups are too much",
as Nikolay Vasilyich Gogol said,
that great writer of our Russian land.
Yes indeed, people get strange ideas when they're dying.
Boris Timofeyevich said
that he was dying like a rat;
only that can't be right;
a rat dies,
but a human being passes away.
Strange …
But that doesn't stop us saying a requiem for him.
"Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace..."
