Peasant Wives (Chekhov)
Short summary
A Russian village, late 19th century. A traveler named Matvey Savitch stopped at Dyudya's house with a young boy named Kuzka. During the evening, Matvey told the story of how he came to adopt Kuzka.
Matvey had an affair with Mashenka, a young woman whose husband Vasya was away serving in the military. When Vasya returned ill from service, Matvey ended the affair, but Mashenka refused to return to her husband. Vasya discovered their betrayal, beat Mashenka severely, and shortly after died from poisoning. Mashenka was convicted of murder and sentenced to hard labor in Siberia, but died in prison. Kuzka, her son, was then adopted by Matvey.
After Matvey's story, everyone went to sleep. Sofya and Varvara, Dyudya's daughters-in-law, stayed awake talking. Varvara complained about her life with her hunchbacked husband Alyoshka.
"Let us get rid of Dyudya and Alyoshka!" Sofya started and said nothing. Then she opened her eyes and gazed a long while steadily at the sky. "People would find out," she said. "No, they wouldn't."
The next morning, everyone woke up to begin their day. Matvey and Kuzka prepared to continue their journey, while life in Dyudya's household resumed its usual course.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Dyudyas household and the arrival of travelers
In the village of Reybuzh, directly opposite the church, stood a two-story house owned by Filip Ivanov Kashin, known as Dyudya. He lived with his family on the lower floor, while the upper floor was rented to travelers passing through the area.
One June evening, a cart arrived at Dyudya's yard carrying three people: a man of about thirty in a canvas suit, a boy of seven or eight in a long black coat, and a young driver in a red shirt. The man and boy began eating supper near their cart while Dyudya sat on his doorstep, waiting for them to speak first.
Matveys story about his affair with Mashenka
The traveler introduced himself as Matvey Savitch, a tradesman from town who was on his way to inspect gardens he was renting from German colonists. The boy with him was Kuzka, an orphan he had adopted. As evening fell, Matvey began telling the story of how Kuzka came into his care.
Ten years earlier, Matvey lived next door to a widow named Marfa Semyonovna Kapluntsev and her son Vasya. When the widow became bedridden, Vasya married a seventeen-year-old girl named Mashenka. Shortly after the wedding, the old woman died, and then Vasya was drafted into military service and sent to Poland.
Left alone with her baby Kuzka, Mashenka began turning to her neighbor Matvey for help with household matters. These interactions gradually led to something more intimate.
"I began to notice that any day I didn't go to see her, I seemed out of sorts and dull. And I'd be continually making up something that I must see her about... the whole day I'd idle away over at her place."
Matvey continued describing how their relationship developed, acknowledging the sinful nature of their actions.
"From womankind comes much evil into the world and every kind of abomination. Not we sinners only; even the saints themselves have been led astray by them. Mashenka did not try to keep me at a distance."
The tragic downfall of Mashenka
Two years later, they received a letter from Vasya saying he was being sent home sick. Matvey saw this as an opportunity to end the affair, but Mashenka refused, declaring she loved only Matvey and would stay with him. Despite Matvey's insistence that she return to her lawful husband, Mashenka remained adamant.
When Vasya returned, he was initially happy to be home with his son Kuzka. However, he soon discovered his wife's infidelity. Mashenka told him directly that she couldn't live with him because she loved another man. Vasya was devastated.
One morning, Matvey witnessed Mashenka running to his yard in distress, begging him to take her in. He refused and tried to send her back to her husband.
"The vile hussy!" sighed Dyudya. "I swore at her, stamped my foot, and dragging her into the passage, I fastened the door with the hook. 'Go to your husband,' I cried. 'Don't shame me before folks. Fear God!'"
At that moment, Vasya appeared and flew into a rage upon seeing his wife at Matvey's home. He attacked Mashenka violently, beating her severely.
"He ran up himself, and waving his arms, as though he were mad, he let fly with his fists at her with all his might, then flung her on the ground and kicked her... and all the while, like a colt's whinny, he went: 'He—he—he!'"
Shortly after this incident, Vasya died suddenly. Rumors spread that he had been poisoned, and an investigation revealed arsenic in his stomach. Mashenka was arrested and put on trial. Matvey testified against her, and she was sentenced to thirteen years of hard labor in Siberia. However, she fell ill and died in prison before reaching her destination.
After Mashenka's death, Kuzka was sent back to the village. Matvey decided to adopt the boy, reasoning that despite being a convict's child, he was still a Christian soul deserving of care.
"Live like a dog and you must die a dog's death," said Dyudya. "Kuzka was sent back home… I thought it over and took him to bring up. After all—though a convict's child—still he was a living soul, a Christian…"
Evening reflections after Matveys story
Throughout Matvey's storytelling, Kuzka had been sitting on a stone near the gate, gazing at the sky. When the story concluded, Matvey called the boy to bed. Dyudya remarked that people will follow their own ways, and that's what leads to trouble.
Matvey said his prayers facing the church, then lay down near his cart to sleep. Kuzka also said his prayers and curled up in the hay in the cart. From the yard, they could see Dyudya lighting a candle in his room, putting on his spectacles, and standing in the corner with a book, praying for a long time.
After the travelers fell asleep, Dyudya's wife Afanasyevna and daughter-in-law Sofya approached the cart to look at Kuzka. They felt pity for the orphaned boy, and Sofya was reminded of her own son Grishutka who lived at the factory without his mother.
Nighttime conversation between Sofya and Varvara
Late that night, when everyone was asleep, Sofya went out to the gate and sat on a bench. She felt stifled and had a headache from crying. The street was quiet and deserted, with only occasional music floating from the distance – likely Alyoshka playing his concertina.
Varvara, Alyoshka's wife, soon joined Sofya on the bench. She confessed she had just been with the priest's son. When Sofya called this sinful, Varvara expressed her frustration with her life and marriage to the hunchback Alyoshka.
"I'd rather have a viper for my bedfellow than that scurvy Alyoshka. And what's your life? It makes me sick to look at it. Your Fyodor sent you packing from the factory and he's taken up with another woman."
As their conversation continued, Varvara suggested they should get rid of both Dyudya and Alyoshka. Sofya was shocked and expressed fear of divine punishment, but Varvara dismissed her concerns.
"I'm afraid… God would chastise us." "Well, let Him…" Both lay awake thinking in silence. "It's cold," said Sofya, beginning to shiver all over. "It will soon be morning… Are you asleep?"
Morning departure and final contemplations
The old woman Afanasyevna woke up first and roused Sofya to help milk the cows. Alyoshka returned home hopelessly drunk, without his concertina, and immediately fell asleep in a sledge in the cowshed.
As the sun rose, Matvey Savitch hurried to prepare for departure, calling for Kuzka to get up. The morning bustle began around the yard – a young Jewish woman led a horse to drink, the well creaked, and sheep ran up and down the street.
Dyudya came out with his accounts to calculate how much the traveler owed him for lodging and horse feed. Matvey complained about the high price for oats, but Dyudya was unmoved.
Just as they were ready to leave, Kuzka lost his cap, causing a brief delay while everyone searched for it. Matvey angrily scolded the boy, calling him a "dirty brat." When the cap was finally found at the bottom of the cart, Kuzka put it on and timidly climbed into the cart, still looking fearful of being struck. Matvey crossed himself, the driver tugged at the reins, and the cart rolled out of the yard.