The Cattle-Dealers (Chekhov)
Short summary
Russia, late 19th century. Elderly Gavril Malahin and his son Yasha were transporting eight vans of cattle by train to sell at market. Their journey was constantly delayed at stations, forcing them to spend four days and nights in a cramped, cold van with the animals.
To keep the train moving, Malahin repeatedly bribed railway officials. He complained about the delays, calculating they had wasted thirty-four hours standing still. Meanwhile, Yasha quietly played his accordion and tended to the suffering cattle, who were denied water and proper care throughout the journey.
After four days, they finally reached their destination. The cattle were unloaded and driven through the city streets to be sold.
The bullocks, exhausted, go with drooping heads through the noisy streets, and look indifferently at what they see for the first and last time in their lives. The tattered drovers walk after them, their heads drooping too.
Malahin sold the cattle at a loss due to their late arrival during St. Philip's fast when meat prices had dropped. Despite losing fourteen roubles per bullock, he seemed unbothered by the financial setback as he and Yasha prepared for their journey home.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
A train halted at a small station
A goods train stood motionless at a small station for hours. The engine was silent, and there was no one around the train or in the station yard. A pale light came from one of the vans, where two men sat on an outspread cape. One was an elderly man with a big gray beard wearing a sheepskin coat and lambskin hat, while the other was a beardless youth in a threadbare jacket and muddy boots.
The van was filled with cattle. In the dim light of the lantern, the animals appeared as shapeless, monstrous creatures. Looking closer, one could make out horns, lean backs, dirty hides, and tails. There were eight bullocks crowded together in the van, with no manger, halter, or hay.
The van is quite full. If one glances in through the dim light of the lantern, for the first moment the eyes receive an impression of something shapeless, monstrous, and unmistakably alive...
Malahin checked his silver watch and saw it was a quarter past two. They had been waiting at the station for nearly two hours. Frustrated, he decided to find out what was causing the delay. He left the van and walked along the train to find someone in charge.
Malahin confronts railway staff
After passing many vans, Malahin found the engine with its red furnace. A human figure sat motionless facing it, but when Malahin asked if they would be staying much longer, he received no answer. The figure was asleep. Malahin continued to the station, where he found the platform and steps wet with melting snow.
Inside the station, it was bright and hot. There was a weighing machine and a yellow seat where a guard slept. Through one open door, Malahin saw telegraphic apparatus with a green-shaded lamp, and through another, a small room where the head guard and engine-driver were sitting on the windowsill, disputing about a cap.
The engine-driver insisted the cap was imitation beaver, while the head guard claimed it was real. They asked Malahin for his opinion, and he gleefully confirmed it was imitation. In the middle of their argument, Malahin suddenly remembered why he had come and asked why the train was standing still. The guard explained they were already behind schedule and would be further delayed at the next station.
Bribes to get the train moving
Malahin complained that they had already wasted thirty-four hours standing still during the journey. At this rate, either the cattle would die, or he would not get a fair price for the meat. The guard and engine-driver exchanged knowing looks, understanding what Malahin was implying. Without saying a word, Malahin took out a ten-rouble note and gave it to the guard, who folded it and put it in his pocket.
The three men then went out to the platform, where they saw the telegraph clerk and stationmaster through a window. Shortly after, Malahin returned to his van. His son Yasha was still half-reclining and softly playing the accordion. The young man was barely more than a boy, with a full white face and childishly dreamy eyes, yet he was broad and strong like his father.
Soon, bells rang and the guard whistled. After a minute of silence, the van began to shake. There was a violent jolt that made all the cattle fall against one another. Malahin cursed the rough handling, and Yasha helped a fallen beast to its feet. Another jolt followed, and the bullocks fell again.
Night journey with the cattle
Malahin suspected that the guard had not shared the bribe with the engine-driver and sent Yasha with three roubles to remedy the situation. After Yasha returned, the train finally set off. Malahin complained about the uncomfortable conditions compared to home, where it was warm, clean, and spacious enough to say prayers. Here, they were worse off than pigs, and he hadn't taken off his boots in four days.
It's four days and nights since I have taken off my boots. Yes, my lad, you wouldn't study and go to the high school like your brothers, so you must take the cattle with your father. It's your own fault...
Yasha extinguished the lantern, and they lay down to sleep. The old man continued muttering about how Yasha's brothers were snug in their beds while he had to travel with the cattle because he had refused to study. The air in the van grew increasingly stifling and pungent with the odor of fresh dung and smoldering candle, irritating Yasha's throat as he fell asleep.
The cold air in the railway van grows thicker and more stifling. The pungent odor of fresh dung and smoldering candle makes it so repulsive and acrid that it irritates Yasha's throat and chest as he falls asleep.
Morning stop and railway officials
When Malahin woke up, early morning light was coming through the cracks in the van. The train had stopped, and Yasha was busy with the cattle. The old man was irritable, criticizing Yasha for not tying the cords properly. He opened the door to find a passenger train standing opposite and a red station building with a roofed platform behind it.
Everything was covered with freshly fallen snow. Passengers moved between the carriages of the passenger train, and a red-haired gendarme walked up and down the platform. A waiter in a frock-coat carried tea along the platform. Malahin and Yasha said their morning prayers, after which Yasha took a teapot and ran to get boiling water from the refreshment room, despite the barkeeper's protests.
Over tea, Malahin's mood improved. He recalled their expenses from the previous day, writing down in a notebook what he had given to guards, engine-drivers, and oilers. The passenger train had departed, and an engine ran back and forth on the empty line. The sun had risen, playing on the snow, with bright drops falling from the station roof.
Meeting the young stationmaster
After finishing his tea, Malahin went to the station. In the first-class waiting room, he found the guard standing beside the stationmaster. The stationmaster was a young man with a handsome beard, wearing a magnificent rough woolen overcoat. He shifted gracefully from one foot to the other, smiling and saluting everyone who passed by.
The guard apologetically informed Malahin they couldn't go as train number fourteen because they were behind schedule, and another train had already gone with that number. The stationmaster, with his beaming blue eyes and radiant face, explained the situation and offered to help. Though Malahin couldn't understand the complex numbering system, he nodded approvingly.
To show goodwill, Malahin gave the stationmaster a ten-rouble note with a couple of additional roubles. The stationmaster gracefully accepted the money and proposed a solution: since the troop train was late, Malahin's train could go as the troop train, and the actual troop train could go as number twenty-eight. The guard agreed, and the stationmaster delightedly said they could depart immediately.
Problems with train numbers
Pleased with this arrangement, Malahin invited the guard for a drink at the refreshment bar. The guard, a very stout elderly man with a puffy face, spent a long time selecting something to eat. Malahin insisted on a second glass, emphasizing how every hour was precious when transporting cattle. He explained that meat prices changed daily, and delays could mean financial ruin.
After feeding the guard, Malahin returned to the van and told Yasha they would be traveling with the troop train's number, which would get them to their destination by eight o'clock the following evening. He advised his son to watch and learn how business was conducted.
Before departure, an oiler with a soot-blackened face approached the van and claimed two of the cattle vans were unsafe and needed repairs. Malahin recognized this as another attempt to extract money and calmly gave the man two twenty-kopeck pieces.
Without indignation or protest, simply, almost mechanically, the old man takes two twenty-kopeck pieces out of his pocket and gives them to the oiler. He takes them very calmly, too...
Filing a complaint
The troop train moved quickly with shorter stops at stations. Malahin was in good spirits, partly due to the vodka he had consumed. He talked constantly and visited the refreshment bar at every stop, taking either the guard or engine-driver with him. The vodka excited him, making him energetic and talkative. He constantly checked his papers, counted his money, and visited the cattle vans to express concern about the animals' condition.
Toward evening, the train stopped near a big station. Yasha went to get boiling water for tea. Later that night, the train was shunted backward and then forward. When Malahin got out to investigate, he discovered his eight vans of cattle had been attached to some trolleys that weren't part of their train before. The guards on the platform were strangers who gave vague answers to his questions.
Malahin learned they were now train number eighteen. Unable to get satisfactory answers from the new stationmaster, he decided to send a telegram to the Traffic Manager requesting an express number. At midnight, he received the reply: "Give precedence." Pleased with this response, he showed it to Yasha, telling him to watch and learn.
Final leg of the journey
At one station, Malahin felt compelled to lodge a formal complaint. He asked a gendarme to write a protocol, wanting to document not just a single incident but his entire journey with all its delays and conversations with stationmasters. The gendarme listened wearily and wrote a brief official statement, giving Malahin a copy.
The next morning, Malahin woke up in a foul mood, directing his anger at the cattle rather than Yasha. The bullocks, having had nothing to drink for days, were licking the hoar frost on the walls of the van. When Malahin approached them, they began licking his cold fur jacket. Their clear, tearful eyes showed they were exhausted by thirst, the jolting of the train, and hunger.
The bullocks, who have had nothing to drink for many days, tortured by thirst, are licking the hoar frost on the walls, and when Malachin goes up to them they begin licking his cold fur jacket.
Arrival and sale of the bullocks
After two more days and nights of travel, they finally reached their destination. The train stopped at a goods station before the town. The bullocks, released from the van, staggered and stumbled as if walking on ice. After unloading and veterinary inspection, Malahin and Yasha took lodgings in a dirty, cheap hotel in the cattle-market square.
Their accommodations were filthy, the food disgusting, and they had to endure the constant noise of a steam hurdy-gurdy playing day and night in the restaurant below. Malahin spent his days searching for buyers, while Yasha mostly stayed in the hotel room or occasionally ventured out to look at the town, which didn't interest him.
His face as before shows no sign of emotion and expresses neither boredom nor desire. He is not glad that he is going home, nor sorry that he has not had time to see the sights of the city.
Eventually, Malahin sold the bullocks to a dealer. He hired drovers to divide the cattle into herds of ten and drive them through the town. The exhausted animals walked with drooping heads through the noisy streets, indifferent to their surroundings. The bored drovers occasionally struck the bullocks with sticks to show they were doing their job.
Preparing for the return journey
After selling the bullocks and buying presents for his family, Malahin prepared for the journey home. Three hours before their train's departure, he went with Yasha to the restaurant and invited the hotelkeeper to join them for tea.
Malahin told the hotelkeeper about the sale, lamenting that they had arrived too late and meat prices had dropped because of St. Philip's fast. This meant a loss of fourteen roubles per bullock, not counting the expenses of transportation, bribes, and other costs. Despite his complaints, it was clear that Malahin wasn't truly troubled by the financial outcome.
He doesn't mind whether he has lost or gained as long as he has listeners, has something to make a fuss about, and is not late for his train.
An hour later, Malahin and Yasha, carrying their bags and boxes, went to catch a sledge to the station. The hotelkeeper and staff saw them off. Malahin distributed ten-kopeck pieces to everyone, saying goodbye effusively and promising to return during Lent. As they departed in the sledge, Yasha sat on the edge of the seat with his legs hanging over the side, his face as impassive as ever.