Peter Ignátitch. A well-to-do peasant, forty-two years old, married for the second time, and sickly Anísya. His wife, thirty-two years old, fond of dress Akoulína. Peter’s daughter by his first marria...

The Act takes place in autumn in a large village. The Scene represents Peter’s roomy hut. Peter is sitting on a wooden bench, mending a horse-collar. Anísya and Akoulína are spinning, and singing a pa...

The scene represents the village street. To the left the outside of Peter’s hut, built of logs, with a porch in the middle; to the right of the hut the gates and a corner of the yard buildings. Anísya...

The same hut. Winter. Nine months have passed since Act II. Anísya, plainly dressed, sits before a loom weaving. Nan is on the oven. Mítritch: An old labourer, enters, and slowly takes off his outdoor...

Autumn. Evening. The moon is shining. The stage represents the interior of courtyard. The scenery at the back shows, in the middle, the back porch of the hut. To the right the winter half of the hut a...

The interior of the hut as in Act I. Nan lies on the bench, and is covered with a coat. Mítritch is sitting on the oven smoking. Mítritch: Dear me! How they’ve made the place smell! Drat ’em! They’ve ...

In front of scene a stack-stand, to the left a thrashing ground, to the right a barn. The barn doors are open. Straw is strewn about in the doorway. The hut with yard and outbuildings is seen in the b...

In front of scene a stack-stand, to the left a thrashing ground, to the right a barn. The barn doors are open. Straw is strewn about in the doorway. The hut with yard and outbuildings is seen in the b...

Interior of hut, full of people, some sitting round tables and others standing. In the front corner Akoulína and the Bridegroom. On one of the tables an Icon and a loaf of rye-bread. Among the visitor...

It is customary to place a dying person under the icon. One or more icons hang in the hut of each Orthodox peasant. ↩ Peasant weddings are usually in autumn. They are forbidden in Lent, and soon after...