Part I
An elder sister came to visit her younger sister in the country. The elder was married to a tradesman in town, the younger to a peasant in the village. As the sisters sat over their tea talking, the elder began to boast of the advantages of town life: saying how comfortably they lived there, how well they dressed, what fine clothes her children wore, what good things they ate and drank, and how she went to the theatre, promenades, and entertainments.
The younger sister was piqued, and in turn disparaged the life of a tradesman, and stood up for that of a peasant.
“I would not change my way of life for yours,” said she. “We may live roughly, but at least we are free from anxiety. You live in better style than we do, but though you often earn more than you need, you are very likely to lose all you have. You know the proverb, ‘Loss and gain are brothers twain.’ It often happens that people who are wealthy one day are begging their bread the next. Our way is safer. Though a peasant’s life is not a fat one, it is a long one. We shall never grow rich, but we shall always have enough to eat.”
The elder sister said sneeringly:
“Enough? Yes, if you like to share with the pigs and the calves! What do you know of elegance or manners! However much your good man may slave, you will die as you are living-on a dung heap-and your children the same.”
“Well, what of that?” replied the younger. “Of course our work is rough and coarse. But, on the other hand, it is sure; and we need not bow to any one. But you, in your towns, are surrounded by temptations; today all may be right, but tomorrow the Evil One may tempt your husband with cards, wine, or women, and all will go to ruin. Don’t such things happen often enough?”
Pahom, the master of the house, was lying on the top of the oven, and he listened to the women’s chatter.
“It is perfectly true,” thought he. “Busy as we are from childhood tilling Mother Earth, we peasants have no time to let any nonsense settle in our heads. Our only trouble is that we haven’t land enough. If I had plenty of land, I shouldn’t fear the Devil himself!”
The women finished their tea, chatted a while about dress, and then cleared away the tea-things and lay down to sleep.
But the Devil had been sitting behind the oven, and had heard all that was said. He was pleased that the peasant’s wife had led her husband into boasting, and that he had said that if he had plenty of land he would not fear the Devil himself.
“All right,” thought the Devil. “We will have a tussle. I’ll give you land enough; and by means of that land I will get you into my power.”
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— Owl Eyes Editors
The devil’s declaration that he will give Pahom land in order to exert power over Pahom is an example of dramatic irony, a plot device in which the audience or reader is made aware of an important detail of which the characters are unaware. We now know Pahom will be subjected to temptation by the Devil, and given his dissatisfaction with the amount of land he has, he will likely be easy to corrupt.
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— Owl Eyes Editors
The “Evil One” is an allusion to the devil, who is considered the personification of evil across many cultures and faiths. In Christianity, the name of “the Devil” is sometimes used synonymously with Satan, an angel banished to hell as punishment for rebelling against God. As the younger sister suggests, the devil is believed to tempt humans into sinning to forfeit their chances of going to heaven after death.
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— Owl Eyes Editors
The younger sister argues in favor of peasant life because, according to the proverb she references, loss and gain are inseparable and always accompany each other. Though the elder sister and her husband have amassed wealth, they could lose everything; therefore, being a peasant is more stable and reliable. The prophetic-seeming proverb suggests foreshadowing, which invites the reader to wait and see if the proverb proves to be true at the end of the story.
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— Owl Eyes Editors
The verb “to pique” means to excite, usually to anger or irritation in response to wounded pride. The younger sister is frustrated by the elder sister’s bragging, possibly out of jealousy for not having married a wealthy man. Her pride is wounded, and thus she portrays a peasant’s life as superior to that of a tradesman.
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— Owl Eyes Editors
A “promenade” is a public place where people go for leisurely walks. A promenade can also refer to a ritual before a formal ball in which all of the guests march together. Here, the elder sister boasts that she is wealthy enough to attend the theater, take leisurely strolls in town, and enjoy other various forms of entertainment that would not have been an option for the younger sister and her poor family.
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— Owl Eyes Editors
The second component of this lengthy sentence features two instances of parallelism, a device in which multiple elements of a sentence contain identical grammatical structures. The structure of the phrase “how comfortably they lived there” is identical to the phrase “how well they dressed.” Similarly, the phrase “what fine clothes her children wore” and “what good things they ate and drank” also contain identical grammatical structures. Here, parallelism both emphasizes the wealthy sister’s privilege and the stark socioeconomic difference between the two sisters.
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— Owl Eyes Editors
The immediate repetition of the consonant sound “s” in this sentence is an example of sibilance, a form of alliteration. Sibilance involves the repetition of the consonant “s” sound in groups of two or more words. When read aloud, these words generate a hissing sound. Though prose is not generally intended to be read aloud, as poetry often is, the use of sibilance can lend a musical quality to words in a sentence. Here, the repeated “s” sound in the words “sisters,” “sat,” “boast,” “dressed,” “clothes,” “things,” “promenades,” and “entertainments” encourages heightened attention to the many details of the initial scene being described—as well as the details about which the elder sister is bragging.