Leo Tolstoy Archive
Written: 1888
Source: Translated by Nathan Haskell Dole
Transcription/Markup: Andy Carloff
Online Source: RevoltLib.com; 2021
A poor woman had a daughter, Masha. Masha one morning, in going after water, saw something lying on the door-step, wrapped up in rags.
Masha set down her pail and undid the rags. When she had opened the bundle, there came forth a cry from out the rags, ua! ua! ua !
Masha bent over and saw that it was a pretty little baby. He was crying lustily, ua! ua! ua! Masha took him up in her arms and carried him into the house, and tried to give him some milk with a spoon.
The mother said :
" What have you brought in ? "
Masha said :
" A baby ; I found it at our door."
The mother said :
" We are so poor, how can we get food for another child ? I am going to the police and tell them to take it away."
Masha wept, and said :
" Matushka, he will not eat much ; do keep him ! Just see what pretty little dimpled hands and fingers he has."
The mother looked, and she had compassion on the child. She decided to keep him. Masha fed him and swaddled him, and she sang cradle songs to him when she put him to sleep.