Antón Chéjov
ALLÍ SE LE ESCAPÓ LA MUJER
El vendedor Serguei Nikanórich tuvo alguna vez mucho dinero, y había sido dueño de la cantina de una estación de primera clase, en una capital de provincia donde se cruzaban dos vías férreas. Entonces usaba frac y reloj de oro. Pero los asuntos le fueron mal, gastó todo su dinero en un servicio lujoso, los sirvientes lo saquearon y, enredándose poco a poco, pasó a otra estación menos animada. Allí se le escapó la mujer, llevándose toda la plata, y él pasó a una tercera estación de menos categoría, donde ya no se requerían comidas calientes. Después a la cuarta. Cambiando de lugar a menudo, y descendiendo cada vez más bajo, llegó a Progónnaya, y aquí vendía sólo té, vodka barato y, como aperitivos, huevos cocidos y un embutido duro que olía a alquitrán, y que él mismo en burla llamaba “musical”. Tenía una calva por todo el parietal, unos ojos azules saltones y unas patillas espesas, velludas, que peinaba a menudo con un peinecito, mirándose en un espejo pequeño. Los recuerdos del pasado lo agobiaban sin cesar; no podía habituarse de ningún modo al “embutido musical”, a las groserías del jefe de estación y a los mujíks que regateaban; y en su opinión, regatear en una cantina era tan indecente como en una farmacia. Sentía vergüenza de su pobreza y humillación, y esa vergüenza era ahora toda su vida.
Antón Chéjov
"El asesinato"
Narraciones
Biblioteca Básica Salvat, Salvat Editores, 1970, p. 87
HERE HIS WIFE HAD LEFT HIM
The waiter, Sergey Nikanoritch, had once had money of his own, and had kept a buffet at a first-class station, which was a junction, in the principal town of a province. There he had worn a swallow-tail coat and a gold chain. But things had gone ill with him; he had squandered all his own money over expensive fittings and service; he had been robbed by his staff, and getting gradually into difficulties, had moved to another station less bustling. Here his wife had left him, taking with her all the silver, and he moved to a third station of a still lower class, where no hot dishes were served. Then to a fourth. Frequently changing his situation and sinking lower and lower, he had at last come to Progonnaya, and here he used to sell nothing but tea and cheap vodka, and for lunch hard-boiled eggs and dry sausages, which smelt of tar, and which he himself sarcastically said were only fit for the orchestra. He was bald all over the top of his head, and had prominent blue eyes and thick bushy whiskers, which he often combed out, looking into the little looking-glass. Memories of the past haunted him continually; he could never get used to sausage “only fit for the orchestra,” to the rudeness of the station-master, and to the peasants who used to haggle over the prices, and in his opinion it was as unseemly to haggle over prices in a refreshment room as in a chemist’s shop. He was ashamed of his poverty and degradation, and that shame was now the leading interest of his life.
Anton Chekhov, "The Murder"
Lea, además
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DRAGON
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