Page 529 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

The morning dew was still lying on the thick
undergrowth of the grass, and that he might not get his
feet wet, Sergey Ivanovitch asked his brother to drive him
in the trap up to the willow tree from which the carp was

caught. Sorry as Konstantin Levin was to crush down his
mowing grass, he drove him into the meadow. The high
grass softly turned about the wheels and the horse’s legs,
leaving its seeds clinging to the wet axles and spokes of the
wheels. His brother seated himself under a bush, arranging
his tackle, while Levin led the horse away, fastened him
up, and walked into the vast gray-green sea of grass
unstirred by the wind. The silky grass with its ripe seeds
came almost to his waist in the dampest spots.
Crossing the meadow, Konstantin Levin came out onto
the road, and met an old man with a swollen eye, carrying
a skep on his shoulder.
‘What? taken a stray swarm, Fomitch?’ he asked.
‘No, indeed, Konstantin Mitritch! All we can do to
keep our own! This is the second swarm that has flown
away.... Luckily the lads caught them. They were
ploughing your field. They unyoked the horses and
galloped after them.’
‘Well, what do you say, Fomitch—start mowing or
wait a bit?’

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