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 my godfather tell me? So then! Hop! tralala! Hop! tralala! Hop! Hop! Hop!" Thus a half-intoxicated, middle-aged Cossack talked to himself as he danced through the street. "By heaven, a 'gallop' is not danced like that! What is the use of lying! On with it then! Hop! tralala! Hop! tralala! Hop! Hop! Hop!"

"See that fool there! If he were only a young fellow! But to see a grown man dancing, and the children laughing at him," exclaimed an old woman who was passing by, carrying a bundle of straw. "Go home! It is quite time to go to sleep!"

"I am going!" said the Cossack, standing still. "I am going. What do I care about the headman? He thinks because he is the eldest, and throws cold water on people, and carries his head high. As to being headman—I myself am a headman. Yes indeed—otherwise" As he spoke, he stepped up to the door of the first cottage he came to, stood at the window, drumming with his fingers on the glass, and feeling for the door-handle. "Woman, open! Woman, open quickly I tell you! It is time for me to go to sleep!"

"Where are you going, Kalenik? That is the wrong house!" some young girls who were returning from the dance called to him as they passed. "Shall we show you yours?"