Three Sisters

knew it.⁠ ⁠… Chebutikin Sits on a bench at the back of the stage. I’m tired.⁠ ⁠… Takes a paper from his pocket. Let ’em cry.⁠ ⁠… Sings softly. “Tarara-boom-deay, it is my washing day.⁠ ⁠…” Isn’t it all the same! The three sisters are standing, pressing against one another. Masha Oh, how the music plays! They are leaving us, one has quite left us, quite and forever. We remain alone, to begin our life over again. We must live⁠ ⁠… we must live.⁠ ⁠… Irina Puts her head on Olga’s bosom. There will come a time when everybody will know why, for what purpose, there is all this suffering, and there will be no more mysteries. But now we must live⁠ ⁠… we must work, just work! Tomorrow, I’ll go away alone, and I’ll teach and give my whole life to those who, perhaps, need it. It’s autumn now, soon it will be winter, the snow will cover everything, and I shall be working, working.⁠ ⁠… Olga Embraces both her sisters. The bands are playing so gaily, so bravely, and one does so want to live! Oh, my God! Time will pass on, and we shall depart forever, we shall be forgotten; they will forget our faces, voices, and even how many there were of us, but our sufferings will turn into joy for those who will live after us, happiness and peace will reign on earth, and people will remember with kindly words, and bless those who are living now. Oh dear sisters, our life is not yet at an end. Let us live. The music is so gay, so joyful, and, it seems that in a little while we shall know why we are living, why we are suffering.⁠ ⁠… If we could only know, if we could only know! The music has been growing softer and softer; Kuligin, smiling happily, brings out the hat and coat; Andrey wheels out the perambulator in which Bobby is sitting. Chebutikin Sings softly. “Tara⁠ ⁠… ra-boom-deay.⁠ ⁠… It is my washing-day.”⁠ ⁠… Reads a paper. It’s all the same! It’s all the same! Olga If only we could know, if only we could know!

Endnotes

1. Dobroluboy (1836⁠–⁠81), in spite of the shortness of his career, established himself as one of the classic literary critics of Russia. ↩

2. He adds that he is a Nadvorny Sovetnik (almost the same as a German Hofrat), an undistinguished civilian title with no English equivalent. ↩

3. A variety of garlic. ↩

4. I.e. in the correct dress for making a proposal of marriage. ↩

5. Quite literally, “your high honour,” to correspond to Andrey’s rank as a civil servant. ↩

6. Darling. ↩

Colophon

Three Sisters
was published in 1900 by
Anton Chekhov.
It was translated from Russian in 1916 by
Julius West.

This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Asher Smith,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2005 by
James Rusk, Nicole Apostola, and David Widger
for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans available at the
Internet Archive.

The cover page is adapted from
Curiosity,
a painting completed between 1660⁠–⁠1662 by
Gerard ter Borch.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
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