Even Korzh could not contain himself,
as he gazed at the young people, from getting gay in his old age.
Bandura in hand, alternately puffing at his pipe and singing, a brandy-
glass upon his head, the gray-beard began the national dance amid loud
shouts from the merry-makers. What will not people devise in merry mood!
They even began to disguise their faces. They did not look like human
beings. They are not to be compared with the disguises which we have at
our weddings nowadays. What do they do now? Why, imitate gypsies and
Moscow pedlers. No! then one used to dress himself as a Jew, another as
the Devil: they would begin by kissing each other, and ended by seizing
each other by the hair. . . . God be with them! you laughed till you held
your sides. They dressed themselves in Turkish and Tartar garments. All
upon them glowed like a conflagration, . . . and then they began to joke
and play pranks. . . . Well, then away with the saints! An amusing thing
happened to my grandfather's aunt, who was at this wedding. She was
dressed in a voluminous Tartar robe, and, wine-glass in hand, was
entertaining the company. The Evil One instigated one man to pour vodka
over her from behind.
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