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SWEET DARUSYA
Translated from Ukrainian by
Michael M. Naydan and Olha Tytarenko
from MYKHAILO’S MIRACLE: THE MAIN DRAMA
M
atronka gave birth in
broad daylight in the
middle of March.
The village yet again in
astonishment looked in the
direction of their house: no
one saw Matronka with a big
belly, she didn’t ask advice
of anyone about giving birth,
she didn’t call a midwife, and
the baby’s crying – you can
hear it all the way outside.
And how did Mykhailo do the
delivery?
And how did he cut off the
umbilical cord?
Why-why, the young village
women couldn’t forgive such
ignorance. The time came to
lash Matronka harder with
their tongues.
Certain
gazda
maidens in the
village weren’t able to hide
from the eyes of the villagers
that they had become
pregnant
prematurely,
though
they
pressed
themselves in with belts
and wore wide skirts with
pleats. But a proper married
woman, add to the fact she
was such a small one, you
wouldn’t know the child was
inside her, she tended to her
garden nearly to the Feast
of the Protectress; every
Sunday right on time she
scurried to church; and she
tied her shoes by herself to
the last days.
But, the rascal, she didn’t tell
anyone! Maybe she didn’t
even tell Mykhailo either?!