No matter how interesting and vivid all these facts and considerations are, no matter how attractive they are by their wide coverage, synthesis of biological and historical phenomena into one whole, perhaps it would not be worthwhile to devote a separate article to them, if not for the author's absolute conviction that this is not the past, but the present and even the future of anthropology, its pillar way, that the application of genetic laws to the interpretation of anthropological facts opens up wide opportunities for cardinal generalizations, that, finally, the law discovered by N.I. Vavilov can find further application in anthropology. I would like to show the latter by the example of the origin and formation of the Caucasian race.
What is the Caucasoid race as a whole now, as a definite unit of anthropological classification, as a morphological unity? Its representatives are characterized by a strongly protruding narrow nose, a high nose bridge, a sharply profiled face, thin lips, straight or broad-wavy soft hair. Compared to Negroids and even Mongoloids, Caucasians are much lighter-skinned, light-haired and light-eyed, and the latter is true even for the inhabitants of the Mediterranean, Western and Central Asia - the darkest-eyed people among Caucasians. A completely natural and logical conclusion from this morphological unity is the affirmation of the genetic relationship and common origin of the Caucasian types.
However, anthropologists do not agree on the ways of the emergence of the Caucasian race. In accordance with one point of view, which received the name monocentric, all races of modern man originated in Western Asia from neutral forms of Neanderthals, which combined the characteristics of all three large races; according to another hypothesis, called polycentric, each race goes back to a special group of Neanderthals who lived on the same continent. The author shares the polycentric hypothesis, proceeding from the undoubted morphological continuity between the Caucasians and the European Neanderthals, between the Mongoloid races and the Sinanthropus, as well as from archaeological data that paint a picture of a gradual transition from the Lower Paleolithic to the Upper not only in Asia Minor, but also in Europe and China. Southeast Asia, etc. On the other hand, the undoubted fact of greater proximity of Caucasians to Negroids than to Mongoloids seems to be important, which is confirmed by both the presence of an intermediate Australoid race and the wide distribution of Negro-Australoids in the Upper Paleolithic in southern Europe and Caucasoids in the Mesolithic in North Africa and the formation of racial characteristics in the process of growth. (Children of Negroes and Europeans are more similar to each other than adult Negroes and Europeans. Mongoloids, on the contrary, differ from other races most of all precisely in childhood.) The common origin of Caucasians and Negroids is very likely, and it really can go back to Western Asia, where skeletons of Neanderthals were found, which were characterized by both Caucasoid and Negroid features.
Rice. 1. Geographic variations in skin color in Europe: 1 - very light skin (overwhelming predominance of shades 1-12 according to F. Lushan's scale);
2 - slightly darker skin (shades 13-15 are quite common)
In this original group of Neanderthals, both Caucasoid and Negroid traits were, however, less pronounced than in modern races.
The formation of a typically Caucasoid combination of characters, as we now know it, was evidently under the influence of many factors starting from the Upper Paleolithic. First of all, this is the influence of the mixing of groups of Near Asian origin with European Neanderthals; this is evidenced by the strong protrusion of the nose in the representatives of the Caucasian race, the same as in the European Neanderthals.
This is also evidenced by the very developed relief on many early Upper Paleolithic turtles from Europe - a feature typical of European Neanderthals. In addition to mixing with local groups of Neanderthals, one should point out adaptation to the harsh conditions of periglacial Europe: the narrow nose limited the simultaneous inhalation of large amounts of cold air and protected the nasopharynx. Finally, in the emergence of the pigmentation characteristic of the Caucasian race, undoubtedly, the role of genogeographic patterns is great.
Rice. 2. Geographic variations of hair color in Europe: 1 - less than 50% of dark hair (shades 27.4-8 on the scale of E. Fisher); 2- 30-80% dark
hair; 3 - more than 80% dark hair
The Caucasoid race is subdivided into northern and southern branches. The northern branch is the population of Scandinavia, Iceland and Ireland, England, the northern regions of the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany, Finland, the Baltic republics of the Soviet Union, and the northern regions of the European part of the RSFSR. Southern_Europeoids are the population of the northern part of India, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, Arabic-speaking countries, Turkmen and Azerbaijan, Armenian and Georgian SSR, southern Italy and southern France, Spain and Portugal. The areas intermediate between these zones are occupied by a population that, in the anthropological classification, occupies the middle place between northern and southern Caucasians. In all
In the listed countries, anthropological characteristics vary greatly, local anthropological types are distinguished. But it is not the slightest difficulty even for non-specialists to distinguish, for example, a Georgian or an Armenian from a Swede in appearance at first glance.
However, variations of all the characteristics characteristic of local Caucasian types are characteristic of them, they do not cover several peoples or groups of peoples, they reveal, as anthropologists say, a mosaic distribution on a geographical map. The only signs that contrast the populations of northern and southern Europe, separating northern and southern Caucasians, are signs of pigmentation, eye, hair and skin color. Anthropologists zealously, at first, I would say, were simply frantically looking for some other features that could be used to distinguish northern Europeans from southern, northern, or Baltic, branch of the Caucasian race from the southern, or Mediterranean. The searches were in vain: they were never crowned with success, not a single sign was found, except for pigmentation, the variations of which would differ in a strictly regular distribution on the map of Europe. And since the pigmentation of the ancient population remains unknown, the ancient areas of the northern and southern Caucasians, their ratio on the European geographical map in the early epochs of the formation of the Caucasoid race, remain unknown.
How are all three traits that reflect the development of the pigment now geographically distributed? The darkest-skinned people live in the northern part of India, Afghanistan, the Turkmen and Azerbaijan SSR, in the Arab countries. Persians, Armenians, Georgians and other peoples of the Caucasus, Greeks, Bulgarians, southern Italians and French, Spaniards and Portuguese are lighter-skinned, although they seem dark-skinned when compared, say, with Russians. Let's remember Italian films - don't the heroes in them give the impression of very dark people? But in them people act not only from South, but also from Northern Italy, whose population is noticeably lighter than the southern Italians. The northern French and Belgians, the Germans of the southern and central regions of Europe, Croats and Slovenes, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Ukrainians, and Russians of the southern regions have even lighter skin. Russians of the central regions, Belarusians, Poles, and Germans of the northern regions are almost as fair-skinned as the Scandinavians, who make up the last step in the scale of skin color shades - very little pigment is deposited in them (Fig. 1). Maps of the distribution of different shades of hair and eye color - from the darkest to the lightest - in the population of Europe differ little from the map of the distribution of skin color (Fig. 2, 3). Thus, in Europe, it is possible to distinguish several zones from south to north, and the population of each subsequent more northern zone will be noticeably lighter-skinned, light-eyed and fair-haired than the peoples living in the previous zone.
Now let's turn from morphology to geography and consider the geographical outlines of the Old World, and in particular Eurasia. If the formation of the Caucasian race or that combination of anthropological characteristics, on the basis of which the Caucasian race was formed, took place in Western Asia, then Europe with good reason can be considered in relation to this zone as a peripheral region.
Rice. 3. Geographic variations in eye color on the territory of Europe: 1 - light eyes (shades 9-12 according to V. V. Bunak's scale), occur in more than 60%
cases; 2 - 40-60% light eyes; 3 - 20-39.9% light eyes; 4 - less than 20% light
eye
Southwest Asia lies in the center of the Old World, in the area where all three continents meet, while Europe looks like a monstrous peninsula of the single continent of Eurasia. From this point of view, it is curious that the most intense depigmentation is characteristic in Europe not for the population of the entire northern zone, but for the peoples of Scandinavia, that is, for those peoples that are most distant from the center of the Old World - Asia Minor. The consistency, gradual lightening of hair, eyes and skin of people in the direction to the northwest from Western Asia is also remarkable, which is not the case in all other directions.
If the reader has not yet guessed where the author is heading, then, in any case, he is prepared for this: the author believes that the only successful explanation of all the facts noted, and, moreover, an explanation that does not require any additional hypotheses, can be N.I. Vavilov on the displacement of recessives to peripheral areas from the center of the area. Skin color also appears to be a recessive trait, like the rest of the features associated with depigmentation. Thus, all depigmentation acts as a single complex, although the accumulation of several recessive genes in the genotype leads to complete depigmentation. Pushing them to the marginal areas fully explains why in Europe the color of hair, eyes and skin brightens from south to north (gradual displacement from the center of race formation), why the greatest depigmentation is characteristic of the population of Scandinavia (the greatest distance from the center of race formation), why this process manifested itself precisely during the formation of the Caucasian race, and not any other (the peculiar geographical position of Europe as a peninsula of the continent of Eurasia and, therefore, a geographical prerequisite for isolation). So, the law of displacement of recessive mutations to the outskirts of a species or racial range, the law, the operation of which is brilliantly illustrated in relation to humans on the example of the population of the Western Hindu Kush and Scandinavia, can be extended to a much more general phenomenon - the emergence and formation of one of the main racial trunks of modern mankind ... Genogeography and population genetics make a great contribution to the elucidation and understanding of the extremely important problem of race formation, and Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov was one of the pioneers of introducing their methods and laws into anthropology almost 60 years ago.
But in fact, scientists are "to blame" for everything, who from the Middle Ages to this day have called the Caucasus the place where all the white people of Europe and Asia came from. One of the most famous scientists who called the white (Aryan, European) race Caucasian was a scientist from Germany, master, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach.
On the basis of craniometric studies (the study of skulls) Blumenbach divided the human species into five races: 1) Caucasian - white race, 2) Mongoloid - yellow race 3) Malay - brown race 4) Negroid - black race 5) Americanoid - red race.
Blumenbach attributed the inhabitants of Europe to the Caucasian race (with the exception of the Samoyeds, Laplanders, Finns, Magyars and Turks), the inhabitants of southern Asia, as well as northern and northeastern Africa.
"Caucasian type - for the study I took this particular type, the mountainous type of the Caucasus, because its southern slope produces the most beautiful race of people, by this race I first of all mean the Georgians. All physiological characteristics are reduced to this. to assert with confidence that the Caucasus is the birthplace of mankind. " (I.F.Blumenbach)
The name arose from the fact that Blumenbach considered the Caucasus to be the first residence of a white man, and because he recognized the tribes currently living in the Caucasus as the most pure and unmixed type of this race. Currently, the term Caucasian in English is the official term for the white race (for example, used for race in the IAFD database). In West Slavic languages, the white race is also called Kavkazijska or Kaukazoidalna, in Germanic languages the terms Europide, Kaukasoid or Kaukasische are predominantly used, in Romance languages - Caucasiano or Caucasia. In Russia, after the Bolsheviks came to power, the term "Caucasian race" was replaced by "Caucasian race".
"Characteristic features of the Caucasian race:
It is characterized, first of all, by an orthognathic face, noticeably protruding forward in the horizontal plane. Hair of Caucasians is straight or wavy, usually soft (especially in northern groups). The brow ridges are often large, the eyes are always wide, although the palpebral fissure may be small, the nose is usually large, sharply protruding, the nose bridge is high, the thickness of the lips is small or medium, the growth of the beard and mustache is strong. The hand and foot are wide. The color of the skin and hair of the needles varies from very light shades in the northern groups to very dark in the southern and eastern populations "
Read more about the Caucasian (or Caucasian) race on Wikipedia -.
***
Apparently, all the laurels went to Blumenbach, since his conclusions were based on craniometric studies, but before him many other scientists were engaged in this topic. For example, in 1758, the Swedish naturalist and physician Karl Linnaeus identified 4 geographical divisions of people according to psychosomatic and physiological characteristics: white Europeans, red Americans, yellow Asians and black Africans.
That is, the subdivision "white people" (or "Caucasians") is determined by the color of the skin. And the names "Caucasian", "Aryan" or "Indo-European" are synonyms.
And the author of the first racial classification is Francois Bernier (1684).
You can read more about racial classification and scientists who have written on this topic.
As for the "Caucasian race" theme, its roots are deep in history. The word "Kaf" - "Caucasus" from the Abkhazian can be translated as "the place of the Earth where energy is accumulated" or "Grab of energy".
“The Caucasus, being the gateway between Asia and Europe, has always held a special position in world history. It was called the“ axis of the World ”and the“ throne of the Gods. ”The white race in the Middle Ages and now in Europe is called the“ Caucasian ”. And many true scientists, including the great Hegel reckoned with this, he stressed that "The progress of world civilization begins with the path of the Caucasian race ..." The highlanders of the Caucasus were the prehistory of the entire civilized world. " For those interested, I advise you to read more about this.
***
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that the definition of Caucasian is the official designation of the white race and is not usually used in everyday life in Canada. It is used only when it is necessary to describe a person's appearance. So, for example, when looking for a criminal, the police can say that it was someone from the Caucasian (which immediately indicates someone white-skinned (Russian, Pole, etc.), narrowing the circle of suspects and thus cutting off the Chinese, Hindus, etc.).
All our white-skinned brothers and sisters belong to Caucasian: Poles, Swedes, etc. (And the Israelites also belong to this group, since there are many white Jews among them.)
In Canada live: Caucasian (white-skinned, Russia, Poland, Sweden, etc.), Natives (Indians), South Asian (for example, India, i.e. those with dark skin), Asian (or Oriental - but not everyone likes use of this word / Chinese), Hispanic (Southern Spain - mixed between blacks and whites), African Canadian (blacks), Middle Eastern (like Turkey).
In terms of languages, French is slowly dying out, the future belongs to English, Chinese and Spanish.
With Caucasian greetings from Canada, always your Lagunka
- (Eurasian race) one of the main large races of mankind. Characterized by light skin, soft and wavy hair of the head, strong and medium hair growth on the face and body (in men), a narrow and sharply protruding nose, thin lips, orthognathism, etc. ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
- (Eurasian race), one of the main large races of mankind. Characterized by light skin, soft and wavy hair of the head, strong and medium hair growth on the face and body (in men), a narrow and sharply protruding nose, thin lips, orthognathism, etc. ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
Caucasoid race- The representative of the Caucasian race. EUROPEOID RACE (Eurasian race), one of the main large races of mankind. Characterized by light skin, soft and wavy hair of the head, strong and medium hair growth on the face and body (in men), narrow and sharp ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
Caucasoid race- in different classifications called the Caucasian, or Eurasian race (Caucasians) distributed in Europe, North Africa (before the Sahara), the Middle East, Central and Central Asia, North India. Typical features of the population: skin color, ... ...
The Eurasian race, one of the great races of humanity. Distributed in Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, Northern India, as well as in areas of European colonization (America, Australia, South Africa). It is characterized by light or dark ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
- (Eurasian race), one of the main large races of mankind. Characterized by light skin, soft and wavy hair of the head, strong and medium hair growth on the face and body (in men), a narrow and sharply protruding nose, boggy lips, orthognathism, etc. ... ... Natural science. encyclopedic Dictionary
Caucasoid race- One of the main or large races of humanity, characterized by light or dark skin, soft (straight or wavy) hair, narrow, strongly protruding nose, thin lips, etc.; Eurasian race ... Dictionary of many expressions
Eurasian (or Caucasian) race- a synonym for the Caucasian race. It is difficult to say how successful it is, since, on the one hand, the type is widespread much wider than Europe, and on the other hand, about half of the population of Eurasia is represented by other racial variants ... Physical Anthropology. Illustrated explanatory dictionary.
This term has other meanings, see Race (disambiguation). Check information. It is necessary to verify the accuracy of the facts and the accuracy of the information presented in this article. The talk page should have ... Wikipedia
Race is a system of human populations characterized by similarities in a complex of certain hereditary biological characteristics. Traits that characterize different races often appear as a result of adaptation to different environmental conditions, ... ... Wikipedia
Lesson plan
1. What human races do you know?
2. What factors cause the evolutionary process?
3. What influences the formation of the population gene pool?
What are the human races?
Human predecessors are Australopithecus;
- the most ancient people - progressive Australopithecus, Archanthropus (Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus, Heidelberg man, etc.);
- ancient people - paleoanthropes (Neanderthals);
- fossil people of the modern anatomical type - neoanthropes (Cro-Magnons).
The historical development of man was carried out under the influence of the same factors of biological evolution as the formation of other types of living organisms. However, such a phenomenon, unique for living nature, is characteristic of man, such as the increasing influence of social factors on anthropogenesis (labor activity, social lifestyle, speech and thinking).
For modern man, social and labor relations have become the leading and decisive ones.
As a result of social development, Homo sapiens acquired unconditional advantages among all living beings. But this does not mean that the emergence of the social sphere canceled the action of biological factors. The social sphere only changed their manifestation. Homo sapiens as a species is an integral part of the biosphere and a product of its evolution.
These are historically formed groupings (groups of populations) of people, characterized by the similarity of morphological and physiological features. Racial differences are the result of people's adaptation to certain conditions of existence, as well as the historical and socio-economic development of human society.
There are three large races: Caucasian (Eurasian), Mongoloid (Asian-American) and Australo-Negroid (equatorial).
Chapter 8
Fundamentals of Ecology
After reading this chapter, you will find out:
What does ecology study and why is it necessary for every person to know its foundations;
- what is the significance of environmental factors: abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic;
- what role do the conditions of the external environment and internal properties of the population group play in the processes of changes in its size over time;
- about various types of interactions between organisms;
- about the features of competitive relations and the factors that determine the outcome of the competitive struggle;
- about the composition and basic properties of the ecosystem;
- about energy flows and circulation of substances that ensure the functioning of systems, and about the role in these processes
Back in the middle of the XX century. the word ecology was known only to specialists, but now it has become very popular; most often it is used when speaking about the unfavorable state of the nature around us.
Sometimes this term is used in combination with words such as society, family, culture, health... Is ecology such a vast science that it is capable of covering most of the problems facing humanity?
Kamenskiy A.A., Kriksunov E.V., Pasechnik V.V. Biology Grade 10
Submitted by readers from the internet site
Straight or wavy, usually soft (in particular in the northern groups), the eyes have a wide slit, although the palpebral fissure is small, the nose is moderately or strongly protruding with a high nose bridge, the lips are thin or moderately thick, strong or medium hair growth on the face and body. Broad hands and feet. The color of the skin, hair and eyes is varied: from very light shades in the northern groups, to very dark in the southern and eastern populations.
Subgroups
| Check information. |
Origin of Caucasians
The modern Caucasian race did not develop earlier than the Holocene.
The most probable assumption is that the bulk of the large Caucasoid race had an original range of origin somewhere within a vast area covering parts of southwestern Asia, as well as southern Europe and northern Africa. Probably, some areas of Western Asia, which had a foothill character, and also, in part, the Mediterranean with its arid coastal regions, also belonged to the area of the Proto-Europoids. From here, the proto-Europeoids could settle in different directions, gradually occupying the whole of Europe and North Africa.
Among the European population, blue eyes were already widespread among hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic era, but the gene responsible for light skin pigmentation was fixed at 100% frequency only by the Bronze Age.
In the composition of the Caucasians, there are two branches - northern and southern. The differences between them relate mainly to the pigmentation of the skin, eyes, hair. Between these two branches there are peoples occupying an intermediate position. Back in the 1930s, the Soviet ethnographer and doctor of historical sciences N.N. Cheboksarov suggested that southern Caucasians, intermediate variants and northern Caucasians are the result of a sequential process of depigmentation of an initially dark-pigmented population. Southern Caucasians are closer to the original type than northern ones.
History of terms
Caucasoid race
The scientific term "Caucasian" (eng. Europoid, it. Europide) is formed by combining the word "European" and the suffix "-oid", which means "similar."
Caucasian race
Currently, the term Caucasian in English is one of the official terms for Caucasians (for example, used to indicate race in the IAFD database).
Mediterranean race
In the 19th century, in order to avoid the often encountered confusion, the German researcher F. Müller proposed another term - Mediterranean race(it. Mittelländische Rasse), since the peoples belonging to it reached the height of their development on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. This term was then adopted by most ethnologists (Peschel, Helwald and others) and by the end of the 19th century almost supplanted the term Blumenbach in scientific works, but now it is used in this sense as an integral part of the larger Indo-Mediterranean race.
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Notes (edit)
- // Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M .: Soviet encyclopedia 1969-1978
- // Comprehensive Medical Dictionary
- Caucasoid race- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (3rd edition).
- Glushkova V.G., Simagin Yu.A. .
- // Bogatenkov D.V., Drobyshevsky S.V. Anthropology
- Human races, Human races... Retrieved September 30, 2012.
- Origin of Caucasians, Origin of Caucasians... Retrieved September 30, 2012.
- // Small Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 4 volumes - St. Petersburg. , 1907-1909.
- Biographical details are in Charles Coulston Gillispie, Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 1970: 203f s.v."Johann Friederich Blumenbach".
- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Caucasian variety - “I have taken the name of this variety from Mount Caucasus, both because its neighborhood, and especially its southern slope, produces the most beautiful race of men, I mean the Georgian; because all physiological reasons converge to this, that in that region, if anywhere, it seems we ought with the greatest probability to place the autochthones (birth place) of mankind "- Blumenbach J. F. De generis humani varietate nativa. - 3rd ed., 1795, trans. Bendyshe (1865). Cit. ex. v: | Keith A. Blumenbach's Centenary // Man, 1940. - Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
- Oxford English Dictionary: "a name given by Blumenbach (a1800) to the" white "race of mankind, which he derived from the region of the Caucasus."
- Blumenbach, De generis humani varietate nativa(3rd ed. 1795), trans. Bendyshe (1865). Quoted e.g. in Arthur Keith, Blumenbach "s Centenary, Man, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1940).
Links
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An excerpt characterizing the Caucasian race
“This one, it seems, was Natasha, Nikolay thought, and this one is m me Schoss; or maybe not, and this is a Circassian with a mustache, I don’t know who, but I love her. ”- Aren't you cold? - he asked. They didn't answer and laughed. Dimmler was shouting something from the back of the sleigh, probably funny, but you couldn't hear what he was shouting.
- Yes, yes, - the voices answered laughing.
- However, here is some kind of magical forest with iridescent black shadows and sparkles of diamonds and with some kind of enfilade of marble steps, and some kind of silver roofs of magical buildings, and the piercing squeal of some kind of animals. “And if it really is Melyukovka, then it is even stranger that we went, God knows where, and arrived at Melukovka,” Nikolai thought.
Indeed, it was Melyukovka, and girls and footmen ran into the entrance with candles and joyful faces.
- Who it? - asked from the entrance.
- Counts dressed up, I see the horses, - answered the voices.
Pelageya Danilovna Melukova, a broad, energetic woman, with glasses and a swing-open hood, was sitting in the living room, surrounded by her daughters, whom she tried not to let get bored. They quietly poured wax and looked at the shadows of the figures emerging, when footsteps and voices of visitors rustled in the hall.
Hussars, ladies, witches, payas, bears, clearing their throats and wiping their frosty faces in the hallway, entered the hall, where they hastily lit candles. The clown - Dimmler with the lady - Nikolai opened the dance. Surrounded by screaming children, the mummers, covering their faces and changing their voices, bowed to the hostess and were placed around the room.
- Oh, you can't find out! But Natasha! Look what she looks like! Really, it reminds someone. Eduard then Karlych is so good! I didn't know. Yes, how she dances! Oh, priests, and some kind of Circassian; right, as it goes for Sonyushka. Who is this? Well, they consoled me! Take the tables, Nikita, Vanya. And we sat so quietly!
- Ha ha ha! ... Hussar then, hussar! Like a boy, and legs! ... I can't see ... - voices were heard.
Natasha, the favorite of the young Melyukovs, disappeared with them into the back rooms, where a cork and various dressing gowns and men's dresses were demanded, which, through the open door, received bare girls' hands from the footman. Ten minutes later, all the youth of the Melukov family joined the mummers.
Pelageya Danilovna, having ordered the cleaning of the place for guests and treats for gentlemen and courtyards, without taking off her glasses, with a suppressed smile, walked between the mummers, looking closely into their faces and not recognizing anyone. She did not recognize not only the Rostovs and Dimmler, but also could not recognize either her daughters or those husband's robes and uniforms that were on them.
- Whose is this? - she said, turning to her governess and looking into the face of her daughter, who represented the Kazan Tatar. - It seems that someone is from the Rostovs. Well, you, mister hussar, in which regiment do you serve? She asked Natasha. “Give the Turk, give the Turk some marshmallows,” she said to the bartender who was carrying it, “this is not prohibited by their law.
Sometimes, looking at the strange but funny steps that the dancers performed, who decided once and for all that they were dressed up, that no one would recognize them, and therefore were not embarrassed, Pelageya Danilovna covered herself with a handkerchief, and her whole fat body shook with irrepressible kind, old woman laughter ... - Sashinet is mine, Sashinet is mine! She said.
After Russian dances and round dances, Pelageya Danilovna united all the servants and gentlemen together, in one big circle; they brought a ring, a string and a ruble, and the general games were arranged.
An hour later, all the suits were crumpled and upset. Cork mustache and eyebrows were smeared over sweaty, flushed, and cheerful faces. Pelageya Danilovna began to recognize the mummers, admired how well the costumes were made, how they went especially to the young ladies, and thanked everyone for making her so amused. The guests were invited to have supper in the drawing-room, and the courtyard's food was ordered in the hall.
- No, guessing in the bathhouse, that's scary! - the old girl who lived with the Melyukovs said at supper.
- From what? - asked the eldest daughter of the Melyukovs.
- Don't go, you need courage ...
“I'll go,” said Sonya.
- Tell us how it was with the young lady? - said the second Melukova.
- Yes, just like that, one young lady went, - said the old girl, - she took a rooster, two instruments - she sat down properly. She sat there, only hears, suddenly she is going ... a sleigh drove up with bells, bells; hears, goes. She enters completely in the form of a human, as an officer is, came and sat down with her at the device.
- A! Ah! ... - Natasha shouted, rolling her eyes in horror.
- Why, he says so?
- Yes, as a man, everything is as it should be, and began, and began to persuade, and she should have kept him talking until the cocks; and she grew stiff; - just grew stiff and covered herself with her hands. He picked her up. It's good that the girls came running here ...
- Well, why scare them! - said Pelageya Danilovna.
- Mother, you yourself were guessing ... - said the daughter.
- And how is it in the barn guessing? - asked Sonya.
- Yes, if only now, they will go to the barn, and they will listen. What you will hear: hammering, knocking - bad, and pouring bread - this is good; otherwise it happens ...
- Mom, tell us what happened to you in the barn?
Pelageya Danilovna smiled.
- Yes, I already forgot ... - she said. “You’re not coming, are you?”
- No, I'll go; Pepageya Danilovna, let me go, I'll go, ”said Sonya.
- Well, if you're not afraid.
- Louise Ivanovna, can I? - asked Sonya.
Whether they played with a ring, a string or a ruble, whether they talked, as now, Nikolai did not leave Sonya and looked at her with completely new eyes. It seemed to him that today only for the first time, thanks to those cork mustache, he fully recognized her. Sonya really was cheerful, lively and good that evening, such as Nikolai had never seen her before.
"So this is what she is, but I'm a fool!" he thought, looking at her sparkling eyes and a happy, enthusiastic smile that dimpled her cheeks from under her mustache, which he had not seen before.
“I'm not afraid of anything,” said Sonya. - Can I now? - She got up. Sonya was told where the barn was, how to stand and listen in silence, and they gave her a fur coat. She threw it over her head and looked at Nikolai.
"What a lovely girl this is!" he thought. "And what have I been thinking up to now!"
Sonya went out into the corridor to go to the barn. Nikolai hurriedly went to the front porch, saying that he was hot. Indeed, the house was stuffy from the crowded people.
The yard was the same motionless cold, the same month, only it was even brighter. The light was so strong and there were so many stars in the snow that I did not want to look at the sky, and the real stars were invisible. The sky was black and boring, the earth was fun.
"I am a fool, a fool! What have you been waiting for so far? " thought Nikolai, and, running to the porch, he walked around the corner of the house along the path that led to the back porch. He knew that Sonya would go here. In the middle of the road there were stacked fathoms of firewood, there was snow on them, a shadow was falling from them; through them and from their sides, intertwining, the shadows of old bare lindens fell on the snow and the path. The path led to the barn. The chopped wall of the barn and the roof, covered with snow, as if carved from some kind of precious stone, glittered in the monthly light. A tree cracked in the garden, and again everything was completely quiet. The chest, it seemed, did not breathe air, but some kind of eternally youthful strength and joy.
From the girl's porch, feet knocked on the steps, there was a loud sound on the last one, on which snow was applied, and the voice of the old girl said:
- Straight, straight, along the path, young lady. Just don't look back.
- I'm not afraid, - Sonya's voice answered, and along the path, towards Nikolay, Sonya's legs squealed, whistled in thin shoes.
Sonya walked wrapped in a fur coat. She was already two steps away when she saw him; she saw him, too, not the way she knew and which she had always been a little afraid of. He was in a woman's dress with matted hair and a smile that was happy and new for Sonya. Sonya quickly ran up to him.
"Quite different, and still the same," thought Nikolai, looking at her face, all lit by the moonlight. He put his hands under the fur coat that covered her head, hugged her, pressed her to him and kissed her lips, over which there was a mustache and which smelled of burnt cork. Sonya kissed him in the very middle of her lips and, straightening her small hands, took him by the cheeks on both sides.