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Red Laugh-Leonid Nikolayevich Andreyev · Carmilla

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  Speaker 1: Preface of The Red Laugh. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read
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  Speaker 1: by Ben Tucker, The Red Laugh by Leonid Andreev, translated
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  Speaker 1: by Alexandra Lindon preface. Leonidas Andreav, the author of The
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  Speaker 1: Red Laugh and of some volumes of short stories, was
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  Speaker 1: born at Oral in eighteen seventy one. He studied first
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  Speaker 1: at the college of his own town, then at Saint
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  Speaker 1: Petersburg University. As a student at Saint Petersburg, he made
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  Speaker 1: a miserable livelihood by giving infrequent lessons at wretched rates,
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  Speaker 1: and his first literary efforts belonged to this period. His
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  Speaker 1: first short story, the subject of which was in fact autobiographical,
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  Speaker 1: The Sorry Life of the Poor Student Always Half Starving,
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  Speaker 1: was derisively rejected, but he gained entry into an important
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  Speaker 1: Saint Petersburg review with another and characteristic short story, Silence,
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  Speaker 1: and with it won the attention of the Russian literary world.
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  Speaker 1: Now his popularity in Russia almost transcends that of Gorky.
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  Speaker 1: Russian critics have said of Andreev as Victor Hugo said
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  Speaker 1: of the author of the Fleur de Maal, that he
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  Speaker 1: has invented a new thrill, and Andreav seems indeed to
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  Speaker 1: be most at home in a region of horror, though
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  Speaker 1: it is very much psychologized horror, a horror full of
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  Speaker 1: fine shades. The Red Laugh is a literary outcome of
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  Speaker 1: the late war in Manchuria. It sets forth the anachronism
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  Speaker 1: of war, as that anachronism is felt by a writer
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  Speaker 1: of genius. End of preface, Section one of The Red
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  Speaker 1: Laugh by Leonid Andreev. The Slebrivox recording is in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. Read by Ben Tucker, Part one, Fragments one
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  Speaker 1: through three. Fragment one Horror and madness. I felt it
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  Speaker 1: for the first time as we were marching along the road,
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  Speaker 1: marching incessantly for ten hours, without stopping, never diminishing our step,
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  Speaker 1: never waiting to pick up those that had fallen, but
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  Speaker 1: leaving them to the enemy that was moving behind us
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  Speaker 1: in a compact mass only three or four hours later,
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  Speaker 1: effacing the marks of our feet by their own. It
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  Speaker 1: was very sultry. I do not know how many degrees
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  Speaker 1: there were a hundred, twenty, one, hundred, forty degrees or
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  Speaker 1: more I only know that the heat was incessant, hopelessly
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  Speaker 1: even and profound. The sun was so enormous, so fiery
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  Speaker 1: and terrible, that it seemed as if the earth had
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  Speaker 1: drawn nearer to it and would soon be burnt up altogether.
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  Speaker 1: In its merciless rays. Our eyes had ceased to look.
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  Speaker 1: The small, shrunk pupil, as small as a poppy seed,
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  Speaker 1: sought in vain for darkness under the closed eyelid. The
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  Speaker 1: sun pierced the thin covering and penetrated into the tortured
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  Speaker 1: brain in a blood red glow. But nevertheless it was
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  Speaker 1: better so with closed eyelids. And for a long time,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps for several hours, I walked along with my eyes shut,
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  Speaker 1: hearing the multitude moving around me, the heavy, uneven tread
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  Speaker 1: of many feet, minds and horses, the grinding of iron
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  Speaker 1: wheels crushing the small stones, somebody's deep strained breathing, and
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  Speaker 1: the dry smacking of parched lips. But I heard no word.
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  Speaker 1: All were silent, as if an army of dumb people
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  Speaker 1: was moving, And when anyone fell down, he fell in silence.
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  Speaker 1: Others stumbled against his body, fell down and rose mutely
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  Speaker 1: and without turning their head heads marched on as though
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  Speaker 1: these dumb men were also blind and deaf. I stumbled
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  Speaker 1: and fell several times, and then involuntarily opened my eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and all that I saw seemed a wild fiction, the
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  Speaker 1: terrible raving of a mad world. The air vibrated at
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  Speaker 1: a white hot temperature. The stones seemed to be trembling silently,
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  Speaker 1: ready to flow, and in the distance, at a curve
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  Speaker 1: of the road, the files of men, guns and horses
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  Speaker 1: seemed detached from the earth and trembled like a mass
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  Speaker 1: of jelly in their onward progress. And it seemed to
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  Speaker 1: me that they were not living people that I saw
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  Speaker 1: before me, but an army of incorporate shadows. The enormous,
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  Speaker 1: near terrible sun lit up thousands of tiny, blinding suns
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  Speaker 1: on every gun barrel and metal plate, and these suns,
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  Speaker 1: as fiery, white and sharp as the white hot points
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  Speaker 1: of the bayonets, crept in dear eyes from every side,
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  Speaker 1: and the consuming burning heat penetrated into your body and
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  Speaker 1: dear very bones and brain. And at times it seemed
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  Speaker 1: to me that it was not a head that swayed
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  Speaker 1: upon my shoulders, but a strange and extraordinary globe, heavy
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  Speaker 1: and light, belonging to somebody else and horrible. And then
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  Speaker 1: then I suddenly remembered my home, a corner of my room,
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  Speaker 1: a scrap of light blue wall paper, and a dusty,
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  Speaker 1: untouched water bottle on my table, or my table which
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  Speaker 1: has one leg shorter than the others, and had a
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  Speaker 1: small piece of paper folded under it, while in the
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  Speaker 1: next room, and I cannot see them, or my wife
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  Speaker 1: and little son. If I had had the power to
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  Speaker 1: cry out, I would have done so. So wonderful was
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  Speaker 1: this simple and peaceful picture, hastening, whether I knew not,
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  Speaker 1: but feeling now neither heat nor fatigue. And I marched
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  Speaker 1: on thus for a long time through the endless mute files,
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  Speaker 1: past red sunburnt necks, almost touching the helplessly lowered hot bayonets.
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  Speaker 1: When suddenly the thought of what I was doing, whether
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  Speaker 1: I was hastening, stopped me. I turned aside, and the
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  Speaker 1: same hasty way forced my way to the open, clambered
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  Speaker 1: across a gully, and sat down on a stone in
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  Speaker 1: a preoccupied manner, as if that rough hot stone was
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  Speaker 1: the aim of all my strivings. And then I felt
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  Speaker 1: it for the first time. I clearly perceived that all
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  Speaker 1: these people marching silently on in the glaring sun, torpid
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  Speaker 1: from fatigue and heat, swaying and falling. That they were
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  Speaker 1: all mad. They did not know whether they were going,
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  Speaker 1: They did not know what the sun was for, they
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  Speaker 1: did not know anything. It was not heads that they
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  Speaker 1: had on their shoulders, but strange and terrible globes. There
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  Speaker 1: I saw a man in the same plight as I,
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  Speaker 1: pushing his way hurriedly through the rose and falling down. There, another,
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  Speaker 1: and a third. Suddenly a horse's head appeared above the throng,
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  Speaker 1: with blood shot and senseless eyes and a wide open,
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  Speaker 1: grinning mouth that only hinted at a terrible, unearthly cry.
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  Speaker 1: His head appeared, fell down, and for an instant the
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  Speaker 1: crowd stopped. Growing denser. In that spot, I could hear hoarse,
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  Speaker 1: hollow voices, then a shot, and again the silent, endless
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  Speaker 1: marching continued. An hour passed as I sat on that stone,
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  Speaker 1: but the multitude still moved on past me, and the
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  Speaker 1: air and earth, and the distant, phantom like ranks trembled
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  Speaker 1: as before. And again the burning heat pierced my body,
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  Speaker 1: and I forgot what. For an instant I had pictured
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  Speaker 1: to myself, and the multitudes moved on past me, but
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  Speaker 1: I did not know who they were. An hour ago
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  Speaker 1: I was alone on stone, But now I was surrounded
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  Speaker 1: by a group of gray people, some lying motionless, perhaps dead.
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  Speaker 1: Others were sitting up and staring vacantly at those passing by.
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  Speaker 1: Some had guns and resembled soldiers. Others were stripped, almost naked,
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  Speaker 1: and the skin on their bodies was so livid that
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  Speaker 1: one did not care to look at it. Not far
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  Speaker 1: from me, some one was lying with his bared back upturned.
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  Speaker 1: One could see, by the unconcerned manner in which he
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  Speaker 1: had buried his face in the sharp, burning sand, by
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  Speaker 1: the whiteness of the palm of his upturned hand, that
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  Speaker 1: he was dead. But his back was as red as
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  Speaker 1: if he were alive, and only a slight yellowish tinge
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  Speaker 1: like one seis on smoked meat, spoke of death. I
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  Speaker 1: wanted to move away from him, but I had not
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  Speaker 1: the strength, and tottering from weakness, I continued looking at
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  Speaker 1: the endless faceantomlike swaying files of men. By the condition
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  Speaker 1: of my head, I knew that I should soon have
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  Speaker 1: a sun stroke too, but I waited it calmly, as
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  Speaker 1: in a dream where death seems only a stage on
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  Speaker 1: the path of wonderful and confused visions, and I saw
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  Speaker 1: a soldier apart from the crowd and direct his steps
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  Speaker 1: in a decided manner towards us. For an instant I
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  Speaker 1: lost sight of him in a ditch. But when he
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  Speaker 1: reappeared and moved on towards us, his gait was unsteady,
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  Speaker 1: and in his endeavors to control his restlessly tossing body,
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  Speaker 1: one felt he was using his last strength. He was
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  Speaker 1: coming so straight upon me that I grew frightened, and
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  Speaker 1: breaking through the heavy torpor that enveloped my brain, I asked,
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  Speaker 1: what do you want? He stopped short, as if it
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  Speaker 1: was only a word that he was waiting for, and
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  Speaker 1: stood before me, enormous bearded in a torn shirt, He
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  Speaker 1: had no gun. His trousers hung only by one button,
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  Speaker 1: and through a slit in them one could see his
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  Speaker 1: white body. He flung his arms and legs about, and
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  Speaker 1: he was visibly trying to control them, but could not.
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  Speaker 1: The instant he brought his arms together, they fell apart again.
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  Speaker 1: What is the matter? You had better sit down, I said,
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  Speaker 1: but he continued standing, vainly, trying to gather himself together,
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  Speaker 1: and stared at me in silence, and voluntarily, I got
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  Speaker 1: up from the stone, and tottering looked into his eyes
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  Speaker 1: and saw an abyss of horror and insanity in them.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody's pupils were shrunk, but his had dilated and covered
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  Speaker 1: his whole eye. What a sea of fire he must
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  Speaker 1: have seen through those enormous black windows. Maybe I had
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  Speaker 1: only imagined it. Maybe in his look there was only death.
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  Speaker 1: But no, I was not mistaken. In those black, bottomless pupils,
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  Speaker 1: surrounded by a narrow, orange colored rim like a bird's,
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  Speaker 1: there was more than death, more than the horror of death.
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  Speaker 1: Go away, I cried, falling back, go away, And as
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  Speaker 1: if he was only waiting for a word, enormous, disorderly
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  Speaker 1: and mute, as before, he suddenly fell down upon me,
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  Speaker 1: knocking me over with a shudder. I freed my legs
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  Speaker 1: from under him, jumped up, and longed to run somewhere
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  Speaker 1: away from men, into the sunlit, unpeopled and quivering distance.
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  Speaker 1: When suddenly, on the left hand side, a cannon boomed
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  Speaker 1: forth from a hilltop, and directly after two others like
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  Speaker 1: an echo, and somewhere above our heads a shell flew
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  Speaker 1: past with a gladsome many voiced screamchin howl. We were
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  Speaker 1: out flaint. The murderous heat, fear, and fatigue disappeared instantly,
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  Speaker 1: My thoughts cleared, my mind grew clear and sharp, And
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  Speaker 1: when I ran up, out of breath, to the files
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  Speaker 1: of men drawing up, I saw serene, almost joyous faces
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  Speaker 1: heard hoarse but loud voices, orders, jokes. The sun seemed
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  Speaker 1: to have drawn itself up higher so as not to
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  Speaker 1: be in the way, and had grown dim and still.
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  Speaker 1: And again a shell like a witch cut the air
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  Speaker 1: with a gladsome screach. I came up fragment too. Nearly
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  Speaker 1: all the horses and men the same. In the eighth
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  Speaker 1: battery and our twelfth battery. Towards the end of the
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  Speaker 1: third day, there remained only three guns, while the others
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  Speaker 1: being disabled. Six men and one officer myself. We had
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  Speaker 1: neither slept nor eaten for twenty hours. For three days
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  Speaker 1: and nights, a satanic roar and howl enveloped us in
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  Speaker 1: a cloud of insanity, isolated us from the earth, the sky,
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  Speaker 1: and ourselves, and we the living, wandered about like lunatics.
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  Speaker 1: The dead day lay still, while we moved about doing
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  Speaker 1: our duty, talking and laughing, and we were like lunatics.
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  Speaker 1: All our movements were quick and certain, our orders clear,
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  Speaker 1: the execution of them precise. But if you would suddenly
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  Speaker 1: ask any one of us who we were, undoubtedly we
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  Speaker 1: should not have been able to find an answer. In
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  Speaker 1: our troubled brain. As in a dream, all faces seemed familiar,
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  Speaker 1: and all that was going on seemed quite familiar and natural,
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  Speaker 1: as if it had happened before. But when I looked
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  Speaker 1: closely at any face or gun, or began listening to
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  Speaker 1: the din, I was struck by the novelty and endless
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  Speaker 1: mystery of everything. Night approached imperceptibly, and before we had
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  Speaker 1: time to notice it and wonder where it had come from,
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  Speaker 1: the sun was again burning above our heads, and only
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  Speaker 1: from those who came to our battery we learnt that
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  Speaker 1: it was the third day of the battle that was dawning,
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  Speaker 1: and instantly forgot it again. To us, it appeared as
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  Speaker 1: one endless day without any beginning, sometimes dark, sometimes bright,
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  Speaker 1: but always in comprehensible and blind, and nobody was afraid
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  Speaker 1: of death, for nobody understood what death was. On the
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  Speaker 1: third or fourth night, I do not remember which I
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  Speaker 1: lay down for a minute behind the breastwork, and as
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  Speaker 1: soon as I shut my eyes, the same familiar and
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary pictures stood before them, the scrap of light blue
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  Speaker 1: wallpaper and the dusty, untouched water bottle on my table
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  Speaker 1: while in the next room, and I could not see
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  Speaker 1: them or my wife and little Sun. But this time
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  Speaker 1: a lamp with a green shade was burning on the table,
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  Speaker 1: so it must have been evening or night. The picture
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  Speaker 1: stood motionless, and I contemplated it very calmly and attentively
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  Speaker 1: for a long time, letting my eyes rest on the
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  Speaker 1: light reflected in the crystal of the water bottle and
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  Speaker 1: on the wallpaper, and wondered why my son was not asleep,
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  Speaker 1: for it was night and time for him to go
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  Speaker 1: to bed. Then I again began examining the wallpaper, every spiral,
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  Speaker 1: silvery flower, square and line, and never imagined that I
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  Speaker 1: knew my room so well now. And then I opened
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  Speaker 1: my eyes and saw the black sky with beautiful fiery
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  Speaker 1: stripes upon it. Then shut them again and saw once
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  Speaker 1: more of the wallpaper the bright water bottle, and wondered
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  Speaker 1: why my Sun was not asleep, for it was night
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  Speaker 1: and time for him to go to bed. Once a
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  Speaker 1: shell burst not far from me, making my legs give
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  Speaker 1: a jerk, and somebody cried out loudly, louder than the
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  Speaker 1: bursting of the shell. And I said to myself, somebody
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  Speaker 1: is killed. But I did not get up, and did
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  Speaker 1: not tear my eyes away from the light blue wallpaper
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  Speaker 1: and the water bottle. Afterwards, I got up, moved about,
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  Speaker 1: gave orders, looked at the men's faces, trained the guns,
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  Speaker 1: and kept on wondering why my son was not asleep.
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  Speaker 1: Once I asked the sergeant, and he explained it to
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  Speaker 1: me at length, with great detail, And we kept nodding
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  Speaker 1: our heads, and he laughed, and his left eyebrow kept
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: twitching while his eye winked cunningly at somebody behind us.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Behind us were somebody's feet, and nothing more. By this
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  Speaker 1: time it was quite light, when suddenly there fell a
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  Speaker 1: drop of rain, rain, just the same as at home,
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  Speaker 1: the most ordinary little drops of rain. But it was
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  Speaker 1: so sudden and out of place, and we were so
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  Speaker 1: afraid of getting wet that we left our guns, stopped firing,
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  Speaker 1: and tried to find shelter anywhere we could. The sergeant
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  Speaker 1: with whom I had only just been speaking, got under
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  Speaker 1: the gun carriage and dozed off, although he might have
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  Speaker 1: been crushed any minute. The stout artillery man, for some
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  Speaker 1: reason or other, began undressing a corpse, while I began
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  Speaker 1: running about the battery in search of something a cloak
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  Speaker 1: or an umbrella, And the same instant, over the whole
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  Speaker 1: enormous area where the rain cloud had burst, a wonderful
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  Speaker 1: stillness fell. A belated shrapnel shot shrieked and burst, and
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  Speaker 1: everything grew still, so still that one could hear the
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  Speaker 1: stout artillery man panting, and the drops of rain splashing
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  Speaker 1: upon the stones and guns, and this soft and continuous
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  Speaker 1: sound that reminded one of autumn, the smell of the
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: moist earth, and the stillness seemed to tear the bloody,
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  Speaker 1: savage nightmare asunder for an instant, and when I glanced
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  Speaker 1: at the wet, glistening gun, it unexpectedly reminded me of
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  Speaker 1: something dear and peaceful, my childhood, or perhaps my first love.
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  Speaker 1: But in the distance a gun boomed forth, particularly loud,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: and the spell of the momentary lull disappeared. The men
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  Speaker 1: began coming out of their hiding places as suddenly as
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: they had hid themselves. A gun roared, then another, and
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: once again the weary brain was enveloped by bloody, indissoluble gloom,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: and nobody noticed when the rain stopped. I only remember
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  Speaker 1: seeing the water rolling off the fat, sunken yellow face
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  Speaker 1: of the killed artillery men, so I supposed it reigned
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  Speaker 1: for rather a long time. Before me stood a young volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: holding his hand to his cap and reporting to me
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  Speaker 1: that the general wanted us to retain our position for
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: only two hours more, when we should be relieved. I
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: was wondering while my son was not in bed, and
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: answered that I could hold on as much as he wished.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Suddenly I became interested in the young man's face, probably
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: because of its unusual and striking pallor. I never saw
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: anything whiter than that face. Even the dead have more
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: color than that young, beardless face had. I suppose he
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: became terrified on his way to us and could not
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: recover himself, and in holding his hand to his cap,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: he was only making an effort to drive away his
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: mad fear by his simple and habitual gesture, are you afraid?
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  Speaker 1: I asked, touching his elbow, but his elbows seemed as
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: if made of wood, and he only smiled and remained silent.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Better to say. His lips alone were twitching into a smile,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: while his eyes were full of youth and terror. Only
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: nothing more, are you afraid? I repeated kindly, his lips twitched,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: trying to frame a word. In the same instant there
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: happened something incomprehensible, monstrous, and supernatural. I felt a draft
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: of warm air upon my right cheek that made me sway,
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  Speaker 1: that is all. While before my eyes, in place of
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: the white face, there was something short, blunt and red,
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  Speaker 1: and out of it the blood was gushing as out
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: of an uncorked bottle, such as is drawn on badly
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: executed sign boards. And that short, red and flowing something
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: still seemed to be smiling, a sort of smile, a
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: toothless laugh, a red laugh. I recognized it, that red laugh.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: I'd been searching for it, and I had found it.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: That red laugh. Now I understood what there was, and
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: all those mutilated, torn, strange bodies. It was a red laugh.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: It was in the sky, It was in the sun,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: and soon it was going to overspread the whole earth,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: that red laugh. While they, with precision and calmness, like lunatics,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: fragment three, they say, there are a great number of
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: madmen in our army as well as in the enemies.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Four lunatic wards have been opened. When I was on
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: the staff, our adjutant showed me end of section one
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: section two of the Red Laugh by a Lionid Andreav.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Ben Tucker. Part one Fragment four coiled round like snakes.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: He saw the wire chopped through at one end, cut
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: the air, and coil itself round three soldiers. The barbs
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: tore their uniforms and stuck into their bodies and shrieking.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: The soldiers spun round and frenzy, two of them, dragging
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the third, who was already dead, after them. Then only
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: one remained alive, and he tried to push the two
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: that were dead away from him, but they trailed after him,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: whirling and rolling over each other and over him. Suddenly
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: all three became motionless. He told me that no less
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: than two thousand men were lost at that one wire entanglement.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: While they were hacking at the wire and getting entangled
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: in its serpentine coils, they were pelted by an incessant
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: rain of balls, and he assured me it was very terrifying,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: and if only they had known in which direction to run,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: that attack would have ended in a panic flight. But
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: ten or twelve continuous lines of wire, and the struggle
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: with it a whole labyrinth of pitfalls with stakes driven
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: in at the bottom, had muddled them so that they
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: were quite incapable of defining the direction of escape. Some
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: like men, blind, fell into the funnel shaped pits and
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: hung upon the sharp stakes pierced through the stomach, twitching
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: convulsively and dancing like toy clowns. They were crushed down
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: by fresh bodies, and soon the whole pit filled to
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: the edges and presented a writhing mass of bleeding bodies,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: dead and living. Hands thrust themselves out of it in
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: all directions, the fingers working convulsively, catching at everything, and
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: those who once got caught in that trap could not
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: get back again. Hundreds of fingers, strong and blind, like
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the claws of a lobster, gripped them firmly by the legs,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: caught at their clothes, threw them down upon themselves, gouged
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: out their eyes, and throttled them. Many seemed as if
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: they were intoxicated, and ran straight at the wire, got
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: caught in it, and remained shrieking until a bullet finished them.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Generally speaking, they all seemed like people intoxicated. Some swore dreadfully,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: others laughed when the wire caught them by the arm
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: or leg, and died there. And then he himself, although
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: he had nothing to eat or drink since the morning,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: felt very queer. His head swam, and there were moments
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: when the feeling of terror in him changed to wild rapture,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: and from rapture again to terror. When somebody struck up
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: a song at his side, he caught up the tune,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: and soon a whole unanimous chorus broke forth. He did
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: not remember what they saying, only that it was lively
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: in a dancing strain. Yes, they sang, while all around
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: them was red with blood. The very skies seemed to
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: be red, and one could have thought that a catastrophe
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: had overwhelmed the universe. A strange disappearance of colors. The
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: light blue and green and other habitual, peaceful colors had disappeared,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: while the sun blazed forth in a red flare light
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the red laugh, said I, But he did not understand. Yes,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: And they laughed, as I told you before, like people intoxicated.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Perhaps they even danced. There is something of the sort.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: At least the movements of those three resembled dancing. He
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: remembers distinctly when he was shot through the chest and fell,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: his legs twitched for some time until he lost consciousness,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: as if he were dancing to music. And at the
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: present moment, when he thinks of that attack, a strange
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: feeling comes over him, partly fear and partly the desire
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: to experience it all over again. Another ball in your chest,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: asked I there now? Why should I get a ball
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: each time? But it would not be half bad, old
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: boy to get a medal for bravery. He was lying
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: on his back, with a waxen face, sharp nose, prominent
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: cheek bones, and sunken eyes. He was lying looking like
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: a corpse and dreaming of a metal. Mortification had already
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: set in. He had a high temperature, and in three
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: days time he was to be thrown into the grave
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: to join the dead. Nevertheless, he lay smiling dreamily and
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: talking about a metal. Have you telegraphed to your mother?
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: I asked? He glanced at me with terror, animosity, and anger,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: and did not answer. I was silent, and then the
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: groans and ravings of the wounded became audible. But when
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: I rose to go, he caught my hand in his hot,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: but still strong one, and fixed his sunken, burning eyes
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: upon me in a lost and distressed way. What does
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: it all mean? Eh? What does it all mean? Asked he,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: in a frightened and persistent manner, pulling at my hand.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: What everything in general? Now? She is waiting for me,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: but I cannot my country. Is it possible to make
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: her understand what my country means? The red laugh answered, I, Ah,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: you're always joking, but I am serious. It is indispensable
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: to explain it. But is it possible to make her
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: understand if you only knew what she says in her letters,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: what she writes, and you know her words are gray? Haired?
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: And you? He looked curiously at my head, pointed his finger, and, suddenly,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: breaking into a laugh, said, why you've grown bald? Have
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: you noticed it? There are no looking glasses here? Many
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: have grown bald and gray. Look here, give me a
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: looking glass, give me one. I feel a white hair
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: growing out of my head. Give me a looking glass.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: He became deliriate, crying and shouting out, and I left
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: a hospital that same evening. We got up an entertainment,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: a sad and strange entertainment, at which amongst the guests
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: the shadows of the dead assisted. We decided together in
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the evening and have tea as if we were at
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: home at a picnic. We got a semovar, We even
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: got a lemon and glasses, and established ourselves under a tree,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: as if we were at home at a picnic. Our
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: companions arrived noisily in twos and threes, talking joking and
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: full of gleeful expectation, but soon grew silent, avoiding to
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: look at each other, for there was something fearful in
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: this meeting of spared men and tatters, dirty, itching, as
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: if we were covered by a dreadful ringworm, with hair neglected,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: thin and worn. Having lost off familiar and habitual aspect,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: we seemed to see each other for the first time
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: as we gathered around the semovar, and seeing each other,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: we grew in vain. I looked for a familiar face
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: in this group of disconcerted men. I could not find one.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: These men restless, hasty and jerky in their movements, starting
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: at every sound, constantly looking for something behind their backs,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: trying to fill up that mysterious void into which they
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: were too terrified to look by superfluous gesticulations. Were new,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: strange men whom I did not know, and their voices
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: sounded different, articulating the words with difficulty in jerks, easily
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: passing into angry shouts or senseless, irrepressible laughter at the
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: slightest provocation. And everything around us was strange to us.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: The tree was strange, and the sunset strange, and the
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: water strange, with a peculiar taste and smell, as if
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: we had left the earth and entered into a new
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: world together with the dead, a world of mysterious phenomena
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: and ominous somber shadows. The sunset was yellow and cold, black, unillumined,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: motionless clouds hung heavily over it, while the earth under
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: it was black, and our faces in that ill omened
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: light seemed yellow, like the faces of the dead. We
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: all sat watching the Samovar, but it went out, its sighs,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: reflecting the yellowishness and menace of the sunset, And it
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: seemed also an unfamiliar, dead and incomprehensible object. Where are we?
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Asked somebody? An uneasiness and fear sounded in his voice.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: Somebody sighed, somebody convulsively cracked his fingers. Somebody laughed, somebody
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: jumped up and began walking quickly around the table. These
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: last days one could often meet with such men that
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: were always walking hastily, almost running at times, strangely silent
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: at times mumbling something in an uncanny way. At the
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: war answered he who had laughed, and again burst into
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: a hollow, lingering laugh, as if something was choking him.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: What is he laughing at? Asked somebody indignantly, look here,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: stop it. The other choked once more, gave a titter,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: and stopped obediently. It was growing dark. The clouds seemed
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: to be settling down on the earth, and we could
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: with difficulty distinguish each other's yellow, phantom like faces. Somebody asked,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: and where's fatty legs? Fatty legs? We called a fellow officer, who,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: being short, wore enormous water tight boots. He was just
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: here now, fatty legs, where are you? Fatty legs? Don't hide,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: we can smell your boots. Everybody laughed, but their laugh
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: was interrupted by a rough, indignant voice that sounded out
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: of the darkness. Stop that, are you not ashamed? Fatty
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Legs was killed this morning, riconortering he was here just now.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: It must be a mistake, you imagined it, Hey, ho,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: you there behind the samovarre, cut me a slice of lemon,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: and me and me the woman is finished? How's that? Boys,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: sounded a gentle, hurt voice, full of distress, and almost crying.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Why I only came for the sake of the lemon.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: The other again burst into a hollow and lingering laugh,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: and nobody checked him, but he soon stopped. He gave
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: a snigger and was silent. Somebody said tomorrow we begin
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: the advance on the enemy, but several voices cried out angrily, nonsense.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Advance on the enemy, indeed, But you know yourself, shut up,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: as if we cannot talk of something else. The sunset faded,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: the cloud lifted, and it seemed to grow lighter. The
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: faces became more familiar, and he who kept circling round
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: us grew calmer and sat down. I wonder what it's
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: like at home, now, asked he vaguely, and in his
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: voice there sounded a guilty smile, And once again all
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: became terrible, incomprehensible and strange, so intensely so that we
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: were filled with horror, almost to the verge of losing consciousness,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: and we all began talking and shouting at the same time,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: bustling about, moving our glasses, touching each other's shoulders, hands, knees,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: and all at once became silent, giving way before the
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: incomprehensible at home cried somebody out of the darkness. His
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: voice was hoarse and quivering with emotion, fear and hatred,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: and some of the words would not come out, as
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: if he had forgotten how to say them. A home,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: what home? Why is there a home anywhere? Don't interrupt me,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: or else I shall fire at home. I used to
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: take a bath every day. Can you understand a bath
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: with water, water up to the very edges. Well, now
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: I do not even wash my face every day. My
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: head is covered with scarf, and my whole body itches
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: and over it, crawl, crawl. I'm going mad from dirt.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: While you talk of home. I am like an animal.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: I despise myself. I cannot recognize myself, and death is
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: not at all terrifying. You tear my brain with your
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: shrapnel shots. Aim at what you will, I'll hit my
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: brain and you can speak of home. What home streets,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: windows people. But I would not go into the street
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: now for anything. I should be ashamed to you brought
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: a semovar here, but I was ashamed to look at it.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: The other laughed again. Somebody called out, damn it all,
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: I shall go home home. You don't understand what duty
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: is home. Listen, he wants to go home. There was
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: a burst of laughter and of painful shouts, and again
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: all became silent, giving way before the incomprehensible. And then
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: not only I, but every one of us felt that
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: it was coming towards us out of those dark, mysterious
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: and strange fields. It was rising from out of those obscure,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: dark ravines where maybe the forgotten and lost among the
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: stones were still dying. It was flowing from the strange,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: unfamiliar sky. We stood around the dying out samovar in silence,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: losing consciousness from horror, while an enormous, shapeless shadow that
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: had risen above the world looked down upon us from
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: the sky with a steady and silent gaze. Suddenly quite
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: close to us, probably at the Commander's house, music burst forth,
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: and the frenzied, joyous loud sounds seemed to flash out
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: into the night in stillness. The band played with frenzied
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: mirth and defiance, hurriedly, discordantly, too loudly, and too joyously,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: and one could feel that those who were playing and
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: those who were listening saw as we did, the same enormous,
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: shapeless shadow risen above the world. And it was clear
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: the player on the trumpet carried in himself, in his
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: very brain and ears, that same enormous dumb shadow. The
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: abrupt and broken sound tossed about, jumping and running away
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: from the others, quivering with horror and insanity in its lonesomeness,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: and the other sounds seemed to be looking round at
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: it so clumsily they ran, stumbling, falling, and again, rising
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: in a disorderly crowd, too loud, too joyous, too close
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: to the black ravines, where most probably the forgotten and
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: lost among the boulders were still dying. And we stood
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: for a long time around the cold Somovar and were silent.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: End of section two Section three of The Red Laugh
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: by Leonid Andreyev. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Read by Ben Tucker, Part one, Fragment five. I was
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: already asleep. When the doctor roused me by pushing me cautiously,
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: I awoke and, jumping up, cried out, as we all
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: did when anybody wakened us, and rushed to the entrance
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: of our tent. But the doctor held me firmly by
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: the arm, excusing himself. I frightened you. Forgive me. I
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: know you wanted to sleep five days and nights, I muttered,
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: dozing off. I fell asleep and slept, as it seemed
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: to me for a long time. When the doctor again
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: began speaking, poking me cautiously in the ribs and legs.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: But it is very urgent, dear fellow. Please, it is
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: so pressing. I keep thinking I cannot. I keep thinking
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: that some of the wounded were left. What wounded? Why
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: you are bringing them in the whole day? Long? Leave
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: me in peace. It's not fair. I have not slept
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: for five days, dear boy, don't be angry, muttered the doctor, awkwardly,
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: putting my cap on my head. Everybody is asleep. It's
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: impossible to rouse anybody. I've got hold of an engine
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: and seven carriages, but we're in want of men. I understand,
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: dear fellow. I implore you. Everybody is asleep, and everybody refuses.
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: I'm afraid of falling asleep myself. I don't remember when
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: I last slept. I believe I'm beginning to have hallucinations.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: There's a dear fellow, put down your feet, just one there. There.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: The doctor was pale and tottering, and one could see
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: that if he were only to lie down for an instant,
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: he would fall asleep and remain so without waking for
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: several days. Running my legs sank under me, and I
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: am certain I fell asleep as I walked. So suddenly
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: and unexpectedly appeared before us a row of black outlines,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: the engine and carriages near them, scarcely distinguishable in the darkness.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Some men were wandering about slowly and silently. There was
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: not a single light either on the engine or carriages,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: and only the shut ash box threw a dim, reddish
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: light on to the rails. Well, what is this, I asked,
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: stepping back. Why we are going in the train? Have
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: you forgotten we are going in the train? Muttered the doctor.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: The night was chilly, and he was trembling from cold,
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: and as I looked at him, I felt the same rapid,
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: tickling shiver all over my body. Damn you, I cried loudly,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: just as if you couldn't have taken somebody else. Hush, please, hush,
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: And the doctor caught me by the arm. Somebody out
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: of the darkness said, if you were a fire a
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: volley from all the guns, nobody would stir. They are
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: all asleep. One could go up and bind them all.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: Just now. I passed quite close to the sentry. He
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: looked at me and did not say a word, never stirred.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: I suppose he was asleep too. It's a wonder he
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: does not fall down. He who spoke yawned, and his
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: clothes rustled. Evidently he was stretching himself. I leaned against
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: the side of the carriage, intending to climb up, and
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: was instantly overcome by sleep. Somebody lifted me up from
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: behind and laid me down, while I began pushing him
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: away with my feet, without knowing why. And again I
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: fell asleep, hearing, as in a dream, fragments of a
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: conversation at the seventh First, have you forgotten the lanterns? No,
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: he won't go give them here back a little, that's it.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: The carriages were jerking backwards and forwards. Something was rattling
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: and gradually. Because of all these sounds, and because I
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: was lying comfortably and quietly, sleep deserted me. But the
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: doctor was sound asleep, and when I took him by
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: the hand, it was like the hand of a corpse,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: heavy and limp. The train was now moving slowly and cautiously,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: shaking slightly, as if groping its way. The student, acting
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: as hospital orderly lighted the candle in the lantern, lighting
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: up the walls and the black aperture of the entrance,
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: and said, angrily, damn it much. They need us by
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: this time, but you had better wake him before he
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: falls into a sound sleep, for then you won't be
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: able to do anything with him. I know by myself.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: We roused the doctor, and he sat up, rolling his
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: eyes vacantly. He tried to lie down again, but we
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: did not let him. It would be good to have
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: a drop of vodki, now, said the student. We drank
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: a mouthful of brandy, and all sleepiness disappeared entirely. The
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: big black square of the door began to grow pink,
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: then red. Somewhere from behind the hills appeared an enormous
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: mute flare of a conflagration as if the sun was
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: rising in the middle of the night. It's far away,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: twenty versts. I feel cold, said the doctor, snapping his teeth.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: The student looked out of the door and beckoned me
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: to come up to him. I looked out at different
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: points of the horizon. Motionless flares of similar conflagration stood
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: out in a mute row, as if dozens of suns
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: were rising simultaneously. And now the dark was not so great.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: The distant hills were growing more densely, black sharply outlined
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: against the sky in a broken and wavy contour, while
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: in the foreground all was flooded with a red, soft glow,
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: silent and motionless. I glanced at the student. His face
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: was tinged by the same red, fantastic color of blood
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: that had changed itself into air and light. Are there
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: many wounded? I asked? He waved his hand, A great
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: many madmen, more so than wounded real mad men. What
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: others can there be? He was looking at me, and
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: his eyes wore the same fixed, wild expression, full of
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: cold horror, that the soldiers had who died of sunstroke.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Stop that, said, I, turning away. The doctor is mad also,
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: just look at him. The doctor had not heard. He
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: was sitting cross legged like a turk, swaying to and fro, soundlessly,
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: moving his lips and finger tips, and in his gaze
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: there was the same fixed, stupefied, blunt stricken expression. I
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: feel cold, said he and smiled. Hang you, all, cried I,
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: moving away into a corner of the carriage. What did
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: you call me up for? Nobody answered. The student stood
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: gazing out at the mute spreading glow, and the back
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: of his head, with its curly hair, was youthful. And
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: when I looked at him, I do not know why,
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: but I kept picturing to myself a delicate woman's hand
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: passing through that hair. And this image was so unpleasant
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: that a feeling of hatred sprang up in my breath,
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: and I could not look at him without a feeling
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: of loathing. How old are you, I asked, But he
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: did not turn his head and did not answer. The
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: doctor kept on rocking himself. I feel cold when I think,
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: said the student, without turning around. When I think that
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: there are streets, houses a university. He broke off as
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: if he had said all, and was silent. Suddenly, the
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: train stopped almost instantaneously, making me knock myself against the wall,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: and voices were to be heard. We jumped out in
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: front of the very engine. Upon the rails lay something,
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: a not very large lump, out of which a leg
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: was projecting. Wounded, no dead, The head is torn off.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: Say what you will, but I will light the headlight,
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: otherwise we shall be crushing somebody. The lump with the
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: protruding leg was thrown aside. For an instant, the leg
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: lifted itself up as if it wanted to run through
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: the air, and all disappeared in a black ditch. The
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: head light was lit, and the engine instantly grew black.
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: Listen whispered somebody full of silent terror. How was it
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: that we had not heard it before? From everywhere the
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: exact place could not be defined. A groan, unbroken and scraping,
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: wonderfully calm in its breath, and even indifferent, as it seemed,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: was borne upon us. We had heard many cries and groans,
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: but this resembled none of those heard before. On the dim,
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: reddish surface, our eyes could perceive nothing, and therefore the
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: very earth and sky, lit up by a never rising sun,
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: seemed to be groaning. The fifth verst said the engine
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: driver voters where it comes from, and the doctor pointed forwards.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: The student shuddered and slowly turned towards us. What is it?
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: It's terrible to listen to. Let's move on. We walked
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: along in front of the engine, throwing a dense shadow
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: upon the rails, But it was not black, but of
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: a dim red color, lit up by the soft, motionless
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: flares that stood out mutely at the different points of
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: the black sky. And with each step we made, that wild,
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: unearthly groan that had no visible source, grew ominously, as
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: if it was the red air, the very earth and
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: sky that were groaning. In its ceaselessness and strange indifference,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: it recalled at times the noise of grasshoppers and a meadow,
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: the ceaseless noise of grasshoppers and a meadow on a
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: warm summer day. And we came upon dead bodies, oftener
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: and oftener. We examined them rapidly and threw them off
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: the rails, those indifferent, calm limp bodies that left dark,
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: oily stains where the blood had soaked into the earth
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: where they had lain. At first we counted them, but
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: soon got muddled and ceased. They were many too many
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: for that ominous night that breathed cold and groans from
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: each fiber of its being. What does it mean? Cried
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: the doctor and threatened somebody with his fist. Just listen.
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: We were nearing the sixth first, and the groans were
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: growing distinct and sharp, and we could almost feel the
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: distorted mouths from which those terrible sounds were issuing. We
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: looked anxiously into the rosy gloom, so deceitful in its
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: fantastic light, when suddenly, almost at our feet beside the rails,
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: somebody gave a loud, calling, crying groan. We found him instantly,
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: that wounded man, whose face seemed to consist only of
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: two eyes, so big they appeared when the light of
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: the lantern and fell on his face. He stopped groaning
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: and rested his eyes on each of us in our
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: lanterns in turn. And in his glance there was a
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: mad joy at seeing men in lights, and a mad
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: fear that all would disappear like a vision. Perhaps he
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: had seen men with lanterns bending over him many times,
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: but they had always disappeared. In a bloody, confused nightmare.
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: We moved on, and almost instantly stumbled against two more wounded,
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: one lying on the rails, the other groaning in a ditch.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: As we were picking them up, the doctor, trembling with anger,
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: said to me well, and turned away. Several steps farther
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: on we met a man wounded slightly who was walking alone,
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: supporting one arm with the other. He was walking with
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: his head thrown back straight towards us, but seemed not
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: to notice us. When we drew aside to let him pass.
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: I believe he did not see us. He stopped for
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: an instant near the engine, turned aside, and went past
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: the train. You had better get in, cried the doctor,
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: but he did not answer. These were the first that
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: we found, and they horrified us. But later on we
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: came upon them oftener and oftener, along the rails, or
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: near them, and the whole field lit up by the
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: motionless red flare of the conflagrations, began stirring as if
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: it were alive, breaking out into loud cries, wails, curses,
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: and groans. All those dark mounds stirred and crawled about
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: like half dead lobsters led out of a basket with
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: outspread legs, scarcely resembling men in their broken, unconscious movements
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: and ponderous immobility. Some were mute and obedient. Others groaned, wailed, swore,
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: and showed such a passionate hate towards us that we
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: were saving them, as if we had brought about that
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: bloodily indifferent night and had been the cause of all
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: those terrible wounds and their loneliness. Amidst the night and
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: dead bodies, the train was full, and our clothes were
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: saturated with blood, as if we had stood for a
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: long time under a rain of blood. While the wounded
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: were still being brought in, and the field come to
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: life was stirring wildly as before. Some of the wounded
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: crawled up themselves, some walked up, tottering and falling. One
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: soldier almost ran up to us. His face was smashed
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: and only one eye remained, burning wildly and terribly, and
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: he was almost naked, as if he had come from
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: the bath room. Pushing me aside, he caught sight of
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: the doctor and rapidly seized him by the chest with
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: his left hand. I'll smash your snout, he cried, shaking
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: the doctor, and added, slowly and mordantly, in a coarse oath,
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: oh slash our snouts. You rabble. The doctor broke away
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: from the soldier, and, advancing towards him, cried chokingly, I
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: will have you court martialed, you scoundrel, to prison with you.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: You're hindering my work, scoundrel, brute. We pulled them apart,
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: but the soldier kept on crying out for a long time, rabble,
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: how smash your snout? I was beginning to get exhausted
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: and went a little way off to have a smoke
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: and rest a bit. The blood dried to my hands
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: covered them like a pair of black gloves, making it
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: difficult for me to bend my fingers, so that I
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: kept dropping my cigarettes and matches. And when I succeeded
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: in lighting my cigarette, the tobacco smoke struck me as
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: novel and strange, with quite a peculiar taste, the like
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: of which I never experienced before or after. Just then,
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: the ambulance student with whom I had traveled came up
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: to me, and it seemed to me as if I
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: had met with him several years back, but where I
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: could not remember. His tread was firm, as if he
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: were marching, and he was staring through me at something
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: farther on and higher up and they are sleeping, said he,
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: as it seemed quite calmly. I flew into a rage,
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: as if the reproach was addressed to me. You forget
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: that they fought like lions for ten days, and they
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: are sleeping, he repeated, looking through me and higher up.
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: Then he stooped down to me, and shaking his finger,
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: continued in the same dry and calm way, I will
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: tell you, I will tell you what. He stooped, still
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: lower towards me, shaking his finger meaningly, and kept repeating
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: the words as if they expressed a completed idea. AY
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: will tell you, I will tell you tell them, And
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: still looking at me in the same severe way, he
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: shook his finger once more, then took out his revolver
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: and shot himself in the temple. And this did not
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: surprise or terrify me in the least. Putting my cigarette
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: into the left hand, I felt his wound with my
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: fingers and went back to the train. The student has
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: shot himself. I believe he is still alive, said I
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: to the doctor. The latter caught hold of his head
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: and groaned, damn him, there is no room there tho
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: one will go and shoot himself too soon. And I
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: give you my word of honor, cried he angrily and menacingly.
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: I will do the same, Yes, and let me beg you.
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: Just walk back. There is no room. You can lodge
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: a complaint against me if you like. And he turned away,
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: still shouting, while I went up to the other who
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: was about to commit suicide. He was an ambulance man,
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: and also I believe a student. He stood pressing his
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: forehead against the wall of the carriage, and his shoulders
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: shook with sobs. Stop, said I, touching his quivering shoulder.
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: But he did not turn round or answer, and continued crying.
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: And the back of his head was youthful like the
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: other students, and is terrifying. And he stood in an
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: absurd manner, with his legs spread out like a person
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: drunk who was sick, and his neck was covered with blood.
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: Probably he had clutched it with his own hands. Well,
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: said I impatiently. He pushed himself away from the carriage, and,
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: stooping like an old man with his head bent down,
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: he went away into the darkness, away from all of us.
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: I do not know why, but I followed him, and
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: we walked along for a long time, away from the carriages.
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: I believe he was crying, and a feeling of distress
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: stole over me, and I wanted to cry too. Stop.
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: I cried, standing still, but he walked on, moving his
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: feet ponderously, bent down, looking like an old man with
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: his narrow shoulders and shuffling gait. And soon he disappeared
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: in the reddish haze that resembled light and yet lit nothing.
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: And I remained alone. To the left of me, a
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: row of dim lights floated past. It was the train.
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: I was alone amidst the dead and dying. How many
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: more remained near me? All was still and dead, But
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: farther on the field was stirring as if it were alive,
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: or so it seemed to me in my loneliness. But
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: the moan did not grow less. It spread along the earth, high, pitched, hopeless,
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: like the cry of a child, or the yelping of
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: thousands of castaway puppies, starving and cold, like a sharp
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: endless icy needle had pierced your brain and slowly moved
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards. End of section three,
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: Section four of The Red Laugh by Leonid Andreev. This
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by Ben Tucker,
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: Part one, Fragments six and seven Fragment six. They were
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: our own men. During the strange confusion of all movements
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: that reigned in both armies, our own and the enemies
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: during the last month, frustrating all orders and plans, we
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: were sure it was the enemy that was approaching us,
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: namely the Fourth Corps, and everything was ready for an attack,
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: when somebody clearly discerned our uniforms, and ten minutes later
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: our guests had become a calm and happy certainty they
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: were our own men. They apparently had recognized us too.
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: They advanced quite calmly, and that calm motion seemed to
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: express the same happy smile of an unexpected meeting. And
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: when they began firing, we did not understand for some
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: time what it meant, and still continued smiling under a
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: hail of shrapnel and bullets that poured down upon us,
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: snatching away at one stroke hundreds of men. Somebody cried
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: out by mistake, and I clearly remember we all saw
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: that it was the enemy, that it was his uniform
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: and not ours, and instantly answered the fire. About fifteen
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: minutes after the beginning of that strange engagement. Both my
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: legs were torn off, and I recovered consciousness in the hospital.
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: After the amputation, I asked how the battle had ended,
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: and received an evasive, reassuring answer by which I could
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: understand that we had been beaten and afterwards, legless as
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: I was, I was overcome by joy at the thought
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: that now I would be sent home, that I was alive,
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: alive for a long time, to come alive forever. And
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: only a week later I learned some particulars that once
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: more filled me with doubts and a new, unexperienced feeling
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: of terror. Yes, I believed they were our own men
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: after all. And it was with one of our shells
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: fired out of one of our guns by one of
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: our men, that my legs had been torn off, and
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: nobody could explain how it had happened. Something occurred, something
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: darkened our vision, and two regiments belonging to the same army,
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: facing each other at a distance of one verst had
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: been destroying each other for a whole hour, in the
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: full conviction that it was the enemy they had before them.
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: Later on, the incident was remembered and spoken of reluctantly
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: in half words, And what is most surprising of all,
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: one could feel that many of the speakers did not
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: admit the mistake even then. That is to say, they
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: admitted it, but thought that it had occurred later on,
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: that in the beginning they really had the enemy before them,
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: but that he disappeared somewhere during the general fray, leaving
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: us in the range of our own shells. Some spoke
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: of it openly, giving precise explanations which seemed to them
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: plausible and clear. Up to this very minute, I cannot
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: say for certain how the strange blunder began. His eyes
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: saw with equal clearness, first our red uniforms, and then
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: their orange colored ones. And somehow, very soon everybody forgot
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: about the incident, forgot about it to such an extent
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: that it was spoken of as a real battle, And
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: in that sense, many accounts were written and sent to
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: the papers, and all good faith I read them when
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: I was back home. At first, the public's attitude towards us,
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: the wounded in that engagement was rather strange. We seemed
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: to be less pitied than those wounded in other battles.
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: But soon even that disappeared too, and only new facts
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: similar to the one just described in a case in
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: the enemy's army, when two detachments actually destroyed each other
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: almost entirely, having come to a hand to hand fight
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: during the night, gives me the right to think that
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: a mistake did occur. Our doctor, the one that did
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: the amputation, a lean, bony old man, tainted with tobacco
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: smoke and carbolic acid, everlastingly smiled at something through his
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: yellowish gray, thin mustache, said to me, winking his eye,
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: you're in luck to be going home. There's something wrong here?
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: What is it? Some things going wrong? In our time?
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: It was simpler. He had taken part in the last
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: European War, almost a quarter of his century back, and
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: often referred to it with pleasure. But this war he
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: did not understand, and as I noticed, feared it. Yes,
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: there's something wrong, sighed he and frowned, disappearing in a
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: cloud of tobacco smoke. I would leave two if I could,
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: And bending over me, he whispered through his yellow smoked mustache,
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: A time will come when nobody will be able to
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: go away from here. Yes, neither I nor anybody. And
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: in his old eyes so close to me, I saw
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: the same fixed, dull, stricken expression, and something terrible, unbearable
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: resembling the fall of thousands of buildings darted through my head,
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: and growing cold from terror, I whispered the red laugh,
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: and he was the first to understand me. He hastily
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: nodded his head and repeated, yes, the red laugh. He
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: sat down quite close to me, and looking round, began
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: whispering rapidly in a senile way, wagging his sharp, gray
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: little beard. You are leaving, sued and I will tell you.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: Did you ever see a fight in an asylum? No? Well,
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: I saw one, and they fought like sane people. You understand,
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: like sane people. He significantly repeated the last phrase several times. Well,
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: and what of that, asked I also, in a whisper
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: full of terror. Nothing like sane people, the red laugh
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: said I. They were separated by water being poured over them.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: I remembered the rain that had frightened us so and
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: got angry. You are mad, doctor, Not more than you,
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: Not more than you in any case. He hugged his
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: sharp old knees and chuckled, and looking at me over
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: his shoulder, and still with the echo of that unexpected,
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: painful laugh on his parched lips, he winked at me slyly,
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: several times, as if we too knew something very funny
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: that nobody else knew. Then, with the solemnity of a
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: professor of black magic, giving a conjuring performance, he lifted
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: his arm and, lowering it slowly, carefully, touched with two
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: fingers that part of the blanket under which my legs
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: would have been if they had not been cut off.
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: And do you understand this? He asked mysteriously. Then, in
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: the same solemn and significant manner, he waved his hand
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: towards the row of beds on which the wounded were lying,
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: and repeated, and can you explain this the wounded, said
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: I the wounded, the wounded repeated he like an echo,
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: the wounded, legless and armless, with pierced sides, smashed in
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: chests and torn out eyes. You understand it? I am
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: very glad, so I suppose you will understand this. Also.
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: With an agility quite unexpected for his age, he flung
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: himself down and stood on his hands, balancing his legs
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: in the air, his white working clothes turned down, his
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: face grew purple, and, looking at me fixedly with a strange,
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: upturned gaze, he threw at me with difficulty, a few
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: broken words. And this do you also understand? Stop, whispered
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: I in terror, or else I will cry out. He
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: turned over in a natural position, sat down again near
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: my bed, and, taking breath, remarked instinctively, nobody can understand it.
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: Yesterday they were firing again. Yes, they were firing yesterday
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: and the day before, said he, nodding his head affirmatively.
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: I want to go home, said I, in distress. Doctor,
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: dear fellow, I want to go home. I cannot remain
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: here any longer. At times I cannot bring myself to
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: believe that I have a home where it is so good.
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: He was thinking of something and did not answer, and
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: I began to cry. My god, I have no legs.
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: I used to love my bicycle so to walk and run,
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: and now I have no legs. I used to dance
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: my boy on the right foot, and he laughed. And
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: now curse you all. What shall I go home for?
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: I am only thirty. Curse you all. And I sobbed
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: and sobbed as I thought, my dear legs, my fleet
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: strong legs. Who took them away from me? Who dared
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: take them away? Listen, said the doctor, looking aside yesterday
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: I saw a mad soldier that came to us, an
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: enemy's soldier. He was stripped, almost naked, beaten and scratched,
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: and hungry as an animal. His hair was unkempt as
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: ours is, and he resembled a savage, primitive man or monkey.
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: He waved his arms about, made grimaces, saying and shouted,
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: and wanted to fight. He was fed and driven out
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: again into the open country. Where could we have kept him?
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: Days and nights they wandered about the hills, backwards and
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: forwards in all directions, keeping to no path, having no
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: aim or resting place, all in tatters, like ominous phantoms.
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: They waved their arms, laugh, shout, and sing, and when
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: they come across anybody they begin to fight. Or maybe
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: without noticing each other pass by, what do they eat nothing?
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: Or maybe they feed on the dead bodies. Together with
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: the beasts, Together were those fat wild dogs that fight
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: in the hills and yelp the whole night long. At
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: night they gather about the fires like monstrous moths or
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: birds awakened by a storm. And you need only light
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: a fire to have in less than half an hour
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: a dozen noisy, tattered wild shapes resembling chilled monkeys gathering
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: around it. Sometimes they are fired up by mistake, sometimes
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: on purpose, for they make you lose all patience with
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: their unintelligible, terrifying cries. I want to go home, cried,
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: I shutting my ears, but new terrible words, sounding hollow
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: and phantom like, as if they were passing through a
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: layer of wadding, kept hammering at my brain. They are many.
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: They die by hundreds in the precipices and pitfalls. They
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: are made for sound and clever men and the remnants
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: of the barbed wire, and on the stakes. They take
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: part in the regular battles and fight like heroes, always
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: in the foremost ranks, always undaunted, but often turn against
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: their own men. I like them. At present, I am
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: only beginning to go mad, and that's why I am
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: sitting and talking to you. But when my senses leave
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: me entirely, I will go out into the open country.
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: I will go out into the open country, and I
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: will give a call. I will give a call. I
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: will gather those brave ones, those knights errant around me,
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: and declare war to the whole world. I will enter
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: the towns and villages in a joyous crowd with music
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: and songs, leaving in our wake a trail of red,
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: in which everything will whirl and dance like fire. Those
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: that remain alive will join us, and our brave army
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: will grow like an avalanche and will cleanse the whole world.
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: Who said that one must not kill burn or rob?
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: He was shouting now, that mad doctor, and seemed to
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: have awakened by his cries the slum pain of all
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: those around him, with their ripped open chests and sides,
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: torn out eyes, and cut off legs. The ward filled
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: with a broad, rasping, crying groan, and from all sides
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: pale yellow, exhausted faces, some eyeless, some so monstrously mutilated
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: that it seemed as if they had returned from hell,
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: turned towards us, and they groaned and listened, and a black,
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: shapeless shadow risen up from the earth, peeped in cautiously
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: through the open door, while the mad doctor went on shouting,
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: stretching out his arms. Who said one must not kill
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: burn a rob, We will kill and burn and rob.
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: We a joyless, careless band of braves. We will destroy
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: all their buildings, universities and museums, and Mary's children full
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: of fiery laughter. We will dance on the ruins. I
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: will proclaim the madhouse, our fatherland, all those that have
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: not gone mad, our, enemies and madmen. And when I Great,
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: unconquerable and joyous, will begin to reign over the whole
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: world It's soul, Lord and master, what a glad laugh
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: will ring over the whole universe, The Red Laugh, cried I,
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: interrupting him. Help again, I hear the red laugh, Friends,
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: continued the doctor, addressing himself to the groaning, mutilated shadows. Friends,
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: we shall have a red moon and a red sun,
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: and the animals will have a merry red coat, and
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: we will skin all those that are too white. That
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: are too white, You have not tasted blood. It is
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: slightly sticky and slightly warm, but it is red and
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: has such a red merry laugh. Fragment seven. It was
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: godless and unlawful. The red Cross is respected by the
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: whole world as a thing sacred. And they saw that
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: it was a train full of harmless wounded and not soldiers.
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: And they ought to have warned us of the mine.
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: The poor fellows they were dreaming of home. End of
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: Section four, Section five of The Red Laugh byle d Andreav.
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: Ben Tucker. Part one, Fragments eight and nine. Fragment eight
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: around a samovar, Around a rial samovar, out of which
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: the steam was rising as out of an engine. The
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: glass on the lamp had even grown dim, there was
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: so much steam. And the cups were the same blue
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: out side and white inside, Very pretty little cups. A
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: wedding present. My wife's sister gave them. She is a
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: very kind and good woman. Is it possible they are
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: all whole? Asked I, incredulously, mixing the sugar in my
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: glass with a clean silver spoon. One was broken, said
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: my wife absently. She was holding the tap open just then,
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: and the water was running out easily and prettily. I laughed.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: What's it about, asked my brother. Oh nothing, will me
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: into the study just once more. You may as well
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: trouble yourself for the sake of a hero. You idled
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: away your time while I was away. But now that
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: is over, I'll bring you to order. And I began
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: singing as a joke. Of course, my friends were bravely
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: hurrying towards the foe. They understood the joke and smiled.
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: Only my wife did not lift up her face. She
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: was wiping the cups the clean embroidered cloth. And in
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: the study I saw once again the light blue wallpaper,
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: a lamp with a green shade, and a table with
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: a water bottle upon it, and it was a little dusty.
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: Pour me some water out of this, ordered I merrily.
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: But you've just had tea. That doesn't matter. Pour me
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: out some and you, said I to my wife, take
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: our son and go into the next room for a minute, please,
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: And I drank the water with delight and small SIPs
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: while my wife and son were in the next room,
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: and I could not see them. That's all right, now,
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: come here. But why is he not in bed? By
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: this time? He is so glad you've come home, darling.
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: Go to your father. But the child began to cry
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: and hid himself at his mother's feet. Why is he crying,
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: asked I in perplexity, and looked around. Why are you
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: all so pale and silent, following me like shadows. My
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: brother burst into a loud laugh and said, we are
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: not silent, and my sister said, we are talking the
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: whole time. I will go and see about the supper,
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: said my mother, and hurriedly left the room. Yes you
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: are silent, I repeated with sudden conviction. Since morning I
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: have not heard a word from you. I am the
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: only one who chats, laughs and makes merry. Are you
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: not glad to see me? Then? And why do you
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: all avoid looking at me? Have I changed? So? Yes?
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: I am changed? But I do not see any looking
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: glasses about. Have you put them all away? Give me
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: a looking glass. I will bring you one directly, answered
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: my wife, and did not come back for a long time,
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: and the looking glass was brought by the maid. I
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: looked into it, and I had seen myself before in
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: the train at the station. It was the same face,
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: grown older a little, but the most ordinary face. While they,
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: I believe, expected me to cry out and faint, so
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: glad were they when I asked, calmly, what is there
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: so unusual in me? Laughing louder and louder. My sister
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: left the room hurriedly, and my brother said, with calm assurance, Yes,
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: you've not changed much, only grown slightly bald. You can
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: be thankful that my head is not broken, answered I unconcernedly.
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: But where do they all disappear? First one, then another,
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: wheel me about the rooms. Please, What a comfortable arm chair?
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: It does not make the slightest sound. How much did
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: it cost you? Bet? I won't spare the money. I
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: will buy myself such a pair of legs. Better my bicycle,
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: it was hanging on the wall, quite new. Only the
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: tires were limped for want of pumping. A tiny bit
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: of mud had dried to the tire of the back
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: wheel the last time I had ridden it. My brother
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: was silent and did not move my chair, and I
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: understood his silence and irresoluteness. Only four officers remained alive
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: in our regiment, said I, surlily, I am very lucky.
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: You can take it for yourself. Take it away tomorrow,
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: all right, I will take it, agreed my brother submissively. Yes,
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: you are lucky. Half of the town is in morning
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: while legs. That is really of course, I am not
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: a postman. My brother stopped suddenly and asked, but why
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: does your head shake? That's nothing, The doctor said, it
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: will pass, and your hands too, yes, yes, and my
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: hands too. It will all pass. Will meet on, please,
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: I'm tired of remaining. Still they upset me, Those discontented
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: people but my gladness returned to me when they began
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: making my bed, a real bed, a handsome bed that
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: I had bought just before our wedding four years ago.
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: They spread a clean sheet, then they shook the pillows
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: and turned down the blanket. While I watched the solemn proceedings,
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: my eyes, full of tears, were laughing. And now undress
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: me and put me to bed, said I to my wife,
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: how good it is this minute? Quicker, this minute, dear?
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: Why what are you doing this minute? Dear? She was
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: standing behind my back, near the toilet table, and I
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: vainly tried to turn my head so as to see her,
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: And suddenly she gave a cry, such a cry as
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: one hears only at the war. What does it all mean?
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: She rushed towards me, put her arms round me, and
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: fell down, hiding her head near the stumps of my
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: cut off legs, from which she turned away with horror,
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: and again pressed herself against them, kissing them and crying,
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: what have you become? Why you were only thirty years old,
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: You were young and handsome? What does it all mean?
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: How cruel men are? What is it for? For whom
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: is it necessary? You? My gentle poor darling, darling at
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: her cry. They all ran up, my mother, sister, nurse,
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: and they all began crying and saying something or other,
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: and fell at my feet wailing. While on the threshold
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: stood my brother, pale, terribly pale, with a trim jaw,
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: and cried out in a high pitched voice, I shall
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: go mad with you all, I shall go mad. While
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: my mother groveled at my chair and had not the
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: strength to cry, but only gasped, beating her head against
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: the wheels. And there stood the clean bed with the
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: well shaken pillows, and turned down blanket, the same bed
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: that I bought just before our wedding four years ago.
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: Fragment nine. I was sitting in a warm bath, while
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: my brother was pacing up and down the small room
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: in a troubled manner, sitting down, getting up again, catching
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: hold of the soap and towel, bringing them close up
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: to his short sighted eyes, and again putting them back
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: in their places. At last he stood up, with his
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: face to the wall, and picking at the plaster with
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: his finger, continued hotly, judge for yourself. One cannot teach
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: people mercy sense logic, teach them to act consciously for
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: tins and hundreds of years running with impunity, and in
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: particular to act consciously, one can become merciless, lose all sensitiveness,
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: get accustomed to blood and tears and pain, for instance,
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: butchers and some doctors and officers do. But how can
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: one renounce truth after one has learnt to know it?
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: In my opinion, it is impossible. I was taught from
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: infancy not to torture animals and be compassionate. All the
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: books that I read told me the same, and I
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: am painfully sorry for all those that suffer at your
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: cursed war. But time passes, and I am beginning to
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: get accustomed to all those deaths, sufferings, and all this blood.
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: I feel that I am getting less sensitive, less responsive
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: in my everyday life, and respond only to great stimulants.
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: But I cannot get accustomed to war. My brain refuses
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: to understand and explain a thing that is senseless and
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: basis millions of people gather at one place, and, giving
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: their actions order and regularity, kill each other, and it
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: hurt everybody equally, and all are unhappy. What is it
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: if not madness? My brother turned round and looked at
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: me inquiringly with his short sighted, artless eyes, the red laugh,
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: said I, merrily splashing about, I will tell you the truth.
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: And my brother put his cold hand trustingly on my shoulder,
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: but quickly pulled it back, as if he was frightened
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: at its being naked and wet. I will tell you
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: the truth. I am very much afraid of going mad.
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: I cannot understand what is happening. I cannot understand it,
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: and it is dreadful. If only anybody could explain it
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: to me, But nobody can. You were at the front,
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: you saw it all. Explain it to me, deuce take you,
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: answered I, jokingly splashing about there, And you too, said
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: my brother sadly. Nobody is capable of helping me. It's dreadful.
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: And I am beginning to lose all understanding of what
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: is permissible and what is not, what has sense and
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: what is senseless. If I were to seize you suddenly
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: by the throat, at first gently as if caressing you,
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: and then firmly and strangle you, what would that be?
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: He were talking nonsense. Nobody does such things. My brother
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: rubbed his cold hands, smiled softly, and continued, when you
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: were away, there were nights when I did not sleep,
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: could not sleep, and strange ideas entered my head to
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: take a hatchet, for instance, and go and kill everybody, mother, sister,
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: the servants, our dog. Of course, they were only fancies,
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: and I would never do so. I should hope not smiled,
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: I splashing about. Then again, I am afraid of knives,
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: of all that is sharp and shining. It seems to
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: me that if I were to take up a knife,
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: I should certainly kill somebody with it. Now, is it
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: not true? Why should I not plunge it into somebody?
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: If it were sharp enough? The argument is sufficient. What
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: a queer fellow you are, brother, Just open the hot
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: water tap. My brother opened the tap, let in some
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: hot water and continued. Then again, I'm afraid of crowds
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: of men, where many of them gather together. When of
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: an evening I hear a noise in the street, a
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: loud shout, for instance, I start and believe that a
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: massacre has begun. When several men stand together and I
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: cannot hear what they are talking about, it seems to
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: me that they will suddenly cry out, fall upon each other,
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: blood will flow. And you know, he bent mysteriously towards
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: my ear. The papers are full of murders, strange murders.
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: It is all nonsense that there are as many brains
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: as there are men. Mankind has only one intellect, and
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: it is beginning to get muddled. Just feel my head
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: how hot it is. It is on fire, and sometimes
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: it gets cold, and everything in it grows benumbed and
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: changes into a terrible, deadlike piece of ice. I must
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: go mad. Don't laugh, brother, I must go mad. A
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: quarter of an hour has passed. It's time for you
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: to get out of your bath. A little bit more,
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: just a minute. It was so good to be sitting
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: again in that bath and listening to the well known voice,
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: without reflecting upon the words, and to see all the familiar,
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 1: simple and ordinary things around me, the brass slightly green, tap,
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: the walls with the familiar pattern, and all the photographic
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: outfit laid out in order upon the shelves. I would
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: take up photography again, take simple, peaceful landscapes and portraits
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: of my son walking, laughing and playing. One could do
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: that without legs. And I would take up my writing again,
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: about clever books, the progress of human thought, beauty and peace,
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: Oh roared eyes, splashing about what is the matter with
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: you asked, my brother, growing pale and full of fear nothing.
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: I am glad to be home. He smiled at me,
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: as one smiles at a child, or on one younger
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: than one's self, although I was three years older than
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: he and grew thoughtful like a grown up person, or
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 1: an old man who has great burdensome old thoughts. Where
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: can one fly to, he asked, shrugging his shoulders. Every day,
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: at about the same hour, the papers closed the circuit,
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: and all mankind gets a shock. This simultaneousness of feelings, tears, thoughts, sufferings,
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: and horror deprives me of all stay. And I am
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: like a chip of wood tossing about on the waves,
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: or bit of dust in a whirlwind. I am forcibly
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: torn away from all that is habitual. There's one terrible
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 1: moment every morning when I seem to hang in the
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: air over the black abyss of insanity, and I shall
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: fall into it. I must fall into it. You don't know,
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: all brother. You don't read the papers, and much as
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: held back from you, you don't I know, awe brother.
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: I took all his words for rather a gloomy joke.
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: The usual attitude towards all those who being touched by
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: insanity have an inkling of the insanity of war, and
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: gave us a warning. I considered it as a joke,
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: as if I had forgotten for the moment while I
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: was splashing about in the hot water all that I
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: had seen over there. Well, let them hold things back
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: from me, but I must get out of the bath anyway,
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: said I lightly. And my brother smiled and called my man,
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 1: and together they lifted me out of my bath and
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: trusted me. Afterwards, I had some fragrant tea, which I
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: drank out of my cut glass tumbler, and said to
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: myself that life was worth living, even without a pair
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: of legs. And then they wheeled me into the study,
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: up to my table, and I prepared for work. Before
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: the war, I was on the staff of a journal
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: reviewing foreign literature, and now disposed within my reach lay
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: a heap of those dear sweet books and yellow, blue, blue,
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: and brown covers. My joy was so great, my delight
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: so profound, that I could not make up my mind
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: to begin reading them, and I merely fingered the books,
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: passing my hand caressingly over them. I felt a smile
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: spread over my face. Most probably a very silly smile,
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: but I could not keep it back as I contemplated
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: admiringly the type, the vignettes, the severe beautiful simplicity of
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: the drawings. How much thought and sense of beauty there
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: was in them all, How many people had to work
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: in search, how much talent and taste were needed to
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: bring forth that letter, for instance, so simple and elegant,
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: so clever, harmonious and eloquent in its interlaced lines. And
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: now I must set to work, said I, seriously, full
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: of respect for work, And I took up my pen
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: to write the heading, and like a frog tied to
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 1: a string, my hand began plunging about the paper. The
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: pen stuck into the paper, scratched it, jerked about, slipped
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: irresistibly aside, and brought forth hideous lines, broken, crooked, devoid
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: of all sense. And I did not cry out or move.
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 1: I grew cold and still as the approaching terrible truth
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: dawned upon me, while my hand danced over the brightly
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: illuminated paper, and each finger shook in such hopeless, living,
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 1: insane horror, as if they those fingers were still at
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: the front, and saw the conflagrations and blood, and heard
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 1: the groans and cries of indescribable pain. They had detached
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: themselves from me. Those madly quivering fingers, they were alive.
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: They had become ears and eyes, and growing cold from horror,
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: without the strength to move or cry out. I watched
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: their wild dance over the clean, bright white page, and
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: all was quiet. They thought I was working, and had
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: shut all the doors so as not to interrupt me
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: by any sound. And I was alone in the room,
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: deprived of the power of moving, obediently watching my shaking hands.
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: It is nothing, said I aloud, and in the stillness
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: and loneliness of the study, my voice sounded hollow and nasty,
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: like the voice of a madman. It is nothing. I
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: will dictate why Milton was blind when he wrote his
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: Paradise regained. I can think, and that is the chief thing.
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: In fact, it is all. And I began inventing a long,
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: clever phrase about the blind Milton. But the words got confused,
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: fell away as out of a rotten printing frame. And
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: when I came to the end of the phrase, I
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: had forgotten the beginning, and I tried to remember what
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: made me begin and why I was inventing that strange
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: senseless phrase about Milton, and could not Paradise regained. Paradise regained,
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 1: I repeated, and could not understand what it meant. I
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: saw that I often forgot very many things, that I
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: had become strangely absent minded and confused, familiar faces, that
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: I forgot words even in a simple conversation, and sometimes
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: remembering a word, I could not understand its meaning. And
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: I clearly pictured to myself my daily existence, a strange
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: short day, cut off like my legs, with empty mysterious spaces,
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 1: long hours of unconsciousness or apathy, about which I could
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: remember nothing. I wanted to call my wife, but could
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: not remember her name, and this did not surprise or
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: frighten me. Softly I whispered, wife, The incoherent, unusual word
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: sounded softly and died away without bringing any response, and
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: all was quiet. They were afraid of disturbing me at
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: my work by any careless and all was quiet. A
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: perfect study for a savant, cozy, quiet, disposing one to
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: meditation and creative energy. Dear ones, how solicitous they are
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: of me, I thought tenderly. An inspiration, sacred inspiration came
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: to me. The sun burst forth in my head and
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 1: its burning creative rays darted over the whole world, dropping
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: flowers and songs, flowers and songs. And I rode on
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: through the whole night, feeling no exhaustion, but soaring freely
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: on the wings of mighty sacred inspiration. I was writing
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 1: something great, something immortal. Flowers and songs. Flowers and songs.
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: End of section five, Section six of The Red Laugh
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: by Leonid Andrea. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: Read by Ben Tucker, Part two, Fragments ten through twelve,
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: Fragment ten. Happily. He died last week on Friday. I say,
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 1: happily and repeat that my brother's death was a great
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: blessing to him. A cripple with no legs, palsied with
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: a smitten soul, he was terrible and piteous to his
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: senseless creative ecstasy. Ever since that night, he wrote for
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: two months without leaving his chair, refusing all food we've
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: been and scolding whenever we wheeled him away from his table,
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: even for a short time. He moved his dry pin
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: over the paper with wonderful rapidity, throwing a side page
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: after page, and kept on writing and writing. Sleep deserted
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 1: him and only twice did we succeed in putting him
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 1: to bed for a few hours thanks to a strong narcotic.
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: But later even a narcotic was powerless to conquer his
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: senseless creative ecstasy. At his order, the curtains were kept
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: drawn over all the windows the whole day long, and
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: the lamp was allowed to burn, giving the illusion of night,
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: while he rode on, smoking one cigarette after another. Apparently
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: he was happy, And I never happened to meet any
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 1: healthy person with such an inspired face, the face of
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: a prophet or of a great poet. He became extremely emaciated,
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: with the waxen transparency of a corpse or of an ascetic,
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: and his hair grew quite gray. He began his senseless
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: work a comparatively young man, but finished it an old one.
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: Sometimes he hurried on his work, writing more than usual,
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: and his pen would stick into the pages and break,
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: but he never noticed it. At such times one durst
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: not touch him, for at the slightest contact he was
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: overtaken by fits of tears and laughter. But sometimes, very
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: rarely he rested blissfully from his work and talked to
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: me affably, each time asking the same questions, who was
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: I what was my name? And since when had I
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: taken up literature? And then he would condescendingly tell, always
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: using the same words, what an absurd fright he had
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: had at the thought that he had lost his memory
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: and was incapable of work, And how splendidly he had
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: refuted the insane supposition there and then by beginning his
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: great immortal work about the flowers and songs. Of course,
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: I do not count upon being recognized by my contemporaries,
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: he would say, proudly and unassumingly, at the same time,
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: putting his trembling hand on the heap of empty sheets.
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: But the future, the future will understand my idea. He
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 1: never once remembered the war, or his wife and son.
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 1: The mirage of his endless work engrossed his attention so
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: undividedly that it is doubtful whether he was conscious of
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: anything else. One could walk and talk in his presence.
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: He noticed nothing, and not for an instant did his
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: face lose its expression of terrible tension and inspiration. And
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: the stillness of the night, when everybody was asleep and
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: he alone wove untiringly the endless threat of insanity. He
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: seemed terrible and only his mother, and I ventured to
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 1: approach him once. I tried to give him a pencil
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: instead of his dry pin, thinking that perhaps he really
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 1: wrote something. But on the paper there remained only hideous lines,
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: broken crooked, devoid of any sense, and he died in
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 1: the night at his work. I knew my brother well,
• 1:33:47
  Speaker 1: and his insanity did not come as a surprise to me.
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: The passionate dream of work that filled all his letters
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 1: from the war and was the stay of his life
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: after his return, had come into inevitable collision with the
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: impotence of his exhausted, tortured brain and bring about the catastrophe.
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: And I believe I have succeeded in reconstructing with sufficient
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: accuracy the successive feelings that brought him to the end
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: during that fatal night. Generally speaking, all that I have
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: written down concerning the war is founded upon the words
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 1: of my dead brother, often very confused and incoherent. Only
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 1: a few separate episodes were burst into his brain so
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: deeply and indelibly that I could cite the very word
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: that he used in telling me them. I loved him,
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: and his death weighs upon me like a stone, oppressing
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: my brain by its senselessness. It is added one more
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: loop to the incomprehensible that envelops my head like a
• 1:34:50
  Speaker 1: web and is drawn at tight. The whole family is
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: left for the country on a visit to some relatives,
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: and I am alone in the house, the house that
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: my brother loved. So the servants have been paid off,
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 1: and only the porter from the next door comes every
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: morning to light the fires, while the rest of the
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: time I am alone and resemble a fly caught between
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: two window frames footnote. In Russia the windows have double
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 1: panes during the winter, for the purpose of keeping out
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: the cold. Into footnote. Plunging about and knocking myself against
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: a transparent but insurmountable obstacle, and I feel, I know
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: that I shall never leave the house. Now when I
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: am alone, the war possesses me wholly and stands before
• 1:35:41
  Speaker 1: me like an inscrutable mystery, like a terrible spirit to
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: which I can give no form. I give it all
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 1: sorts of shapes, of a headless skeleton on horseback, of
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: a shapeless shadow borne in a black thundercloud mutely enveloping
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: the earth, But not one of them can give me
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: an answer and extinguish the cold, constant, blunt horror that
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: possesses me. I do not understand war, and I must
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: go mad like my brother, like the hundreds of men
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: that are sent back from there. And this does not
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: terrify me. The loss of reason seems to me honorable,
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: like the death of a century at his post. But
• 1:36:24
  Speaker 1: the expectancy, the slow and infallible approach of madness, the
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: instantaneous feeling of something enormous falling into an abyss, the
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: unbearable pain of tortured thought. My heart has grown benumbed.
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 1: It is dead, and there is no new life for it.
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: But thought is still alive, still struggling, once mighty as Samson,
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: but now helpless and weak as a child. And I
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: am sorry for my poor thought. There are moments when
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: I cannot endure the torture of those iron clasps that
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: are compressing my brain. I feel an irrepressible longing to
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: run out into the street, into the market place where
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: their people, and cry out stop the war, this instant
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: or else? But what else? Is there? Are there any
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: words that can make them come to their senses, words
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 1: in answer to which one cannot find just such other
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: loud and lying words or must I fall upon my
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: knees before them and burst into tears. But then hundreds
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: of thousands are making the earth resound with their weeping.
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: But does that change anything? Or perhaps kill myself before
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: them all, kill myself. Thousands are dying every day, But
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: does that change anything? And when I feel my impudence,
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: I am seized with rage, the rage of war, which
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: I hate. Like the doctor, I long to burn down
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: their houses, with all their treasures, their wives and children,
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: to poison the water which they'd drink, To raise all
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: the killed from their graves, and throw the corpses into
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 1: their unclean houses, onto their beds, let them sleep with
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 1: them as with their wives or mistresses. Oh, if only
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: I were the devil, I would transplant all the horrors
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 1: that held exhales onto their earth. I would become the
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: lord of all their dreams. And when they crossed their
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: children with a smile before falling asleep, I would rise
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 1: up before them a black vision. Yes, I must go mad.
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: Only let it come quicker, Let it come quicker. Fragment
• 1:38:38
  Speaker 1: eleven prisoners, a group of trembling, terrified men. When they
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: were let out of the train, the crowd gave a roar.
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: The roar of an enormous savage dog whose chain is
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: too short and not strong enough. The crowd gave a
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 1: roar and was silent, breathing deeply, while they advanced in
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 1: a compact group with their hens and their pockets, with
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: their white lips as if currying favor, and stepping out
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 1: in such a manner, as if somebody was just going
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 1: to strike them with a long stick under their knees
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 1: from behind. But one of them walked at a short
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 1: distance from the others, calm, serious, without a smile, And
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: when my eyes met his black ones, I saw a bare,
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: open hatred in them. I saw clearly that he despised me,
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: and thought me capable of anything. If I were to
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: begin killing him, unarmed as he was, he would not
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: have cried out or tried to defend or right himself.
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: He considered me capable of anything. I ran along together
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 1: with the crowd to meet his gaze once more, and
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: only succeeded. As they were entering the house, he went
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: in the last, letting his companions pass before him, and
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: glanced at me once more. And then I saw such pain,
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 1: such an abyss of horror and insanity in his big
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: black eyes as if I looked into the most wretched
• 1:40:01
  Speaker 1: soul on earth? Who is that with the eyes? I
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 1: asked of a soldier of the escort, an officer, A madman?
• 1:40:10
  Speaker 1: There are many such. What is his name? He does
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: not say, And his countrymen don't know him, A stranger
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 1: they picked up. He has been saved from hanging himself
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: once already. But what is there to be done? And
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: the soldier made a vague gesture and disappeared in the door.
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: And now this evening I am thinking of him, is
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 1: alone amidst the enemy, who, in his opinion, are capable
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 1: of doing anything with him, And his own people do
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: not know him. He keeps silence and waits patiently for
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 1: the moment when he will be able to go out
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 1: of this world altogether. I do not believe that he
• 1:40:51
  Speaker 1: is mad, and he is no coward. He was the
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 1: only one who held himself with dignity in that group
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: of trembling, terrified men, whom apparently he does not regard
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: as his own people. What is he really thinking about?
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: What a depth of despair must be in the soul
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 1: of that man, who, dying does not wish to name himself.
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 1: Why give his name? He has done with life and men.
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 1: He has grasped their real value, and notices none around him,
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 1: either his own people or strangers, shout rage and threaten
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: as they will. I made inquiries about him. He was
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: taken in the last terrible battle, during which several tens
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: of thousands of men lost their lives, and he showed
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: no resistance. When he was being taken prisoner. He was
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 1: unarmed for some reason or other, and when the soldier,
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 1: not having noticed it, struck him with his sword, he
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: did not get up or try to act in self defense.
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 1: But the wound, unhappily for him, was a slight one.
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 1: But maybe he is really mad, the soldiers said. There
• 1:42:03
  Speaker 1: were many such fragment twelve. It is beginning. When I
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 1: entered my brother's study yesterday evening, he was sitting in
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: his arm chair at his table heaped with books. The
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 1: hallucination disappeared the moment I lighted a candle, But for
• 1:42:21
  Speaker 1: a long time I could not bring myself to sit
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 1: down in the arm chair that he had occupied. At first,
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 1: it was terrifying. The empty rooms in which one was
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: constantly hearing rustlings and crackings, were the cause of this dread.
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 1: But afterwards I even liked it better he than somebody else. Nevertheless,
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: I did not leave the arm chair the whole evening.
• 1:42:46
  Speaker 1: It seemed to me that if I were to get up,
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: he would instantly sit down in my place. And I
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: left the room very quickly, without looking round. The lamp
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 1: ought to have been lit in all the rooms, but
• 1:42:58
  Speaker 1: was it worth while? It would have been perhaps worse
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 1: if I had seen anything by lamp light. As it was,
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: there was still room for doubt. To day I entered
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 1: with a candle, and there was nobody in the arm chair.
• 1:43:13
  Speaker 1: Evidently it must have been only a shadow. Again, I
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 1: went to the station I go there every morning now,
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 1: and saw a whole carriage full of our mad soldiers.
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 1: It was not open, but shunted on to another line,
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 1: and I had time to see several faces through the windows.
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: They were terrible, especially one fearfully drawn the color of
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: a lemon, with an open black mouth and fixed eyes.
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: It was so like a mask of horror that I
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: could not tear my eyes away from it, and it
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 1: stared at me the whole of it, and was motionless,
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: and glided passed together with the moving carriage, just as
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 1: motionless without the slightest change, never transferring its gaze for
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 1: an instant. If it were to appear before me this
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 1: minute in that dark door, I do not believe I
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 1: should be able to hold out. I made inquiries. There
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 1: were twenty two men. The infection is spreading. The papers
• 1:44:15
  Speaker 1: are hushing up something, and I believe there is something
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 1: wrong in our town too. Black, closely shut carriages made
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 1: their appearance. I counted six during one day, in different
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 1: parts of the town. I suppose I shall also go
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 1: off in one of them one of these days. And
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 1: the papers clamor for fresh troops and more blood every day,
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 1: and I am beginning to understand less and less what
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 1: it all means. Yesterday I read an article full of suspicion,
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: stating that there were many spies and traitors amongst the people,
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: warning us to be cautious and mindful, and that the
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: wrath of the people would not fail to find out
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 1: the guilty, what guilty, and guilty of what. As I
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: was returning from the station in the tram, I heard
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 1: a strange conversation, I suppose in reference to the same article.
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 1: They ought to be all hung without any trial, said one,
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: looking scrutinizingly at me and all the passengers traders ought
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 1: to be hung. Yes, without any mercy, confirmed the other.
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 1: They've been shown mercy enough. I jumped out of the tram.
• 1:45:25
  Speaker 1: The war was making everybody shed tears, and they were
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: crying too. Why what did it mean? A blood mist
• 1:45:33
  Speaker 1: seemed to have enveloped the earth, hiding it from our gaze,
• 1:45:37
  Speaker 1: and I was beginning to think that the moment of
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 1: the universal catastrophe was approaching. The red laugh that my
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 1: brother saw. The madness was coming from over there, from
• 1:45:49
  Speaker 1: those bloody, burnt out fields, and I felt its cold
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 1: breath in the air. I am a strong man, and
• 1:45:55
  Speaker 1: half none of those illnesses that corrupt the body, bringing
• 1:45:59
  Speaker 1: in their train the corruption of the brain also. But
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: I see the infection catching me, and half of my
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 1: thoughts belong to me no longer. It is worse than
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: the plague and its horrors. One can hide from the plague,
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 1: take measures, but how can one hide from all penetrating
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 1: thought that knows neither distances nor obstacles. In the daytime
• 1:46:25
  Speaker 1: I can still fight against it. But during the night
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: I become, as everybody does, the slave of my dreams.
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 1: And my dreams are terrible and full of madness. End
• 1:46:39
  Speaker 1: of section six Section seven of The Red Laugh by
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 1: Leonid Andreav. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 1: Read by Ben Tucker, Part two, Fragments thirteen through fifteen.
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: Universal mob fights senseless and sanguinary. The slightest provocation gives
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 1: rise to the most savage club law, knives, stones, logs
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 1: of wood coming into action. And it is all the
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 1: same who is being killed. Red blood asks to be
• 1:47:19
  Speaker 1: let loose and flows willingly and plentifully. There were six
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 1: of them, all peasants, and they were being led by
• 1:47:28
  Speaker 1: three soldiers with loaded guns. In their quaint peasant's dress,
• 1:47:32
  Speaker 1: simple and primitive, like as savages, with their quaint countenances
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: that seemed as if made of clay and adorned with
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 1: felted wool instead of hair, in the streets of a
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: rich town. Under the escort of disciplined soldiers. They resembled
• 1:47:47
  Speaker 1: slaves of the antique world. They were being led off
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: to the war, and they moved along in obedience to
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 1: the bayonets, as innocent and dull as cattle led to
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: the slaughterhouse. In front walked the youth, tall, beardless with
• 1:48:03
  Speaker 1: a long goose neck. At the end of which was
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 1: a motionless little head. His whole body was bent forward
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: like a switch, and he stared at the ground under
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 1: his feet so fixedly as if his gaze penetrated into
• 1:48:15
  Speaker 1: the very depths of the earth. The last in the
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 1: group was a man of small stature, bearded and middle aged.
• 1:48:23
  Speaker 1: He had no desire of resistance, and there was no
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: thought in his eyes. But the earth attracted his feet,
• 1:48:30
  Speaker 1: gripped them tightly, not letting them loose, and he advanced
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 1: with his body thrown back, as if struggling against a
• 1:48:37
  Speaker 1: strong wind. And at each step the soldier gave him
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 1: a push with the butt end of his rifle, and
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 1: one leg, tearing itself from the earth, convulsively thrust itself forward,
• 1:48:48
  Speaker 1: while the others still stuck tightly. The faces of the
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 1: soldiers were weary and angry, and evidently they had been
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 1: marching so for a long time. One felt they were
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 1: tired and indifferent as to how they carried their guns,
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 1: and how they marched, keeping no step with their feet
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: turned in like wearied countrymen. The senseless lingering and silent
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: resistance of the peasants seemed to have dimmed their disciplined
• 1:49:14
  Speaker 1: brains and they had ceased to understand where they were
• 1:49:18
  Speaker 1: going and what their goal was. Where are you leading
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 1: them to? I asked one of the soldiers. He started
• 1:49:28
  Speaker 1: glanced at me, and in the keen flash of his eyes,
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: I felt the bayonet as distinctly as if it were
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 1: already at my breast. Go away, said the soldier, Go
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 1: away or else. The middle aged man took advantage of
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 1: the moment and ran away. He ran with a light
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: trot up to the iron railings of the boulevard and
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: sat down on his heels, as if he were hiding.
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: No animal would have acted so stupidly, so senselessly, But
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 1: the soldier became savage. I saw him go close up
• 1:49:59
  Speaker 1: to him, up down and thrusting his gun into the
• 1:50:02
  Speaker 1: left hand, strike something soft and flat with the right one,
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 1: and then again. A crowd was gathering. Laughter and shouts
• 1:50:10
  Speaker 1: were heard Fragment fourteen and the eleventh row of stalls.
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 1: Somebody's arms were pressing closely against me on my right
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 1: and left hand side, while far around me, in the
• 1:50:23
  Speaker 1: semi darkness, stuck out motionless heads tinged with red from
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: the lights upon the stage, And gradually the mass of
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 1: people confined in that narrow place filled me with horror.
• 1:50:35
  Speaker 1: Everybody was silent, listening to what was being said on
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 1: the stage, or perhaps thinking out his own thoughts. But
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 1: as they were many, they were more audible, for all
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 1: their silence, than the loud voices of the actors. They
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: were coughing, blowing their noses, making a noise with their
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 1: feet and clothes, and I could distinctly hear their deep,
• 1:50:57
  Speaker 1: uneven breathing that was heating the air. They were terrible,
• 1:51:02
  Speaker 1: for each of them could become a corpse, and they
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 1: all had senseless brains. In the calmness of those well
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 1: brushed heads resting upon white, stiff collars, I felt a
• 1:51:13
  Speaker 1: hurricane of madness ready to burst. Every second. My hands
• 1:51:18
  Speaker 1: grew cold as I thought how many and how terrible
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: they were, and how far away I was from the entrance.
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 1: They were calm, But what if I were to cry
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 1: out fire and full of terror? I experienced a painfully
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 1: passionate desire of which I cannot think without my hands
• 1:51:34
  Speaker 1: growing cold and moist. Who could hinder me from crying out? Yes,
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 1: standing up, turning round and crying out fire, Save yourselves. Fire.
• 1:51:45
  Speaker 1: A convulsive wave of madness would overwhelm their still limbs.
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: They would jump up, yelling and howling like animals. They
• 1:51:53
  Speaker 1: would forget that they had wives, sisters, mothers, and would
• 1:51:57
  Speaker 1: begin casting themselves about like men, struck with sudden blindness
• 1:52:02
  Speaker 1: and their madness, throttling each other with their white fingers
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 1: fragrant with scent. The lights would be turned on, and
• 1:52:09
  Speaker 1: somebody with an ashen face would appear upon the stage,
• 1:52:12
  Speaker 1: shouting that all was in order and that there was
• 1:52:14
  Speaker 1: no fire, and the music, trembling and halting, would begin
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 1: playing something wildly merry. But they would be deaf to everything.
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 1: They would be throttling, tramping, and beating the heads of
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 1: the women, demolishing their ingenious, cunning head dresses. They would
• 1:52:32
  Speaker 1: tear at each other's ears, bite off each other's noses,
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: and tear the very clothes off each other's bodies, feeling
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 1: no shame, for they would be mad. Their sensitive, delicate, beautiful,
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 1: adorable women would scream and writhe helplessly at their feet,
• 1:52:50
  Speaker 1: clasping their knees, still believing in their generosity, while they
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: would beat them viciously upon their beautiful upturned faces, trying
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 1: to force their way towards the entrance. For men are
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 1: always murderers and their calmness and generosity is the calmness
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 1: of a well fed animal that knows itself out of danger.
• 1:53:13
  Speaker 1: And when having made corpses of half their number, they
• 1:53:16
  Speaker 1: would gather at the entrance in a trembling, tattered group
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 1: of shamefaced animals, with a false smile upon their lips.
• 1:53:24
  Speaker 1: I would go on the stage and say, with a laugh,
• 1:53:27
  Speaker 1: it has all happened because you killed my brother. Yes,
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 1: I would say, with a laugh, it has all happened
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 1: because you killed my brother. I must have whispered something
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 1: aloud from my neighbor on the right hand side, moved
• 1:53:42
  Speaker 1: angrily in his chair and said, hush, you are interrupting.
• 1:53:46
  Speaker 1: I felt merry and wanted to play a joke. Assuming
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 1: a warning severe expression, I stooped towards him. What is it,
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 1: he asked, suspiciously. Why do you look at me so hush?
• 1:53:59
  Speaker 1: I implore you, whispered I with my lips. Do you
• 1:54:04
  Speaker 1: not perceive a smell of burning? There is a fire
• 1:54:08
  Speaker 1: in the theater. He had enough power of will and
• 1:54:13
  Speaker 1: good sense not to cry out. His face grew pale,
• 1:54:16
  Speaker 1: his eyes starting out of their sockets and almost protruding
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 1: over his cheeks enormous as blatters, But he did not
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 1: cry out. He rose quietly, and without even thinking me
• 1:54:28
  Speaker 1: walked totteringly towards the entrance, convulsively keeping back his steps.
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 1: He was afraid of the others guessing about the fire
• 1:54:35
  Speaker 1: and preventing him getting away. Him the only one worthy
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 1: of being saved. I felt disgusted and left the theater. Also, besides,
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 1: I did not want to make known my incognito too soon.
• 1:54:50
  Speaker 1: In the street, I looked towards that part of the
• 1:54:52
  Speaker 1: sky where the war was raging. Everything was calm, and
• 1:54:56
  Speaker 1: the night clouds yellow from the lights of the town
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 1: were slowly, calmly drifting past. Perhaps it is only a
• 1:55:04
  Speaker 1: dream and there is no war, thought I deceived by
• 1:55:08
  Speaker 1: the stillness of the sky and town. But a boy
• 1:55:11
  Speaker 1: sprang out from behind a corner, crying joyously. A terrible battle,
• 1:55:16
  Speaker 1: enormous losses. By list to telegrams night telegrams, I read
• 1:55:20
  Speaker 1: it by the light of the street lamp. Four thousand
• 1:55:23
  Speaker 1: dead in the theater, I should say there were not
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 1: more than one thousand, and the whole way home I
• 1:55:30
  Speaker 1: kept repeating, four thousand dead. Now I am afraid of
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 1: returning to my empty house. When I put my key
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 1: into the lock and look at the dumb flat door,
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 1: I can feel all its dark, empty rooms behind it, which, however,
• 1:55:46
  Speaker 1: the next minute a man in a hat would pass through,
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: looking furtively around him. I know the way well, But
• 1:55:53
  Speaker 1: on the stairs I began lighting match after match until
• 1:55:57
  Speaker 1: I find a candle. I never entered my brother's study,
• 1:56:01
  Speaker 1: and it is locked with all that it contains. And
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 1: I sleep in the dining room. Whether I have shifted
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 1: altogether there, I feel calmer, for the air seems to
• 1:56:11
  Speaker 1: have still retained the traces of talking and laughter, and
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 1: the merry clang of dishes. Sometimes I distinctly hear the
• 1:56:18
  Speaker 1: scraping of a dry pin. And when I lay down
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 1: on my bed Fragment fifteen, that absurd and terrible dream,
• 1:56:30
  Speaker 1: it seemed as if the skull had been taken off
• 1:56:32
  Speaker 1: my brain and bared and unprotected. It submissively and greedily
• 1:56:36
  Speaker 1: imbibed all the horrors of those bloody and senseless days.
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 1: I was lying, curled up, occupying only five feet of space,
• 1:56:45
  Speaker 1: while my thoughts embraced the whole world I saw with
• 1:56:49
  Speaker 1: the eyes of all mankind and listened with its ears.
• 1:56:52
  Speaker 1: I died with the killed sorrowed, and wept with all
• 1:56:56
  Speaker 1: that were wounded and left behind. And when bl blood
• 1:57:00
  Speaker 1: flowed out of anybody's body, I felt the pain of
• 1:57:03
  Speaker 1: the wound and suffered. Even all that had not happened
• 1:57:07
  Speaker 1: and was far away, I saw as clearly as if
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 1: it had happened and was close by, And there was
• 1:57:13
  Speaker 1: no end to the sufferings of my bared brain. Those children,
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 1: those innocent little children. I saw them in the street,
• 1:57:22
  Speaker 1: playing at war and chasing each other, And one of
• 1:57:25
  Speaker 1: them was already crying in a high pitched, childish voice.
• 1:57:29
  Speaker 1: And something shrank within me from horror and disgust, and
• 1:57:33
  Speaker 1: I went home. Night came on, and in fiery dreams
• 1:57:37
  Speaker 1: resembling midnight conflagrations, those innocent little children changed into a
• 1:57:43
  Speaker 1: band of child murderers. Something was ominously burning in a
• 1:57:48
  Speaker 1: broad red glare, and in the smoke there swarmed monstrous,
• 1:57:52
  Speaker 1: misshapen children with heads of grown up murderers. They were
• 1:57:57
  Speaker 1: jumping lightly and nimbly like young ung goats at play,
• 1:58:01
  Speaker 1: and were breathing with difficulty like sick people. Their mouths
• 1:58:06
  Speaker 1: resembling the jaws of toads or frogs, opened widely and
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 1: convulsively behind the transparent skin of their naked bodies. The
• 1:58:14
  Speaker 1: red blood was coursing angrily, and they were killing each
• 1:58:18
  Speaker 1: other at play. They were the most terrible of all
• 1:58:21
  Speaker 1: that I had seen, for they were little and could
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 1: penetrate everywhere. I was looking out of the window, and
• 1:58:27
  Speaker 1: one of the little ones noticed me, smiled and with
• 1:58:30
  Speaker 1: his eyes asked me to let him in. I want
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 1: to go to you, he said, you will kill me.
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 1: I want to go to you, he said, growing suddenly pale,
• 1:58:43
  Speaker 1: and began scrambling up the white wall like a rat,
• 1:58:47
  Speaker 1: Just like a hungry rat. He kept losing his footing
• 1:58:51
  Speaker 1: and squealed and darted about the wall with such rapidity
• 1:58:54
  Speaker 1: that I could not follow his impetuous sudden movements. He
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 1: can crawl in under the door, said I to myself,
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 1: with horror, And as if he had guessed my thought,
• 1:59:04
  Speaker 1: he grew thin and long, and waving the end of
• 1:59:07
  Speaker 1: his tail rapidly, he crawled into the dark crack under
• 1:59:10
  Speaker 1: the front door. But I had time to hide myself
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 1: under the blanket, and heard him searching for me in
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 1: the dark rooms. Cautiously stepping along with his tiny bare feet,
• 1:59:22
  Speaker 1: he approached my room very slowly, stopping now and then,
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 1: and at last entered it. But I did not hear
• 1:59:30
  Speaker 1: any sound, either rustle or movement for a long time,
• 1:59:34
  Speaker 1: as if there was nobody near my bed. And then
• 1:59:37
  Speaker 1: somebody's little hand began lifting up the edge of the coverlet,
• 1:59:41
  Speaker 1: and I could feel the cold air of the room
• 1:59:43
  Speaker 1: upon my face and chest. I held the blanket tightly,
• 1:59:47
  Speaker 1: but it persisted and lifting itself up on all sides,
• 1:59:51
  Speaker 1: and all of a sudden my feet became so cold
• 1:59:55
  Speaker 1: as if I had dipped them into water. Now they
• 1:59:58
  Speaker 1: were lying unpertin in the chill darkness of the room,
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 1: and he was looking at them. In the yard behind
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 1: the house, a dog barked and was silent, and I
• 2:00:10
  Speaker 1: heard the trail of its chain as it went into
• 2:00:12
  Speaker 1: its kennel. But he still watched my naked feet and
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 1: kept silence. I knew he was there by the unendurable
• 2:00:20
  Speaker 1: horror that was binding me like death, with a stony
• 2:00:23
  Speaker 1: sepulchral immobility. If I could have cried out, I would
• 2:00:27
  Speaker 1: have awakened the whole town, the whole world. But my
• 2:00:32
  Speaker 1: voice was dead within me, and I lay submissive and motionless,
• 2:00:37
  Speaker 1: feeling the little cold hands moving over my body and
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 1: nearing my throat. I cannot, I groaned, gasping, and waking up.
• 2:00:48
  Speaker 1: For an instant I saw the vigilant darkness of the night,
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 1: mysterious and living, and again I believe I fell asleep.
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 1: Don't fear, said my brother, sitting down upon my bed,
• 2:01:01
  Speaker 1: and the bed creaked so heavy he was dead. Never fear,
• 2:01:05
  Speaker 1: You see, it is a dream. You only imagine that
• 2:01:08
  Speaker 1: you are being strangled, while in reality you are asleep
• 2:01:10
  Speaker 1: in the dark rooms where there is not a soul.
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 1: And I am in my study writing. Nobody understood what
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: I wrote about, and you delighted me as one insane.
• 2:01:20
  Speaker 1: But now I will tell you the truth. I am
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 1: writing about the red laugh. Do you see it? Something enormous,
• 2:01:29
  Speaker 1: red and bloody was standing before me, laughing, a toothless laugh.
• 2:01:35
  Speaker 1: That is the red laugh. When the earth goes mad,
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 1: it begins to laugh like that. You know the earth
• 2:01:42
  Speaker 1: has gone mad. There are no more flowers or songs
• 2:01:45
  Speaker 1: on it. It has become round, smooth and red like
• 2:01:48
  Speaker 1: a scalped head. Do you see it? Yes, I see it.
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 1: It is laughing. Look what its brain is like. It
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 1: is red like bloody porridge, and is muddled, it is
• 2:02:02
  Speaker 1: crying out, it is in pain. It has no flowers
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 1: or songs. And now let me lie down upon you.
• 2:02:12
  Speaker 1: You are heavy, and I am afraid. We the dead
• 2:02:16
  Speaker 1: lie down on the living. Do you feel warm? Yes?
• 2:02:23
  Speaker 1: Are you comfortable? I am dying. Awake and cry out,
• 2:02:29
  Speaker 1: awake and cry out, I am going away. End of
• 2:02:34
  Speaker 1: section seven Section eight of The Red Laugh by Leonet Andreev.
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 2:02:52
  Speaker 1: Ben Tucker, Part two, fragments sixteen through eighteen. At sixteen
• 2:03:02
  Speaker 1: to day is the eighth day of the battle. It
• 2:03:05
  Speaker 1: began last Friday, and Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 1: Thursday have past, and Friday has come again and is gone.
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 1: And it is still going on. Both armies, hundreds of
• 2:03:17
  Speaker 1: thousands of men are standing in front of each other,
• 2:03:21
  Speaker 1: never flinching, sending explosive, crashing projectiles without stopping, and every
• 2:03:27
  Speaker 1: instant living men are turning into corpses. The roar and
• 2:03:31
  Speaker 1: incessant vibration of the air is made the very sky
• 2:03:34
  Speaker 1: shudder and gather black thunder clouds above their heads while
• 2:03:38
  Speaker 1: they continue to stand in front of each other, never flinching.
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 1: And still killing each other. If a man does not
• 2:03:45
  Speaker 1: sleep for three nights, he becomes ill and loses his memory.
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 1: But they have not slept for a whole week and
• 2:03:52
  Speaker 1: are all mad. That is why they feel no pain.
• 2:03:55
  Speaker 1: Do not retreat, and go on fighting until they have
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 1: killed all to the last man. They say that some
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 1: of the detachments came to the end of their ammunition,
• 2:04:03
  Speaker 1: but still they fought on, using their fists and stones
• 2:04:06
  Speaker 1: and biting at each other like dogs. If the remnants
• 2:04:09
  Speaker 1: of those regiments return home, they will have canine teeth
• 2:04:13
  Speaker 1: like wolves. But they will not return. They have gone mad,
• 2:04:17
  Speaker 1: and die every man of them. They have gone mad.
• 2:04:22
  Speaker 1: Everything is muddled in their heads, and they cease to
• 2:04:24
  Speaker 1: understand anything. If they were to be turned round suddenly
• 2:04:28
  Speaker 1: and sharply, they would begin firing at their own men,
• 2:04:31
  Speaker 1: thinking that they were firing at the enemy. Strange rumors,
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 1: strange rumors that are told in a whisper, Those repeating
• 2:04:39
  Speaker 1: them turning white from horror and dreadful forebodings. Brother, brother, listen,
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 1: what is being told of the red laugh? They say,
• 2:04:48
  Speaker 1: phantom regiments have appeared, large bands of shadows, the exact
• 2:04:52
  Speaker 1: copy of living men. At night when the men forget
• 2:04:55
  Speaker 1: themselves for an instant in sleep, or in the thick
• 2:04:59
  Speaker 1: of the day's fight, when the bright day itself seems
• 2:05:01
  Speaker 1: a phantom, They suddenly appear, firing out of phantom guns,
• 2:05:05
  Speaker 1: filling the air with phantom noises, and men living but insane,
• 2:05:11
  Speaker 1: men astounded by the suddenness of the attack, fight to
• 2:05:14
  Speaker 1: the death against the phantom enemy, go mad from horror,
• 2:05:18
  Speaker 1: become gray in an instant, and die. The phantoms disappear
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 1: as suddenly as they appear, and all becomes still, while
• 2:05:27
  Speaker 1: the earth is strewn with fresh mutilated bodies. Who killed them?
• 2:05:32
  Speaker 1: You know, brother? Who killed them? When there is a
• 2:05:36
  Speaker 1: lull between two battles and the enemy is far off,
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 1: suddenly in the darkness of the night, there resounds a solitary,
• 2:05:42
  Speaker 1: frightened shot, and all jump up and begin firing into
• 2:05:46
  Speaker 1: the darkness and to the silent, dum darkness for a
• 2:05:51
  Speaker 1: long time, for whole hours. Whom do they see there?
• 2:05:55
  Speaker 1: Whose terrible, silent shape, full of horror and madness appears
• 2:05:59
  Speaker 1: before them? You know, brother, and I know, but men
• 2:06:04
  Speaker 1: do not know yet. But they have a foreboding and ask,
• 2:06:08
  Speaker 1: turning pale, why are there so many mad men before.
• 2:06:13
  Speaker 1: There never used to be so many before, There never
• 2:06:17
  Speaker 1: used to be so many mad men, they say, turning pale,
• 2:06:22
  Speaker 1: trying to believe that now it is as before, and
• 2:06:25
  Speaker 1: that the universal violence done to the brains of humanity
• 2:06:28
  Speaker 1: would have no effect upon their weak little intellects. Why
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 1: men fought before and always have fought, and nothing of
• 2:06:36
  Speaker 1: the sort happened. Strife is a law of nature, they say,
• 2:06:39
  Speaker 1: with conviction and calmness, growing pale, nevertheless seeking for the
• 2:06:44
  Speaker 1: doctor with their eyes and calling out hurriedly water, quicker,
• 2:06:47
  Speaker 1: glass of water. They would willingly become idiots, those people
• 2:06:52
  Speaker 1: only not to fill their intellect, reeling and their reason,
• 2:06:55
  Speaker 1: succumbing in the hopeless combat with insanity. In those days
• 2:07:00
  Speaker 1: when men over there were constantly being turned into corpses,
• 2:07:03
  Speaker 1: I could find no peace and sought the society of
• 2:07:06
  Speaker 1: my fellow men. And I heard many conversations and saw
• 2:07:10
  Speaker 1: many false smiling faces that asserted that the war was
• 2:07:14
  Speaker 1: far off and in no way concerned with them. But
• 2:07:17
  Speaker 1: much oftener I met naked, frank horror, hopeless bitter tears,
• 2:07:22
  Speaker 1: and frenzied cries of despair, when the great mind itself
• 2:07:26
  Speaker 1: cried out of man and its last prayer, its last curse,
• 2:07:29
  Speaker 1: with all the intensity of its power, whatever will the
• 2:07:33
  Speaker 1: senseless carnage end. At some friends whom I had not
• 2:07:37
  Speaker 1: seen for a long time, perhaps several years, I unexpectedly
• 2:07:41
  Speaker 1: met a mad officer invalided from the war. He was
• 2:07:47
  Speaker 1: a schoolfellow of mine, but I did not recognize him.
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 1: If he had lain for a year in his grave,
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 1: he would have returned more like himself than he was then.
• 2:07:56
  Speaker 1: His hair was gray, in his face quite white, were
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 1: but little changed. But he was always silent, and seemed
• 2:08:04
  Speaker 1: to be listening to something, And this stamped upon his
• 2:08:08
  Speaker 1: face a look of such formidable remoteness, such indifference to
• 2:08:12
  Speaker 1: all around him, that it was fearful to talk to him.
• 2:08:16
  Speaker 1: His relatives were told he went mad. In the following circumstances,
• 2:08:20
  Speaker 1: they were in the reserve while the neighboring regiment was
• 2:08:23
  Speaker 1: ordered to make a bayonet charge. The men rushed, shouting hurrah,
• 2:08:27
  Speaker 1: so loudly as almost to drown the noise of the cannon,
• 2:08:31
  Speaker 1: And suddenly the guns ceased firing. The hurrah ceased also,
• 2:08:36
  Speaker 1: and a separacel stillness ensued. They had run up to
• 2:08:40
  Speaker 1: the enemy and were charging him with their bayonets, and
• 2:08:44
  Speaker 1: his reason succumbed to that stillness. Now he is calm,
• 2:08:48
  Speaker 1: and people make a noise around him, talk and shout.
• 2:08:51
  Speaker 1: He listens and waits, but if only there is a
• 2:08:54
  Speaker 1: moment's silence, he catches hold of his head, rushes up
• 2:08:57
  Speaker 1: to the wall or against the furniture, and falls down
• 2:08:59
  Speaker 1: in a fit resembling epilepsy. He has many relations, and
• 2:09:03
  Speaker 1: they take turns and surround him with sound. But there
• 2:09:08
  Speaker 1: remain the nights, long solitary nights. But here his father,
• 2:09:13
  Speaker 1: a gray haired old man slightly wandering in his mind, too, helped.
• 2:09:18
  Speaker 1: He hung the walls of his son's room with loudly
• 2:09:20
  Speaker 1: ticken clocks that constantly struck the hour at different times.
• 2:09:24
  Speaker 1: And at present he is arranging a wheel resembling an
• 2:09:27
  Speaker 1: incessantly going rattle. None of them lose hope that he
• 2:09:30
  Speaker 1: will recover, as he is only twenty seven, and their
• 2:09:34
  Speaker 1: house is even gay. He is dressed very cleanly, not
• 2:09:38
  Speaker 1: in his uniform. Great care is taken of his appearance,
• 2:09:41
  Speaker 1: and he is even handsome, with his white hair, young,
• 2:09:45
  Speaker 1: thoughtful face, and well bred, slow tired movements. When I
• 2:09:50
  Speaker 1: was told all, I went up and kissed his hand
• 2:09:52
  Speaker 1: his white, languid hand, which will never more be lifted
• 2:09:56
  Speaker 1: for a blow. And this did not seem to surprise
• 2:09:59
  Speaker 1: anybody very much, only as young sisters smiled at me
• 2:10:02
  Speaker 1: with her eyes, and afterwards showed me such attention that
• 2:10:06
  Speaker 1: it seemed as if I were her betrothed, and she
• 2:10:08
  Speaker 1: loved me more than anybody in the world. She showed
• 2:10:11
  Speaker 1: me such attention that I very nearly told her about
• 2:10:14
  Speaker 1: my dark, empty rooms, in which I am worse than alone,
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 1: miserable heart that never loses hope. And she managed that
• 2:10:22
  Speaker 1: we remain alone. How pale you are in what dark
• 2:10:26
  Speaker 1: rings you have under your eyes? She said, kindly, are
• 2:10:30
  Speaker 1: you ill? Are you grieving for your brother? I am
• 2:10:35
  Speaker 1: grieving for everybody, and I do not feel well. I
• 2:10:39
  Speaker 1: know why you kissed my brother's hand. They did not understand.
• 2:10:44
  Speaker 1: Because he is mad. Yes, yes, because he is mad.
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 1: She grew thoughtful and looked very much like her brother,
• 2:10:53
  Speaker 1: only younger. And will you, she stopped and blushed, but
• 2:10:58
  Speaker 1: did not lower her eyes. Will you let me kiss
• 2:11:01
  Speaker 1: your hand? I kneeled before her and said, bless me.
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 1: She paled, slightly, drew back, and whispered with her lips.
• 2:11:11
  Speaker 1: I do not believe, and I also for an instant
• 2:11:18
  Speaker 1: her hand touched my head, and the incident was gone.
• 2:11:22
  Speaker 1: Do you know, she said, I am leaving for the war. Go,
• 2:11:28
  Speaker 1: but you will not be able to bear it. I
• 2:11:32
  Speaker 1: do not know. But they need help the same as
• 2:11:35
  Speaker 1: you or my brother. It is not their fault. Will
• 2:11:38
  Speaker 1: you remember me? Yes, and you and I will remember
• 2:11:43
  Speaker 1: you too. Good Bye, good bye forever. And I grew
• 2:11:49
  Speaker 1: calm and felt happier, as if I had passed through
• 2:11:52
  Speaker 1: the most terrible that there is in death and madness.
• 2:11:56
  Speaker 1: And yesterday, for the first time, I entered my house calmly,
• 2:11:59
  Speaker 1: without any fear, and opened my brother's study and sat
• 2:12:02
  Speaker 1: for a long time at his table. And when in
• 2:12:06
  Speaker 1: the night I suddenly awoke, as if from a push,
• 2:12:09
  Speaker 1: and heard the scraping of the dry pin upon the paper,
• 2:12:12
  Speaker 1: I was not frightened, but thought to myself, almost with
• 2:12:15
  Speaker 1: a smile, Work on, brother, Work on your pin is
• 2:12:20
  Speaker 1: not dry. It is steeped in living human blood. Let
• 2:12:23
  Speaker 1: your paper seem empty in its ominous emptiness. It is
• 2:12:26
  Speaker 1: more eloquent of war and reason than all that is
• 2:12:29
  Speaker 1: written by the most clever men. Work on, brother, Work on,
• 2:12:35
  Speaker 1: And this morning I read that the battle is still raging,
• 2:12:39
  Speaker 1: and again I was possessed with a dread, fear and
• 2:12:41
  Speaker 1: a feeling of something falling upon my brain. It is coming,
• 2:12:47
  Speaker 1: it is near, It is already standing upon the threshold
• 2:12:52
  Speaker 1: of these empty light rooms. Remember, remember me, dear girl,
• 2:13:00
  Speaker 1: I am going mad. Thirty thousand dead, thirty thousand dead.
• 2:13:09
  Speaker 1: Fragment seventeen. A fight is going on in the town.
• 2:13:14
  Speaker 1: There are dark and fearful rumors. Fragment eighteen. This morning,
• 2:13:21
  Speaker 1: looking through the endless list of killed in the newspaper,
• 2:13:24
  Speaker 1: I saw a familiar name, my sister's afianced husband, an
• 2:13:29
  Speaker 1: officer called for military service at the same time as
• 2:13:32
  Speaker 1: my dead brother was killed. And an hour later the
• 2:13:37
  Speaker 1: postman handed me a letter addressed to my brother, and
• 2:13:41
  Speaker 1: I recognized the handwriting of the deceased on the envelope.
• 2:13:45
  Speaker 1: The dead was writing to the dead, but still it
• 2:13:49
  Speaker 1: was better so than the dead writing to the living.
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 1: A mother was pointed out to me who kept receiving
• 2:13:55
  Speaker 1: letters from her son for a whole month after she
• 2:13:57
  Speaker 1: had read of his terrible death in the papers. He
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 1: had been torn to pieces by a shell. He was
• 2:14:04
  Speaker 1: a fond son, and each letter was full of endearing
• 2:14:08
  Speaker 1: and encouraging words, and youthful, naive hopes of happiness. He
• 2:14:13
  Speaker 1: was dead, but wrote of life with a fearful accuracy
• 2:14:16
  Speaker 1: every day, and the mother ceased to believe in his death.
• 2:14:21
  Speaker 1: And when a day passed without any letter, then a
• 2:14:23
  Speaker 1: second and a third, and the endless silence of death ensued.
• 2:14:28
  Speaker 1: She took a large old fashioned revolver belonging to her
• 2:14:31
  Speaker 1: son in both hands and shot herself in the breast.
• 2:14:35
  Speaker 1: I believe she survived, but I am not sure. I
• 2:14:38
  Speaker 1: never heard. I looked at the envelope for a long
• 2:14:43
  Speaker 1: time and thought he held it in his hands. He
• 2:14:47
  Speaker 1: bought it somewhere, He gave the money to pay for it,
• 2:14:51
  Speaker 1: and his servant went to fetch it from some shop.
• 2:14:54
  Speaker 1: He sealed and perhaps posted it himself. Then the wheel
• 2:14:59
  Speaker 1: of the complex man called post came into action, and
• 2:15:02
  Speaker 1: the letter glided past forest fields and towns, passing from
• 2:15:06
  Speaker 1: hand to hand, but rushing infallibly towards its destination. He
• 2:15:11
  Speaker 1: put on his boots that morning while it went gliding on.
• 2:15:15
  Speaker 1: He was killed, but it glided on. He was thrown
• 2:15:19
  Speaker 1: into a pit and covered up with dead bodies and earth.
• 2:15:22
  Speaker 1: While it's still glided on past forests, fields and towns,
• 2:15:27
  Speaker 1: a living phantom, and a gray stamped envelope, and now
• 2:15:31
  Speaker 1: I was holding it in my hands. Here are the
• 2:15:34
  Speaker 1: contents of the letter who was written with a pencil
• 2:15:38
  Speaker 1: on scraps of paper, and was not finished. Something interfered.
• 2:15:43
  Speaker 1: Only now do I understand the great joy of war,
• 2:15:47
  Speaker 1: the ancient primitive delight of killing man, clever, scheming, artful man,
• 2:15:52
  Speaker 1: immeasurably more interesting than the most ravenous animal to be ever,
• 2:15:57
  Speaker 1: Taking life is as good as playing at lawn tennis
• 2:16:00
  Speaker 1: with planets and stars. Poor friend, what a pity you
• 2:16:04
  Speaker 1: are not with us, but are constrained to weary away
• 2:16:07
  Speaker 1: your time amidst an unleavened daily existence in an atmosphere
• 2:16:11
  Speaker 1: of death, you would have found all that your restless,
• 2:16:14
  Speaker 1: noble heart yearned for a bloody feast. What truth there
• 2:16:18
  Speaker 1: is in this somewhat hackneyed comparison. We go about up
• 2:16:22
  Speaker 1: to our knees in blood, and this red wine, as
• 2:16:24
  Speaker 1: my jolly men call it him jest, makes our heads swim.
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 1: To drink the blood of one's enemy is not at
• 2:16:30
  Speaker 1: all such a stupid custom, as we think they knew
• 2:16:33
  Speaker 1: what they were doing. The crows are cawing. Do you
• 2:16:37
  Speaker 1: hear the crows are cawing? From whence have they all gathered?
• 2:16:40
  Speaker 1: The sky is black with them. They settle down beside us,
• 2:16:43
  Speaker 1: having lost all fear, and follow us everywhere, and we
• 2:16:46
  Speaker 1: are always underneath them, like a black lace sunshade, or
• 2:16:49
  Speaker 1: a moving tree with black leaves. One of them approached
• 2:16:52
  Speaker 1: quite close to my face and wanted to peck at it.
• 2:16:55
  Speaker 1: He thought, most probably that I was dead. The crows
• 2:16:59
  Speaker 1: are kawing. This troubles me a little. From whence? If
• 2:17:02
  Speaker 1: they all gathered yesterday? We stabbed them all sleeping. We
• 2:17:07
  Speaker 1: approached stealthily, scarcely, touching the ground with our feet, as
• 2:17:11
  Speaker 1: if we were stalking wild ducks. We stole up to
• 2:17:14
  Speaker 1: them so skillfully and cautiously that we did not touch
• 2:17:17
  Speaker 1: a corpse, and did not scare one single crow. We
• 2:17:22
  Speaker 1: stole up like shadows, and the night hid us. I
• 2:17:25
  Speaker 1: killed the sentry myself, knocked him down and strangled him
• 2:17:29
  Speaker 1: with my hands, so as not to let him cry out.
• 2:17:32
  Speaker 1: You understand, the slightest sound and all would have been lost.
• 2:17:36
  Speaker 1: But he did not cry out. He had no time,
• 2:17:39
  Speaker 1: I believe, even to guess that he was being killed.
• 2:17:42
  Speaker 1: They were all sleeping around the smoldering fires, sleeping peacefully
• 2:17:46
  Speaker 1: as if they were at home in their beds. We
• 2:17:49
  Speaker 1: hacked about us for more than an hour, and only
• 2:17:51
  Speaker 1: a few had time to awake before they received their
• 2:17:53
  Speaker 1: death blow. They howled, and of course becked for mercy.
• 2:17:58
  Speaker 1: They used their teeth. One bit off a finger on
• 2:18:02
  Speaker 1: my left hand, with which I was incautiously holding his head.
• 2:18:07
  Speaker 1: He bit off my finger, but I twisted his head
• 2:18:10
  Speaker 1: clean off. How do you think are we quits? How
• 2:18:16
  Speaker 1: they did not all wake up? I cannot imagine one
• 2:18:19
  Speaker 1: could hear their bones crackling and their bodies being hacked. Afterwards,
• 2:18:24
  Speaker 1: we stripped all naked and divided their clothes amongst ourselves.
• 2:18:28
  Speaker 1: My friend, don't get angry over a joke. With your susceptibility.
• 2:18:32
  Speaker 1: You will say this savors of marauding. But then we
• 2:18:36
  Speaker 1: are almost naked ourselves. Our clothes are quite worn out.
• 2:18:40
  Speaker 1: I have been wearing a woman's jacket for a long time,
• 2:18:42
  Speaker 1: and resemble more than an officer of a victorious army.
• 2:18:49
  Speaker 1: By the bye, you are, I believe, married, and it
• 2:18:52
  Speaker 1: is not quite right for you to read such things.
• 2:18:55
  Speaker 1: But you understand women, damn it. I am young and
• 2:19:01
  Speaker 1: thirst for love. Stop a minute. I believe it was
• 2:19:04
  Speaker 1: you who was engaged to be married. It was you,
• 2:19:07
  Speaker 1: Was it not who showed me the portrait of a
• 2:19:08
  Speaker 1: young girl and told me she was your promised bride.
• 2:19:12
  Speaker 1: And there was something sad, something very sad and mournful
• 2:19:16
  Speaker 1: underneath it. And you cried, that was a long time ago,
• 2:19:21
  Speaker 1: And I remember it, but confusedly. There's no time for
• 2:19:25
  Speaker 1: softness at war. And you cried, What did you cry about?
• 2:19:30
  Speaker 1: What was there written? That was as sad and mournful
• 2:19:33
  Speaker 1: as a drooping flower? And you kept crying and crying.
• 2:19:37
  Speaker 1: Were you not ashamed an officer to cry? The crows
• 2:19:42
  Speaker 1: are calling? Do you hear, friend? The crows are calling?
• 2:19:44
  Speaker 1: What do they want? Further on the pencil written lines
• 2:19:48
  Speaker 1: were effaced, and it was impossible to decipher the signature,
• 2:19:53
  Speaker 1: and strange to say. The dead man called forth no
• 2:19:55
  Speaker 1: comparison in me. I distinctly pictured to myself his face,
• 2:20:00
  Speaker 1: in which all was soft and delicate as a woman's,
• 2:20:03
  Speaker 1: The color of his cheeks, the clearness and mourning freshness
• 2:20:06
  Speaker 1: of the eyes, the beard so bushy and soft that
• 2:20:09
  Speaker 1: a woman could almost have adorned herself with it. He
• 2:20:13
  Speaker 1: liked books, flowers and music, feared all that was coarse,
• 2:20:18
  Speaker 1: and wrote poetry. My brother, as a critic, declared that
• 2:20:22
  Speaker 1: he wrote very good poetry. And I could not connect
• 2:20:26
  Speaker 1: all that I knew and remembered of him with the
• 2:20:28
  Speaker 1: cawing crows, bloody, carnage and death. The crows are cawing,
• 2:20:37
  Speaker 1: and suddenly, for one mad, unutterably happy instant, I clearly
• 2:20:40
  Speaker 1: saw that all was a lie, and that there was
• 2:20:43
  Speaker 1: no war. There were no killed, no corpses, There was
• 2:20:48
  Speaker 1: no anguish of reeling helpless thought. I was sleeping on
• 2:20:52
  Speaker 1: my back and seeing a dream as I used to
• 2:20:55
  Speaker 1: in my childhood, the silent dread rooms, devastated by death
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 1: and terror, and myself with a wild letter in my hand.
• 2:21:05
  Speaker 1: My brother was living, and they were all sitting at
• 2:21:07
  Speaker 1: the tea table, and I could hear the noise of
• 2:21:11
  Speaker 1: the crockery. The crows are cawing. No, it is but true,
• 2:21:18
  Speaker 1: Unhappy Earth. It is true, the crows are cawing. It
• 2:21:23
  Speaker 1: is not the invention of an idle scribbler aiming at
• 2:21:26
  Speaker 1: cheap effects, or of a madman who has lost his senses.
• 2:21:31
  Speaker 1: The crows are cawing. Where is my brother? He was
• 2:21:35
  Speaker 1: noble hearted and gentle in which no one evil? Where
• 2:21:39
  Speaker 1: is he? I am asking you, you, cursed murderers. I
• 2:21:43
  Speaker 1: am asking you, you, cursed murderers, Crows sitting on, carryon,
• 2:21:47
  Speaker 1: wretched imbecile animals before the whole world. For you are animals.
• 2:21:55
  Speaker 1: What did you kill my brother? For? If you had
• 2:21:57
  Speaker 1: a face, I would give you a blow upon it.
• 2:22:00
  Speaker 1: But you have no face. You have only the snout
• 2:22:02
  Speaker 1: of a wild beast. You pretend that you are men,
• 2:22:05
  Speaker 1: but icy claws under your gloves, and the flat skull
• 2:22:09
  Speaker 1: of an animal under your hat. Hidden beneath your clever conversation,
• 2:22:13
  Speaker 1: I hear insanity rattling its rusty chains, And with all
• 2:22:17
  Speaker 1: the power of my grief, my anguish and dishonored thought,
• 2:22:22
  Speaker 1: I curse you, you, wretched imbecile animals. End of section eight
• 2:22:35
  Speaker 1: Section nine of The Red Laugh by Leonid Andreyev. This
• 2:22:40
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Ben Tucker,
• 2:22:46
  Speaker 1: Part two fragment, The last wait look to you for
• 2:22:52
  Speaker 1: the regeneration of human life. So shouted a speaker, holding
• 2:22:57
  Speaker 1: on with difficulty to a small pillar, balance himself with
• 2:23:00
  Speaker 1: his arm, and waving a flag with a large inscription
• 2:23:03
  Speaker 1: half hidden in its folds down with the war. You
• 2:23:06
  Speaker 1: who are young, you whose lives are only just beginning.
• 2:23:10
  Speaker 1: Save yourselves and the future generations from this horror, from
• 2:23:13
  Speaker 1: this madness. It is unbearable. Our eyes are drowned with blood.
• 2:23:18
  Speaker 1: The sky is falling upon us. The earth is giving
• 2:23:21
  Speaker 1: way under our feet, kind people. The crowd was buzzing enigmatically,
• 2:23:27
  Speaker 1: and the voice of the speaker was drowned at times
• 2:23:29
  Speaker 1: in the living threatening noise. Suppose I am mad, but
• 2:23:34
  Speaker 1: I am speaking the truth. My father and brother are
• 2:23:37
  Speaker 1: rotting over there like carrion. Make bonfires, dig pits and
• 2:23:41
  Speaker 1: destroy bury all your arms, demolish all the barracks, and
• 2:23:45
  Speaker 1: strip all the men of their bright clothes of madness,
• 2:23:49
  Speaker 1: tear them off. One cannot bear it. Men are dying.
• 2:23:54
  Speaker 1: Somebody very tall gave him a blow and knocked him off.
• 2:23:57
  Speaker 1: The pillar flag rose once again and fell. I had
• 2:24:03
  Speaker 1: no time to see the face of the man who
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 1: struck him, as instantly everything turned into a nightmare. Everything
• 2:24:10
  Speaker 1: became commotion, became agitated, and howled. Stones and logs of
• 2:24:16
  Speaker 1: wood went flying through the air. Fists that were beating.
• 2:24:20
  Speaker 1: Somebody appeared above the heads the crowd, like a living,
• 2:24:24
  Speaker 1: roaring wave, lifted me up, carried me along several steps,
• 2:24:28
  Speaker 1: and threw me violently against a fence, then carried me
• 2:24:31
  Speaker 1: back and away somewhere, and at last pressed me against
• 2:24:34
  Speaker 1: a high pile of wood that inclined forwards, threatening to
• 2:24:39
  Speaker 1: fall down upon somebody's head. Something crackled and rattled against
• 2:24:43
  Speaker 1: the beams in rapid, dry succession an instant stillness, and
• 2:24:48
  Speaker 1: again a roar burst forth, enormous, open mouthed, terrible in
• 2:24:52
  Speaker 1: its overwhelming power. And then the dry, rapid crackling was
• 2:24:57
  Speaker 1: heard again, and somebody fell down near me, with the
• 2:25:00
  Speaker 1: blood flowing out of a red hole whereas I had been.
• 2:25:04
  Speaker 1: And a heavy log of wood came whirling through the
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 1: air and struck me in the face. And I fell
• 2:25:09
  Speaker 1: down and began crawling whither I knew, not amidst the
• 2:25:12
  Speaker 1: trampling feet, and came to an open space. Then I
• 2:25:16
  Speaker 1: climbed over some fences, breaking all my nails, clambered up
• 2:25:20
  Speaker 1: piles of wood. One pile fell to pieces under me,
• 2:25:23
  Speaker 1: and I fell amidst a cataract of thumping logs. At
• 2:25:27
  Speaker 1: last I succeeded with difficulty in getting out of a
• 2:25:30
  Speaker 1: closed in space, while behind me all crashed, roared, howled,
• 2:25:34
  Speaker 1: and crackled, trying to overtake me. A bell was ringing somewhere.
• 2:25:40
  Speaker 1: Something fell with a thundering crash, as if it were
• 2:25:42
  Speaker 1: a five story house. The twilight seemed to have stopped still,
• 2:25:48
  Speaker 1: keeping back the night, and the roar and shots, as
• 2:25:51
  Speaker 1: if steeped in red, had driven away the darkness. Jumping
• 2:25:55
  Speaker 1: over the last fence, I found myself in a narrow,
• 2:25:58
  Speaker 1: crooked lane resembling a cord between two obscure walls, and
• 2:26:03
  Speaker 1: began running. I ran for a long time, but the
• 2:26:06
  Speaker 1: lane seemed to have no outlet. It was terminated by
• 2:26:11
  Speaker 1: a wall, behind which piles of wood and scaffolding rose
• 2:26:16
  Speaker 1: up black against the sky. And again I climbed over
• 2:26:20
  Speaker 1: the mobile shifting piles, falling into pits where all was
• 2:26:24
  Speaker 1: still and smelt of damp wood, getting out of them
• 2:26:28
  Speaker 1: again into the open, not daring to look back, for
• 2:26:30
  Speaker 1: I knew quite well what was happening by the dull,
• 2:26:33
  Speaker 1: reddish color that tinged the black beams and made them
• 2:26:35
  Speaker 1: look like murdered giants. My smashed face had stopped bleeding
• 2:26:40
  Speaker 1: and felt numbed and strange, like a mask of plaster,
• 2:26:44
  Speaker 1: and the pain had almost quite disappeared. I believe I
• 2:26:48
  Speaker 1: fainted and lost consciousness in worn of the black holes
• 2:26:50
  Speaker 1: into which I had fallen, but I am not certain
• 2:26:53
  Speaker 1: whether I only imagined it or was it really so,
• 2:26:57
  Speaker 1: as I can only remember myself running. I rushed about
• 2:27:01
  Speaker 1: the unfamiliar streets they had no lamps, past the black
• 2:27:04
  Speaker 1: deathlike houses for a long time, unable to find my
• 2:27:08
  Speaker 1: way out of the dumb labyrinth. I ought to have
• 2:27:11
  Speaker 1: stopped and looked around me to define the necessary direction,
• 2:27:15
  Speaker 1: but it was impossible to do so. The still distant
• 2:27:19
  Speaker 1: din and howl was following at my heels and gradually
• 2:27:22
  Speaker 1: overtaking me. Sometimes at a sudden turning, it struck me
• 2:27:26
  Speaker 1: in the face, red and enveloped in clouds of livid,
• 2:27:30
  Speaker 1: curling smoke. And then I turned back and rushed on
• 2:27:34
  Speaker 1: until it was at my back once more. At one corner,
• 2:27:38
  Speaker 1: I saw a strip of light, then disappeared at my approach.
• 2:27:42
  Speaker 1: It was a shop that was being hastily closed. I
• 2:27:46
  Speaker 1: caught a glimpse of the counter and a barrel through
• 2:27:48
  Speaker 1: a wide chink, but suddenly all became enveloped in a silent,
• 2:27:53
  Speaker 1: crouching gloom. Not far from the shop, I met a
• 2:27:57
  Speaker 1: man who was running towards me, and we almost collided
• 2:28:01
  Speaker 1: in the darkness, stopping short at the distance of two
• 2:28:04
  Speaker 1: steps from each other. I do not know who he was.
• 2:28:10
  Speaker 1: I only saw the dark alert outline. Are you coming
• 2:28:14
  Speaker 1: from over there? He asked, yes? And where are you running? To? Home? Ah? Home?
• 2:28:25
  Speaker 1: He was silent for an instant, and suddenly flung himself
• 2:28:28
  Speaker 1: upon me, trying to bring me to the ground, and
• 2:28:30
  Speaker 1: his cold fingers searched hungrily for my throat, but got
• 2:28:34
  Speaker 1: entangled in my clothes. I bit his hand, loosen to
• 2:28:37
  Speaker 1: myself from his grip, and set off running through the
• 2:28:39
  Speaker 1: deserted streets with him after me, stamping loudly with his
• 2:28:43
  Speaker 1: boots for a long time. Then he stopped. I suppose
• 2:28:48
  Speaker 1: the bite hurt him. I do not know how I
• 2:28:51
  Speaker 1: hit upon my street. It had no lamps either, and
• 2:28:54
  Speaker 1: the houses had not a single light, as if they
• 2:28:56
  Speaker 1: were dead. And I would have run past with out
• 2:29:00
  Speaker 1: recognizing it, if I had not, by chance lifted my
• 2:29:03
  Speaker 1: eyes and seen my house. But I hesitated for some time.
• 2:29:09
  Speaker 1: The house in which I had lived for so many
• 2:29:10
  Speaker 1: years seemed to me unfamiliar in that strange, dead street,
• 2:29:15
  Speaker 1: and which my loud breathing awakened an extraordinary and mournful echo.
• 2:29:20
  Speaker 1: Then I was seized by a sudden wild terror at
• 2:29:22
  Speaker 1: the thought that I had lost my key when I fell,
• 2:29:25
  Speaker 1: and I found it with difficulty, although it was there
• 2:29:27
  Speaker 1: all the time in the pocket of my coat. And
• 2:29:31
  Speaker 1: when I turned the lock, the echo repeated. The sounds
• 2:29:33
  Speaker 1: so loudly and extraordinarily, as if all the doors of
• 2:29:37
  Speaker 1: those dead houses and the whole street had opened simultaneously.
• 2:29:42
  Speaker 1: At first, I hid myself in the cellar, but it
• 2:29:46
  Speaker 1: was terrible and dull down there, and something began darting
• 2:29:50
  Speaker 1: before my eyes. So I quietly stole into the rooms,
• 2:29:55
  Speaker 1: groping my way in the dark. I locked all the doors,
• 2:29:57
  Speaker 1: and after a short meditation, decided a barricade with the furniture.
• 2:30:02
  Speaker 1: But the sound of the furniture being moved was terribly
• 2:30:05
  Speaker 1: loud in the empty rooms, and terrified me. I shall
• 2:30:10
  Speaker 1: await death. Thus it's all the same. I decided. There
• 2:30:15
  Speaker 1: was some water, very warm water, in the water jug,
• 2:30:19
  Speaker 1: and I washed my face in the dark and wiped
• 2:30:21
  Speaker 1: it with a sheet. The parts that were smashed galled
• 2:30:25
  Speaker 1: and smarted much, and I felt a desire to look
• 2:30:28
  Speaker 1: at myself in the looking glass. I lit a match,
• 2:30:33
  Speaker 1: and in its uneven faint light, there glanced at me
• 2:30:36
  Speaker 1: from out of the darkness something so hideous and terrible
• 2:30:40
  Speaker 1: that I hastily threw the match upon the floor. I
• 2:30:44
  Speaker 1: believe my nose was broken. It makes no difference, now,
• 2:30:49
  Speaker 1: said I to myself. Nobody will mind. And I felt gay,
• 2:30:55
  Speaker 1: with strange grimaces and contortions of the body, as if
• 2:30:58
  Speaker 1: I were personating a thief on the stage. I went
• 2:31:01
  Speaker 1: into the larder and began searching for food. I clearly
• 2:31:05
  Speaker 1: saw the unsuitableness of all my grimaces, but it pleased
• 2:31:09
  Speaker 1: me so and I ate with the same contortions, pretending
• 2:31:12
  Speaker 1: that I was very hungry. But the darkness and quiet
• 2:31:16
  Speaker 1: frightened me. I opened the window into the yard and
• 2:31:19
  Speaker 1: began listening. At first, probably as the traffic had ceased,
• 2:31:23
  Speaker 1: all seemed to me to be quite still, and I
• 2:31:26
  Speaker 1: heard no shots. But soon I clearly distinguished a distant
• 2:31:30
  Speaker 1: din of voices, shouts, the crash of something falling, a laugh.
• 2:31:37
  Speaker 1: The sounds grew louder perceptibly. I looked at the sky.
• 2:31:43
  Speaker 1: It was livid and sweeping past rapidly, and the coach
• 2:31:48
  Speaker 1: house opposite me and the paving of the streets, and
• 2:31:51
  Speaker 1: the dog's kennel all were tinged with the same reddish glare.
• 2:31:57
  Speaker 1: I called the dog softly, Neptune, but nothing stirred in
• 2:32:03
  Speaker 1: the kennel, and near it I distinguished in the livid
• 2:32:06
  Speaker 1: light a shining piece of broken chain. The distant cries
• 2:32:10
  Speaker 1: and noise of something falling kept on growing, and I
• 2:32:13
  Speaker 1: shut the window. They are coming here, I said to myself,
• 2:32:18
  Speaker 1: and began looking for some place to hide myself. I
• 2:32:22
  Speaker 1: opened at the stoves, fumbled at the grate, opened the cupboards.
• 2:32:27
  Speaker 1: They would not do. I made the round of all
• 2:32:30
  Speaker 1: the rooms, excepting the study, into which I did not
• 2:32:32
  Speaker 1: want to look. I knew he was sitting in his
• 2:32:36
  Speaker 1: arm chair at his table heaped with books, and this
• 2:32:40
  Speaker 1: was unpleasant to me at that moment. Gradually it began
• 2:32:44
  Speaker 1: to appear that I was not alone. Around me, people
• 2:32:47
  Speaker 1: were silent, moving about in the darkness. They almost touched me,
• 2:32:52
  Speaker 1: and once somebody's breath sent a cold chill through the
• 2:32:55
  Speaker 1: back of my head. Who is there? I asked a whisper,
• 2:33:00
  Speaker 1: but nobody answered, and when I moved on, they followed me,
• 2:33:04
  Speaker 1: silent and terrible. I knew that it was only a
• 2:33:08
  Speaker 1: hallucination because I was ill and apparently feverish. But I
• 2:33:12
  Speaker 1: could not conquer my fear, from which I was trembling
• 2:33:15
  Speaker 1: all over as if I had the ague. I felt
• 2:33:19
  Speaker 1: my head. It was hot, as if on fire. I
• 2:33:23
  Speaker 1: had better go there, said I to myself. He is
• 2:33:27
  Speaker 1: one of my own people, after all. He was sitting
• 2:33:30
  Speaker 1: in his armchair at his table heaped with books, and
• 2:33:34
  Speaker 1: did not disappear as he did the last time, but
• 2:33:36
  Speaker 1: remained seated. The reddish light was making its way through
• 2:33:40
  Speaker 1: the red drawn curtains into the room, but did not
• 2:33:43
  Speaker 1: light up anything, and he was scarcely visible. I sat
• 2:33:47
  Speaker 1: down at a distance from him on the couch and waited.
• 2:33:51
  Speaker 1: All was still in the room, while from outside, the
• 2:33:54
  Speaker 1: even buzzing noise, the crashing of something falling, and disjointed
• 2:33:58
  Speaker 1: cries were borne in a us and they were nearing us.
• 2:34:04
  Speaker 1: The livid light became brighter and brighter, and I could
• 2:34:07
  Speaker 1: distinguish him in his armchair, his black iron like profile
• 2:34:12
  Speaker 1: outlined by a narrow stripe of red, brother, I said,
• 2:34:18
  Speaker 1: but it kept silence, immobile and black, like a monument.
• 2:34:24
  Speaker 1: A board cracked in the next room, and suddenly all
• 2:34:26
  Speaker 1: became so extraordinarily still, as it is when there are
• 2:34:30
  Speaker 1: many dead. All the sounds died away, and the livid
• 2:34:34
  Speaker 1: light itself assumed a scarcely perceptible shade of deathliness and stillness,
• 2:34:39
  Speaker 1: and became motionless and a little dim. I thought the
• 2:34:44
  Speaker 1: stillness was coming from my brother, and told him so, No,
• 2:34:49
  Speaker 1: it is not from me, he answered, look out of
• 2:34:52
  Speaker 1: the window. I pulled the curtains aside and staggered back.
• 2:34:58
  Speaker 1: So that's what it is, said, I call my wife.
• 2:35:03
  Speaker 1: She has not seen that yet, ordered my brother. She
• 2:35:07
  Speaker 1: was sitting in the dining room sewing something, and seeing
• 2:35:10
  Speaker 1: my face, rose obediently, stuck her needle into her work,
• 2:35:14
  Speaker 1: and followed me. I pulled back the curtains from all
• 2:35:16
  Speaker 1: the windows, and the livid light flowed and through the
• 2:35:19
  Speaker 1: broad openings unhindered, but somehow did not make the room
• 2:35:23
  Speaker 1: any lighter. It was just as dark, and only the
• 2:35:27
  Speaker 1: big red squares of the windows burned brightly. We went
• 2:35:31
  Speaker 1: up to the window before the house. There stretched an
• 2:35:34
  Speaker 1: even fiery red sky without a single cloud, star or sun,
• 2:35:40
  Speaker 1: and ended at the horizon, while below it lay just
• 2:35:44
  Speaker 1: such an even dark red field, and it was covered
• 2:35:48
  Speaker 1: with dead bodies. All the corpses were naked and lay
• 2:35:53
  Speaker 1: with their legs towards us, so that we could only
• 2:35:55
  Speaker 1: see their feet and triangular heads, and all was still.
• 2:36:00
  Speaker 1: Apparently they were all dead, and there were no wounded
• 2:36:04
  Speaker 1: left behind in that endless field. Their numbers growing, said
• 2:36:09
  Speaker 1: my brother. He was standing at the window also, and
• 2:36:13
  Speaker 1: all were there, my mother, sister, and everybody that lived
• 2:36:16
  Speaker 1: in the house. I could not distinguish their faces, and
• 2:36:20
  Speaker 1: could recognize them only by their voices. It only seems so,
• 2:36:26
  Speaker 1: said my sister. No, it's true. Just look, and truly
• 2:36:32
  Speaker 1: there seemed to be more bodies. We looked attentively for
• 2:36:35
  Speaker 1: the reason, and found it. At the side of a corpse,
• 2:36:39
  Speaker 1: where there was a free space, A fresh corpse suddenly appeared.
• 2:36:43
  Speaker 1: Apparently the earth was throwing them up, and all the
• 2:36:47
  Speaker 1: unoccupied spaces filled rapidly, and the earth grew lighter from
• 2:36:51
  Speaker 1: the light pink bodies that were lying side by side
• 2:36:54
  Speaker 1: with their feet towards us, and the room grew lighter,
• 2:36:59
  Speaker 1: filled with a light, pink, dead light. Look, there's not
• 2:37:05
  Speaker 1: enough room for them, said my brother, and my mother answered,
• 2:37:09
  Speaker 1: there is one here already. We looked round behind us
• 2:37:14
  Speaker 1: on the floor lay a naked like pink body, with
• 2:37:16
  Speaker 1: its head thrown back, and instantly at its side there
• 2:37:20
  Speaker 1: appeared a second and a third, and the earth threw
• 2:37:24
  Speaker 1: them up, one after the other, and soon the orderly
• 2:37:28
  Speaker 1: rows of light pink dead bodies filled all the rooms.
• 2:37:33
  Speaker 1: They are in the nursery, too, said the nurse. I
• 2:37:37
  Speaker 1: saw them. We must go away, said my sister. But
• 2:37:43
  Speaker 1: we cannot pass, said my brother. Look, and sure enough
• 2:37:49
  Speaker 1: they were lying close together, arm to arm, and their
• 2:37:53
  Speaker 1: naked feet were touching us. And suddenly they stirred and
• 2:37:57
  Speaker 1: swayed and rose up in the same orderly. The earth
• 2:38:01
  Speaker 1: was throwing up new bodies, and they were lifting the
• 2:38:05
  Speaker 1: first ones upwards. They will smother us, said I. Let
• 2:38:11
  Speaker 1: us save ourselves through the window. We cannot, cried my brother,
• 2:38:16
  Speaker 1: We cannot look. What is there behind the window, in
• 2:38:21
  Speaker 1: a livid, motionless light stood The Red Laugh. End of
• 2:38:28
  Speaker 1: section nine. End of The Red Laugh by Leon and
• 2:38:34
  Speaker 1: Andrea