MARKET DAY
I
Well before the crack of dawn a voice booms outside:
“Wake up! Time to go to market!”
Veremiy Vasylevych has rolled up to the schoolhouse with his pair of oxen...
One has to set off early to market, ’cause it’s twenty kilometres away, and one still wants to get there in time to find a good spot, park one’s cart properly and take in all of the day’s events.
Some have already left that evening with their oxen. They graze their cattle along the way to make them nice and plump for market. Then they’ll cost the earth.
“Gee up, my little darlings!”
The little darlings run along, tails swinging, rear passages rumbling, livers, lips and teeth jumping about.
“Gee up! Will you look at her! Just look at her!”
‘She’ is running along the edge of the field, wheat spikes scratching
