It was in the tenth of July. I lay down to rest after a successful hunt for black grouse, when Yermolai came in and informed me that we had run out of shots. He offered to send him for a shot to Tula, which was 45 miles from us. Yermolai could not ride my horses - the root man limped, but the horses could be taken from a local peasant, whom Yermolai called "stupid from stupid." While Yermolai went after him, I decided to go to Tula myself. I had little hope for Yermolai, who could return in a few days without money, fractions and horses. In addition, in Tula, I could buy a new horse.

A quarter of an hour later, Yermolai brought a tall, blond-haired and blind-eyed man with a red beard, a long chubby nose and open mouth. His name was Philotheus. Having agreed with Filofei to pay 20 rubles, we set off. My faithful servant Yermolai, offended that I did not let him into Tula, did not even say goodbye to me.

On the way, I fell asleep. A strange gurgle woke me. I looked up and saw that a water surface stretched around the tarantass, and Filofei was sitting motionless in front of the goats. It turned out that Philotheus was a little mistaken, missed the ford, and now he was waiting for the root man to show where to go. Finally, the horse stirred, and we safely left the river. Soon I fell asleep again.

Philotheus woke me up. This time the tarantass stood in the middle of the big road. Filofei said: “Knocking! .. Knocking!”. And for sure, in the distance there was an intermittent clatter of wheels. Filofei explained that they were “playing pranks” under Tula, and these could be robbers. After half an hour, the sounds became closer, the whistle and rattling of bells were already heard. I suddenly became convinced that unkind people were coming for us.

After 20 minutes we were caught up. I ordered Philotheus to stop - it was still impossible to escape. Immediately a large cart pulled by a trio overtook us and blocked the road. There were 6 people in the cart, all drunk. The cart was ruled by a giant in a short fur coat. They rode in step, we followed them. They did not allow us to bypass the cart. Ahead, in the hollow above the stream, there was a bridge. According to Filofei, it was there that they were going to rob us.

Suddenly the three with a hoot rushed, and, galloping to the bridge, stopped at the side of the road. When we caught up with the cart, a giant jumped from it - and right to us. Putting his hands on the door and grinning, the giant with a tongue twister said that they were coming from a fun wedding, and asked for money for the sober. I gave him two rubles. He grabbed the money, jumped on the cart, and only we saw them.

Philofei and I did not immediately come to our senses. Approaching Tula, we saw a familiar cart at the tavern and hastily drove past. That evening, we returned to the village of Filofei, and I told Yermolai about what had happened. Two days later, he informed me that the night we were driving to Tula, they robbed and killed a merchant on the same road. Is it not from this "wedding" that our daredevils returned? I stayed in this village for 5 days, and each time I met Philotheus, I said to him: “Huh? knocking? ”