(They will do you harm and leave you…)

(short story)

Not listening to her parents, Catherine fell in love with a Muscovite. That led to a “bad reputation” about her in the village, though she did not pay much attention to it. Ivan went on a military campaign and promised the girl to return and marry her.

The girl was having a hard time. She gave birth to her son nine months later. People openly started laughing at her and her parents.

Catherine’s mother scolded the daughter and kicked her out of the house.

Catherine begged her forgiveness. However her bitter tears didn`t convince her mother to change her mind. Then, taking the child, he left the house, saying goodbye to her cozy parental home.

Winter came, and Catherine, who once met a Muscovite, went and asked all passersby about her Ivan, but they said nothing or just laughed at her.

Once, Catherine, being barefoot and poorly dressed, rushed to Ivan. She noticed him at the distance! What a luck! But he drove her away from him. At first, Catherine begged him not to abandon her, then she tried to hire him. Everything was in vain… But at some moment Catherine remembered the face of her baby. These clear and widely opened eyes gave her a hope for a better life. She looked at Ivan in disgust and returned to her child.

Later, Catherine and her baby were sheltered by a forester’s family. They treated her like their own daughter and were kind people. She helped them with the household chores, and they took care of her Ivas’ who grew up as a strong Cossack. He didn’t know about his father, but knew that he was named after him.