One gave another a punch, and a regular fight was imminent, when an old woman, Akulka's grandmother, interposed.

She advanced into the midst of the peasants, and began to argue with them.

"What are you about, my good men?
Is this the season for such things?
We ought to be joyful, but you have brought about a great sin." They paid no heed to the old woman, and almost knocked one another down, and the old woman would not have been able to dissuade them had it not been for Akulka and Malasha.

While the women were wrangling, Akulka wiped off her frock, and went out again to the puddle in the space between the cottages.

She picked up a small stone and began to dig the earth out at the edge of the puddle, so as to let the water out into the street.