246 KONST ANTIN SIMONOV

THE CANDLE

\'tiJ[ HE EPISODE 1 want to tell you about took place onthe nineteenth of September, 1944.

Actually Belgrade had already been captured.Only the bridge over the Sava River and a tiny bridgeheadstill remained in German hands.

At dawn on that day five Red Army men decided to steal upto the bridge. They had to cross a small square on which stoodseveral burnt-out tanks and armoured cars, both ours and theenemy's. Not a single tree was left intact: only 'splintered stumpslevelled to a mro:'s height as if by some monstrous hand,

In -the middle of the square our men were overtaken by amortar barrage from the other bank. For half an hour they laythere under fire and finally, when it grew a bit quieter, two menwho were lightly wounded crawled back, dragging along thetwo who were seriously wounded. The fifth lay dead on thesquare.

I know nothing about him except that on the company rollhe was listed as Chekulayev and that he was killed on the morn-ing of the nineteenth in Belgrade, on the bank of the SavaRiver.

The Germans must have 'been alarmed by the attempt of theRed Army men to steal up to the bridge, for after that theirmortars shelled, the square and the adjoining street all day long _with only brief lulls.

The company commander, who had orders to try to reachthe bridge again before dawn on the next day, said that mean-while there was no need to go for Chekulayev's body and thathe would be buried after the bridge was taken.

The Germans continued their fire all through the day, atsunset and at nightfall.

- THE CANDLE 247

At the edge of the square, some distance from the otherhouses, towered a heap of rubble that gave hardly any clue towhat it once might have been. It would not have occurred toanybody that someone might he living there.

Yet in the cellar, under the ruins, lived an old' woman bythe name of Maria Jokich. A gaping black hole half-coveredby bricks led down into the cellar.

She used to live on the second floor in a room left to herafter the death of her husband, the bridge watchman. When thesecond floor was destroyed she moved' to a room on the first.Everybody else left the house. And when the first floor wasdestroyed she moved into the cellar.

The nineteenth was the fourth day she had been living inthe cellar. That morning she had plainly 'seen five Russiansoldiers crawl onto the square, which was separated from heronly by a twisted iron railing. She saw the Germans open fireat them and the mines exploding all around. She even crawledhalfway out of her cellar to invite the Russians in-she was sure itwas less dangerous where she was living-when a mine explodednear the ruins and the old woman, deafened by the blast, fellback, struck her head against' the wall and lost consciousness.

When she recovered and looked out again she saw that onlyone of the five Russians remained on the square. He lay on hisside, one hand thrust out and the other under his head, as if hehad sought a comfortable sleeping position. She called to himseveral times but he did not answer, and she realized that hehad been killed.

The Germans again opened fire and mines continued to burstall over the little square, raising black pillars of earth; thesplinters severed the last branches of the trees. The Russian layalone on -the naked square, his arm under his head, surrounded

·by twisted iron and dead wood.

248 KONSTANTIN SIMONOV

Old lVlaria .Jokich looked at the dead soldier for a long time.She would have liked to tell someone about him but there wasnot a single living creature about. Even the cat which had livedfour days with her in the cellar now lay dead, killed bya bricksplinter during the last explosion. The old woman thought for along time, and then, ruinmaging in her only bundle, she tooksomething out, hid it quickly under her black widow's shawl, andslowly climbed out of the cellar.

She could not crawl, neither could: she run. She simplywalked slowly and unsteadily to the square. When a section ofthe railing that had remairied intact obstructed her progress, shedid not try to climb over it. She was too old for that. She slowlywalked around it, .and entered the square.

The Germans continued to shell the square, but not a singlemine fell near the old woman.

She crossed the square and reached the dead Russian soldier.With an effort she turned him on his back and saw that his facewas young and very pale. She smoothed his hair and with diffi-culty folded his already rigid hands on his breast. Then she satdow~ beside him.

The Germans continued shelling, but as before the mines fellfar away from her.

Thus she sat beside him, perhaps an hour, perhaps two,silent.

It was cold and quiet, very quiet, except for when the minesexploded.

At last the old woman rose. She walked a few steps awayfrom the dead soldier. Soon she found what she was looking for:a large shell hole. It had been made several days before andhad begun to fill with water.

Kneeling in the shell hole, the old woman began to scoopout the water with her hands, She had to stop several times to

l

THE CANDLE 249

rest, but at last there was no more water in the hole. Then theold woman returned to the dead soldier. She took him under thearms and dragged him along.

She had no more than ten paces to go, but she was very old,and three times she had to sit down and rest. Finally shemanaged, to drag him to the hole and let him down into it. Thisexhausted her completely. For a long time, probably an hour,she sat and rested.

The Germans were firing all the time, but their mines con-tinued to fall far away from her.

After she had rested she kneeled: beside him, made the signof the cross over him and kissed him on the lips and on theforehead.

Then she began to cover him slowly with the IDose earthwhich lay so plentiful around the shell hole. Soon she hadcovered him completely. But that did notsatisfy her. She wantedto make a real grave. After another rest she began to scoopup more earth. In a few hours she managed to cover the gravewith a little mound by adding handful after handful of earthto it.

The Germans kept up the shelling, but their mines, as before,fell far away from her.

After making the mound she took out from under her blackwidow's shawl the thing she had taken along from the cellar. Itwas a large wax candle, one of the two bridal candles she hadsaved from her wedding day, forty-five years before.

Rummaging in the pocket of her dress, she found somematches. She set the candle on top of the grave and lit it. Theflame caught easily. The night was calm and the flame rosestraight up, without flickering. After lighting the candle sheremained beside the grave, motionless, with her arms crossed on .her knees under her shawl.

200 KONSTANTIN SIMo.NOV THE CANDLE 251When mines exploded far off, the candle only flickered, but

several times when they feH somewhat closer it went out, andonce it even toppled over, Each time the old woman took out hermatches and patiently relit the candle. )

Dawn was approaching. The candle was half burnt down.Searching about her on the ground, the old woman found aseared, rusty bit of tin and with effort bent it in her old, feeblehands. She then planted it in the earth near the candle, to makea shield against the wind and air waves. This done, she rose,recrossed the square as slowly as she had come, again skirtedthe section of railing which had been left intact, and returnedto her cellar.

Just before 'dawn the company in which Red Army manChekulayev had served crossed the square under heavy mortarfire and captured the bridge.

An hour or two later it was already quite light. Our tankswere following the infantry to the other hank. The battlecontinued on that side, and mines no longer fell on the square.

Then the company commander remembered Chekulayev andsent some soldiers to find him and bury him in a common gravewith the men who had lost their lives in battle that morning.

They searched everywhere for Chekulayev's body-but invain. Suddenly one of the soldiers stopped short at the edge ofthe square and cried out in amazement, calling the others. A fewmore men came up.

"Look," said the Red Army man.Everybody looked at where he was pointing.Near the broken railing a little mound rose over an old shell

hole filled with earth. A candle sheltered by a rusty bit of tinwas sputtering softly on the mound. It was almost burnt out andthe end was gutted with wax, but the tiny flame continued toflicker.

The men beside the grave immediately bared their heads.They stood around the mound silently and watched the dyingcandle. They were too overcome to speak.

Just then a tall, aged woman in a black widow's shawl whomthey had not noticed on the square before, same up. Silentlyshe bent her feeble steps past the Red Army men, kneeled besidethe grave and took out another wax candle from under her shawl.It was exactly like the one which was sputtering its last on themound. Picking up the candle end, she lit the new candle withit and set it in the earth in place of the old one. She had diffi-culty in rising to her feet, and the Red Army man standingnearest gently helped her up.

Even then she said nothing. She only looked at the menstanding there with uncovered heads and bowed low to themwith great dignity. Then, straightening the ends of her blackshawl, she retraced her steps without turning to look either atthe candle or the men.

The Red Army men followed her with their eyes, and talkingsoftly as though loath to disturb the silence, went in' the oppositedirection, toward the bridge across the Sava River, to join theircompany and the fighting. .

On the mound, amidst the powder. blackened earth, amidst thetwisted iron and dead wood, the last possession of a Yugoslavmother-her bridal candle--continued to burn on the grave ofa Russian lad.

And its flame did not die but seemed eternal, as eternal asa mother's tears and a son's bravery.