The war against emu in australia. Australia: The Great War with Emu. War in Transnistria

Lihar v. France. In 1883, the small Spanish village of Lichar found it outrageous to insult the Spanish king during his stay in France. The mayor of Lihar, with the support of three hundred inhabitants, declared war on France on behalf of his village. Over the nearly 100-year history of the "conflict" not a single shot has been fired.

The "Oak Bucket War" took place in medieval Italy in 1325. Two cities, Bologna and Modena, have long been at enmity, but the kidnapping of a brand new oak bucket from the city well, committed by a deserter from Bologna to Modena, was the last straw. The war was marked by the only battle in which the Bolognese lost and were left without a bucket.

The Paraguayan War from 1864 to 1870 went down in history as one of the bloodiest wars due to the ambitions of the ruler. The President of the Republic, Francisco Solano Lopez, was a great admirer of Napoleon, while not possessing high war skills. Paraguay declared war on Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay - and suffered a terrible defeat, losing 300 thousand people, about 90% of the male population.

"The War of the Stray Dog" was nicknamed the 1925 conflict between Greece and Bulgaria, who had fought against each other before during the First World War. According to rumors, a Greek soldier chased a stray dog fed by him and was shot by Bulgarian border guards. In response, Greece sent troops into Bulgaria, and she filed a complaint against her with the League of Nations.

The Aroostook War took place between the United States and Britain in 1838-1839, during a dispute between the two countries over the border between the United States and Canada. Direct armed conflict was avoided thanks to diplomacy, but several soldiers died from illness and accidents.

The Pig War is another confrontation between the United States and the British Empire in 1859 on the disputed San Juan Islands. A British farmer shot and killed a pig owned by an Irish man living on American soil. The dispute that broke out almost spilled over into a military conflict, but everything was resolved peacefully.

The Three Hundred and Thirty-Five Years War is officially recognized as one of the longest and least bloody wars in the history of mankind. It "passed" between the Netherlands and the Scilly archipelago within Great Britain, began in 1651 and ended in 1986. It was just that at some point the fact of the declaration of war was completely forgotten, coming to their senses three centuries later.

The "football war" broke out for four days in 1969 between El Salvador and Honduras, following the defeat of the Honduran team in the qualifying matches of the World Cup. The losses on both sides amounted to about five thousand people, the peace treaty was signed only ten years later.

The War for Jenkins' Ear was fought between England and Spain from 1739 to 1742. Formally, it began because of the severed ear of the English captain Robert Jenkins as a symbol of the aggression of the Spanish soldiers against the English seafarers. The ear was thoroughly alcoholized and presented in parliament.

The war with the emu, which happened in Australia in 1932, claims to be the most stupid military operation of all. The emus were devoured by the crops of Australian farmers, and they called for the help of soldiers with machine guns. We managed to shoot several hundred birds ... out of twenty thousand. The problem remained unresolved, and the farmers had to come to terms.

Wars over stray dogs, pigs and emus, oak buckets and football matches. Wars without a drop of blood and with many thousands of casualties. What to do, wars are in the blood of humanity ...

No casualties. One of these unusual conflicts was the "war" between the emu and the Australian army, which took place in the first half of the last century.

Although the event was not so large-scale, it left its mark on the history of the fifth continent, receiving the name "The Great War of the Emu".

Clipping from a 1932 Australian newspaper. Photo: trove.nla.gov.au

Despite the victorious reports of the Australian army, the war can be considered lost - the soldiers failed to fulfill their goals and inflict significant damage on the emu population.

Background to the conflict

After World War I, 5,830 British veterans and Australian soldiers were given land on the fifth continent to grow wheat and raise sheep.

Emus, which are also called "Australian ostriches". Photo: medium.com

After the start of the Great Depression, in the 30s, the government asked farmers to expand crops, promising all kinds of assistance and subsidies. However, purchase prices continued to fall, and by the time farmers began harvesting, another attack was added - the emu.

The birds migrated in search of food, and the wheat fields were quite appealing to them. There were so many of them that farmers could not cope with them.

The birds broke through the fences with which the farmers used to fence the crops, eat and trample the crops. In the second wave, rabbits seeped behind them and complete the disaster.

We need machine guns

Farmers could not cope with the hordes of birds on their own, and then the veterans remembered such an effective tool as machine guns that the Australian military had.

Photo: williammaloney.com

The veterans were received personally by the Minister of Defense of Australia, Sir George Pearce, who promised assistance.

Practice shooting and help farmers, and at the same time raise the image of the Ministry of Defense. Why not? To preserve the events in history, a cameraman from Fox Movietone studio was even invited.

Forces of the parties

On the one hand - 20 thousand determined and hungry emus, on the other - one major from the seventh heavy battery of the Royal Australian Artillery Forces, several soldiers, two Lews machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

Photo: army.gov.au

Large numbers, high speed (up to 50 km / h) of movement, good eyesight and organization played on the side of the emu.

The military counted on the stupidity of the enemy, their excellent training, the availability of small arms and tactical training. The war seemed to them almost a merry trip to the shooting range.

"Sir, they're scattering."

The machine gun is an excellent weapon against the advancing infantry, a real death machine, but it is unlikely that the creators planned to use it against the emu.

On November 2, 1932, a group of 50 emus was spotted by the military. Seeing the military, the huge birds dispersed and did not allow the soldiers to approach them at a distance of less than a kilometer.

Photo: news.com.au

It was ineffective to fire from a machine gun at single targets, and the emu did not even think about advancing, scattering every time the machine gunners tried to get closer.

As a result, everything that happened was more like a comedy show: military men with heavy machine guns ran under the scorching sun, cursing heavy pieces of iron and feathered sprinters.

Later, one of the recruits said:

Emu are not as stupid as they seem. They are divided into groups, each of which is controlled by an experienced leader who monitors the situation. At the first suspicion of danger, he gives a conventional sign, and immediately dozens of heads are thrown upwards, which closely follow what is happening. In the event of a real threat, the birds scatter. And the leader watches over all members of the group until they are safe.

Minus one machine gun, a truck and someone's fence

On the second day, Major Meredith decided to teach the feathered opponents a hard lesson and ordered an ambush. The fighters under the scorching sun waited patiently for nearly a thousand emus to catch up with the ambush site.

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Another minute, and a lead wave would have swept the emu, but after the first shots one of the machine guns jammed, and the birds scattered. There are 10-12 emus left on the battlefield.

Photo: pickeringbrookheritagegroup.com

The major ordered a pursuit. Of course, it was unrealistic for the fighters to catch up with the emu, so it was decided to install a machine gun on the truck. But the idea turned out to be a failure - the ostriches ran faster than cars on rough terrain, and it turned out to be impossible to conduct aimed fire from a constantly jumping truck.

On top of that, the carcass of the slain emu got hit by the wheels, jammed the steering, and the truck took down half of someone's fence.

Bulletproof birds

Subsequently, the fighting lasted with varying degrees of success. On November 8, 1932, the military reported on the destruction of about 200 emus, for which 2500 rounds were spent - 25% of the ammunition allocated to the unit.

Photo: radiostudent.si

In the same month, another 40 Australian ostriches were eliminated. Subsequently, in order to smooth the situation, the military reported weekly about the destruction of at least a hundred ostriches, but the birds did not stop their raids.

The military department considered that about 10 bullets go to one bird, which is completely unprofitable. Later, in his defense, Major Meredith noted the unique "bullet resistance" of ostriches:

“If we had units that are as insensitive to bullets as these ostriches, then we could withstand the onslaught of any army in the world. They can counter automatic weapons with the invulnerability of tanks. Emus are like the Zulus, who could not be stopped even by dum-dum bullets. "

The military was recalled, and the emu formally won the campaign, continuing to destroy the crops. Subsequently, the region's farmers again requested military assistance in 1934, 1943 and 1948, but their requests were rejected by the government.

The farmers were asked to solve the problem themselves, because the army in the battle with huge birds turned out to be stunningly ineffective.

THE GREAT WAR WITH EMU. (not mine)
Why don’t talk about the Australians, but the kenguryatniki know how to have fun. Recently I came across a funny picture called "War with Emu" and decided to find out who these cute birds got so bad that they decided to declare war, but it was like this ...
After World War I, Australian soldiers return home. Quite a large part of the veterans decide to settle down and live a quiet and calm life of a farmer, but that was not the case. It was 1929, the scene of Western Australia, the Great Depression began, and the government promised to help farmers with subsidies to grow wheat, the prices of which were falling sharply. Having received guarantees from the state, proud kenguryatniks increase the sown area, but they do not wait for the promised help. But the most interesting is yet to come. Attracted by the mouthwatering crops, cleared land and water, the region is overrun with a horde of Emu ostriches (about 20,000). In addition to destroying crops, ostriches break through the barriers that the rabbit then uses, finally turning farm life into a nightmare. Farmers ask for help from the Secretary of Defense - Seru George Pearce, who agrees to help with the condition of cost sharing (the government allocates: soldiers, weapons, transport, and farmers themselves provide their own food, accommodation and ammunition payments). Under the command of Major Meredith, two soldiers, armed with Lewis machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition, arrive in the region. Agreeing to help farmers, Pearce planned to draw attention to the problems of agriculture in the western regions, and of course to promote himself to his beloved. A reporter was included in the fighter brigade to cover all events.
Finally, on November 2, 1932, after almost a month's delay due to the onset of rains, a grandiose military operation began. Voynushka somehow did not work out right away. On November 2, near the town of Campion, a flock of 50 birds was seen, soldiers and settlers decided to lure the ostriches into an ambush, but due to the agility and speed of the birds, they were able to kill only a few. On November 4, Meredith sets up an ambush near a local dam, where about 1000 feathered beasts fall, but the jammed machine gun allows only 12 of them to be killed. In the future, despite all the efforts, the hunters have only limited success. The major freaked out, even bolts the machine gun to the truck, chasing the dashingly flying feathered creatures. By November 8, the government decides that it is time to stop this booth and recalls the soldiers with machine guns. The first stage of the war ends, tactical victory for the feathered horde. Having spent about 2500 cartridges, the soldiers killed only about 50 birds, according to various sources, the number of losses of ostriches ranged from 200 to 500, but they were not confirmed. Australian casualties were 0 (amazing!). The press added fuel to the fire, reducing the enemy's losses to several individuals. Meanwhile, the Emu undertook a new offensive. Citing the heat and drought caused by the invasion, farmers are again asking for help. James Mitchell, Prime Minister of Western Australia on November 12 assigns an armed detachment to fight the enemy, along with old Meredith (you see, there was a lot of stress with machine gunners in Australia). On November 13, a grandiose battle took place in which the ostrich horde is losing about 40 fighters, by December 2 the losses increase to about 100 per week. On December 10, Meredith was again recalled for a report in which he reports the destruction of 986 ostriches, taking into account the consumed 9860 cartridges, an average of 10 bullets went to one enemy. It was also indicated about the loss of 2500 ostriches from wounds.
The operation, despite some success, ended in complete failure. The destruction of Emu did not save the farmers from raids, and they repeatedly asked the government for help in 1934, 1943 and 48, but all requests were denied. Where the army and machine guns did not help, the banal thirst for profit coped. The introduced system of rewards for self-shooting of invaders turned out to be effective. For 6 months of 1934, 57,034 Emu were exterminated. The protracted war ended, the Minister of Defense received the well-deserved title "Minister of War with Emu", and the veterans told their grandchildren for a long time about their exploits, showing rich trophies.

In 1932, Australia started a war with the emu (if anyone does not know, these are such large Australian birds that look like ostriches), which went down in history under the name “The Great War with the Emu”. During a serious military operation, it turned out that machine guns were ineffective in the fight against birds.

After World War I, large numbers of former Australian military personnel - along with a number of British veterans who had relocated to the continent - began farming in Western Australia, often in remote areas, establishing agricultural farms there and growing wheat. With the outbreak of the Great Depression in 1929, these farmers were asked to increase their wheat acreage by the Australian government, and a promise was made from the government - eventually never fulfilled - to help them with subsidies. Despite the recommendations and the promise of subsidies, wheat prices continued to fall, and by October 1932 the issue was particularly acute; farmers began to prepare for the harvest while threatening to refuse wheat supplies.

The hardships facing farmers have grown even more as some 20,000 emus migrate to the region. Emus migrate regularly after the breeding season, heading towards the coast from the inland regions of Australia. With cleared land there and the additional water supply created to supply livestock by Western Australian farmers, the emus regarded the cultivated land as good habitats and began raiding farmland, particularly farmland in the remote lands around Campion and Valgoolan. Emus were eaten and spoiled by crops, also leaving large holes in the fences they broke, through which rabbits could enter, exacerbating crop losses.

Farmers raised concerns about the dangers of bird raids devastating their fields, and a deputation of former soldiers was sent to meet with the Secretary of Defense, Sir George Pearce. The settler soldiers who served during the First World War were well aware of the effectiveness of machine guns and asked to use this weapon in the fight against emu. The minister readily agreed, albeit with a number of conditions. So, the weapons that would be used by the military, and all their transport had to be financed by the government of Western Australia, just as farmers had to provide their own food, accommodation, payment for ammunition. Pierce also supported the use of army units on the grounds that shooting birds would be good shooting practice, although he also argued that some in the government may have seen this as a way to draw attention to Western Australian farmers to help them, and to To achieve this goal, a cameraman from Fox Movietone was even invited to film the event.

The Ministry of Defense sent a group of soldiers armed with Lewis machine guns to fight the aggressor. The settler soldiers who served during the First World War were well aware of the effectiveness of the machine guns and sent a delegation to the Secretary of Defense, Sir George Pearce, with a request to use these weapons in the fight against Emu. The minister gave the go-ahead.

Fighting was to begin in October 1932 under the command of Major Meredith of the 7th Heavy Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery Forces: Meredith commanded two soldiers armed with two Lewis machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

First attack

On November 2, the soldiers arrived at Campion, where about 50 Emus were seen. Since the birds were out of reach of the machine guns, the local settlers tried to lure the Emu flock into an ambush, but the birds split into small groups and fled at such a speed that it was difficult to aim at them. However, although the firing of machine guns was ineffective due to the large distance from the targets, the soldiers were able to kill a number of birds.

The next important event was November 4th. Meredith ambushed a local dam where a flock of over 1000 Emus was seen. This time, the gunners waited for the birds to come closer before opening fire. However, the machine gun misfired after killing only twelve birds and the rest had time to scatter before the soldiers could resume firing.

In the days that followed, Meredith decided to move further south, where the birds were, according to farmers, "quite tame," but despite his efforts, the results were marginal. Meredith even made an attempt to install one of the machine guns on the truck, but the idea was ineffective, since the truck could not keep up with the ostriches, and the shooter could not aim normally.

In the first six days of the war, a total of 2,500 rounds were spent. The exact number of birds killed is unknown: one report lists only 50 birds, others - from 200 to 500. In the official report, Major Meredith reported, among other things, that his squad did not suffer losses.

On November 8, due to the negative assessment of the military campaign by the local media, which wrote that "only a few" of Emu had been killed, George Pearce recalled the troops. In his commentary to the press, Major Meredith compared the Emu to the Zulus and emphasized the amazing maneuverability of these ostriches, even when they are badly injured.

Second attack

After the military left, Emu's attacks on the wheat fields continued. James Mitchell, Prime Minister of Western Australia, has organized strong support for the resumption of military aid to farmers. On November 12, the Secretary of Defense redeployed an armed detachment under the command of Major Meredith to destroy Emu. Having resumed hostilities on November 13, 1932, the military achieved some success, destroying about 100 emus per week. Meredith was recalled on December 10. In his report, the major said that his detachment had committed 986 murders and 9860 shots, that is, 10 bullets were required for one ostrich.

Epilogue

Military aid did not solve Emu's problems. Farmers in the region filed complaints again in 1934, 1943 and 1948, but their requests were rejected by the government. Instead, the system of "incentives" for self-destruction of ostriches was renewed, which appeared back in 1923, and it turned out to be effective - within six months in 1934, 57,034 ostriches were destroyed.

sources

http://warfiles.ru/show-31923-velikaya-voyna-emu.html

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%BE%D0%B9%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D1%81_%D1%8D%D0%BC%D1%83

http://justklikk.com/index/straus-jemu/

Taken

Which gave the press the opportunity to call this incident "The War with the Emu."

Background

The hardships facing farmers have grown even more as some 20,000 emus migrate to the region. Emus migrate regularly after the breeding season, heading towards the coast from the inland regions of Australia. With cleared land there and the additional water supply created to supply livestock by Western Australian farmers, the emus regarded the cultivated land as good habitats and began raiding farmland, particularly farmland in the remote lands around Campion and Valgoolan. Emu was eaten and spoiled by crops, also leaving large holes in the fences they broke, through which rabbits could enter, exacerbating crop losses.

Farmers raised concerns about the dangers of bird raids devastating their fields, and a deputation of former soldiers was sent to meet with the Secretary of Defense, Sir George Pearce. The settler soldiers who served during the First World War were well aware of the effectiveness of machine guns and asked to use these weapons in the fight against emu. The minister readily agreed, albeit with a number of conditions. So, the weapons that would be used by the military, and all their transport had to be financed by the government of Western Australia, just as farmers had to provide their own food, accommodation, payment for ammunition. Pierce also supported the use of army units on the grounds that shooting birds would be good shooting practice, although he also argued that some in the government may have seen this as a way to draw attention to Western Australian farmers to help them, and to To achieve this goal, a Fox Movietone cinematographer was even hired to film the event.

War

"Combat operations" were supposed to begin in October 1932. The "war" was fought under the command of Major Meredith of the 7th Heavy Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery Forces: Meredith commanded two soldiers, armed with two Lewis machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition. The operation, however, was delayed due to a period of rainfall, which caused the emu to disperse over a wider area. The rain ended on November 2, 1932, at which point troops were deployed with orders to help farmers and, according to the author of one of the newspaper reports, collect 100 emu skins, as their feathers could be used to make hats for soldiers of the Australian light cavalry ...

First attack

On November 2, the soldiers arrived at Campion, where about 50 emus were seen. Since the birds were out of reach of machine guns, local settlers tried to lure the flock of emus into an ambush, but the birds split into small groups and fled so that it was difficult to aim at them. However, while the first machine gun firing was ineffective due to the long range of targets, the second burst of shots killed “some” of the birds. Later that day, a small flock of emus was discovered and perhaps dozens of birds were killed.

The next important event was November 4th. Meredith ambushed a local dam and over 1,000 emus were seen heading towards his position. This time, the gunners waited for the birds to come close before opening fire. The machine gun, however, broke down after killing only twelve birds, and the rest fled before they could be killed. No other birds were seen that day.

In the days that followed, Meredith decided to move further south, where the birds "seemed to be quite tame," but had only limited success despite his efforts. At one stage, Meredith even went so far as to install one of the machine guns on the truck, a move that proved ineffective as the truck was unable to keep up with the birds and the ride was so rough that the shooter could not fire a single shot. ... By November 8, six days after the first "battle", 2,500 rounds of ammunition had been used up. The number of birds killed is unknown: one report reports only 50 birds, but other reports say numbers in the range from 200 to 500 - the last figure indicated by the settlers. Meredith's official report stated, among other things, that no casualties were sustained by his men.

On November 8, deputies in the Australian House of Representatives discussed the operation. Following negative local media coverage, which also said that "only a few" emus were killed, Pierce withdrew the troops and machine guns from November 8.

After withdrawing the soldiers, Major Meredith compared the emus to the Zulus and commented on the emus' amazing maneuverability, even when they were badly injured.

Second attack

After the withdrawal of the military, emu attacks on wheat fields continued. Farmers again asked for help, citing the heat and drought that led to the invasion of thousands of emus on their farms. James Mitchell, Prime Minister of Western Australia, has organized strong support for the resumption of military aid. In addition, a report from the commander of the operation indicated that about 300 emus were killed at the start of the operation.

Acting in response to requests from farmers and a report from the commander of the operation, the Minister of Defense deployed an armed detachment on November 12 to renew efforts to eradicate emu. He defended this decision in the Senate, explaining why soldiers were needed to combat a serious agricultural threat posed by large numbers of emus. Although the military agreed to provide weapons to the Western Australian government in the hope that they would find the right people to use them, Meredith was sent back to the "battlefield" due to the apparent lack of experienced machine gunners in the state.

By accepting the "battle" on November 13, 1932, the military achieved some success during the first two days, killing approximately 40 emus. The third day, November 15, proved to be much less successful, but by December 2, the guns were destroying about 100 emus per week. Meredith was recalled on December 10, and in his report, he claimed that 986 murders were committed with 9860 bursts of shots, that is, it took more than 10 bullets to kill each emu (one burst is more than one shot). In addition, Meredith claimed that 2,500 of the injured birds died as a result of the injuries they received.

Effects

The mass destruction of the emu did not solve the problem with them. Farmers in the region again requested military assistance in 1934, 1943 and 1948, but their requests were rejected by the government. Instead, the system of "incentives" for self-destruction of emu was activated, which appeared in 1923 and developed in the forties, and it turned out to be effective: 57,034 "incentives" were received within six months in 1934.

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Excerpt from the War with the Emu

“For a dear friend, seven miles is not a suburb,” said Prince Vasily, as always, quickly, self-confidently and familiarly. - Here is my second, please love and favor.
Prince Nikolai Andreevich looked around Anatol. - Well done, well done! - he said, - well, come kiss, - and he offered him a cheek.
Anatol kissed the old man and looked at him curiously and completely calmly, expecting whether the eccentric promised by his father would soon come from him.
Prince Nikolai Andreevich sat down in his usual place in the corner of the sofa, pulled up a chair for Prince Vasily, pointed at him and began to ask about political affairs and news. He listened, as if with attention, to the story of Prince Vasily, but he constantly looked at Princess Marya.
- So they write from Potsdam? - he repeated the last words of Prince Vasily and suddenly, getting up, went up to his daughter.
- You cleaned up for the guests like that, huh? - he said. - Good, very good. You have a new haircut in front of the guests, and I tell you in front of the guests that you don’t dare change your clothes ahead without my asking.
“It’s me, mon pire, [father] is to blame,” the little princess interceded, blushing.
- You have complete freedom with, - said Prince Nikolai Andreevich, bowing to his daughter-in-law, - and she has nothing to disfigure herself - and so bad.
And he sat down again, not paying more attention to the tearful daughter.
“On the contrary, this hairstyle suits the princess very well,” said Prince Vasily.
- Well, father, young prince, what is his name? - said Prince Nikolai Andreevich, referring to Anatoly, - come here, let's talk, get to know each other.
“That's when the fun begins,” thought Anatole, and with a smile sat down with the old prince.
- Well, here's what: you, my dear, they say, were brought up abroad. Not like the sexton taught me and your father to read and write. Tell me, my dear, do you now serve in the Horse Guards? - asked the old man, looking closely and intently at Anatole.
- No, I went into the army, - Anatole answered, barely restraining himself from laughing.
- A! good deal. Well, do you want, my dear, to serve the king and the fatherland? War time. It is necessary to serve such a fellow, to serve. Well, at the front?
- No, prince. Our regiment set out. And I'm on the list. What do I have to do with, dad? - Anatole turned with a laugh to his father.
- Serves gloriously, gloriously. What do I have to do with! Ha ha ha! - Prince Nikolai Andreevich laughed.
And Anatole laughed even louder. Suddenly Prince Nikolai Andreevich frowned.
“Well, go,” he said to Anatol.
Anatole with a smile approached the ladies again.
- After all, you brought them up there abroad, Prince Vasily? A? - the old prince turned to Prince Vasily.
- I did what I could; and I'll tell you that the upbringing there is much better than ours.
- Yes, now everything is different, everything is new. Good fellow! well done! Well, come to me.
He took Prince Vasily by the arm and led him into the study.
Prince Vasily, left alone with the prince, immediately announced his desire and hopes to him.
“What do you think,” said the old prince angrily, “that I am holding her, that I cannot part? Imagine yourself! He said angrily. - I’m even tomorrow! I'll just tell you that I want to know my son-in-law better. You know my rules: everything is open! Tomorrow I'll ask you in front of you: if she wants, then let him live. Let him live, I'll see. The prince snorted.
“Let it come out, I don’t care,” he shouted in that piercing voice with which he shouted at parting with his son.
“I'll tell you straight,” said Prince Vasily in the tone of a cunning man, convinced of the uselessness of cunning before the discernment of his interlocutor. - You can see right through people. Anatole is not a genius, but an honest, kind fellow, a wonderful son and dear one.
- Well, well, well, we'll see.
As it always happens for single women who have lived for a long time without a male company, when Anatol appeared, all three women in the house of Prince Nikolai Andreevich equally felt that their life was not life before that time. The power to think, feel, observe instantly multiplied tenfold in all of them, and, as if they were still happening in darkness, their life suddenly lit up with a new light full of meaning.
Princess Marya did not think at all and did not remember her face and hair. The beautiful, open face of a man who might be her husband absorbed all her attention. He seemed to her to be kind, brave, decisive, courageous and generous. She was convinced of this. Thousands of dreams of a future family life constantly arose in her imagination. She drove them away and tried to hide them.
“But am I not too cold with him? - thought Princess Marya. - I try to restrain myself, because deep down I feel too close to him; but he doesn't know all that I think about him, and he can imagine that he is unpleasant to me. "
And Princess Marya tried and did not know how to be nice to the new guest. “La pauvre fille! Elle est diablement laide ”, [Poor girl, she is devilishly ugly,] Anatole thought about her.
M lle Bourienne, also cocked by the arrival of Anatole to a high degree of excitement, thought in a different way. Of course, a beautiful young girl without a certain position in the world, without family and friends and even a homeland did not think to devote her life to the services of Prince Nikolai Andreevich, reading books to him and friendship for Princess Marya. M lle Bourienne had long awaited that Russian prince who would immediately be able to appreciate her superiority over the Russian, bad, badly dressed, awkward princesses, fall in love with her and take her away; and this Russian prince finally arrived. M lle Bourienne had a story she heard from her aunt, finished by herself, which she liked to repeat in her imagination. It was a story about how a seduced girl introduced herself to her poor mother, sa pauvre mere, and reproached her for giving herself up to a man without marriage. M lle Bourienne often moved to tears, in her imagination telling him, the seducer, this story. Now this he, the real Russian prince, has appeared. He will take her away, then ma pauvre mere will appear, and he will marry her. This is how m lle Bourienne’s head was shaping up her whole future history, at the very time she was talking to him about Paris. It was not the calculations that guided m lle Bourienne (she did not even think for a minute about what to do), but all this had long been ready in her and now only grouped around the appeared Anatole, whom she wished and tried to please as much as possible.
The little princess, like an old regimental horse, hearing the sound of a trumpet, unconsciously and forgetting her position, prepared herself for the usual gallop of coquetry, without any ulterior motive or struggle, but with naive, frivolous gaiety.
Despite the fact that Anatole in women's society usually put himself in the position of a man who was tired of women running after him, he felt a vain pleasure seeing his influence on these three women. In addition, he began to feel for the pretty and defiant Bourienne that passionate, brutal feeling that came to him with extreme speed and prompted him to the most rude and daring actions.
After tea, the company moved to the sofa, and the princess was asked to play the clavichord. Anatole leaned his elbows in front of her beside m lle Bourienne, and his eyes, laughing and rejoicing, looked at Princess Marya. Princess Marya felt his gaze on her with painful and joyful excitement. Her beloved sonata carried her into the most sincerely poetic world, and the look she felt on herself gave this world even greater poetry. But Anatole's gaze, although he was fixed on her, did not refer to her, but to the movements of m lle Bourienne's leg, which at that time he was touching with his foot under the piano. M lle Bourienne also looked at the princess, and in her beautiful eyes there was also a new expression of frightened joy and hope for Princess Marya.
“How she loves me! - thought Princess Marya. - How happy I am now and how can I be happy with such a friend and such a husband! Really a husband? " she thought, not daring to look at his face, feeling the same gaze fixed on herself.