The next dream, richly elaborated and pungently told, might be described as a 'sociable' one; it ends with the wife's being dirtied. Its points of agreement with the previous dream are, however, quite striking. The peasant is, it is true, not dead, {cont}

but he finds himself in Heaven, wants to return to earth and experiences the same difficulty over 'spinning' a sufficiently long thread to let himself down on. However, he does not make this thread for himself as a spider out of his own body, {cont}

but in a less fantastic way out of everything that he can fasten together, and as the thread is still not long enough to reach, the little angels actually advise him to shit and to lengthen the rope with the turds. {cont}

THE PEASANT'S ASSUMPTION TO HEAVEN¹
A peasant had the following dream. He had heard that wheat in Heaven was standing at a high price. So he thought he would like to take his wheat there. He loaded his cart, harnessed the horse and set out. {cont}

He journeyed a long way till he saw the road to Heaven and followed it. Thus he came to the gates of Heaven, and look! they stood open. He charged straight forward so as to drive right inside, but he had scarcely headed the cart towards them {cont}

when―crash! the gates banged shut. Then he began to beg: 'Let me in, please be kind!' But the angels did not let him in and said he had come late. Then he saw that there was no business to be done here; there was just nothing for him, and so he turned round. {cont}

But look! the road he had travelled on had vanished. What was he to do? He addressed himself to the angels again. 'Little dears, please be kind and take me back to the earth, if it's possible! give me a road so that I can get home with my horse and cart!' {cont}

But the angels said: 'No, child of man, your horse and cart stay here and you can go down how you please.' 'But how shall I let myself down then, I haven't any rope?' 'Just look for something to let yourself down with.' {cont}

So he took the reins, the bridle and the bit, fastened them all together and began to let himself down. He crawled and he crawled and he looked down―it was still a long way to the earth. He crawled back again and lengthened the rope he had joined together {cont}

by adding the girth and the traces. Then he began to climb down again an it still did not reach the earth. So he fastened on the shafts and the body of the cart. It was still too short. What was he to do next? He racked his brains and then he thought: {cont}

'Ah, I'll lengthen it with my coat and my breeches and my shirt and then with my belt.' And that is what he did, joined everthing together and climbed on. When he had reached the end of the belt it was still a long way to the earth. Then he did not know what to do; {cont}

he had nothing more to fasten on and it was dangerous to jump down: he might break his neck. He begged the angels again: 'Be kind, take me down to the earth!' The angels said: 'Shit, and the muck will make a rope.' So he shat and he shat almost half an hour {cont}

until he had nothing left to shit with. It made a long rope and he climbed down it. He climbed and climbed and reached the end of the rope, but it was still a long way to the earth. Then he began once more to beg the angels to take him down to earth. {cont}

But the angels said: 'Now, child of man, piss and it will make a silken thread.' The peasant pissed and he pissed, on and on, till he could do no more. He saw that it really had turned into a silken thread and he climbed on. He climbed and he climbed {cont}

and he reached the end of it, and look, it did not reach to the earth, it still needed one and a half or two fathoms. He begged the angels again to take him down. But the angels said: 'No, brother, there is no help for you now; just jump down!' {cont}

The peasant dangled undecided; he could not find the courage to jump down. But then he saw that there was no other way out left to him, and bump! instead of jumping down from Heaven he came flying down from the stove and only came to his senses in the middle of the room. {cont}

Then he woke up and shouted: 'Wife, wife, where are you?' His wife woke up, she heard the din and said: 'The Devil take you, have you gone mad?' She felt round about her and saw the mess: her husband had shat and pissed all over her. {cont}

She began to rate and to scold him roundly. The peasant said: 'What are you screaming about? There's vexation enough anyway. The horse is lost, stayed behind in Heaven, and I was almost done for. God be thanked that I am alive at least!' {cont}

'What rubbish you're talking. You've had much too much to drink. The horse is in the stable and you were on the stove, and dirtied me all over and then jumped down.' Then the man collected himself. Only then did it dawn on him that he had merely dreamt it all; {cont}

and then he told his wife the dream, how he had journeyed up to Heaven and how from there he came down to the earth again.
¹ Tarasevsky (1909, 196). (12, 192-193)