Read "The Horse-Thieves" by Aleksandr Kuprin online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
". Over at the roadhouse I saw a pair of horses tied to a post," Kozel was saying in a doleful singsong. "The moment I looked at the wagon I knew that they were German horses. The colonists always use wagons like that. And they were a fine pair of horses! My heart almost stopped beating when I saw them. And I know something about horses. There they were standing as if their feet were grown into the ground, and their little ears all standing up, and they were looking at me like two beasts. You can't say that they were very large, would not call them very good just by looking at them either, but I knew immediately what kind of horses they were. You could drive a pair like that for a hundred versts and nothing would happen to them. Just brush their mouths with hay, give them a little water, and go on with your journey. Well, what's the use of talking! I'll say one thing. If God himself, or some saint, would come to me now and say: ‘Look here, Onisim, I will give you back your fingers, if you will promise never to steal horses again,. ' I'll tell you, Buzyga, if I saw those horses, I would take them. May God punish me if I wouldn't."
"So, what happened? " interrupted Buzyga.