On Taxes + 

The Bailiff + 

Grushka + 

Bailiff + 

Entering a poor cottage. Nobody is in except Grushka, a little girl of seven. He looks around him. Nobody at home? + 

Grushka + 

Mother has gone to bring home the cow, and Fedka is at work in the master’s yard. + 

Bailiff + 

Well, tell your mother the bailiff called. Tell her I am giving her notice for the third time, and that she must pay her taxes before Sunday without fail, or else I will take her cow. + 

Grushka + 

The cow? Are you a thief? We will not let you take our cow. + 

Bailiff + 

Smiling. What a smart girl, I say! What is your name? + 

Grushka + 

Grushka. + 

Bailiff + 

You are a good girl, Grushka. Now listen. Tell your mother that, although I am not a thief, I will take her cow. + 

Grushka + 

Why will you take our cow if you are not a thief? + 

Bailiff + 

Because what is due must be paid. I shall take the cow for the taxes that are not paid. + 

Grushka + 

What’s that: taxes? + 

Bailiff + 

What a nuisance of a girl! What are taxes? They are money paid by the people by the order of the Tsar. + 

Grushka + 

To whom? + 

Bailiff + 

The Tsar will look after that when the money comes in. + 

Grushka + 

He’s not poor, is he? We are the poor people. The Tsar is rich. Why does he want us to give him money? + 

Bailiff + 

He does not take it for himself. He spends it on us, fools that we are. It all goes to supply our needs⁠—to pay the authorities, the army, the schools. It is for our own good that we pay taxes. + 

Grushka + 

How does it benefit us if our cow is taken away? There’s no good in that. + 

Bailiff + 

You will understand that when you are grown-up. Now, mind you give your mother my message. + 

Grushka + 

I will not repeat all your nonsense to her. You can do whatever you and the Tsar want. And we shall mind our own business. + 

Bailiff + 

What a devil of a girl she will be when she grows up! + 