The village schoolmaster took us for instructive walks ('what you hear is the sound of a scythe being sharpened' ; 'that field there will be given a rest next season ';'oh, just a small bird...no special name '; 'if that peasant is drunk, it is because he is poor ') 71 Vladimir Nabokov
About This Quote

The village schoolmaster took us for instructive walks. The village schoolmaster took us for instructive walks and he taught us the names of birds. He said: "If you never go out in the countryside, you can't know the names of the birds." I remember how he taught me to spell 'pheasant', and when I had learned it, he took me for a walk. (I was only five.) We went to a field where there were many birds.

One was flying up into the sky; it was called "pheasant". Then we went into a pasture where there were many sheep; one was lying down, and its name was "sheep". We walked on and saw a pig in a pen; one of them was inside and it had already been slaughtered.

When we came to my house again, we heard music coming from my father's house. We went in and found that my father had his phonograph on, and they were singing my mother's song: "My poor young pig, I am going to kill you."

Source: Speak, Memory

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