1 The cows had been let out into their paddock, and their smooth sides were already shining with their new, sleek, spring coats; they basked in the sunshine and lowed to go to the meadow.
2 The herdsman ran gaily to get ready for the meadow.
3 On reaching the meadow Levin stopped the horse.
4 Sorry as Konstantin Levin was to crush down his mowing grass, he drove him into the meadow.
5 Crossing the meadow, Konstantin Levin came out onto the road, and met an old man with a swollen eye, carrying a skep on his shoulder.
6 He had cut the whole of the meadow in front of his house, and this year ever since the early spring he had cherished a plan for mowing for whole days together with the peasants.
7 But as he drove into the meadow, and recalled the sensations of mowing, he came near deciding that he would go mowing.
8 Gradually, as he rode towards the meadow, the peasants came into sight, some in coats, some in their shirts mowing, one behind another in a long string, swinging their scythes differently.
9 They were mowing slowly over the uneven, low-lying parts of the meadow, where there had been an old dam.
10 The immense stretch of meadow had been mown and was sparkling with a peculiar fresh brilliance, with its lines of already sweet-smelling grass in the slanting rays of the evening sun.
11 They had cut the whole of the big meadow, which had, in the years of serf labor, taken thirty scythes two days to mow.
12 Those who lived near had gone home, while those who came from far were gathered into a group for supper, and to spend the night in the meadow.
13 The peasants who remained for the night in the meadow scarcely slept all the short summer night.
14 Nothing was to be heard but the night sounds of the frogs that never ceased in the marsh, and the horses snorting in the mist that rose over the meadow before the morning.
15 He went out of the meadow and walked along the highroad towards the village.