The Lottery Ticket by Anton Chekhov -  Short Story - Full Audiobook - video Dailymotion

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🔥  ➡️   The Lottery Ticket by Anton Chekhov -  Short Story - Full Audiobook  Written in 1887, The Lottery Ticket by Anton Chekhov tells the tale of Ivan Dmitritch and his wife, who mistakenly believe they have won the lottery.   https://quizlit.org/the-lottery-ticket-by-anton-chekhov  🔔 Subscribe for more just like this:     BOOKS FEATURED IN THIS SHORT  The Greatest Short Stories of Anton Chekhov https://amzn.to/47BjWzt  ↑ Links listed above are amazon affiliate links ↑  CHAT WITH QUIZLIT! =============================== 🛠️ - QUIZLIT CUSTOMER SUPPORT: support@quizlit.org FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/quizlitbooks X  https://twitter.com/Stephen48437445 IG: https://www.instagram.com/quizlitbooks/ PIN - https://www.pinterest.co.uk/QuizlitBooks/ SUBSTACK https://substack.com/@quizlitbooks THREADS @quizlitbooks  #podcast #audiobook #antonchekhov #shortstory #booktok #read #books #booktube #book #fiction #literature #reading #listen #shortstories  Narrated by Phil Griffiths, courtesy of Librivox

Transcript

00:00Ivan Dmitrich, a middle-class man, who lived with his family on an income of twelve hundred a year and was very well satisfied with his lot, sat down on the sofa after supper and began reading the newspaper.

00:14I forgot to look at the newspaper today, his wife said to him as she cleared the table. Look and see whether the list of drawings is there. Yes, it is, said Ivan Dmitrich, but hasn't your ticket lapsed? No, I took the interest on Tuesday. What is the number?

00:35Series 9499, number 26. All right, we will look. 9499 and 26.

00:46Ivan Dmitrich had no faith in lottery luck, and would not, as a rule, have consented to look at the lists of winning numbers. But now, as he had nothing else to do, and as the newspaper was before his eyes,

00:59he passed his finger downwards, along the column of numbers, and immediately, as though in mockery of his scepticism, no further than the second line from the top, his eye was caught by the figure 9499.

01:11Unable to believe his eyes, he hurriedly dropped the paper on his knees, without looking to see the number of the ticket. And, just as though someone had given him a douche of cold water, he felt an agreeable chill in the pit of the stomach, tingling and terrible and sweet.

01:29Masha, 9499 is there, he said, in a hollow voice.

01:35His wife looked at his astonished and panic-stricken face, and realized that he was not joking.

01:439499? she asked, turning pale and dropping the folded tablecloth on the table.

01:50Yes, yes, it really is there.

01:53And the number of the ticket?

01:55Oh, yes, there's the number of the ticket, too.

01:59But stay, wait, no, I say.

02:02Anyway, the number of our series is there.

02:04Anyway, you understand?

02:06Looking at his wife, Ivan Dmitrich gave a broad, senseless smile, like a baby when a bright object is shown it.

02:15His wife smiled, too.

02:17It was as pleasant to her as to him that he only mentioned the series,

02:21and did not try to find out the number of the winning ticket.

02:26To torment and tantalize oneself with hopes of possible fortune is so sweet, so thrilling.

02:32It is our series, said Ivan Dmitrich, after a long silence.

02:39So, there is a probability that we have won.

02:42It's only a probability, but there it is.

02:45Well, now look.

02:48Wait a little.

02:49We have plenty of time to be disappointed.

02:51It's on the second line from the top, so the prize is 75,000.

02:58That's not money, but power, capital.

03:03And in a minute I shall look at the list, and there, 26, eh?

03:07I say, what if we really have won?

03:10The husband and wife began laughing, and staring at one another in silence.

03:16The possibility of winning bewildered them.

03:19They could not have said, could not have dreamed what they both needed the 75,000 for.

03:25What they would buy, where they would go.

03:29They thought only of the figures 9,499 and 75,000, and pictured them in their imagination.

03:36Well, somehow, they could not think of the happiness itself which was so possible.

03:43Ivan Dmitrich, holding the paper in his hand, walked several times from corner to corner,

03:49and only when he had recovered from the first impression, began dreaming a little.

03:54And if we have won, he said, why, it will be a new life.

03:59It will be a transformation.

04:00The ticket is yours, but if it were mine, I should first of all, of course,

04:07spend 25,000 on real property, in the shape of an estate,

04:1210,000 on immediate expenses, new furnishings, travelling, paying debts and so on.

04:19The other 40,000 I would put in the bank and get interest on it.

04:24Yes, an estate, that would be nice, said his wife, sitting down and dropping her hands in her lap.

04:33Somewhere in the Tula or Oriel provinces.

04:36In the first place, we shouldn't need a summer villa.

04:39And besides, it would always bring in an income.

04:43And pictures came crowding on his imagination,

04:46each more gracious and poetical than the last.

04:49And in all these pictures, he saw himself well-fed, serene, healthy, felt warm, even hot.

04:57Here, after eating a summer soup, cold as ice,

05:00he lay on his back on the burning sand, close to a stream,

05:04or in the garden under a lime tree.

05:07Ah, it is hot.

05:08His little boy and girl are crawling about near him,

05:12digging in the sand or catching ladybirds in the grass.

05:15He dozes sweetly, thinking of nothing,

05:19and feeling all over that he need not go to the office today, tomorrow, or the day after.

05:26Or, tired of lying still, he goes to the hay-field,

05:30or to the forest for mushrooms,

05:32or watches the peasants catching fish with a net.

05:35When the sun sets, he takes a towel and soap,

05:38and saunters to the bathing-shed,

05:40where he undresses at his leisure,

05:42slowly rubs his bare chest with his hands,

05:45and goes into the water.

05:48And in the water, near the opaque, soapy circles,

05:51little fish flit to and fro,

05:54and green water-weeds nod their heads.

05:57After bathing there is tea with cream and milk-rolls,

06:01in the evening a walk or vint with the neighbours.

06:03Yes, it would be nice to buy an estate, said his wife, also dreaming,

06:10and from her face it was evident that she was enchanted by her thoughts.

06:16Ivan Dmitrich pictured to himself autumn,

06:19with its rains, its cold evenings, and its St. Martin's summer.

06:24At that season he would have to take longer walks about the garden,

06:28and beside the river,

06:29so as to get thoroughly chilled,

06:31and then drink a big glass of vodka,

06:33and eat a salted mushroom,

06:35or a soused cucumber,

06:36and then drink another.

06:39The children would come running from the kitchen garden,

06:41bringing a carrot and a radish,

06:43smelling of fresh earth,

06:45and then he would lie stretched full length on the sofa,

06:49and in leisurely fashion,

06:51turn over the pages of some illustrated magazine,

06:54or, covering his face with it,

06:56and unbuttoning his waistcoat,

06:58give himself up to slumber.

06:59The St. Martin's summer is followed by cloudy, gloomy weather.

07:06It rains day and night.

07:08The bare trees weep.

07:09The wind is damp and cold.

07:12The dogs, the horses, the fowls,

07:14all are wet, depressed, downcast.

07:18There is nowhere to walk.

07:19One can't go out for days together.

07:22One has to pace up and down the room,

07:24looking despondently at the grey window.

07:26It is dreary.

07:30Ivan Dmitrich stopped and looked at his wife.

07:33I should go abroad, you know, Masha, he said,

07:36and he began thinking how nice it would be in late autumn

07:40to go abroad somewhere,

07:41to the south of France,

07:43to Italy,

07:44to India.

07:46I should certainly go abroad too,

07:49his wife said.

07:50But look at the number of the ticket.

07:53Wait, wait.

07:54He walked about the room,

07:57and went on thinking.

07:59It occurred to him,

08:00what if his wife really did go abroad?

08:03It is pleasant to travel alone,

08:05or in the society of light, careless women,

08:08who live in the present,

08:09and not such as think and talk

08:11all the journey about nothing but their children,

08:13sigh and tremble with dismay

08:15over every farthing.

08:18Ivan Dmitrich imagined his wife

08:20in the train with a multitude of parcels,

08:22baskets, and bags.

08:24She would be sighing over something,

08:27complaining that the train made her head ache,

08:29that she had spent so much money.

08:32At the stations,

08:33he would continually be having to run

08:35for boiling water,

08:36bread, and butter.

08:38She wouldn't have dinner

08:39because of its being too dear.

08:41She would begrudge me

08:43every farthing,

08:45he thought,

08:45with a glance at his wife.

08:47The lottery ticket is hers,

08:49not mine.

08:51Besides,

08:51what is the use of her going abroad?

08:54What does she want there?

08:56She would shut herself up in the hotel,

08:58and not let me out of her sight,

09:00I know.

09:01And for the first time in his life,

09:03his mind dwelt on the fact

09:05that his wife had grown elderly and plain,

09:07and that she was saturated

09:09through and through

09:10with the smell of cooking,

09:12while he was still young,

09:13fresh and healthy,

09:14and might well have got married again.

09:18Of course,

09:19all that is silly nonsense,

09:20he thought.

09:21But,

09:22why should she go abroad?

09:24What would she make of it?

09:26And yet she would go,

09:27of course.

09:28I can fancy,

09:30in reality,

09:31it is all one to her,

09:32whether it is Naples or Klyn.

09:33She would only be in my way.

09:35I should be dependent upon her.

09:37I can fancy how,

09:39like a regular woman,

09:41she will lock the money up

09:42as soon as she gets it.

09:43She will hide it from me.

09:45She will look after her relations

09:47and grudge me every farthing.

09:49Ivan Dmitrich thought of her relations.

09:52All those wretched brothers

09:53and sisters and aunts and uncles

09:56would come crawling about

09:57as soon as they heard

09:58of the winning ticket.

10:00Would begin whining like beggars,

10:03and fawning upon them

10:04with oily, hypocritical smiles.

10:07Wretched, detestable people.

10:09If they were given anything,

10:10they would ask for more,

10:12while,

10:13if they were refused,

10:14they would swear at them,

10:15slander them,

10:16and wish them

10:17every kind of misfortune.

10:21Ivan Dmitrich remembered

10:22his own relations

10:23and their faces,

10:25at which he had looked

10:26impartially in the past,

10:28struck him now

10:29as repulsive

10:30and hateful.

10:31They are such reptiles,

10:33he thought.

10:34And his wife's face, too,

10:36struck him as repulsive

10:37and hateful.

10:38Anger surged up in his heart

10:40against her,

10:41and he thought malignantly.

10:43She knows nothing about money,

10:46and so she is stingy.

10:48If she won it,

10:49she would give me

10:49a hundred roubles

10:50and put the rest away

10:51under lock and key.

10:53And he looked at his wife,

10:55not with a smile now,

10:56but with hatred.

10:58She glanced at him, too,

11:00and also with hatred

11:02and anger.

11:04She had her own daydreams,

11:06her own plans,

11:07her own reflections.

11:09She understood perfectly well

11:11what her husband's dream were.

11:13She knew who would be

11:15the first to try

11:15and grab her winnings.

11:18It's very nice

11:20making daydreams

11:21at other people's expense,

11:22is what her eyes expressed.

11:25No, don't you dare.

11:27Her husband

11:28understood her look.

11:30Hatred began stirring

11:31again in his breast,

11:33and in order to annoy his wife,

11:35he glanced quickly,

11:37to spite her,

11:38at the fourth page

11:38on the newspaper,

11:40and read out triumphantly,

11:41Series 9499,

11:43number 46,

11:44not 26.

11:47Hatred and hope

11:48both disappeared at once,

11:50and it began immediately

11:52to seem to Ivan Dmitrich

11:54and his wife

11:55that their rooms

11:56were dark

11:57and small

11:57and low-pitched,

11:59that the supper

12:00they had been eating

12:01was not doing them good,

12:03but lying heavily

12:05on their stomachs,

12:06that the evenings

12:08were long

12:08and wearisome.

12:09What the devil's

12:11the meaning of it?

12:13said Ivan Dmitrich,

12:14beginning to be ill-humoured.

12:16Wherever one steps,

12:17there are bits of paper

12:18under one's feet,

12:20crumbs,

12:21husks.

12:22The rooms

12:23are never swept.

12:24One is simply

12:25forced to go out.

12:27Damnation!

12:28Take my soul entirely!

12:29I should go

12:30and hang myself

12:31on the first

12:32aspen tree!

12:32The End

12:35of the Lottery Ticket

12:36by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

12:38is a very good

The Lottery Ticket by Anton Chekhov - Short Story - Full Audiobook

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