Teffi - И времени не =?UTF-8?Q?_=D1=81=D1=82=D0=B0=D0=BB=D0=BE_?=- a few queries (batch 1!)

[Anne Marie Jackson]

I would be grateful for your insights into a few queries on Teffi's story 'И времени не стало'.  It was first published in 1949 in Новоселье, and in it Teffi reflects on her life.


Query 1


   У моей кровати цветная занавеска собрана в сборку, просвечивают яркие пунцовые розаны.
 
   The bright-coloured curtain at my bed is gathered up, the light shining through its pattern of scarlet roses.

What exactly does 'собрана в сборку' mean in this context?  




Query 2

There is a cockerel strutting up and down a bench inside (or outside?) the little house that Teffi's character finds herself in.  The little house is one she drew as a little girl, and now in her altered state of mind it has become real to her.  

But are the bench and cockerel inside or outside the little house?  Sometimes it seems to be inside, sometimes outside...  It is winter, as there is snow on the ground - would it have been the practice (in the 1870s, when she was a girl, presumably) to keep domestic fowl in the house?

The cockerel is mentioned several times:

   I

   Вдоль по лавочке ходит петушок. Подошел к окну, загнул головку бочком, заглянул и защелкал коготками. Пошел дальше. 
   Along the bench [outside?] struts the cockerel.  It comes up to the window, tilts its little head to one side and looks in, its claws clicking against the wood.  Then it goes on.  

   II

   Вот тогда у меня и были эти светлые, шелковые волосы. И теперь вдруг такие же. Странно. Нет, что же тут странного? В этом домике, где петушок ходит по лавочке, это так просто. 
   All this was in the days when my hair was bright and silky.  But now all of a sudden it’s like that again.  How strange.  Although, really, what’s so strange about it?  Here in this little house with the cockerel strutting along the bench [inside? outside?], what could be more ordinary?

   III

   ...и приходит из лесу лиса. Подойдет к окошечку и поет. Вы небось никогда не слышали, как лиса поет? Это прямо замечательно. Конечно, не Патти и не Шаляпин, но много интереснее. Ласково поет, фальшиво, прямо завораживает, и тихонько-хихонько, а слышно. А петушок стоит с той стороны на лавочке, гребешок на свету просвечивает малиновым золотом. Стоит в профиль и виду не подает, что слушает. А лиса поет: 
   ...and out from the forest comes a fox.  It comes up to the window and sings.  You’ve probably never heard the way a fox sings?  It’s just extraordinary.  Not like Patti or Chaliapin, of course – but far more entertaining.  It sings in a tender falsetto that’s utterly bewitching; very soft, yet still audible.  And the cockerel’s [on the other side of the window], standing on the bench, its comb like raspberry gold with the light shining through it.  It stands there in profile and pretends not to be listening.  



Query 3

   In III above, the fox is singing:
      
         Ласково поет, фальшиво, 

   Do you understand фальшиво here to mean a falsetto voice, or that the fox's singing is wily and deceptive?  Or both?



Thank you for any suggestions!

Anne Marie Jackson

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------