Teffi: Odessa: carrying coal on one's back?

[Hugh MCLEAN]

Dear Robert,
I would vote for option 2, weight securely on the back, I've carried stuff
that way, but not, I think, baskets.
Hugh​


On Fri, Aug 15, 2014 at 1:03 PM, Robert Chandler <kcf19 at dial.pipex.com>
wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> This is still March 1919.  The Whites are leaving Odessa.  Teffi is on a
> rather poorly equipped parokhod, still in the harbour.  They have no coal,
> but there is a coal freighter nearby.  The passengers are going to have to
> help bring the coal on board themselves.  The sentence I do not understand
> is the very last one: “Naden’te ikh na spinu.”  Does this mean
> 1. that the passengers will be walking upright, carrying baskets of coal
> on their shoulders
> OR
> 2. that they will be leaning a long way forward, hands behind their backs
> to keep these baskets in position.
> ?
>
> Буксир подтащил нас к угольщику, и было объявлено всем, всем, всем:
> —  Должны сами грузить на «Шилку» уголь. Рабочих на угольщике нет,
> на пароходе команды нет. Если хотите, чтобы пароход двинулся, —
> грузите уголь.
> —  Неужели… все должны работать?
> —  А то как же, — был ответ.
> ……..
> Палуба быстро наполнялась выстраивающимися в ряды пассажирами.
> — Сейчас вам раздадут корзины.* Наденьте их на спину.*
>
> All the best, and thanks in advance!
>
> Robert
>
>
> Robert Chandler, 42 Milson Road, London, W14 OLD
>
>
>
>
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