Margarita pushed the blind aside and flew into the room.

" I'm scared, " the boy repeated, and started to tremble.

" Now, now, don't be frightened, little one, " said Margarita, trying to soften her criminal's voice, which had been made hoarse by the wind.

The Master and Margarita

" It's just some boys breaking windows."

" With slingshots? " asked the boy, no longer trembling.

" Yes, yes, with slingshots, " affirmed Margarita. " And now go back to sleep! "

" It must be Sitnik, " said the boy, " He's got a slingshot."

" That's right, it's him! "

The boy glanced slyly sideways and queried, " But where are you, auntie? "

" I'm nowhere, " Margarita replied, " You're having a dream."

" That's what I thought, " said the boy.

" Just lie down, " instructed Margarita, " and put your hand under your cheek, and you'll see me in your dream."

" Yes, yes, " agreed the boy. and he lay down at once with his hand under his cheek.

" I'll tell you a fairy tale, " said Margarita, and put her burning hand on top of the boy's close-cropped head. " Once upon a time there was a lady. She had no children, and no happiness either. And at first she cried for a long time, but then she became wicked..." Margarita fell silent, and took her hand away—the boy was sleeping.

Margarita lay the hammer down gently on the windowsill and flew out the window. There was a huge commotion outside the building. People were running up and down the glass-strewn sidewalk, shouting things. Policemen were already on the scene. Suddenly a bell started clanging, and a red fire engine with a ladder rolled into the street from the Arbat...

But what happened next no longer interested Margarita. Taking care not to get entangled in any wires, she grasped her broom more firmly and in a flash she was high above the ill-fated building. The street below slanted off to the side and receded into the depths. Taking its place beneath her feet was a whole tangle of rooftops, crisscrossed by gleaming paths of light. Suddenly the whole mass moved off to the side, and the chains of light blurred and blended.

Margarita gave the broom another upward prod, and the mass of rooftops fell away, replaced by a lake of quivering electric lights. Suddenly this lake rose up vertically, and then appeared above Margarita's head, while the moon shone beneath her feet. Realizing that she had turned a somersault, she resumed her normal position, and when she turned to look, she saw that the lake was no longer there and that in the distance behind her there remained only a rosy glow on the horizon. A second later and it, too, had vanished, and Margarita saw that she was alone with the moon, which was flying above her to her left. Margarita's hair continued to stand up like a haystack, and the moonlight whistled as it washed over her body. Judging by how two rows of widely spaced lights below had merged into two unbroken fiery lines, and by how rapidly they vanished behind her, Margarita surmised that she was traveling at monstrous speed and was amazed that she was not gasping for breath.