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Show RUSSIAN GYPSIES Gypsies have always been discarded [ill-regarded] in Russia, and even to this day their advent is regarded as an ill omen by the Russian peasants. When it is announced in any village that a band of gypsies are about to make their appearance, there is a hurly-burly among the villagers. The men hasten to bring their horses in from the fields where they are grazing; the women put their poultry under cover, and everything that can be stolen is concealed. The gypsy women, who are professional fortune tellers, are treated with consideration on account of the prevailing fear for their power, though they are closely watched. Beside their other evil practices, the gypsy men are charged with setting fire to the houses of their enemies, and the gypsy women are accused of practicing witchcraft. |