Daniil Kharms, p.8
THE LYNCHING
Petrov mounts his horse and makes, addressing a crowd, a speech about what would happen if an American skyscraper were built on the site of a public garden. The crowd listens, obviously in agreement. Petrov makes a few notes in his journal. A man of average height emerges from the crowd and demands to know what Petrov just wrote. Petrov answers that it is his own business. The man of average height insists. Some heated words are exchanged, and a melee ensues. The crowd takes the side of the man of average height, and Petrov, fearing for his life, spurs his horse and disappears around the bend. The crowd is in the state of unrest, and, not having its intended victim, sets upon the man of average height and tears off his head. The torn off head rolls away and lodges in the drainage hole. The crowd, having satisfied its passions, disperses.
(translation by Roman Turovsky)
Petrov mounts his horse and makes, addressing a crowd, a speech about what would happen if an American skyscraper were built on the site of a public garden. The crowd listens, obviously in agreement. Petrov makes a few notes in his journal. A man of average height emerges from the crowd and demands to know what Petrov just wrote. Petrov answers that it is his own business. The man of average height insists. Some heated words are exchanged, and a melee ensues. The crowd takes the side of the man of average height, and Petrov, fearing for his life, spurs his horse and disappears around the bend. The crowd is in the state of unrest, and, not having its intended victim, sets upon the man of average height and tears off his head. The torn off head rolls away and lodges in the drainage hole. The crowd, having satisfied its passions, disperses.
(translation by Roman Turovsky)