the story that made the biggest impression on Masha was the one called “Vase.” In it, little Volodya accidentally breaks a vase while frolicking with his brothers and sisters at their aunt’s house. He then lies about it and suffers pangs of conscience until, two or three months later, he makes a tearful confession to his mother, who then gets him absolved by the aunt. The story, ostensibly based on the recollections of Lenin’s older sister, Anna, adds the apparently fictional detail that the other children had been so busy playing that they had not noticed who broke the vase—this serves to
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