But when it was stripped and he caught a glimpse of thin, thin little arms and legs saffron-coloured, but with fingers and toes, and even with thumbs distinguishable from the rest; and when he saw how, as though they were soft springs, Mary Vlasevna bent those little arms which stuck up, and encased them in linen garments, he was so filled with pity for that being, and so alarmed lest she should hurt it, that he tried to restrain her hand.
Ma quando lo spogliarono e guizzarono i braccini sottili, i piedini color zafferano, anch’essi coi ditini e perfino con l’alluce che si distingueva dagli altri, e quando vide come Lizaveta Petrovna premeva, quasi fossero morbide molle, quei braccini che si protendevano, rinchiudendoli in panni di tela, gli venne una tale pietà per quell’essere e un tale terrore ch’ella gli facesse male, che la trattenne per un braccio.