An hour after all this hubbub the garret door opened, and Gerasim showed himself. He had on his best coat; he was leading Mumu by a string. All the small boys in the yard stared at him in silence.
He asked for cabbage soup with meat in the cookshop, and sat down with his arms on the table. Mumu stood beside his chair, looking calmly at him with her intelligent eyes. Her coat was glossy; one could see she had just been combed down. He crumbled some bread into it, cut the meat up small, and put the plate on the ground.
Mumu began eating in her usual refined way, her little muzzle daintily held so as scarcely to touch her food. Gerasim gazed a long while at her; two big tears suddenly rolled from his eyes; one fell on the dog’s brow, the other into the soup. He shaded his face with his hand.
Gerasim walked without haste, still holding Mumu by a string. On the half-way he carried away two bricks under his arm.
He turned along the bank, went to a place where there were two little rowing-boats fastened to stakes, and jumped into one of them with Mumu. Gerasim rowed on and on. Moscow was soon left behind.
He threw down his oars, bent his head down to Mumu, who was sitting facing him on a dry cross seat.
At last Gerasim drew himself up hurriedly, with a sort of sick anger in his face, he tied up the bricks he had taken with string, made a running noose, put it round Mumu’s neck, lifted her up over the river, and for the last time looked at her. She watched him confidingly and without any fear, faintly wagging her tail.
He turned away, frowned, and wrung his hands...
Gerasim heard nothing, neither the quick shrill whine of Mumu as she fell, nor the heavy splash of the water; for him the noisiest day was soundless and silent as even the stillest night is not silent to us.
When he opened his eyes again, little wavelets were hurrying over the river, chasing one another; as before they broke against the boat’s side, and only far away behind wide circles moved widening to the bank.
Directly Gerasim had vanished from Eroshka’s sight, the latter returned home and reported what he had seen.“Well, then,” observed Stepan, “he’ll drown her. Now we can feel easy about it. If he once promises a thing ...”
Meanwhile, at that very time, a gigantic figure with a bag on his shoulders and a stick in his hand, was eagerly and persistently stepping out along the road. It was Gerasim.
He was hurrying on without looking round; hurrying homewards, to his own village, to his own country.
He walked, his shoulders thrown back and his chest expanded; his eyes were fixed greedily straight before him.
天将黄昏，哑巴盖拉辛沿着河边慢慢走着。
突然，他发现靠近河岸的泥潭里有一只斑点狗在拼命挣扎，它用力想爬出来，幼小的身子已经湿透，浑身发抖。
盖拉辛用手托起这只不幸的小狗，把它揣在怀里，急急忙忙地往回赶。
他回到自己住的顶楼，把小狗放在床上，用自己的厚大衣把它盖好，先取了一些稻草，又到厨房拿来一杯牛奶。他小心翼翼地展开大衣，铺好稻草，最后把牛奶放在床上。
这只可怜的小狗生下来才3个星期，眼睛刚刚能睁开——一只眼睛好像比另一只大好多，还不知道从杯子里舔牛奶，只是一个劲儿地发抖和眨眼。盖拉辛轻轻地抚摸着小狗的头，把它的嘴巴贴近牛奶。小狗突然嘴馋地舔起来，一面把鼻子伸入牛奶里，一面抖动着小小的身体，有时还让奶呛着了。
整个晚上，盖拉辛一直照顾着它，一次又一次地给它铺稻草，擦干身体，最后他紧挨着小狗睡着了，睡得安静、快活而又香甜。
可以说，世界上无论哪个母亲照顾婴儿，也没有像盖拉辛照顾这个小狗那样仔细。开始它的身体软弱无力，模样也难看，但是它渐渐强壮起来，样子也好看多了。8个月之后，这只小狗就变成了一只非常漂亮的西班牙种狗。它长着一对长耳朵，一条毛茸茸、喇叭似的尾巴和一双晶莹的大眼睛。
这只小狗和盖拉辛结下了不解之缘，彼此相依为命，形影不离。它总是跟在盖拉辛后面，摇着尾巴。盖拉辛给它取了一个名字，叫木木。屋子里其他的仆人也都很喜欢她，叫她木木。
木木聪明伶俐，对谁都很友善，但是它最喜欢的还是盖拉辛。盖拉辛也是如此，如果别人逗木木玩，他就会不高兴，这其中既有替它担心的原因，也有嫉妒的成分——天知道！
每天早上，木木就会扯盖拉辛的衣服，把他弄醒，它和大院里的老马关系也不错，还常常用嘴衔着缰绳，把马带到盖拉辛的身边。
它总爱摆一副神气的派头，陪着盖拉辛到河边去。她还时常为他看护各种劳动工具，绝不允许任何人擅自闯入他的顶楼。
为了方便它出入，盖拉辛在门上开了一个小洞，它也似乎感到唯有在顶楼上，才可以自由自在地当家做主，它一进来就会心满意足地跳到床上。晚上，它似乎从来不睡觉，从来不会无故地乱叫，不像那些愚蠢的家狗一样，坐在自己的后腿上，眨着眼，响着鼻子，迟钝地至少要叫三下才停，不！木木从不神经质地乱叫，除非有什么生人走近围墙，或者听到有可疑的响动。它真是一只了不起的看家狗。
木木从来不进女主人的房间，盖拉辛送木柴到女主人的房中去时，它就会留在外面，在台阶上等着他，只要稍有一点开门的响动，它就会竖起耳朵，把头转来转去。
一个晴朗的夏天，老太太正和客人在客厅里走着。她的兴致很高，有说有笑。当她走到窗前时，一眼就看见木木正忙着啃一块骨头。
“哎呀呀，那是只什么狗呀？”女主人突然惊叫着，“这只小狗倒是怪好玩的，让人把它弄进来吧，让我看看。”
女仆立刻跑到外边大声说：“快来人，把木木弄进来。快点儿呀，斯杰班！”
这时，盖拉辛正在厨房里，敲打着一只水桶里面的污垢，就像儿童玩弄小鼓一样。斯杰班用手势告诉盖拉辛，女主人叫自己把这只狗抓住给她送去。盖拉辛未免有些吃惊，但还是把木木叫过来，亲热地抱起来，把它交给斯杰班。
斯杰班将木木抱到客厅里，轻轻地放在地板上。老太太开始用讨好的声音，叫小狗到她的面前去。
木木从来没有见过如此豪华的房间，因此十分害怕，它向门口冲，试图逃跑，但被想讨好主人的斯杰班站在门口挡住了去路，于是它只好颤抖着缩成一团。
“木木，木木，过来，宝贝，别担心。”女主人叫道，“过来，小傻瓜，别担心。”
但是木木还是局促不安地四处张望，一动也不敢动。斯杰班拿来一碟牛奶，放在木木的面前，但是它不敢靠近，仍然恐惧地四处张望。
“你这个小傻瓜！”女主人伸出手来想摸她的头，没想到，木木突然回过头来，还露出了牙齿。女主人慌忙把手缩了回去。
她发怒了：“把这只不知好歹的狗轰出去，它真是太讨厌了。”
第二天早晨，女主人一反常态地提前一个小时把管家叫了过来。“那只狗整夜汪汪乱叫，还让我睡觉吗？我们不是有一只狗看院子吗？怎么还要这么多的狗呢？哑巴养只狗干吗？谁允许他在院子里养狗的？我昨天就看见那条肮脏的狗，在那里啃什么脏东西，我的玫瑰花就栽在那里啊！今天就把那条狗弄走，听见了吗？”
“是，太太。“于是管家对斯杰班吩咐了几句，斯杰班笑着走了。
一会儿，盖拉辛肩扛一大捆木柴过来了，身边还是跟着形影不离的木木。他走到门口，侧侧身子，走了进去。木木照常在外等候主人。斯杰班就是趁这个机会，突然向木木扑去，像老鹰抓小鸡似的把它摁在草地上，双手抱了起来，连帽子都没来得及戴，一溜烟地跑向家禽市场。在那里，他很快就将木木以1个先令的价钱卖了出去，并叮嘱买主一定将木木拴一周以上。然后他立即返回了。
而可怜的盖拉辛从屋中出来，马上就发现木木不见了。在他的印象中，木木从来都是在屋外等着他的，怎么这次却不见了！于是他四处乱找，那种神情就如同自己的孩子丢了一样。他冲到楼顶，又跑到放干草的地方，还到街上四处张望……
木木不见了！
他向别的仆人打听木木的消息，非常沮丧地用手比画着木木的身高、模样……最后他跑了出去。当他回来的时候，天已经黑了。从他那踉跄的脚步、疲惫不堪的神态和满身的灰尘来看，他可能已经跑遍了半个莫斯科了。
人们望着他的背影，没有人说一句话，也没有人发出笑声。第二天，与他毗邻而居的马车夫安季普卡告诉大家：“哑巴整整一夜都在唉声叹气啊！”
盖拉辛从顶楼出来，已经是第三天早晨了。吃饭的时候，他没和任何人打招呼，本来毫无生气的脸，现在更像一块冷峻的石头了。吃完饭，他又出去了一次，但很快就回到了顶楼。
夜晚，皎洁的月光洒下来，盖拉辛哀伤地躺在草堆上叹气，还不时地翻身。
突然，他感觉有什么东西在扯他的衣服，他吃了一惊，但并没起来看，而是把眼睛闭得更紧了，但是那个东西又扯了他一下，而且比上一次的劲头更大了，盖拉辛惊愕地跳了起来。他清楚地看到，木木在他面前打着转，脖子上还留着一段绳子，面对木木，他那不能说话的胸膛里，长长地发出了一声深沉的欢呼。他万分激动地将木木紧紧搂在怀里，并亲吻它的鼻子和眼睛。之后，他站在那里想了一会儿，又向四处张望了一阵，当确信没有人看见后，才抱起木木回到顶楼上。
