Countess Saltykova knew how to use the whip with great skill, and she had vanity about it.

 

The countess Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova knew how to use the whip with great skill, and she had vanity of that skill. When she received other women of the Russian nobility, in the elegant and well-decorated salons of her palace, she used to show violent whipping sessions.

Her servants brought one young, robust and healthy peasant, undressed and hung him with ropes that came down from the ceiling.

All the guests settled in the armchairs and watched with interest and pleasure as the hundreds of lashes turned the servant into a piece of meat bleeding from all wounds.

The peasant's pleas, crying and screams were part of the fun, entertaining as true music for the audience of guests. The boy's contortions and all the effort to protect himself from the whip's blows were appreciated as a pathetic and fun dance.

Often the whipped guy passed out during the beating, but the countess Saltykova' pleasure and enthusiasm was such that she only stopped whipping when the spilled blood took up much of the floor in the large hall.

Usually the Saltykova personally chose the most beautiful and strongest peasant she found for the beating, but even so many did not survive the beatings. Since she liked to show off the boy's smooth, clear skin before the show, she avoided choosing one that had scars from previous beatings.

Young men were naturally very afraid and did not want to be chosen; however, peasant families were not afraid that their guys would be chosen for cruel beatings. On the contrary, some elders sought only to negotiate well, to obtain the greatest advantages they could in the exchange of one of their young guys. Some were exchanged for horses, oxen, sacks of wheat or vodka.