This is the first and perhaps the most famous book of Gogol. It consists of 8 stories, collected in two volumes. The first was published in 1831, the second in 1832. These hospitable stories are collected and recorded by the hospitable beekeeper Rudy Panko, who arranges the best gatherings on the farm to “amuse and frighten the people”. In this work, you will learn only the main events from the book, since this is a very short summary for the reader's diary. Enjoy reading!
(512 words) It all starts with the "Sorochinskaya Fair", where everyone in fear is waiting for the red scroll. It is said that once the devil squandered all his possessions in a shredder and laid down his red scroll, promising to return for it. But the greedy shinkar lost the damn scroll, and since then it has passed from hand to hand and does not bring happiness to anyone. And the hell every year prowls at the fair.
The following story takes place “On the Eve of Ivan Kupala”. The devil in human guise Basavryuk helps employee Petrus to get money for the wedding. To do this, the couple finds a fern flower and kills the little brother of his beloved Ivas, and then forgets everything that he did. Remembering, the hero kills the witch who helped Basavryuk, and he turns into a handful of ashes.
Another love story with the intervention of evil spirits, only this time a good one, is called May Night, or the Drowned Woman. In it, the young Cossack Levko is in love with the lover Gann, but his father himself intends to get married to her. With the help of the drowned panel, which Levko helps to find her evil stepmother, he takes out a note for his father from the lieutenant forbidding him to marry.
The following story is about the “Missing Letter”, where the old man went with a letter to the Queen. In order not to lose, he sews up a letter in a hat, but the devil steals it. In search of the devil, the grandfather finds himself more often near the fire in the company of evil spirits. They offer him to play foolishness on a thing stolen by a demon. The traveler wins, gets a hat, and, having gained the audacity, demands from the players his horse. The horse was slipped to him by a diabolical one, his grandfather lost control, got hurt and came to his senses on the roof of his hut.
The second volume begins with the story "The Night Before Christmas." The wayward charm Oksana says that she will marry the blacksmith Wakulu only if he brings her the little Queen’s cuttings. Riding a devil, on Christmas night, a man flies to Petersburg and receives from Catherine the Second a little bird. And Oksana, thinking that Vakula is gone, falls in love with him without any shoes.
The story of “Terrible Revenge” tells of the young spouses Danila and Katerina. Once Danilo finds out, the wife’s father is a sorcerer who lives in a terrible castle. In the fight against Poles, the young spouse dies. And Katerina all has terrible dreams with a wizard. Once he himself comes to her, a woman rushes to her parent with a knife and he kills her. Then, on the peaks of the Carpathians appears a gigantic rider with a baby in her arms, which throws the sorcerer into the abyss.
The story about Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and his aunt, the beekeeper-teller wrote down in a notebook, but his wife pulled some sheets away. We only know that since childhood Ivan Fedorovich was timid and diligent. After his mother died, his aunt began to farm him. Once he meets a neighbor Strochenko. And his aunt recalls that the neighboring property was donated to the Shponki by the previous owner. Ivan Fedorovich goes to Strochenko for a gift, but returns with nothing. Then his aunt comes up with a plan to restore the estate, but the reader is not destined to know about it.
The story of the “Enchanted Place” ends the series of stories. She happened to Rudy Panko himself in early childhood. His grandfather during the dance stopped all the time in one place. After, going up to him, the grandfather found himself in a field, where he found a grave with a treasure. I dug it, and the devils appeared immediately, not allowing the old man to pick up the cauldron with wealth. Grandfather escaped violently, and in the boiler there was only garbage.
All the stories told to us by the good beekeeper are united by the themes of the life of the Little Russian hinterland and its characteristic folklore.
