Illustration by V. Britvin
After the end of the Vienna Council, Emperor Alexander Pavlovich decides to “travel around Europe and see wonders in different states.” The Don Cossack Platov, who is with him, is not surprised at the “curiosities”, because he knows: in Russia “his own is no worse.”
In the very last cabinet of curiosities, among the “nymphosoria” collected from all over the world, the sovereign buys a flea, which, although small, can “danse” dance. Soon Alexander “got melancholy from military affairs,” and he returned to his homeland, where he died. Nikolai Pavlovich, who ascended the throne, values the flea, but, since he does not like to give in to foreigners, he sends Platov along with the flea to the Tula masters. Three Tula residents volunteer to support Platov “and with him all of Russia.” They go to venerate the icon of St. Nicholas, and then lock themselves in the house of the slanting Lefty, but even after finishing the work, they refuse to give Platov the “secret”, and he has to take Lefty to St. Petersburg.
Nikolai Pavlovich and his daughter Alexandra Timofeevna discover that the “abdominal machine” in the flea does not work. An angry Platov executes and scolds Lefty, but he does not admit to the damage and advises him to look at the flea through the most powerful “small scope”. But the attempt turns out to be unsuccessful, and Lefty orders “to put just one leg under a microscope in detail.” Having done this, the sovereign sees that the flea is “shod on horseshoes.” And Lefty adds that with a better “small scope” one could see that on every horseshoe the “master’s name” is displayed. And he himself forged carnations that were impossible to see.
Platov asks Levsha for forgiveness. The left-hander is washed in the “Tulyanovskie Baths”, shaved and “shaped”, as if he had some kind of “common rank”, and sent to take the flea as a gift to the British. On the road, Lefty eats nothing, “supporting” himself with wine alone, and sings Russian songs throughout Europe. When questioned by the British, he admits: “We haven’t gotten into the sciences, and that’s why the flea no longer dances, only those who are faithful to their fatherland.” Lefty refuses to stay in England, citing his parents and the Russian faith, which is “the most correct.” The English cannot seduce him with anything, then with an offer to marry, which Lefty rejects and speaks disapprovingly of the clothes and thinness of English women. In English factories, Lefty notices that the workers are well-fed, but most of all he is interested in the condition of the old guns.
Soon Lefty begins to feel sad and, despite the approaching storm, boards the ship and without looking away looks towards Russia. The ship goes out into the “Terraline Sea”, and Lefty makes a bet with the skipper who will outdrink whom. They drink until the Riga Dynaminde, and when the captain locks the disputants, they already see devils in the sea. In St. Petersburg, the Englishman is sent to the embassy house, and Lefty is sent to the quarter, where they demand his document, take away his gifts, and then take him in an open sleigh to the hospital, where “everyone of an unknown class is accepted to die.” The next day, the “Aglitsky” half-skipper swallows the “cutta-percha” pill and, after a short search, finds his Russian “comrade”. Lefty wants to say two words to the sovereign, and the Englishman goes to “Count Kleinmichel,” but the half-speaker doesn’t like his words about Lefty: “even though Ovechkin’s fur coat, so is the soul of a man.” The Englishman is sent to the Cossack Platov, who “has simple feelings.” But Platov finished his service, received “full population” and sent him to “Commandant Skobelev.” He sends a doctor from the clergy of Martyn-Solsky to Leftsha, but Leftsha is already “ending”, asks to tell the sovereign that the British don’t clean their guns with bricks, otherwise they are not suitable for shooting, and “with this fidelity” he crosses himself and dies. The doctor reports Lefty’s last words to Count Chernyshev, but he does not listen to Martyn-Solsky, because “in Russia there are generals for this,” and the guns continue to be cleaned with bricks. And if the emperor had heard the words of Lefty, then the Crimean War would have ended differently
Now these are already “things of bygone days,” but the legend cannot be forgotten, despite the “epic character” of the hero and the “fabulous character” of the legend. The name of Lefty, like many other geniuses, has been lost, but the folk myth about him accurately conveyed the spirit of the era. And although the machines do not condone “aristocratic prowess,” the workers themselves remember the past and their epic with a “human soul,” with pride and love.
Retold
Russian writer Nikolai Semenovich Leskov was born in the village of Gorohovo, Oryol province in 1831. His father was an official and the son of a priest. His mother came from a noble family, and his childhood was an ordinary noble childhood. He was greatly influenced by his aunt Paula, who married an English Quaker and joined this sect. At the age of sixteen, Leskov lost his parents and was left alone in the world, forced to earn his own bread. I had to leave school and enter the service. He served in various government provincial institutions. Here real pictures of Russian reality were revealed to him. But he truly discovered life when he left government service and began to serve the Englishman Schcott, like Aunt Paula, a sectarian who managed the huge estates of a wealthy landowner. In this service, Leskov acquired extensive knowledge about Russian life, very different from the typical ideas of young educated people of that time. Thanks to his everyday training, Leskov became one of those Russian writers who know life not as the owners of serf souls, whose views changed under the influence of French or German university theories, like Turgenev and Tolstoy, but know it from direct practice, regardless of theories. That is why his view of Russian life is so unusual, so free from the condescending sentimental pity for the Russian peasant, so characteristic of the liberal and educated serf owner.
Leskov: the path to and from literature. Lecture by Maya Kucherskaya
His literary work began with the writing of business reports for Mr. Schcott, who was not slow to draw attention to the common sense, observation, and knowledge of the people contained therein. Nikolai Leskov began writing for newspapers and magazines in 1860, when he was 29 years old. The first articles dealt only with practical, everyday issues. But soon - in 1862 - Leskov left the service, moved to St. Petersburg and became a professional journalist.
It was a time of great social upsurge. Public interests also captured Leskov, but his highly practical mind and worldly experience did not allow him to unconditionally join any of the then parties of hotheads who were not adapted to practical activities. Hence the isolation in which he found himself when an incident occurred that left an indelible mark on his literary destiny. He wrote an article about the big fires that destroyed part of St. Petersburg that year, the culprits of which were rumored to be " nihilists"and radical students. Leskov did not support this rumor, but mentioned it in his article and demanded that the police conduct a thorough investigation to confirm or refute the city rumors. This demand hit the radical press like a bomb exploding. Leskov was accused of inciting the mob against students and “informing” the police. He was boycotted and expelled from progressive magazines.
Portrait of Nikolai Semenovich Leskov. Artist V. Serov, 1894
At this time he began to write fiction. First story ( Muskox) appeared in 1863. A great romance followed Nowhere(1864). This novel caused new misunderstandings with radicals, who managed to discern in some characters slanderous caricatures of their friends; this was enough to brand Leskov as a vile slanderer-reactionary, although the main socialists in the novel are depicted as almost saints. In his next novel, On knives(1870–1871), Leskov went much further in his depiction of nihilists: they are presented as a bunch of scoundrels and scoundrels. It was not “political” novels that created Leskov’s real fame. This fame is based on his stories. But the novels made Leskov the bogeyman of all radical literature and deprived the most influential critics of the opportunity to treat him with at least some degree of objectivity. The only one who welcomed, appreciated and encouraged Leskov was the famous Slavophil critic Apollo Grigoriev, a man of genius, albeit extravagant. But in 1864, Grigoriev died, and Leskov owes all his later popularity only to the unguided good taste of the public.
The popularity began after the publication of the “chronicle” Soboryans in 1872 and a number of stories, mainly from the life of the clergy, which followed the chronicle and were published until the very end of the 1870s. In them, Leskov is a defender of conservative and Orthodox ideals, which attracted the favorable attention of high-ranking persons, including the wife of Alexander II, Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Thanks to the attention of the Empress, Leskov received a place on the committee of the Ministry of Education, practically a sinecure. At the end of the 70s. he joined the campaign for the defense of Orthodoxy against the Pietist propaganda of Lord Radstock. However, Leskov was never a consistent conservative, and even his support for Orthodoxy against Protestantism relied, as its main argument, on democratic humility, which distinguishes it from the aristocratic individualism of the “high society schism,” as he called the Radstock sect. His attitude towards church institutions was never entirely submissive, and his Christianity gradually became less traditional and more critical. The stories of the life of the clergy, written in the early 1880s, were largely satirical, and because of one such story he lost his place on the committee.
Leskov fell more and more under the influence of Tolstoy, and towards the end of his life he became a devout Tolstoyan. Betrayal of conservative principles again pushed him towards the left wing of journalism, and in recent years he contributed mainly to moderate-radical journals. However, those who dictated literary opinions did not speak out about Leskov and treated him very coldly. When he died in 1895, he had many readers throughout Russia, but few friends in literary circles. They say that shortly before his death he said: “Now I am read for the beauty of my inventions, but in fifty years the beauty will fade, and my books will be read only for the ideas that are contained therein.” This was an amazingly bad prophecy. Now, more than ever, Leskov is read for his incomparable form, for his style and manner of storytelling - least of all for his ideas. In fact, few of his fans understand what his ideas were. Not because these ideas are incomprehensible, but because attention is now absorbed in something completely different.
Compatriots recognize Leskov as the most Russian of Russian writers, who knew his people more deeply and widely than anyone else as they are.
Traveled a lot around Europe and examined the wonders there. He was accompanied by the ataman of the Don Cossacks, Platov, who did not like that the Emperor was greedy for everything foreign. Of all the nations, the British especially tried to prove to Alexander that they were superior to the Russians. At this point Platov decided: he would tell the monarch the whole truth to his face, but he would not betray the Russian people!
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 2 – summary
Just the next day, the Emperor and Platov went to the Kunstkamera - a very large building, with a statue of “Abolon of Polveder” in the middle. The British began to show various military surprises: storm meters, merblue mantons, tar waterproof cables. Alexander was amazed at all this, but Platov turned his face away and said that his fellow Don people fought without all this and drove away twelve people.
At the end, the British showed the Tsar a pistol of inimitable skill, which one of their admirals pulled out from the belt of the robber chieftain. They themselves did not know who made the pistola. But Platov rummaged through his large trousers, pulled out a screwdriver, turned it, and took out the lock from the pistol. And on it there was a Russian inscription: made by Ivan Moskvin in the city of Tula.
The British were terribly embarrassed.
The main characters of N. S. Leskov’s tale “Lefty”
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 3 – summary
The next day, Alexander and Platov went to the new chambers of curiosities. The British, deciding to wipe Platov’s nose, brought a tray to the Emperor there. It seemed to be empty, but in fact there was a small mechanical flea lying on top, like a speck. Through a “small scope”, Alexander Pavlovich examined a key next to the flea. The flea had a winding hole on its belly. After seven turns of the key, the flea in it began to dance “cavril”.
The Emperor immediately ordered the English craftsmen to give a million for this flea and told them: “You are the first masters in the whole world, and my people cannot do anything against you.”
On the way back to Russia with the Tsar, Platov was more silent and only out of frustration drank a leavened glass of vodka at each station, snacked on a salted lamb and smoked his pipe, which included a whole pound of Zhukov’s tobacco at once.
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 4 – summary
Alexander I soon died in Taganrog, and his brother Nicholas ascended the Russian throne. Soon he found a diamond nut among Alexander’s things, and in it a strange metal flea. No one in the palace could say what it served for until Ataman Platov learned about this bewilderment. He appeared to the new Sovereign and told him what happened in England.
They brought in a flea and she started jumping. Platov said that this is delicate work, but our Tula craftsmen will certainly be able to surpass this product.
Nikolai Pavlovich differed from his brother in that he was very confident in his Russian people and did not like to yield to any foreigner. He instructed Platov to go to the Cossacks on the Don, and on the way turn to Tula and show the English “nymphosoria” to the local craftsmen.
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 5 – summary
Platov arrived in Tula and showed the flea to local gunsmiths. The Tula people said that the English nation is quite cunning, but it is possible to take on it with God’s blessing. They advised the ataman to go to the Don for now, and on the way back to turn again to Tula, promising by that time something “to present to the sovereign’s splendor.”
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 6 – summary
The flea was left with three of the most skilled Tula gunsmiths - one of them was left-handed, with a birthmark on his cheek, and the hair on his temples was torn out during training. These gunsmiths, without telling anyone, took their bags, put food in them and left somewhere out of the city. Others thought that the masters had boasted in front of Platov, and then chickened out and ran away, taking away the diamond nut, which was a case for a flea. However, such an assumption was completely unfounded and unworthy of the skilled people on whom the hope of the nation now rested.
Leskov. Lefty. Cartoon
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 7 – summary
Three masters went to the city of Mtsensk, Oryol province, to venerate the local icon of St. Nicholas the Pleasant. After serving a prayer service with her, the gunsmiths returned to Tula, locked themselves in Lefty’s house and set to work in terrible secrecy.
All that could be heard from the house was the tapping of hammers. All the townspeople were curious about what was going on there, but the artisans did not respond to any demand. They tried to penetrate them, pretending that they had come to ask for fire or salt, they even tried to scare them that the house next door was on fire. But Lefty just stuck his plucked head out of the window and shouted: “Burn yourself, but we have no time.”
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 8 – summary
Ataman Platov was returning from the south in great haste. He galloped to Tula and, without leaving the carriage, sent the Cossacks for the craftsmen who were supposed to put the British to shame.
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 9 – summary
Platov's Cossacks, having reached Levsha's house, began to knock, but no one opened it. They pulled the bolts on the shutters, but they were very strong. Then the Cossacks took a log from the street, put it under the roof like a fireman, and immediately tore the entire roof off the house. And the craftsmen shouted from there that they were hammering in the last nail, and then the work would be taken away right away.
The Cossacks began to hurry them. The Tula residents sent the Cossacks to the ataman, and they themselves ran after, fastening the hooks in their caftans as they went. The left-handed man carried in his hand a royal box with an English steel flea.
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 10 – summary
The gunsmiths came running to Platov. He opened the box and saw: there was a flea lying there, just as it was. The ataman became angry and began to scold the Tula people. But they said: let him take their work to the Tsar - he will see whether he should be ashamed of his Russian people.
Platov was afraid that the masters had spoiled the flea. He shouted that he would take one of them, the scoundrels, with him to Petersburg. The ataman grabbed the slanting Lefty by the collar, threw him into the carriage at his feet and rushed off with him, even without a “tugament” (document).
Immediately upon arrival, Platov put on his orders and went to the Tsar, and Lefty ordered the Cossacks to stand guard at the entrance to the palace.
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 11 – summary
Entering the palace, Platov placed the box with the flea behind the stove and decided not to tell the Emperor anything about it. But Nikolai Pavlovich did not forget about anything and asked Platov: what about the Tula masters? Did they justify themselves against the English nymphosoria?
Platov replied that the Tula residents could not do anything. But the Emperor did not believe this and ordered the box to be presented, saying: I know that my people cannot deceive me!
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 12 – summary
When the flea was turned on with a key, it only moved its whiskers, but could not dance a square dance.
Platov even turned green with anger. He ran out into the entrance and began to pull Lefty by the hair, scolding him for ruining a rare thing. But Lefty said: he and his comrades didn’t spoil anything, but you need to look at the flea with the strongest microscope.
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 13 – summary
They took Lefty to the Tsar - exactly what he was wearing: one trouser leg was in his boot, the other was dangling, and the leg was old, the hooks did not fasten, and the collar was torn. Lefty bowed, and Nikolai Pavlovich asked him: what did they do with the flea in Tula? Lefty explained that a flea needs to be examined under a microscope at every heel it steps on. As soon as the Tsar looked at the flea's heel, he beamed all over - he took Lefty, how unkempt and dusty he was, unwashed, hugged him and kissed him, announcing to the courtiers:
– I knew that my Russians would not deceive me. Look: they, the scoundrels, shoed the English flea into horseshoes!
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 14 – summary
All the courtiers were amazed, and Lefty explained: if they had a better microscope, they would have seen that on each flea horseshoe there was a name: which Russian master made that horseshoe. Only Lefty's name was not there, because he worked on a smaller scale: he forged nails for horseshoes. The Emperor asked how the Tula people did this work without a microscope. And Lefty said: due to poverty, we don’t have a small scope, but we already have a sharp eye.
Ataman Platov asked Lefty for forgiveness for pulling his hair, and gave the gunsmith a hundred rubles. And Nikolai Pavlovich ordered the savvy flea to be escorted back to England and sent along with the courier to Lefty, so that the British would know what kind of masters we have in Tula. They washed Lefty in the baths, dressed him in a caftan from a court singer and took him abroad.
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 15 – summary
The British looked at the flea with the strongest microscope - and now in the “public” reports they wrote enthusiastic “slander” about it. For three days the British pumped Lefty full of wine, and then asked where he studied and how long he knew arithmetic?
The left-handed man replied that he did not know arithmetic at all, and that all his science was based on the Psalter and the Book of Dreams. In the sciences, he says, we are not advanced, but we are faithful to our fatherland.
Then they began to invite the Tula resident to stay in England, promising to pass on more education to him. But Lefty did not want to accept their faith, saying: “Our books are thicker than yours, and our faith is more complete.” The British promised to marry him and already wanted to make Lefty a “grand deva” with their girl. But Lefty said that since he doesn’t feel any serious intentions towards a foreign nation, then why fool the girls?
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 16 – summary
The British began to take Lefty around their factories. He really liked their economic practices: every worker was always well-fed, dressed in a vest, and worked not with a boilie, but with training. In front of everyone, a multiplication dowel hangs in plain sight, and he makes calculations using it.
But most of all Lefty looked at the old guns. He stuck his finger into the barrel, ran it along the walls, sighed and was surprised that the Russian generals in England never did this.
Then Lefty got sad and said that he wanted to go home. The British put him on a ship, and it went into the “Solid Earth” Sea. For the autumn journey, Lefty in England was given a flannelette coat with a windbreaker over his head. He sat on the deck in it, looked into the distance and kept asking: “Where is our Russia?”
On the ship, Lefty became friends with an English half-skipper. They began to drink vodka together and made an “Aglitsky parey” (bet): if one drinks, then the other will certainly drink too, and whoever drinks the other gets the heck of it.
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 17 – summary
They drank like this all the way to Riga's Dynaminde - and got to the point where they both saw the devil crawling out of the sea. Only the half-skipper saw the red devil, and Lefty saw the dark one, like a black African. The half-skipper picked up Lefty and carried him overboard to throw him, saying: the devil will immediately give you back to me. They saw this on the ship, and the captain ordered them both to be locked down, but they should not be served hot water, because the alcohol might ignite in their stomachs.
They took them to St. Petersburg, then they laid them out on different carts and took the Englishman to the envoy's house, and Lefty to the police station.
Illustration by N. Kuzmin for N. S. Leskov’s tale “Lefty”
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 18 – summary
A doctor and a pharmacist were immediately called to the Englishman in the embassy house. They put him in a warm bath, gave him a gutta-percha pill, and then put him under a feather bed and a fur coat. The left-handed man was thrown onto the floor in the police station, searched, the watch and money that the British gave him were taken away, and then he was taken, uncovered in the cold, by cab to the hospital. But since he did not have a “tugament” (document), not a single hospital accepted him. They dragged Lefty until the morning along all the remote crooked paths - and finally took him to the common people's Obukhvin hospital, where everyone of an unknown class is admitted to die. They put me on the floor in the corridor.
And the English half-skipper got up the next day, as if nothing had happened, ate chicken with lynx (rice) and ran to look for his Russian comrade Lefty.
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 19 – summary
The half-skipper soon found Lefty. He was still lying on the floor in the corridor. The Englishman ran to Count Kleinmichel and made a noise:
- Is that possible? Even though he has an Ovechkin’s fur coat, he has the soul of a man.
The Englishman was immediately kicked out for talking about the soul of a little man. They advised him to run to Ataman Platov, but he said that he had now received his resignation. The half-skipper finally got him to send Doctor Martyn-Solsky to Lefty. But when he arrived, Lefty had already finished, only saying one last time:
“Tell the sovereign that the British don’t clean their guns with bricks: let them not clean ours either, otherwise, God bless war, they’re not good for shooting.”
And with this fidelity, Lefty crossed himself and died. The doctor conveyed his words to Count Chernyshev, but he told him not to interfere in military affairs. The brick purge continued until the Crimean Campaign. And if Lefty’s words had been brought to the attention of the sovereign in due time, the war in Crimea would have taken a completely different turn.
Leskov “Lefty”, chapter 20 – summary
Leskov concludes his story with the words that the folk myth about Lefty aptly and faithfully conveys the spirit of a bygone era. In the age of machines, such craftsmen disappeared even in Tula. However, an inspired epic by a craftsman does not die - and, moreover, with a very “human soul”.
Throw summary by chapter Leskov "Lefty" please and got the best answer
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Answer from Zhanna Palamarchuk[newbie]
After the end of the Vienna Council, Emperor Alexander Pavlovich decides to “travel around Europe and see wonders in different states.” The Don Cossack Platov, who is with him, is not surprised at the “curiosities”, because he knows: in Russia “his own is no worse.”
In the very last cabinet of curiosities, among the “nymphosoria” collected from all over the world, the sovereign buys a flea, which, although small, can “danse” dance. Soon Alexander “got melancholy from military affairs,” and he returned to his homeland, where he died. Nikolai Pavlovich, who ascended the throne, values the flea, but, since he does not like to give in to foreigners, he sends Platov along with the flea to the Tula masters. Three Tula residents volunteer to support Platov “and with him all of Russia.” They go to venerate the icon of St. Nicholas, and then lock themselves in the house of the slanting Lefty, but even after finishing the work, they refuse to give Platov the “secret”, and he has to take Lefty to St. Petersburg.
Nikolai Pavlovich and his daughter Alexandra Timofeevna discover that the “abdominal machine” in the flea does not work. An angry Platov executes and scolds Lefty, but he does not admit to the damage and advises him to look at the flea through the most powerful “small scope”. But the attempt turns out to be unsuccessful, and Lefty orders “to put just one leg under a microscope in detail.” Having done this, the sovereign sees that the flea is “shod on horseshoes.” And Lefty adds that with a better “small scope” one could see that on every horseshoe the “master’s name” is displayed. And he himself forged carnations that were impossible to see.
Platov asks Levsha for forgiveness. The left-hander is washed in the “Tulyanovskie Baths”, shaved and “shaped”, as if he had some kind of “common rank”, and sent to take the flea as a gift to the British. On the road, Lefty eats nothing, “supporting” himself with wine alone, and sings Russian songs throughout Europe. When questioned by the British, he admits: “We haven’t gotten into the sciences, and that’s why the flea no longer dances, only those who are faithful to their fatherland.” Lefty refuses to stay in England, citing his parents and the Russian faith, which is “the most correct.” The English cannot seduce him with anything, then with an offer to marry, which Lefty rejects and speaks disapprovingly of the clothes and thinness of English women. In English factories, Lefty notices that the workers are well-fed, but most of all he is interested in the condition of the old guns.
Soon Lefty begins to feel sad and, despite the approaching storm, boards the ship and without looking away looks towards Russia. The ship sails out into the “Solid Sea”, and Lefty makes a bet with the skipper who will outdrink whom. They drink until the Riga Dynaminde, and when the captain locks the disputants, they already see devils in the sea. In St. Petersburg, the Englishman is sent to the embassy house, and Lefty is sent to the quarter, where they demand his document, take away his gifts, and then take him in an open sleigh to the hospital, where “everyone of an unknown class is accepted to die.” The next day, the “Aglitsky” half-skipper swallows the “cutta-percha” pill and, after a short search, finds his Russian “comrade”. Lefty wants to say two words to the sovereign, and the Englishman goes to “Count Kleinmichel,” but the half-speaker doesn’t like his words about Lefty: “even though Ovechkin’s fur coat, so is the soul of a man.” The Englishman is sent to the Cossack Platov, who “has simple feelings.” But Platov finished his service, received “full population” and sent him to “Commandant Skobelev.” He sends a doctor from the clergy of Martyn-Solsky to Leftsha, but Leftsha is already “ending”, asks to tell the sovereign that the British don’t clean their guns with bricks, otherwise they are not suitable for shooting, and “with this fidelity” he crosses himself and dies. The doctor reports Lefty’s last words to Count Chernyshev, but he does not listen to Martyn-Solsky, because “in Russia there are generals for this,” and the guns continue to be cleaned with bricks. And if the emperor had heard the words
Answer from Yeadik Baigin[guru]
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Answer from Mad Candy[active]
“Lefty” summary by chapter
Chapter 1
When the Vienna Council ended, Emperor Alexander wanted to “travel around Europe and see wonders in different states.” Alexander was a sociable person, talked to everyone, was interested in everything. With him was the Don Cossack Platov, “who did not like this declination and, missing his household, kept beckoning the sovereign home.” And when the tsar notices something outlandish, he says that there are no worse things in Rus'. And the British came up with various tricks for the arrival of the sovereign, “in order to captivate him with his foreignness,” and agreed with Alexander the next day to go to the armory of the Kunstkamera. Platov did not like this, so “he ordered the orderly to bring a flask of Caucasian vodka-sour from the cellar,” but he did not argue with the tsar, he thought: “The morning is wiser than the night.”
Chapter 2
The next day they arrived at the Kunstkamera - “a large building - an indescribable entrance, endless corridors.” The emperor looked at Platov, but he didn’t bat an eyelid. The British showed off all their goods, and the king was happy for them and asked Platov why he was so insensitive. The Cossack replied that “my fellow Don people fought without all this and drove away twelve people.” And the foreigners said:
- This is a pistol of unknown, inimitable craftsmanship...
Alexander marveled at the thing, and then gave it to Platov so that he could admire it too. He picked the lock and read the Russian inscription on the fold: “Ivan Moskvin in the city of Tula.” The British gasped that they had missed. And the king felt sorry for them for such an “embarrassment.”
Chapter 3
The next day they went again to look at the Kunstkamera. Platov kept calling the Tsar home and making fun of foreigners, and Alexander said to him: “Please don’t spoil politics for me.” They were brought to the last cabinet of curiosities, where there was everything, “from the largest Egyptian ceramide to the skin flea.” It seems that the sovereign is not surprised by anything, and Platov feels calm and joyful about this.
Suddenly the king is presented with a gift on an empty tray. Alexander is perplexed, and the British ask him to take the smallest speck on the tray into his palm. This, it turns out, is a metal flea, for which there is even a key to wind it up, and then it will “go dancing.” The Emperor immediately gave away a million for such a miracle. Platov was very annoyed, because the British “gave a gift”, and he had to pay for it. And Alexander only repeated that he should not spoil politics for him. He put the flea in a diamond nut, and then in his golden snuffbox. And he praised the British: “You are the first masters in the whole world...” And Platov secretly took a small scope and put it in his pocket. They were driving to Russia, looking in different directions along the way and not talking.
Chapter 4
In Russia, after Alexander’s death, none of the courtiers understood what to do with this flea; they even wanted to throw it away. But the king forbade it. Here, by the way, Platov said: “It’s true, Your Majesty, that the work is very subtle and interesting, but we shouldn’t be surprised at this with mere delight of feelings, but we should subject it to Russian revisions in Tula or Sesterbek - then Sestroretsk They called it Sisterbek, - can’t our masters surpass this, so that the British do not exalt themselves over the Russians.” Nikolai Pavlovich agreed, hoping that the Russian masters would be no worse.
Chapter 5
Platov took the steel flea and went to the Tula gunsmiths. The men agreed that the thing was cunningly made, and promised Platov that they would come up with something for his arrival from the Don: “We ourselves don’t know what we will do, but we will only hope in God, and maybe the king’s word will not be put to shame for our sake.” will". Platov was not satisfied with this answer, but there was nothing to do. He only warned that the craftsmen should not spoil the fine work.
Chapter 6
Platov left, and the three most the best masters, one of them is obliquely left-handed, who “has a birthmark on his cheek, and hair on his temples with
Answer from Darinusik Nyaf[newbie]
Chapter 7 Tula people are described. Tula is smart, knowledgeable in metal work, and very religious. The Tula people's faith and skill help them build magnificently beautiful cathedrals.
The masters did not go to Kyiv, but “to Mtsensk, to the district city of the Oryol province,” where the icon of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of trade and military affairs, is located. “They served a prayer service at the icon itself, then at the stone cross, and finally they returned home at night, and, without telling anyone, they set to work in terrible secrecy.” They all sat in the left-handed man's house, the shutters were closed, the doors were locked. For three days they sat without leaving, “not seeing or talking to anyone.”
Chapter 8 Platov arrived in Tula and sent people to work. Yes, I’m curious myself and can’t wait to see it.
Chapter 9 Tula craftsmen have almost completed their work, the last screw remains to be screwed in, and they are already banging on their doors and screaming. The masters promise to bring it soon. And indeed, they came out - two of them had nothing in their hands, and the left-handed one was carrying the royal casket.
Chapter 10 They gave the box to Platov. I got into the carriage and was curious myself, so I decided to take a look, and when I opened it, the flea was still there. He asked the tired craftsmen what the problem was. And they say: “See for yourself.” Platov did not see anything, got angry and shouted at them, saying that they had ruined such a thing. They were offended by him and said that they would not reveal the secret of what their work was because he did not trust them. And Platov took the left-handed man into his carriage and took him away without a “tugament”.
Chapter 11Platov was afraid that the king would remember the flea. Indeed, as soon as he arrived, the king ordered it to be served immediately. And Platov says: “Nymphosoria is still in the same space.” To which the king replied: “I know that my people cannot deceive me. Something has been done here beyond the pale.”
Chapter 12 They pulled out the flea, the king called his daughter Alexandra Nikolaevna so that she would wind the flea with her thin fingers. But the flea doesn't dance. Then Platov grabbed the left-handed man and began to pull him by the hair, and the workman said that they had not spoiled anything and asked him to bring “the most powerful small scope.”
Chapter 13 The Emperor is confident that the Russian people will not let him down. They bring a microscope. The king looked and ordered the left-handed man to be brought to him. Lefty, all in torn clothes, “without tugament,” came to the king. Nikolai says he looked, but didn’t see anything. And the left-hander replies: “You just need to bring one of her legs under the entire microscope in detail and look separately at each heel she steps on.” Everyone did just that. The king looked and beamed, hugged the dirty left-hander and said that he was sure that he would not be let down. After all, they shoed the English flea!
Chapter 14 Everyone looked into the microscope and also began to hug the left-hander. And Platov apologized to him, gave him a hundred rubles and ordered him to wash him in the bathhouse and get his hair done at the hairdresser. They made him into a decent man with a decent appearance and took him to London.
Chapter 15 The courier brought a left-handed man, put him in a hotel room, and took the box with the flea where it needed to be. The left-hander wanted to eat. They took him to the “food reception room.” But he refused to eat their food and “is waiting for the courier in the cool behind the eggplant.” Meanwhile, the British looked at the flea and immediately wanted to see the master. The courier takes them to the left-handed man’s room, “the English clap, clap him on the shoulder...” and praise him. They drank wine together for four days, then, moving away, they began to ask the Tula master where he studied. The left-hander replies: “Our science is simple: according to the Psalter and the Half-Dream Book, but we don’t know arithmetic at all.” Foreigners are surprised and invite him to stay with them, “learn education,” marry and accept their faith. Lefty refuses: “... our Russian faith is the most correct, and as our right-handers believed, our descendants should believe just as well.” They only persuaded him to stay for a short time, and then they themselves would take him on their ship to St. Petersburg.
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov (1831 - 1895) - prose writer, the most popular writer of Russia, playwright. The author of famous novels, novels and short stories, such as: “Nowhere”, “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, “On Knives”, “Soborians”, “Lefty” and many others, the creator of the theatrical play “The Spendthrift”.
early years
Born on February 4 (February 16), 1831 in the village of Gorokhov, Oryol province, in the family of an investigator and the daughter of an impoverished nobleman. They had five children, Nikolai was the eldest child. The writer spent his childhood in the city of Orel. After his father left office, the family moved from Orel to the village of Panino. This is where Leskov’s study and knowledge of the people began.
Education and career
In 1841, at the age of 10, Leskov entered the Oryol gymnasium. The future writer’s studies did not go well - in 5 years of study he completed only 2 classes. In 1847, Leskov, thanks to the help of his father’s friends, got a job in the Oryol Criminal Chamber of the Court as a clerical employee. When Nikolai was 16 years old, his father died of cholera, and all his property burned down in a fire.
In 1849, Leskov, with the help of his uncle-professor, was transferred to Kyiv as an official of the state chamber, where he later received the position of chief of staff. In Kyiv, Leskov developed an interest in Ukrainian culture and great writers, painting and architecture of the old city.
In 1857, Leskov left his job and entered commercial service in the large agricultural company of his English uncle, on whose business he traveled throughout most of Russia in three years. After the closure of the company, he returned to Kyiv in 1860.
Creative life
The year 1860 is considered the beginning of Leskov’s creative path; at this time he wrote and published articles in various magazines. Six months later he moves to St. Petersburg, where he plans to engage in literary and journalistic activities.
In 1862, Leskov became a permanent contributor to the Northern Bee newspaper. Working as a correspondent there, he visited Western Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Poland. The life of the Western sister nations was close and attractive to him, so he delved into the study of their art and life. In 1863 Leskov returned to Russia.
Having studied and observed the life of the Russian people for a long time, sympathizing with their sorrows and needs, from the pen of Leskov came the stories “The Extinguished Cause” (1862), the stories “The Life of a Woman”, “Musk Ox” (1863), “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District” (1865).
In the novels “Nowhere” (1864), “Bypassed” (1865), “On Knives” (1870), the writer revealed the theme of Russia’s unpreparedness for revolution.
Having disagreements with the revolutionary democrats, Leskova refused to publish many magazines. The only one who published his works was Mikhail Katkov, editor of the Russian Messenger magazine. It was incredibly difficult for Leskov to work with him; the editor edited almost all of the writer’s works, and even refused to publish some of them.
In 1870 - 1880 he wrote the novels “The Cathedral People” (1872), “A Seedy Family” (1874), where he revealed national and historical issues. The novel “A Seedy Family” was not completed by Leskov due to disagreements with the publisher Katkov. Also at this time he wrote several stories: “The Islanders” (1866), “The Sealed Angel” (1873). Fortunately, “The Captured Angel” was not affected by Mikhail Katkov’s editorial edits.
In 1881, Leskov wrote the story “Lefty (The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea)” - an old legend about gunsmiths.
The story “The Hare Remiz” (1894) was the writer’s last great work. In it, he criticized the political system of Russia at that time. The story was published only in 1917 after the Revolution.
Writer's personal life
Leskov's first marriage was unsuccessful. The writer's wife in 1853 was the daughter of a Kyiv merchant, Olga Smirnova. They had two children - the first-born, son Mitya, who died in infancy, and daughter Vera. The wife fell ill with a mental disorder and was treated in St. Petersburg. The marriage broke up.
In 1865, Leskov lived with the widow Ekaterina Bubnova. The couple had a son, Andrei (1866-1953). He separated from his second wife in 1877.
The last five years of Leskov’s life were tormented by asthma attacks, from which he later died. Nikolai Semenovich died on February 21 (March 5), 1895 in St. Petersburg. The writer was buried at Volkov Cemetery
The Enchanted Wanderer (
1873 )Summary of the story
Reads in 7 minutes
4 hours
On the way to Valaam, several travelers meet on Lake Ladoga. One of them, dressed in a novice cassock and looking like a “typical hero,” says that, having “God’s gift” for taming horses, he, according to his parents’ promise, died all his life and could not die. At the request of the travelers, the former coneser (“I am a coneser, sir,<…>I am an expert in horses and worked with repairmen to guide them,” the hero himself says about himself) Ivan Severyanych, Mr. Flyagin, tells his life.
Coming from the courtyard people of Count K. from the Oryol province, Ivan Severyanych has been addicted to horses since childhood and once, “for fun,” beats to death a monk on a cart. The monk appears to him at night and reproaches him for taking his life without repentance. He tells Ivan Severyanich that he is the son “promised” to God, and gives a “sign” that he will die many times and will never die before real “death” comes and Ivan Severyanich goes to the Chernetsy. Soon Ivan Severyanich, nicknamed Golovan, saves his masters from imminent death in a terrible abyss and falls into favor. But he cuts off the tail of his owner’s cat, which is stealing his pigeons, and as punishment he is severely flogged, and then sent to “the English garden for the path to beat pebbles with a hammer.” Ivan Severyanich’s last punishment “tormented” him, and he decided to commit suicide. The rope prepared for death is cut by the gypsy, with whom Ivan Severyanych leaves the count, taking the horses with him. Ivan Severyanych breaks up with the gypsy, and, having sold the silver cross to the official, he receives a leave certificate and is hired as a “nanny” for the little daughter of one master. Ivan Severyanych gets very bored with this work, takes the girl and the goat to the river bank and sleeps above the estuary. Here he meets a lady, the girl’s mother, who begs Ivan Severyanich to give her the child, but he is relentless and even fights with the lady’s current husband, a lancer officer. But when he sees the angry owner approaching, he gives the child to his mother and runs away with them. The officer sends the passportless Ivan Severyanich away, and he goes to the steppe, where the Tatars are driving schools of horses.
Khan Dzhankar sells his horses, and the Tatars set prices and fight for the horses: they sit opposite each other and lash each other with whips. When a new handsome horse is put up for sale, Ivan Severyanych does not hold back and, speaking for one of the repairers, screws the Tatar to death. According to “Christian custom,” he is taken to the police for murder, but he runs away from the gendarmes to the very “Ryn-Sands.” The Tatars “bristle” Ivan Severyanich’s legs so that he doesn’t run away. Ivan Severyanich moves only at a crawl, serves as a doctor for the Tatars, yearns and dreams of returning to his homeland. He has several wives “Natasha” and children “Kolek”, whom he pities, but admits to his listeners that he could not love them because they are “unbaptized”. Ivan Severyanych completely despairs of getting home, but Russian missionaries come to the steppe “to establish their faith.” They preach, but refuse to pay a ransom for Ivan Severyanich, claiming that before God “everyone is equal and it’s all the same.” After some time, one of them is killed, Ivan Severyanych buries him according to Orthodox custom. He explains to his listeners that “Asians must be brought into faith with fear,” because they “will never respect a humble God without a threat.” The Tatars bring two people from Khiva who come to buy horses in order to “make war.” Hoping to intimidate the Tatars, they demonstrate the power of their fiery god Talafa, but Ivan Severyanych discovers a box with fireworks, introduces himself as Talafa, converts the Tatars to the Christian faith and, finding “caustic earth” in the boxes, heals his legs.
In the steppe, Ivan Severyanych meets a Chuvashin, but refuses to go with him, because he simultaneously reveres both the Mordovian Keremet and the Russian Nicholas the Wonderworker. There are Russians on the way, they cross themselves and drink vodka, but they drive away the “passportless” Ivan Severyanich. In Astrakhan, the wanderer ends up in prison, from where he is taken to his hometown. Father Ilya excommunicates him from communion for three years, but the count, who has become a pious man, lets him go “on quitrent,” and Ivan Severyanych gets a job in the horse department. After he helps the men choose a good horse, he becomes famous as a sorcerer, and everyone demands to tell him the “secret”. Including one prince, who takes Ivan Severyanych to his position as a coneser. Ivan Severyanych buys horses for the prince, but periodically he has drunken “outings”, before which he gives the prince all the money for safekeeping for purchases. When the prince sells a beautiful horse to Dido, Ivan Severyanych is very sad, “makes an exit,” but this time he keeps the money with himself. He prays in church and goes to a tavern, where he meets a “most empty” man who claims that he drinks because he “voluntarily took on weakness” so that it would be easier for others, and his Christian feelings do not allow him to stop drinking. A new acquaintance puts magnetism on Ivan Severyanych to free him from “zealous drunkenness”, and at the same time gives him a lot of water. At night, Ivan Severyanych ends up in another tavern, where he spends all his money on the beautiful singing gypsy Grushenka. Having obeyed the prince, he learns that the owner himself gave fifty thousand for Grushenka, bought her from the camp and settled her in his house. But the prince is a fickle man, he gets tired of the “love word”, the “yakhont emeralds” make him sleepy, and besides, all his money runs out.
Having gone to the city, Ivan Severyanich overhears the prince’s conversation with his former mistress Evgenia Semyonovna and learns that his master is going to get married, and wants to marry the unfortunate Grushenka, who sincerely loved him, to Ivan Severyanich. Returning home, he does not find the gypsy, whom the prince secretly takes to the forest to a bee. But Grusha runs away from her guards and, threatening that she will become a “shameful woman,” asks Ivan Severyanych to drown her. Ivan Severyanych fulfills the request, and in search of a quick death, he pretends to be a peasant’s son and, having given all the money to the monastery as a “contribution for Grushin’s soul,” goes to war. He dreams of dying, but “he doesn’t want to accept either land or water,” and having distinguished himself in the matter, he tells the colonel about the murder of the gypsy woman. But these words are not confirmed by the sent request; he is promoted to officer and sent into retirement with the Order of St. George. Taking advantage of the colonel’s letter of recommendation, Ivan Severyanych gets a job as a “reference officer” at the address desk, but he ends up with the insignificant letter “fitu”, the service does not go well, and he goes into acting. But rehearsals take place during Holy Week, Ivan Severyanych gets to portray the “difficult role” of a demon, and besides, having stood up for the poor “noblewoman,” he “pulls the hair” of one of the artists and leaves the theater for the monastery.
According to Ivan Severyanych, monastic life does not bother him, he remains with the horses there, but he does not consider it worthy to take senior tonsure and lives in obedience. In response to a question from one of the travelers, he says that at first a demon appeared to him in a “seductive female image“, but after fervent prayers, only small demons, “children,” remained. One day Ivan Severyanych hacks the demon to death with an ax, but he turns out to be a cow. And for another deliverance from demons, he is put in an empty cellar for a whole summer, where Ivan Severyanych discovers the gift of prophecy. Ivan Severyanych ends up on the ship because the monks release him to pray in Solovki to Zosima and Savvaty. The wanderer admits that he expects imminent death, because the spirit inspires him to take up arms and go to war, but he “wants to die for the people.” Having finished the story, Ivan Severyanych falls into quiet concentration, again feeling within himself the influx of the mysterious broadcasting spirit, revealed only to babies.