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Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol worked on this story at the very beginning of his literary career, 1829-1830, when he created a whole cycle of eight stories under the general title “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.” This cycle is similar to a separate Gogol world. It is in this cycle that young Nikolai Vasilyevich is cheerful, playful, and enthusiastic. This is a world of celebration and mood.

Many critics directly say that it was the inoculation of “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” that made the early Gogol special. Uniqueness is Nikolai's middle name.

In “The Drowned Woman,” the young author told a story similar to a fairy tale, mixed with Ukrainian legends, in all its completeness and diversity. This poetic work mixed everything: love, mysticism, guile and sincerity, good and evil. There was also a place for romanticism, to which the reader of the 30s of the 19th century was inclined. The invasion of a fairy tale here is not at all dangerous, although it is associated with something mysterious, otherworldly, even sinful.

Many places in the story are presented in the form of jokes and ridicule. It is known that the author collected the colorful statements of his heroes for several years, carefully recording everything in his drafts.

Heroes of the story

Gogol wrote this story with some special love for people. Everything in the work characters, with the exception of the witch, the lady who dislikes them, these are positive heroes. You can blame the drowned woman’s father for his distrust of his daughter, or Levko’s father for his wild character, but in general these are harmless, positive characters.

Levko- a young Cossack. It is known about his appearance that he is a black-browed guy with eagle brown eyes and a black mustache. Son of the village head. He knows how to play the bandura. The boy is in love with Ganna. This is a strong, real feeling, and the young man is ready to fight for it even with his own father.

Ganna- a girl on the threshold of the 17th spring. A white face, clear eyes like stars, white arms and legs. Wears a red coral monnit. She is in love with Levko and does not hide her feelings.

Pannochka- this heroine appears as if from fantasies and dreams, but provides assistance to the main character. It is known from legends that mermaids are often evil and treacherous. But Gogol’s lady is sweet, kind and generous.

Country head- Father Levka, “gloomy, stern in appearance and does not like to talk much.” A big fan of chasing beauties. But he respects the law, recognizes authority, and fulfills the duties assigned to him.

Distiller- sent by the landowner “a plump little man with small, ever-laughing eyes” who constantly smokes a pipe. He believes in omens and encourages everyone to follow his example. He actively takes part in all the events unfolding before his eyes.

Clerk- an official who stands for strict compliance with laws. It was he who quickly realized that with help sign of the cross it is possible to determine whether there is a witch in front of them or not.

sister-in-law- a harmless woman and very hardworking. She plays the comedic role of a twice-caught “criminal.”

Kolenik- a lost, drunken Cossack, constantly cursing his head. Although this hero does not decide anything in the plot, his presence throughout the story amuses the reader.

Evening in a Ukrainian village. After a day's work, the boys and girls gather to have fun and sing songs. Here is also the son of the village head, a young Cossack Levko, who leaves the gathered youth to visit his beloved. He plays the bandura and sings songs, and is about to leave, deciding that his beauty is sleeping.

The girl is very modest and timid. She does not immediately go to Levko, but when she appears, she lists all her fears. Ganna worries about what others will say, whether the girls will be jealous, whether the guys will laugh, whether her mother is kind to her, and what Father Levko says about their relationship.

It turns out that the elder does not want to hear about his son’s wedding, he even pretends to be deaf, but the young man is sure that his father will change his mind.

The lovers admire the vast Ukrainian sky, the beauty of the pond on the shore of which they stand old house. From talking about the long staircase that God has, from heaven itself to earth itself, they gradually move on to a terrible story about a witch.

Ganna heard this story as a little girl and doesn’t remember it well. But Levko refreshes past memories. It turns out that a widower centurion once lived in this house with his beautiful daughter. When the centurion remarried, the young lady realized that her stepmother was a witch. True, my father did not believe this story.

At first, the Sotnik sent his daughter to work, like an ordinary peasant, and then kicked her out of the house altogether. The upset lady couldn’t think of anything better than to drown herself, and threw herself off the highest cliff into the water. Having turned into a mermaid, the lady led the mermaid community.

On a moonlit night, mermaids come out of the water to bask in the month. One night the lady saw her stepmother and pulled her into the water. But the witch was not at a loss even here, turning into a drowned woman. And now the poor lady cannot identify her, she looks for her at night to punish her, looks into the faces of all the drowned women, but nothing happens. And she often turns to living people and asks them for help.

Now, on the site of this house, a decision has been made to organize a winery. Just today the landowner sent a distiller.

Night events

The time has come to part, the boys are already returning from the festivities. Lovers say goodbye.

Meanwhile, a drunken Cossack Kolenik is staggering around the village and cursing the local head. He can't find his way home. And the girls jokingly show him the way to the head’s house. The village head is an experienced man. He also remembers the times of Queen Catherine’s trip to Crimea, since he was chosen to accompany her. He is very proud of this fact and constantly remembers it, trying to impress his interlocutors.

And the habits of the head are arrogant. He speaks slowly and importantly, as if he is considering every word. He looks at his interlocutor from under his brows, as if assessing him. And he constantly twirls his mustache. He sees with one eye, but even from a distance he notices beauties. His sister-in-law lives with him and plays the role of a hardworking housekeeper.

At the same time, Levko, having said goodbye to his friends, went home past Ganna’s hut. Then the guy heard the voice of his beloved, who was talking to someone about him. A stranger offers a girl more serious relationship, and promises to tear out Levka’s forelock. The girl gives a verbal rebuff to her obsessive boyfriend, and Levko is amazed to recognize her father in the pester. Now the boy understands why his father does not hear him when it comes to marriage.

The indignant Levko calls his friends and offers to “enrage” the head, accusing him of pursuing the village girls. Everyone loves this idea. There is also a plan - to change into anything.

While the boys are thus having fun, the head returns home where he communicates with the distiller. Like a hospitable host, he maintains a conversation, although he already wants to sleep. At this time, a lost, drunken Kolenik appears on the threshold, believing that he has come to his home. The drunken Cossack lies down on the bench and falls asleep. But before falling asleep, Kolenik scolds his head for all he cares.

The head would drive away the drunkard, but the distiller, who believes in omens, does not allow him to do this. And a heavy cobblestone flies into the window; someone broke the glass. Now insulting songs have become clearly audible, where they call the head an old fool, who is already ready for his grave, and he still clings to the girls.

We managed to catch one of the brawlers and drag him into the barn. We decided to do everything legally - we invited a clerk to record everything. But it turns out that the clerk also caught one singer, with his face smeared with soot.

The investigation by local “authorities” has reached a dead end. It turned out that the head and the distiller had caught Father Levko’s sister-in-law. Then we went to the clerk's shed to see who was locked there. The sister-in-law again appears in the clerk's hut. The woman herself did not understand how she ended up here. She was almost burned like a witch. But she crossed herself and remembered that it was the boys who brought her here. And at the same time, out of jealousy, she accused her relative of wanting to get rid of her.

In a rage, the head calls on the foreman to look for the joker. Found. It turned out to be Kolenik. This is hilarious!

Drowned woman

And the culprit of this mess went to an abandoned house and a pond. Tired Levko decided to rest on the shore. The silence around him plunges him into a state close to sleep. Looking at the still waters of the pond, the young man sees an old manor house. It seemed to him that the window had opened and a lady looked out.

The guy came closer, tuned the bandura and began to play. Pannochka asked him to sing for her. Afterwards, the lady begs Levko to find her stepmother, and promises to do everything for him if he finds the one who tormented her during her life. And even now, because of this witch, the mermaid cannot swim freely, but drowns and falls to the bottom.

The boy readily responds to the request and goes to the clearing, where the mermaids warm themselves during the month, dance in circles and play crow.

Here he needs to understand which of the drowned girls is the witch. And all the drowned women are exactly the same - the dress, the face - you can’t tell them apart.

But at the moment of the game, the presenter, grabbing the “chicken,” seemed to have claws, and an evil joy was reflected on her face. In addition, she is not as transparent as the other drowned women, and she has something black inside. The guy boldly pointed to this entity and said that this was the witch.

Now the lady is happy. She says that she knows about Levko’s love for Hanna and gives him a note for his father, promising to help solve his problem. Then Levko woke up, and in his hand was a note. The young man complained that he couldn’t read, and he wouldn’t have had time to do it. The tens grabbed him.

Denouement

Having recognized his son, the father is going to punish him, but the guy gives a note that says: “marry your son, Levka Makogonenko, to a Cossack woman from your own village, Ganna Petrychenkova.” The clerk admits that this is the handwriting of the commissar, and the guards also confirm this. And the younger Makogonek explains that he accidentally met a commissar who, on the way back, would stop by for lunch and check that his order was being carried out, because the bridges still needed to be repaired and the use of horses should be limited.

The head was very happy about the honor of receiving the commissar at home and ordered the wedding to be organized tomorrow. A main character mentally thanks the lady, wishes her the kingdom of heaven and goes to the bride’s house, where he admires her through open window and hears her say his name. The happy lover baptizes Hanna, closes the window and goes home.

And only drunken Kolenik wanders through the empty streets, looking for his hut.

Analysis of the work

In this work, Gogol did not frighten the reader with various evil spirits. Evil spirits, represented by the lady, on the contrary, shows concern and helps the main character.

That love, which runs like a red stripe throughout the entire work, forces Levko and Hanna to reveal their best qualities.

For the sake of his feelings, the young man is ready to compete with his father, to start a conspiracy against him. But his revenge on his parent does not have a criminal connotation. The desire to teach a lesson to the eternal red tape for other people's girls is, rather, a comedy event in which no one was hurt.

He is not afraid to enter into a deal with evil spirits and tries to help the lady not out of self-interest, but out of pity for the unfortunate little mermaid. But all the time spent with the ghosts that appear does not obscure the main goal. The guy remembers his bride all the time.

The little ladies managed to help the boy. The ghost girl generously thanked Levk, fulfilling his deepest wish - turning the situation in such a way that the father himself begins to rush his son’s wedding.

The guy might have thought that everything that happened to him on the shore of the pond was a dream. But in his hand is a note written in the commissioner’s hand. This mystical fact confirms that the deal with evil spirits has been completed.

Love in the story

From the first lines, the reader witnesses the relationship between lovers Levko and Ganna. These are pure, unclouded, mutual feelings. Young people do not hide their intentions - they want to get married.

Levko chooses all kinds of words for his beloved: “my little red rose,” “my little fish,” “clear-eyed beauty,” “my heart.” And the girl confesses her love. The only obstacle standing in the way of their happiness is no parental blessing. But the guy is absolutely sure that everything will end with a wedding: “Here’s the Cossack’s word that I’ll persuade him,” he says to Hanna about his father.

Here Gogol seemed to have set traps and prepared tests for the feelings of the main characters. After all, the story itself is imbued with Christian flavor. It is no coincidence that the author describes the conversation of lovers during their romantic date on the shore of a pond. Young people talk about God, archangels, the Bright Resurrection, when unclean spirits are completely removed from the earth.

The writer smoothly leads the reader to an important question. What lengths a lover is willing to go for the sake of his feelings. The author raises this question in his other works, where the characters made deals with the devil himself. But in “May Night” this happens without any obligations. The young man himself is ready to selflessly help the drowned woman, out of his spiritual feelings.

With particular tenderness, the author painted the image of Hanna. The young beauty is pure and innocent. Her thoughts are also pure. When Levka’s father came to declare his love to the girl and offer himself to her as an alternative groom, the girl quickly explained herself to him, shaming the adult Cossack and calling him a liar.

In the work, love wins. This note, which the lady gave to the head, as if from the commissar, decided the fate of the lovers.

Humor in the story

Gogol's entire story is imbued with comedy, where the main performers are supporting characters. For example, a group of boys, where the main reveler says: “I still feel sick when I can’t hang out in order and set things up.” Such a company gladly accepts Levka’s offer to dress up in whatever they can and mess with their heads.

The girls do not lag behind the young Cossacks. They fool Kolenik, first inviting him to dance, although he can barely stand on his feet because he is drunk, and then showing him the way to a house that is not theirs.

There are many funny moments where the head, the distiller, and then the clerk and the foreman catch the “disorderly” lads. First, the sister-in-law was caught in the head closet, and sweats in the clerk's hut. Moreover, having caught her a second time, the Cossacks were ready to burn the woman, mistaking her for a witch. But everything was resolved with the help of the sign of the cross. The catching of the “criminals” is not over. For the third time, the drunken Kolenik was caught.

The numerous exclamations of the head, the distiller, and Kolenik are also imbued with laughter. All this makes the story easy to read and understandable to everyone.

Nature in the story

Describing the nature of the Ukrainian village, Gogol seems to bask in the perfection of his style. This is the case when the author lacks words. “Can’t be described in words” - this is not about Nikolai Vasilyevich.

Like an artist, the writer picturesquely painted all the charm of the Ukrainian night, the beauty of which nothing can compare with. This is a real declaration of love to the expanses, the earth, the vault of heaven.

The songs fell silent. Everything is harmonious in this silence. There is some kind of triumph in the motionless forests, in the calm waters of ponds, in the sprawling steppes.

The author talks about nature as a living organism, endowing everything around with human feelings. Nature is a living organism, all personifications are justified: the vault of heaven is burning and breathing, the thickets of bird cherry and cherry trees are babbling with leaves, the night wind is kissing.

And suddenly this divine and enchanting night comes to life. This Ukrainian nightingale sings so much that “and a month in the middle of the sky listened to it...”

The main character hears the same nightingale rumbles when he finds himself in a state between wakefulness and sleep, on the shore of the master's pond. The night becomes even more brilliant. The moon shines so brightly that a silver fog has enveloped everything around. This fog mixed with the smell blossoming apple trees and night flowers, spreads throughout the earth.

This is what Ukrainian night is!

Nikolai Gogol

May night, or the Drowned Woman

© JSC ROSMEN-PRESS, 2013

* * *

The enemy of your father knows! If people ever start timid, they start murmuring, murmuring, chasing after the hare, but still there’s no time for shmigu; Whenever the devil gets caught up, then twirl his tail - that's how he got out of the sky .

A sonorous song flowed like a river through the streets of the village ***. There was a time when boys and girls, tired of the day's labors and worries, noisily gathered in a circle, in the brilliance of a clear evening, to pour out their fun into sounds that were always inseparable from despondency. And the thoughtful evening dreamily embraced the blue sky, turning everything into uncertainty and distance. It’s already twilight; but the songs did not stop. With a bandura in his hands, the young Cossack Levko, the son of the village mayor, who had escaped from the singers, was making his way. The Cossack is wearing a Reshetilov hat. The Cossack walks down the street, strums the strings with his hand and dances. So he stopped quietly in front of the door of the hut, lined with low cherry trees. Whose house is this? Whose door is this? After a short silence, he began to play and sang:

The sun is low, the evening is near,

Come before me, my dear!

“No, apparently my clear-eyed beauty is fast asleep!” - said the Cossack, finishing the song and approaching the window. - Galya! Galyu! Are you sleeping or don’t you want to come out to me? You're probably afraid that no one will see us, or maybe you don't want to show your white face in the cold! Don't be afraid: there is no one. The evening was warm. But if anyone showed up, I would cover you with a scroll, wrap my belt around you, cover you with my hands - and no one would see us. But even if there is a hint of cold, I will press you closer to my heart, warm you with kisses, and put my hat on your little white feet. My heart, my fish, my necklace! look out for a moment. Just put your white hand through the window... No, you are not sleeping, proud maiden! - he said louder and in a voice in which he expresses himself ashamed of instant humiliation. - You like to mock me, goodbye!

Then he turned away, put his hat on one side and proudly walked away from the window, quietly plucking the strings of the bandura. The wooden handle at the door began to spin at that moment: the door swung open with a creak, and the girl, at the time of the seventeenth spring, entwined in twilight, timidly looked around and did not let go wooden handle, stepped over the threshold. In the semi-clear darkness, clear eyes glowed welcomingly, like stars; the red coral monisto shone; and even the blush that bashfully flared on her cheeks could not hide from the eagle eyes of the little girl.

“How impatient you are,” she told him in a low voice. - I’m already angry! Why did you choose such a time: a crowd of people is wandering around the streets every now and then... I’m trembling all over...

- Oh, don’t tremble, my red little girl! Hold me tighter! - the boy said, hugging her, throwing away the bandura hanging on a long belt around his neck, and sitting down with her at the door of the hut. “You know that it’s sad for me not to see you for an hour.”

– Do you know what I think? – the girl interrupted, thoughtfully looking at him with her eyes. “It’s as if something is whispering in my ear that we won’t see each other so often in the future.” Your people are not kind: the girls always look so enviously, and the boys... I even notice that my mother has recently begun to look after me more sternly. I admit, I had more fun with strangers.

A certain movement of melancholy was expressed on her face at the last words.

“I’ve only been away from my dear one for two months and I already miss her!” Maybe you're tired of me too?

“Oh, I’m not tired of you,” she said, grinning. - I love you, black-browed Cossack! I love that you have brown eyes, and the way you look at them, it’s as if my soul smiles: it’s fun and good for her; that you blink your black mustache affably; that you walk down the street, sing and play the bandura, and it’s a pleasure to listen to you.

- Oh my Galya! – the boy cried out, kissing and pressing her tighter to his chest.

- Wait! That's enough, Levko! Tell me in advance, have you spoken to your father?

- What? - he said, as if waking up. “That I want to get married, and you want to marry me,” he said.

But somehow this word “said” sounded sadly in his mouth.

- What?

-What are you going to do with him? The old horseradish, as usual, pretended to be deaf: he didn’t hear anything and also scolded him for wandering around God knows where, hanging out and playing pranks with the lads in the streets. But don’t worry, my Galya! Here's the Cossack's word that I will persuade him.

- Yes, you just have to say the word, Levko, and everything will be your way. I know this from myself: sometimes I wouldn’t listen to you, but if you say a word, I involuntarily do what you want. Look, look! - she continued, laying her head on his shoulder and raising her eyes upward, where the warm Ukrainian sky was immensely blue, hung from below by the curly branches of the cherry trees standing in front of them. - Look, there are stars flashing far away: one, another, third, fourth, fifth... Isn’t it true, these are the angels of God who opened the windows of their bright houses in the sky and are looking at us? Yes, Levko? After all, they are the ones looking at our land? What if people had wings like birds - they could fly there, high, high... Wow, scary! Not a single oak tree will reach the sky. But they say, however, there is somewhere, in some distant land, a tree whose top makes noise in the sky itself, and God descends along it to earth at night before the bright holiday.

- No, Galyu; God has a long ladder from heaven to earth. It is placed before the Bright Resurrection by the holy archangels; and as soon as God steps on the first step, all the unclean spirits will fly headlong and fall into the inferno in heaps, and therefore not a single one on Christ’s holiday evil spirit does not happen on earth.

– How quietly the water sways, like a child in a cradle! - continued Hanna, pointing to the pond, gloomily surrounded by a dark maple forest and mourned by willows, drowning their plaintive branches in it.

Like a powerless old man, he held the distant, dark sky in his cold embrace, showering with icy kisses the fiery stars that floated dimly in the warm night air, as if anticipating the imminent appearance of the brilliant king of the night. Near the forest, on the mountain, an old man was dozing with the shutters closed. wooden house; moss and wild grass covered its roof; curly apple trees grew in front of his windows; the forest, hugging him with its shadow, cast a wild gloom on him; a walnut grove lay at its foot and rolled down to the pond.

“I remember, as if in a dream,” said Hanna, without taking her eyes off him: “long, long ago, when I was still little and lived with my mother, they told me something terrible about this house.” Levko, you probably know, tell me!..

- God bless him, my beauty! You never know what women and stupid people won’t tell. You will only worry yourself, you will become afraid, and you will not sleep peacefully.

- Tell me, tell me, dear, black-browed boy! - she said, pressing her face to his cheek and hugging him. - No! You obviously don’t love me, you have another girl. I will not be afraid; I will sleep peacefully at night. Now I won’t sleep if you don’t tell me. I will begin to suffer and think... Tell me, Levko!

“Apparently, what people say is true, that there is a devil in the girls’ homes, inciting their curiosity.” Well, listen. For a long time, my dear, a centurion lived in this house. The centurion had a daughter, a bright lady, white as snow, like your face. Sotnikov’s wife died long ago; The centurion decided to marry someone else. “Will you undead me in the old way, dad, when you take another wife?” - “I will, my daughter; I will press you to my heart even more tightly than before! I will, my daughter; I’ll start giving earrings and monists even more brightly!” The centurion brought his young wife to new home mine. The young wife was good. The young wife was rosy and fair; only she looked at her stepdaughter so terribly that she screamed when she saw her; and at least the stern stepmother said a word all day long. Night has come; The centurion went with his young wife to his bedchamber; The white lady also locked herself in her little room. She felt bitter; started crying. She looks: a scary black cat is sneaking towards her; the fur on it is burning, and the iron claws are knocking on the floor. In fright, she jumped onto the bench - the cat followed her. The cat jumped onto the bed and there, and suddenly rushed to her neck and strangled her. With a scream, she tore her away from herself and threw her on the floor; the scary cat is sneaking around again. Melancholy took her. My father's saber hung on the wall. She grabbed it and slammed across the floor - the paw with iron claws bounced off, and the cat disappeared with a squeal into a dark corner. The whole day the young wife did not leave her room; On the third day she came out with her hand bandaged. The poor lady guessed that her stepmother was a witch and that she cut off her hand. On the fourth day, the centurion ordered his daughter to carry water, sweep the hut like a simple peasant, and not show up in the master’s chambers. It was hard for the poor thing, but there was nothing to do: she began to fulfill her father’s will. On the fifth day, the centurion kicked his barefoot daughter out of the house and did not give her a piece of bread for the journey. Then the lady just began to sob, covering her white face with her hands: “You have ruined, dad, your own daughter! The witch has destroyed your sinful soul! God forgive you; and it’s clear to me, the unfortunate one, that he doesn’t order me to live in this world!..” And look, do you see... - Then Levko turned to Hanna, pointing his finger at the house. - Look here: there, further from the house, is the highest bank! From this shore the lady threw herself into the water, and from that time on she was no longer in the world...

- And the witch? – Ganna timidly interrupted, fixing her teary eyes on him.

- Witch? The old women invented that from that time on, all the drowned women went out into the master’s garden on a moonlit night to bask in the month; and the centurion's daughter became the leader over them. One night she saw her stepmother near the pond, attacked her and dragged her into the water screaming. But the witch was found here too: she turned under the water into one of the drowned women and through that she escaped from the green reed whip with which the drowned women wanted to beat her. Trust the women! They also say that the lady gathers together the drowned women every night and looks into each one’s face one by one, trying to find out which of them is a witch; but I still haven’t found out. And if he comes across one of the people, he immediately forces him to guess, otherwise he threatens to drown him in the water. Here, my Galya, as the old people say!.. The current gentleman wants to build a winery in that place and sent a distiller here specifically for that purpose... But I hear talking. These are our people returning from singing. Goodbye Galya! Sleep well; don’t think about these women’s inventions!

Having said this, he hugged her tighter, kissed her and left.

- Goodbye, Levko! - said Hanna, thoughtfully fixing her eyes on the dark forest.

At this time, a huge fiery moon began to majestically be cut out of the earth. Another half of it was underground, and already the whole world was filled with some kind of solemn light. The pond was touched by sparks. The shadows from the trees began to stand out clearly on the dark greenery.

II. Head

Do you know Ukrainian night? Oh, you don’t know Ukrainian night! Take a closer look at her. The moon looks from the middle of the sky. The vast vault of heaven opened up and spread even more vastly. It burns and breathes. The earth is all in a silver light; and the wonderful air is cool and sultry, and full of bliss, and moves with an ocean of fragrances. Divine night! Charming night! The forests, full of darkness, became motionless and inspired, and cast a huge shadow from themselves. These ponds are quiet and peaceful; the cold and darkness of their waters is gloomily enclosed in the dark green walls of the gardens. The virgin thickets of bird cherry and cherry timidly stretched out their roots into the spring cold and occasionally babble with their leaves, as if angry and indignant, when the beautiful anemone - the night wind, creeping up instantly, kisses them. The entire landscape is asleep. And above everything is breathing, everything is marvelous, everything is solemn. But the soul is both immense and wonderful, and crowds of silver visions harmoniously appear in its depths. Divine night! Charming night! And suddenly everything came to life: forests, ponds, and steppes. The majestic thunder of the Ukrainian nightingale rains down, and it seems that even a month has listened to it in the middle of the sky... As if enchanted, the village is dozing on a hill. Crowds of huts shine even more, even better during the month; Their low walls are cut out of the darkness even more dazzlingly. The songs fell silent. Everything is quiet. Godly people are already asleep. Somewhere, narrow windows glow. Before the thresholds of some huts, a belated family makes its late dinner.

- Yes, hopak is not danced like that! That's why I see, everything is not going well. What is this godfather telling?.. Well: gop trawl! gop trawl! gop, gop, gop! - This is how a middle-aged man who had been out for a walk talked to himself while dancing along the street. - By God, that’s not how hopak is danced! Why should I lie? By God, it's not like that! Well: gop trawl! gop trawl! gop, gop, gop!

The devil knows! Baptized people will begin to do something, they will suffer, they will be tormented, like hounds chasing a hare, but it is all to no avail; where the devil will interfere, wag his tail - you never know where it will come from, as if from the sky (Ukrainian).

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol

MAY NIGHT, OR THE DROWNED WOMAN

You know his enemy is his dad! to begin, as soon as people are baptized, they murmurulate, murmudatutsa, mov horty after the hare, and still there is no time to sneak; Whenever the devil eats, then twirl his tail - so he will take it from the sky.

A sonorous song flowed like a river through the streets of the village***. There was a time when, tired of the day's labors and worries, boys and girls noisily gathered in a circle, in the brilliance of a clear evening, to pour out their joy in sounds that were always inseparable from despondency. And the evening, always thoughtful, dreamily embraced the blue sky, transforming everything into uncertainty and distance. It’s already twilight; but the songs did not stop. With a bandura in his hands, the young Cossack Levko, the son of the village mayor, who had escaped from the singers, was making his way. The Cossack is wearing a Reshetilov hat. The Kozak walks down the street, strums the strings with his hand and dances along. So he stopped quietly in front of the door of the hut, lined with low cherry trees. Whose house is this? Whose door is this? After a short silence, he began to play and sang:

The sun is low, the evening is bright,
Come out before me, my dear!

“No, apparently my clear-eyed beauty is fast asleep! - said the Cossack, finishing the song and approaching the window. - Galyu, Galya! Are you sleeping, or don’t you want to come out to me? You're probably afraid that no one will see us, or maybe you don't want to show your white face in the cold! Don't be afraid: there is no one. The evening was warm. But if anyone showed up, I would cover you with a scroll, wrap my belt around you, cover you with my hands - and no one would see us. But even if there is a hint of cold, I will press you closer to my heart, warm you with kisses, and put my hat on your little white feet. My heart, my fish, my necklace! look out for a moment. Just put your white hand through the window... No, you are not sleeping, proud maiden! - he said louder and in a voice in which he expresses himself ashamed of instant humiliation. - You love to mock me; Goodbye!" Here he turned away, put his hat on one side and proudly walked away from the window, quietly plucking the strings of the bandura. At that moment, the wooden handle on the door began to spin: the door swung open with a creak, and the girl, at the time of the seventeenth spring, wrapped in twilight, timidly looking around and not letting go of the wooden handle, stepped over the threshold. In the semi-clear darkness, clear eyes glowed welcomingly, like stars; The red coral monastery shone, and even the blush that bashfully flared on her cheeks could not hide from the lad’s eagle eyes. “How impatient you are,” she told him in a low voice. - I’m already angry! Why did you choose such a time: a crowd of people is wandering around the streets every now and then... I’m trembling all over...”

Oh, don’t tremble, my little red kalinka! Hold me tighter! - the boy said, hugging her, throwing away the bandura hanging on a long belt around his neck, and sitting down with her at the door of the hut. - You know that it’s bittersweet for me not to see you for an hour.

“Do you know what I’m thinking,” the girl interrupted, thoughtfully turning her eyes to him. “It’s as if something is whispering in my ear that we won’t see each other so often in the future.” Your people are not kind: the girls all look so enviously, and the boys... I even notice that my mother has recently begun to look after me more sternly. I admit, I had more fun with strangers. - Some movement of melancholy was expressed on her face at the last words.

I’ve only been away from my dear one for two months and I’m already missing her! Maybe you're tired of me too?

“Oh, I’m not tired of you,” she said, grinning. - I love you, black-browed Cossack! I love that you have brown eyes, and the way you look at them, it’s as if my soul smiles: it’s both fun and good for her; that you blink your black mustache affably; that you walk down the street, sing and play the bandura, and it’s a pleasure to listen to you.

Oh my Galya! - the boy cried out, kissing and pressing her tighter to his chest.

Wait! That's enough, Levko! Tell me in advance, have you spoken to your father?

What? - he said, as if waking up. “Yes, that I want to get married, and you want to marry me,” he said. - But somehow this word sounded sadly in his mouth: he spoke.

What are you going to do with it? The old devil, as usual, pretended to be deaf: he couldn’t hear anything and still scolded me for wandering around God knows where and hanging out with the lads in the streets. But don’t worry, my Galya! Here's the Cossack's word that I will persuade him.

Yes, you just have to say the word, Levko, and everything will be your way. I know this from myself: sometimes I wouldn’t listen to you, but if you say a word, I involuntarily do what you want. Look, look! - she continued, laying her head on his shoulder and raising her eyes upward, where the warm Ukrainian sky was immensely blue, hung from below by the curly branches of the cherry trees standing in front of them. - Look: there are stars flashing far away: one, another, third, fourth, fifth... Isn’t it true, these are the angels of God who opened the windows of their bright houses in the sky and are looking at us? Yes, Levko? After all, they are the ones looking at our land? What if people had wings like birds - they could fly there, high, high... Wow, scary! Not a single oak tree will reach the sky. But they say, however, that there is somewhere, in some distant land, a tree whose top makes noise in the sky itself, and God descends along it to earth at night before the bright holiday.

No, Galyu; God has a long ladder from heaven to earth. They stand in front of her bright resurrection holy archangels; and as soon as God steps on the first step, all the unclean spirits will fly headlong and fall into the inferno in heaps, and that is why on Christ’s holiday there is not a single evil spirit on earth.

How quietly the water sways, like a child in a cradle! - continued Hanna, pointing to the pond, gloomily surrounded by a dark maple forest and mourned by willows, drowning their plaintive branches in it. Like a powerless old man, he held the distant, dark sky in his cold embrace, showering with icy kisses the fiery stars that dimly floated in the warm night air, as if anticipating the imminent appearance of the brilliant king of the night. Near the forest, on the mountain, an old wooden house was dozing with its shutters closed; moss and wild grass covered its roof; curly apple trees grew in front of his windows; the forest, hugging him with its shadow, cast a wild gloom on him; a walnut grove lay at its foot and rolled down to the pond.

“I remember, as if in a dream,” said Hanna, without taking her eyes off him, “long, long ago, when I was still little and lived with my mother, they told me something terrible about this house. Levko, you probably know, tell me!..

God bless him, my beauty! You never know what women and stupid people won’t tell. You will only worry yourself, you will become afraid and you will not sleep peacefully.

Tell me, tell me, dear, black-browed boy! - she said, pressing her face to his cheek and hugging him. - No! You obviously don’t love me, you have another girl. I will not be afraid; I will sleep peacefully at night. Now I won’t sleep if you don’t tell me. I will begin to suffer and think... Tell me, Levko!..

Apparently, what people say is true, that the girls have a devil inciting their curiosity. Well, listen. For a long time, my dear, a centurion lived in this house. The centurion had a daughter, a bright lady, white as snow, like your face. Sotnikov’s wife died long ago; The centurion decided to marry someone else. “Will you undead me in the old way, dad, when you take another wife?” - “I will, my daughter; I will press you to my heart even more tightly than before! I will, my daughter; I’ll start giving earrings and monists even more brightly!” - The centurion brought his young wife to his new home. The young wife was good. The young wife was rosy and fair; only she looked at her stepdaughter so fearfully that she screamed when she saw her, and the stern stepmother would not have said a word all day. Night came: the centurion went with his young wife to his bedchamber; The white lady also locked herself in her little room. She felt bitter; started crying. She looks like a scary black cat is sneaking towards her; the fur on it is burning, and the iron claws are knocking on the floor. In fright, she jumped onto the bench: the cat was behind her. She jumped onto the bed: the cat went there, and suddenly rushed to her neck and strangled her. With a scream, she tore her away from herself and threw her on the floor; The scary cat is sneaking around again. Melancholy took her. My father's saber hung on the wall. She grabbed it and slammed across the floor - the paw with iron claws bounced off, and the cat disappeared with a squeal into a dark corner. The whole day the young wife did not leave her room; On the third day she came out with a bandaged hand. The poor lady guessed that her stepmother was a witch and that she cut off her hand. On the fourth day, the centurion ordered his daughter to carry water, sweep the hut like a simple peasant, and not show up in the master’s chambers. It was hard for the poor thing; there’s nothing to do: she began to fulfill her father’s will. On the fifth day, the centurion kicked his barefoot daughter out of the house and did not give her a piece of bread for the journey. Then the lady just began to sob, covering her white face with her hands: “You have ruined your own daughter, daddy! The witch has destroyed your sinful soul! God forgive you; but it’s clear to me, the unfortunate one, that He doesn’t order me to live in this world!..” And there, do you see... - Then Levko turned to Hanna, pointing his finger at the house. - Look here: there, further from the house, is the highest bank! From this shore the lady threw herself into the water, and from that time on she was no longer in the world...

“A sonorous song flowed like a river through the streets of the village ***. There was a time when boys and girls, tired of the day's labors and worries, noisily gathered in a circle, in the brilliance of a clear evening, to pour out their fun into sounds that were always inseparable from despondency. And the thoughtful evening dreamily embraced the blue sky, turning everything into uncertainty and distance. It’s already twilight; but the songs did not stop. With a bandura in his hands, the young Cossack Levko, the son of the village mayor, who had escaped from the singers, was making his way. The Cossack is wearing a Reshetilov hat. A Cossack walks down the street, strums the strings with his hand and dances..."

The work was published in 1831 by Public Domain. On our website you can download the book "May Night, or the Drowned Woman" in epub, fb2, pdf format or read online. The book's rating is 2 out of 5. Here, before reading, you can also turn to reviews from readers who are already familiar with the book and find out their opinion. In our partner's online store you can buy and read the book in paper form.

On a quiet and clear evening, when girls and boys gather in a circle and sing songs, the young Cossack Levko, the son of the village mayor, approaches one of the huts and calls out the clear-eyed Hanna with a song. But timid Hanna doesn’t come out right away; she’s afraid of the girls’ envy, the boys’ insolence, her mother’s strictness, and something else unclear. Lyovka had nothing to console the beauty with: his father again pretended to be deaf when he started talking about marriage. Sitting on the threshold of the hut, Ganna asks about the house with boarded shutters, which is reflected in the dark water of the pond. Levko tells how the centurion who lived there got married with his daughter, “the bright little lady,” but the stepmother disliked the little lady, harassed her, tormented her, and forced the centurion to kick her daughter out of the house. The lady threw herself from a high bank into the water, became the head of the drowned women, and one day dragged her stepmother-witch into the water, but she herself turned into a drowned woman and thereby escaped punishment. And on the site of that house they are going to build Vinnitsa, which is why the distiller has come today. Here Levko said goodbye to Ganna, hearing the boys returning.

After known description On the Ukrainian night, Kalenik, who has been on a pretty good spree, bursts into the narrative and, cutting the villager’s head, “indirect steps,” not without the help of crafty girls, looks for his hut. Levko, having said goodbye to his comrades, returns and sees Hanna talking about him, Levko, with someone indistinguishable in the darkness. The stranger scolds Lyovk, offering Hanna his more serious love. The unexpected appearance of the mischievous boys and the clear moon reveals to the angry Lyovka that this stranger is his father. Having scared his head, he persuades the boys to teach him a lesson. The head himself (about whom it is known that he once accompanied Tsarina Catherine to the Crimea, which he likes to mention on occasion, is now crooked, stern, important and widowed, lives somewhat under the thumb of his sister-in-law) is already talking in the hut with the distiller when Kalenik stumbles in , constantly cursing his head, falls asleep on the bench. Feeding the owner’s ever-increasing anger, a stone flies into the hut, breaking the glass, and the distiller, with an appropriate story about his mother-in-law, stops the curses boiling on the lips of the head. But the offensive words of the song outside the window force my head into action.

The instigator in a black, turned-out sheepskin coat is caught and thrown into a dark closet, and the head with the distiller and the foreman are sent to the clerk, so that, having caught the brawlers, they can immediately “make a resolution to them all.” However, the clerk himself caught the same urchin and put him in the barn. Challenging each other about the honor of this capture, the clerk and the head, first in the closet and then in the barn, find their sister-in-law, whom they want to burn, considering her to be a devil. When the new captive in the inside-out sheepskin coat turns out to be Kalenik, the head goes into a frenzy, equipping the timid guards to certainly catch the instigator, promising merciless punishment for negligence.

About this time, Levko, in his black sheepskin coat and with his face smeared with soot, approached the old house by the pond, struggling with the drowsiness that was taking over him. Looking at the reflection of the manor’s house, he notices that the window in it has opened, and there are no gloomy shutters at all. He sang a song, and the window, which had been closed, opened again, and a bright lady appeared in it. Crying, she complains about her stepmother hiding and promises Lyovk a reward if he finds the witch among the drowned women. Levko looks at the girls dancing in circles, they are all pale and transparent, but they are starting a game of raven, and the one who volunteered to be the raven seems to him not as bright as the others. And when she grabs the victim and anger flashes in her eyes, “Witch!” - says Levko, and the lady, laughing, gives him a note for his head. Here the awakened Lyovka, holding a piece of paper in his hand and cursing his illiteracy, is grabbed by the ten's head. Levko submits a note that turns out to be written by “the commissar, retired lieutenant Kozma Dergach-Drishpanovsky” and contains, among the prohibitions to the head, an order to marry Levka Makogonenok to Ganna Petrychenkova, “and also to repair bridges along the main road” and other important instructions. In response to the questions of the stupefied Levko, he comes up with the story of a meeting with the commissar, who allegedly promised to stop by the head for lunch. Encouraged by such an honor, his head promises Levka, in addition to the whip, a wedding the next day, starts his eternal stories about Queen Catherine, and Levko runs away to a famous hut and, having crossed the sleeping Hanna in the window, returns home, unlike the drunken Kalenik, who is still looking and cannot find your hut.