May night, or the drowned woman. Nikolai Gogol: May Night, or the Drowned Woman III. An unexpected opponent. CONSPIRACY

Nikolai Gogol

May Night, or the Drowned Woman

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The enemy of your father knows! Whenever people 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! 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 like 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. 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! Because I love you because 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, that there is somewhere, in some distant land, a tree whose top makes noise in the very sky, and God descends along it to earth at night before happy 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 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 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 the stern stepmother would at least say 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. Looks: scary black cat sneaks up to 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. 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 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 is looking down 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 start doing something, they will suffer, they will be tormented, like hounds chasing a hare, but it will all be of no use; where the devil will interfere, wag his tail - you never know where it will come from, as if from the sky (Ukrainian).

May Night, or The Drowned Woman, a story by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol written in the period 1829-1839. Disclosure of the theme of evil spirits in Gogol's works was found in many of his works. May Night is included in the collection “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”.

In the works of this collection, the author shows the life of the Ukrainian people in the old days, their customs, rituals, and reveals national legends. Shows life ordinary people who are fighting for their happiness, love and freedom. To add contrast and some zest to the plot, Gogol adds various evil spirits, these can be demons, witches, but not necessarily scary, and more often just funny. So, for example, you can see a description of how the blacksmith Vakula flies to St. Petersburg to get some slippers, or a story about how a Cossack goes to hell in order to win against the devils at cards, you can also see stories of a man ready to sell his soul the devil for money, or how greed leads to betrayal.

The Drowned Woman can be called the purest work from the collection “Evenings..”; the plot reveals the love of a young couple, the guy Levko and the girl Anna.

For main idea you can take the author's attempt to show daily life people, that in addition to happiness and love there is death, that evil can be very close. But as a result, good wins, Levko and Hanna get married, and the witch is caught. The main thing is that everything you gain and lose depends on you, on your soul and desire to improve your life.

Summary of Gogol May Night or the Drowned Woman (read in 1.5 minutes)

It was a warm May evening outside, girls and boys gathered to take a walk and sing songs. Then a young boy named Levko appears, he has come to his beloved Hanna, and calls her with a song. But the girl doesn’t come out right away, she’s so afraid of her father and mother, and of the fact that her friends will envy her and the guys will judge her. When she finally goes out to Levko, they talk about love, and the boy is forced to tell his beloved that his father again did not agree to their wedding, that he allegedly even pretends to be deaf when he starts talking about it.

They sit near the house, looking at the reflection in the water, and then Ganna asks about that strange, crowded house in which no one has lived for a long time.

Levko says that the legend is that a centurion and his beautiful daughter used to live there. He was widowed early and could not find a wife for a long time until he met a young but angry young lady. Their happiness did not last long; the young wife did not fall in love with the master’s daughter, and tormented her in every possible way.

One night a black cat climbed into her daughter’s room and began to strangle her. The girl, out of fear, cut off the cat’s paw and it disappeared. In the morning, the new wife left the room with her hand bandaged, and then it became clear that she was this woman-witch. Soon after this, the relationship between father and daughter deteriorated greatly and all this was because of the new stepmother, she began to persuade the centurion to completely kick her daughter out of the house, and soon he did so. A young girl was left completely without anything on the street, out of grief she threw herself into the water, and became the main one among all the drowned women. She was waiting for her stepmother to come to this pond, and one day she dragged her under the water, but she, being a witch, managed to turn into a drowned woman, so she did not suffer any punishment.

After the story, Levko said goodbye to Ganna and they each went in their own direction. Hanna went home, and the guy continued to walk to the boys. After the festivities, Levko again walked past his beloved’s house, but to his surprise, Hanna stood on the threshold with some unknown guy, who, as it turns out, confesses his love to her. The guy is serious about showing all his strength, but he doesn’t have time, because this stranger turns around and turns out to be his own father. Upset Levko wants to teach his father a lesson and goes to his friends for help, they go to the house where this gentleman should be. To attract attention, they break the window with a heavy stone, and at that moment they themselves begin to sing a song about how the old head flirts with young girls in order to shame him in front of other gentlemen. Father Levka, not understanding who started all this, grabs his own son and throws him into a dark closet. But Levko’s friends help him get out, throwing his sister-in-law into prison instead.

Levko heads to the local pond and, admiring the local views, without noticing it, falls asleep. And strange visions appear in him, like drowned women coming ashore. One of them is the same centurion’s daughter from the legend, Levko helped her find her stepmother and for this, the girl gives him a note that should help Levko and Hanna get married. Waking up, Levko finds that letter in his hands and goes to his father. Having received the letters, it turns out that the commissioner himself orders consent to the wedding, otherwise he threatens to cut off the master’s head.

The story ends with the master agreeing to the wedding.

Picture or drawing May Night or Drowned Woman

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Chapter IV. The boys are walking - May Night, or the Drowned Woman - Gogol Nikolai

Only one hut was still glowing at the end of the street. This is the home of the head. The head had long since finished his dinner and, no doubt, would have fallen asleep long ago; but at that time he had a guest, a distiller, sent to build a distillery by a landowner who had a small plot of land among the free Cossacks. Right under the canopy, in a place of honor, sat a guest - a short, plump little man, with small, ever-laughing eyes, in which, it seemed, was written the pleasure with which he smoked his short cradle, constantly spitting and pressing his finger on the one that crawled out of it. tobacco turned into ash. Clouds of smoke quickly grew above him, covering him in a bluish fog. It seemed as if a wide chimney from some distillery, bored with sitting on its roof, decided to take a walk and decorously sat down at the table in the head’s hut. A short, thick mustache stuck out under his nose; but they flickered so vaguely through the tobacco atmosphere that they seemed like a mouse that the distiller had caught and held in his mouth, undermining the monopoly of the barn cat. The head, like the owner, sat in only a shirt and linen trousers. His eagle eye, like the evening sun, began to squint and fade little by little. At the end of the table, smoking a cradle, was one of the village tens who made up the head’s team, sitting in a scroll out of respect for the owner.

“Soon are you thinking,” said the head, turning to the distiller and putting a cross on his yawning mouth, “to set up your distillery?”

When God helps, then in the fall, maybe we’ll smoke. On Pokrov, I bet that the gentleman will write German pretzels with his feet along the way. - Upon pronouncing these words, the distiller’s eyes disappeared; instead of them, rays stretched to the very ears; the whole body began to shake with laughter, and the cheerful lips left the smoking cradle for a moment.

God willing,” said the head, expressing something like a smile on his face. - Now, thank God, there are not many Vinnytsia. But in the old days, when I accompanied the queen along the Pereyaslavl road, the still deceased Bezborodko...

Well, matchmaker, I remembered the time! At that time, from Kremenchug to Romen there were not even two vinnitsa. And now...Have you heard what the damned Germans came up with? Soon, they say, they will smoke not with wood, like all honest Christians, but with some kind of damn steam. - Saying these words, the distiller looked thoughtfully at the table and at his hands spread on it. - How is it a ferry - by God, I don’t know!

What fools, God forgive me, are these Germans! - said the head. - I would batog them, dog children! Have you ever heard of it being possible to boil something with steam? That’s why you can’t bring a spoonful of borscht to your mouth without frying your lips, instead of a young pig...

And you, matchmaker,” responded the sister-in-law, who was sitting on the couch, her legs tucked under her, “you will, all this time, live with us without a wife!”

Why do I need it? It would be a different matter if there was something good.

Like it's not good? - asked the head, fixing his eyes on him.

How good are you! Stara yak bis. Kharya is all wrinkled, like an empty wallet. - And the distiller’s low structure began to shake again from loud laughter.

At this time something began to fumble behind the door; the door opened, and the man, without taking off his hat, stepped over the threshold and stood, as if in thought, in the middle of the hut, with his mouth open and looking around the ceiling. It was our acquaintance, Kalenik. “Well, I’ve come home! - he said, sitting down on a bench by the door and not paying any attention to those present. - See how the enemy son Satan has stretched out the road! You go, you go, and there is no end! It was as if someone had broken his legs. Get a sheepskin coat there, woman, and send it to me. I won’t come to your stove, by God, I won’t come: my legs hurt! Get him, there he lies, near the corner; Just be careful not to knock over the pot of grated tobacco. Or no, don't touch, don't touch! You may be drunk today... Let me get it myself.” Kalenik rose a little, but an irresistible force chained him to the bench.

“I love you for this,” said the head, “I came to someone else’s house and manages it like at home!” Send him out in good health!..

Leave, matchmaker, to rest! - said the distiller, holding his hand. - This is a useful person; If there were more people like that, our winery would do well... - However, it was not good nature that forced these words. Vinokur believed all the signs, and immediately driving away a man who had already sat down on the bench meant inviting trouble for him.

Something, when old age comes!.. - Kalenik grumbled, lying down on the bench. - It would be nice to say he’s drunk, but no, he’s not drunk. By God, I'm not drunk! Why should I lie? I'm ready to announce this even to my own head. What's my head? May he die, son of a dog! I spit on him! May the one-eyed devil be run over by a cart! That he douses people in the cold...

Hey! “The pig got into the hut and put its paws on the table,” said the head, angrily rising from his place; but at that moment a heavy stone, breaking the window into pieces, flew at his feet. The head stopped. “If I knew,” he said, picking up the stone, “what kind of hanged man threw it, I would teach him how to throw!” What mischief! - he continued, examining it on his hand with a flaming gaze. - So that he would choke on this stone...

Stop, stop! God save you, matchmaker! - the distiller picked up, turning pale. - God save you, both in this world and in this world, to bless someone with such a scolding!

Here a defender has been found! Let him disappear!..

And don’t think, matchmaker! You don’t know, right, what happened to my late mother-in-law?

With your mother-in-law?

Yes, with my mother-in-law. In the evening, maybe a little earlier than now, they sat down to have dinner: the late mother-in-law, the late father-in-law, a hired man, a hired woman, and about five children. The mother-in-law poured some dumplings from a large cauldron into a bowl so that they would not be so hot. After work, everyone was hungry and did not want to wait until they caught a cold. They hung the dumplings on long wooden matches and began to eat. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man, of what kind he is, God knows, asks him to be allowed to join the meal. How not to feed a hungry person! They gave him a match too. Only the guest hides the dumplings like a cow hides hay. While they ate one at a time and lowered the matches after the others, the bottom was smooth, like a master's platform. The mother-in-law poured more; thinks the guest is full and will clean less. Nothing happened. The braiding became even better! and emptied the other one! “And may you choke on these dumplings!” - thought the hungry mother-in-law; when suddenly he choked and fell. They rushed to him - and the spirit was gone. I hanged myself.

That’s what he, the damned glutton, needs! - said the head.

It would have been so, but it didn’t turn out that way: from that time on, my mother-in-law had no peace. It’s just night and the dead man is dragging along. He sits astride the pipe, damn it, and holds a dumpling in his teeth. During the day everything is calm, and there is no rumor about him; but as soon as he starts trying it on, look at the roof, he’s already straddled the pipe, son of a dog...

And dumplings in your teeth?

And a dumpling in your teeth.

Wonderful, matchmaker! I heard something similar about the deceased... - Here the head stopped. The noise and stomping of dancers was heard under the window. At first, the strings of the bandura sounded quietly, and a voice joined them. The strings rattled louder; Several voices began to join in, and the song began to rustle like a whirlwind:

Guys, have you heard?
Are our heads not strong?
At the crooked head
They settled firmly in my head.
Hit your head, cooper.
You are steel hoops!
Sprinkle your head, cooper.
Batogami, batogami!

Our head is gray and crooked,
Old as a devil; what a fool!
Whimsical and lustful:
Hugging to the girls... Fool, fool!
And you should go to the boys!
You should go to the house,
By the mustache, and by the neck!
For chuprina! for chuprina!

“Nice song, matchmaker! - said the distiller, tilting his head a little to one side and turning to the head, dumbfounded with surprise at the sight of such audacity. - Nice! it’s only bad that the head is remembered in not entirely decent words...” And again he put his hands on the table with some kind of sweet tenderness in his eyes, preparing to listen some more, because under the window there was laughter and shouts: “again! again!" However, a discerning eye would have seen immediately that it was not amazement that kept the head in one place for a long time. So only an old, experienced cat sometimes allows an inexperienced mouse to run around his tail; and meanwhile he quickly creates a plan to cut off her path to his hole. The solitary eye of the head was still fixed on the window, and already the hand, having given a sign to the foreman, was holding onto the wooden handle of the door, and suddenly a cry arose in the street... Vinokur, who added curiosity to his many virtues, quickly filled his cradle with tobacco, ran out into the street ; but the naughty ones had already fled. "No, you won't escape me!" - shouted the head, dragging by the hand a man in a black sheepskin sheepskin coat turned upside down. Vinokur, taking advantage of the time, ran up to look this troublemaker in the face; but he stepped back timidly when he saw his long beard and terribly painted face. "No, you won't escape me!" - the head shouted, continuing to drag his captive straight into the hallway, who, without offering any resistance, calmly followed him, as if into his own hut. “Karpo, open the closet! - said the head to the tenth. - We'll put him in a dark closet! And there we’ll wake up the clerk, gather the guards, catch all these brawlers, and today we’ll bring a resolution to all of them!” Desyatsky rattled the small padlock in the entryway and opened the closet. At this very time, the prisoner, taking advantage of the darkness of the hallway, suddenly broke out of his hands with extraordinary force. "Where?" - the head shouted, grabbing the collar even tighter. “Let me go, it’s me!” - a thin voice was heard. “It won’t help! It won't help, brother! Squeal at yourself, even the devil, not just a woman, you won’t fool me!” and pushed him into the dark closet so that the poor prisoner groaned, falling to the floor, and, accompanied by the tenth, went to the clerk’s hut, and after them, like a steamship, the distiller began to smoke.

All three of them walked in thought, with their heads down, and suddenly, at a turn into a dark alley, they screamed at once from a strong blow to their foreheads, and the same scream echoed back to them. The head, narrowing its eye, saw with amazement the clerk with two tens.

And I’m coming to you, Mr. Clerk.

And I am at your mercy, sir.

Miracles have begun, Mr. Clerk.

Wonderful things, sir.

And what?

The boys are mad! They are rampaging through the streets in droves. Your grace is called such words... in a word, it’s a shame to say; a drunken Muscovite will be afraid to throw them away with his wicked tongue. - (All this was accompanied by a thin clerk, in motley trousers and a vest the color of wine yeast, by stretching his neck forward and immediately bringing it back to its previous state.) - I took a little nap, the damned urchins woke me up from bed with their strange songs and knocking! I wanted to properly rein them in, but while I put on trousers and a vest, they all ran away in all directions. The most important one, however, did not dodge us. He is now singing in the hut where the convicts are kept. My soul was burning to recognize this bird, but its face was smeared with soot, like the devil who forges nails for sinners.

How is he dressed, Mr. Clerk?

In a black, inverted sheepskin coat, a dog's son, master's head.

Aren't you lying, Mr. Clerk? What if this brat is now sitting in my closet?

No, sir. You yourself, let it be said not out of anger, sinned a little.

Let's fire! we'll watch it! - They brought the fire, opened the door, and the head gasped in surprise when he saw his sister-in-law in front of him.

Tell me, please,” she approached him with these words, “have you gone crazy yet?” Was there even a drop of brain in your one-eyed head when you pushed me into a dark closet; I’m lucky that I didn’t hit my head on the iron hook. Didn't I scream to you that it was me? The damned bear grabbed him with his iron paws and pushed him! May the devils push you in the next world!.. - She took the last words out the door into the street, where she had gone for some reason of her own.

Yes, I see it's you! - said the head, waking up. - What do you say, Mr. Clerk, isn’t this damned scoundrel?

Rogue, sir.

Isn't it time for us to give all these rakes a good education and force them to do their jobs?

It's long overdue, long overdue, sir.

They fools took it for themselves... What the hell? I thought I thought my sister-in-law was screaming in the street; They, fools, got it into their heads that I was their equal. They think that some brother of theirs, a simple Cossack!.. - The slight cough that followed and the squinting of his eyes around made it possible to guess that the head was preparing to talk about something important. - In a thousand... these damned names of years, for the life of me, I cannot pronounce; well, the year the then commissar Ledachy was given an order to choose from among the Cossacks the one who would be the smartest of all. ABOUT! - this is “oh!” the head said, raising his finger up, “the smartest of all!” as a guide to the queen. I then...

What can I say! Everyone already knows this, sir. Everyone knows how you earned the royal affection. Admit it now, my truth has come out; Did you feel a little sinful when you said that you caught this urchin in an inside-out sheepskin coat?

As for this devil in an inside-out sheepskin coat, then, as an example to others, he should be shackled and punished approximately. Let them know what power means! From whom was the head placed, if not from the king? Then we’ll get to the other lads: I haven’t forgotten how the damned urchins drove a herd of pigs into the garden, which had eaten too much of my cabbage and cucumbers; I haven’t forgotten how the damn children refused to thresh my life; I haven’t forgotten... But they failed, I definitely need to find out what kind of scoundrel she is in an inside-out sheepskin coat.

This is apparently an agile bird! - said the distiller, whose cheeks, during this entire conversation, were continuously charged with smoke, like a siege cannon, and his lips, leaving a short cradle, threw out a whole cloudy fountain. - It’s not bad to keep such a person near the winery, just in case; or even better, hang it on the top of an oak tree instead of a chandelier. - Such a joke seemed not entirely stupid to the distiller, and he immediately decided, without waiting for the approval of others, to reward himself with a hoarse laugh.

At this time they began to approach a small hut that had almost fallen to the ground; the curiosity of our travelers increased. Everyone crowded at the door. The clerk took out the key and rattled it near the lock; but this one was from his chest! Impatience increased. Sticking his hand in, he began to fumble and scold him, not finding him. "Here!" - he said finally, bending down and taking it out from the depths of the large pocket with which his colorful trousers were equipped. At this word, the hearts of our heroes seemed to merge into one, and this huge heart beat so hard that its uneven beat was not muffled even by the rattling lock. The doors opened, and... the head became pale as a sheet; the distiller felt the cold, and his hair seemed to want to fly to the sky; horror appeared in the clerk's face; The tens were rooted to the ground and were not able to close their open mouths: their sister-in-law stood in front of them.

Astonished as they were, she, however, came to her senses a little and made a movement to approach them. “Stop! - the head shouted in a wild voice and slammed the door behind her. - Gentlemen! it's Satan! - he continued. - Fire! more alive than fire! I will not regret the government hut! Light it, light it, so that there won’t be any damn bones left on the ground!” The sister-in-law screamed in horror, hearing the menacing definition behind the door. “What are you saying, brothers! - said the distiller, - thank God, your hair is almost covered with snow, but you still haven’t gained any sense: a simple fire won’t set a witch on fire! Only fire from a cradle can ignite a werewolf. Wait, I’ll sort everything out now!” Having said this, he poured the hot ash from the tube into a bunch of straw and began to fan it. Despair at this time gave spirit to the poor sister-in-law, she loudly began to beg and dissuade them.

“Wait, brothers! Why accumulate sin in vain; “maybe it’s not Satan,” said the clerk. - If it, that is, the very one who sits there, agrees to put the sign of the cross on itself, then this sure sign"That's not the devil." The proposal has been approved. “Forget me, Satan! - continuedthe clerk pressed, pressing his lips to the hole in the door, “if you don’t move from your place, we will open the door.”

The door opened.

Cross yourself! - said the head, looking back, as if choosing a safe place in case of a retreat.

The sister-in-law crossed herself.

What the hell! That's right, it's my sister-in-law!

What evil spirit dragged you, godfather, into this kennel? - And the sister-in-law, sobbing, told how the boys grabbed her in an armful on the street and, despite resistance, lowered her into the wide window of the hut and nailed it with a shutter. The clerk looked: the hinges of the wide shutter had been torn off, and it was only nailed down at the top with a wooden beam.

“You’re welcome, one-eyed Satan! - she cried, going to the head, which backed away a little and still continued to measure it with his eye. “I know your intention: you wanted, you were glad to have the opportunity to burn me, so that you would be more free to pursue girls, so that there would be no one to see how the gray-haired grandfather fools around.” Do you think I don’t know what you and Hanna were talking about this evening? ABOUT! I know everything. It's hard to fool me, not even your stupid head. I endure for a long time, but after that don’t be angry...” Having said this, she showed her fist and quickly left, leaving her head dumbfounded. “No, Satan has seriously interfered here,” he thought, scratching the top of his head.

Caught! - the tens who entered at that time cried out.

Who got caught? - asked the head.

The devil in an inverted sheepskin coat.

Serve it up! - the head shouted, grabbing the hands of the prisoner he brought. - You're crazy: it's drunk Kalenik.

What an abyss! was in our hands, sir! - answered the tens. “The damned guys surrounded us in the alley, started dancing, tugging, sticking out their tongues, tearing them out of hands... to hell with you!.. And how we got this crow instead of him, God only knows!

“By my authority and that of all the laity, the command is given,” said the head, “to catch this robber at this very moment; and in this way, bring everyone you find on the street to me for punishment!..

Have mercy, sir! - some shouted, bowing at their feet. - You should have seen what hari: God kill us, and were born and baptized - you have never seen such vile faces. How long until sin, sir, they will scare kind person so that after that not a single woman will undertake to cause a commotion.

I'll give you a break! What do you? don't want to obey? You're holding their hand, right? Are you rebels? What is this?.. What is this?.. You are starting robberies!.. You... I will inform the Commissioner! This very hour! hear, now. Run, fly like a bird! May I... May you... - Everyone ran away.

For those who are interested in the mystical theme and work of Gogol, reading the work “May Night, or the Drowned Woman” in its entirety is a must. In the writer’s works, the dark force is extremely popular and often appears in an unusual light. It is no longer a terrifying and invincible power. In the works of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, evil has to put up with a person and even help him. The collection “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” itself, which includes this story, makes everyone plunge into the world of Ukrainian mythology and folklore. There is laughter, lyrics, and nightmares that are intertwined in intricate plots. “May Night, or the Drowned Woman” itself was written in 1829-1830. This work became the brightest part of the entire collection.

The main plot line of Gogol's book is history young guy Levko and the girls of Ganna. Young lovers try to resist the harsh world of adults who cannot understand and accept their tremulous feelings. The girl's mother does not believe in the reliability of her future son-in-law. And the guy’s father even looks at Hanna himself, competing with his own son. One of the key characters is the mermaid, a frequent guest of Ukrainian folk works. She promises to help the young man in the fight for his love. In a dream, Levko meets this mythical hero. Waking up, he receives an order from the commissioner, according to which he is obliged to marry a girl. It is impossible to describe the happiness that lovers feel from such an outcome. This joyful ending to the story makes every reader believe in miracles.

The unusualness of Gogol’s story “May Night, or the Drowned Woman” is in the loss of clarity and boundaries between the real and fictional world. In addition, the writer hints that people in love should be ready to do anything in order to find happiness. Even if it's a deal with the devil himself. Fortunately, it is in this story that the evil spirit appears in the kindest light, giving the young people the opportunity to get married free of charge. Gogol’s incredible style with which he describes Ukrainian nature makes you read the lines of this work. Using many epithets, he refers to both the month and the village, as if they were living people. Natural phenomena appear in character dialogues. This creation can easily be considered one of the most poetic in the collection. You can download the book for free or read “May Night, or the Drowned Woman” online on our website.

You know his enemy is his dad! to begin, as soon as people are baptized, they murmurulate, murmudauttsa, mov horty after the hare, but 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 fun into 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, 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 love 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. 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, a third, a fourth, a 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. 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 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 girls have a devil in their heads, 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; she just looked at her stepdaughter so terribly 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. 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...