Gogol, Nikolay
Stories
7
Chapters
36
Words
231.8 K
Comments
0
Reading
19 h, 19 m
The town of B-- had become very lively since a cavalry regiment had taken up its quarters in it. Up to that date it had been mortally wearisome there. When you happened to pass through the town and glanced at its little mud houses with their incredibly gloomy aspect, the pen refuses to express what you felt. You suffered a terrible uneasiness as if you had just lost all your money at play, or had committed some terrible blunder in company. The plaster covering the houses, soaked by the rain, had fallen…- 13.3 K • Completed
- I On the 25th March, 18 — , a very strange occurrence took place in St Petersburg. On the Ascension Avenue there lived a barber of the name of Ivan Jakovlevitch. He had lost his family name, and on his sign-board, on which was depicted the head of a gentleman with one cheek soaped, the only inscription to be read was, “Blood-letting done here.” On this particular morning he awoke pretty early. Becoming aware of the smell of fresh-baked bread, he sat up a little in bed, and saw his wife, who had…
- 13.3 K • Completed
October 3rd. — A strange occurrence has taken place to-day. I got up fairly late, and when Mawra brought me my clean boots, I asked her how late it was. When I heard it had long struck ten, I dressed as quickly as possible. To tell the truth, I would rather not have gone to the office at all to-day, for I know beforehand that our department-chief will look as sour as vinegar. For some time past he has been in the habit of saying to me, “Look here, my friend; there is something wrong with your head.…- 40.6 K • Completed
- There is nothing finer than Nevsky Prospekt, not in Petersburg anyway: it is the making of the city. What splendor does it lack, that fairest of our city thoroughfares? I know that not one of the poor clerks that live there would trade Nevsky Prospekt for all the blessings of the world. Not only the young man of twenty-five summers with a fine mustache and a splendidly cut coat, but even the veteran with white hairs sprouting on his chin and a head as smooth as a silver dish is enthusiastic over Nevsky…
- 40.6 K • Completed
- PART I Nowhere did so many people pause as before the little picture-shop in the Shtchukinui Dvor. This little shop contained, indeed, the most varied collection of curiosities. The pictures were chiefly oil-paintings covered with dark varnish, in frames of dingy yellow. Winter scenes with white trees; very red sunsets, like raging conflagrations, a Flemish boor, more like a turkey-cock in cuffs than a human being, were the prevailing subjects. To these must be added a few engravings, such as a portrait…
- 40.6 K • Completed
A TRUE STORY TOLD BY THE SEXTON I swear, I am sick of telling stories! Why, what would you expect? It really is tiresome; one goes on telling stories and there is no getting out of it! Oh, very well, I will tell you a story, then; only remember, it is for the last time. Well, we were talking about a man’s being able to get the better, as the saying is, of the devil. To be sure, if it comes to that, all sorts of things do happen in this world.... Better not say so, though: if the devil wants to…- 78.6 K • Completed
- There is a story about this story: we were told it by Stepan Ivanovich Kurochka, who came over from Gadyach. You must know that my memory is incredibly poor: you may tell me a thing or not tell it, it is all the same. It is just pouring water into a sieve. Being aware of this weakness, I purposely begged him to write the story down in a notebook. Well, God give him good health, he was always a kind man to me, he began to work and wrote it down. I put it in the little table; I believe you know it: it stands…
- 78.6 K • Completed
- I There was a bustle and an uproar in a quarter of Kiev: Gorobets, Captain of the Cossacks, was celebrating his son’s wedding. A great many people had come as guests to the wedding. In the old days they liked good food, better still liked drinking, and best of all they liked merrymaking. Among others the Dnieper Cossack Mikitka came on his sorrel horse straight from a riotous orgy at the Pereshlay Plain, where for seven days and seven nights he had been entertaining the Polish king’s soldiers with…
- 78.6 K • Completed
- The last day before Christmas had passed. A clear winter night had come; the stars peeped out; the moon rose majestically in the sky to light good people and all the world so that all might enjoy singing kolyadki and praising the Lord. It was freezing harder than in the morning; but it was so still that the crunch of the snow under the boot could be heard half a mile away. Not one group of boys had appeared under the hut windows yet; only the moon peeped in at them stealthily as though calling to the girls…
- 78.6 K • Completed
- A TALE TOLD BY THE SEXTON OF THE N...CHURCH So you want me to tell you another story about Grandad? Certainly, why not amuse you with some more...? Ah, the old days, the old days! What joy, what gladness it brings to the heart when one hears of what was done in the world so long, long ago, that the year and the month are forgotten! And when some kinsman of one’s own is mixed up in it, a grandfather or great grandfather—then I’m done for: may I choke while praying to St. Varvara if I don’t think…
- 78.6 K • Completed
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