The White Eagle, Old Genius, The Ghost in the Engineer's Castle and Other Stories

In some of Leskov’s stories, we may find them confusing and funny, and for many they will remind us of the present-day way of life, despite the fact that they were written more than 100 years ago. Below are links for free downloading of audio recordings of Leskov’s stories, as well as their brief summaries and the option to listen to one story directly on the site without downloading.

In the fantastic story “The White Eagle” is described how an official, Galaktion Ilyich, is sent to investigate abuses in one of the provinces. As a reward, the official is promised an order—the White Eagle. But into this, seemingly promising for him, case вмешиваются entirely mystical circumstances: the assistant attached to him suddenly dies, and society accuses the official of having… hexed him! Now it’s no longer about orders…

The Christmas story “A Ghost in the Engineering Castle” is something like a ghost story. Brilliantly maintained within the genre, written in beautiful, calm Russian of genuine classics, the story tells of the legend of the Peter and Paul Palace. Young cadets who stage themselves as ghosts unexpectedly encounter the real thing.

A spiritist episode “The Spirit of Madame Jeanne de…”]” (as titled in Russian: “The Spirit of Mrs. Janelis”) in humorous colors describes the fascination of one princess with moralizing novels by French writer Jeanne de—. The princess relies entirely on these novels in all matters: in any difficult situation, she simply opens one of the novels at a random place, believing that Jeanne de’s spirit tells her what to do. And all this until the spirit decides to play a prank on the princess.

“The Mender” is a story about a tailor Laputin, famous for his ability to mend any clothing so that not a trace remained. Once he mends a frock coat for an important gentleman who unexpectedly turns out to be a namesake of Laputin. The gentleman is offended by such a coincidence, and he decides to provide the tailor with everything necessary forever—only for the tailor to change his surname to a French-like one: Leputan.

In the story “Journey with a Nihilist” the situation is described with humor—the kind that the Russian people already said about: “Fear has big eyes.” On Christmas night, in a train compartment, the most ordinary people are traveling—an officer, merchants, a deacon—discussing the best way to travel: by train or by horseback. Talk turns to nihilists, whom the passengers fear as suspicious people. Noticing a strange passenger, they decide that it must be he who is the nihilist. But when at the station the passenger is questioned by the conductor, the manager, and the gendarme, it turns out that he… is a prosecutor!

“The Old Genius” is a story about collecting a monetary debt from a young man who for a long time refuses to pay back the money to an old woman who once saved him. The young gentleman has great influence, so no one dares to hand him the writ for collection. The old woman is helped by two mysterious figures—“a genius of thought” and an executor. Using their ingenuity, they force him to repay the debt at the very last moment, when the debtor has practically already left for abroad.