Mikhail Zoshchenko. Collected Stories.

“Dog’s Sense”, “Confession”, “Smoke of the Fatherland”, “The Aristocrat”, “A Rich Life”, “Trouble”, “On the Hook”, “Got In”, “A Match”, “Firewood”, “Unknown Friend”.

«The Aristocrat» by Mikhail Zoshchenko is a satirical story in which the plumber Grigory Ivanovich, in the first person, recalls how unsuccessfully he tried to court a “lady.” Wanting to appear more respectable, he invites her to the theater, but it all ends in a scandal over money in the buffet, when his companion shamelessly takes one pastry after another. The episode cuts off with the remark «Put it back!», and the hero draws the conclusion that it’s better not to get involved with “aristocrats.”

«Dog’s Sense» is a satirical story by Mikhail Zoshchenko about how a fur coat made of mink fur disappears from the merchant Yeremey Babkin, and the owner, hoping to get his loss back, turns to the help of a police dog-tracker. With irony, the story lays bare philistine habits and everyday routines, and “dog’s sense” becomes a mocking “method” of finding the truth in an ordinary incident.