"Rothschild's Violin", "The Cook's Wedding" and Other Stories

In “The Cook Gets Married,” the story is about the feelings of a seven-year-old boy who can’t understand why the cook Pelageya needed to “get married”—and even to choose for this purpose such an unpleasant type as a carriage driver… The plot is amusing and simple, but the little boy’s reflections are tinged with some kind of not-childish sadness: “Pelageya lived freely, as she wanted, without reporting to anyone— and then, all of a sudden, some stranger appeared out of nowhere, who somehow got the right to her behavior and her property.”

“Rothschild’s Violin.” Yakov Ivanov—the gravedigger nicknamed Bronze—is a heavy, gloomy, and difficult man. From the very first lines it becomes clear that Yakov’s entire life is filled with painful thoughts about meager earnings and huge losses. Even ordinary human notions of life and death in Yakov’s mind are turned in that direction. At the beginning of the story he is annoyed that people in the city die rarely, and after his wife’s death he arrives at the tragic conclusion that shocks him: “From life for a person—loss, and from death—profit.” At the same time, Yakov has talent: he doesn’t just play the violin well—he feels the violin as the one closest creature in the world…

“The Choral Girl.” The wife of Nikolay Petrovich Kolpakov, accused of embezzlement, believes her husband spent government money on the choral girl Pasha. She goes to the girl’s home and attacks her with insults and demands to return the money. Pasha, who in fact did not receive any gifts from Kolpakov, nevertheless gives her all her valuable things, to stop this nightmare as quickly as possible. The lady accepts the things with contempt and leaves. Then Kolpakov, throughout the whole scene hiding in Pasha’s apartment, throws insults at the girl and theatrically rushes after “a decent, proud, clean” wife.

“Ladies.” Fyodor Petrovich, director of public schools, finds himself in a complicated situation. He promised to give the clerk position to the unemployed teacher Vremensky, but a certain young man with the surname Polzukhin is also vying for it. Fyodor Petrovich would sincerely be happy to do what is right by fulfilling the promise given to Vremensky. However, the candidate Polzuhin is persistently recommended by influential city ladies, and the director has to give in.

“Thick and Thin” is a short sketch of a meeting between two childhood friends. The initial joy immediately evaporates, and the fun memories of childhood pranks turn into awkwardness when it turns out that one of them has a much higher social standing than the other could even have imagined. Learning this, the minor official feels a shiver before the high status of his former friend. This reverence is in his blood; he shows complete inability to overcome it.

“The Bride.” Nadia Shumina is a romantic girl from a good family. Her dream is about to come true—she is getting married, and her fiancé Andrey is handsome, educated, and in love with Nadia. Everything would be wonderful if not for Sasha—this poor artist from Petersburg—who from year to year, coming in summer, repeats the same thing: that Nadia’s family leads an useless, empty life, that she should leave, that she should study… His words hit the mark right when the wedding day of Nadia and Andrey is already set. At last the girl realizes that it’s impossible to live the way society dictates, as her mother and grandmother lived, and decides to run away from home. But breaking out of the closed circle is not so easy.