A short summary of the story The Night Before Christmas. Fairy tale "The Night Before Christmas": main characters

15.10.2019

Brief retelling

“The Night Before Christmas” Gogol N.V. (Very briefly)

For changing last day Before Christmas comes a clear frosty night. The girls and boys had not yet come out to carol, and no one saw how smoke came out of the chimney of one hut and a witch rose on a broom. She flashes like a black speck in the sky, gathering stars into her sleeve, and the devil flies towards her, for whom “the last night was left to wander around the white world.” Having stolen the month, the devil hides it in his pocket, assuming that the coming darkness will keep the rich Cossack Chub, who was invited to the clerk for a feast, at home, and the blacksmith Vakula, hated by the devil (who painted a picture on the church wall Last Judgment and the shamed devil) will not dare to come to Chubova’s daughter Oksana. While the devil is building chickens for the witch, Chub and his godfather, who came out of the hut, do not decide whether to go to the sexton, where a pleasant company will gather over the varenukha, or, in view of such darkness, to return home - and they leave, leaving the beautiful Oksana in the house, who was dressing up in front of the mirror, for which and Vakula finds her. The stern beauty mocks him, not at all moved by his gentle speeches. The disgruntled blacksmith goes to unlock the door, on which Chub, who has lost his way and lost his godfather, knocks, having decided to return home on the occasion of the blizzard raised by the devil. However, the blacksmith’s voice makes him think that he was not in his own hut (but in a similar one, the lame Levchenko, to whose young wife the blacksmith probably came). Chub changes his voice, and the angry Vakula, jabbing him, kicks him out. The beaten Chub, having realized that the blacksmith has therefore left his own home, goes to his mother, Solokha. Solokha, former witch, returned from her journey, and the devil flew with her, dropping a month in the chimney.

In the village at this time, the Dikan women in the middle of the street are arguing about exactly how Vakula committed suicide, and the rumors that have reached about this confuse Oksana, she does not sleep well at night, and not finding the devout blacksmith in the church in the morning, she is ready to cry. The blacksmith simply slept through matins and mass, and upon awakening, he takes a new hat and belt out of the chest and goes to Chub to woo him. Chub, stung by Solokha’s treachery, but seduced by the gifts, agrees. He is echoed by Oksana, who has entered and is ready to marry the blacksmith “without slippers.” Having started a family, Vakula painted his hut with paints, and painted a devil in the church, and “so disgusting that everyone spat when they passed by.”

The last day before Christmas is replaced by a clear, frosty night. The girls and boys had not yet come out to carol, and no one saw how smoke came out of the chimney of one hut and a witch rose on a broom. She flashes like a black speck in the sky, gathering stars into her sleeve, and the devil flies towards her, for whom “the last night was left to wander around the white world.” Having stolen the month, the devil hides it in his pocket, assuming that the coming darkness will keep the rich Cossack Chub, invited to the clerk for a feast, at home, and the blacksmith Vakula, hated by the devil (who painted a picture of the Last Judgment and the shamed devil on the church wall) will not dare to come to Chubova’s daughter Oksana . While the devil is building chickens for the witch, Chub and his godfather, who came out of the hut, do not decide whether to go to the sexton, where a pleasant company will gather over the varenukha, or, in view of such darkness, to return home - and they leave, leaving the beautiful Oksana in the house, who was dressing up in front of the mirror, for which and Vakula finds her. The stern beauty mocks him, not at all moved by his gentle speeches. The disgruntled blacksmith goes to unlock the door, on which Chub, who has lost his way and lost his godfather, knocks, having decided on the occasion of the blizzard raised by the devil to return home. However, the blacksmith’s voice makes him think that he was not in his own hut (but in a similar one, the lame Levchenko, to whose young wife the blacksmith probably came). Chub changes his voice, and the angry Vakula, jabbing him, kicks him out. The beaten Chub, having realized that the blacksmith has therefore left his own home, goes to his mother, Solokha. Solokha, who was a witch, returned from her journey, and the devil flew with her, dropping a month in the chimney.

It became light, the snowstorm subsided, and crowds of carolers poured into the streets. The girls come running to Oksana, and, noticing on one of them new slippers embroidered with gold, Oksana declares that she will marry Vakula if he brings her the slippers “that the queen wears.” Meanwhile, the devil, who had relaxed at Solokha’s, is scared away by his head, who did not go to the clerk for the feast. The devil quickly climbs into one of the bags left among the hut by the blacksmith, but soon his head has to climb into another, since the clerk is knocking on Solokha’s door. Praising the virtues of the incomparable Solokha, the clerk is forced to climb into the third bag, since Chub appears. However, Chub also climbs there, avoiding meeting with the returning Vakula. While Solokha is talking in the garden with the Cossack Sverbyguz, who has come after him, Vakula takes away the bags thrown in the middle of the hut, and, saddened by the quarrel with Oksana, does not notice their weight. On the street he is surrounded by a crowd of carolers, and here Oksana repeats her mocking condition. Having thrown all but the smallest bags in the middle of the road, Vakula runs, and rumors are already creeping behind him that he was either mentally damaged or hanged himself.

Vakula comes to the Cossack Pot-bellied Patsyuk, who, as they say, is “a little like the devil.” Having caught the owner eating dumplings, and then dumplings, which themselves climbed into Patsyuk’s mouth, Vakula timidly asks the way to hell, relying on his help in his misfortune. Having received a vague answer that the devil is behind him, Vakula runs away from the savory dumplings falling into his mouth. Anticipating easy prey, the devil jumps out of the bag and, sitting on the blacksmith’s neck, promises him Oksana that same night. The cunning blacksmith, having grabbed the devil by the tail and crossed him, becomes the master of the situation and orders the devil to take himself “to Petemburg, straight to the queen.”

Having found Kuznetsov’s bags at that time, the girls want to take them to Oksana to see what Vakula caroled. They go for the sled, and Chubov’s godfather, calling a weaver to help, drags one of the sacks into his hut. There, a fight ensues with the godfather's wife over the unclear but tempting contents of the bag. Chub and the clerk find themselves in the bag. When Chub, returning home, finds a head in the second bag, his disposition towards Solokha greatly decreases.

The blacksmith, having galloped to St. Petersburg, appears to the Cossacks who were passing through Dikanka in the fall, and, holding the devil in his pocket, tries to be taken to see the queen. Marveling at the luxury of the palace and the wonderful paintings on the walls, the blacksmith finds himself in front of the queen, and when she asks the Cossacks, who came to ask for their Sich, “what do you want?”, the blacksmith asks her for her royal shoes. Touched by such innocence, Catherine draws attention to this passage of Fonvizin standing at a distance, and gives Vakula shoes, having received which he considers it a blessing to go home.

This story is part of the series “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”, which became the first book of the great writer published under his own name. Of all that he created, "The Night Before Christmas" summary, or the abstract given below, according to Pushkin, is the most striking example of real gaiety without affectation and stiffness.

Despite its relatively short length, The Night Before Christmas is extremely densely packed with characters, although not all of them are of equal importance to the development of the plot.

The heroes of the story can be divided into main and secondary.

Some go through the story from beginning to end, others appear in it only once, but they also add notes of good humor to this Christmas tale, filled with the flavor of Little Russia.

List of main characters includes:

Vakul is a strong man and a good fellow, a poor young blacksmith and an amateur artist who earns money by painting huts, fences, chests, dishes, and also decorates the Dikanka temple with icons and wall paintings for free.
Oksana is the first beauty of Dikanka, confident in her own irresistibility, a proud and capricious girl, with whom Vakula is unrequitedly and hopelessly in love.
The rich Cossack Chub - Oksana's father, a widower who does not like the poor, but proud and rebellious blacksmith, who dared to lay an eye on his only daughter.
Solokha is Vakula’s mother, a forty-year-old woman in the prime of her life, a witch who enjoys great success with local respectable men. Solokha has designs on Chub and, wanting to prevent his son from marrying Oksana, deliberately quarrels Vakula with her father.
The devil, who has “love affairs” with the witch and who fiercely hates her son Vakula for the icons and paintings he painted that shame evil spirits.
Pot-bellied Patsyuk is a retired Zaporozhye Cossack who has been living in Dikanka for many years and is reputed to be an experienced healer, as well as a person familiar with dark forces.

Other characters: clerk, godfather Panas, godfather's wife, head (speaking modern language, head of the village administration) Dikanka, as well as the Cossacks, Tsarina Catherine II and others, serve as an addition to the group of main characters.

Together they create a fascinating storyline a story that young Gogol wrote almost 200 years ago.

Note! The book was published in 1832, and since then has enjoyed constant success among readers. It is read and re-read with pleasure by Russians of all ages, from middle school to retirement.

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The book tells about what happened one day in the Poltava village of Dikanka. This semi-fairy tale story, which gives a vivid and vivid description of the life and customs of the Ukrainian peasantry of the last thirds of the XVIII century, the second book of “Evenings...” opens. It is more convenient to retell the story in chapters, briefly outlining their contents.

Dark night

On a cold and clear night before Christmas, a witch on a broom flew up into the sky through the chimney of her hut. At the same time, the devil also happened to be there, and at dawn he had to return to hell, since on this holiday evil spirits are forbidden to walk around the world.

The devil planned to steal the month in order to prevent Chub from going with his godfather to the clerk for a housewarming and a festive evening meal. The devil knew that in this case the girl would be alone at home, and Vakula would come to her to declare his love.

But if her father does not go to the clerk, the blacksmith will not succeed. The idea was a success and, having stuffed the month into a bag hanging over his shoulder, the devil flew up to the witch and began to whisper pleasantries in her ear.

Chub and his godfather leave the house, and suddenly notice that there are neither stars nor a month in the sky. Godfather offers to return.

Chub, who was thinking about this himself, out of stubbornness decides to act contrary to the wise advice and get to the clerk at any cost.

Kum doesn’t care, he’s ready to go, and he and Chub set off in complete darkness.

Left alone, Oksana dresses up and talks to herself in front of the mirror. Flirting, the girl says that she is not at all as good as they say about her, but, after thinking, she decides that she is amazingly good.

The blacksmith watches her through the window of the hut, then enters. Vakula asks permission to sit on the bench next to her, then dares to ask for a kiss, but receives a sharp refusal.

Oksana is waiting for the girls and boys to come to her, and they will all go caroling together. The upset guy understands that Oksana doesn’t need him at all.

Cherevichki

A blizzard breaks out outside, Chub and godfather lose their way and decide to return. The godfather turns into a tavern, and Chub knocks on the door of his hut.

Vakula opens it for him, and Chub thinks that he was mistaken and ended up in the house of Levchenko, similar to his hut, who was also going to the clerk and who had a young wife left at home.

Chub comes to the conclusion that Vakula is visiting his wife while her husband is not at home. The Cossack changes his voice, pretending to be a caroler.

The blacksmith beats him and pushes him out of his hut. Chub realizes that since Levchenko has a blacksmith, Solokha is now alone, and decides to visit her.

When the devil and the witch, frozen, return to her house through the chimney, the month slips out of the bag and flies up into the sky. It immediately becomes light, and young people go out to carol. As she expected, a crowd of boys and girls comes to Oksana.

One of her friends, Odarka, the girl notices new shoes and, continuing to flirt, says that Odarka is very lucky that someone gave her such wonderful shoes, but no one gives her, Oksana, such gifts.

Vakula promises to give his beloved the best slippers. The beauty declares that if the blacksmith brings her the queen's slippers, she will marry him. Everyone laughs at the unlucky lover.

Bags

Solokha, confident that her gentlemen are now at the clerk’s party, is being nice to the devil and suddenly hears a knock on the door and the head’s voice. She goes to open it, and meanwhile the devil hides in one of the bags standing by the wall of the hut.

Before the head had time to accept a glass of vodka from the witch’s hands, there was a knock again - the clerk came to visit, having canceled his banquet due to darkness and a snowstorm. The head, not wanting to lose his authority by meeting with the clerk in such a piquant situation, asks his mistress to hide him and climbs into the largest bag.

The clerk's pleasantries are interrupted by a knock and Chub's voice, and he also goes into the bag. But Chub is also unlucky - the upset Vakula returns after him. Frightened Chub hides in the bag where the clerk is already sitting. Entering the house, the guy notices the bags and decides to take them to the forge.

The bags are heavy, but the blacksmith thinks that it only seems to him and that it’s all because of the heaviness in his soul.

Going out into the street, the blacksmith sees a crowd of girls and boys, and among them Oksana, who, laughing, reminds him of her promise to become his wife if he gets the queen’s slippers.

Throwing large bags onto the snow, Vakula puts the bag with the devil on his back and goes, not knowing where.

Realizing that he cannot forget the cruel Oksana, he thinks that it is better to give up his life than to suffer like this.

In response to the question of the meeting friends where he is going, the lover bids them farewell. Hearing this, the idle gossip is going to tell the whole village that the blacksmith hanged himself.

After cooling down in the cold, the young man changes his mind. Vakula decides to call upon evil spirits for help and goes to Pot-bellied Patsyuk for advice. Opening the door of his hut, he sees the owner sitting on the floor with his legs crossed cross-legged.

There are two bowls in front of him, one with sour cream, the other with dumplings, and Patsyuk, without touching his hands, directs the dumplings into the sour cream with his eyes, then opens his mouth, where the dumplings fly in by themselves. In surprise, Vakula opens his mouth, and one of the dumplings falls into it.

Wiping his lips in fear, since the Nativity fast has not yet ended, when it is forbidden to eat meat and dairy dishes, the blacksmith asks Patsyuk how he can find his way to hell.

Patsyuk replies that those who have the devil behind their back do not need to go anywhere. The blacksmith does not understand that Patsyuk means the bag with which he came.

Not understanding anything, Vakula runs out of Patsyuk’s hut and lowers the bag to the ground.

The devil jumps out of the bag, sits on the blacksmith’s shoulders and begins to persuade him to sell his soul, promising in exchange to fulfill all his wishes.

The guy regains his composure, he pretends that he wants to reach into his pocket for a nail in order to prick his finger and sign a contract with blood. He himself, having contrived, grabs the devil by the tail, pulls it off his back and raises his hand to cross him. The frightened devil begs him not to do this, and Vakula agrees if the devil takes him to St. Petersburg and helps him see the queen.

Oksana and her friends find the bags left by Vakula, and think that they contain various goodies that he collected during carols. Realizing that they cannot carry such a weight, they go for the sled.

The godfather walking along the road also finds the bags and wants to take them to the tavern to exchange them for booze, but changes his mind, and together with the weaver he met along the way, he drags one of them, where Chub is sitting, to his home. There they are met by the godfather's wife and rushes at her husband and neighbor, intending to take the contents of the bag for herself.

During the fight, Chub gets out of there and pretends that he deliberately climbed into the bag in order to play a trick on the neighbors.

They climb into the bag, hoping to find a pig there, but they find a sexton. The amazed Chub understands that Solokha is not giving her favor to him alone.

The girls returning with the sled find only one bag on the road and take it to Chub’s house to share the treat that they believe is in it.

Hearing the hiccups of the head from the bag, they scream in fear and, rushing out of the door, stumble upon Chub entering. Having learned that the girls found a bag on the road with someone sitting in it, Chub comes up and sees a head coming out of the bag.

Confused, Chub and Head, not knowing what to say, exchange phrases about the weather and how best to clean boots. The head goes away, and Chub is completely disappointed in Solokha.

Oksana

Vakula flies to St. Petersburg on horseback and joins a delegation of Cossacks who have an appointment with the Tsarina.

During the reception, Catherine asks the Cossacks what they want.

Without hesitation, Vakula decides to seize the moment and declares that he would like to get the slippers that the queen wears on her beautiful slender legs.

Amazed and touched by the simple-minded naivety of the compliment, the empress gives him a pair of shoes, and the blacksmith flies back.

Meanwhile, the residents of Dikanka, confident that the blacksmith committed suicide, argue about whether he hanged himself or drowned himself.

Oksana hears these conversations, she feels sorry for the guy, she repents of being so cold with him, and realizes that she loves him. On Christmas morning, a festive service is held in the church, everyone pays attention to the absence of Vakula and is finally convinced that he is no longer alive.

Having returned from St. Petersburg, Vakula lets the devil go home, giving him three blows with a stick, and falls asleep. Waking up, he realizes that he overslept church service.

Next week the blacksmith is going to confess his sins, but for now, the dressed-up man goes to Chub with gifts to woo Oksana, taking with him the slippers.

Chub makes peace with him and agrees to accept the matchmaking, and Oksana says that she doesn’t need little slippers - she already loves Vakula.

A few years later, a bishop passed through Dikanka, and, seeing a young woman standing with a child near a white hut painted with patterns and flowers, he asked whose house it was so elegant.

“Blacksmith Vakula!” – answered the young woman who was Oksana. This is how the story “The Night Before Christmas” ends happily, the summary of which was outlined above.

Variations "The Night Before Christmas"

So beautiful fairy tale plot could not but serve as a source of inspiration for many authors working in various genres.

Works on the theme of “Nights...” began to appear several years after the book was published, and the process continues to this day.

Here's what the list of these works looks like:

The opera “Blacksmith Vakula”, composed by P.I. Tchaikovsky in 1874, in the second edition (1887) called “Cherevichki”, under which it was preserved in history.
The opera “The Night Before Christmas”, written by N. Rimsky-Korsakov in 1887.
Silent film "The Night Before Christmas", produced in 1913 by director Vladislav Starevich.
Self-titled cartoon 1951.
Film-opera "Cherevichki" 1944.
“Evenings on a farm near Dikanka” 1961 - the most famous Feature Film, directed by Alexander Rowe.
Television musical “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka” 2002.

Note! This proves that even a small work written by a brilliant author can become a real masterpiece.

Useful video

Let's sum it up

“Evenings...” absolutely deservedly entered the golden list of works of Russian literature created in the century before last.

The last day before Christmas is replaced by a clear, frosty night. The girls and boys had not yet come out to carol, and no one saw how smoke came out of the chimney of one hut and a witch rose on a broom. She flashes like a black speck in the sky, gathering stars into her sleeve, and the devil flies towards her, for whom “the last night was left to wander around the white world.” Having stolen the month, the devil hides it in his pocket, assuming that the coming darkness will keep the rich Cossack Chub, who was invited to the clerk for a feast, at home, and the blacksmith Vakula, hated by the devil (who painted a picture of the Last Judgment and the shamed devil on the church wall) will not dare to come to Chubova’s daughter Oksana . While the devil is building chickens for the witch, Chub and his godfather, who came out of the hut, do not decide whether to go to the sexton, where a pleasant company will gather over the varenukha, or, in view of such darkness, to return home - and they leave, leaving the beautiful Oksana in the house, who was dressing up in front of the mirror, for which and Vakula finds her. The stern beauty mocks him, not at all moved by his gentle speeches. The disgruntled blacksmith goes to unlock the door, on which Chub, who has lost his way and lost his godfather, knocks, having decided on the occasion of the blizzard raised by the devil to return home. However, the blacksmith’s voice makes him think that he was not in his own hut (but in a similar one, the lame Levchenko, to whose young wife the blacksmith probably came). Chub changes his voice, and the angry Vakula, jabbing him, kicks him out. The beaten Chub, having realized that the blacksmith has therefore left his own home, goes to his mother, Solokha. Solokha, who was a witch, returned from her journey, and the devil flew with her, dropping a month in the chimney.

It became light, the snowstorm subsided, and crowds of carolers poured into the streets. The girls come running to Oksana, and, noticing on one of them new slippers embroidered with gold, Oksana declares that she will marry Vakula if he brings her the slippers “that the queen wears.” Meanwhile, the devil, who had relaxed at Solokha’s, is scared away by his head, who did not go to the clerk for the feast. The devil quickly climbs into one of the bags left among the hut by the blacksmith, but soon his head has to climb into another, since the clerk is knocking on Solokha’s door. Praising the virtues of the incomparable Solokha, the clerk is forced to climb into the third bag, since Chub appears. However, Chub also climbs into the same place, avoiding meeting with the returning Vakula. While Solokha is talking in the garden with the Cossack Sverbyguz, who has come after him, Vakula takes away the bags thrown in the middle of the hut, and, saddened by the quarrel with Oksana, does not notice their weight. On the street he is surrounded by a crowd of carolers, and here Oksana repeats her mocking condition. Having thrown all but the smallest bags in the middle of the road, Vakula runs, and rumors are already creeping behind him that he was either mentally damaged or hanged himself.

The blacksmith, having galloped to St. Petersburg, appears to the Cossacks who were passing through Dikanka in the fall, and, holding the devil in his pocket, tries to be taken to an appointment with the queen. Marveling at the luxury of the palace and the wonderful paintings on the walls, the blacksmith finds himself in front of the queen, and when she asks the Cossacks, who came to ask for their Sich, “what do you want?”, the blacksmith asks her for her royal shoes. Touched by such innocence, Catherine draws attention to this passage standing at a distance, and gives Vakula shoes, having received which he considers it a blessing to go home.

In the village at this time, the Dikan women in the middle of the street are arguing about exactly how Vakula committed suicide, and the rumors that have reached about this confuse Oksana, she does not sleep well at night, and not finding the devout blacksmith in the church in the morning, she is ready to cry. The blacksmith simply slept through matins and mass, and upon awakening, he takes a new hat and belt out of the chest and goes to Chub to woo him. Chub, wounded by Solokha’s treachery, but seduced by gifts, agrees. He is echoed by Oksana, who has entered and is ready to marry the blacksmith “without slippers.” Having started a family, Vakula painted his hut with paints, and painted a devil in the church, and “so disgusting that everyone spat when they passed by.”

Summary of “The Night Before Christmas” Option 2

About the product
Main characters
Other characters
Summary
Conclusion

About the product

The story “The Night Before Christmas” was written by N.V. Gogol in 1830 – 1832. The first edition of the work was published in 1832 in the printing house of A. Plushar. The story is part of the writer’s famous cycle “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”. In “The Night Before Christmas,” he humorously depicted poeticized rural life on a holiday, developing the plot around the love story of the blacksmith Vakula and the daughter of a rich Cossack Oksana.

Main characters

Vakula- blacksmith, “a strong man and a kid anywhere”, in free time was engaged in “painting”, was in love with Oksana and flew to St. Petersburg on the devil to get her slippers from the Tsarina herself.

Oksana- daughter of the Cossack Chuba, Vakula’s beloved, she “was not yet seventeen years old”, “she was capricious, like a beauty.”

Crap- He disliked Vakula because he painted him in a bad light and took the blacksmith to St. Petersburg.

Other characters

Forelock- a rich Cossack, widower, father of Oksana.

Solokha- the witch, Vakula’s mother, “was no more than forty years old.”

Pot-bellied Patsyuk- a healer, a former Cossack, who has been living in Dikanka for many years.

Head, clerk, godfather Panas, Queen Catherine.

It was a clear winter night in Dikanka before Christmas. Suddenly, a witch flew out of the chimney of one of the huts riding a broom and, rising to the sky, began collecting stars in her sleeve. On the other hand, a devil appeared in the sky. He hid the month in his pocket, and everything around immediately became dark. The devil did this so that the Cossack Chub would be too lazy to walk in the dark and stay at home, and therefore the blacksmith Vakula could not come to his daughter Oksana. So the devil wanted to take revenge on the blacksmith, who painted him disgraced in the painting of the Last Judgment.

Chub and Panas, waiting for a “good drinking party” at the clerk’s, leave the Cossack’s hut and see that a month has disappeared in the sky, and it has become completely dark outside. After hesitating, they still decide to continue on their way.

While Chub left, Oksana, left alone at home, admired herself in front of the mirror.
Vakula, who came to her, finds the girl doing this. The blacksmith addresses Oksana with tender speeches, but she only laughs and mocks him. Frustrated, Vakula decides that the girl does not love him.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and the blacksmith went to open it.

The frost increased, so the devil and the witch went down through the chimney into her hut. The witch was none other than Vakula’s mother, Solokha. She knew how to charm men so much that many Cossacks of the village came to her, but none of them knew about their rivals. Among all her admirers, Solokha singled out the rich Cossack Chub.

Meanwhile, when the devil was going down the chimney, he noticed Chub and created a strong snowstorm, thus trying to bring him home.

And indeed, seeing nothing because of the snowstorm, Chub decided to go back and he and his godfather went in different directions. Having reached his hut, the Cossack knocked, but, hearing Vakula’s indignant cry, decided that this was not his house and changed his voice. Not recognizing Chub in the newcomer, the blacksmith beat the Cossack. Then Chub, reasoning that if Vakula was here, then he was not at home, went to Solokha.

While the devil was flying out of the chimney and back, the month flew out of the “palm” hanging on his side and rose into the sky. “Everything lit up. Snowstorms like never before." Crowds of caroling boys and girls with bags appeared on the street.

The girls hurried to Chub's house. Oksana noticed one of the girls had new shoes and was sad that there was no one to get them for her beautiful new thing. Then Vakula himself volunteered to get “the kind of slippers that a rare lady wears.” Jokingly, Oksana said that only those worn by the queen herself would suit her, and if the blacksmith got hold of them, she would marry him.

A hefty head suddenly comes to Solokha, who is sitting with the devil. While the woman was opening the door, the unclean hid in the bag. The head only had time to drink a glass of vodka and say that because of the snowstorm he didn’t get to the clerk, when there was another knock on the door - it was the clerk himself. Solokha hid her head in the second bag. However, the woman’s conversation with the clerk was soon interrupted - the Cossack Chub came to Solokha.
The hostess hid the clerk in the third bag, and soon Chub ended up in the same bag, who did not want to see Vakula, who had come to his mother.

While Solokha went out to see the next visitor, the blacksmith takes away all three bags and, saddened by Oksana’s bullying, does not even notice their weight.

On the street, Vakula meets carolers. Oksana, laughing, repeats her condition again in front of everyone. Upset, Vakula threw the bags on the ground and, taking the smallest one with him, said goodbye to everyone and ran away.

Vakula decides to go to the local healer - Pot-bellied Patsyuk - “he, they say, knows all the devils and will do whatever he wants.” Finding Patsyuk eating first dumplings, and then dumplings, which themselves flew into the owner’s mouth, Vakula asks him how to find the devil in order to ask him for help. To this the healer answered him: “He who has the devil behind him does not need to go far.” Frightened by a quick dumpling flying into his mouth, Vakula runs away from Patsyuk.

Hearing the blacksmith’s words, the devil immediately jumped out of the bag and offered to conclude a contract, signing it in blood. However, Vakula grabbed the devil by the tail. After baptizing the unclean one, the blacksmith saddled him and forced him to take him to St. Petersburg to the queen.

Oksana notices the bags left by Vakula and offers to pick them up. While the girls went to get the sled, the bag with Chub and the clerk is carried away by the godfather who came out of the tavern. During a quarrel between Panas and his wife over the contents of the bag, Chub and the clerk got out of it, explaining that they had decided to make a joke.

The girls took the remaining bag to Oksana. At this time, Chub returned home and, finding the confused head in the bag, was outraged by Solokha’s cunning.

Having flown to St. Petersburg, the devil turned into a horse, and then, at the behest of Vakula, he shrunk and hid in his pocket. The blacksmith finds familiar Cossacks, and with the help of the evil spirit, he receives consent to go with them to the queen.

In the palace, the Cossacks and Vakula were met by Potemkin, and then by the queen herself. When Catherine asked the Cossacks what request they came to her with, the blacksmith immediately fell at the queen’s feet, asking for his wife the same beautiful slippers as hers.
Catherine was amused by his simplicity, and she ordered to bring the most expensive shoes with gold. Praising the queen’s legs, the blacksmith, pushed by the Cossacks, stepped back and the devil instantly carried him “behind the barrier.”

Rumors had already spread around Dikanka at this time that Vakula had either drowned or hanged himself. Hearing about this, Oksana was very upset - after all, he loved her, and now, perhaps, he left the village forever or disappeared completely. Vakula did not appear after mass either.

The blacksmith got back even faster, and after giving the devil three blows with a twig, he released him. Upon entering home, Vakula immediately fell asleep and slept until mass. Waking up, the blacksmith took with him the queen’s shoes for Oksana and a hat and belt for Chub and went to the Cossack. After her father’s consent to the matchmaking, the embarrassed girl said that she was ready to marry Vakula “without any stalks.”

After getting married, the blacksmith painted his entire hut, and in the church he depicted the devil in hell - “so disgusting that everyone spat when they passed by.”

Conclusion

In the story “The Night Before Christmas” Gogol reveals the theme folk life, depicting a number of typical rural characters - the clever and strong blacksmith Vakula, the beautiful and narcissistic Oksana, the stupid and rich Chub, the cunning Solokha and others. By introducing mythical characters into the narrative (witch, devil, healer), the author brings the plot of the work closer to a fairy tale, thus intertwining the techniques of realism and romanticism in the story.

A brief retelling of "The Night Before Christmas" describes the main plot of the work, but for better understanding We advise you to read the full version of the story.

Summary of “The Night Before Christmas” |

This story is included in the series of stories “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”, recorded and retold by the hospitable beekeeper Rudy Panko. Its very brief content is necessary for the student, because Ukrainian folklore is difficult to understand, and it would not hurt to further clarify the main events of the work. in order to understand and remember the plot.

(275 words) On Christmas night, when the month has just risen in the sky, and young people are going to carols, the devil steals the month from the sky. At the same time, the blacksmith Vakula comes to the daughter of the Cossack Chuba Oksana. She mocks the boy in love and says that she will marry him if only she gets little shoes like the queen herself.

The disgruntled boy goes home. And at home, Vakula’s mother, the witch Solokha, receives in turn the devil, the village head, the clerk, and then Oksana’s father Chub. Scared of his head, the devil climbs into one of the bags on the floor of the hut. The head is hidden in the same bag when the clerk arrives. The clerk also soon finds himself in the bag because of Chub. And with the arrival of Vakula, Chub also gets into the bag. Vakula takes the bags out of the hut, not noticing their heaviness, but when he meets Oksana with a crowd of carolers, he throws everything away except the lightest. He runs to Pot-bellied Patsyuk, who, according to rumors, is akin to the devil. Having achieved nothing from Patsyuk, the unfortunate blacksmith again finds himself on the street, and then the devil jumps out of the bag at him. Having crossed him, Vakula orders the evil spirits to take him to the Empress in St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, Chub, the clerk and the head are selected from the bags.

Vakula, finding himself in St. Petersburg, persuades the Zaporozhye Cossacks to take him with them to a reception at the Tsarina’s palace. There he asks Catherine for her royal shoes, and having received them, he quickly goes home.

There were already rumors on the farm that Vakula had committed suicide out of grief and insanity. Oksana finds out about this, cannot sleep all night, and not seeing the always devout blacksmith in church in the morning, she realizes that she loves him.

Vakula, out of fatigue, slept through the church service, and when he woke up, he went to woo Oksana with the little shoes. Chub gives his consent, as does his daughter, who no longer needs any shoes.

Review: Like all of Gogol’s works, “The Night Before Christmas” is not without mystical themes. Love, which sometimes helps and sometimes hinders devilry, remains main theme almost every story in this series. And all this against the backdrop of the life of a Ukrainian farm, with priceless flavor. And to more accurately convey the picture, use truly Gogolian vocabulary, using “speaking” surnames and folk colloquial speech.

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As part of the project "Gogol. 200 Years", RIA Novosti presents a summary of the work "The Night Before Christmas" by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol - the story that opens the second part of the series "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" and is one of the most famous in the cycle.

The stern beauty mocks him, not at all moved by his gentle speeches. The disgruntled blacksmith goes to unlock the door, on which Chub, who has lost his way and lost his godfather, knocks, having decided on the occasion of the blizzard raised by the devil to return home. However, the blacksmith’s voice makes him think that he was not in his own hut (but in a similar one, the lame Levchenko, to whose young wife the blacksmith probably came). Chub changes his voice, and the angry Vakula, jabbing him, kicks him out. The beaten Chub, having realized that the blacksmith has therefore left his own home, goes to his mother, Solokha. Solokha, who was a witch, returned from her journey, and the devil flew with her, dropping a month in the chimney.

Meanwhile, the devil, who had relaxed at Solokha’s, is scared away by his head, who did not go to the clerk for the feast. The devil quickly climbs into one of the bags left among the hut by the blacksmith, but soon his head has to climb into another, since the clerk is knocking on Solokha’s door. Praising the virtues of the incomparable Solokha, the clerk is forced to climb into the third bag, since Chub appears. However, Chub also climbs into the same place, avoiding meeting with the returning Vakula. While Solokha is talking in the garden with the Cossack Sverbyguz, who has come after him, Vakula takes away the bags thrown in the middle of the hut, and, saddened by the quarrel with Oksana, does not notice their weight. On the street he is surrounded by a crowd of carolers, and here Oksana repeats her mocking condition. Having thrown all but the smallest bags in the middle of the road, Vakula runs, and rumors are already creeping behind him that he was either mentally damaged or hanged himself.

Material provided by the internet portal briefly.ru, compiled by E. V. Kharitonova