Retelling plan

1. Emperor Alexander and the Don Cossack General Platov inspect the English Cabinet of Curiosities (a collection of rarities and outlandish things).
2. Alexander buys a metal flea and takes it to Russia.
3. After the death of Alexander, another tsar, Nikolai Pavlovich, orders this flea to be shown to Russian craftsmen.
4. Platov leaves the flea with the craftsmen.
5. Platov, not understanding what kind of work the Tula craftsmen did, takes the left-handed man with him.
6. The Tsar, his daughter, Platov see a savvy flea.
7. Lefty goes to London, inspects factories.
8. Returning to his homeland, Lefty falls ill.
9. Different attitude to the English half-skipper and to Lefty in Russia.
10. Lefty’s dying words and the attitude of Count Chernyshev and the narrator towards them.

Retelling

Chapter 1

When the Vienna Council ended, Emperor Alexander wanted to “travel around Europe and see wonders in different states.” Alexander was a sociable person, talked to everyone, was interested in everything. With him was the Don Cossack Platov, “who did not like this declination and, missing his household, kept beckoning the sovereign home.” And when the tsar notices something outlandish, he says that there are no worse things in Rus'. And the British came up with various tricks for the arrival of the sovereign, “in order to captivate him with his foreignness,” and agreed with Alexander the next day to go to the armory of the Kunstkamera. Platov did not like this, so “he ordered the orderly to bring a flask of Caucasian vodka-sour from the cellar,” but he did not argue with the tsar, he thought: “The morning is wiser than the night.”

Chapter 2

The next day they arrived at the Kunstkamera - “a large building - an indescribable entrance, endless corridors.” The emperor looked at Platov, but he didn’t bat an eyelid. The British showed all their goods, and the king was happy for them and asked Platov why he was so insensitive. The Cossack replied that “my fellow Don people fought without all this and drove away twelve people.” And the foreigners said:

- This is a pistol of unknown, inimitable craftsmanship...

Alexander marveled at the thing, and then gave it to Platov so that he could admire it too. He picked the lock and read the Russian inscription on the fold: “Ivan Moskvin in the city of Tula.” The British gasped that they missed. And the king felt sorry for them for such an “embarrassment.”

Chapter 3

The next day they went again to look at the Kunstkamera. Platov kept calling the Tsar home and making fun of foreigners, and Alexander said to him: “Please don’t spoil politics for me.” They were brought to the last cabinet of curiosities, where there was everything, “from the largest Egyptian ceramide to the skin flea.” It seems that the sovereign is not surprised by anything, and Platov feels calm and joyful about this.

Suddenly the king is presented with a gift on an empty tray. Alexander is perplexed, and the British ask him to take the smallest speck on the tray into his palm. This, it turns out, is a metal flea, for which there is even a key to wind it up, and then it will “go dancing.” The Emperor immediately gave away a million for such a miracle. Platov was very annoyed, because the British “gave a gift”, and he had to pay for it. And Alexander only repeated that he should not spoil politics for him. He put the flea in a diamond nut, and then in his golden snuffbox. And he praised the British: “You are the first masters in the whole world...” And Platov secretly took a small scope and put it in his pocket. They were driving to Russia, looking in different directions along the way and not talking.

Chapter 4

In Russia, after Alexander’s death, none of the courtiers understood what to do with this flea; they even wanted to throw it away. But the king forbade it. Here, by the way, Platov said: “It’s true, Your Majesty, that the work is very subtle and interesting, but we shouldn’t be surprised at this with mere delight of feelings, but we should subject it to Russian revisions in Tula or Sesterbek - then Sestroretsk They called it Sisterbek, “can’t our masters surpass this, so that the British do not exalt themselves over the Russians?” Nikolai Pavlovich agreed, hoping that the Russian masters would be no worse.

Chapter 5

Platov took the steel flea and went to the Tula gunsmiths. The men agreed that the thing was cunningly made, and promised Platov that they would come up with something before his arrival from the Don: “We ourselves don’t know what we will do, but we will only hope in God, and perhaps the king’s word will not be put to shame for our sake.” will". Platov was not satisfied with this answer, but there was nothing to do. He only warned that the craftsmen should not spoil the fine work.

Chapter 6

Platov left, and the three most the best masters, one of them is left-handed, with a sideways eye, who “has a birthmark on his cheek, and the hair on his temples was torn out during training,” said goodbye to their comrades and went into the forest towards Kyiv. Many even thought that they wanted to hide with all this good (the king’s golden snuffbox, a diamond), but “however, such an assumption was also completely unfounded and unworthy of skilled people, on whom the hope of the nation now rested.”

Chapter 7

Tula people are described. Tula is smart, knowledgeable in metal work, and very religious. The Tula people's faith and skill help them build magnificently beautiful cathedrals.

The masters did not go to Kyiv, but “to Mtsensk, to county town Oryol province", where the icon of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of trade and military affairs, is located. “They served a prayer service at the icon itself, then at the stone cross, and finally they returned home at night, and, without telling anyone, they set to work in terrible secrecy.” They all sat in the left-handed man's house, the shutters were closed, the doors were locked. For three days they sat without leaving, “not seeing or talking to anyone.”

Chapter 8

Platov arrived in Tula and sent people to work. Yes, I’m curious myself and can’t wait to see it.

Chapter 9

The Tula craftsmen have almost completed their work, the last screw remains to be screwed in, and they are already banging on their doors and screaming. The masters promise to bring it soon. And indeed, they came out - two of them had nothing in their hands, and the left-handed one was carrying the royal casket.

Chapter 10

They gave the box to Platov. I got into the carriage and was curious myself, so I decided to take a look, and when I opened it, the flea was still there. He asked the tired craftsmen what the problem was. And they say: “See for yourself.” Platov did not see anything, got angry and shouted at them, saying that they had ruined such a thing. They were offended by him and said that they would not reveal the secret of what their work was because he did not trust them. And Platov took the left-handed man into his carriage and took him away without a “tugament”.

Chapter 11

Platov was afraid that the king would remember the flea. Indeed, as soon as he arrived, the king ordered it to be served immediately. And Platov says: “Nymphosoria is still in the same space.” To which the king replied: “I know that my people cannot deceive me. Something has been done here beyond the pale.”

Chapter 12

They pulled out the flea, the tsar called his daughter Alexandra Nikolaevna so that she could wind the flea with her thin fingers. But the flea doesn't dance. Then Platov grabbed the left-handed man and began to pull him by the hair, and the workman said that they had not spoiled anything and asked him to bring “the most powerful small scope.”

Chapter 13

The Emperor is confident that the Russian people will not let him down. They bring a microscope. The king looked and ordered the left-handed man to be brought to him. Lefty, all in torn clothes, “without tugament,” came to the king. Nikolai says he looked, but didn’t see anything. And the left-hander replies: “You just need to bring one of her legs under the entire microscope in detail and look separately at each heel she steps on.” Everyone did just that. The king looked and beamed, hugged the dirty left-hander and said that he was sure that he would not be let down. After all, they shoed the English flea!

Chapter 14

Everyone looked into the microscope and also began to hug the left-hander. And Platov apologized to him, gave him a hundred rubles and ordered him to wash him in the bathhouse and get his hair done at the hairdresser. They made him into a decent man with a decent appearance and took him to London.

Chapter 15

The courier brought a left-handed man, put him in a hotel room, and took the box with the flea where it needed to be. The left-hander wanted to eat. They took him to the “food reception room.” But he refused to eat their food and “is waiting for the courier in the cool behind the eggplant.” Meanwhile, the British looked at the flea and immediately wanted to see the master. The courier takes them to the left-handed man’s room, “the English clap, clap him on the shoulder...” and praise him.

They drank wine together for four days, then, moving away, they began to ask the Tula master where he studied. The left-hander replies: “Our science is simple: according to the Psalter and the Half-Dream Book, but we don’t know arithmetic at all.” Foreigners are surprised and invite him to stay with them, “learn education,” marry and accept their faith. Lefty refuses: “... our Russian faith is the most correct, and just as our right-wingers believed, our descendants should believe just as surely.” They only persuaded him to stay for a while. short term, and then they themselves will take him on their ship to St. Petersburg.

Chapter 16

Lefty “looked at all their production: metal factories, soap and saw factories, and all their economic procedures he really liked, especially regarding the maintenance of workers. Every worker they have is constantly well-fed, dressed not in rags, but everyone is wearing a capable vest... “He liked everything, and he sincerely praised everyone. But he somehow wanted to go home - he had no strength, and the British had to take him to Russia. They dressed him properly, gave him money and sent him on a ship. And all the time he looked into the distance and asked: “Where is our Russia?” And then the half-skipper and I started drinking all the way to the Riga Dynaminde.

Chapter 17

They got so drunk that they started getting rowdy. The captain even wanted to throw the left-handed man overboard, but the sailors saw him, reported to the captain, and then locked him up separately. They were taken like this to St. Petersburg, and then “the Englishman was taken to the messenger house on Aglitskaya Embankment, and the left-hander was taken to the quarter. From here their fates began to differ greatly.”

Chapter 18

As soon as the Englishman was brought to the embassy, ​​a doctor came to him, a warm bath, and a “gutta-percha pill.” And the left-hander in the neighborhood was knocked down and began to demand documents, but he became weak and could not answer anything. He lay in the sleigh for a long time in the cold while they were looking for which hospital to place him in. No hospital accepts anyone without documents, so they took him until the morning. “Then one doctor told the policeman to take him to the common people’s Obukhvin hospital, where everyone of an unknown class is admitted to die.”

But the Englishman had already recovered and ran to look for the left-hander.

Chapter 19

The skipper quickly found his Russian comrade when he was almost dying. Lefty told him: “I definitely need to say two words to the sovereign.” The Englishman contacted many people, but everyone refused to help, even Platov said: “... I don’t know how to help him in such an unfortunate time; because I’ve already completely served my service and received full publicity - now they don’t respect me anymore...” And only Commandant Skobelev called doctor Martyn-Solsky to see the left-hander. And he, poor thing, with his last breath said to him: “Tell the sovereign that the British don’t clean their guns with bricks: let them not clean ours either, otherwise, God bless war, they’re not good for shooting.” He crossed himself and died. Martyn-Solsky went to Count Chernyshev with this news, and he: “Know your emetics and laxatives, and don’t interfere with your own business: in Russia there are generals for that.

And if they had brought the Leftist’s words to the sovereign in due time, the war with the enemy in Crimea would have taken a completely different turn.”

Chapter 20

All these were things of the past. The name of the left-hander is lost, as are the names of “many greatest geniuses“, but the era is reflected aptly and correctly. There are no such masters left in Tula anymore. Workers, of course, know how to appreciate the benefits of mechanical science, but they remember the old days with pride and love.

Nikolay Leskov created a lot beautiful works about the life of ordinary Russian people. The whole world appreciates and loves this talented Russian writer for his insight, patriotism and humanism. One of Leskov’s brightest creations was and remains the story “Lefty”.

It begins with the journey of Emperor Alexander Pavlovich across Europe: in order to “see miracles.” Platov, a Cossack from the Don, does not support the Tsar’s surprise, because he is confident that the Russians can do no worse.

The story "Lefty" summary which is the story of the creation of a masterpiece (a savvy flea), describes in detail the most various miracles existing in the world. Upon returning to his homeland, the sovereign boasts of his amazing acquisition to the court - a dancing mechanical flea.

After Alexander’s death, his successor Nikolai Pavlovich appreciates this flea, but vanity and national pride push him to find masters among the Tula residents who can put foreigners to shame.

Next, a brief summary of the story “Lefty” describes Platov’s journey across Russia, his meeting with three masters, one of whom is Lefty. Those, before starting work, decide to first visit the temple with the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and after that they lock themselves for three days in the house of the crooked master Lefty.

Only Lefty doesn’t want to tell Platov the secret of the action of the created masterpiece. The summary is further based on the fact that Platov has to take Lefty to the palace. However, both the king and his daughter become furious when they see that the flea’s “abdominal mechanism” is inactive. Therefore, the masters not only did not improve the wonder, but also caused damage to it!

For this, Platov cruelly “whacks” the deceiver, demanding that he confess to his sin. But in response, the master explains to him that one should look at the miracle through a stronger “small scope.” And the sovereign does as Lefty tells him.

How surprised the autocrat was when he saw a tiny horseshoe on each flea’s paw! And Lefty also declares that the master wrote his name on the head of each nail - how!

Further, the story “Lefty,” a brief summary of which is presented here, takes the reader along with the master abroad, where he is sent to present a flea as a gift to the British or, more simply, to wipe the nose of foreigners.

The English are sincerely surprised by the skill of the commoner and invite him to stay there and take any beauty as his wife. But he refuses these honors, but Lefty still turns his attention to the condition of the “Aglitsky” guns!

On the way, Lefty shamelessly drinks to the point of betting with the skipper, as they say. Because of this, the skipper ends up in the embassy house, and Lefty ends up in the “quarter”, where he is deprived of English gifts. From there the masters are sent straight to an open sleigh to die in a hospital for the poor.

The half-skipper, who was quickly put back on his feet thanks to the “cutta-percha pill,” searches for his “comrade” for a long time and learns that he is already dying. To Doctor Martyn-Sobolsky sent by the skipper, Lefty manages to say a phrase that worries him.

The patriot’s last words were not requests of a personal nature, but excitement about cleaning Russian guns. After all, the British do not do this with bricks, as in Rus'! However, these words never reach the sovereign. That’s why (in Leskov’s words) it ended tragically. Oh, if only ruling the world listened to the voice of the people!

Leskov’s unforgettable story today remains one of the most read and republished not only in Russia, but throughout the world, because it contains ideas that are relevant to this day.

After the end of the Vienna Council, Emperor Alexander Pavlovich decides to “travel around Europe and see wonders in different states.” The Don Cossack Platov, who is with him, is not surprised at the “curiosities”, because he knows: in Russia “his own is no worse.”

In the very last cabinet of curiosities, among the “nymphosoria” collected from all over the world, the sovereign buys a flea, which, although small, can “danse” dance. Soon Alexander “got melancholy from military affairs,” and he returned to his homeland, where he died. Nikolai Pavlovich, who ascended the throne, values ​​the flea, but, since he does not like to give in to foreigners, he sends Platov along with the flea to the Tula masters. Three Tula residents volunteer to support Platov “and with him all of Russia.” They go to venerate the icon of St. Nicholas, and then lock themselves in the house of the slanting Lefty, but even after finishing the work, they refuse to give Platov the “secret”, and he has to take Lefty to St. Petersburg.

Nikolai Pavlovich and his daughter Alexandra Timofeevna discover that the “abdominal machine” in the flea does not work. An angry Platov executes and scolds Lefty, but he does not admit to the damage and advises him to look at the flea through the most powerful “small scope”. But the attempt turns out to be unsuccessful, and Lefty orders “to put just one leg under a microscope in detail.” Having done this, the sovereign sees that the flea is “shod on horseshoes.” And Lefty adds that with a better “small scope” one could see that on every horseshoe the “master’s name” is displayed. And he himself forged carnations that were impossible to see.

Platov asks Levsha for forgiveness. The left-hander is washed in the “Tulyanovskie Baths”, shaved and “shaped”, as if he had some kind of “common rank”, and sent to take the flea as a gift to the British. On the road, Lefty eats nothing, “supporting” himself with wine alone, and sings Russian songs throughout Europe. When questioned by the British, he admits: “We have not gone deep into the sciences, and therefore the flea no longer dances, only those who are faithful to their fatherland.” Lefty refuses to stay in England, citing his parents and the Russian faith, which is “the most correct.” The English cannot seduce him with anything, then with an offer to marry, which Lefty rejects and speaks disapprovingly of the clothes and thinness of English women. In English factories, Lefty notices that the workers are well-fed, but most of all he is interested in the condition of the old guns.

Soon Lefty begins to feel sad and, despite the approaching storm, boards the ship and without looking away looks towards Russia. The ship sails out into the “Solid Sea”, and Lefty makes a bet with the skipper who will outdrink whom. They drink until the Riga Dynaminde, and when the captain locks the disputants, they already see devils in the sea. In St. Petersburg, the Englishman is sent to the embassy house, and Lefty is sent to the quarter, where they demand his document, take away his gifts, and then take him in an open sleigh to the hospital, where “everyone of an unknown class is accepted to die.” The next day, the “Aglitsky” half-skipper swallows the “cutta-percha” pill and, after a short search, finds his Russian “comrade”. Lefty wants to say two words to the sovereign, and the Englishman goes to “Count Kleinmichel,” but the half-speaker doesn’t like his words about Lefty: “even though Ovechkin’s fur coat, so is the soul of a man.” The Englishman is sent to the Cossack Platov, who “has simple feelings.” But Platov finished his service, received “full population” and sent him to “Commandant Skobelev.” He sends a doctor from the clergy of Martyn-Solsky to Leftsha, but Leftsha is already “ending”, asks to tell the sovereign that the British don’t clean their guns with bricks, otherwise they are not suitable for shooting, and “with this fidelity” he crosses himself and dies. Doctor reports last words Count Chernyshev is left-handed, but he does not listen to Martyn-Solsky, because “in Russia there are generals for this,” and they continue to clean their guns with bricks. And if the emperor had heard the words of Lefty, then the Crimean War would have ended differently

Now it's already "things to do" days gone by“, but the legend must not be forgotten, despite the “epic character” of the hero and the “fabulous warehouse” of the legend. The name of Lefty, like many other geniuses, has been lost, but the folk myth about him accurately conveyed the spirit of the era. And although the machines do not condone “aristocratic prowess, the workers themselves remember the old days and their epic with “ human soul", with pride and love.

1. About the work
2. Main characters
3. Other characters
4. Summary
5. Conclusion

Nikolai Semenovich Leskov

"Lefty"

After the end of the Vienna Council, Emperor Alexander Pavlovich decides to “travel around Europe and see wonders in different states.” The Don Cossack Platov, who is with him, is not surprised at the “curiosities”, because he knows: in Russia “his own is no worse.”

In the very last cabinet of curiosities, among the “nymphosoria” collected from all over the world, the sovereign buys a flea, which, although small, can “danse” dance. Soon Alexander “got melancholy from military affairs,” and he returned to his homeland, where he died. Nikolai Pavlovich, who ascended the throne, values ​​the flea, but, since he does not like to give in to foreigners, he sends Platov along with the flea to the Tula masters. Three Tula residents volunteer to support Platov “and with him all of Russia.” They go to venerate the icon of St. Nicholas, and then lock themselves in the house of the slanting Lefty, but even after finishing the work, they refuse to give Platov the “secret”, and he has to take Lefty to St. Petersburg.

Nikolai Pavlovich and his daughter Alexandra Timofeevna discover that the “abdominal machine” in the flea does not work. An angry Platov executes and scolds Lefty, but he does not admit to the damage and advises him to look at the flea through the most powerful “small scope”. But the attempt turns out to be unsuccessful, and Lefty orders “to put just one leg under a microscope in detail.” Having done this, the sovereign sees that the flea is “shod on horseshoes.” And Lefty adds that with a better “small scope” one could see that on every horseshoe the “master’s name” is displayed. And he himself forged carnations that were impossible to see.

Platov asks Levsha for forgiveness. The left-hander is washed in the “Tulyanovskie Baths”, shaved and “shaped”, as if he had some kind of “common rank”, and sent to take the flea as a gift to the British. On the road, Lefty eats nothing, “supporting” himself with wine alone, and sings Russian songs throughout Europe. When questioned by the British, he admits: “We have not gone deep into the sciences, and therefore the flea no longer dances, only those who are faithful to their fatherland.” Lefty refuses to stay in England, citing his parents and the Russian faith, which is “the most correct.” The English cannot seduce him with anything, then with an offer to marry, which Lefty rejects and speaks disapprovingly of the clothes and thinness of English women. In English factories, Lefty notices that the workers are well-fed, but most of all he is interested in the condition of the old guns.

Soon Lefty begins to feel sad and, despite the approaching storm, boards the ship and without looking away looks towards Russia. The ship sails out into the “Solid Sea”, and Lefty makes a bet with the skipper who will outdrink whom. They drink until the Riga Dynaminde, and when the captain locks the disputants, they already see devils in the sea. In St. Petersburg, the Englishman is sent to the embassy house, and Lefty is sent to the quarter, where they demand his document, take away his gifts, and then take him in an open sleigh to the hospital, where “everyone of an unknown class is accepted to die.” The next day, the “Aglitsky” half-skipper swallows the “cutta-percha” pill and, after a short search, finds his Russian “comrade”. Lefty wants to say two words to the sovereign, and the Englishman goes to “Count Kleinmichel,” but the half-speaker doesn’t like his words about Lefty: “even though Ovechkin’s fur coat, so is the soul of a man.” The Englishman is sent to the Cossack Platov, who “has simple feelings.” But Platov finished his service, received “full population” and sent him to “Commandant Skobelev.” He sends a doctor from the clergy of Martyn-Solsky to Leftsha, but Leftsha is already “ending”, asks to tell the sovereign that the British don’t clean their guns with bricks, otherwise they are not suitable for shooting, and “with this fidelity” he crosses himself and dies. The doctor reports Lefty’s last words to Count Chernyshev, but he does not listen to Martyn-Solsky, because “in Russia there are generals for this,” and the guns continue to be cleaned with bricks. And if the emperor had heard the words of Lefty, then the Crimean War would have ended differently

Now these are already “things of bygone days,” but the legend cannot be forgotten, despite the “epic character” of the hero and the “fabulous character” of the legend. The name of Lefty, like many other geniuses, has been lost, but the folk myth about him accurately conveyed the spirit of the era. And although the machines do not condone “aristocratic prowess,” the workers themselves remember the past and their epic with a “human soul,” with pride and love.

During Emperor Alexander Pavlovich's trip to Europe, he bought a dancing flea skillfully made by craftsmen in the Kunstkamera. Ataman Platov, who was with the sovereign, was not surprised at the “curiosities,” being confident that in Russia they could do no worse.

Upon returning to Russia, the sovereign dies, and Nikolai Pavlovich takes the throne. He appreciates the flea, but does not want to give in to foreigners. He sends Platov along with the flea to Tula so that the craftsmen can make something better than the foreign one. The three masters, having prayed, close for three days with the oblique Lefty. Having finished the work, the secret is not revealed, forcing Platov to take Lefty to St. Petersburg. The Emperor discovers that the winding machine in the flea's belly does not work. Platov punishes Lefty, but he advises him to look through the strongest microscope to see that the flea is savvy. He adds that he himself only forged the nails for the horseshoe and the name of the master is on the horseshoe.

Lefty is given the appearance of an official and sent to England with a gift. He explains to the British that although he is not strong in science, he is devoted to his homeland. Refuses to stay in England without being seduced by the proposed bride. While at the factories, he notices that the workers are well-fed. Pays attention to the maintenance of old guns.

Melancholy comes over him, and he decides to go home to Russia. He drinks all the way with the skipper in a bet: who will outdrink whom. They drink themselves to hell. In St. Petersburg, Lefty is sent to a hospital for homeless hopelessly ill people. The English skipper finds him and, at Lefty’s request to convey something for the sovereign, goes first to “Count Kleinmichel,” then to Platov, whom he does not find, then to Commandant Skobelev. The latter sends Dr. Martyn-Solsky to the sick Lefty, but Lefty, before his death, asks him to tell the sovereign that the British don’t clean their guns with bricks, as this makes them unusable, and he dies. The doctor reported Lefty's words to Count Chernyshov. He does not pay attention to this, considering it the work of the generals. Exodus Turkish War could have been different.

Lefty's name is forgotten, but folk legend lives about him.

Essays

Emperor Alexander Pavlovich travels around Europe accompanied by the Don Cossack Platov. Foreigners seduce him with their various miracles. And Platov keeps telling the sovereign that ours is no worse, they say.

The British took the guests to the Kunstkamera - a collection of rarities: “In the main hall there are various huge busts, and in the middle under the Canopy stands Abolon of Polveder.”

Correctly, of course, not “busters”, but “busts”. And Abolon Polvedere is Apollo Belvedere, the famous statue.

Leskov stylizes the tale folklore style with its unique folk etymology and the construction of new words that give the story an ironic tone.

“The British immediately began to show various surprises and explain what they had adapted for military circumstances: sea storm meters... and tar waterproof cables for the cavalry.”

The British boasted of an extraordinary pistol. Only Platov unscrewed it, and inside there was an inscription that this pistol was made by a Russian master in the city of Tula.

The next day, the emperor and the Cossack went to see English wonders - in a “two-seater” (double) carriage.

The British presented the sovereign with a tiny “nymphosoria”, which “we forged from pure English steel in the image of a flea, and in the middle there is a plant and a spring. If you please turn the key, and she will immediately begin to dance.”

And in fact: the flea jumped up, made “two turns to one side, then to the other, and so in three turns she danced the whole cavril.”

Alexander Pavlovich ordered to give a million in silver for a flea and another five thousand for a diamond case in the shape of a nut. He recognized English masters as the first in the whole world. They say that the Russians “cannot do anything against you.”

Platov was very upset by those words, but did not say anything against it. “He just took the small scope and, without saying anything, put it in his pocket, because “it belongs here,” he says, “and you already took a lot of money from us.”

On the way, the tsar kept praising the English order, so that “Platov remained resentful and lay down at home on an annoying couch, and so he lay there and Zhukov smoked tobacco without stopping.”

After some time, Alexander Pavlovich died in Taganrog. The English curiosity, along with all other valuables, was inherited by the new sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich.

The Don Cossack Platov told the new ruler everything about this “nymphosoria”.

And they agreed among themselves to take the flea to the Tula masters so that they could figure out how to surpass the English.

Platov brought the flea to Tula and left for the Don, agreeing to return to work in two weeks.

Three gunsmiths, one of them “a slanting left-hander, a birthmark on his cheek, and the hair on his temples torn out during training, said goodbye to his comrades and his family and, without telling anyone, they took their bags, put what they needed to eat in there and disappeared from the city "

They went to the city of Mtsensk, where there was a stone carved miraculous icon Saint Nicholas. They prayed, asked for advice and help, returned home at night, “they closed the shutters on the windows, lit the lamp in front of Nikolin’s image and began to work.”

The curious people did not know what was happening behind the closed shutters - only hammers were tapping metal.

Here Platov returns from the Don, accompanied by two “whistle” (messenger) Cossacks. In impatience, he sends the Cossacks to the artisans, but they do not open - they have not finished the work yet.

Then the Cossacks took a log and tore the roof off the house.

“...The roof was removed, and they themselves just collapsed, because the craftsmen in their cramped mansion from restless work in the air became such a sweaty spiral that it was impossible for an unaccustomed person with a fresh wind to breathe even once.”

Just then the last nail was hammered in - and the artisans hurried after the Cossacks.

Platov opened the box with the flea and did not notice any changes. The Don Ataman began to scold the artisans. They were offended and said that they would not reveal the secret of their work. Let him take the box to the sovereign - he will sort it out. Platov became more enraged than ever and took the left-hander with him to St. Petersburg.

“How can you take him away from us without a tugament (document)?” - the comrades tried to intercede.

However, instead of answering, Platov showed them his terrible fist: “Here’s a tugament for you!”

In St. Petersburg, a left-hander was thrown into a dungeon. However, Nikolai Pavlovich did not forget anything; he called the Cossack to him. He said that it seemed like the Tula people couldn’t do anything. Although they lie that there was work.

“Give it here,” the king ordered. - I know that my people cannot deceive me. Something beyond the concept has been done here.

The sovereign “did not diminish his faith in Russian masters, but ordered to call his beloved daughter Alexandra Nikolaevna and ordered her:

“You have thin fingers on your hands - take a small key and quickly start the abdominal machine in this nymphosorium.”

Alexandra Nikolaevna got a flea, but she could no longer make any “beliefs”.

Platov angrily dragged the left-handed man and began to pull him by the hair. The craftsman asked to look at the flea through the strongest microscope.

The king looked at the flea through the strongest magnifying glass and called the left-handed man to him.

He “walks in what he was wearing: in shorts, one trouser leg is in a boot, the other is dangling, and the collar is old, the hooks are not fastened, they are lost, and the collar is torn; but it’s okay, don’t be embarrassed.”

“What is it? - thinks. “If the sovereign wishes to see me, I must go; and if I don’t have a tugament with me, then it’s not my fault and I’ll tell you why this happened.”

Lefty showed the emperor how to place a flea under a microscope - look separately at the legs and heels.

“As soon as the Emperor looked through the upper glass, he became all beaming - he took the left-handed man, how unkempt and dusty, unwashed he was, hugged him and kissed him, and then turned to all the courtiers and said:

“You see, I knew better than anyone that my Russians would not deceive me.” Look, please: they, the scoundrels, shoed the English flea into horseshoes!”

Everyone around saw through a microscope the horseshoes on the heels of the flea.

Lefty said that if there was a microscope that magnifies even more, then one could see that on each “horseshoe” the master’s name is displayed: which Russian master made that horseshoe.

- AND your name is there? - asked the sovereign.

“No way,” the left-handed man answers, “I’m the only one who doesn’t exist.”

- Why?

“And because,” he says, “I worked smaller than these horseshoes: I forged the nails with which the horseshoes are hammered - no small scope can take them there.”

The Emperor asked:

- Where is your small scope with which you could produce this surprise?

And the left-hander replied:

“We are poor people and due to our poverty we do not have a small scope, but our eyes are so focused.”

And the emperor ordered the savvy flea to be sent back to England. She was carried by an envoy who knew many languages.

And the left-hander was sent to England. Platov personally gave him one hundred rubles and sent him his own vodka-sour: “Don’t drink little, don’t drink too much, but drink sparingly.”

“And Count Kisselrode (in fact, Nesselrode) ordered that the left-hander be washed in the Tulyakovo public baths, cut his hair at the barbershop and dressed in a ceremonial caftan from a court singer, so that it would look as if he had some kind of paid rank .

How they dressed him up in such a manner, gave him tea with Platov’s sour milk for the journey, tied him with a belt as tightly as possible so that his intestines did not shake, and took him to London. From here, with the left-hander, foreign views came.”

All the way the left-hander sang Russian songs, only the chorus was foreign: “Ay lyuli-se tre zhuli.”

Upon arrival in London, the left-hander went to the “food reception room”, and “those persons to whom the courier handed over the nymphosoria immediately examined it with the strongest microscope and now the description is in the journalistic bulletins, so that tomorrow it will be publicly known as slander (feuilleton).” .

The English masters began to give the left-handed man a drink and ask him how much he knew arithmetic. The British regretted that the left-handed man had great skill in his hands, but little knowledge. So he could not calculate that a savvy flea would not be able to dance.

The left-hander was invited to stay in London, study science and become a famous master throughout England. But the left-handed man was devoted to his homeland, his native faith and family of origin. And he would like to marry an Orthodox Russian girl, he doesn’t want to fool the English women.

“We just persuaded him to a short time to stay, and at this time they will take him to different factories and show him all their art.

“And then,” they say, “we will bring him on our ship and deliver him alive to St. Petersburg.”

He agreed to this... He looked at all their production: metal factories, soap factories, and all their economic practices, he really liked them, especially regarding the maintenance of workers.

Every worker they have is constantly well-fed, dressed not in rags, but each wearing a capable vest, shod in thick boots with iron knobs, so that his feet won’t get hurt anywhere; works with training and has ideas for himself. In front of everyone hangs a multiplication dot in plain sight, and under his hand is an erasable board: all the master does is look at the dot and compare it with the concept, and then he writes one thing on the board, erases another and puts it together neatly: what is written on the numbers is and in fact it turns out. And when the holiday comes, they’ll get together in couples, take a stick in their hands and go for a walk in a decorous and noble manner, as they should.”

To the surprise of the British, the Russian master was most interested in caring for the old firearms. He kept putting his finger in the barrel and was very upset; he urgently needed to warn the Russian military commanders about something.

Lefty began to rush back home.

“We looked at the storm meter (barometer), they say: there will be a storm, you can drown; It’s not like you have the Gulf of Finland, but here is the real Solid Earth (Mediterranean) Sea.

The British did not hold him back, they dressed him warmly and gave him a gold watch as a souvenir.

But the skipper on the ship that was carrying the left-hander to his homeland turned out to be not so noble. He and the left-handed man began to bet: who would outdrink whom.

It was a bad bet. The skipper and the left-hander walked level: “when one, looking into the sea, saw the devil climbing out of the water, now the same thing happened to the other.”

Almost because of this stupid bet, the Englishman did not throw the Tula master overboard. Yes, the sailors stopped them in time.

The captain ordered “to lock them both down and give them rum and wine and cold food so that they could drink and eat and keep their bets, but not serve them hot water with fire, because the alcohol in their insides could ignite.

So they were brought locked up to St. Petersburg, and not one of them won the bet against each other; and then they laid them out on different carts and took the Englishman to the envoy’s house on Aglitskaya Embankment, and the left-hander to the quarter.

They began to treat the Englishman, and the policeman began to question the left-handed man. And he was so weak that he didn’t say anything, but just moaned.

Here they took away from the unfortunate man his money, his gold watch, and even his warm dress. They started taking him half-naked to hospitals.”

“They brought me to one hospital - they wouldn’t admit me without a certificate, they brought me to another - and they wouldn’t admit me there, and so on to the third, and to the fourth...”

Along the way, the poor fellow was also beaten mercilessly.

Finally, one doctor suggested that the patient should be taken to “the common people’s Obukhvin hospital, where everyone of an unknown class is admitted to die.

Then they ordered me to give a receipt, and to put the left-handed person on the floor in the corridor until the showdown.”

The English skipper quickly came to his senses and went to look for his Russian comrade, and found him surprisingly quickly.

Lefty was still on the floor in the corridor and seemed to be delirious:

“I would definitely like to say two words to the sovereign,” he says.

“The Englishman ran to Count Kleinmichel and made a noise:

- Is that possible? “Even though he has a sheep’s fur coat,” he says, “he has the soul of a man.”

The skipper was expelled from the count, he went to Platov, and he, being already in full retirement, sent him to General Skobelev.

Skobelev sent the Orthodox doctor Martyn-Solsky to the left-handed man, but it was too late to save the dying man; his head was smashed by the police on the parapet. The only thing he could say before his death:

“Tell the sovereign that the British don’t clean their guns with bricks: let them not clean ours either, otherwise, God bless war, they’re not good for shooting.”

However, the generals did not allow the doctor to see the king and drove him away.

But if they had brought the words of the left-hander to the sovereign in due time, “in the Crimea, in the war with the enemy, the turn would have been completely different.”

“Such masters as the fabulous left-hander, of course, are no longer in Tula: machines have leveled the inequality of talents and gifts, and genius is not eager to fight against diligence and accuracy.

Workers, of course, know how to appreciate the benefits brought to them by the practical devices of mechanical science, but they remember the old days with pride and love. This is their epic, and with a very “human soul.”