The pretty young girl Paraska, at the age of eighteen, goes for the first time with her father Solopy, Cherevik and stepmother Khavronya (Khivrey) to the fair in Sorochintsy. She is so good that all the girls she meets respectfully take off their hats to her gray-haired father. But the stepmother evokes ridicule - her red face is so angry and even wild. She responds to ridicule with sophisticated Ukrainian swearing - for which she receives a lump of dirt in her cap from a tanned young man in a white scroll. And my stepdaughter liked the guy so much...
At the fair, he finds a girl and immediately starts talking about marriage. The father doesn’t mind, especially since his new son-in-law immediately takes him to treat himself under the “yatka”, where there is a whole flotilla of bottles.
However, the girl’s stepmother makes a scandal for Solopia: with such a guy who “covered” her face with manure, there will be no wedding!
Gritsko is very sad. A roguish gypsy pesters him: if Gritsko gives him the oxen “for twenty,” then the gypsy and his comrades will arrange a wedding for him with Paraska. The gypsy's idea is to take advantage of rumors that there is rampant evil spirits at the site of the fair. Everyone is scared of the “red scroll”!
There is a legend that the devil, who was once kicked out of the inferno, became addicted to drink and instead of payment, he pawned his red scroll to the shinkar. He promised to return for her in a year. But the scroll was made of such luxurious material that the shaver could not stand it and sold it. For the scroll, devils appeared in the form of pigs on stilts and flogged the shinkar with leather whips. And since then the scroll appears here and there - and brings misfortune to everyone. Even if you cut it into pieces, they will slide off. And again the scroll begins to harm. Now the sleeve of the scroll is missing - and the devil just can’t calm down.
Khivrya hosts Popovich in the absence of her husband. He treats him, flirts - and suddenly: the sound of cart wheels - the husband has arrived. Popovich climbs into the attic in fear.
The guests begin to help themselves, and a bottle of fusel is passed around in a circle. Someone present tells the story about the red scroll. Suddenly a pig's grunt is heard - and a terrible pig's face sticks out of the window. The guests jumped up, the priest fell from the attic... Everyone ran away shouting: “Damn! Crap!"
The next day, Solopiy Cherevik took his old mare to sell, looked back - and instead of the mare, the sleeve from the “red scroll” was hanging on the straps. Moreover, he and his godfather were taken to jail for theft. Why did they run as fast as they could? Are you scared of the devil? An honest man will not run! It turns out that Solopy stole his own mare.
Everything that is happening is a gypsy prank. Gritsko is a hero and frees Cherevik in exchange for a promise to marry Paraska to him. Gritsko and his fellow gypsies found a buyer for Cherevik’s old mare and wheat.
Khivrya received the money and rushed off to buy new clothes for herself. While she was running for new clothes, they had already arranged a fun wedding with music and dancing. Khivrya, who returned, was unable to break through the crowd of celebrations. She failed to prevent her stepdaughter's happiness...
But the laughter and songs died down.
“Isn’t it so that joy, a beautiful and fickle guest, flies away from us, and in vain does a lonely sound think to express joy? In his own echo he already hears sadness and desert and wildly listens to it. Isn’t it so that the playful friends of their stormy and free youth, one by one, one after another, get lost around the world and finally leave behind one of their old brothers? Bored left! And the heart becomes heavy and sad, and there is nothing to help it.”
Here Gogol describes the nature of Ukraine and how traders go to the Sorochinsk fair. Our hero Solopiy Cherevik is heading there with his beautiful daughter named Paraska. That is why the hat is removed in front of their cart. But their whole appearance is spoiled by their wife Solopia Khavronya. She's such a grumpy woman, she keeps him under her thumb. They are going to the fair to sell wheat and an old mare. When they pass the river, they hear the shout of one of the boys, he really admires the beauty of his daughter. But he called his stepmother “a hundred-year-old witch.” She scolds him, and in response he throws a lump of dirt at her.
Chapter 2
They stopped to visit their godfather. Solopy and his daughter went to the fair to find where they could sell their goods. But suddenly Paraska is pulled back by the same handsome man they saw on the bridge and begins to talk to her about love.
Chapter 3
Then Solopiy heard a conversation between two men about wheat. They said that one should not expect good trade, since there is an evil spirit in the barn on the edge of the fair, that when people pass by it, they are even afraid to look, God forbid they ever see the red scroll. But he didn’t have time to listen to the end, as he was distracted by his daughter, who was already hugging the boy. Of course, at first he was eager to interrupt this, but when he recognized him as a friend’s son, he did not do this. Meanwhile, the boy invited him to the tavern. There Solopy saw him drain a mug of vodka, and he immediately developed respect for him. And when he drank himself, he proposed to the boy to marry Paraska.
Chapter 4
When the father and daughter return home, Solopiy tells his wife that he has found a nice groom for Paraske. But when Khavronya finds out that this is the same impudent person who threw dirt at her, she almost tore out all of Solopia’s hair. Then he simply says that he will have to look for another groom.
Chapter 5
The wife still forces Solopy to refuse the guy. And he sits sadly at the fair. But then he meets a gypsy who promises to help him, but he must sell all the oxen cheaper. At first Gritsko doubts, looking at him and seeing his cunning and sarcastic face, he agrees.
Chapter 6
While her husband and godfather are guarding the carts with goods, Khavronya receives the popovich. She treats him to dumplings and donuts. She pretends to be embarrassed by his advances. But then there is a knock on the door and she says that a lot of people have come, so he needs to hide. He hides it on boards that were made as shelves.
Chapter 7
Solopy and Kum returned because a rumor about a red scroll spread throughout the fair. Several acquaintances asked to spend the night with Tsybula. They drink. And Cherevik asks his godfather to tell him about this very scroll. Well, one day the devil sat in the tavern and drank it all away; he left his scroll to the owner, but said that the year would come back. And the owner sold it to the master, and the gypsy stole it from the master, who also sold it. The devil has returned, but the scrolls are gone. The dealer who bought it stopped trading, then she slipped the scroll to the man. So his trade stopped. So he took and cut the scroll and scattered it around. Now the devil appears at the fair every year and looks for his scroll.
But then his story is interrupted, because a pig appeared at the window.
Chapter 8
Panic and screams began. Popovich fell off the shelves. His appearance further intensifies the panic. Cherevik put on a pot instead of a hat and began shouting: “Damn, damn!” and jumped out of the hut. He started to run wherever his eyes were looking, only to feel that something heavy was pressing on him...
Chapter 9
With their screams they woke up all the gypsies who were sleeping on the carts. They went to see who was screaming like that and remembering the devil. Solopius was lying on the Earth, with a broken pot on his head, and his wife lying on top of him. The gypsies laughed at them for a very long time, and when they came to their senses, they began to stare at those around them.
Chapter 10
The next morning, Khavronya sends her husband to sell the mare. She hands him a towel so he can have his face alone and notices that she has a red pig in her hands. She throws it away. And Cherevik, who was simply trembling with fear, took the mare to the fair. A gypsy approaches him and asks what he is selling. Solopy seemed to be pulling the horse’s bridle, but discovered that it had disappeared, and that a red piece of cloth was tied in its place. He dropped everything and started running away.
Chapter 11
Solopy was caught in an alley by some guys who began accusing him of stealing a horse. But he tries to prove the opposite, but no one believes him, and his story about the red scroll only makes his situation even more difficult. Here the guys lead a tied up godfather towards him. He wanted to take the cross out of his pocket, but he didn’t find it there, but found only a red scroll there, and he started to run. Kum was also accused of spreading panic.
Chapter 12
Solopy and his godfather are connected. They talk to each other about injustice. But Gritsko approaches them and says that he can master them on one condition, if they get married to Paraska today. Cherevik, of course, agrees. He ties them up and sends them home. Buyers are already waiting there. A gypsy approaches Gritsko and asks if everything was done correctly. He says that everything went well and he hands the water to Vlas.
Chapter 13
Paraska is alone at home, admiring herself in front of the mirror and remembering Gritsko. She puts on outfits one after another, dances and sings about love. Her answer comes into the hut and also starts dancing. And the godfather says that the groom has arrived and the wedding is beginning. Here Khavronya takes it, waves his arms, but is no longer able to interfere. A magnificent celebration begins. But the author notes that any feast and fun ends someday.
No matter how Khivrya resisted, truth and justice still prevailed. With the appearance of the devil, the author indicates the strength of society and throughout the entire work he ridicules them and their vices.
Solopy Cherevik and his daughter Paraskaya are going to Sorochintsy for the fair. One of the guys he meets admires the girl’s beauty and mocks her stepmother Khivrey, who is sitting next to her on a cart. The angry woman showers the joker with abuse, and he throws a lump of dirt at Khivryu.
II
The family stops with godfather Tsybuli. The next day, Solopy and his daughter go to the fair. The father asks the price, Paraska follows him. Suddenly yesterday’s scoffer grabs her by the sleeve. The girl is ashamed of talking to him, but her heart skips a beat.
III
Solopiy listens carefully to the conversation of the traders, who are concerned that an “unclean place” has been chosen for the fair. Allegedly, the night before, the volost clerk saw a muzzle with a pig's snout look out of the window of a destroyed barn. If a “scroll of reds” appears, there will definitely be trouble.
Then Solopy notices that his daughter is hugging an unfamiliar boy. It turns out that this guy is the son of his friend Gritsko. Parubok immediately asks for Parasky's hand in marriage, and Solopy happily agrees. They go to the tavern to celebrate the conspiracy.
IV
The wife greets the tipsy Solopy unkindly. Cherevik makes excuses; he had a reason. He found a groom for his daughter. Khivrya mocks his choice, suggesting that the groom is a drunkard and a hungry man. When it turns out that this is the same mocker who threw mud at her, she attacks her husband with her fists.
V
Under pressure from his wife, Solopiy is forced to take back his promise. The guy is sad. The gypsy Vlas approaches him and persuades the boy to sell the oxen, but he does not agree. Having learned about the reason for Gritsko’s bad mood, Vlas offers him a deal. He will help the guy marry Parask, and he will give him the oxen. Gypsy and Gritsko shake hands.
VI
While the husband is looking for buyers, Khivrya hosts the popovich. She treats “dearest Afanasy Ivanovich” to dumplings and donuts, pretending to be embarrassed by his advances. Suddenly there is a knock on the gate. Khivrya tells the frightened gentleman: a lot of people have come, so it’s better to hide. Popovich climbs onto boards laid out like shelves under the ceiling.
VII
By evening, a rumor spreads around the fair that the devil, in the form of a pig, was looking for something on the carts. Several acquaintances ask to stay with Tsybula for the night. They drink for courage. At Cherevik’s request, the godfather tells about the “scroll of hearts.” One day the devil sat down in a tavern and drank everything there was. Then he gave his scroll to the innkeeper, but promised to return for it in a year. The innkeeper did not wait and sold the beautiful thing to the gentleman.
A year later the devil came, but the gypsy had already stolen the scroll from the master and sold it to a “reseller” at the fair. That one's trade immediately stopped. Realizing what was going on, the merchant slipped the damn clothes onto the man’s cart. They also stopped buying from the poor guy, so he chopped up the scroll with an ax and scattered it around. Every year the devil walks around the fair looking for pieces of his scroll.
Tsybuli’s story is interrupted by the sound of glass breaking and a pig’s muzzle sticking into the broken window.
VIII
A terrible scream rises in the room. Out of fright, one of the guests jumps up and hits his head on the boards on which Popovich is lying. He falls down, adding to the general commotion. Another guest climbs into the stove, the godfather climbs under his wife’s hem, and Cherevik pulls a pot down instead of a hat and runs until he falls exhausted. Someone falls on top of Solopy, and the light fades for him.
IX
The gypsies sleeping on the carts are awakened by a scream. They decide to see what's going on. Vlas and his partner go in the direction where the noise came from. Cherevik lies on the ground with a broken pot on his head, and his portly wife is on him. The gypsies laugh at the unlucky couple for a long time, and they come to their senses and stare at them in bewilderment.
X
In the morning, Khivrya forces Solopy to go sell the old mare. She hands her husband a towel to wipe his face, and suddenly finds a piece of red scroll in his hands. In horror, Khivrya throws away the flap.
Cherevik, trembling with fear, leads his horse on the reins. A gypsy approaches him and asks what he is selling. Solopiy wants to pull the mare's bridle, but discovers that the horse has disappeared, and instead of it, a red flap is tied to the bridle. Throwing away the bridle, the frightened Cherevik runs away.
XI
In a narrow alley, Solopiy is grabbed by burly guys. He is accused of stealing a mare. The poor guy is trying to prove that the mare was stolen from him. Cherevik is not believed, and the story about a piece of the “scroll of reds” only makes matters worse. Now he is also accused of spreading harmful rumors. Towards the same tough guys They are dragging the bound godfather. He put his hand in his pocket to light a cigarette, but instead of a tobacco pouch he found a piece of a “scroll of reds”, and then started running screaming. Tsybulya is also accused of spreading panic.
XII
Cherevik and Tsybulya lie tied up. They complain to each other about the injustice of the accusations. Gritsko comes up and promises to free both of them if his wedding with Paraska takes place today. Solopy happily agrees. Parubok unties them and sends Cherevik home. Buyers are waiting for him there. Gritska stops the gypsies and asks if the guy is happy with the way they arranged everything. Parubok confirms: the matter was successful, and the oxen now belong to Vlas.
XIII
Paraska is alone in the house. She admires herself in the mirror, dreams of marrying Gritsko, hums and dances. Solopy enters and also starts dancing. Gritsko appears, and Cherevik hurries the young people. He is in a hurry to settle everything before his wife arrives. The wedding fun begins, which even the protests of the returning Khivri cannot prevent.
- “Sorochinskaya Fair”, analysis of Gogol’s story
A wealthy peasant, Solopiy Cherevik, goes to a local fair in Sorochintsy to sell wheat and a horse. He is accompanied by his beautiful daughter Paraska and his grumpy wife Khavronya. On the way, they meet a group of parubki (young boys), one of them, named Gritsko, falls in love with a peasant daughter at first sight.
“- Nice maiden! - continued the boy in the white scroll, not taking his eyes off her. “I would give my entire household to kiss her.” But the devil sits in front!”
With these words, a squabble began between Solopia’s wife and Gritsko, who ended up throwing dirt at her. Khavronya grumbled the rest of the way and was able to calm down only upon arriving in the suburbs to their old friend and godfather Tsybula.
Meanwhile, Gritsko finds Solopia and his daughter at the fair and bluntly offers to match them up. The father is not against it, but upon arrival home, the evil wife (Praska’s stepmother) dissuades her weak-willed husband from the boy’s wedding with the beautiful Praska.
Gritsko finds out about this. Upset by the refusal, he wanders through the fair, where he meets a gypsy who offers his help, but in return asks for Cherevik’s horse.
For fear of losing the goods, Cherevik and his godfather go to guard the cart with wheat, and Khavronya, taking advantage of her husband’s absence, brings her lover, the priest’s son, to the hut and treats him to various dishes. After a short dinner, Popovich tries to persuade the hostess to move on to lovemaking. Suddenly they hear Solopia and his godfather returning. Khavronya hides her unlucky lover on boards placed under the ceiling.
The reason for the hasty return of her husband was the local legend about the curse of the Sorochinskaya Fair. Solopy asks the godfather to tell the legend in more detail and, sitting down at the table, the godfather begins his story. “In the local tavern (inn), the devil himself was drinking, and he spent so much money that he had to give his caftan to the owner of the tavern. Shinkar sold the devil's clothes, and the devil, who went in search, learned that his caftan was torn to shreds, because it brought misfortune to its owners. According to local residents, scraps of clothing are scattered throughout the fair.” Suddenly, godfather and Cherevik see a pig's snout in the window, and the general turmoil is intensified by the priest's son falling from the ceiling. Cherevik runs out with a frightened cry: “Damn, damn!”, followed by his wife. They were soon found lying on the road, scared to death and laughed.
The next morning Solopy goes to the fair again. During the bidding, the gypsy distracts him with conversation, meanwhile someone takes his horse away from him, and leaves a cuff from a red caftan tied to the bridle. Having discovered the loss, Solopy, out of fear, runs wherever his eyes look, but in the crowd he is caught by a group of Cossacks. He tells them about what happened, but they do not believe him, accusing him of stealing his own horse. Solopia is tied up and, together with his godfather (who stood up for a friend), thrown into a barn. After some time, the unfortunate man finds Gritsko. In exchange for a promise to marry him, Paraska helps to free himself. Upon returning home, the peasant finds not only the missing horse in the stall, but also buyers for the wheat.
This story begins with a description of the splendor of a summer day in Little Russia. The young beautiful girl Paraska, together with her father Solopy (Cherevik) and her evil stepmother Khavronya Nikiforovna, go to the city of Sorochinets for a fair to sell wheat and a mare. At the fair, the beautiful Paraska was noticed by the boy Gritsko, which displeased his evil-tongued stepmother. A squabble arose between them and Khavronya received a lump of dirt from the guy in his ochipok (cap).
Despite the conflict with the girl’s stepmother, Gritsko intends to marry Paraska in any way. Introducing himself as Golopupenkov's son, the guy lures Cherevik into a tent with a large amount of alcohol. The men drank heavily, and a wedding with Paraska was agreed upon. However, the stepmother, reminding her husband of Gritsko’s misconduct, creates a scandal and prohibits the wedding.
A roguish gypsy came to the aid of the saddened guy and bargained with him for oxen. The gypsy suggested using rumors that there was evil spirits at the fair site, and in return Gritsko should sell the oxen cheaper. It was about a “red scroll” allegedly left in one of the taverns by the devil, which was then sold by the tavern owner to some gentleman. When the devil returned for her, she was not there, and supposedly he is still looking for her. They said that if a scroll was cut into pieces, they would join together wherever they were.
In the evening, having sent her husband out of the house, Khavronya invites Popovich to her place, but the unexpected return of her husband with Kum and guests disrupts all plans. Popovich was hastily hidden in the attic, and the woman had to sit on pins and needles with the guests at the table. The conversation at the table turned to the red scroll. Only when everyone was drunk did they calm down when Kum started talking about evil spirits. Suddenly a pig's snout appeared in the windows of the hut, which caused panic and fear in everyone. These were the tricks of the Gypsy.
The next day, Cherevik was frightened by the fact that instead of a mare for sale, he found the sleeve of that same scroll tied to the bridle. Moreover, according to Gypsy’s cunning plan, he, together with his godfather, was tied up and accused of stealing a mare, the very one that belonged to him. Gritsko came to the aid of the men. At Cherevik’s home, a stolen mare and a buyer for wheat were waiting for him. As a reward for saving the guy, he receives Solopy's consent to marry his daughter. And although the evil stepmother tries to stop the wedding, she fails.
The book makes fun of ignorance and greed, which never lead to anything good. “Sorochinskaya Fair” is a wonderful lesson about how you should always achieve your goals by any means necessary.
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