In this article we will consider a brief summary of the story “Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala”. The work is considered one of the best creations of N.V. Gogol. It is filled with mysticism and folklore traditions of evil spirits.
About the work
The story was first published in 1830 in the "Domestic Notes". “Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala” (a summary of the popular story will be discussed below) was the first work to open the cycle “Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka”. Critics and readers were unanimous in their opinion about the incredible talent of the young writer and promised him a great future.
The plot is based on the eternal theme of a deal with the devil. Gogol, depicting the unfortunate fate of Petrus, shows that a person himself must overcome the difficulties that fell to his lot, and not accept help from the devil.
"Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala": a brief summary (setting)
This is not the first time that Diak Foma Grigoryevich has begun to tell this story. A few years ago, some panic wrote it down and released it in a little book. But the retelling was so absurd that it completely did not satisfy the clerk. That's why he decided to retell the story again. The conscientious beekeeper promised to convey his words exactly.
Thomas Grigoryevich heard this story from his own deed, which became famous for the fact that he had never lied in his life. An extraordinary incident happened a hundred years ago, here in Dikanka, which at that time was the poorest farm in the district.
The deal with Basavryuk
Now the main part of the work “Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala” begins. The summary tells us about Basavryuk, "the devil in human form," who among other people staggers around. He never, even on Bright Sunday, went to church, but he gave the girls such trinkets that they bit, crushed them and sent nightmares at night.
At that time, the old Cossack Korzh lived in the village, who had a beautiful daughter, Pidorka. And Petrus worked for him, nicknamed Bezrodny. Once the old man noticed that young people fell in love with each other. At first he wanted to beat Petrus, but six-year-old Ivas, the younger brother of Pidorki, stood up for him. But this youth did not save the young man from the expulsion from the house of an angry Cossack.
Soon, rumors spread around the farm that Korzh had a habit of visiting a certain Poles, all in gold, and it was going to the wedding. Ivas resorts to Petrus to transmit news from his sister - she would rather die than marry a lyah. With grief the young man went into a shinok, where Basavryuk approached him. Unclean offered his help in exchange for a fern flower.
Petrus agreed, and it was agreed to meet in the Bear ravine on the night before the holiday of Ivan Kupala, because only at this time a fern blooms. They make their way through the swamps at midnight, and Basavryuk shows the hillocks on which flowers grow, and among them fern.
Victim
The summary (“Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupal” by Gogol) conveys the horror and mystical horror of what happened to Petrusem. And the young man picks a flower, and it seems to him that his hairy arms are stretched behind him, and behind them something dark moves. And before Petrusem on the stump there is Basavryuk, blue, like a dead man. He commands the young man to obey only that which will become before him. And no one knows where the hut on chicken legs appears, from which the dog runs out. The dog spreads into a cat, and then into a terrible witch. The sorceress whispers something over the flower, and then orders to leave it. Petro throws, and the fern turns into a ball of fire, which floats in the darkness and in the distance falls to the ground.
At this point, the hero begins to dig and stumbles upon a chest. Behind him, laughter is heard, and the treasure sinks deeper into the ground. To dig a treasure, you need the blood of a child. The witch brings a child to Petrusa under the sheet, the hero rips him off and sees Ivas. He rushes at the witch with her fists, but she reveals treasures hidden underground. Then Petrus, whose eyes are clouded by greed, kills the boy.
Wedding
The work is filled with folk traditions and folklore images, which confirms the brief content of the fairy tale “Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupal”. As soon as blood shed, the Sabbath begins, Petrus runs away. Once at home, he falls and sleeps for two days. Waking up, the guy can not remember anything, and at the feet he sees two bags of gold. He relates everything to Korzh, and the old man gives his daughter for him. At the wedding there is not only Ivasia - he was stolen by gypsies. Fagot marvels at the fact that Petrus cannot even remember the face of her little brother. From then on, the fellow became sad, spent hours sitting motionless, wanting to remember something. Even the healer could not help his grief.
Denouement
The work “Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala” (summary) is drawing to a close. A year passes, but Petrusya is tormenting everything. Then Pidorka dares to seek the help of a witch who lives in Bear Ravine. A witch arrives at their house on the evening before Kupala. Only seeing her did Petro remember everything. He laughed, grabbed an ax and threw it at the old woman. But then, instead of a witch, a child appeared, covered with a sheet. In it, Pidorka recognized Ivas. But the bedspread began to slowly soak in blood and glow, and the girl fled in horror from the hut.
Fagot gathers people who burst into the house. But there is already nobody there, only a handful of ashes - all that remains of Petrus. And in the bags where the gold was stored - broken shards. In mount Pidorka goes to Kiev on a pilgrimage, where he remains. Soon, Basavryuk reappeared on the farm, but people shunned him more than ever, why he only got angry and did even more atrocities.
Thus ends the work “Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala”. A summary of it is now known to you.