# IV: Marvels on a Hurdle explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Anton Chekhov.

## What happens

The stranger introduces a wooden frame with a bell and pistol, and proceeds to train Ivan Ivanitch the gander in a series of tricks, including ringing the bell and firing the pistol. He then brings in a sow named Havronya Ivanovna and attempts to form an 'Egyptian pyramid' with the cat Fyodor Timofeyitch and the gander. Kashtanka watches with delight, and by evening she is settled in a room with the cat and gander.

## Character check-ins

### The Stranger

The trainer who orchestrates the animal tricks with the hurdle, bell, and pistol.

### Kashtanka

Observes the training session with delight, barking and running around.

### Ivan Ivanitch

The gander who performs tricks such as bowing, playing dead, ringing a bell, and firing a pistol.

### Nikita

The cat, referred to as Fyodor Timofeyitch, who reluctantly participates in the pyramid trick.

## Key lines

> A little while afterwards the stranger came in again, and brought a strange thing with him like a hurdle, or like the figure II . On the crosspiece on the top of this roughly made wooden frame hung a bell, and a pistol was also tied to it; there were strings from the tongue of the bell, and the trigger of the pistol.

The stranger returns with a wooden frame shaped like the Roman numeral II, equipped with a bell and a pistol connected by strings.

_Describes the apparatus used for the gander's tricks._

> The gander lay on his back and stuck his legs in the air.

The gander plays dead by lying on his back with his legs up.

_One of the tricks performed by Ivan Ivanitch._

> The result was what the stranger called the Egyptian pyramid.

The animals form a pyramid with the gander on the sow, the cat on the gander, as instructed by the stranger.

_Climactic trick of the training session._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/iv-marvels-on-a-hurdle
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