Short Fiction · Chapter
The Horse-Stealers explained
During a Christmas week snowstorm, hospital assistant Yergunov loses his way and seeks shelter at a notorious tavern run by Lyubka and her mother.
What happens
During a Christmas week snowstorm, hospital assistant Yergunov loses his way and seeks shelter at a notorious tavern run by Lyubka and her mother. Inside, he encounters Kalashnikov, a known horse-stealer, and another man named Merik. After drinking and a tense interaction, Yergunov discovers his horse has been stolen. In a violent confrontation with Lyubka, he is assaulted and left disoriented, ultimately losing his belongings and the horse.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy and Moral Failure
Yergunov, a hospital assistant and supposed authority figure, is a braggart and drunkard who succumbs to violence and lust, revealing his own moral corruption.
Isolation and Loneliness
Yergunov is stranded alone in a snowstorm, and the tavern's inhabitants are depicted as isolated and morally compromised, highlighting the loneliness of rural existence.
Characters to notice
- Yergunov
Hospital assistant who loses his way in a snowstorm and seeks shelter at a tavern, where his horse is stolen.
- Lyzhin
Mentioned as Lyubka, the daughter of the tavern owner, who interacts with Yergunov and later assaults him.
- The Cossack Maxim Tortchakov
Referred to as Merik, a Cossack present at the tavern who is involved in the horse theft.
Key passages
“A hospital assistant, called Yergunov, an empty-headed fellow, known throughout the district as a great braggart and drunkard, was returning one evening in Christmas week from the hamlet of Ryepino, where he had been to make some purchases for the hospital.”
Yergunov, a foolish and boastful hospital assistant known for drinking, was coming back from Ryepino after buying supplies for the hospital on a Christmas evening.
Introduces Yergunov's character and the setting.
“It was Kalashnikov, an arrant scoundrel and horse-stealer, whose father and uncle kept a tavern in Bogalyovka, and disposed of the stolen horses where they could.”
Kalashnikov was a notorious horse thief whose family ran a tavern in Bogalyovka and sold stolen horses.
Identifies Kalashnikov as a horse-stealer and his family's involvement.
“Shaking with anger and cold, and not knowing what to do, Yergunov fired his revolver at the dogs, and did not hit one of them; then he rushed back to the house.”
Trembling from rage and cold, Yergunov shot at the dogs but missed, then hurried back inside.
Depicts Yergunov's desperation after discovering his horse is missing.