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The Little Demon · Chapter
Endnotes explained
This section provides translator's notes and explanations for various cultural, literary, and linguistic references in the text, including Russian folk tales, fables, puns, historical figures, and customs.
What happens
This section provides translator's notes and explanations for various cultural, literary, and linguistic references in the text, including Russian folk tales, fables, puns, historical figures, and customs.
Key passages
“The priest had a dog …”
A popular Russian tale begins with this phrase.
Reference to a well-known Russian folk story.
“Piatachek means a 'five kopek piece' and also a 'pig's snout.' Routilov puns on the word.”
Routilov makes a pun using the double meaning of piatachek.
Explains a wordplay in the text.
“Nedotikomka, an invention of the author. The word means 'the touch-me-not-creature.' It is presumably an elemental, a symbol of the evil of the world.”
Nedotikomka is a creature invented by the author, symbolizing the world's evil.
Definition of a key symbolic entity in the novel.