Christmas Stories

In the literary heritage of Nikolai Semenovich Leskov, Christmas stories occupy a special place. They became the writer's calling - Leskov expanded the traditional genre and gave it new life. The characters of his works are representatives of different strata of Russian society: landowners, officials, priests, merchants, military men, and peasants. For the hero of "The Pearl Necklace," a chance meeting became a prologue to family happiness. "The Unchangeable Ruble" tells the amazing story of little Kolya and a magical coin, "Select Grain" introduces the reader to the "seemingly proper" man Ivan Petrov, who helps two rogues and swindlers bring their planned fraud to completion, while "The Scarecrow" narrates the misadventures of the townsman Selivan, who, by the will of fate, was mistakenly labeled a villain and a sorcerer. The story "The Beast" shows the strong friendship between a bear and a peasant, which endured even against the whims of a tyrannical landowner. These and other stories in the book lead to reflections on the nature of good and evil in man, on the presence of God in the fate of each of us, on the experiences for the lives of the heroes and their trials.