Enchanted place

It was printed for the first time in 1832 in the second book, “ Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka ”. The manuscript is unknown. Its absence makes it impossible to accurately date the work. Based on the fact that the “Enchanted place” is equipped with the same subtitle “The Story told by the deacon *** of the Church”, which is marked “ Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala ” and “ Missing Certificate ”, “Enchanted Place”, and set out in the same manner , it is assumed that this work belongs to a group of early tales of "Evenings" and was written in 1829 - 1830 . Two main motifs are intertwined in the story: obtaining treasure and the actions of devils in “deceptive” (“swooning”, “bewitched”) places ^[1] .

The narrator explains

  the story dates back to when he was still a child.  A father with one of his sons went to Crimea to sell tobacco , leaving his wife and three sons at home and his grandfather to watch the tower - it’s a profitable business, there are a lot of people traveling, and best of all - Chumaks who told outlandish stories.  One evening, several carts with Chumaks come, all of them with old grandfather acquaintances.  We kissed, lit a cigarette, a conversation started, and there was a treat.  The grandfather demanded that the grandchildren dance, entertain the guests, but not for long endure, he went.  My grandfather danced gloriously, pretending such pretzels that it was wonderful until he reached one place, near a bed with cucumbers.  Here his legs became.  Scolded, and started again - to no avail.  Someone laughed from behind.  He looked around, but didn’t recognize the place: both the chestnut and the Chumaki — everything was gone, there was one smooth field around.  I understood where he was, behind the priest's garden, behind the barnyard of the volost clerk.  “That's where the unclean force dragged!” He began to get out, no month, found a path in the dark.  At a nearby grave, a light flashed, and another a little off.  “Treasure!” The grandfather decided and heaped a hefty branch for signs, since he had no spade with him.  Late he returned to the tower, there were no Chumaks, the children were asleep [2] .

The next evening, capturing the spade and shovel, he headed for the priest's garden. Here, according to all signs, he went into the field in the old place: and the dovecote sticks out, but the threshing floor is not visible. I went closer to the threshing floor - the dovecote disappeared. And then the rain started, and my grandfather did not find a place, ran back with abuse. The next day he went with a spade to dig a new bed, yes, bypassing a damned place where he did not dance, he struck with hearts in a spade, and he ended up in the same field. He knew everything: the threshing floor, the dovecote, and the grave with a heaped branch. On the grave lay a stone. Having dug up, the grandfather rolled him off and wanted to sniff a tobacco, as someone sneezed above his head. Looked around - there is nobody. Grandfather started digging and found a boiler. “Ah, my dear, that's where you are!” Exclaimed the grandfather. The bird's nose, the lamb's head from the top of the tree, and the bear said the same thing. “Yes, it’s scary to say a word,” the grandfather muttered, followed by a bird’s nose, a ram’s head, and a bear. Grandfather wants to run - under the feet of a steep without a bottom, a mountain hangs over his head. Grandfather threw the boiler , and everything became the same. Deciding that evil spirits only scared, he grabbed the cauldron and rushed to run.

About this time on the chestnut, both the children and the mother who came in wondered where the grandfather had gone. After supper, the mother went to pour hot slops, and a barrel creeps towards her: it is clear that one of the children, being naughty, is pushing her from behind. Mother splashed into her slop. It turned out to be a grandfather. Grandfathers opened the cauldron, and in it there is litter, squabble and "it’s a shame to say what it is." From that time on, grandfather swore to believe the devil, blocked the damned place with wattle, and when the neighboring Cossacks hired a field under the chestnut, something came up in an enchanted place that it was impossible to make out: watermelon is not a watermelon , pumpkin is not a pumpkin , cucumber is not a cucumber ... God knows what!