The Elephant
Author: Alexander Kuprin
Read “The Elephant” by Alexander Kuprin in Russian, English and Finnish in Bibliott on your phone and tablet.
Languages: RU, English, FI
Genre: Adventure, Children's, Fairy tale, Short story
Free to read
When the ailing Nadya asks to see a real elephant, her father persuades a menagerie owner to bring Tommy home, and the extraordinary visitor restores the girl’s interest in life.
Characters
- Nadya — an ailing girl: Listlessness drains her strength, but meeting the elephant revives her joy and appetite.
- Nadya’s father (Sasha) — a devoted father: He fulfills his daughter’s seemingly impossible wish.
- Tommy — a trained elephant: A calm, gentle visitor whose presence helps Nadya recover.
- Nadya’s mother (Mashenka) — the sick girl’s mother: She hears out the doctors, coaxes her daughter, and crosses herself joyfully at the sound of her recovery.
- the German, the elephant’s master — Tommy’s owner: Stout and good-humoured, he agrees to bring the elephant by night and lures it upstairs with cake.
- Dr. Michael Petrovitch — Nadya’s family doctor: He has long attended the girl and brings two unfamiliar doctors to consult.
- Polya — the sixteen-year-old nursemaid: The only one in the house who shrieks with fright at the elephant.