The Shoemaker and the Devil
Author: Anton Chekhov
Read “The Shoemaker and the Devil” by Anton Chekhov in Russian and English in Bibliott on your phone and tablet.
Languages: RU, English
Genre: Fantasy, Satire, Short story
Free to read
A poor shoemaker asks the devil for wealth and learns in a dream that money brings neither dignity nor peace.
Characters
- Fyodor Nilov — a poor shoemaker: A poverty-worn shoemaker whose fantasy of wealth becomes a nightmare.
- the customer-devil — a mysterious customer: A taciturn customer with a horse's hoof who offers Fyodor a bargain.
- Marya — Fyodor's wife: Fyodor's wife, part of the ordinary poor life he resents.
- Kuzma Lebyodkin — a master-bootmaker from Warsaw: A prospering fellow tradesman whom Fyodor envies and later berates as a rich man.
- the lady — rich Fyodor's new wife: A full-bosomed lady in a red dress whom the evil one brings Fyodor in place of Marya.