Lefty (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Nikolai Leskov
- First Published: 1881
- Type of Plot: Fantasy
- Time of Work: 1815-1826
- Setting: London, St. Petersburg, and Tula
- Principal Characters: Lefty, Platov, Czar Alexander I, Czar Nicholas I
- Genres: Short fiction, Historical fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: Nationalism, Death or dying, Rulers, Fantasy, Russia or Russian people, Bureaucracy or bureaucrats
- Locales: London, England, St. Petersburg, Russia
The Story
The Don Cossack Platov sets the tone for this whimsical tale by keeping the English off balance from the beginning. Alexander I's faithful but grumbling companion, in London with the czar, refuses to acknowledge English superiority in anything. When the czar exults over a gun in a museum, Platov pulls out a small tool, disassembles the gun, and proves that the mechanism was fashioned in Tula by a Russian craftsman. While the Englishmen stay up late endeavoring to come up with something the Russians cannot surpass, Platov sleeps soundly. In fact, each of the first two...
[The entire page is 2209 words long]
