In a story originally published in this collection, a lyrical passage comparing a river to a blue mirror reflecting all the stars in the sky precedes a woman waking up from a nightmare to find her child stabbed to death in a cradle.
In a story originally published in this collection, a lyrical passage comparing a river to a blue mirror reflecting all the stars in the sky precedes a woman waking up from a nightmare to find her child stabbed to death in a cradle. In a story from this collection, a man digs until he unearths an iron chest, but is denied access to the gold inside until he decapitates his employer's son Ivas. A powerful sorcerer identified as the Antichrist goes on a killing spree fueled by his thirst for his daughter Katerina in this collection's story "A (*) Terrible Vengeance." This book is framed as a set of fantastical tales collected by the beekeeper Rudy Panko, such as "St. John's Eve." The thematically-similar followup to this collection, Mirgorod, contains the first draft of the novella Taras Bulba. For 10 points, name this first major book by Nikolai Gogol, a volume of stories drawn from rural life in his native Ukraine.
In a story originally published in this collection, a lyrical passage comparing a river to a blue mirror reflecting all the stars in the sky precedes a woman waking up from a nightmare to find her child stabbed to death in a cradle.
Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka [or Village Evenings Near Dikanka; or Vecherá na hútore bliz Dikán'ki]