Kashtanka Page #7

"Kashtanka" is a short story by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov that follows the life of a stray dog named Kashtanka. After getting lost from her owner, she encounters a kind-hearted circus performer who takes her in. The story captures the themes of loyalty, survival, and the bond between humans and animals as Kashtanka adapts to her new life while reflecting on her past. Through her experiences, Chekhov explores the complexities of love and belonging, highlighting the emotional depth of both the dog and the people she interacts with. The narrative is rich with Chekhov's signature observational humor and poignant insight into the human condition.

								


"Kashtanka it is!" declared a cracked drunken tenor. "Kashtanka! Strike
me dead, Fedyushka, it is Kashtanka. Kashtanka! here!"

Someone in the gallery gave a whistle, and two voices, one a boy's and
one a man's, called loudly: "Kashtanka! Kashtanka!"

Auntie started, and looked where the shouting came from. Two faces, one
hairy, drunken and grinning, the other chubby, rosy-cheeked and
frightened-looking, dazed her eyes as the bright light had dazed them
before. . . . She remembered, fell off the chair, struggled on the sand,
then jumped up, and with a delighted yap dashed towards those faces.
There was a deafening roar, interspersed with whistles and a shrill
childish shout: "Kashtanka! Kashtanka!"

Auntie leaped over the barrier, then across someone's shoulders. She
found herself in a box: to get into the next tier she had to leap over a
high wall. Auntie jumped, but did not jump high enough, and slipped back
down the wall. Then she was passed from hand to hand, licked hands and
faces, kept mounting higher and higher, and at last got into the
gallery. . . .

----

Half an hour afterwards, Kashtanka was in the street, following the
people who smelt of glue and varnish. Luka Alexandritch staggered and
instinctively, taught by experience, tried to keep as far from the
gutter as possible.

"In sin my mother bore me," he muttered. "And you, Kashtanka, are a
thing of little understanding. Beside a man, you are like a joiner
beside a cabinetmaker."

Fedyushka walked beside him, wearing his father's cap. Kashtanka looked
at their backs, and it seemed to her that she had been following them
for ages, and was glad that there had not been a break for a minute in
her life.

She remembered the little room with dirty wall-paper, the gander, Fyodor
Timofeyitch, the delicious dinners, the lessons, the circus, but all
that seemed to her now like a long, tangled, oppressive dream.
								Rate this book:0.0 / 0 votes