May Night or the Drowned Maiden
Encyclopedia
May Night, or the Drowned Maiden (Майская ночь, или Утопленница, Mayskaya noch', ili Utoplennitsa) (1831) is the third tale in the collection Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka
by Nikolai Gogol
. It was made into the opera May Night
by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
in 1878–1879 and also a Ukrainian setting by Mykola Lysenko
In this tale, a young Cossack
named Levko, the son of the mayor, is in love with Hanna. He comes to her house to talk about marriage and mentions that his father is not pleased with the idea, though he doesn’t say anything directly and merely ignores him. As they are walking on the outskirts of the village, Hanna asks about an old hut with a moss covered roof and overgrown apple trees surrounding it. He tells her the story of a beautiful young girl whose father took care of her after her mother died and loved her dearly. Eventually, he married another woman who she discovered was a witch when she cut the paw of a cat that tried to kill her and her stepmother appeared soon after with her hand bandaged. The witch had power over her father, however, and eventually she is thrown out of the house and throws herself into the nearby pond in despair. She reigns over a group of maidens who also drowned in the pond, but once, when she got a hold of the witch as she was near the pond, she turned into a maiden and the ghost of the young girl has been unable to pick her out of the group ever since, asking any young man she comes upon to guess for her.
As the story progresses Rudy mentions the mayor and a drunk walks into his house thinking it is his, tricked by local peasants. Then, his son, who is angry at his father for trying to steal Hanna away, and his friends decide to play tricks on the village and start to parade around causing havoc. They dress up the mayor’s sister-in-law, who is assumed to be having an affair with him, as a demon
with soot all over her face, tricking the mayor. He mistakenly throws her into the cellar and then finds out it’s her, but she gets angry and goes outside, to be captured by the boys again and thrown into a hut. Meanwhile, the mayor and some of his closest friends decide to find the hooligans and instead find the sister-in-law again and almost burn her alive in the hut.
Levko goes on his own and falls asleep near the old house and the pond. He becomes enchanted by the calm night and silvery mist surrounding everything, and then notices in the pond’s reflection that the hut appears to be occupied, and a young girl with beautiful skin pops her head out of the window. When he turns to look at the hut, it looks as empty as ever, but when he comes up to the window the maiden comes out and asks him to guess which maiden the witch is in the group. As he looks at them, he notices one at first that doesn’t seem interested in playing games, but determines her to be normal. One, however, seems to revel in playing the part of a hawk in their game, and he sees blackness in her form, realising she is the witch. The maiden is grateful and gives him a note to help him with his father. He wakes up and is soon captured by his father and his minions, but still has the letter, which he gives to the mayor. The letter seems to be from the local commissar, who requests the mayor clean up his village (asking several things to be done) as well as allowing his son to marry Hanna. The mayor agrees and they will be married in the near future.
Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka
Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka is a collection of short stories by Nikolai Gogol, written from 1831-1832. They appeared in various magazines and were published in book form when Gogol, who had spent his life in Ukraine up to the age of nineteen, was twenty two. He put his early impressions and...
by Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
. It was made into the opera May Night
May Night
May Night is an opera in three acts, four scenes, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov from a libretto by the composer and is based on Nikolai Gogol's story May Night, or the Drowned Maiden, from his collection Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka....
by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
in 1878–1879 and also a Ukrainian setting by Mykola Lysenko
Mykola Lysenko
Mykola Vitaliiovych Lysenko was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and ethnomusicologist.- Biography :Lysenko was born in Hrynky, Kremenchuk Povit, Poltava Governorate, the son of Vitaliy Romanovich Lysenko . From childhood he became very interested in the folksongs of Ukrainian peasants and...
Synopsis
This story comes from the unnamed story-teller (who was previously responsible for "The Fair at Sorochyntsi").In this tale, a young Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
named Levko, the son of the mayor, is in love with Hanna. He comes to her house to talk about marriage and mentions that his father is not pleased with the idea, though he doesn’t say anything directly and merely ignores him. As they are walking on the outskirts of the village, Hanna asks about an old hut with a moss covered roof and overgrown apple trees surrounding it. He tells her the story of a beautiful young girl whose father took care of her after her mother died and loved her dearly. Eventually, he married another woman who she discovered was a witch when she cut the paw of a cat that tried to kill her and her stepmother appeared soon after with her hand bandaged. The witch had power over her father, however, and eventually she is thrown out of the house and throws herself into the nearby pond in despair. She reigns over a group of maidens who also drowned in the pond, but once, when she got a hold of the witch as she was near the pond, she turned into a maiden and the ghost of the young girl has been unable to pick her out of the group ever since, asking any young man she comes upon to guess for her.
As the story progresses Rudy mentions the mayor and a drunk walks into his house thinking it is his, tricked by local peasants. Then, his son, who is angry at his father for trying to steal Hanna away, and his friends decide to play tricks on the village and start to parade around causing havoc. They dress up the mayor’s sister-in-law, who is assumed to be having an affair with him, as a demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
with soot all over her face, tricking the mayor. He mistakenly throws her into the cellar and then finds out it’s her, but she gets angry and goes outside, to be captured by the boys again and thrown into a hut. Meanwhile, the mayor and some of his closest friends decide to find the hooligans and instead find the sister-in-law again and almost burn her alive in the hut.
Levko goes on his own and falls asleep near the old house and the pond. He becomes enchanted by the calm night and silvery mist surrounding everything, and then notices in the pond’s reflection that the hut appears to be occupied, and a young girl with beautiful skin pops her head out of the window. When he turns to look at the hut, it looks as empty as ever, but when he comes up to the window the maiden comes out and asks him to guess which maiden the witch is in the group. As he looks at them, he notices one at first that doesn’t seem interested in playing games, but determines her to be normal. One, however, seems to revel in playing the part of a hawk in their game, and he sees blackness in her form, realising she is the witch. The maiden is grateful and gives him a note to help him with his father. He wakes up and is soon captured by his father and his minions, but still has the letter, which he gives to the mayor. The letter seems to be from the local commissar, who requests the mayor clean up his village (asking several things to be done) as well as allowing his son to marry Hanna. The mayor agrees and they will be married in the near future.