Savvy flea: where can you see it? Lefty. The Tale of the Tula Oblique Left-Hander and the Steel Flea In which work was the flea shod?

The topic of patriotism was often raised in works of Russian literature of the late 19th century. But only in the story “Lefty” is it connected with the idea of ​​the need to take care of talents that ennoble the face of Russia in the eyes of other countries.

History of creation

The story “Lefty” first began to be published in the magazine “Rus” Nos. 49, 50 and 51 in October 1881 under the title “The Tale of the Tula Lefty and the Steel Flea (Workshop Legend).” The idea for Leskov’s creation of the work was the popular joke that the British made a flea, and the Russians “shod it and sent it back.” According to the testimony of the writer’s son, his father spent the summer of 1878 in Sestroretsk, visiting a gunsmith. There, in a conversation with Colonel N.E. Bolonin, one of the employees of the local arms factory, he found out the origin of the joke.

In the preface, the author wrote that he was only retelling a legend known among gunsmiths. This well-known technique, once used by Gogol and Pushkin to give special authenticity to the narrative, in this case did Leskov a disservice. Critics and the reading public literally took the writer’s words, and subsequently he had to specifically explain that he was, after all, the author, and not a reteller of the work.

Description of the work

Leskov's story would most accurately be called a story in terms of genre: it presents a large time layer of the narrative, there is a development of the plot, its beginning and conclusion. The writer called his work a story, apparently in order to emphasize the special “narrative” form of narration used in it.

(The Emperor examines the savvy flea with difficulty and interest)

The story begins in 1815 with the trip of Emperor Alexander I with General Platov to England. There, the Russian Tsar is presented with a gift from local craftsmen - a miniature steel flea that can “drive with its antennae” and “switch with its legs.” The gift was intended to show the superiority of English masters over Russians. After the death of Alexander I, his successor Nicholas I became interested in the gift and demanded to find craftsmen who would be “as good as anyone.” So in Tula, Platov called three masters, among them Lefty, who managed to shoe a flea and put the name of the master on each horseshoe. Lefty didn’t leave his name, because he forged nails, and “there’s no small scope there that can take it.”

(But the guns at court were cleaned the old fashioned way.)

Lefty was sent to England with a “savvy nymphosoria” so that they would understand that “this is not surprising to us.” The British were amazed by the jewelry work and invited the master to stay and showed him everything they had learned. Lefty could do everything himself. He was struck only by the condition of the gun barrels - they were not cleaned with crushed bricks, so the shooting accuracy from such guns was high. Lefty began to get ready to go home, he urgently needed to tell the Emperor about the guns, otherwise “God bless the war, they are not suitable for shooting.” Out of melancholy, Lefty drank all the way with his English friend “half-skipper”, fell ill and upon arrival in Russia found himself near death. But until the last minute of his life he tried to convey to the generals the secret of cleaning guns. And if Lefty’s words were brought to the attention of the Emperor, then, as he writes

Main characters

Among the heroes of the story there are fictional and real personalities who existed in history, among them: two Russian emperors, Alexander I and Nicholas I, ataman of the Don Army M.I. Platov, prince, Russian intelligence agent A.I. Chernyshev, Doctor of Medicine M.D. Solsky (in the story - Martyn-Solsky), Count K.V. Nesselrode (in the story - Kiselvrode).

(Left-handed "nameless" master at work)

The main character is a gunsmith, left-handed. He has no name, only a craftsman's peculiarity - he worked with his left hand. Leskov's Lefty had a prototype - Alexey Mikhailovich Surnin, who worked as a gunsmith, studied in England and, after returning, passed on the secrets of the business to Russian craftsmen. It is no coincidence that the author did not give the hero his own name, leaving the common noun - Lefty is one of the types of righteous people depicted in various works, with their self-denial and sacrifice. The hero's personality has clearly defined national traits, but the type is rendered universal and international.

It is not for nothing that the hero’s only friend, about whom the story is told, is a representative of a different nationality. This is a sailor from the English ship Polskipper, who did his “comrade” Lefty a disservice. To dispel his Russian friend's longing for his homeland, Polskipper made a bet with him that he would outdrink Lefty. A large amount of vodka drunk became the cause of the illness and then the death of the yearning hero.

Lefty's patriotism is contrasted with the false commitment to the interests of the Fatherland of the other heroes of the story. Emperor Alexander I is embarrassed in front of the British when Platov points out to him that Russian craftsmen can do things just as well. Nicholas I's sense of patriotism is mixed with personal vanity. And the brightest “patriot” in Platov’s story is such only abroad, and upon arriving home, he becomes a cruel and rude serf owner. He does not trust Russian craftsmen and is afraid that they will spoil the English work and replace the diamond.

Analysis of the work

(Flea, savvy Lefty)

The work is distinguished by its genre and narrative originality. It resembles the genre of a Russian fairy tale, based on a legend. There is a lot of fantasy and fabulousness in it. There are also direct references to the plots of Russian fairy tales. So, the emperor first hides the gift in a nut, which he then puts in a golden snuff box, and the latter, in turn, hides in a travel box, almost the same way as the fabulous Kashchei hides a needle. In Russian fairy tales, tsars are traditionally described with irony, just as in Leskov's story both emperors are presented.

The idea of ​​the story is the fate and place in the state of a talented master. The entire work is permeated with the idea that talent in Russia is defenseless and not in demand. It is in the interests of the state to support it, but it brutally destroys talent, as if it were a useless, ubiquitous weed.

Another ideological theme of the work was the contrast of the real patriotism of the national hero with the vanity of characters from the upper strata of society and the rulers of the country themselves. Lefty loves his fatherland selflessly and passionately. Representatives of the nobility are looking for a reason to be proud, but do not give themselves the trouble to make life in the country better. This consumer attitude leads to the fact that at the end of the work the state loses another talent, which was sacrificed to the vanity of first the general, then the emperor.

The story “Lefty” gave literature the image of another righteous man, now on the martyr’s path of serving the Russian state. The originality of the language of the work, its aphorism, brightness and accuracy of wording made it possible to parse the story into quotes that were widely circulated among the people.

Lefty is a Russian miracle, a great master, the hero of the story of the same name by the 19th century writer Nikolai Leskov. This plot has been used in many works of art: by artists, composers, and other writers. At the end of the 20th century, the opera “The Flea” by composer Rodion Shchedrin based on the same plot was staged at the Mariinsky Theater.

Fiction and truth

Leskov’s story, published in 1881, has the full title “The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea.” The main event of the story is a Tula master nicknamed Lefty shoeing a toy flea made by English craftsmen. England sends the Russian Tsar a gift of a “robot,” a tiny metal flea that can dance when turned on. And Lefty makes the job even more miniature, shoeing this very flea. Now the flea no longer dances... but the superiority of Russian miniature masters over foreign ones has been proven.

In reality, such a historical fact as the gift of a toy from England and its shoeing did not exist, or rather, it was not documented. However, over the centuries, master imitators of the literary hero actually appeared in Russia.

Prototype of Lefty - Tula master

It is interesting, however, that there was a Russian gunsmith from Tula named Surnin. He went to England “for training,” like Lefty, but, like the hero, he quickly showed his own skills. Surnin was hired as an assistant to the plant owner, Henry Nock. Surnin was in England a hundred years before the creation of “Lefty”, which is why many forest scientists consider him to be the prototype of Lefty. Fortunately, although Surnin’s fate was happier than that of Lefty. A. M. Surnin returned to his native Tula, had a high position at the local arms factory and died in 1811 in honor and respect, having done a lot of good for the arms production of Russia, and having introduced a number of English developments that played a big role in Russia's victory in the Patriotic War 1812.

Nikolai Aldunin - modern Russian Lefty

However, only in the 20th century did a person appear who actually managed to shoe a flea. This is our contemporary Nikolai Sergeevich Aldunin, who died in 2009 and managed to create an entire museum “Russian Lefty”. He shoed a real euthanized flea, trimming its claws on its tiny paws (after all, a flea is very inconvenient and, so to speak, is not intended for shoeing). The horseshoes were gold, and the studs on the horseshoes too, but it was all microscopic! From a gram of gold you can make 20 million such horseshoes, the master once shared in an interview.

Museum of Microminiatures

Aldunin created many more miniatures. Today he also has followers. Of course, he worked, unlike the literary character, using a microscope (Leskovsky’s Lefty said that he had a “shot eye”). But how great is the diverse heritage of the master! This is a T-34 tank on an apple tree, a caravan of camels in the eye of a needle, and a rose in a hair... All of them are exhibited in the mobile museum of microminiatures “Russian Lefty”.
Aldunin's followers are miniaturists A. Rykovanov (St. Petersburg), A. Konenko (Kazan), Vl. Aniskin (Omsk). Their works have traveled halfway around the world and won international competitions.
Today, savvy fleas are in the collection of the President of Russia, and in a number of museums around the world, and in the main museum of Tula - the “Old Tula Pharmacy”.

Who is the master

Today, handicrafts, master classes, and creativity training are very common. The ability to do something with your own hands is one of the paths to yourself! A number of trainings will also help you get to know yourself faster. It is recommended to do them once a week.

We can believe that creativity, even at the simplest level, contributes to self-knowledge. But also at the professional level, a master becomes one who, knowing himself and loving his work, develops in it.

First exercise: “Your bag”

• Take a sheet of paper, a pencil and any bag you have. Place its contents on the table.
• Now select three things that can reveal you as a person: those that reflect your character, human qualities - and put in writing what these things say about you (if something is missing, take another thing from the office, from the apartment ). Now read the text and think about what you just learned and what you knew before. Try to complete the exercise in 15 minutes, and then reflect on it afterwards throughout the day.

Second exercise: “Fictional hero”

This is also a short fifteen minute exercise.

• Come up with or remember a movie, book, cartoon character who will be like you today.
• Now write what you have in common with this hero. These are character traits, appearance, life situations, and maybe profession, personal life, family. Complete them with differences.
• Would you like to meet such a hero in real life - and why? Write it down.
• Now imagine a hero you would like to emulate. Also write down the similarities and differences.
• Now think about how you can use the features of your sample? Can you get close to them by changing yourself for the better?

Third exercise: “Your feelings”

• Stay quiet and alone. Listen to yourself and try to write down your feelings.
• Try to describe your emotional state in three sentences. Another three are physical sensations, perhaps tension, pain or fatigue. Could this be related to your feelings? Or a psychological state?
• Do you want to take action yourself now? Do something like hug or hit someone?
• Your task during this technique will be to learn to describe in detail the state at the emotional, psychological and physical level - that is, at the level of body, soul and spirit.

This way you will be able to better understand your feelings, be able to express yourself, and develop creative thinking.
Often people realize during such trainings that they are afraid of death, tense in the face of anxiety, and cannot find their bearings.

How to find your profession, becoming a master of your craft

Work takes up about a third of our lives and, accordingly, plays a big role in it. It doesn’t matter why and where you work - just for money, for self-realization or experience. Getting a job that you enjoy and that also generates income is real happiness. And here God’s help is needed.

Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker is perhaps the most revered saint in the entire Orthodox world. Being illiterate, many peasants even called him part of the Holy Trinity. In his life, the saint was a true father for all the inhabitants of the city of Myra in Lycia, of which he was archbishop. Both during his life and after his death, he became famous for many wondrous deeds, showing the power of God's grace: through his prayers the sick were healed, justice was restored, the righteous poor received a reward - wealth.

They pray to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for all the difficulties associated with work:

• in employment, search for vacancies,
• before the interview,
• before important matters and decisions,
• in case of difficulties at work,
• about getting rid of risks,
• about business development,
• about timely salary,
• if it is necessary to make a decision on dismissal or further employment in the company.

It is difficult to believe in the power of prayer, but many people from all over the world testify to the signs of God at the request of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker: people facing a serious choice make it correctly; those who want to change jobs and professions miraculously connect it with the Church and find the happiness of a favorite job among good people.

Prayer to St. Nicholas, who during his lifetime performed miracles of saving slandered and ruined people, is an important means of support, including psychological support. You can pray not only for finding a job that will give you financial security, but also for finding your professional path.

Prayer for finding a job

A strong prayer for work to Matrona of Moscow can be read in all the difficulties associated with professional activities:

• difficulties in finding a job,
• quarrels and problems in the team,
• inability to cope with work,
• pressure from superiors or colleagues,
• intrigues and threatened dismissal,
• problems with payment of wages or low pay for your work.

Prayers for well-being in work and money are read only about honest deeds. The point is not that unjust earnings - fraud, debauchery, casino activities, etc. - cannot be prayed for. It’s just that these things are sinful, and in principle it’s not worth doing them: don’t multiply evil on earth, don’t prepare yourself for punishment with misfortune. The Lord will bless you for good, you probably have a talent that can earn you a good job. Pray and ask God and Holy Matronushka to show it to you.

Prayer to Matrona of Moscow - turning to her for help as if she were alive. After all, saints are our intercessors before God. Every person needs the support of loved ones, but it is known that when people are stressed, their irritability creates conflicts in the family. It's time to turn for help to the heavenly Family - to God Almighty, the good Father of us all, the Mother of God, who adopted the human race, and our spiritual brothers and sisters - the saints.

God bless you!

(The Tale of the Tula slanting left-hander and the steel flea)

Chapter first

I have no doubt that many have read the story of the wonderful Russian writer Nikolai Semenovich Leskov “Lefty”. Even more of those who have heard about this story, that is, without reading the story, know the essence: “Is this about shoeing a flea? Well, we’ve heard a lot...” But it seems that the largest number of those who know the expression “to shoe a flea,” which means a very delicate skillful work, but do not know where such an expression comes from. Now - attention! - a question to everyone who has read and not read the story “Lefty”: what was the name of the lefty? C'mon, don't look at the book. What is the name and patronymic of the famous master throughout Russia? The question is a little provocative, but in the end you will understand the essence.

Let me remind you of some of the plot lines of the story. The Russian Tsar, who is in England and is interested in all sorts of foreign wonders, is shown a metal flea, a kind of small speck that cannot be grasped by rough male fingers, unless tender girlish fingers are invited for this purpose; and if you also lead the flea with a key “through the little belly”, then it will begin to “danse”.

What a miracle! What magicians these English masters are! The king wanted to buy a flea. The insolent Englishmen asked for a million for her, and in silver! They sold it! Cossack Platov, who was with the tsar, turned white with annoyance - a million for a minute of fun, ugh! He dissuades the Tsar, saying that in Rus' Russian masters can do no less miracles.
- Don’t spoil my politics! - the Tsar answers Platov and gives the British a million.
It's in Russian!

The British gave the flea, and asked for another five thousand for the case. This is already in English. Skvalygi! Platov began to argue, saying that the case was included with the item, but the Tsar paid. Then Platov, out of resentment, imperceptibly stuck a small scope (microscope) (at least a tuft of wool from a black sheep) so that he could look at the flea enlarged - it seems that the small scope is included with the flea.

In Russia, the flea was safely forgotten for many years, this is also in Russian, and only the new tsar, while sorting out his father’s things, discovered a strange box, the meaning of which no one understood. They found Platov, who was already retired at that time, and he explained that in the case there was a steel flea that could dance if it was wound with a key through the “little belly.” The new tsar marveled at the art of the English masters, and Platov said that the Russian masters could still do something amazing. Let them do so, says the Tsar, and orders Platov to do it.

Platov found craftsmen in the glorious city of Tula who promised to create a miracle and, after praying to God, set to work. Two weeks later, Tula craftsmen shod this flea, so small that you couldn’t even pick it up with your fingers! And they shod every paw. And without any microscope - “...our eyes are shot like that.” Yes, not just shoeing, but on every smallest shoe the name of the master was engraved, which can only be seen with the smallest microscope. And the left-hander forged nails for horseshoes, which are much smaller than the horseshoes themselves.
These are the magicians Russian masters are!

The king, when he learned what the Tula people had done, was both surprised and proud of his subjects. He sent the flea back to England so that the British would see the skill of the Russians and not turn their noses up too much. And at the same time he sent a left-hander there to explain to the English what was what.

The English were amazed at the skill of the Russian masters and kept asking the left-hander what sciences the Russian masters were studying. And the left-hander says: “Our science is simple: according to the Psalter and the Half-Dream Book, but we don’t know arithmetic at all... This is the case everywhere with us.”
Also in Russian!

The British liked the left-hander so much that they began to persuade him to stay in England, they promised him a lot of money, they promised him a most honorable position and an Englishwoman who was a housewife to boot. But left-handed - no way! And your faith is not like that, he tells the English, and you don’t know how to get married, and your Englishwomen don’t dress like that... But our faith is fuller, and our gospel is thicker, and the icons are godlike, and grave-like heads and relics... Everything is our own at home , native, familiar. And our women are “all in their lace.”
“We,” he says, “are committed to our homeland, and my aunt is already an old man, and my mother is an old woman and is accustomed to going to church when she comes.”
How Russian!

Nothing is nice in a foreign land! Everything is wrong, everything is rough. Even sweet English tea is not sweet, but tea with a bite is tastier in our way. Home, home! In a word, “there was nothing the British could do to tempt him so that he would be seduced by their life,” as the author writes.

You read these pieces of text, which describe the left-handed man’s desire to return to his homeland, with silent delight; you understand the master, you approve - you would do the same thing yourself - and you love him, simple-minded, smart, his own, Russian.

Out of respect for the master, the British show the left-hander cars, mechanisms, and all sorts of devices, and he looks at all this, understands it, pays attention to the guns, puts his finger in the barrel. And then he understands one secret, very important in military affairs, and that’s it! He hurried home, quickly, quickly, there was nothing to stop him! You need to tell your friends the secret!

They sent him by ship from England to St. Petersburg, but the left-handed man didn’t even go down to the cabin - he kept sitting on the upper deck and looking towards his homeland. For this, the English half-skipper respected him and offered him a drink. Then he offered a bet - to drink as equals... They drank, competed... In short, two fools, a half-skipper and a left-hander, drank themselves to hell, only one had a red devil, and the other had a gray one. This is our way!

And in St. Petersburg, the honey-drenched legend ends and leaden Russian everyday life begins. If a drunken Englishman in St. Petersburg was taken to the embassy house and in two days the doctors got him back on his feet, then the left-handed man was knocked to the floor in the block, i.e. in a police monkey house, if in a modern way, where the police (the sovereign's people) robbed him, took all his money, took his watch, took off his good coat and then, unconscious and half naked, they drove him around the city in the cold, trying to get him into a hospital. But the hospitals did not accept Lefties, because... he did not have a “tugament” (passport) - “until the morning they dragged him along all the remote crooked paths and kept replanting him so that he was all beaten up” and the back of his head “was severely (severely) split.” In short, in his homeland, where he was so eager, the left-handed, heartfelt man was tortured, tortured alive. And not even out of malice. More about carelessness, indifference and stupidity.
How Russian!

Before his death, the master managed to tell the doctor the secret that he understood in England:
- Tell the sovereign that the British don’t clean their guns with bricks: let them not clean ours either, otherwise, God bless war, they’re not good for shooting.
And it's in Russian! Lefty thinks about his homeland and business until the last moment, despite any abominations.

The doctor passed this information on from the left-handed official, but due to official stupidity and cowardice, which amounts to meanness, the information never reached the king. These are the eternal customs of the Russian bureaucracy. And then they lost the Crimean War. The guns were cleaned with bricks.

The ending of the story about the left-hander is impossible to read without an internal shudder. An ardent hatred of the soullessness of the Russian state arises! Judge for yourself: the master was not seduced by foreign countries, he strives for his own people, for his homeland, and not only strives, but carries with him the most important military secret, and in his homeland the police (the sovereign’s people) rob him, torture him and actually kill him. You can see how the left-hander is dragged up the stairs by his feet, and his head is beating on the steps. Added to the brutality of the police is the gloomy indifference of the bureaucracy, when without some shoddy piece of paper it is impossible to save a person and admit a dying person to the hospital. Cynicism and soullessness.

Over the past hundred and fifty years, nothing has fundamentally changed in the Russian state. All around is the same indifference of bureaucrats. None of the bosses needs anything except their own self-interest. Official greed, laziness and cowardice.
And human life is worth nothing.
You are nobody and there is no way to call you.
Lefty has no name.
No, and never has been.

Shoe a flea

Shoe a flea
The original source is a Russian folk saying: “The British made a flea out of steel, and our Tula blacksmiths shod it and sent it back to them.” The writer Nikolai Semenovich Leskov (1831 - 1895) based this proverb on his story “Lefty” (1881). After this, the expression became popular.
Allegorically: the highest degree of ingenuity, talent, skill.

Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.

Shoe a flea

This expression means: To show extraordinary ingenuity in some matter, skill, fine craftsmanship - gained popularity after the appearance of N.S.’s story. Leskov “Lefty” (1881), which was created on the basis of a folk joke: The British made a flea out of steel, and our Tula people shod it and sent it back to them.”

Dictionary of catch words. Plutex. 2004.

See what “to shoe a flea” is in other dictionaries:

Shoe a flea- wing. sl. This expression means: to show extraordinary ingenuity in some matter, skill, fine craftsmanship gained popularity after the appearance of N. S. Leskov’s story “Lefty” (1881), which was created on the basis of a folk joke: The English... ... Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary by I. Mostitsky

shoe a flea- Masterfully cope with very delicate and complex work... Dictionary of many expressions

Razg. Discover amazing ingenuity, invention in what form. in fact. BTS, 85; ZS 2001, 413. /i> The expression arose on the basis of the story “Lefty” by N. S. Leskov. BMS 1998, 49 ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings

Winged words- stable, aphoristic, usually figurative expressions that have come into general use from or on the basis of a certain folklore, literary, journalistic or scientific source (apt sayings of outstanding public figures,... ... Pedagogical speech science

The hero of N.S. Leskov’s story “Lefty” (1881, first publication entitled “The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea (guild legend)”). A work created in the spirit of lubok is usually called a hymn to the talent of the Russian people, personified in ... Literary heroes

Books

• Lefty, N. S. Leskov. The story "Lefty" is one of the most famous and striking works of the writer. This is the story of the Tula gunsmith Lefty, who managed to forge a steel flea made by English craftsmen.…