Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904) was a renowned Russian dramatist and short story writer. It was his profound knowledge of human nature and his unique depictions of ordinary life placed him among the great writers. Actually, Chekhov was a physician by profession. His well known plays are 'The Seagull' (1896), 'Uncle Vanya' (1897), and 'The Cherry Orchard' (1904). His most popular short stories are 'The Bet', 'The Lady with a Dog' and 'The Complaints Book'. In 'A Day in the Country' Chekhov depicts the link between people and their environment in an excellent way. Though the incidents seem to be ordinary, they are of incredibly insightful experiences in every way.
Fyokla, the beggar-girl is searching for Terenty, the cobbler, to get help to pull her brother Danilka's hand out from a hole of a tree. When Danilka tried to get a cuckoo's egg out of the hole for Fyokla, it got stuck in the hole. On her finding him they walk quickly to reach the Count's Copse, that is about a mile and a half away, even in the heavy rain. Terenty says the trees and grass are fed by the rain, as they are by bread when they get soaked in the heavy rain, he says that as the earth and grass will be dry again, they too shall be dry again. After the rescue, on their way Danilka showed others, the drenched bees that are huddled together on the branch of a young Oak tree. Terenty says when the rain came they might have settled there, on their way to find a home. To make them settle somewhere they need only to sprinkle water on them. Similarly to take them, they have to bend the branch with the bees into a sack and shake it. These are all the additional information that Terenty gives to Danilka then.
Moreover on seeing a swelling on the neck of Fyokla, Terenty says that it has happened from the drop of a Spanish fly. Then on pointing a woolly-looking flower, Terenty says, it is a cure for nose-bleeding. Then on hearing the whistle of a goods train, he says to Danilka that it is the steam moves that moves the wheel and thereby helps the engine drag more than twenty vans after it.
Thus, on their way Danilka asks so many questions and Terenty answers. Terenty knows everything. Looking at the sunset, at the moon or at the birds, he can tell what sort of weather it will be the next day. Like him the inn keeper the Shepherd and all the villagers too are also wise. They all have learned all these not from books, but in the fields, in the wood, and on the river bank. So, Danilka looks at Terenty and greedily drinks in every word when he talks to him. In the evening, Terenty leaves the children and goes to the Tavern. The children go to a deserted barn and lie huddled together. As Danilka recalls all that he has seen in the day and wants to talk about it to Terenty, he can't sleep for some time. The children, however, fall asleep thinking of Terenty. In the night, Terenty comes to them, makes the sign of the cross over them and puts bread under their heads. No one sees his love but the moon which floats in the sky, peeps through the holes in the wall of the deserted barn. Thus Chekhov makes us think about nature, poverty, innocence, wisdom and love in this story.
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