{"id":4573,"date":"2025-10-25T07:45:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T07:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=4573"},"modified":"2025-10-25T07:45:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T07:45:32","slug":"the-calash-by-nikolai-gogol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=4573","title":{"rendered":"The Calash by Nikolai Gogol"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Calash by <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-short-story-authors\">Nikolai Gogol<\/a> was published in 1836. It was included in his collection Taras Bulba and Other Tales. <\/p>\n<p><em>This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">The Calash by Nikolai Gogol<\/h2>\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"__youtube_prefs__ epyt-facade no-lazyload\"><button class=\"epyt-facade-play\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">The Calash by Nikolai Gogol<\/h3>\n<p>The town of B\u2014\u2014 had become very lively since a cavalry regiment had taken up its quarters in it. Up to that date it had been mortally wearisome there. When you happened to pass through the town and glanced at its little mud houses with their incredibly gloomy aspect, the pen refuses to express what you felt. You suffered a terrible uneasiness as if you had just lost all your money at play, or had committed some terrible blunder in company. The plaster covering the houses, soaked by the rain, had fallen away in many places from their walls, which from white had become streaked and spotted, whilst old reeds served to thatch them.<\/p>\n<p>Following a custom very common in the towns of South Russia, the chief of police has long since had all the trees in the gardens cut down to improve the view. One never meets anything in the town, unless it is a cock crossing the road, full of dust and soft as a pillow. At the slightest rain this dust is turned into mud, and then all the streets are filled with pigs. Displaying to all their grave faces, they utter such grunts that travellers only think of pressing their horses to get away from them as soon as possible. Sometimes some country gentleman of the neighbourhood, the owner of a dozen serfs, passes in a vehicle which is a kind of compromise between a carriage and a cart, surrounded by sacks of flour, and whipping up his bay mare with her colt trotting by her side. The aspect of the marketplace is mournful enough. The tailor\u2019s house sticks out very stupidly, not squarely to the front but sideways. Facing it is a brick house with two windows, unfinished for fifteen years past, and further on a large wooden market-stall standing by itself and painted mud-colour. This stall, which was to serve as a model, was built by the chief of police in the time of his youth, before he got into the habit of falling asleep directly after dinner, and of drinking a kind of decoction of dried goose-berries every evening. All around the rest of the market-place are nothing but palings. But in the centre are some little sheds where a packet of round cakes, a stout woman in a red dress, a bar of soap, some pounds of bitter almonds, some lead, some cotton, and two shopmen playing at \u201csvaika,\u201d a game resembling quoits, are always to be seen.<\/p>\n<p>But on the arrival of the cavalry regiment everything changed. The streets became more lively and wore quite another aspect. Often from their little houses the inhabitants would see a tall and well-made officer with a plumed hat pass by, on his way to the quarters of one of his comrades to discuss the chances of promotion or the qualities of a new tobacco, or perhaps to risk at play his carriage, which might indeed be called the carriage of all the regiment, since it belonged in turn to every one of them. To-day it was the major who drove out in it, to-morrow it was seen in the lieutenant\u2019s coach-house, and a week later the major\u2019s servant was again greasing its wheels. The long hedges separating the houses were suddenly covered with soldiers\u2019 caps exposed to the sun, grey frieze cloaks hung in the doorways, and moustaches harsh and bristling as clothes brushes were to be met with in all the streets. These moustaches showed themselves everywhere, but above all at the market, over the shoulders of the women of the place who flocked there from all sides to make their purchases. The officers lent great animation to society at B\u2014.<\/p>\n<p>Society consisted up till then of the judge who was living with a deacon\u2019s wife, and of the chief of police, a very sensible man, but one who slept all day long from dinner till evening, and from evening till dinner-time.<\/p>\n<p>This general liveliness was still further increased when the town of B\u2014\u2014 became the residence of the general commanding the brigade to which the regiment belonged. Many gentlemen of the neighbourhood, whose very existence no one had even suspected, began to come into the town with the intention of calling on the officers, or, perhaps, of playing bank, a game concerning which they had up till then only a very confused notion, occupied as they were with their crops and the commissions of their wives and their hare-hunting. I am very sorry that I cannot recollect for what reason the general made up his mind one fine day to give a grand dinner. The preparations were overwhelming. The clatter of knives in the kitchen was heard as far as the town gates. The whole of the market was laid under contributions, so much so that the judge and the deacon\u2019s wife found themselves obliged that day to be satisfied with hasty puddings and cakes of flour. The little courtyard of the house occupied by the general was crowded with vehicles. The company only consisted of men, officers and gentlemen of the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n<p>Amongst these latter was above all conspicuous Pythagoras Pythagoravitch Tchertokoutski, one of the leading aristocrats of the district of B\u2014, the most fiery orator at the nobiliary elections and the owner of a very elegant turn-out. He had served in a cavalry regiment and had even passed for one of its most accomplished officers, having constantly shown himself at all the balls and parties wherever his regiment was quartered. Information respecting him may be asked of all the young ladies in the districts of Tamboff and Simbirsk. He would very probably have further extended his reputation in other districts if he had not been obliged to leave the service in consequence of one of those affairs which are spoken of as \u201ca very unpleasant business.\u201d Had he given or received a blow? I cannot say with certainty, but what is indisputable is that he was asked to send in his resignation. However, this accident had no unpleasant effect upon the esteem in which he had been held up till then.<\/p>\n<p>Tchertokoutski always wore a coat of a military cut, spurs and moustache, in order not to have it supposed that he had served in the infantry, a branch of the service upon which he lavished the most contemptuous expressions. He frequented the numerous fairs to which flock the whole of the population of Southern Russia, consisting of nursemaids, tall girls, and burly gentlemen who go there in vehicles of such strange aspect that no one has ever seen their match even in a dream. He instinctively guessed the spot in which a regiment of cavalry was to be found and never failed to introduce himself to the officers. On perceiving them he bounded gracefully from his light phaeton and soon made acquaintance with them. At the last election he had given to the whole of the nobility a grand dinner during which he declared that if he were elected marshal he would put all gentlemen on the best possible footing. He usually behaved after the fashion of a great noble. He had married a rather pretty lady with a dowry of two hundred serfs and some thousands of rubles. This money was at once employed in the purchase of six fine horses, some gilt bronze locks, and a tame monkey. He further engaged a French cook. The two hundred peasants of the lady, as well as two hundred more belonging to the gentleman, were mortgaged to the bank. In a word, he was a regular nobleman. Besides himself, several other gentlemen were amongst the general\u2019s guests, but it is not worth while speaking of them. The officers of the regiment, amongst whom were the colonel and the fat major, formed the majority of those present. The general himself was rather stout; a good officer, nevertheless, according to his subordinates. He had a rather deep bass voice.<\/p>\n<p>The dinner was magnificent; there were sturgeons, sterlets, bustards, asparagus, quail, partridges, mushrooms. The flavour of all these dishes supplied an irrefutable proof of the sobriety of the cook during the twenty-four hours preceding the dinner. Four soldiers, who had been given him as assistants, had not ceased working all night, knife in hand, at the composition of ragouts and jellies. The immense quantity of long-necked bottles, mingled with shorter ones, holding claret and madeira; the fine summer day, the wide-open windows, the plates piled up with ice on the table, the crumpled shirt-fronts of the gentlemen in plain clothes, and a brisk and noisy conversation, now dominated by the general\u2019s voice, and now besprinkled with champagne, were all in perfect harmony. The guests rose from the table with a pleasant feeling of repletion, and, after having lit their pipes, all stepped out, coffee-cups in hand, on to the verandah.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can see her now,\u201d said the general. \u201cHere, my dear fellow,\u201d added he, addressing his aide-de-camp, an active well-made young officer, \u201chave the bay mare brought here. You shall see for yourselves, gentlemen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At these words the general took a long pull at his pipe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe is not quite recovered yet; there is not a decent stable in this cursed little place. But she is not bad looking\u2014\u201d puff\u2014puff, the general here let out the smoke which he had kept in his mouth till then\u2014\u201cthe little mare.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is long since your excellency\u2014\u201d puff\u2014puff\u2014puff\u2014\u201ccondescended to buy her?\u201d asked Tchertokoutski.<\/p>\n<p>Puff\u2014puff\u2014puff\u2014puff. \u201cNot very long, I had her from the breeding establishment two years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd did your excellency condescend to take her ready broken, or to have her broken in here yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Puff\u2014puff\u2014puff\u2014puff. \u201cHere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As he spoke the general disappeared behind a cloud of smoke.<\/p>\n<p>At that moment a soldier jumped out of the stable. The trampling of a horse\u2019s hoofs was heard, and another soldier with immense moustaches, and wearing a long white tunic, appeared, leading by the bridle the terrified and quivering mare, which, suddenly rearing, lifted him off his feet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCome, come, Agrafena Ivanovna,\u201d said he, leading her towards the verandah.<\/p>\n<p>The mare\u2019s name was Agrafena Ivanovna. Strong and bold as a Southern beauty, she suddenly became motionless.<\/p>\n<p>The general began to look at her with evident satisfaction, and left off smoking. The colonel himself went down the steps and patted her neck. The major ran his hand down her legs, and all the other officers clicked their tongues at her.<\/p>\n<p>Tchertokoutski left the verandah to take up a position beside the mare. The soldier who held her bridle drew himself up and stared fixedly at the guests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe is very fine, very fine,\u201d said Tchertokoutski, \u201ca very well-shaped beast. Will your excellency allow me to ask whether she is a good goer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe goes well, but that idiot of a doctor, deuce take him, has given her some balls which have made her sneeze for the last two days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe is a fine beast, a very fine beast. Has your excellency a turn-out to match the horse?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTurn-out! but she\u2019s a saddle horse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know. I put the question, your excellency, to know if you have an equipage worthy of your other horses?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, I have not much in the way of equipages; I must admit that, for some time past, I have been wanting to buy a calash, such as they build now-a-days. I have written about it to my brother who is now at St. Petersburg, but I do not know whether he will be able to send me one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt seems to me, your excellency,\u201d remarked the colonel, \u201cthat there are no better calashes than those of Vienna.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou are right.\u201d Puff\u2014puff\u2014puff.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have an excellent calash, your excellency, a real Viennese calash,\u201d said Tchertokoutski.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat in which you came?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh no, I make use of that for ordinary service, but the other is something extraordinary. It is as light as a feather, and if you sit in it, it seems as if your nurse was rocking you in a cradle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is very comfortable then?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExtremely comfortable; the cushions, the springs, and everything else are perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAh! that is good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd what a quantity of things can be packed away in it. I have never seen anything like it, your excellency. When I was still in the service there was room enough in the body to stow away ten bottles of rum, twenty pounds of tobacco, six uniforms, and two pipes, the longest pipes imaginable, your excellency; and in the pockets inside you could stow away a whole bullock.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is very good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt cost four thousand rubles, your excellency.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt ought to be good at that price. Did you buy it yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, your excellency, I had it by chance. It was bought by one of my oldest friends, a fine fellow with whom you would be very well pleased. We are very intimate. What is mine is his, and what is his is mine. I won it of him at cards. Would your excellency have the kindness to honour me at dinner to-morrow? You could see my calash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know what to say. Alone I could not\u2014but if you would allow me to come with these officers\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI beg of them to come too. I shall esteem it a great honour, gentlemen, to have the pleasure of seeing you at my house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The colonel, the major, and the other officers thanked Tchertokoutski.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am of opinion myself, your excellency, that if one buys anything it should be good; it is not worth the trouble of getting, if it turns out bad. If you do me the honour of calling on me to-morrow, I will show you some improvements I have introduced on my estate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The general looked at him, and puffed out a fresh cloud of smoke.<\/p>\n<p>Tchertokoutski was charmed with his notion of inviting the officers, and mentally ordered in advance all manner of dishes for their entertainment. He smiled at these gentlemen, who on their part appeared to increase their show of attention towards him, as was noticeable from the expression of their eyes and the little half-nods they bestowed upon him. His bearing assumed a certain ease, and his voice expressed his great satisfaction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour excellency will make the acquaintance of the mistress of the house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat will be most agreeable to me,\u201d said the general, twirling his moustache.<\/p>\n<p>Tchertokoutski was firmly resolved to return home at once in order to make all necessary preparations in good time. He had already taken his hat, but a strange fatality caused him to remain for some time at the general\u2019s. The card tables had been set out, and all the company, separating into groups of four, scattered itself about the room. Lights were brought in. Tchertokoutski did not know whether he ought to sit down to whist. But as the officers invited him, he thought that the rules of good breeding obliged him to accept. He sat down. I do not know how a glass of punch found itself at his elbow, but he drank it off without thinking. After playing two rubbers, he found another glass close to his hand which he drank off in the same way, though not without remarking:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is really time for me to go, gentlemen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He began to play a fresh rubber. However, the conversation which was going on in every corner of the room took an especial turn. Those who were playing whist were quiet enough, but the others talked a great deal. A captain had taken up his position on a sofa, and leaning against a cushion, pipe in mouth, he captivated the attention of a circle of guests gathered about him by his eloquent narrative of amorous adventures. A very stout gentleman whose arms were so short that they looked like two potatoes hanging by his sides, listened to him with a very satisfied expression, and from time to time exerted himself to pull his tobacco-pouch out of his coat-tail pocket. A somewhat brisk discussion on cavalry drill had arisen in another corner, and Tchertokoutski, who had twice already played a knave for a king, mingled in the conversation by calling out from his place: \u201cIn what year?\u201d or \u201cWhat regiment?\u201d without noticing that very often his question had no application whatever. At length, a few minutes before supper, play came to an end. Tchertokoutski could remember that he had won a great deal, but he did not take up his winnings, and after rising stood for some time in the position of a man who has no handkerchief in his pocket.<\/p>\n<p>They sat down to supper. As might be expected, wine was not lacking, and Tchertokoutski kept involuntarily filling his glass with it, for he was surrounded with bottles. A lengthy conversation took place at table, but the guests carried it on after a strange fashion. A colonel, who had served in 1812, described a battle which had never taken place; and besides, no one ever could make out why he took a cork and stuck it into a pie. They began to break-up at three in the morning. The coachmen were obliged to take several of them in their arms like bundles; and Tchertokoutski himself, despite his aristocratic pride, bowed so low to the company, that he took home two thistles in his moustache.<\/p>\n<p>The coachman who drove him home found every one asleep. He routed out, after some trouble, the valet, who, after having ushered his master through the hall, handed him over to a maid-servant. Tchertokoutski followed her as well as he could to the best room, and stretched himself beside his pretty young wife, who was sleeping in a night-gown as white as snow. The shock of her husband falling on the bed awoke her\u2014she stretched out her arms, opened her eyes, closed them quickly, and then opened them again quite wide, with a half-vexed air. Seeing that her husband did not pay the slightest attention to her, she turned over on the other side, rested her fresh and rosy cheek on her hand, and went to sleep again.<\/p>\n<p>It was late\u2014that is, according to country customs\u2014when the lady awoke again. Her husband was snoring more loudly than ever. She recollected that he had come home at four o\u2019clock, and not wishing to awaken him, got up alone, and put on her slippers, which her husband had had sent for her from St. Petersburg, and a white dressing-gown which fell about her like the waters of a fountain. Then she passed into her dressing-room, and after washing in water as fresh as herself, went to her toilet table. She looked at herself twice in the glass, and thought she looked very pretty that morning. This circumstance, a very insignificant one apparently, caused her to stay two hours longer than usual before her glass. She dressed herself very tastefully and went into the garden.<\/p>\n<p>The weather was splendid: it was one of the finest days of the summer. The sun, which had almost reached the meridian, shed its most ardent rays; but a pleasant coolness reigned under the leafy arcades; and the flowers, warmed by the sun, exhaled their sweetest perfume. The pretty mistress of the house had quite forgotten that it was noon at least, and that her husband was still asleep. Already she heard the snores of two coachmen and a groom, who were taking their siesta in the stable, after having dined copiously. But she was still sitting in a bower from which the deserted high road could be seen, when all at once her attention was caught by a light cloud of dust rising in the distance. After looking at it for some moments, she ended by making out several vehicles, closely following one another. First came a light calash, with two places, in which was the general, wearing his large and glittering epaulettes, with the colonel. This was followed by another with four places, containing the captain, the aide-de-camp and two lieutenants. Further on, came the celebrated regimental vehicle, the present owner of which was the major, and behind that another in which were packed five officers, one on his comrade\u2019s knees, the procession being closed by three more on three fine bays.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre they coming here?\u201d thought the mistress of the house. \u201cGood heavens, yes! they are leaving the main road.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She gave a cry, clasped her hands, and ran straight across the flower-beds to her bedroom, where her husband was still sleeping soundly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGet up! get up! get up at once,\u201d she cried, pulling him by the arm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2014what\u2019s the matter?\u201d murmured Tchertokoutski, stretching his limbs without opening his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGet up, get up. Visitors have come, do you hear? visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVisitors, what visitors?\u201d After saying these words he uttered a little plaintive grunt like that of a sucking calf: \u201cM-m-m. Let me kiss you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy dear, get up at once, for heaven\u2019s sake. The general has come with all his officers. Ah! goodness, you have got a thistle in your moustache.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe general! Has he come already? But why the deuce did not they wake me? And the dinner, is the dinner ready?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat dinner?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut haven\u2019t I ordered a dinner?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA dinner! You got home at four o\u2019clock in the morning and you did not answer a single word to all my questions. I did not wake you, since you had so little sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tchertokoutski, his eyes staring out of his head, remained motionless for some moments as though a thunderbolt had struck him. All at once he jumped out of bed in his shirt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIdiot that I am,\u201d he exclaimed, clasping his hand to his forehead; \u201cI had invited them to dinner. What is to be done? are they far off?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey will be here in a moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy dear, hide yourself. Ho there, somebody. Hi there, you girl. Come here, you fool; what are you afraid of? The officers are coming here; tell them I am not at home, that I went out early this morning, that I am not coming back. Do you understand? Go and repeat it to all the servants. Be off, quick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Having uttered these words, he hurriedly slipped on his dressing-gown, and ran off to shut himself up in the coach-house, which he thought the safest hiding-place. But he fancied that he might be noticed in the corner in which he had taken refuge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis will be better,\u201d said he to himself, letting down the steps of the nearest vehicle, which happened to be the calash. He jumped inside, closed the door, and, as a further precaution, covered himself with the leather apron. There he remained, wrapped in his dressing-gown, in a doubled-up position.<\/p>\n<p>During this time the equipages had drawn up before the porch. The general got out of his carriage and shook himself, followed by the colonel, arranging the feathers in his hat. After him came the stout major, his sabre under his arm, and the slim lieutenants, whilst the mounted officers also alighted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe master is not at home,\u201d said a servant appearing at the top of a flight of steps.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat! not at home; but he is coming home for dinner, is he not?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, he is not; he has gone out for the day and will not be back till this time to-morrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBless me,\u201d said the general; \u201cbut what the deuce\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat a joke,\u201d said the colonel laughing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, no, such things are inconceivable,\u201d said the general angrily. \u201cIf he could not receive us, why did he invite us?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI cannot understand, your excellency, how it is possible to act in such a manner,\u201d observed a young officer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d said the general, who always made an officer under the rank of captain repeat his remarks twice over.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wondered, your excellency, how any one could do such a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cQuite so; if anything has happened he ought to have let us know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is nothing to be done, your excellency, we had better go back home,\u201d said the colonel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCertainly, there is nothing to be done. However, we can see the calash without him; probably he has not taken it with him. Come here, my man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does your excellency want?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShow us your master\u2019s new calash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHave the kindness to step this way to the coach-house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The general entered the coach-house followed by his officers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet me pull it a little forward, your excellency,\u201d said the servant, \u201cit is rather dark here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat will do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The general and his officers walked around the calash, carefully inspecting the wheels and springs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is nothing remarkable about it,\u201d said the general; \u201cit is a very ordinary calash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing to look at,\u201d added the colonel; \u201cthere is absolutely nothing good about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt seems to me, your excellency, that it is not worth four thousand rubles,\u201d remarked a young officer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said, your excellency, that I do not think that it is worth four thousand rubles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFour thousand! It is not worth two. Perhaps, however, the inside is well fitted. Unbutton the apron.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And Tchertokoutski appeared before the officers\u2019 eyes, clad in his dressing-gown and doubled up in a singular fashion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHullo, there you are,\u201d said the astonished general.<\/p>\n<p>Then he covered Tchertokoutski up again and went off with his officers.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Best Nikolai Gogol Books to Read<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3xPHDr7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/44ciPpv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4deMiDm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4aRcoKS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><br \/>\nClick on the image to buy a copy<\/p>\n<p>If you enjoyed The Calash by Nikolai Gogol  check out <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/the-mantle-by-nikolai-gogol\">The Mantle by Nikolai Gogol<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Narrated by Hatton43, courtesy of Librivox<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Calash by Nikolai Gogol was published in 1836. It was included in his collection Taras Bulba and Other Tales. This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. The Calash by Nikolai Gogol The Calash by Nikolai Gogol The town of B\u2014\u2014 had become very lively [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4573"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}