), three Russian craftsmen shod a flea.

One of these craftsmen is Lefty. This is a Tula craftsman who lives in poverty, wears bad clothes, but is a master of his craft. He is a religious and patriotic person. Despite the fact that he is left-handed, has no special education, and even oblique, he performs a very delicate, invisible to the human eye, incredible work.

By order of the king, he goes to England, where he presents a savvy flea and tells what Russian craftsmen are capable of. The British really like this simple talented person. They bombard him with lucrative offers of cooperation, but Lefty, being an honest, disinterested and devoted person to his country, does not agree to their tempting offers. He sees how masters are treated in England, he sees that they are well-fed and well-dressed, but he yearns for his homeland.

Upon returning to Russia, he falls ill, no one, except for his new English friend, takes care of him and does not want to treat him. But even abandoned by the ungrateful tsarist authorities, being dying, he cares and thinks about his country. He asks to convey to the king the cunning of the military affairs of the British.

This hardworking person does not forget about his country for a minute, he worries and cares about his Motherland until his last breath.

Essay Description Lefty

The plot of Leskov's story is revealed around the main character Levsha, who was a master from Tula. The description of the craftsman does not appear immediately, approximately in the middle of the story. The hero is a master blacksmith, he is left-handed, a patriot of his Motherland, very naive, devoted to Tsar Alexander I and Platov. There is a birthmark on his cheek, his eyes squint, but despite this, he does an excellent job with his job.

Left-hander, together with his comrades, Platonov instructed to make a masterpiece, but at the same time using a steel flea. Thus, he wanted to prove to others that not only the British are able to invent non-standard things. For a long time, three masters “puzzled” what to do to surprise the people and decided to shoe a miniature flea. Without special equipment and proper knowledge, they still succeeded. This invention shocked everyone.

After inventing an ingenious product, Lefty goes to England without any documents. The British offered the young man both education and money, but he remained faithful to his homeland and refused everything. Lefty wanted to get home as soon as possible.

Excessive modesty and ruined Lefty. In winter, he refused a cozy cabin, because he considered himself unworthy of such honors. Therefore, he spent the whole journey on deck and fell ill.

Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, Lefty was robbed. Having neither money nor documents with him, not a single hospital wanted to accept him, only a hospital for the poor. No one even thought to save the great master, except for an Englishman who brought a good doctor. But, unfortunately, it was already too late. Modestly, unknown to anyone, Lefty died. Even in the last moments of his life, the master wants to convey a message to the king that one should not clean weapons with bricks.

Some interesting essays

• Composition according to the proverb Be not quick to promises, but quick to fulfill

  How much wisdom is embedded in our proverbs and sayings. After all, they so imperceptibly teach us life, save us from unique mistakes.

• The plot and composition of Mtsyri's poem

  Mikhail Yurievich wrote a poem in 1839. She became the pinnacle of Russian classics. Creating it, he took Byron's poem as a basis, but he was able to introduce his own features. "Mtsyri" outlines the usual hero of a romantic poem

• Composition What is Nobility

  Nobility is one of the best qualities of a person. It includes honesty, justice, kindness and selflessness. Noble people have always been, are and will be.

• Analysis of the work The Last Term of Rasputin

  The work belongs to the philosophical work of the writer and is one of his main creative creations. The compositional structure of the story lies in the action presented in the form of three days

• Analysis of Shukshin's story Critics

  People perceive reality in a completely different way, such perception largely depends on upbringing, the conditions in which a person grows up. In his stories, Shukshin often contrasted the perception and worldview of the people of the city and the countryside.

All of humanity can be divided into many groups using different criteria: nation, religion, skin color, gender, tea or coffee drinkers, and so on. Another significant difference that has divided the entire human race into two camps is the dominant activity of the right or left hand. How is left handed different from right handed? Let's try to figure it out.

Famous Lefties

Left-handers were such outstanding personalities as Julius Caesar, A. Macedonian, W. Churchill, both Bushes, B. Obama, L. da Vinci, A. Einstein, N. Tesla, I. Newton, P. Picasso, many movie actors.

A few facts about lefties from history

Simply put, some people are left-handed, while others are right-handed. How a left-hander differs from a right-hander is obvious from the terms themselves. However, in addition to visual differences, there are also those that are not visible to the naked eye. For example, left-handed people have a more developed brain, which is responsible for memory.

Indeed, many creative people are left-handed. In ancient times, much attention was paid to how the left-hander differs from the right-hander.

By the way, over the centuries, some nations have respected such people, while others, on the contrary, have discredited them in every possible way. So, in ancient Greece, they were held in high esteem, since they were credited with no more and no less - kinship with the gods, and it was believed that such people bring good luck. Similar beliefs prevailed in India and China.

Medieval Europe was not very tolerant, so left-handers were suspected of conspiring with the devil, accused of all mortal sins and subjected to terrible torture. Those who survived developed amazing agility and adaptability, traits that began to be passed down and made left-handers stronger.

The fate of lefties in the 20th century

At the beginning and middle of the 20th century, such radical methods were abandoned and from an early age the child was simply retrained, that is, they developed the habit of using the right hand more. A similar example is well described in the novel The Thorn Birds, where the main character, little Maggie, was subjected to a similar practice.

There was a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Almost all agricultural and military equipment was assembled under right-handers. It would simply be difficult for left-handed people to adapt to them at a later age.

Later, psychologists proved that the imposition of skills contrary to their nature on left-handed people negatively affects their psychological and physical well-being. According to other authoritative researchers, in the process of suppressing their natural nature, they also lose their unique abilities.

Differences between lefties and righties

What is the difference between left-handers and right-handers - it becomes clear from an early age. More than half of left-handers have a faster rate of development than their right-handed peers. The percentage of people with the makings of a genius among lefties is much higher.

It has long been proven that this quality is inherited, starting from the second and further generations. The same parents can have different children.

Left-handed and right-handed: differences

An interesting fact based on research: one left-handed person is born in a thousand right-handed people. There are other interesting observations:

• Not everyone will openly admit it, but an anonymous poll found that almost 68 percent of right-handed people out of 1,000 polled left-handed people do not inspire confidence, and they have no desire to start a closer relationship with them.
• In former times, on the territory of some countries, left-handed people preferred to enter into marriage alliances with their own kind, so that their descendants also had this feature. This was due to a fairy tale theory that said that left-handedness means that a person has divine genes.
• Left-handers quickly master and adapt all the technical devices they need.

Some facts about lefties

There are several points about how the left-handed person differs from the right-handed person, what is the difference between them:

1. Left-handed people have more developed right. Right-handed people, respectively, vice versa. In the first case, this is creativity, emotionality, impressionability, a sharp change in mood, developed intuition; in the second - logical thinking, ability to mathematics and other exact sciences. Both hemispheres control the movements of the body, but they do it crosswise.
2. Many athletes are left-handed. This applies to various martial arts, boxing, fencing, where they work out tactics that are convenient for them and problematic for an opponent.
3. Every fifth prominent person is left-handed. Conducted research: "left" and "right" offered to solve the same problem. Left-handers got through faster and almost always found more solutions.
4. In difficult circumstances, right-handers act more quickly, but left-handers find original ways out of the situation.
5. Retrained left-handed people, when returning to their natural data, can also return their ""divine gift"".
6. There is also a downside. Many mentally ill, well-known serial killers, maniacs and rapists were left-handed or showed hidden "left-handedness".

Tests: how to determine the left-handedness in a child

There are several ways to determine whether a newborn belongs to a particular group. If, during the first weeks of life, the baby, lying on his back, raises his left hand up, tightly pressing his right hand to himself, he is left-handed. In the first three days after birth, the child mainly tilts his head to the right - he is right-handed, to the left - left-handed.

For older children, it is enough to observe their daily activities: which hand holds a comb, cutlery, which hand reaches out to take something. The conclusion is very easy.

Left handed children

It is worth mentioning that there is a third kind of people, which is called ambidexters. These are people who equally own both the right and the left hand. This is a very rare phenomenon, which is owned by less than 1 percent of humanity.

What distinguishes a left-hander from a right-hander at a young age is stubbornness and well-developed fine motor skills. Do not be surprised if a left-handed child at the age of three draws better than you did in high school, sings more melodicly than a nightingale, and shows interest in playing musical instruments.

Credulity, one might even say naivety, is what distinguishes left-handers from right-handers. It happens that such children begin to talk later and have difficulty in pronouncing certain sounds.

Psychologists say that in order to form a full and healthy development in left-handed children, it is necessary to create an environment of love and understanding for them. Do not point out the sloppiness that at first appears in them, and also do not compare with other children. The child should not feel like an outcast because of his innate features. The task of parents is to instill self-respect in such children and help them master things around them at their own pace.

The ability to persevere through hardship is what distinguishes a left-hander from a right-hander. Perhaps this character trait was inherited by them from their ancestors, who were subjected to various kinds of discrimination.

The Consequences of Mistraining Lefties

Of course, not everything is so simple and obvious. It is not necessary to immediately hang labels on people based on what kind of hand they have. Almost all specialists in the field of education and personal development unanimously declare the dangers of retraining left-handed people. Indeed, in the future, this can lead to disruption of sleep and wakefulness, cause digestive disorders, frequent migraines, pain in the right hand, and many other deviations from the norm.

How are lefties different from righties? This list is big. But we should not forget that the ability to write with one hand or another is far from the most important quality of a person.

The difference between left-handers and right-handers is quite multifaceted, but in general, their behavior can carry a lot in common.

It is unlikely that there will be those who are not familiar with the story of Lefty, who shod a flea. The story of the brilliant N.S. Leskov, published in 1881 (in a separate edition - 1882), is included in the compulsory school curriculum.

This work is the basis of the wonderful animated film "Lefty". The very expression "to shoe a flea" entered the lexicon and began to mean the high skill of Russian craftsmen.

ingenious fiction

“The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea” is written in beautiful witty language, easy to read, and the poignant story of a brilliant craftsman leaves absolutely no one indifferent. The story has entered real life so much that most people do not question whether the legendary Lefty existed in real life and whether a savvy flea remained after him.

And it is very disappointing that the folk jack of all trades and the result of his work are the fruit of the brilliant imagination of Nikolai Semenovich Leskov. There was no left-handed person, and there are no documents confirming the fact of forging a steel English miniature and its further transfer to England.

Highly developed Western engineering

However, a savvy flea, which has become a symbol of the unsurpassed skill of Russian craftsmen, is available (and not one), but all copies were created much later than the events described in the story.

Actually, the tale is a continuation of the statement expressed by M. V. Lomonosov: “and the Russian land can give birth to its own Newtons.” A miniature metal flea, a marvel of mechanics, was bought from the English by the Russian tsar, the conqueror of Napoleon. Of course, in the demonstration of a unique product to Alexander I, there was both a hint and a reproach: "but we are still smarter and better than you."

Wonderful return gift

The answer is "arrogant neighbor." The tiny dancing insect was shod. True, the flea stopped dancing because of the heaviness of its paws - Russian craftsmen "did not graduate from universities." To understand the worthiness of a return gift, one must imagine

Actually, from all this little attractive picture, only one fact is interesting - she has six paws. All six Lefty and two of his comrades and shod. Carnations of appropriate size were driven into microscopic horseshoes. According to the story, Russian craftsmen did all operations with a metal insect without a “fine scope”, since their eye was, according to Levsha himself, “shooting”.

ingenious prototype

The shocked engineers of foggy Albion invited the craftsmen to study with them. And this fact took place in reality. Russian gunsmith A. M. Surnin from Tula was invited to England for training, where he quickly achieved recognition and became an assistant to the owner at one of the best factories of Henry Knock. Surnin, who went to study in England a hundred years before writing a brilliant tale, is considered by almost all experts to be the prototype of Lefty, although his fate was much happier than the fate of the hero of the work. A. M. Surnin, who died in 1811, having returned to his native Tula, took a good post at the local arms factory. This master did an incredible amount to introduce advanced English developments into the arms production of Russia, which played a big role in the victory of Russian weapons in the Patriotic War of 1812. There were legends about his skill, which gave Leskov the idea to describe the most interesting life of Tula gunsmiths, who were able to surprise foreigners with their skill and really create something that would fit the definition of a Russian miracle.

"There is no prophet in his own country"

No wonder the word craftsman has such synonyms as a craftsman, a jack of all trades and a creator. There are many products of Russian craftsmen in all crafts, but few names are known. This is because among representatives of the upper strata of society, domestic products and local craftsmen have never been held in high esteem, and everything foreign has been extolled to the skies. Isn't the first domestic steam locomotive of the Cherepanov brothers a Russian miracle?

A real brilliant craftsman who shoed a flea

But back to the savvy flea. This product has become a measure of craftsmanship. And it goes without saying that the Russian craftsman was destined to achieve this standard and shoe a flea. This was first done by the remarkable artist Nikolai Sergeevich Aldunin, who died in 2009.

This virtuoso master of horseshoe stuffed a real euthanized flea. Talking about this masterpiece, which Aldunin himself did not consider as such (he considered his best achievement to be a microcopy of a real T-34 tank planted on an apple seed), it is again necessary to remember what fleas look like. Their paws are hairy, not intended for horseshoes by nature. An amazing master cut the hairs, removed the claws and made the lightest horseshoes from 999 gold. How small they are can be imagined by reading the following data: 22 million of these horseshoes can be made from one gram of gold. Isn't that brilliant?

Fairy tale come true

The craftsman who shoed the flea lived with us at the same time. He has amazing masterpieces that have not been talked about much and often in the media. All of his works are distinguished not only by their dimensions that do not fit in the head, but also by the fact that they are exact copies of real samples, as well as, of course, beauty and grace. This was a real creator and a Russian brilliant craftsman who in fact carried out Leskov's invention.

Museum of microminiatures

The pioneer, as a rule, has successors. And now a shoeed flea, as well as a caravan of camels in the eye of a needle, are obligatory indicators of the skill of a microminiaturist.

Now the museum "Russian Lefty" has been opened in St. Petersburg, in the permanent collection of which there are 60 exhibits, among them, of course, there are the above-mentioned brilliant examples of the perfection of the skill of microminiaturists. There is also a rose in a hair, and books on a cut of a poppy seed. The shod flea occupies a central place in the museum, because it is a legend-symbol sung by Leskov.

Modern creators

The most famous living Russian microminiaturists are A. Rykovanov (Petersburg), A. Konenko (Kazan), Vl. Aniskin (Omsk). Their brilliant work has won awards at many international competitions. The wonderful craftsman Anatoly Konenko gave his first shoed flea to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

Legal place of storage

But what about the birthplace of Lefty? Here, in the weapons museum, the famous Aldunin shod flea was kept. Tula is very proud of this exhibit, because it is the first wingless insect with horseshoes in Russia. Most recently, this legend moved from the Museum of Weapons to the "Old Tula Pharmacy", located on Lenin Avenue - the main artery of the city.

Reference:

The left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for: - specific thinking - mathematical calculations - right arm and right leg - speech - right eye and right ear - reading and writing - movement area The right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for: - abstract thinking - figurative memory - left arm and left leg - rhythm and perception of music - intonation - left eye and left ear - orientation in space - sensory realm

The left-hander uses his left hand much more often than his right, that is, he uses it when eating and preparing food, writing and doing other daily activities. Contrary to popular belief, the differences between right-handers and left-handers are not limited to which hand a person writes with.

Left-handers have a different brain, because the right hemisphere, which is responsible for creativity, is more developed. That is, the right-handed person is dominated by the left hemisphere, which is responsible for the right side of the body, and if the right side of the brain, which is responsible for the left side of the body, dominates, the person becomes left-handed.

The degree of dominance of one of the hemispheres can be strongly pronounced, that is, a person can be “one hundred percent” right-handed or left-handed, and weakly expressed, that is, there may be 1-2 signs of “left-handedness”: leading the left eye and left ear, for example, but the leading hand - right.

Causes of left-handedness

Science identifies four main causes of left-handedness:

genetic feature. The dominant of the right hemisphere is inherited. And not only from parents to children, but also through the generation, that is, from grandparents to grandchildren, and sometimes to great-grandchildren. The probability of having a left-handed child, if both parents use their left hand, reaches 46%. It has been established that older mothers are much more likely to give birth to a left-hander. There is also a theory that exposing a fetus to high doses of testosterone before birth can result in a left-handed baby.

Birth trauma or pathology of pregnancy in the last stages can affect the development of the brain of a child, as a result of which he may become left-handed. Sometimes it is very difficult for such children to control both their right and left hands. There may also be delays in speech, mental and physical development, impaired motor skills.

"Forced left-handedness". It occurs most often due to an injury to the right hand at an early age.

Imitation. It happens that a child simply imitates one of the left-handed parents, and as a result, left-handedness becomes a habit.

Test for left-handedness

The test for left-handedness is usually done at the age of five, because before that time children can use both their right and left hands equally often.

Only by the fact that the child writes, draws and eats mainly with his left hand, it is not entirely correct to consider him a left-hander, since a real left-hander is one who has not only a left hand, but also a left eye and a left ear - “leading”.

In order to understand which ear is the "leading" one, the child is usually asked to hold the alarm clock with both hands and listen to the clock tick. The ear to which the child will attach the alarm clock will be the “master”.

To determine the "leading" eye, you need to roll a sheet of paper into a tube, give it to the child in both hands and ask through this "spyglass" to look at various objects. The sheet will be brought exactly to the "leading" eye.

Don't overtrain!

Psychologists identify some qualities of left-handed children, which in most cases distinguish them from right-handers. In particular, left-handed children are usually much more stubborn than their right-handed peers, and their period of stubbornness is of a protracted nature. At the same time, left-handers are more direct, gullible, easily fall under the influence of momentary feelings and moods. From here grows a tendency to tearfulness, whims, outbursts of rage and anger.

Such children are artistically gifted, they draw well and with pleasure, sculpt from plasticine and clay, many of them have good musical abilities and perfect pitch.

As for the cons and difficulties, many left-handed people begin to speak later than their peers, have difficulties with the pronunciation of certain sounds, with writing, reading and mathematics.

In any case, psychologists emphasize that left-handedness is not a pathology, but an individual version of the norm.

In the USSR, it was believed that left-handed children must be retrained so that they use only their right hand when writing. It was only years later that the negative consequences of forced transformation became noticeable and recognized, as a result of which, in 1986, the need to retrain left-handers was abolished at the legislative level.

Left-handed retraining is an unsuccessful attempt to remake the child's biological nature. He can be forced to write and eat with his right hand, but it is impossible to change the leading hemisphere of the brain.

Retraining leads to a variety of neuroses, visual impairment, abdominal pain, enuresis, various sleep disorders, changes in appetite, headaches, and stuttering may occur.

Violations can appear both singly and in combination. In addition, retraining is fraught with the fact that the child will study poorly at school, and later at the institute.

How to help a left-handed child?

The leading hand of a left-handed child must be developed from childhood. When studying the alphabet, it is recommended to rely on figurative thinking. For example, the letter "F" looks like a pretzel or glasses, and "X" is a walking man, "H" is an upside down chair, and so on.

It happens that left-handed children write letters in the wrong direction when writing, that is, they “mirror” them. At the same time, handwriting in left-handed children has a slope to the left, or may not have it at all.

The workplace of a left-hander should be organized in a special way. At school, such a child should sit to the left of the neighbor so as not to collide with elbows when writing, and as far to the left of the board as possible so that the leading eye and ear are directed to the source of information. , the light should come from the right. The notebook should lie with an inclination to the right, and the lower right corner of the page is directed towards the middle of the chest.

"Left" rulers, pens and sharpeners

For left-handers, they sell special writing utensils: sharpeners with counterclockwise threads, scissors with the blade on the other side, pens with recesses for the fingers of the left hand, allowing you to properly grip the instrument, and even a ruler with the numbers printed in reverse order.

Manufacturers of many goods are trying to focus not only on right-handers, but also on left-handers, making their lives much easier.

In particular, European-style kitchen knives are symmetrical. For left-handers, there are also special corkscrews, computer mice and keyboards, surgical supplies, sporting goods and even musical instruments.

Which famous person was left-handed?

Some research proves that the mental abilities of left-handed people are structured differently, they have an expanded range of abilities, they are more prone to creativity.

Among the lefties there are many outstanding scientists, poets and composers, politicians: Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Benjamin Franklin, Prince Charles and Prince William, Henry Ford, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Lewis Carroll, Julius Caesar, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sergei Prokofiev, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Franz Kafka, Mireille Mathieu, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Nicolo Paganini, Diego Maradona, Pele, Rafael Nadal and.

Alexander Pushkin, Mark Twain wrote with his left hand. The writer Nikolai Leskov, who glorified the craftsman Lefty, who shod the legs of a flea, was also left-handed.

There are many lefties among politicians: Alexander the Great, Mahatma Gandhi, Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Fidel Castro, Queen Victoria of the British Empire.

Many US legislative acts are signed by the left hand of presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama.

Actors such as Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Julia Roberts, Keanu Reeves, Whoopi Goldberg, Nicole Kidman, Bill Murray and Tom Cruise are also left-handed.

N. Leskov's story "Lefty" is dedicated to a modest gunsmith. He surpassed the educated masters from England with his skill, made one wonder at the subtleties of his work - horseshoe nails on the smallest steel flea. The narrator relates the story of a slanting handyman who dies far from home. A summary of "Lefty" chapter by chapter will help to understand the experiences of the author and assess the depth of his thoughts.

Chapter 1

The Russian emperor Alexander decided to ride around European countries, to see the wonders of technology and weapons. The Don Cossack Platov traveled with him. The emperor was surprised by overseas masters, but Platov did not admire anything. He was sure that there were curiosities at home and no worse than overseas ones. The British invited the sovereign to the weapons cabinet of curiosities. They wanted to show that the Russians

they can't do anything and they're useless. Frustrated, Platov drank vodka and went to bed, deciding that the morning was wiser than the evening.

Chapter 2

In the Kunstkamera, the Russian Emperor was shown technical and weapons achievements, busts and rooms. The emperor liked everything, he admired and praised foreign masters. Platov answered this by saying that his fellows, without any technical achievements, took languages ​​and fought better than the British. The king was led to the statue of Abolon and shown two weapons: Mortimer's gun, pistol. The sovereign burst into rage, Platov took a screwdriver out of his pocket and spun the pistol. Inside, he showed the king the inscription. It was the name of the Russian gunsmith Ivan Moskvin from Tula. The British were discouraged. The king was upset. Returning for the night, the Cossack could not understand what upset the sovereign.

Chapter 3

Not knowing how else to impress the Russian emperor, the British took him to a sugar factory. But here, too, Platov brought in his fly in the ointment. He invited them to their homeland to taste the rumor. They didn't know what it was. They took the tsar to the last cabinet of curiosities. They gave me an empty tray. Alexander was surprised. The British asked to look at the tray and pointed to the smallest speck. The emperor saw her. It turns out it was a clockwork flea, made of solid steel. A spring was installed inside, which made the flea dance. The flea key could only be seen under a microscope. The amazed king bought a flea for a million, put it in a precious case. The masters of the English called the first. We went to Russia, but on the way we hardly spoke, everyone remained with his own opinion.

Chapter 4

Bloch began to roam: from Alexander to the priest Fedot, Empress Elizabeth, Emperor Nicholas. To solve the mystery of such a special relationship to a small thing, they found Platov. He told me what was special about a flea. The Don Cossack added to the story of the overseas little thing that there is nothing to be surprised about in it. Russian artisans can do better. Nikolai Pavlovich instructed to transfer the crafts to the Tula masters, knowing that they would prove the words of the Cossack.

Chapter 5

Ataman carried out the order. He took the flea to the gunsmiths. They asked to leave the craft for a few days. The Cossack decided to find out what the masters wanted to do, but they did not tell him anything. Ataman left to carry out the will of the king. I left the overseas toy in Tula for 2 weeks.

Chapter 6

Three artisans, without explaining anything to either family or friends, left the city. Some thought they were scared, decided to run away, but it was not so. One of the Tulchans had an interesting appearance:

• cross-eyed;
• with a birthmark on the face;
• the hair at the temples was torn out.

They took the amazing snuffbox with them.

Chapter 7

Gunsmiths from Tula were very religious people. They went to the city of Mtsensk. There stood an ancient icon, carved from stone, of Nicholas the Wonderworker. The masters appealed to the icon with a prayer, asked her for help. Returning to Tula, they closed in the house of the oblique Lefty. The inhabitants of the area tried to find out what the weapon masters were doing, but they did not go out into the air, day or night.

Chapter 8

Ataman Platov was in a hurry. He did not give the coachmen a rest. They missed a hundred jumps. The ataman himself did not go to the artisans. He sent whistlers (couriers) to them. The door was not opened. Ordinary people began to send a formidable Cossack. The result is the same.

Chapter 9

Out of fear, the common people fled. The whistlers began to knock down the doors, but they were closed with an oak bolt, they simply did not succumb. Couriers began to remove logs from the roof and removed everything. The masters in the house had such stale air that I almost knocked everyone off their feet. The gunsmiths explained that they had the last nail to drive in. The whistlers ran to report that the masters had finished the job. They ran with an eye, checking to see if the gunsmiths were running away. In the hands of one of the masters kept the same snuffbox.

Chapter 10

Platov took the snuffbox and opened it. Nothing has changed: the same nut and the same flea. Platov could not take the key with his strong hands. They did not give out the secret of the work, and angered the ataman even more. He decided to take one of the masters with him. The gunsmiths tried to ask how the comrade would go without documents, but Platov answered them with his fist. Arriving in the capital, he put on awards and went to the reception. The bound gunsmith remained at the entrance.

Chapter 11

The Cossack ataman made a report to the king as it should be. And he asks him about an English toy. I had to tell the ataman that the flea was returned to its former state. But Nicholas did not believe. He hoped that the masters had done something beyond their concept, he decided to check it out.

Chapter 12

The steel toy was wound up with a microscopic key. She didn't dance like she used to. Cossack ataman Platov got angry. He decided that the complex equipment was simply damaged. He went to the bound scythe, began to drag him by the hair, beat him, and scolded him for deceit. The left-hander insisted on his own: they did everything, but the work can be seen through a strong microscope (melkoscope).

Chapter 13

The sovereign ordered to bring him a melkoscope. The king began to spin the steel toy, examining and looking for changes, but did not notice anything. He ordered Levsha to be brought to him. He asked why their work was not visible. He explained that every heel of the steel insect should be considered. The king was surprised, it was very small, but the master insisted. The emperor of Russia looked through a microscope and shone. He took an unwashed beaten guy, kissed him. And he told everyone who was in the hall that the Russians had shod the overseas flea.

Chapter 14

The left-hander added that the names of the artisans were engraved on the horseshoes. When asked where his name was, the guy explained that he made nails with which the horseshoes were nailed, and they are small, you can’t put a name there. The king asked where the gunsmiths got such a small scope. The left-hander explained that they did not have any equipment, the eye was aimed so that it could see small details without a microscope. Ataman apologized to the artisans, gave 100 rubles. Nicholas decided to send the flea back to England. The courier was chosen from scholars who knew languages. The left-hander was supposed to be with him to show the work and skill of the Russians. The Tula gunsmith was dressed up and sent abroad.

Chapter 15

The courier took the shod insect to the British, but Lefty did not take it with him. Foreigners wanted to see who the skilled craftsman was. They came to the hotel, began to drink, feed, question. The goal was one - to understand how he learned everything. But the master was illiterate, he had not heard of arithmetic. Science in Russia for the Left-hander was based on two textbooks: "Psalter" and "Dream Book". What kind of books, the British did not know. The English masters offered Lefty to stay, and promised to send money to their parents. No persuasion worked on the Russian guest.

Chapter 16

The left-hander is taken around the factories, trying to persuade him to stay. The Tula boy was not surprised at many things, he said that they could do it too. He praised the old weapons. A Tula resident asked to go home. They put him on a ship going to Russia, gave him money, a gold watch. On the ship, the armourer impressed the half-skipper with his ability to withstand bad weather. They made a bet, drink the same way.

Chapter 17

The two new friends drank in such a way that they imagined the devil from the abyss (to the Russian) and the sea eye (to the Englishman). I almost threw the half-skipper of the Russian artisan overboard. The captain ordered them to be placed downstairs, given food and drink, but not released. So they got to St. Petersburg. But here the paths went in different directions:

• Lefty - in the poor quarter;
• half-skipper - to the embassy's house.

Chapter 18

The Englishman began to be treated by real doctors, quickly put on his feet. The entire embassy tried to help recover. The left-hander was taken to the quarter, thrown on the floor, they began to demand documents. They took off his new clothes, took away his watch and money. The patient was sent to a free hospital. They were taken on a sleigh, without covering anything, cold and undressed. Lefty was not accepted anywhere without documents. He ended up in a people's hospital for all classes. Where they come to die.
The half-skipper recovered and ran to look for his Russian friend.

Chapter 19

Surprisingly, the Englishman found a Russian friend lying on the floor. Lefty wanted to convey two words (the secret of an overseas country) to the sovereign. The Englishman was taken aback. He spoke about his human soul, and they kicked him out. They advised me to contact Platov, maybe he will help the gunsmith. Platov sent a half-skipper to commandant Skobelev, who sent a doctor to the master. The doctor could no longer do anything, Lefty was dying. He asked me to tell the king that in England weapons are not cleaned with bricks. The doctor went to Count Chernyshev, but he did not even listen, not understanding any meaning in the words. He told the doctor to be quiet. The master's advice died with him, and could have changed the course of battles.

Chapter 20

Here the style of the text changes because this chapter is the reflection of the author himself. He regrets that there were no such masters, cars appeared, and the popular imagination dried up. The author is glad that they remember the old days.

The tale of Lefty is the story of the fate of many talented people. The summary helps to see the storyline of the work, but you can only feel the peculiarities of the language of Nikolai Leskov while reading the full text of the story.

This concludes a brief retelling of the story "Lefty", which includes only the most important events from the full version of the work!