Cossack Tales

Before Gogol became the haunted genius of 'Dead Souls,' he wrote these wild, shimmering tales rooted in the folklore of his Ukrainian childhood. Here is a world where devils steal the moon, beautiful girls ride through the sky on broomsticks, and Cossack warriors drink, fight, and love with ferocious intensity. The stories pulse with a peasant culture at once brutal and beautiful, where a blacksmith's apprentice might win the girl of his dreams through courage and cunning, or where the devil himself meddles in Christmas Eve festivities. The collection reaches its climax in 'Taras Bulba,' a swashbuckling epic about a legendary Cossack leader who takes his two sons to war against the Poles, testing their courage in battles that blaze across the steppes. Gogol's prose crackles with humor, folklore, and an irrepressible love for this world of hardy, violent, deeply alive people. These are not gentle fairy tales. They are rough, funny, bloody, and full of life.