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• 1 2020-10-01T11:08:53-04:00 Between Dog & Wolf 52-67 17 Sasha Sokolov plain 2020-11-23T15:04:51-05:00 pg. 56 — Mayday
  In former Soviet Union, May 1 (often called Mayday) was International Workers’ Day, one of the biggest holidays of the year.  
  
  pg.  57 — “laid for the old folks an egg, not an ordinary one but golden”
  Possibly referencing the Russian story "The Duck that Laid Golden Eggs". In this story, a family of a husband, wife, and son are given a duck that lays golden eggs by a folklore character who lives behind their stove. A shopman that is friends with them inspects the duck and sees that, written under its wing, it says "whoever eats this duck shall become a Tsar." He convinces the wife to cook the duck. 
  
  However, the son comes home hungry, sees the duck in the oven, and eats it. The shopman despairs. The wife and husband also despair, as they have lost their source of income, the golden eggs. Then, the son goes on a journey. He walks for ten days and ten nights. At the end of his journey, he walks through the gates of a city. Unbeknownst to him, the city had been in turmoil, and had made the decision that whoever walked through the gates next would be their new Tsar. So, the son became a Tsar. 
  
  pg. 58 — frog princesses
  Possibly referencing the Russian folktale "tsarevna frog": 
  
  A king wants his three sons to marry. He orders them to shoot arrows in different directions, and find their brides wherever the arrows land. Both of the older brothers' arrows land in the houses of wealthy aristocrats. The youngest brother's arrow lands in the mouth of a frog. The King asks the brothers to bring their brides to the palace to meet him. 
  
  The youngest brother is worried, but when his bride shows up to the dance his father is hosting, she has transformed into a beautiful princess, named Vasilisa the Wise. He runs to their home and burns her frogskin so she won't transform back. 
  When she discovers that he has destroyed her frogskin, she weeps. As it turns out, she had once disobeyed Koschei, an immortal, and was cursed to spend three years in a frogskin, only able to be her true self at night. She was almost at the end of these three years and then she would have been freed--but now, she is lost. 
  
  The youngest brother despairs, but sets out to find her. He asks Baba Yaga, a classic figure in folklore, for help. Baba Yaga explains how he can save his bride by locating a magic needle. 
  
  He ends up being able to save Vasilisa the Wise from Koschei. 
  
  pg. 58 — a cabbage, a goat, and a wolf
  A classic puzzle. A farmer has gone to the market. He bought a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage. He had to cross a river to get back, and rented a boat to do so. However, he could only carry himself and one other thing on the boat, i.e., the wolf, the goat, or the cabbage. He could go back and forth, but if he left the wolf and the goat together, then the wolf would eat the goat, and if he left the goat and cabbage together, the goat would eat the cabbage. How did he get home with all of his purchases?
  
  The presence of a wolf in this riddle is, of course, salient. Also relevant is the juxtaposition of this and the previously mentioned folk tales; this riddle, which Ilya "understands," might represent something more rational. 
  
  pg 59 — chlamyses
  A short cloak fastened at the shoulder, worn by men in ancient Greece.
  
  pg. 59 — a blue admiral’s gala galife
  A style of trousers in military uniform of the Soviet Army similar to riding breeches. 
  
  Pg. 62 — Enlightenment, located on the Nevsky
  Enlightenment was a joint-stock publishing company. It was started in 1896 and ran until 1922. 
  
  pg. 62 — the newly discovered apparatus of Monsieur Lumiere
  Referring to Lumiere's Cinématographe, a device to record, develop, and project motion pictures all in one go. Thought of as the first "viable" film camera, it shot what is considered to be the first motion picture. "La Sortie des ouvriers de l'usine Lumière", or, "Workers Leaving the Lumière factory", is footage of workers leaving their factory at the end of the day.
  
  pg. 65— a Jericho trumpet
  Possibly referring to a German war tactic used during the Blitzkrieg. Two screeching horns were attached to the wings of the aircrafts as a fear tactic for anyone on the ground. Also implicated in this reference is the Biblical story of Battle of Jericho. It was the first battle the Israelites fought, and during it, the Israelites made the walls of the city of Jericho fall by blowing shofars, which are trumpet-like instruments. 
  
  pg. 67 — the Yar
  Referring to a Moscow restaurant (that was also a theater) that Pushkin, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Gorky all frequented.