The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea
Encyclopedia
"The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea" ' onMouseout='HidePop("76677")' href="/topics/Skaz">Skaz
o Tulskom kosom Levshe i o stalnoy Blokhe), The Tale of the Crosseyed Lefthander from Tula and the Steal Flea or simply Levsha , sometimes called The Lefthander, Lefty, The Steel Flea or The Left-handed Craftsman is a well-known 1881 skaz (story)
by Nikolai Leskov
. Styled as a folk tale, it tells a story of a left-handed arms craftsman from Tula
(traditionally a center of the Russian armaments industry) who outperformed his English colleagues by providing a clockwork steel flea they'd made with horseshoes and inscriptions on them.
, while visiting England with his servant the Cossack Platov
, is shown a variety of modern inventions. Platov keeps insisting that things in Russia are much better (embarrassing a guide at one point when he finds something that appears well made that turns out to be a Russian gun), until they are shown a small mechanical flea. After his ascension the next tsar, Nicolas I, orders Platov (after he tries to hide the flea) to find someone to outperform the English who had created the clockwork steel flea (as small as a crumb, and the key to wind it up can only be seen through a microscope
). Platov travels to Tula to find someone to better the English invention. Three gunsmiths agree to do the work and barricade themselves in a workshop. Villagers try to get them to come out in various ways (for example by yelling "fire"), but no one can get them to come out. When Platov arrives to check on their progress, he has some Cossacks try to open the workshop. They succeed in getting the roof to come off, but the crowd is disgusted when the trapped smell of body odor and metal work comes out of the workshop. The gunsmiths hand Platov the same flea he gave them and he curses them, believing that they have done absolutely nothing. He ends up dragging Lefty with him in order to have someone to answer for the failure.
The flea is given to the czar, to whom Lefty explains that he needs to look closer and closer at the flea to see what they have achieved. He winds it up and finds that it doesn't move. He discovers that, without any microscopes ("We are poor people"), Lefty and his accomplices managed to put appropriately-sized horseshoe
s (with the craftsmen's engraved signatures) on the flea (Lefty made the nails, which cannot be seen since they are so small), which amazes the tsar and the English (even though the flea now cannot dance as it used to). Lefty then gets an invitation and travels to England
to study the English way of life and technical accomplishments. The English hosts try to talk him into staying in England, but he feels homesick and returns to Russia at the earliest opportunity. On the way back, he engages in a drinking duel with an English sailor, arriving in Saint Petersburg
. The sailor is treated well, but Lefty, authorities finding no identification on him and believing him to be a common drunkard, send him off to a hospital for unknowns to die.
The sailor, after sobering up, decides to find his new friend and with the aid of Platov they locate him. While dying (his head is smashed from being thrown onto the pavement), he tells them to tell the emperor to stop having their soldiers clean their muskets with crushed brick (after he sees a dirty gun in England and realizes it fires so well because they keep it oily). The message never arrives, however, because the man who had to inform the emperor never does. Leskov comments that the Crimean War
may have turned out differently if he got the message. The story ends with Leskov commenting on the replacement of good, hard-earned labor and creativity with machines.
This story is deeply embedded into Russian consciousness as an archetype
of relationships between Russia and the West. The language of the story is unique; many of its folk-flavored neologisms and colloquialisms (very funny and natural, though mostly invented by Leskov) have become common sayings and proverbs. Ironically, both Slavophiles and Westernizers used the story in support of their views; indeed the story of Levsha may signify Russian ingenuity and craftsmanship that amaze the world, or it may just as well be used as a symbol of the oppressive Russian society that mistreats its most talented people.
Skaz
Skaz is a Russian literary term that describes a particularly oral form of narrative. The word comes from skazat, "to tell", and is also related to such words as rasskaz, "short story" and skazka, "fairy tale". The speech makes use of dialect and slang in order to take on the persona of a...
o Tulskom kosom Levshe i o stalnoy Blokhe), The Tale of the Crosseyed Lefthander from Tula and the Steal Flea or simply Levsha , sometimes called The Lefthander, Lefty, The Steel Flea or The Left-handed Craftsman is a well-known 1881 skaz (story)
Skaz
Skaz is a Russian literary term that describes a particularly oral form of narrative. The word comes from skazat, "to tell", and is also related to such words as rasskaz, "short story" and skazka, "fairy tale". The speech makes use of dialect and slang in order to take on the persona of a...
by Nikolai Leskov
Nikolai Leskov
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was a Russian journalist, novelist and short story writer, who also wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. Praised for his unique writing style and innovative experiments in form, held in high esteem by Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky among others, Leskov is...
. Styled as a folk tale, it tells a story of a left-handed arms craftsman from Tula
Tula, Russia
Tula is an industrial city and the administrative center of Tula Oblast, Russia. It is located south of Moscow, on the Upa River. Population: -History:...
(traditionally a center of the Russian armaments industry) who outperformed his English colleagues by providing a clockwork steel flea they'd made with horseshoes and inscriptions on them.
Synopsis
Tsar Alexander I of RussiaAlexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
, while visiting England with his servant the Cossack Platov
Matvei Platov
Count Matvei Ivanovich Platov was a Russian general who commanded the Don Cossacks in the Napoleonic wars....
, is shown a variety of modern inventions. Platov keeps insisting that things in Russia are much better (embarrassing a guide at one point when he finds something that appears well made that turns out to be a Russian gun), until they are shown a small mechanical flea. After his ascension the next tsar, Nicolas I, orders Platov (after he tries to hide the flea) to find someone to outperform the English who had created the clockwork steel flea (as small as a crumb, and the key to wind it up can only be seen through a microscope
Microscope
A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...
). Platov travels to Tula to find someone to better the English invention. Three gunsmiths agree to do the work and barricade themselves in a workshop. Villagers try to get them to come out in various ways (for example by yelling "fire"), but no one can get them to come out. When Platov arrives to check on their progress, he has some Cossacks try to open the workshop. They succeed in getting the roof to come off, but the crowd is disgusted when the trapped smell of body odor and metal work comes out of the workshop. The gunsmiths hand Platov the same flea he gave them and he curses them, believing that they have done absolutely nothing. He ends up dragging Lefty with him in order to have someone to answer for the failure.
The flea is given to the czar, to whom Lefty explains that he needs to look closer and closer at the flea to see what they have achieved. He winds it up and finds that it doesn't move. He discovers that, without any microscopes ("We are poor people"), Lefty and his accomplices managed to put appropriately-sized horseshoe
Horseshoe
A horseshoe, is a fabricated product, normally made of metal, although sometimes made partially or wholly of modern synthetic materials, designed to protect a horse's hoof from wear and tear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall...
s (with the craftsmen's engraved signatures) on the flea (Lefty made the nails, which cannot be seen since they are so small), which amazes the tsar and the English (even though the flea now cannot dance as it used to). Lefty then gets an invitation and travels to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to study the English way of life and technical accomplishments. The English hosts try to talk him into staying in England, but he feels homesick and returns to Russia at the earliest opportunity. On the way back, he engages in a drinking duel with an English sailor, arriving in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. The sailor is treated well, but Lefty, authorities finding no identification on him and believing him to be a common drunkard, send him off to a hospital for unknowns to die.
The sailor, after sobering up, decides to find his new friend and with the aid of Platov they locate him. While dying (his head is smashed from being thrown onto the pavement), he tells them to tell the emperor to stop having their soldiers clean their muskets with crushed brick (after he sees a dirty gun in England and realizes it fires so well because they keep it oily). The message never arrives, however, because the man who had to inform the emperor never does. Leskov comments that the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
may have turned out differently if he got the message. The story ends with Leskov commenting on the replacement of good, hard-earned labor and creativity with machines.
This story is deeply embedded into Russian consciousness as an archetype
Archetype
An archetype is a universally understood symbol or term or pattern of behavior, a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated...
of relationships between Russia and the West. The language of the story is unique; many of its folk-flavored neologisms and colloquialisms (very funny and natural, though mostly invented by Leskov) have become common sayings and proverbs. Ironically, both Slavophiles and Westernizers used the story in support of their views; indeed the story of Levsha may signify Russian ingenuity and craftsmanship that amaze the world, or it may just as well be used as a symbol of the oppressive Russian society that mistreats its most talented people.
In other media
- In 19641964 in filmThe year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....
, Soviet director Ivan Ivanov-VanoIvan Ivanov-VanoIvan Pyetrovich Ivanov-Vano was a Soviet animator and Russian animation director, sometimes called the "Patriarch of Soviet animation"....
made an animated 42-minute-long film called LeftyLefty (1964 film)Lefty is a 1964 feature-length cutout-animated film from the Soviet Union. The film is based on the story of the same name by the 19th century Russian novelist Nikolai Leskov...
(Левша) that was based on the story. - A live-action film was made in 1986. This version is played several times a day at the Museum of Jurassic TechnologyMuseum of Jurassic TechnologyThe Museum of Jurassic Technology is an educational institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and the public appreciation of the lower jurassic...
. - The book, mentioning a microscope which increases by 5 000 000 times, the likes of which are being used now in nanotechnologyNanotechnologyNanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
, featured in a Nature Physics article in 2007.
External links
The Steel Flea Translated by Isabel Hapgood- The Russian text of Levsha in Moshkov's Library
- English translation of The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea
- The Borzoi Kabinet Theater at the Museum of Jurassic Technology of Los Angeles, California screens the film "Levsha, the Cross-Eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea" at hourly intervals. Visitors are encouraged to take tea afterwards in the Tula Tearoom.
- Spanish translation of the novel by Editorial Impedimenta