An Incident (Chekhov)
Short summary
Morning in a family home. Six-year-old Vanya and his four-year-old sister Nina woke up and discovered their cat had given birth to kittens in the kitchen.
The children were delighted by the kittens and spent all their time with them, making plans for their future. They decided one kitten would stay with its mother, another would go to their summer villa, and the third would live in the cellar to catch rats. They even brought a toy horse to be the kittens' father.
Their father, however, was not pleased. He scolded Vanya for letting a kitten walk on his papers and ordered the kittens to be thrown in the cesspool. After the children's tears and pleas, he relented but forbade them from going to the kitchen to see the kittens.
That evening, when their uncle visited with his large black dog Nero, the children decided Nero should replace the toy horse as the kittens' father. But when they tried to introduce Nero to the kittens, they learned he had eaten them all.
The children expect that all the people in the house will be aghast and fall upon the miscreant Nero. But they all sit calmly in their seats, and only express surprise at the appetite of the huge dog. Papa and mamma laugh.
Heartbroken, Vanya and Nina went to bed crying, thinking about the injured cat and the cruel, unpunished Nero.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Morning grumpiness turns to excitement over kittens
One morning, six-year-old Vanya and his four-year-old sister Nina woke up in a bad mood. They lay in their cots, looking crossly at each other while their nurse scolded them for sleeping late. The children remained grumpy, with Nina whining for breakfast and Vanya preparing to howl about something.
Their sullen mood suddenly changed when they heard their mother call from the drawing room, reminding someone to give the cat her milk because she had a family now. The children's faces brightened immediately. They jumped out of their cots and ran barefoot in their nightgowns to the kitchen, shouting excitedly about the cat having puppies.
In the kitchen, they found a small box under a bench where the cat was resting with her newborn kittens. The cat had an exhausted expression on her grey face, and her green eyes looked languid and sentimental. The children squatted before the box, motionless and breathless with wonder, not hearing their nurse's continued grumbling.
The childrens fascination with the newborn kittens
The narrator reflected on how domestic animals play an important but often unnoticed role in children's education and development. The patience, fidelity, and sincerity of household pets can have a stronger effect on a child's mind than the dry lectures of tutors or governesses.
Domestic animals play a scarcely noticed but undoubtedly beneficial part in the education and life of children. Which of us does not remember powerful but magnanimous dogs, lazy lapdogs, birds dying in captivity...
Nina exclaimed with delight that the kittens were like mice, while Vanya counted them: "One, two, three." He immediately decided that there would be one kitten for him, one for Nina, and one for somebody else. The mother cat purred, flattered by their attention.
After gazing at the kittens, the children take them from under the cat, and begin squeezing them in their hands, then, not satisfied with this, they put them in the skirts of their nightgowns, and run into the other rooms.
The children rushed into the drawing room, where their mother was sitting with an unknown gentleman. Seeing her children unwashed and undressed with their nightgowns held up, she was embarrassed and scolded them to put their nightgowns down and leave the room. But the children were too excited to notice her threats or the stranger's presence. They placed the kittens on the carpet and squealed with delight while the mother cat walked around them, mewing imploringly.
Plans for the kittens future
The kittens completely overshadowed the children's usual games and activities, becoming the sensation of the day. Even when they were finally dragged back to the nursery, dressed, made to say their prayers, and given breakfast, Vanya and Nina were eager to return to the kittens as quickly as possible.
Their habitual pursuits and games are thrown completely into the background. The kittens throw everything into the shade by making their appearance in the world, and supply the great sensation of the day.
Despite protests from the nurse and cook, the children spent their time sitting by the cat's box in the kitchen until dinnertime. Their faces were serious and concentrated as they worried about the kittens' future. They decided that one kitten would stay at home with the mother cat, another would go to their summer villa, and the third would live in the cellar to catch rats.
Their faces are earnest and concentrated and express anxiety. They are worried not so much by the present as by the future of the kittens. They decide that one kitten shall remain at home with the old cat to be a comfort to her mother...
The children were troubled by the kittens' closed eyes, with Nina wondering why they couldn't see. Vanya tried unsuccessfully to open one kitten's eyes. They were also concerned that the kittens refused milk and meat, which was eaten instead by their mother. Vanya suggested building little houses for the kittens, but when they placed the kittens in cardboard hatboxes around the kitchen, the mother cat carried them all back to the original box.
The children then wondered about the kittens' father. After some deliberation, they chose a big dark-red tailless toy horse from the cupboard under the stairs and placed it by the box, instructing it to watch over the kittens and make sure they behaved properly.
All this is said and done in the gravest way, with an expression of anxiety on their faces. Vanya and Nina refuse to recognise the existence of any world but the box of kittens. Their joy knows no bounds.
Parental disapproval and restrictions
Despite the children's joy, they soon faced bitter moments. Before dinner, Vanya was sitting in his father's study watching a kitten move about on some stamped note paper. He was trying to put a pencil and then a match into the kitten's mouth when his father suddenly appeared beside the table.
To Vanya's great surprise his papa does not share his partiality for the kittens, and, instead of being moved to enthusiasm and delight, he pulls Vanya's ear and shouts: "Stepan, take away this horrid thing."
At dinner, another incident occurred when a shrill mew was heard coming from under Nina's pinafore. Their father angrily ordered Nina to leave the table and threatened to throw the kittens in the cesspool. He declared he wouldn't have the "nasty things" in the house.
Vanya and Nina are horrified. Death in the cesspool, apart from its cruelty, threatens to rob the cat and the wooden horse of their children, to lay waste the cat's box, to destroy their plans for the future...
Neros cruel act and the childrens heartbreak
The children were devastated but eventually their father relented, allowing the kittens to stay on the condition that the children would not go into the kitchen or touch them. After dinner, Vanya and Nina wandered about the rooms feeling depressed. When their Uncle Petrusha arrived in the evening, they complained to him about their father wanting to throw the kittens into the cesspool and begged him to convince their mother to let the kittens be moved to the nursery.
Uncle Petrusha arrived with Nero, a big black Danish dog with drooping ears and a hard tail. The dog was morose and dignified, paying no attention to the children. Despite their dislike for Nero, the children decided he should replace the toy horse as the kittens' father, since he was alive and the horse was not.
The children waited for their father to start playing cards so they could take Nero to the kitchen without being noticed. When the moment finally came, Stepan entered the room and announced with a snigger that Nero had eaten the kittens. He had gone to the box and gobbled them up.
Vanya and Nina expected everyone to be horrified and punish Nero, but to their surprise, the adults merely expressed amazement at the dog's appetite. Their parents even laughed while Nero walked around wagging his tail and licking his lips complacently. Only the cat seemed distressed, walking about with her tail in the air, looking suspiciously at people and mewing plaintively.
Vanya and Nina go to bed, shed tears, and spend a long time thinking about the injured cat, and the cruel, insolent, and unpunished Nero.