Children (Chekhov)
Short summary
While their parents attended a christening party, five children sat at the dining room table playing loto for money. The stakes were one kopeck per game. Grisha, a nine-year-old boy, played for the money, while his sister Anya played for vanity. Six-year-old Sonya enjoyed the game itself, and Alyosha was there for potential conflicts. The cook's son, Andrey, was fascinated by the arithmetic of the game.
The children called out numbers with playful nicknames. When Andrey ran out of money, Sonya lent him some. During the game, a dispute arose between Andrey and Alyosha over cheating.
Andrey turns pale, his mouth works, and he gives Alyosha a slap on the head! Alyosha glares angrily, jumps up, and with one knee on the table, slaps Andrey on the cheek! Each gives the other a second blow, and both howl.
Soon they were playing peacefully again. Vasya, a fifth-grade schoolboy, joined them but was frustrated when they wouldn't accept his rouble instead of a kopeck. After losing a kopeck under the table, the children grew tired. Sonya fell asleep first, and the others soon joined her in their mother's bed, sleeping together with their kopecks nearby, waiting for the next game.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The setting: Children playing loto while waiting for parents
While their parents and aunt were away at a christening party, several children gathered around the dining room table to play loto. Despite it being past their bedtime, they were determined to stay awake until their mother returned to hear about the christening. The table was illuminated by a hanging lamp and covered with numbers, nutshells, scraps of paper, and bits of glass for covering the numbers. In the center sat a white saucer containing five kopecks, as the children were playing for money with a stake of one kopeck per game.
The rules were strict: anyone caught cheating would be immediately expelled from the game. The dining room contained only the players, while their nurse, Agafya Ivanovna, was in the kitchen showing the cook how to cut a pattern. Their older brother Vasya, a fifth-grade schoolboy, lay bored on the sofa in the drawing room.
Character portraits: Different motivations for playing
The children played with great enthusiasm, but each for different reasons. Nine-year-old Grisha, with his cropped head and chubby cheeks, was the most excited. As the oldest and supposedly cleverest of the children, he played purely for the money.
The fear that he may not win, envy, and the financial combinations of which his cropped head is full, will not let him sit still and concentrate his mind. He fidgets as though he were sitting on thorns.
Eight-year-old Anya, with her sharp chin and clever eyes, played out of vanity rather than interest in the kopecks. She constantly watched the other players, turning pale and flushing with anxiety about winning.
Six-year-old Sonya, with her curly head and healthy complexion, played simply for the joy of the game itself. She was happy regardless of who won, laughing and clapping her hands with delight.
Chubby Alyosha participated neither out of greed nor vanity, but for the inevitable conflicts that arose during play. He remained at the table not for the game itself but for the chance to witness arguments and name-calling.
The fifth player, Andrey, the cook's son, was a sickly-looking boy in a cotton shirt with a copper cross. Unlike the others, he was completely absorbed by the mathematics of the game, fascinated by the numbers themselves rather than winning.
The game dynamics and invented number-calling
The children took turns calling out numbers, with everyone participating except Sonya and Alyosha. To make the game more entertaining, they had invented nicknames for certain numbers: seven was called the "ovenrake," eleven was "sticks," seventy-seven was "Semyon Semyonitch," and ninety was "grandfather." The game proceeded cheerfully as Grisha drew numbers from his father's cap.
Anya noticed that Andrey had missed marking twenty-eight on his card, but she remained silent, secretly pleased since her own chances of winning improved. As the game continued, Sonya spotted a beetle crawling across the table and pointed it out excitedly. Alyosha, in his deep voice, suggested they shouldn't kill it because "perhaps it's got children." This momentarily distracted Sonya, who began wondering about baby beetles.
Sonyas victory and Andreys financial problem
Suddenly, Sonya announced she had won the game, rolling her eyes coquettishly and giggling. The other players' faces fell in disappointment. Grisha, exercising his authority as the oldest and supposedly wisest, insisted on verifying her claim. After careful checking, they confirmed that Sonya had indeed won fairly, much to everyone's regret. They began a new game.
Exercising his rights as a big boy, and the cleverest, Grisha takes upon himself to decide. What he wants, that they do. Sonya's reckoning is slowly and carefully verified...
As they played, Anya mentioned seeing Filipp Filippitch turn his eyelids inside out, making his eyes look red and frightening. Grisha added that a boy at their school could move his ears. Andrey claimed he could do the same, but when challenged, he only managed to move his eyes, lips, and fingers while imagining his ears were moving, causing everyone to laugh.
When Grisha won the next game and collected the money, Andrey turned pale and whispered that he couldn't continue playing because he had no more money. Grisha firmly stated that playing without money wasn't allowed. Seeing Andrey's distress, kind-hearted Sonya offered to stake money for him, asking only that he repay her later. With this resolved, the game continued.
Distractions and ghost stories
Suddenly, Anya thought she heard ringing somewhere and opened her eyes wide. All the children stopped playing and stared at the dark window, where the lamp's reflection glimmered. After a moment, they decided it had been her imagination.
Andrey remarked that at night, bells only ring in the cemetery to scare away robbers who might break into the church. When Sonya asked why robbers would enter a church, Andrey solemnly replied that everyone knows they do it to kill the watchmen. After a minute of frightened silence, the children resumed their game. This time, Andrey won.
The physical fight between Andrey and Alyosha
Without provocation, Alyosha suddenly accused Andrey of cheating. Andrey denied it vehemently, but turned pale with anger. The situation quickly escalated as Andrey slapped Alyosha on the head. Alyosha retaliated by climbing onto the table and slapping Andrey on the cheek. They exchanged more blows, and both boys began howling. Sonya, overwhelmed by the conflict, started crying too, filling the dining room with various wails.
Before five minutes are over, the children are laughing and talking peaceably again. Their faces are tear-stained, but that does not prevent them from smiling; Alyosha is positively blissful, there has been a squabble!
Vasyas attempt to join the game
Vasya, the fifth-form schoolboy, entered the dining room looking sleepy and disillusioned. He watched Grisha checking his pockets, which jingled with kopecks, and found the situation distasteful.
'This is revolting!' he thinks, seeing Grisha feel in his pockets in which the kopecks are jingling. 'How can they give children money? And how can they let them play games of chance?'
Despite his disapproval, Vasya found himself drawn to the game and wanted to try his luck. When he offered to join, the children insisted he put down a kopeck like everyone else. Vasya explained he only had a rouble and suggested whoever won could give him change, but the children refused. He went to the kitchen to get change from the servants, but there wasn't a single kopeck to be found.
Returning to the dining room, Vasya tried to convince Grisha to give him ten kopecks for a rouble, promising to pay for the exchange. Grisha looked suspicious and refused, holding his pockets protectively. Finally, kind-hearted Sonya offered to stake for Vasya, allowing him to join the game.
Finding the lost kopeck and falling asleep
Just as they were about to continue playing, Grisha announced in an agitated voice that he had dropped a kopeck. He took the lamp and crawled under the table to search for it. The children joined him, bumping their heads together as they searched among nutshells and other debris on the floor. When they couldn't find it, Vasya took the lamp from Grisha's hands and put it back in place. Grisha continued looking in the dark until the kopeck was finally found.
As the players returned to the table, Alyosha noticed that Sonya had fallen asleep, her curly head resting on her arms. She had drifted off peacefully while the others were searching for the kopeck. Anya led her away to their mother's bed.
Five minutes later mamma's bed presents a curious spectacle. Sonya is asleep. Alyosha is snoring beside her... Near them lie the kopecks, that have lost their power till the next game. Good night!
Soon all the children had made their way to their mother's bed. Sonya continued sleeping peacefully while Alyosha snored beside her. Grisha and Anya lay with their heads to the others' feet, and even Andrey, the cook's son, had managed to find a spot among them. Nearby lay the kopecks, temporarily stripped of their power until the next game.