The Post (Chekhov)
Short summary
A small Russian town, late 19th century. A student received permission to travel in a mail cart to the station, though it was against regulations. The postman Ignatyev reluctantly allowed him to join the night journey.
As they traveled through the night, the student attempted friendly conversation, discussing astronomy and the changing seasons. The journey became perilous when the horses bolted in a forest, throwing the postman and some luggage from the cart. After recovering, they continued their journey in tense silence.
The student tried again to engage the postman, asking about his experiences delivering mail for eleven years. The postman responded with hostility, demanding silence. As dawn broke, the student's initial cheerfulness faded into the same cold melancholy that seemed to affect the postman. They eventually reached the station, where the student drank tea while waiting for his train.
The postman, with his hands thrust up his sleeves and the same look of anger still on his face, paced up and down the platform in solitude, staring at the ground under his feet. With whom was he angry? Was it with people, with poverty, with the autumn nights?
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Preparations at the post office
At three o'clock in the night, the post office was preparing for the mail delivery. The postman stood by the door ready to depart, wearing his cap and coat, holding a rusty sword. He waited for the driver to finish loading mail bags into the cart that had just arrived with three horses.
The sleepy postmaster sat at his table filling out a form. He informed the postman that his nephew, a student, needed to go to the station and asked if he could travel in the mail cart. Though it was against regulations to take passengers with the mail, the postmaster reasoned it was better than hiring separate horses.
When they heard a shout from the yard indicating readiness, the postmaster sent them off with his blessing. The driver was Semyon Glazov. After signing the receipt, the postman went outside where the student was waiting with his portmanteau.
The night journey begins
The student climbed into the cart after the postman, accidentally touching him with his elbow and politely apologizing. The postmaster came out in his waistcoat and slippers to see them off, asking the postman to deliver a parcel to Bystretsov and sending his love to the student's mother and family.
The driver took the reins, arranged his seat, and clicked to the horses. The cart moved off with the bells ringing, rumbling along the dusty road. The town was asleep, with houses and trees standing black against the street. No lights were visible. The sky was filled with stars and a narrow crescent moon, but they provided little illumination in the cold, damp autumn night.
The student, who thought that politeness required him to talk affably to a man who had not refused to let him accompany him, began: 'In summer it would be light at this time, but now there is not even a sign of the dawn. Summer is over!'
The student looked at the sky and pointed out the constellation of Orion, explaining that in their hemisphere it only becomes visible in September. The postman showed no interest in this astronomical observation, remaining motionless and not looking at the stars. When the student asked about the time of sunrise, the driver answered it was between five and six.
The postman, thrusting his hands into his sleeves and retreating up to his ears into his coat collar, did not stir and did not glance at the sky. Apparently the constellation of Orion did not interest him. He was accustomed to see the stars.
As they left the town, the darkness deepened. The dampness increased, causing the postman to shrink further into his collar and the student to feel an unpleasant chill spreading from his feet to his face. The horses slowed, and the bell fell silent as if frozen. They could hear water splashing and see stars reflected in it under the horses' feet.
The terrifying forest accident
Ten minutes later, the mail cart entered a forest where it became so dark that neither stars nor moon were visible. Pine branches struck the student's cap and a spider's web settled on his face. The wheels and hoofs knocked against large roots, causing the cart to sway from side to side.
The postman angrily told the driver to keep to the road, complaining that his face was being scratched by twigs. Suddenly, disaster struck. The cart bounded violently, trembling and lurching heavily from side to side before dashing at a fearful pace along the forest track. The horses had taken fright at something and bolted.
The cart suddenly bounded as though in the throes of a convulsion, began trembling, and, with a creak, lurched heavily first to the right and then to the left, and at a fearful pace dashed along the forest track. The horses had taken fright at something.
The driver cried out in alarm, trying to stop the horses. The student was violently shaken, attempting to hold onto something to maintain balance. Through the noise, they heard the sword fall with a clank, followed by two heavy thuds as something else fell behind the cart. The student was thrown forward, bruising his forehead, then backward, injuring his spine.
Finally, the horses burst from the forest into the open, turned sharply right, rumbled over a bridge of logs, and stopped suddenly. The abrupt halt threw the student forward again. They discovered the postman was no longer in the cart - he had been thrown out along with his sword, the student's portmanteau, and one of the mail bags.
The postmans silent anger
From the forest, they heard the postman shouting in pain and fury. He ran up to the cart, tearfully cursing the driver and shaking his fist at him. The driver, speaking in a conscience-stricken voice, blamed the tracehorse, explaining that she had only been running in harness for a week and needed discipline.
While the driver searched for the fallen items and set the horses right, the postman continued to angrily curse. After replacing the luggage, the driver led the horses a short distance, complained about the tracehorse again, and jumped back onto the box.
Once his fright subsided, the student felt amused by the adventure. He lit a cigarette and laughingly remarked that they could have broken their necks, adding that he had barely noticed the postman being thrown out. He asked if driving in autumn was always this exciting, but the postman remained silent.
When the student learned that the postman had been carrying the mail for eleven years, he became curious about what adventures the man must have experienced during that time. He imagined the postman facing snowstorms, getting stuck in mud, or being attacked by highwaymen.
Making the journey every day, he must have had a good many interesting adventures in eleven years. On bright summer and gloomy autumn nights, or in winter when a ferocious snowstorm whirled howling round the mail cart, it must have been hard to avoid feeling frightened.
Arrival at the station
As dawn approached, the student could see the postman's face clearly. It was wet with dew, grey and rigid like a corpse, with an expression of dull, sullen anger. When the student commented on the cold night and asked how soon they would reach the station, the postman frowned and snapped at him for talking too much.
The student, confused by this rebuke, remained silent for the rest of the journey. Morning came rapidly, but the sun rose dim, drowsy, and cold. The chill remained, and there was no joy in the flight of sleepy birds or warmth in the sunbeams.
Passing a mansion with curtained windows, the student imagined people sleeping soundly inside, unaware of the cold or the postman's angry face. He thought of a young lady who, if awakened by the bell, would simply turn over and go back to sleep more soundly.
The burden of eleven years of postal service
Unexpectedly, the postman broke his silence. He stated firmly that taking anyone with the post was against regulations. Though it made no difference to him personally, he did not like it and did not wish it. When the student asked why he hadn't said so earlier, the postman gave no answer but maintained his unfriendly, angry expression.
"It's against the regulations to take anyone with the post..." the postman said unexpectedly. "It's not allowed! And since it is not allowed, people have no business... to get in... Yes. It makes no difference to me, it's true, only I don't like it."
When they finally arrived at the station, the mail train had not yet come in. A long goods train stood in a siding, with the engine driver and his assistant drinking tea from a dirty tin teapot. The student went to the buffet for tea while the postman paced the platform alone, staring at the ground.
The story ends with a question: With whom was the postman angry? Was it with people, with poverty, or with the autumn nights?