About the product
Gogol wrote the mystical story “Viy” at the end of 1834. The work was included in the writer’s collection “Mirgorod” (1835). The story combines romanticism and realism, fantasy and reality.
The work is based on folk legends and has many folklore elements, for example the technique of threefold repetition. Viy himself in Slavic mythology is a character from the underworld with a deadly look.
On our website you can read online a summary of “Viy” chapter by chapter. The presented retelling is suitable for a reader's diary, preparation for a literature lesson.
The material was prepared jointly with the highest category teacher Lyubov Alexandrovna Koroshchup.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 30 years.
Summary of the story “Viy”
Students of the Bratsky Monastery have a significant event - the beginning of the holidays. The students are sent to their homes and farms. From Kyiv itself, students come in a friendly crowd - grammarians, theologians, philosophers. Each of them carried a bag containing onuchi and only one shirt. They walked along the road, earning a living by singing church chants. As they progressed, the students' paths diverged.
So three students turned off the high road - the theologian Khalyava, the philosopher Khoma Brut and the rhetorician Gorobets. They decided to get hold of food somewhere, since their supplies were already running out.
It was getting dark, and the students got lost in the darkness. They found themselves in an unfamiliar farm. An old woman came out to meet them. She was distrustful of theologians and philosophers, considered them drunkards, and did not want to let them in for the night. The lost travelers persuaded the hostess to let them in to spend the night. She agreed with one agreement - they would sleep in different places.
The philosopher settled in an empty sheep barn. Already falling asleep, he suddenly saw that the old woman came to him. Spreading her arms, she began to catch and grab him. Khoma noticed a strange sparkle in her eyes, and he felt scared. The guy felt that his body was numb. At one point, the old woman found herself on the philosopher’s shoulders and began to urge him on with a broom. He rushed off like a racing horse, feeling that his legs were moving against his will. Forests, fields, sky - everything flashed before his eyes.
The philosopher realized that a witch had “saddled” him and began to read spells and prayers. This had an effect on the old woman, she began to weaken. Having contrived, Khoma freed himself from under her and climbed onto her back, chasing her with blows of the log. The witch let out moans and suddenly fell to the ground, completely exhausted. Dawn broke, and instead of the vile old woman, the philosopher saw that a young beauty was lying on the ground in front of him. The guy trembled and took off running. He did not go to the farms, but returned to Kyiv.
News spread throughout the area that someone had killed the daughter of a rich centurion at night. Dying, she asked that the funeral service for her be read by the Kiev student Khoma Brut for three days. The rector informed the students about this.
The crew, accompanied by six hefty Cossacks, came straight to the seminary for Khoma. Having taken the guy, the Cossacks took him to the father of the deceased lady. The centurion was in great sadness. He began to ask the philosopher how he knew his daughter, and for what reason she chose Khoma for the funeral service. The philosopher denied that he had ever known the lady. The centurion took the guy to the deceased, and Khoma, to his horror, recognized the deceased as the girl whom he had beaten with a log at night.
At dinner, the Cossacks told strange stories about the lady, confirming that the girl knew evil spirits. In the evening, the student was taken to the church, where the coffin of the deceased was located. It seemed to Khoma that, through closed eyelids, the lady was watching him. Suddenly he saw that the witch stood up from the coffin. With her eyes closed, she walked towards him.
Khoma quickly drew a circle around himself and began to chant spells for protection from evil spirits. The circle protected the guy from evil spirits, and the witch was unable to penetrate inside him. Then the lady lay down in the coffin again. And the coffin, rising into the air, began circling around the church, but to no avail. Pannochka could not get into the circle.
Bursak heard the crow of a rooster, after which the horrors stopped - the green corpse lay down in the coffin, and it closed. During the day, Khoma tried to relieve tension. He drank vodka and walked around the farmsteads. As soon as the evening approached, the philosopher’s mood deteriorated greatly.
So he was again taken to the deceased and locked in the church. This time, the philosopher immediately drew a circle around himself. While reading prayers, he suddenly saw the lady standing at the very edge. The witch made incomprehensible sounds. Khoma realized that she was casting spells. Something began to bang on the church windows, trying to break inside. Then a rooster crowed and everything became quiet. Those who came for Khoma found the student exhausted and completely gray. Khoma went to the centurion with a request to complete the funeral service, but the lady’s father did not want to hear anything about it.
On the third night, the student again drew a circle and began to read prayers. The silence was broken by the sound of the coffin lid bursting. Pannochka began to cast spells. The wind raged in the church and tore the doors and icons from the walls. The church was filled with crowds of terrible monsters. Pannochka began to call Viya, and soon a stocky and short creature appeared in the church. He had long eyelids, and he ordered the eyelids to be raised. Something inside Khoma told the student not to look at Viy. The guy couldn't stand it and looked. Then Viy saw Khoma and, shouting that he had found him, pointed his iron finger at the unfortunate man. The evil spirit immediately rushed at the student, and Khoma gave up the ghost from horror.
You could hear the rooster crow, but this was already his second cry. The first cry was not heard by the evil spirits, who began to run away, but none of them could leave the church. So the church stands, overflowing with monsters. No one will find her anymore, all the paths to her are overgrown with weeds.
Two of Khoma’s comrades, Gorobets and Khalyava, remembered his soul in the tavern. Gorobets said that Khoma died because he was afraid of the witch. If he had spat on the witch's tail, nothing would have happened to him. He knows this for sure, in Kyiv all the market women are witches.
Summary
The most solemn event for the Kyiv seminary were vacancies (vacations), when all seminarians were sent home. The students walked in a crowd along the road, gradually scattering to the sides. Once, “during such a journey, three students” - the theologian Khalyava, the philosopher Khoma Brut and the rhetorician Tiberius Gorobets decided on the way to stop at the nearest farm to stock up on provisions. The old woman let the seminarians in and placed them separately.
The philosopher Khoma was about to go to bed when his hostess came in to see him. Her eyes glowed with “some extraordinary brilliance.” Khoma realized that he could not move. The old woman jumped on the philosopher’s back, “hit him on the side with a broom, and he, jumping like a saddle horse, carried her on his shoulders.” Khoma realized that the old woman was a witch, and began to read prayers and spells against the spirits. When the old woman became weak, he jumped out from under her, jumped on her back and began hitting her with a log. The witch screamed, gradually weakened and fell to the ground. It was beginning to get light, and the philosopher saw a beauty in front of him instead of a witch. “Khoma trembled like a tree leaf” and started running at full speed to Kyiv.
Rumors spread that the daughter of a rich centurion returned home all beaten and before her death “expressed a desire that the funeral service and prayers for her” would be read by Kiev seminarian Khoma Brut for three days. A carriage and six Cossacks were sent straight to the seminary to fetch the philosopher. Upon arrival, Khoma was immediately taken to the centurion. To the master's questions, the philosopher replied that he did not know either his daughter or the reasons for her will. The centurion showed the philosopher the deceased. Brutus, to his horror, realized that this “was the same witch whom he had killed.”
After dinner, Khoma was taken to the church, where there was a coffin with the deceased, and the doors were locked behind Brutus. It seemed to the philosopher as if the lady was “looking at him with closed eyes.” Suddenly the dead woman raised her head, then came out of the coffin and, with her eyes closed, followed the philosopher. In fear, Khoma drew a circle around himself and began to read prayers and spells against evil spirits. Pannochka was unable to step over the circle and lay back in the coffin. Suddenly the coffin rose and began to fly around the church, but even so the witch did not cross the outlined circle. “The coffin crashed in the middle of the church,” a “blue, green” corpse rose from it, but then a rooster was heard crowing. The corpse sank into the coffin and the coffin slammed shut.
Returning to the settlement, Khoma went to bed and after dinner “was completely in good spirits.” “But the closer it got to evening, the more thoughtful the philosopher became” - “fear flared up in him.”
At night, Khoma was taken to church again. The philosopher immediately drew a circle around himself and began to read. An hour later, he looked up and saw that “the corpse was already standing in front of him on the very line.” The deceased began to utter some terrible words - the philosopher realized that “she was casting spells.” The wind blew through the church, and something hit the glass of the church windows and tried to get inside. Finally, a rooster crowed in the distance and everything stopped.
Those who came in to replace the philosopher found him barely alive - during the night Khoma had turned all gray. Brutus asked the centurion for permission not to go to church on the third night, but the master threatened him and ordered him to continue.
Arriving at the church, the philosopher again drew a circle and began to read prayers. Suddenly, in silence, the iron lid of the coffin burst with a crash. The deceased stood up and began to read spells. “A whirlwind rose through the church, icons fell to the ground,” the doors were torn off their hinges, and “an untold force of monsters” flew into the church. At the witch’s call, a “squat, hefty, club-footed man,” covered in black earth and with an iron face, entered the church. His long eyelids were lowered to the ground. Viy said: “Lift my eyelids: I don’t see!” An inner voice whispered to the philosopher not to look, but Khoma looked. Viy immediately shouted: “Here he is!” and pointed at the philosopher with an iron finger. All the evil spirits rushed at Brutus. “He fell to the ground lifeless, and the spirit immediately flew out of him out of fear.”
A second rooster crow was heard - the evil spirits listened to the first. The spirits started to run away, but could not get out. “So the church remained forever with monsters stuck in the doors and windows,” overgrown with forest and weeds, “and now no one will find the way to it.”
Rumors about what happened reached Kyiv. Freebie and Gorobets went to remember Khoma’s soul in the tavern. During the conversation, Gorobets said that Khoma disappeared “because he was afraid.”
Summary of “Viy”
The most long-awaited event for the seminary is vacancies, when bursaks (official seminarians) go home. In groups they head from Kyiv along the high road, earning their living by singing spiritual songs to wealthy villages.
Three students: the theologian Khalyava, the philosopher Khoma Brut and the rhetorician Tiberius Gorobets, having lost their way in the night, go to the farm. The old housewife allows the students to spend the night on the condition that she will put everyone in different places. Khoma Brut is about to fall asleep dead in the empty sheep barn, when suddenly an old woman enters. With sparkling eyes, she catches Khoma and jumps onto his shoulders. “Hey, it’s a witch,” the student guesses, but he’s already rushing over the ground, sweat rolling off him like a hail. He begins to remember all the prayers and feels that the witch is weakening. With the speed of lightning, Khoma manages to jump out from under the old woman, jumps on her back, picks up the log and begins to woo the witch. Wild screams are heard, the old woman falls exhausted to the ground - and now a young beauty lies in front of Khoma with her last groans. In fear, the student starts to run at full speed and returns to Kyiv.
The rector calls Khomu to him and orders him to go to a distant farm to the richest centurion - to read funeral prayers for his daughter, who returned from a walk beaten. The lady's dying wish: seminarian Khoma Brut must read the funeral service for her for three nights. To prevent him from running away along the road, a wagon and six healthy Cossacks were sent. When the student is brought in, the centurion asks him where he met his daughter. But Khoma himself doesn’t know this. When they lead him to the coffin, he recognizes the very same witch in the lady.
At dinner, the student listens to the Kozaks' stories about the tricks of the witch lady. By nightfall he is locked in the church where the coffin stands. Khoma goes to the choir and begins to read prayers. The witch rises from the coffin, but stumbles upon the circle outlined by Khoma around herself. She returns to the coffin and flies around the church in it, but loud prayers and a circle protect Khoma. The coffin falls, the green corpse rises from it, but the distant cry of a rooster is heard. The witch falls into the coffin and its lid slams shut.
During the day, the student sleeps, drinks vodka, wanders around the village, and in the evening he becomes more and more thoughtful. He is taken to church again. He draws a life preserver, reads loudly and raises his head. The corpse is already standing nearby, staring at it with dead, green eyes. The wind carries terrible words of witch spells through the church, countless evil spirits are breaking through the doors. The crow of the rooster again stops the demonic action. Khoma, who has turned gray, is found in the morning, barely alive. He asks the centurion to let him go, but he threatens him with terrible punishment for disobedience. Khoma tries to escape, but he is caught.
The silence of the third hellish night inside the church explodes with the crack of the iron coffin lid. The witch's teeth chatter, spells scream, doors are torn off their hinges, and the untold power of monsters fills the room with the noise of wings and the scratching of claws. Khoma is already singing prayers with all her strength. “Bring Viy!” - the witch screams. A squat, clubfooted monster with an iron face, the leader of evil spirits, enters the church with heavy steps. He orders his eyelids to be lifted. "Don't look!" - Khoma hears the inner voice, but cannot resist looking. "Here he is!" - Viy points at him with an iron finger. An evil spirit rushes at the philosopher, and the spirit flies out of him. This is the second time the rooster crows, the first time the spirits listened. They rush away, but don't make it in time. So the church remains forever standing with monsters stuck in the doors and windows, overgrown with weeds, and no one will now find a way to it.
Having learned about Khoma’s fate, Tiberiy Gorobets and Khalyava commemorate his soul in Kyiv, concluding after the third mug: the philosopher disappeared because he was afraid.
