My First Goose

My First Goose Summary | Detailed Summary

When the story begins, a young man walks into the office of Savitsky, the commander of the Sixth Division, with orders assigning him to divisional staff. When the young man enters, Savitsky rises from the desk, where he had been working, to greet him. Savitsky has just finished writing an order for Ivan Chesnokov to advance with his regiment to Chugunov-Dobryvodka and immediately destroy the enemy as soon as they are encountered. After he had signed the order, he added an incentive: failure to fulfill the order will result in Chesnokov's death.

With that formality completed, Savitsky turns his attention to the young man. When the young man hands him the document that officially assigns him to the commander's staff, Savitsky asks him if he is able to read and write. When the young man replies that he graduated with a law degree from the University of Petersburg, Savitsky calls him a powder-puff and ridicules him for wearing glasses. Savitsky continues to berate the young man, and warns him that he will be "hacked to pieces" merely because of the fact that he wears glasses. Finally, Savitsky asks the young man if he thinks he will be able to live among the men of the division. Indicating that be believes he can, the young man leaves with the quartermaster in search of a place to stay.

Eventually, the quartermaster stops outside a hut. Before entering, he tells the young man that the entire company has "a thing" about spectacles and will harass any man wearing them. In fact, he adds, the only way to win the respect of the others is to ruin "the most cleanest lady." Seeming momentarily ill at ease, the quartermaster breaks away from the young man and rushes into the nearest courtyard, where a group of Cossacks are sitting on bundles of hay, shaving each other.

The quartermaster informs the Cossacks that Comrade Savitsky has issued an order for the young man to lodge with them. When the quartermaster leaves, he warns them that they should not harass the young man, for he has already waged his battles "on the fields of learning."

The quartermaster leaves and the young man, in an effort to ingratiate himself with the fighters, raises his hand in a salute. In response, one of the Cossacks picks up the young man's suitcase and throws it into the street. That finished, he turns his back to the young man and, to the delight of the other Cossacks, passes gas.

The young man attempts to gather his belongings before retreating to the other side of the courtyard. He sees a large pot in which pork is boiling and is overcome with a sense of loneliness. He covers his suitcase with hay and lies down to read Lenin's speech at the Second Congress of the Comintern. While he tries to read, his concentration is repeatedly broken by the Cossacks, who have not relented in their efforts to ridicule him. Frustrated and hungry, the young man makes his way into the home of the landlady and asks her to make him a meal. When the woman refuses, the young man becomes exasperated and, in a fit of rage, kills a goose that was waddling though the yard. Pointing to the now-dead goose, he once again asks the woman to cook for him and this time, she does not refuse him.

Meanwhile, having witnessed the slaughtering of the goose, the Cossacks are now gathered around their fire, eating cabbage soup. The young man cleans the saber he had used to kill the goose, and then walks around the courtyard, feeling remorseful for what he has done. Finally, one of the Cossacks calls out to the young man and invites him to join them around the fire, telling him that he can share some of their soup while he is waiting for his goose to be ready.

The young man sits, and the Cossack, who just a few hours earlier had thrown his suitcase into the street, asks him to tell them what is being written in the newspapers. The young man tells the fighters that Lenin believes there is a shortage of everything. To further make his point, the young man reads Lenin's speech to the Cossacks. When he finishes, Surokov, the squadron commander, comments that Lenin seems to have good insight.

That night, the young man sleeps securely among his new comrades, and although he dreams of woman, his heart is heavy in the knowledge of what he has done.