War and Peace Ch. 139: Uncle's Musical Evening

Summary

Toward evening they are so far from Otrádnoe that Nicholas accepts Uncle's offer to spend the night in the little village of Mikháylovna. A huntsman is sent home for a trap. At Uncle's wooden house serfs rush the porch; women stare at Natásha on horseback as if she were a prodigy, remarking on her sideways seat, hunting horn, and knife. Uncle shouts the superfluous away, lifts Natásha down, and leads them through rooms smelling of apples, wolf skins, tobacco, and dogs. Muddy Rugáy lies on the sofa. Pétya falls asleep at once. Brother and sister, hungry and glowing, wink and burst into ringing laughter now that the hunt's manly distance is over.

Uncle returns in a Cossack coat and offers pipes. Housekeeper Anísya Fëdorovna, stout, rosy, and light-footed, loads the table with herb wine, vodka, pickled mushrooms, buttermilk rye cakes, honey, mead, apples, nuts, chicken, ham, and preserves, all the fruit of her housekeeping. After supper Uncle, answering a thought in their minds, says this is how he is finishing his days: death will come, so why harm anyone? The province calls him the most honourable of cranks, yet he refuses public posts for hunting and his overgrown garden. Mítka the coachman plays My Lady on the balaláyka until Uncle takes a dusty guitar, winks at Anísya, and plays Came a maiden down the street. Natásha hugs him, throws off her shawl, and dances the pas de châle with instinct no French governess taught. Anísya weeps while she laughs. Uncle cries that a fine young fellow must be found; Nicholas smiles that he is chosen already. Natásha nods, then fears for a breath that Bolkónski would not understand this gaiety, and puts the thought away.

After nine, traps from anxious parents arrive. Uncle wraps Natásha with a new tenderness and walks them to the uncrossable bridge. Riding home in the damp dark she sings his hunting song, invents Fairyland instead of Otrádnoe, praises how well Anísya carried herself, and tells Nicholas she will never be so happy and tranquil again. He thinks they might always drive about together. Lamps still burn in the drawing room.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Allowing Unscripted Joy

Plenty without pretense can show what your usual rooms withhold. Natasha eats Anisya's feast, corrects Nicholas's cool praise, dances, then says she will never be this happy again.

Give one hour permission to be delicious without translating it into career language.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Uncle

Uncle says death will come, so why harm anyone, and the province calls him the most honourable of cranks because he refused public posts for hunting and a garden. When Natasha strikes the dance he expected, the house is enough. He is not offering a lesson: he is living without a rank that would explain him.

Continue this thoughtPeace Is Not a Crown

Coming Up in Chapter 140

Count Ilya Rostov has resigned as Marshal of the Nobility because it costs too much, yet his affairs still do not improve. Natasha and Nicholas often notice their parents conferring anxiously and privately, and hear talk of selling the fine ancestral Rostov house and estate near Moscow. Life at Otradnoe is quieter, but more than twenty still sit down to table every day.

PreviousPrevious Chapter NextNext Chapter

Original text

3,246 wordscomplete

Chapter 139

Uncle's Musical Evening

Toward evening Ilágin took leave of Nicholas, who found that they were so far from home that he accepted “Uncle’s” offer that the hunting party should spend the night in his little village of Mikháylovna. “And if you put up at my house that will be better still. That’s it, come on!” said “Uncle.” “You see it’s damp weather, and you could rest, and the little countess could be driven home in a trap.” “Uncle’s” offer was accepted. A huntsman was sent to Otrádnoe for a trap, while Nicholas rode with Natásha and Pétya to “Uncle’s” house. Some five male…

Public-domain chapter text, formatted for reading.

Master this chapter. Complete your experience

Purchase the complete book to access all chapters and support classic literature

Buy atAmazon.com

Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats

Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy

Also by Leo Tolstoy

The Idiot

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Explores love & romance

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

Victor Hugo

Explores love & romance

Moby-Dick

Herman Melville

Explores mortality & legacy

Power & Corruption Love & Relationships Identity & Self-Discovery

Lessons from War and Peace

Theme-by-theme analyses that connect this book to modern life skills.

Deep diving the literary elements.

Uncle's Musical Evening

Summary

Why This Matters