Vanka, debates and letters

Vanka. In Anton Chekhov's story, Vanka Zhukov, a nine-year-old orphan, has been sent to Alyakhin the shoemaker to learn the trade. On Christmas Eve he does not go to bed: he stays up to write to his grandfather, Konstantin Makarich, a night watchman. (The book's question (a) says he 'went to bed early'. That is a slip: he stayed up writing.)

What the letter says. Yesterday he was beaten for falling asleep while rocking the baby's cradle. Another day the mistress rubbed a fish in his face because he did not know how to clean it. He gets bread and porridge, sleeps in the corridor, and writes, 'They are always beating me.' He begs to be taken home: he will grind his grandfather's snuff (powdered tobacco, sniffed through the nose), pray for him, clean boots or work as a shepherd boy.

What he remembers. His lively grandfather and the dogs Brownie and Eel; and, next to his grandfather, the kind young mistress Olga. His mother had been Olga's maid, and Olga gave him sweets and played with him. He asks his grandfather to get him a golden walnut from the Christmas tree at the big house, and to tell Olga it is for Vanka.

The address. He writes only 'To Grandfather in the Village', and adds his grandfather's name. Then he posts it and falls asleep full of hope, dreaming of his grandfather reading the letter aloud. Sadly, it can never arrive. A real address needs a name, house number, street or area, town, district, state and PIN code. Lencho's letter to God had the same problem, but a kind postmaster answered it.