Vladimir Korolenko’s "The Tsar’s Coachmen," a summary

Vladimir Korolenko’s work, written between 1900 and 1901, recounts a harsh journey along the Siberian Lena River in the late nineteenth century. The essay captures the plight of the Lena River coachmen, marooned on the barren cliffs to maintain the state postal service. The historical accuracy of the description is combined with a profound psychological insight into the local inhabitants, whose existence is completely subordinated to grueling labor. The bitter irony lies in the fact that the formal omission of a single word in the travel document transforms the travelers’ journey into a series of constant encounters with people ravaged by poverty.

A difficult journey along the Lena

In the autumn of the 1880s, three travelers set off from Yakutsk to Irkutsk, covering a distance of approximately 3,200 kilometers. A dispute with the local police officer results in the receipt of an incorrectly issued travel document. The document stipulates the right to a free guide, but omits any mention of horses. The local literate people quickly recognize the authorities’ ruse, leading to grueling disputes at every post station. The travelers are physically unable to pay the enormous fees for travel, and progress is achieved at the cost of protracted morning and evening squabbles.

Cut off from the outside world, the Lena stations retain the way of life of centuries past. The state forces hereditary coachmen to serve for paltry wages. Occasionally, officials, couriers, and convoys of prisoners pass along the river. Farming on the bare rocks is impossible, so the life of the communities depends entirely on contracts under so-called "voluntary agreements." If the peasants refuse to work, postal service is interrupted. The authorities keep Russian peasants here, who are capable of meekly enduring beatings and the whims of their superiors.

Labor duties are distributed per capita, with each share tied to the upkeep of a horse. Disease or loss of livestock condemn families to a slow decline under the indifferent gaze of neighbors. Residents call their native river "the deadly crevice" and sincerely believe that the earth refuses to accept the bodies of cruel overlords. Under these circumstances, the appearance of travelers with dubious papers only arouses legitimate suspicion among the impoverished people that they are encroaching on their free labor.

Rebellion against fate and meeting Mikesha

At one of the stations, the coachmen hold the travelers for a whole day. The situation changes when they demonstratively write a letter to the town. The frightened village elder agrees to provide horses. A young man named Mikesha sets out on his journey, running alongside the stirrups. He watches, mesmerized, as the pen moves across the paper, seeing in this action a manifestation of a secret power. Society considers Mikesha "corrupted" for his refusal to manage the farm and his previous attempts to escape to the gold mines.

Mikesha eagerly questions his fellow travelers about distant cities, the Tsar, and the structure of the world. Among the dead rocks and government pillars, the young man maintains a naive belief in the existence of a "skinny god" who nonetheless attempts to govern earthly affairs. Along the way, the travelers encounter two vagabonds with predatory gazes begging for alms. Soon, a terrifying sight unfolds in the darkness of the night: the burning house of the Polish immigrant Ostrovsky.

Ostrovsky, exiled for his religious beliefs, toiled selflessly in the valley for several years. The locals hid from him the fact that early, cold winds annually ruined the harvest. Having lost his wife to scurvy, the exhausted peasant took his young daughter, burned all his belongings to the ground, and left for the mines. Mikesha sincerely admired this act, seeing it as a decisive break with the cursed place.

Confrontation at Titarinskaya Station

At the next station, history repeats itself, and the drivers again refuse to carry travelers. That evening, Ostrovsky arrives at the hut with his pale daughter, Anyuta. Overwhelmed by grief, he behaves defiantly and brazenly, demanding food and a boat from the frightened hosts. That night, a gathering gathers around the yurt. The drivers try to reason with the desperate man, using the authority of the elder, Yevstigney Prokopyevich.

The patriarch reproaches Ostrovsky for destroying property that could have gone to his neighbors and appeals to God. In response, the settler furiously strikes the coals with a poker and showers the old man with curses. He declares that for the sake of faith, he buried his wife in the frozen ground without a cross, and now he will not spare the property of others. Shocked by the man’s absolute fearlessness, the community retreats. The coachmen agree to give Ostrovsky an old boat with a sail and a sack of flour.

Mikesha, who had been observing the scene, is strengthened in his desire for freedom. He negotiates an exchange of boats with the old coachman Frol. Frol is a man with signs of degeneration and a dark past, having once gone mad with jealousy and kidnapped a merchant’s widow. The old man considers the young man insane and willingly takes his fine boat in exchange for his own heavy vessel. At this moment, a snow cloud — a khalan — showers off briefly, concealing the river, and after it passes, majestic basalt cliffs are revealed.

Escape into the night distance

Having yielded to Ostrovsky, the Titarin coachmen lose their will to resist and agree to carry the travelers by water. The journey continues in a wide boat, with Frol steering and Mikesha pulling the oars. The rowers must overcome a strong current, at times hauling the vessel out with a strap, waist-deep in icy water. On the shore, the travelers spot Ostrovsky, also towing his boat.

That evening, the boat moors at a campfire beneath the cliffs, where Ostrovsky is relaxing in the company of two wanderers from earlier. The settler assures them that no one will dare harm him, and he’s willing to slit their throats for his daughter. The drunken warlords mockingly shout after Mikesha as he swims away, calling him "greenhorn" and beckoning him to freedom. The travelers disappear into the darkness, continuing their journey along the quiet river.

Having reached the desired shore, Frol and Mikesha fill the deserted space with a long, booming cry, summoning their replacements from the station. Suddenly, the powerful roar of an approaching steamship comes from the darkness. Seizing the opportunity, Mikesha tosses Frol his belongings and quickly steers the boat toward the passing barge. The young man’s black shadow instantly disappears into the impenetrable Siberian night.

Two weeks later, the returning postman brings the travelers sad news. Downstream, starving vagabonds robbed a merchant and, after a raid, were driven into a cave. A young Titarin coachman was also arrested. Mikesha voluntarily confessed to his complicity, hoping to escape his centuries-long captivity through prison. Prison seemed the young man’s only chance to enlighten himself and leave the cursed rocks of the Lena River’s banks forever.