"Chick’s Childhood" by Fazil Iskander, summary

Fazil Iskander wrote a series of stories and short stories about the thirteen-year-old boy Chika from 1971 to 2000. This book is a psychological epic about a child’s coming of age in pre-war Abkhazia, in the seaside town of Mukhus. The narrative conveys the precise nature of a child’s perception of the world, subtle self-irony, and the moral development of the hero as he grapples with the complex laws of human relationships.

The works about Chika brought the author nationwide fame and form part of his unified artistic universe, along with the novel "Sandro from Chegem." Based on these stories, a feature film, "Stories about Chika," was made in 1991.

Nighttime conversations and a trip to buy mastic

In the story "Night and Day of Chika," the protagonist spends the night at his grandmother’s house, looking after the demented Uncle Kolya. Jason, a thief, also spends the night with them. The thief tells the boy about a burglary and how he wounded the apartment owner. Chika is struck by the mundane cynicism of the crime. In the morning, he assembles the yard crew: Onik, the son of the Rich Tailor; Sonya, the daughter of the Poor Dressmaker; Nika, the daughter of the arrested dancer Pata Patarai; and Lesik, a lame and stuttering man.

The boys head up the mountain to collect pine resin (mastic), avoiding the dangerous red-haired brothers. Along the way, the friends boil the resin, strain it through a handkerchief, and mix it with sarsaparilla berry membranes to blow bubbles. On the way back, Chick duels the hooligan Bocho, outsmarting him and giving him a black eye.

Sea trips and Chick’s tricks

In the story "Tea Party and Love for the Sea," Aunt Chika welcomes her new neighbor, Evgenia Alexandrovna, and treats her to tea with peaches. Chika desperately wants to go to the seaside, but knows Auntie won’t let him. To gain permission, he provokes the crazy Uncle Kolya, and Auntie herself asks Chika to go ashore with Uncle Kolya to calm him down.

At sea, Chick recalls his mussel dives and the incident with the drowned youth, which inspired him to reflect on the fragility of human life. He manages to safely spend the day on the shore with his uncle and friends.

City Animals and Grandpa’s Authority

The plot of "Animals in the City" describes the arrival of an old man from the village of Chegem with a cow and a horse. Chick learns to ride and gives rides to all the children in the neighborhood. A local bully, Kaban, climbs onto the horse backwards and pulls its tail. The old man returns, whipping Kaban and teaching him respect.

Later, Chik is grazing a cow near the Government House building when he is detained by a police officer. At the police station, Chik and Uncle Kolya are rescued by an Abkhazian police officer they know. Later, the cow is driven back to the village after a run-in with a crazy guy with an axe.

School tricks and Pushkin’s poetry

In the story "Chick’s Defense," Russian language teacher Akakiy Makedonovich, nicknamed Zakidonovich, writes a grammar rule in verse. Chick notices a logical inconsistency in the line about the "sunny country" and ridicules it. The enraged teacher demands to see his parents. Unable to mention this at home, Chick brings the crazy Uncle Kolya to school, having first dressed him in his father’s jacket and given him lemonade. Chick assures the teacher that Uncle Kolya is hard of hearing. The teacher walks with Uncle Kolya on the veranda, reads him his poems, and is pleased.

In the chapter "Chick and Pushkin," teacher Alexandra Ivanovna reads "The Captain’s Daughter" to the class. Later, actor Yevgeny Dmitrievich Levkoyev organizes a drama club based on "The Tale of the Priest and His Workman Balda." Chik is initially cast as Balda, but due to his poor knowledge of the text, the role is given to a village boy, Zhora Kurkulia, while Chik is cast as the horse’s hind legs.

During the performance, the children’s cardboard boxes are removed, and the entire audience sees Chik. He feels ashamed in front of his aunt, but the support of his teacher, Alexandra Ivanovna, restores his peace of mind. Later, his friend Seva shows Chik the cover of a notebook containing Pushkin’s poem "The Song of the Prophetic Oleg," claiming that it contains the signs of saboteurs. Chik begins searching for the code, but becomes engrossed in the poems and discovers the power of poetry.

The Secret of the Tossed Coin and the Gifts of the Sea

In the story "Chick Knew Where the Dog Was Buried," the hero has a dream in which an old woman reveals a secret: a tossed coin most often lands on the same side it rested on his finger before he tossed it. Chick tests this principle in the garden with his dog Belka and begins winning money from Anesti, Slavik, and the brothers nicknamed Grob da Lopata.

To explain his success, he concocts a legend about dogs buried underground in certain places. However, while playing a game with a wealthy butcher’s son, Chick gets carried away and loses all his money back.

Animal protection and dog rescue

In the story "Chick and the White Hen," Chick’s mother asks him to slaughter a white bird. Chick feels sorry for the snow-white creature, pretends the knife is dull, and refuses. His mother slaughters the chicken herself and sighs at his kindheartedness. Rumors spread around the school that Chick was frightened.

Chik is teased by his red-haired brothers. Chik goes to the sea, where for five rubles he retrieves a foreign-made waterproof watch from the seabed for a visiting man. On shore, he gets into a fight with the bully and defeats him, restoring his self-respect.

In the story "Chick’s Terrible Revenge," the hero decides to free stray dogs from a cruel dog catcher’s rickety cart. Chick paints a clothesline red, ties an iron hook to it, and practices in the garden. Outside, he throws a noose over a picket fence, hooks the hook into the cart’s lock, and the moving cart rips out the door. The dogs escape. The dog catcher, hearing the noise, arrives and tries to take Chick to prison, but his aunt throws pots of geraniums at him, and Uncle Riza pays off the sadist with a thirty-ruble note.

A football match and night secrets

In the story "Chick the Playing Judge," the hero both referees and plays in a street-versus-street match. While defending his team’s goal, he faces unfair challenges from the players and eventually throws down his whistle, leaving to watch the ants with Onik.

In the story "Chick and the Sleepwalker," the hero and Bocho set off at night to a two-story house on the Besledka River, where, rumor has it, spies lure military sleepwalkers from a sanatorium with a music box. Having climbed a tree, Chick discovers a drama theater actor on a nearby branch. It turns out there’s no secret spy: the actress has cheated on her lover with a football player nicknamed Funduk, who is making his way to her across the roof.

Chick on the hunt

In the chapter "Chick on the Hunt," the hero sets out with a bow, arrows, and his dog, Belka, to hunt quail. Along the way, he rides in a phaeton and overhears the passengers’ conversations.

At a hunting meadow, he encounters two town marksmen and then meets an old Abkhaz hunter, Badra. The old man tells him about the intricacies of hawk hunting and shares a parable about the peasant Mikha and his faithful raven. At the end of the day, Chik brings down a wild pigeon with a well-aimed bow, proving his hunting prowess.

Lessons in village etiquette

In the final story, "Chick Honors Customs," the hero’s mother teaches him the rules of politeness before traveling to Chegem to visit his grandfather. She explains that a guest must refuse a treat three times before sitting down at the table.

Chik sets off for Chegem, but due to his strict adherence to his mother’s rules, he misses out on lunch at the Big House, as his portion is eaten by an insolent red-haired boy. Hungry, Chik goes to Uncle Sandro’s, where he refuses food out of politeness, and Uncle Sandro stops inviting him and tells him the story of how he dealt with a goat-stealing abrek.

Finally, Chik comes to the slovenly Aunt Masha, where he’s fed a hearty meal of mamalyga with fried smoked meat and buffalo matsoni. Returning to the Big House, Chik is rewarded with homemade churchkhela from Aunt Nutsa and realizes that real life is more complex than any set rules.