Saint John’s Eve and A May Night, or the Drowned Maiden, stories from Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, which is contained in The Complete Tales of Nikolai Gogol, Vol. 1.
All three of Gogol’s stories so far have contained the devil in human form. It seems that Gogol’s mother warned him repeatedly about the evil one’s devilish schemes. I think the stories must have scared him to death when he was a youngster! They definitely had an impact on his imagination.
“Saint John’s Eve” is decidedly creepier than the “The Fair at Sorochintsy,” which was the first story in Evenings. Boy loves girl and uses the devil to obtain her. What the devil requires as payment is a heavy price to pay, but when the deed is done, boy doesn’t remember what he did to obtain girl. After they marry, he knows there is something he should remember, and he is obsessed with trying to figure out what it is and doesn’t even enjoy life with his wife. Does he ever remember? Read it and find out.
I didn’t like “A May Night, or the Drowned Maiden” as well as the first two. I had a little bit of a hard time following the story, and it was also longer than the other two. It is another tale of boy wants girl, but in this one, the father of the boy also wants the girl. Once again, the devil plays into it, as well as a witch with drowned maidens in a pond by a haunted cabin. This story wasn’t that scary, and it even had some funny parts in it.
These works sort of remind me of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories. I would still say Poe’s are better (at least so far), but I’m really glad I’m reading these for the RIP challenge.
After the Chunkster Challenge, I found out that I won the grand prize–2 books, a mug, and some bookmarks. I received all of them quickly and in great condition, and can you believe I never thanked 
