: The gymnasium teacher lives with one thought: promotion. He himself does not notice how gradually this obsession leads him to insanity. But it is still unknown whether there is someone crazy in this city of vices ...
Ardalon Borisych Peredonov is a literature teacher at the gymnasium of a small provincial town. He is an educated person (university candidate), an important one. Being wary and angry is a usual condition for Ardalon Borisych, he is always on his mind: well, how can you trust the vile envious people around you who are just waiting for the chance to set him up, ruin his career.
Peredonov marks the inspector, and not without reason: he assures all his friends that Princess Volchanskaya herself from Petersburg promised him a patronage. But there is one prerequisite: Peredonov must marry his roommate (and second cousin) Varvara Dmitrievna Maloshina - a rude, sloppy, vulgarly painted woman - who once served as a dressmaker with the princess. By the way, from Varvara Ardalion Borisych learned about the promise of the princess. This woman is obsessed with the idea of getting married to Peredonov, and he, in turn, is getting a job.
In order to strengthen and expedite Peredonov’s decision to marry her, Varvara concocts a small scam: with the help of her friend Grushina, she makes a fake letter in which she assures Ardalion Borisych on behalf of the princess that he will be provided with a seat and the sooner he marries Varvara, the sooner he will become an inspector . Peredonov, having received the letter, triumphs. The point is small: according to him, to get married for a short time.
The “future inspector” becomes important, talks about the letter in the homes of his friends, but it becomes even more suspicious: he is sure that the number of envious people is growing, and they are ready for anything to deprive him of his cherished dream and take his place. Peredonov takes precautions: he hides the writings of Pisarev so that he will not be mistaken for a radical or (even worse) communist, bypasses all major city officials in order to warn of enemy slander, a major conspiracy against him.
Having already completely entered the role of inspector, Peredonov considers it his duty to personally visit the parents of his pupils and report to them about the poor performance and unbearable behavior of their offspring. Usually Peredonov accuses the gymnasium students not of the case, only with a preventive purpose, and gets real pleasure if the parents believe and punish their children with him.
Meanwhile, Barbara remains unsatisfied due to the unchanged situation, she is angry, curses with the servant, gossips with Grushina. Once a friend shares an interesting conjecture with her: Sasha Pylnikov, a sixth-grade gymnasium student, is a disguised young lady. Allegedly, it was more profitable for his aunt to educate his daughter under the guise of her nephew, and she left the boy to herself. Barbara, of course, shares such interesting news with a roommate. Peredonov, not for a second doubting her words, goes to the apartment where the gymnasium student lived, but the visit was unsuccessful. Then Peredonov began to make fun of Sasha in the gymnasium, and then he informed his director of his suspicions. A director by the name of Khripach, of course, did not believe such nonsense, but when the case was presented, he sent Sasha to a doctor for examination, after which he was finally convinced that the schoolboy had been slandered and calmed down.
But in a small town, rumors spread with terrible speed, and now a curious mischief Lyudmila Rutilova, one of the four Rutilov sisters (the rest are the youngest Valeria, the eldest Daria and already married, settled down Larisa), goes to the house of her friend Kokokkina, whom she lived with high school student Pylnikov, in order to look at a girl dressed up as a young man. Lyudmila realizes that she was mistaken, but her interest in Sasha does not disappear. She falls in love with pure love to an innocent, sweet boy. They see each other very often, each time have fun together and get very close.Soon, everyone in the city was discussing the vicious relationship of a young schoolgirl and a girl, comrades and teacher Peredonov, the main instigator, were mocking Pylnikov. Sasha is sorry for himself and for Lyudmilochka: in his eyes everything is not the way it is ill-wishers.
It seems that in the whole city there is no one in whose mind such concepts as kindness, honor, politeness, tolerance are still alive. Each event is tied to some kind of vice or absurdity. People notice only the shortcomings of others, ignoring their own, discuss and condemn each other. The most striking representative of this rotten society is Peredonov. This hero embodies all the negative personality traits that a person can possess: rudeness, ignorance, lies, hypocrisy, laziness, envy, depravity, meanness. But the main misfortune of Peredonov becomes his suspiciousness, she drives him to madness.
Too keen on acting out as an important person, Peredonov constantly postpones the wedding. Barbara decides on a second fake letter, thinks through everything to the smallest detail, even bribes the postman, so that in order to avoid any doubt, he delivered the letter in an envelope with Ardallion Borisych. Now Peredonov is sure: the inspector's place is in his hands.
It's time to marry Barbara. After the wedding, Peredonov’s self-confidence grows exponentially. It is passed on to many of his acquaintances: people are waiting for the paper to come, and Peredonov will get a new position. True, in the behavior of Ardalon Borisych, there is a certain oddity: he cuts out the eyes of the card ladies, kings and jacks that spy on him, or asks the hairdresser to shave his cat to protect himself from the harmful electric current in his coat. Neither Peredonov himself nor his wife attach much importance to these oddities - if only to leave for a new place as soon as possible! But, of course, paper does not come, Peredonov’s craziness is rapidly developing.
Once Varvara, Grushina and one of their friends, Prepolevskaya, gather to drink. It so happened that Varvara blabbed about fake letters to an outsider. She promised to keep a secret and in secret told about the whole Summit - the main local gossip. The news of Peredonov’s deception is spread throughout the city. But Ardalion Borisych himself does not notice banter and hints - his thought about promotion is so firm. He behaves so strangely that the director of the gymnasium temporarily removes him from school and invites the provincial doctor to examine his employee’s mental disorder. Ardalon Borisych is only glad to retire.
Actors of the local theater organize a masquerade, which is attended by almost all the inhabitants of the city. They do not skimp on outfits - everyone wants to win the competition for the best fancy dress. Whom the townspeople do not dress up on the day of the celebration - a woman-ear, and an ancient German, and a lady-bear, and a man-rooster. Grushin, who is kindly asked to hide behind, appears in the image of the goddess Diana. The Rutilov sisters dress up as a gypsy, a Spanish woman and a Turkish woman - all their imagination went into creating a costume for Sasha Pylnikov.
According to the results of the competition, the winners are the ancient German and geisha. The public is not happy - only envious. First, everyone pounced on the German and tear off his mask: it turns out that this is a Bengali actor. Everyone is convinced that he, being one of the organizers, won unfairly. Then the geisha becomes the victim of the feral mob. Miraculously, the ancient German man was able to wrest the poor thing out of the hands of screaming and scratching offended, furious women and men tormented by curiosity. Being in a safe place, the German persuades the geisha to open up: it turns out to be Sasha Pylnikov. The prank of the Rutilov sisters succeeds, and Sasha himself is delighted. Bengali promises not to betray Sasha, and keeps his word for a long time.
At the same masquerade there is Peredonov.In his insanity, he ceased to distinguish between illusions and reality. Recently, he was haunted by a gray nedotychka - a creature embodying demonic powers. At the masquerade, she becomes especially bothersome and forces Peredonova to set fire to the curtain in one of the rooms. People were not injured, but the building burned down. The crime of Peredonov goes unpunished: no one accuses him of arson.
Often Ardalion Borisych passes by the house of the gossip Girl on Top, who always invites him to visit. He often kept her company, and this time he did not refuse to drop in. In her feigned pity for Peredonov, the sarcastic woman expresses directly how cleverly he was fooled.
Peredonov is completely crazy. Everything and everything painfully frightens him: cracks in the doors, playing cards, his own cat, wife and even a miserable henchman Pavlushka Volodin - Peredonov’s colleague, who has been limp all his life insulting him. Peredonov for his appearance and manners Volodin often compared him to a ram, and even suspected that Pavlushka was a werewolf and sometimes turned a ram in order to convict Peredonov of something, to convey, eliminate the competitor and become an inspector himself.
The next evening, Peredonov drinks with Barbara and Volodin. Alcohol and drunken conversation annoy his clouded mind more and more. Having sorted out and emboldened, Volodin with contemptuous regret says to his friend: "They fooled you, Ardash." To this Peredonov fiercely growls: "I will fool you!", Pounces on him with a knife.
Panic rises in the city, news of the brutal murder spreads instantly. When people enter the house, Peredonov sits dumb, with crazy eyes looks at the corpse and mutters something meaningless.
The real basis for the characters and events of the novel was the wild morals of the county town Velikiye Luki, where F. Sologub from 1885 to 1889. Worked as a teacher. The author admitted that he “significantly softened the colors of The Little Demon”; there were facts that no one would have believed anyway had they been described ”.
