the wonderful flea, of burnished english steel, remained in alexander pavlovitch's casket beneath the fish's bone until he died in taganrog, he having given it to priest feodot to transmit to the empress later, when she should have grown calm. the empress [pg 23]alexandra alexyevna looked at the flea's variations, and burst out laughing, but she did not occupy herself with it.
"my state is now that of a widow," said she, "and no sort of amusement is seductive to me;" and on her return to petrograd, she gave this marvel and all the other treasures in the inheritance to the new emperor.
the emperor nikolai pavlovitch also paid no heed to the flea at first, because there was a disturbance at his accession to the throne. but later on, one day, he began to inspect the casket which had come to him from his brother, and from it he drew forth the snuff-box, and from the snuff-box the diamond as big as a walnut, and in it he found the steel flea, which had not been wound up for a long time, and therefore did not work, but lay as though petrified.
the emperor gazed at it and marvelled. "what sort of a nonsensical[pg 24] trifle is this? and why did my brother preserve it so carefully?"
the courtiers wanted to fling it away, but the emperor said: "no, this has some meaning."
they summoned a chemist from the apothecary's shop at the anitchkoff bridge, who was accustomed to weigh out poisons on the tiniest of scales, and showed it to him; and he immediately took the flea, and placed it on his tongue, and said: "i feel a chill, as from some strong metal." and then he bit it gently with his teeth, and announced: "you may say what you please, this is not a real flea, but a nymfozoria, and 'tis made of metal, and the work is not ours, not russian."
the emperor ordered that they should instantly find out whence came this thing, and what was the meaning of it.
they flew to look in the archives and[pg 25] lists, but nothing was recorded in the archives. they began to question first one person and then another—no one knew anything about it. but, happily, that cossack of the don, platoff, was still alive, and even still reclining on his couch of vexation and smoking his pipe. when he heard the uproar in the palace, he rose immediately from his couch, flung away his pipe, and presented himself before the emperor in all his orders.
the emperor says; "what dost thou want from me, valiant old man?"
and platoff answers: "i want nothing from your majesty for myself, since i eat and drink what i please, and am content with all things: but i am come to report to you concerning that nymfozoria which has been found. it was thus and so," says he, "and this is what took place before my own eyes in england—and there is a tiny key with it,[pg 26] and i have the very melkoscope with which it can be seen, and with the key the nymfozoria can be wound up through its belly, and it will skip over any space you like, and make variations in all directions."
they wound it up, and it began to leap, and platoff says: "this, your majesty, is really a very delicate and interesting bit of work, but it is not meet that we should view it with ecstasy of spirit only; we must also submit it to russian inspection in tula or in sesterbek,"—sesthoryetzk was still called sesterbek at that time,—"to see whether our artisans cannot surpass this, so that the english may not exalt themselves above the russians."
"thou sayest well, valiant old man, and i commission thee to establish this matter. this little box i do not want at present, in all my anxieties, therefore do thou take it with thee; and[pg 27] stretch thyself not again upon thy couch of vexation, but go thou to the peaceful don, and hold there with my men of the don internecine converse with regard to their life and loyalty, and as to what pleaseth them. and when thou shalt pass through tula, show thou this nymfozoria to my tula artisans, and bid them meditate upon it. say to them from me that my brother marvelled at this thing and praised the people who made the nymfozoria above all others; but i am convinced that my own people are no worse than they. they will not let my words pass unheeded, but will make something."
