A Malefactor by Anton Chekhov. Short summary

5 seconds

Provincials mistook the scientists who came to their town to watch the solar eclipse for intruders and spies.

1 minute

Eyewitnesses describe two intruders visiting their provincial town.

The visitors immediately behaved suspiciously. As they dined at the inn, they made remarks about the filth and forced the waiter to wash the plates in hot water before serving them.

When they learned that the inn opened at dawn, they said they would come for tea at five o’clock in the morning. And then an incredible event would await all the townspeople.

In the morning they sat down in the square, took out dark glasses and blueprints, and reported that there was about to be an eclipse of the sun. It began to get dark, and there was a terrible commotion. People were jumping out of their houses naked, and cattle were running through the streets.

Eyewitnesses turned to the policeman, but he could not do anything, because the sun was not in his power.

The strangers, having made such a mess, quietly left. Eyewitnesses describe the signs of the intruders and suspect that they are Austrian spies.