The Bridegroom by Alexander Pushkin. Short summary

5 seconds

A merchant’s daughter becomes a witness to a crime. In front of her eyes a robber kills a girl. Soon she is betrothed to the same criminal and decides to expose the villain.

1 minute

One day one merchant’s daughter, Natasha, disappears. Three days later, the girl returns. She has suffered a severe shock and cannot tell about what happened.

Soon a matchmaker comes to the merchant and informs him that a rich and clever young man wants to marry Natasha. Her father, wishing for the best, approves of the marriage. When Natasha learns who her future husband is, she is seized by despair. She asks to call a judge to the wedding.

During the celebration, the groom, seeing the grieving bride, asks her the reason for her bad mood. Natasha tells him that she had a dream in which she entered a forest.

She found a richly furnished house, but when she heard noises, she hid. Twelve men and a girl enter. One of them kills the girl and cuts off her hand to take the ring.

Natasha wonders whose ring is worn on her fiancé’s hand. Those present understand that the bride’s story is the events of the 3 days she was away. The robber is immediately captured and taken to court.