The Queen of Spades (story)

The Queen of Spades (Russian Пиковая дама ) is a narrative of Alexander Pushkin. It served as a template for the eponymous opera by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The story was published in 1834.

Action

The young engineer officer Hermann, son of a turned- Russians Germans, living frugal and modest. His friend Tomsky tells him about his grandmother, the Countess, who learned the secret in Paris, as one can foresee three winning cards at Pharospiel.

Hermann wants to be close to the Countess. For this purpose, he sets out to Lizaveta, her companion, zoom. In a secret meeting, however, he sneaks into the Countess's room. He begs her to tell him the secret threatens her, but she remains silent. When she discovers an unloaded gun in his hand, she suffers a heart attack from fright and dies. At the funeral Hermann has a vision. He seems that the deceased throws him a look. Evening seems to him the spirit of the Countess and reveals to him that the three, bringing the seven and the ace him the win.

In the next few days, all of his thoughts revolve around the three auspicious cards. As the card players Tchekalinsky comes to Moscow, Hermann asks him to play a game and puts all his savings to the three that wins also. The next day he puts everything on the seven and wins again. On the third day he sets about two hundred thousand rubles to the (as he says ) As, which also wins, but instead on the ace Hermann has unconsciously set to the Queen of Spades, so he loses his entire fortune. Hermann there, as if the card bears the features of the Countess and grins at him maliciously seems. He loses his mind and constantly mutters "Three, seven, ace. Three, Seven, lady. "