Kashtanka

Chapter 1. Misbehaviour. Kashtanka, a young foxey-looking mongrel, belonging to a carpenter drunkard named Luka Alexandrovich gets lost through her own 'improper behaviour', frightened by a military band on the street. Hungry and desperate ("If she had been a human being she would have certainly thought: 'No, it is impossible to live like this! I must shoot myself!'"), she huddles up by the entrance to some unfamiliar house. 

Chapter 2. A Mysterious Stranger. A stranger comes out, feels sorry for the lost dog and, delighted with her funny looks, takes her to his place where he treats her to good dinner. Upon the inspection, she finds the place poor and ugly (nothing "besides the easy-chairs, the sofa, the lamps and the rugs") next to her masters' apartments, rich with all manner of rubbish. On the plus side, the host gives her not a single kick, which feels like a novelty. Finally, she goes to sleep, dreaming nostalgically of how Luka's son Fedyushka used to lovingly 'play' with her by way of using her "...as a bell, that is, shake her violently by the tail so that she squealed and barked", as well as giving her a piece of meat to swallow and then "with loud laugh, pull[ing] it back again from her stomach", by a thread he'd fixed it with. 

Chapter 3. New and Very Agreeable Acquaintances. In the morning Kashtanka meets (and, after a bout of initial hostility, befriends) her neighbours: a gander named Ivan Ivanovich, who talks much nonsense, and the old white tom-cat Fyodor Timofeyitch, a lazy creature with highly skeptical mindset. From her new master she receives a new name, Tyotka (Auntie). 

Chapter 4. Marvels on a Hurdle. The trio, completed by the pig Khavronya Ivanovna, and supervised by their trainer, starts to perform most wonderful tricks, like bell-ringing, pistol-shooting and, most importantly climbing one another to form what's known in their master's parlance as the Egyptian Pyramid. Kashtanka is intrigued and delighted with the show. The next night sees her moving into the gander and cat's apartment. 

Chapter 5. "Talent! Talent!" A month passes, and Auntie gets used to her new life, full of good dinners and exhausting but joyful training sessions during which she walks on hind legs, catch sugar, dance and 'sing' (by way of accompanying music by howling). Finally, she becomes Fyodor Timofeyitch's sub in Egyptian Pyramid. The master is delighted with Auntie's progress. Still, every evening brings her a whiff of sadness, as she continues to dream wistfully of her wonderful past with the rude and silly carpenter and his sadistically-minded little boy. 

Chapter 6. An Uneasy Night. The tragedy strikes: Ivan Ivanovich dies. It transpires that a horse had accidentally stepped upon him earlier in the day. Everybody is greatly distressed, thoughts of imminent death creep into both the dog and the cat's heads. 

Chapter 7. An Unsuccessful Début. Several days passes. The team leaves the house for a performance in which Kashtanka is for the first time to substitute the late Ivan Ivanovich at the base of the Egyptian Pyramid. The master is nervous and full of dark premonitions. The show starts well: Kashtanka performs some tricks, then prepares to do the singing and dancing routine, then... "Look out, dad, that's our Kahtanka!" she hears Fedyushka's voice in the audience. Mad with joy, she rushes off stage, to greet her old family. Half an hour later she's on the street with them, happy to return to her good old life of hunger, full of abuse and drunken Luka's eloquence, mostly in the form of one, oft-repeated observation: "You, Kashtanka, are an insect of a creature, and nothing else. Beside a man, you are much the same as a joiner beside a cabinet-maker."