animal
Mukha
also: Муха
A plump, well-fed animal living at the mill near the Lintvaryov estate at Sumy, subject of Chekhov's mock-amorous teasing ("vozhdelenie") in a joking postscript to Kiselev; distinct from Chekhov's brother Mikhail ("Mishka"), mentioned in the same postscript.
Reading notes
- To A. S. Kiselev, 15 May 1888. Sumy. §3 at the mill there lives such a Mukha that a man could simply cry for help from sheer longing
MUKHA/MISHKA DISAMBIGUATION: "Mukha" (literally "Fly") is an animal living at the mill near the Lintvaryov estate, its plumpness here drawing mock-amorous teasing ("vozhdelenie," longing/desire); it is not a person and is entirely distinct from "Mishka" (Chekhov's youngest brother Mikhail Pavlovich), mentioned separately in the postscript at loc. 5. Neither is the letter's recipient, Kiselev.
- To A. S. Kiselev, 15 May 1888. Sumy. §5 Mukha is plump, like a kulich studded with raisins.
Continues the mock-amorous joke about Mukha from loc. 3, comparing its plumpness to a kulich (a rich, raisin-studded Easter bread) -- comic praise of its well-fed appearance, not a description of a person.