It is unlikely that there will be those who are not familiar with the story of Lefty, who shod a flea. The story of the brilliant N. S. Leskov, published in 1881 (in a separate edition - 1882), is included in the compulsory school curriculum.
This work is the basis for the wonderful animated film "Lefty". The very expression "to shoe a flea" entered the lexicon and began to mean the high skill of Russian craftsmen.
Brilliant fiction
“The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea” is written in beautiful witty language, easy to read, and the poignant story of a brilliant craftsman leaves absolutely no one indifferent. The story has entered real life so much that most people do not question whether the legendary Lefty existed in real life and whether a savvy flea remained after him.
And it is very disappointing that the folk jack of all trades and the result of his work is the fruitbrilliant imagination of Nikolai Semenovich Leskov. There was no left-handed person, there are no documents confirming the fact of forging a steel English miniature and its further transfer to England.
Highly developed Western engineering
However, a savvy flea, which has become a symbol of the unsurpassed skill of Russian craftsmen, is available (and not one), but all copies were created much later than the events described in the story.
Actually, the tale is a continuation of the statement made by M. V. Lomonosov: "and the Russian land can give birth to its own Newtons." A miniature metal flea, a miracle of mechanics, was bought from the British by the Russian Tsar, the conqueror of Napoleon. Of course, in the demonstration of the unique product to Alexander I, there was both a hint and a reproach: “but we are still smarter and better than you.”
A wonderful return gift
The savvy flea is the answer to the "haughty neighbor". The tiny dancing insect was shod. True, the flea stopped dancing because of the heaviness of its paws - Russian craftsmen "did not graduate from universities." To understand the worthiness of a return gift, one must imagine what fleas look like.
Actually, from all this little attractive picture, only one fact is interesting - she has six paws. All six Lefty and two of his comrades and shod. Carnations of appropriate size were driven into microscopic horseshoes. According to the story, Russian craftsmen did all operations with a metal insect without a “fine scope”, since their eyeswas, in the words of Lefty himself, "shooting".
Ingenious prototype
The shocked engineers of foggy Albion invited craftsmen to study at their place. And this fact took place in reality. Russian gunsmith A. M. Surnin from Tula was invited to England for training, where he quickly achieved recognition and became an assistant to the owner at one of the best factories of Henry Knock. Surnin, who went to study in England a hundred years before writing a brilliant tale, is considered by almost all experts to be the prototype of Lefty, although his fate was much happier than the fate of the hero of the work. A. M. Surnin, who died in 1811, having returned to his native Tula, took a good post at the local arms factory. This master did an incredible amount to introduce advanced English developments into the arms production of Russia, which played a big role in the victory of Russian weapons in the Patriotic War of 1812. There were legends about his skill, which gave Leskov the idea to describe the most interesting life of Tula gunsmiths, who were able to surprise foreigners with their skill and really create something that would fit the definition of a Russian miracle.
There is no prophet in his own country
It is not for nothing that the word craftsman has such synonyms as a master, a jack of all trades and a creator. There are many products of Russian craftsmen in all crafts, but few names are known. This is because among representatives of the upper strata of society, domestic products and local craftsmen have never been held in high esteem, and everything foreign has been extolled to the skies. Isn't the first domestic steam locomotive of the Cherepanov brothersRussian miracle?
A real brilliant craftsman who shod a flea
But back to the savvy flea. This product has become a measure of craftsmanship. And it goes without saying that the Russian craftsman was destined to achieve this standard and shoe a flea. This was first done by the remarkable artist Nikolai Sergeevich Aldunin, who died in 2009.
This virtuoso shoemaker stuffed a real euthanized flea. Talking about this masterpiece, which Aldunin himself did not consider as such (he considered his best achievement to be a microcopy of a real T-34 tank planted on an apple seed), it is again necessary to remember what fleas look like. Their paws are hairy, not intended for horseshoes by nature. An amazing master cut the hairs, removed the claws and made the lightest horseshoes from 999 gold. How small they are can be imagined by reading the following data: 22 million of these horseshoes can be made from one gram of gold. Isn't it brilliant?
A fairy tale come true
The craftsman who shoed the flea lived with us at the same time. He has amazing masterpieces that have not been talked about much and often in the media. All of his works are distinguished not only by their dimensions that do not fit in the head, but also by the fact that they are exact copies of real samples, as well as, of course, beauty and grace. He was a real creator and a Russian brilliant craftsman who actually carried out Leskov's invention.
Museum of Microminiatures
A pioneer, as a rule, has successors. And now a shod flea, like a caravan of camels in the eye of a needle, are indispensable indicators of the skill of a microminiaturist.
Now the museum "Russian Lefty" is opened in St. Petersburg, in the permanent collection of which there are 60 exhibits, among them, of course, there are the above-mentioned brilliant examples of the perfection of the skill of microminiaturists. There is also a rose in a hair, and books on the cut of a poppy seed. The shod flea occupies a central place in the museum, because it is a legend-symbol sung by Leskov.
Modern artists
The most famous living Russian microminiaturists are A. Rykovanov (Petersburg), A. Konenko (Kazan), Vl. Aniskin (Omsk). Their brilliant work has won awards at many international competitions. Wonderful craftsman Anatoly Konenko gave his first shoed flea to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
Legal Storage
But what about the birthplace of Lefty? Here, in the weapons museum, the famous Aldunin shod flea was kept. Tula is very proud of this exhibit, because it is the first wingless insect with horseshoes in Russia. Most recently, this legend moved from the Museum of Weapons to the Old Tula Pharmacy, located on Lenin Ave., the main artery of the city.
