Ovtsebyk (Musk-Ox, a nickname referring both to peculiarities of his appearance and certain habits), is an eccentric whose every step and phrase baffles and amuses people.

[2] Alexander Sviridov, once a serf peasant and now a successful building engineer, entrepreneur and businessman, is a direct opposite: intelligent and good-natured, he is a practical man, enjoying all-round respect and admiration.

Ovtsebyk shies the caring Nastasya, and ignores whatever work he's presented with, preferring to wander around, "agitating" against the general state of things.

Developing an almost irrational hatred towards the only man who's eager to give him work and shelter, he's deeply pained by the way the "common people" he cares for, love the latter and ignore his own anti-social "sermons".

Conversely, this sad story of his, The Muck-Ox, carried the warning: do not meddle with things you know nothing of... Those were the times when people were eager to believe into the fictitious freedom-loving muzhik.