Old Izergil

"Old Izergil" (Russian: Старуха Изергиль) is a 1895 short story by Maxim Gorky, written in the autumn of 1894 and first published by Samarskaya Gazeta, issues 80, 86 and 89, on 16, 23 and 27 April respectively.

On 4 October 1894 he informed Mikhail Sablin, a member of the Russkiye Vedomosti staff: "Some three days ago I sent to [the newspaper] the manuscript by Peshkov (writing under the pseudonym Maxim Gorky), called 'Old Izergil'.

"[2] It's sunset and the narrator rests amidst the Moldovan vineyards, watching men and women returning home from work, singing songs.

The first one, having to do with the origins of the mysterious moving shadow (which she claims to see, although the narrator doesn't), is the legend of Larra, the son of an eagle and a woman.

He was later hanged, along with the fisherman (who'd joined the same gang), after being betrayed by a Romanian landlord; the latter has been punished severely for this, and Izergil apparently had some part in the deed; — the rich middle-aged Turk whose harem she agreed to join in Bucharest; — his 16-old son whom she soon eloped with to Bulgaria, where a woman stabbed her ("for either her husband, or fiancé, I don't remember"); — a Polish man, described as 'funny and mean', but also prone to offensive remarks for one of which she threw him into the river and went away; — a Jew who bought her to make her sell her body; — the handsome Szlachta man whom she fell in love with, and later (after he'd been imprisoned for taking part in the January Uprising) helped escaping from the Russian prison camp, killing a guardsman.

[3] The Moldovan writer and folklorist George Bogach traces the origins of the name Izergil to two sources: the Akkerman toponym Iserlia and Kara-Ningil, the character of the Mamin-Sibiryak story "Tears of the Queen".

Maksimova notes that phonetically "Izergil" is close to "Iggradzil", the giant ash of the Scandinavian mythology, similar to the Biblical Tree of Knowledge.

[4] But George Bogach in his book "Gorky and the Moldavian Folklore" states that the 'Danko' is of the Romani origins, meaning "the youngest son" or "little gypsy boy".

Irina Yeryomina also sees the two images, of Danko who wished his heart to "burn brighter than the Sun" and Shelley, consumed by the storm, as directly linked.