The Tales of The Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin - The Shot

The Shot

This story was told to Belkin by colonel I.L.P., who in the early days of his military career was stationed at a country outpost. The soldiers always visited a peculiar man named Silvio to play cards. Silvio is always practicing shooting, and the walls of his house are full with bullet holes. On one occasion the host is insulted by one of his guests, but he won't challenge his guest to a duel, as was considered proper. He is then considered to be a coward by most of the soldiers, but he is able to explain his situation: years ago he engaged in a duel, in which his opponent was eating cherries while waiting for him to shoot. He decided that as life apparently was meaningless to his opponent, and that he would not shoot, but rather asked to postpone the duel. If he were to now engage the soldier in a duel over the card game, he would most certainly have killed him, but also that the small risk of dying before being able to exact revenge was not worth it. However, Silvio soon learns that his former opponent is engaged to be married, and Silvio believes that he is now less indifferent towards life. This is the moment Silvio has been waiting for, and he leaves to get revenge.

After several years, the narrator resigns from active duty and leaves for his country estate. After a while, his neighbors arrive and the narrator visits them soon after. On the wall he notices a painting of a Swiss landscape with two bullet holes very close together. The narrator, seeing this, tells his neighbor about a man he knew in the army who was an extraordinary shot, and tells the count of Silvio. The count is overcome with fear, and informs the narrator that he was Silvio's opponent, and shortly before his wedding Silvio claimed his right to a duel. The neighbor draws the right to shoot first, but misses, and the bullet ends up in the painting. As Silvio aims to shoot, the neighbor's bride enters the room. Silvio takes pity on her and then without aiming, shoots the painting in almost exactly the same spot as the count, thereby both sparing the count's life and demonstrating how easily he could have ended it.