Perezvon

Perezvon is a rough-haired, medium-sized dog whose tricks make him a lively presence in Kolya Krassotkin’s visits with others. Blind in the right eye and marked by a torn left ear, he is also identifiable as the stray dog Kolya finds after learning of Ilusha’s missing Zhutchka. His story turns a comic performance into a moment of recognition: the dog Kolya commands to play dead is the one whose return Ilusha longs for.

Appearance and Performance

Perezvon is described as medium-sized, with a rough coat of lilac-grey color. His right eye is blind, and his left ear is torn. These are not incidental marks: later, they let Kolya recognize him from Ilusha’s description and establish his identity when he brings the dog to the boy.

At Kolya’s command, Perezvon whines and jumps, stands and walks on his hind legs, then lies on his back with his paws in the air, rigid as though dead. When Kolya keeps him in that pose for the usual time and finally whistles, the dog jumps up and bounds about, apparently delighted at having done his duty. The episode displays a practiced routine—Kolya gives orders, and Perezvon performs them—while the dog’s exuberant recovery contrasts with the stillness of the trick.

Agafya, the servant in Madame Krassotkin’s household, arrives carrying provisions and stops to watch. Although Kolya has been anxious for her return, he does not cut the performance short. Her dry observation, “Only think, a dog!”, gives the spectacle a brief audience and underlines its everyday mixture of discipline and amusement.

From Stray to Ilusha’s Dog

When Alyosha asks whether Perezvon is Kolya’s dog, Kolya confirms that he is; Alyosha immediately asks whether he is Zhutchka. The distinction matters. Perezvon is the name Kolya uses for the dog he has found, while Zhutchka is the missing dog whose fate is bound up with Ilusha’s distress. The question links Kolya’s performing companion to the painful history of the boys’ quarrel without making the names interchangeable.

Kolya has found Perezvon because the dog’s appearance matches the identifying details Ilusha described. He explains that he recognized him by his blind eye and torn ear, and that the dog belonged to no one. Those visible marks connect the stray in Kolya’s care to Ilusha’s account; Kolya’s discovery rests not on a claim of ownership but on recognition.

The Reunion at Ilusha’s Bedside

Kolya brings Perezvon into the room where Ilusha is lying ill. As soon as Smurov opens the door, Kolya whistles and the dog dashes in. Kolya calls for him to jump and beg, and Perezvon rises on his hind legs beside Ilusha’s bed. The familiar act begins as another display of tricks, but its setting changes its meaning: the performance is now directed toward a sick boy who has been longing for the dog he described.

Kolya then lifts Perezvon and brings him close to Ilusha, pointing out the blind eye and torn ear as the marks by which he found him. He explains to Ilusha, the captain, his wife, and Alyosha that the dog had belonged to nobody. Perezvon’s entrance thus confirms Kolya’s search through concrete evidence, while his presence gives the reunion a bodily focus: Ilusha can see the dog whose identifying features he had named.

Narrative Significance

Perezvon’s episodes move from comic command to emotionally consequential recognition. In the first, Kolya’s whistle releases a dog from the performed posture of death into bounding motion. In the later scene, the whistle sends the same dog across the threshold and into Ilusha’s room. The recurring trick is not itself a symbol of the reunion, but the repetition gives the dog’s return a recognizable form: first he performs for an observer; then his arrival matters to the boy who had described him.

The passage presents Perezvon chiefly through his physical appearance, trainable actions, and connection to the children’s story. The details of his blind eye and torn ear serve a practical narrative purpose, identifying him across scenes rather than explaining his experience of blindness. His role is therefore modest but decisive: Kolya’s companion becomes the means by which a remembered description is verified and a lost dog is brought back into Ilusha’s immediate presence.