# Yarmola — Short Fiction character guide

> Yarmola in Short Fiction by Aleksandr Kuprin.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** II Yarmola, Yarmola Popruzhuk

**First appearance:** 0016-the-witch

## Snapshot

A peasant servant with a hunter's patience and a scholar's stubborn hope, Yarmola begs only to sign his own name and cannot master the alphabet's simplest trick.

## Who they are

Yarmola serves the narrator of 'The Witch' as servant, hunting companion, and unwitting comic foil, his lean bearded face betraying agonies of thought over letters that refuse to resolve into words. His longing for literacy is real and touching, yet he can spend ten minutes on 'ma' and forget it entirely, while his single-barrelled gun and eager tracking of hares reveal a quieter competence. His patient, baffled devotion grounds the story's early domestic scenes and gives the narrator's remote theorizing a human counterweight.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/i)

The gamekeeper, servant, and cook; the narrator attempts to teach him to write his name, revealing his hidden public spirit and the difficulty of literacy.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/ii)

The forester and narrator's companion, who reluctantly shares local superstitions about a witch and strongly opposes the narrator's plan to visit her.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/iii)

The narrator's servant, who silently tracks his movements and reproaches him for visiting the witch.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/iv)

Mentioned indirectly as part of the village; not directly present in this chapter.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/vi)

Yarmola's silent animosity grows as he observes the narrator's visits to Olyessia, leading to the end of their reading lessons and hunting trips.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/vii)

Not present in this chapter.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/viii)

Announces the sergeant's arrival with a gloomy tone, reflecting his recent hostility.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/ix)

Yarmola appears in the narrator's feverish dreams as a participant in an abstract dispute.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/xi)

Mentioned indirectly as part of the narrator's official business at Perebrod; not directly present.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/xii)

Yarmola rudely informs the narrator of the bailiff's arrival and later leads the horse away.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/xiv)

Warns the narrator of the villagers' anger and urges him to leave Perebrod for his own safety.

### [The Murderer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/the-murderer)

The workman Iazykant (Yarmola) who initially reports the cat's injury, brings the rifle, and ultimately ends the cat's suffering with disgust at the narrator's actions.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/characters/yarmola
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_se/characters