After the end of the Vienna Council, Emperor Alexander Pavlovich decided to "travel around Europe and see miracles in different states." The Don Cossack Platov, who was with him, was not surprised at the "wonders", because he knew that in Russia "your own is no worse."

In the latest Kunstkamera, among the “nymphosoria” collected from around the world, the sovereign buys a flea, which, although small, knows how to “dance” to dance. Soon Alexander "melancholy is made from military affairs", and he returns to his homeland, where he dies. Nikolai Pavlovich, who ascended the throne, appreciates the flea, but, since he does not like to give in to foreigners, sends Platov along with the flea to the Tula masters. Platov “and with him all of Russia” volunteered to support three Tula. They go to bow to the icon of St. Nicholas, and then lock themselves in the house by the slanting Lefthander, but, even after finishing work, refuse to give Platov a "secret", and he has to take Levsha to St. Petersburg.

Nikolai Pavlovich and his daughter Alexandra Timofeevna discover that the "abdominal machine" in the flea does not work. An angry Platov executes and pats a Lefty, who does not admit spoilage and advises to look at a flea in the strongest “small scope”. But the attempt is unsuccessful, and Lefty orders "only one leg in detail under a microscope to bring."Having done this, the emperor sees that the flea is "savvy on the horseshoes." And Lefty adds that with the best “small scope” one could see that on every horseshoe a “master's name” is displayed. And he himself forged carnations, which are impossible to make out.

Platov asks Levsha for forgiveness. The left-handed person is washed in the “Tulianovskiye Baths”, sheared off and “shaped out” as if he has some kind of “favored rank” on it, and sent to bring the flea as a present to the British. On the way, Lefty doesn’t eat anything, “supporting” himself with one wine, and sings Russian songs throughout Europe. He admits to the questioning of the British: “We have not gone into the sciences, and therefore the flea no longer dances, only faithful devotees to their own country.” Lefthander refuses to stay in England, referring to his parents and the Russian faith, which is “the most correct”. The British can not deceive him, then the proposal to marry, which Lefty rejects and disapproves of the clothes and thinness of English women. At English factories, Lefty notes that the workers are full, but most of all he is occupied with, in what form the old guns are contained.

Soon Lefty begins to yearn and, despite the approaching storm, gets on the ship and does not stop looking at Russia. The ship enters the "Solid Sea", and the Lefthander bets with the skipper who will drink whom. They drink until the “Riga Dynamite”, and when the captain locks the debaters, they already see the devils in the sea. In St. Petersburg, the Englishman is sent to the embassy’s house, and Levsha is sent to the quarter where he is asked for a document, gifts are taken, and then they are taken in an open sleigh to the hospital, where “they take everyone to the unknown estate”.The next day, the “Aglitsky” polskiper of the “kutta-percha” pill swallows and after a short search finds his Russian “comrade”. The left-hander wants to say two words to the sovereign, and the Englishman goes to the "Count Kleinmichel", but the half-speaker does not like his words about the Left-hander: "even though the coat is Ovechkin, so is the soul of a man." The Englishman is sent to Cossack Platov, who "has simple feelings." But Platov finished the service, received "full duplication" and sends him to the "commandant Skobelev." He sends a doctor from the spiritual rank of Martyn-Solsky to Levsha, but Levsha is already "ending", asks to tell the sovereign that the British do not clean their guns with a brick, or they are not good at firing, and "crossed with loyalty" and die. The doctor reports the last words of Lefty to Count Chernyshev, but he does not listen to Martyn-Solsky, because "there are generals in Russia for this," and they continue to clean the guns with bricks. And if the emperor heard the words of the Lefthander, then otherwise the Crimean War would end

Now these are already “affairs of the past days”, but the tradition cannot be forgotten, despite the “epic nature” of the hero and the “fabulous warehouse” of the legend. The name of the Lefty, like many other geniuses, has been lost, but the folk myth about him accurately conveyed the spirit of the era. And although cars do not condone "aristocratic retreat, the workers themselves recall the antiquity and their epic with a" human soul ", with pride and love.