“...But the Lord judged differently. He took a timid boy, who did not believe in himself, unfit for any work, by the scruff of the neck, like a kitten. Threw him into the rapids. You can - swim. You can’t — drown…” Beginning of the 13th century. Rus' is fragmented and weak. For Ingvar, power is a heavy burden, and his duty to the subjects of his poor principality requires him to work hard, never resting. Now people have already begun to make ends meet, and the fragile peace with their dangerous Polovtsian neighbors is holding on, and the ruler finally dares to believe in quick happiness. But what will happen if the person on whose shoulder Ingvar has the right to count cannot pass the temptation of power? The book includes the stories “The Devil’s Spit” and “Prince Cranberry,” which are part of Boris Akunin’s project “History of the Russian State in Novels and Stories.”< /p>