The Tsar's Rage (Царский гнев) is a 1909 historical novella by Lidia Charskaya, set in the times of Ivan the Terrible.
Fyodor Basmanov, one of Ivan the Terrible's favorite oprichniks
, slanders Prince Dmitry Ovchina-Obolensky before the Tsar, claiming he is a traitor. Prince Dmitry is summoned to court, and his little ward Vanya, feeling immediately that it's a bad sign, decides to go to the Tsar himself and beg to release the Prince.
Tropes featured in the novella:
- Bittersweet Ending: Prince Dmitry is killed and Fyodor Basmanov is never punished, but the Princess, Vanya, and the Ovchina-Obolenskys' servants all manage to survive and flee to Lithuania.
- Delicate and Sickly: Princess Fima is a weak, sickly girl at the Tsarina's court.
- Drunk with Power: Basmanov uses his influence on the Tsar to act on his own petty personal grudges.
- Evil Is Petty: Fyodor Basmanov's vicious revenge on the entire Ovchina-Obolensky household, with him arranging Prince Dmitry's murder and plotting to torture and slaughter everyone else? The reason for it was Basmanov's quarrel with Prince Dmitry over a seat, a quarrel which Basmanov started and where he was in the wrong.
- Freudian Excuse: In a Crapsack World of the boyars' manipulation and treason, well-intentioned and capable Tsar Ivan gradually became a paranoid, Hot-Blooded tyrant.
- The Ingenue: The eighteen-year-old Princess Darya Ovchina-Obolenskaya is childlike, innocent, and gentle.
- Kid Hero: Despite only being nine, Vanya becomes the one to save the Princess and her servants through his bravery and resourcefulness.
- Mugged for Disguise: In a variation, Vanya steals Tsarevich Fyodor's horse to get to the Ovchina-Obolenskys' estate and warn Princess Darya about the impending attack. In the unsuspecting guard's eyes, he is able to pass as the Tsarevich, due to also having a similar height and build and due to it being nighttime.
- Nouveau Riche: Basmanov is pretty lowborn and doesn't like to be reminded of it.
- Pet the Dog: Tsar Ivan has occasional moments of kindness:
- He is amused and impressed by Vanya's bravery and offers him a job at court.
- He feels sorry for Princess Fima and allows her to live at court and to speak freely even with him.
- Likewise, he speaks fondly to his wife Tsarina Maria.
