City of Thieves: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

Lev describes the Haymarket as the poor man's Nevsky Prospekt before the war. Though the shops on the Prospekt closed when the siege began, the Haymarket continued to thrive. Lev and Kolya walk through, taking in the stalls full of boots, pistols, grenades, and jars of dirt that came from under a bombed food warehouse, supposedly full of melted sugar.

Kolya stops at the stall of an old man selling what he claims is vodka, but what Kolya insists is wood alcohol. Lev tries to steer Kolya away but Kolya ignores him, telling the man the dangers of wood alcohol. The man insists the alcohol is safe after being poured through seven layers of linen, and Kolya strikes a bet with the man if the man agrees to drink some of the alcohol. Kolya offers his handkerchief and the man pours the liquid through and takes a sip. Kolya downs the rest of the glass and pretends to be in the throes of death, and then makes a show of discovering that Lev has no money to pay the man.

The man and Kolya face off, and Lev shares with the reader that danger made Kolya calm. He says for Kolya, the war seemed like someone else's ridiculous story that he'd become trapped in and couldn't escape.

The man growls at Kolya and Lev to move on. Lev and Kolya continue through the market, asking for eggs. An old woman selling patties of meat says there are none in Piter, and other people share theories and rumors, the most promising of which is of a man keeping chickens in a rooftop coop. It seems an absurd story, but the boy telling it insists it's true and tells Kolya how to get there. Kolya shares that it's been nine days since his last shit, and continues to banter with the boy, but Lev moves on, wanting to go home and sleep.

Lev hears a voice asking him if he's looking for eggs, and turns to see a huge bearded giant. Lev runs back to get Kolya, who hands Lev a bar of "library candy" he bought from the boy. They reach the giant and the giant tells them to follow him to his apartment, saying that he keeps everything inside for safekeeping. The man doesn't believe Kolya when he says they're on an actual mission for eggs. Meanwhile, Lev notices a dead woman in the canal, and watches her hair blow across her face.

Lev, Kolya, and the giant approach a five-story brick building. The giant unlocks the door and beckons Lev and Kolya inside. Lev asks the giant to bring the eggs down, saying he doesn't do business in strangers' apartments. The giant refuses, and says he doesn't do business in the street. Kolya asks the giant to name his price. Lev laughs when the giant says 1000 rubles, and the giant, already angry, looks even angrier when Kolya makes a joke about the futility of haggling with his "little Jewish friend."

The giant says that "everyone's starving and everyone's got a gun," which Kolya teases him about. The giant gestures to the canal and says there's a man out there who died because his skull was smashed with a brick. Kolya, cheerful, steps into the apartment building and Lev, terrified, follows, thinking that their small amount of money and ration cards, which the giant doesn't know they don't have, are enough to get killed over.

The giant leads Lev and Kolya up the stairs, and Lev quietly puts his knife in his pocket. The giant raps on the door of a fourth floor apartment, saying he has customers. A woman in a bloody butcher's apron looks perplexed as Kolya asks how they keep the eggs from freezing, and the giant ushers them in. A sheet hanging in the room billows as the door closes, exposing slabs of meat hanging from hooks. Lev realizes the meat is human, and, screaming, he pulls the knife out and slashes at the giant. Kolya punches the giant's wife, knocking her to the ground, and tells Lev to run.

Lev runs to the landing on the floor below and listens to the fight taking place upstairs. He tries to talk himself into going back upstairs to help Kolya, but is too afraid. Suddenly, Kolya shoots out of the apartment and yells again for Lev to run. The two run out of the building and down the street for blocks until they spot an army car. They jump in front of the car and inform the soldiers that there are cannibals, but the soldiers won't take Kolya seriously until he offers them the letter from Colonel Grechko. Finally they ask Kolya and Lev to lead them back to the building, but the giant and his wife have already fled. The officer says they'll put their names on the list, and the soldiers look away from the hanging meat.