Roman Chaliybehance.netRoman Chaliy, a Kharkov artist and compatriot of Bulgakov, completed a series of pencil illustrations for the writer's most popular work in 2010.
Everyone saw that it was no ghost at all, but Ivan Nikolaevich Bezdomny—the most famous poet.
Suddenly, the grate silently slid aside, and a mysterious figure appeared on the balcony, hiding from the moonlight, and shook its finger at Ivan.
Thousands of people were walking along Tverskaya Street, but I guarantee you, she saw me alone and looked not so much troubled as even pained. And I was struck not so much by her beauty as by the extraordinary, never-before-seen loneliness in her eyes!
There was a flash and a bang, and immediately, white papers began falling from under the dome, diving between the trapezes, into the hall.
Azazello, taking a round golden box from his pocket, held it out to Margarita, saying: “Go on, hide it, or the passersby will stare.”
Margarita tore the curtain aside and sat sideways on the windowsill, wrapping her arms around her knee. Margarita raised her head to the moon and put on a thoughtful and poetic face. She turned her head toward the garden and saw Nikolai Ivanovich, who lived on the ground floor. He was sitting on a bench, and it was clear from his posture that he had dropped onto it suddenly.
“Your king is in check,” said Woland.
“Very well, very well,” responded the cat, and he began studying the chessboard through his opera glasses.
Now, from below, a wall of people was coming, as if storming the platform where Margarita was standing. Naked female bodies rose between men in tailcoats.
He had no intention of running away and even, on the contrary, started another speech: “I completely fail to understand,” he said, “the reasons for such a harsh attitude towards me...”
