In March of 1839, while in Rome, Nikolai Gogol transcribed A. Pushkin’s poem “Rusalka” (1819) for Fyodor Antonovich Moller, a Russian artist of German origin, who was then also living in Rome. Gogol accompanied his handwritten note with the following inscription: "Transcribed as a remembrance by N. Gogol for a wonderous cause." Apparently, Gogol, who piously believed in the talent of his friend, wanted to suggest an idea for a painting based on Pushkin’s poem. What made Gogol himself turn to Pushkin's “Rusalka” in 1839 (almost twenty years later after the poem was written), and why would the poem by the young Pushkin be so important to the mature writer?   
Pushkin's “Rusalka” is a lyrical ballad, in which the theme of temptation by a mermaid (aka female beauty) fits into a broader theme of a man's openness to the mysterious forces of nature. The paper will discuss how Pushkin's poem can serve as a key to understanding Gogol's treatment of the rusalka motif in his novellas included in the collections of short stories entitled Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka (1829-1832) and Mirgorod (1835).