Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Teffi (Lokhvitskaya, married Buchinskaya; 1872–1952) is a brilliant Russian writer who began her creative career with poetry and newspaper feuilletons and left, along with A. Averchenko, I. Bunin and other prominent representatives of the Russian emigration, a significant literary heritage. Teffi's works, funny and sad, are always witty and good-natured, filled with love for the characters, understanding of human weaknesses, and compassion for the troubles of ordinary people. The reward for this herd is the people's love for Teffi and the title of “Queen of Laughter”. The second volume of collected works includes collections of stories “Carousel”, “Smoke without Fire” and “Inanimate Beast”. Unfortunately, some of the stories are missing from the file. The book’s text has been translated from the original language using an artificial intelligence system. In most cases, the translation is accurate and clear, but occasionally there may be incorrect phrasing or individual words left untranslated.