The article offers a detailed overview of Marko Cheremshyna’s early novella “Hrushka”, which became part of his first collection “Karby” (“Engravings”). The text is used as a ground for highlighting the characteristic features of the writer’s literary manner. It has been ascertained that the novellistics of this unique representative of “The Pokuttia Trinity” is coherently dominated by the essential entrenchment in folklore. It has been emphasized that the author uncommonly interprets the folklore element, where the strictly delineated field of novellistic writing serves to reveal new facets of the folk word, such as profound symbolic senses, rich aesthetic potential, fresh literary expressive means etc. Considering Cheremshyna’s profound immersion in folklore, the article traces how the achievements of thousand-year-old collective creativity are embedded in the individual literary world of the literary master. Special attention is paid to the author’s specific worship of the genre of folk laments and to how the melodies of funeral laments became a leitmotif in Cheremshyna’s creative legacy. The textological analysis of “Hrushka” made it possible to observe the author’s skillfulness in employing the principle of contrast, as he counterposed life and death, the good and the evil, the young and the old, truth and life, laughter and tears… All in all, Cheremshyna vividly demonstrated how well he had mastered the intricate technique of the novella, as he was able to use constrained but remarkably eloquent strokes to render pain, anguish and depth of family sorrow after Ilashykha’s loss; and thereupon, still preserving the genre demand for “a turning moment”, moved on to an optimistic note, since after the funeral “hrushka” there will be weddings, and life is going on. Keywords: novella, folklore, folklorism, lament, folk game, funeral, wedding.