In 1888 the Chekhov family settled in Luka, which is close to the city of Sumy.[1] "A Story Without a Title" was written during this time. It was first published on January 1, 1888 in Novoye Vremya (issue No. 4253) under the title "Fairy Tale". Later, with numerous stylistic corrections and under another title, the work was included in "Help to the victims of crop failure" literary collection (an issue of the "Kur'ier" (Courier) newspaper in 1899), and in 1900, when it was included in Chekhov's works anthology.[2]