Arkady Gaidar started working upon the story in December 1938. It was first serialized by Pionerskaya Pravda in January 1939, then, under the title "Telegramma" (The Telegram) appeared in the No. 2, February 1939, issue of Krasnaya Nov magazine. Later that year it came out as a separate book (Detgiz Publishers, illustrations by A Yermolayev), with considerable changes made by the author and under the new title "Chuk i Gek".