Sasha. Poem (1856)

In a family of steppe landowners, daughter Sasha grows like a wild flower. Her parents are glorious old men, honest in their cordiality, "flattery is disgusting to them, but arrogance is unknown." Parents tried in childhood to give their daughter everything that their small means allowed; however, science and books seemed superfluous to them. In the wilderness of the steppe, Sasha retains the freshness of a swarthy blush, the gleam of black laughing eyes and "the original clarity of the soul."

Until the age of sixteen, Sasha knows neither passions nor worries; she breathes freely in the vastness of the fields, among the steppe freedom and freedom. Anxieties and doubts are also unfamiliar to Sasha: the joy of life, spilled in nature itself, is for her a guarantee of God's mercy. The only slave she has to see is the river raging near the mill with no hope of breaking out into the open. And, observing the barren anger of the river, Sasha thinks that grumbling against fate is insane...

The girl admires the friendly work of the villagers, in whom she sees the guardians of a simple life. She likes to run among the fields, pick flowers and sing simple songs. Admiring how the daughter's head flickers in the ripe rye, the parents look forward to a good groom for her. In winter, Sasha listens to his nanny's fairy tales or, full of happiness, flies down the mountain on a sled. It happens that she also knows sadness: "Sasha cried, as the forest was cut down." She cannot remember without tears how the dead bodies of trees lay motionless, how the yellow mouths of the jackdaws that had fallen out of the nest were gaping. But in the upper branches of the pines left after cutting down, Sasha imagines the nests of firebirds, in which new chicks are about to hatch. Sasha's morning dream is quiet and strong. And although the "first dawns of the passions of the young" are already blushing her cheeks, there is still no torment in her vague heartfelt anxieties.

Soon, the owner, Lev Alekseevich Agarin, arrives at the neighboring large estate, which has been empty for forty years already. He is thin and pale, looks into his lorgnette, talks kindly to the servants, and calls himself a migratory bird. Agarin traveled all over the world, and upon returning home, as he says, an eagle circled over him, as if prophesying a great fate.

Agarin visits his neighbors more and more often, makes fun of the steppe nature and talks a lot with Sasha: he reads books to her, teaches her French, talks about distant countries and talks about why a person is poor, unhappy and angry. Over a glass of home-made rowanberry, he announces to Sasha and her ingenuous old parents that the sun of truth is about to rise over them.

At the beginning of winter, Agarin says goodbye to his neighbors and, asking him to bless him for his work, leaves. With the departure of a neighbor, Sasha becomes bored with his former activities - songs, fairy tales, fortune telling. Now the girl reads books, feeds and treats the poor. But at the same time, she furtively cries and thinks some incomprehensible thought, which plunges her parents into despondency. However, they rejoice at the unexpectedly developed mind of their daughter and her unchanging kindness.

As soon as Sasha turns nineteen, Agarin returns to his estate. He, who has become paler and balder than before, is shocked by Sasha's beauty. They are still talking, but now Agarin, as if in spite, contradicts the girl. He no longer talks about the coming sun of truth - on the contrary, he assures that the human race is base and evil. Agarin considers Sasha's classes with the poor to be an empty toy. On the seventeenth day after the neighbor's arrival, Sasha looks like a shadow. She rejects the books sent by Agarin, does not want to see him. Soon he sends Sasha a letter with a marriage proposal. Sasha refuses Agarin, explaining this either by the fact that she is unworthy of him, or by the fact that he is unworthy of her, because he became angry and lost heart.

Ingenuous parents cannot understand what kind of person their daughter met on the way, and suspect him of being a destroyer warlock. They do not know that Agarin belongs to a strange, sophisticated tribe of people created by new times. The modern hero reads books and scours the world in search of a gigantic undertaking - “fortunately, the legacy of rich fathers // Freed me from small labors, // It’s good to follow the beaten path // Laziness prevented me and a developed mind.” He wants to make the world happy, but at the same time he casually and without intent destroys what lies under his hands. Love worries him not in his heart and blood, but only in his head. The hero of time does not have his own faith, but because “what the last book tells him, // That will lie on top of his soul.” If such a person gets down to business, then at any moment he is ready to declare the futility of his efforts, and the whole world is to blame for his failures.

The blessing of Sasha is that she guessed in time that she should not give herself to Agarin; "and time will do the rest." Moreover, his conversations nevertheless awakened in her untouched forces, which will only get stronger under a thunderstorm and a storm; grain that falls on good soil will bear fruit.

Author of the retelling: T. A. Sotnikova

Jack Frost. Poem (1863 - 1864)

There is a terrible grief in the peasant's hut: the owner and breadwinner Prokl Sevastyanych has died. The mother brings a coffin for her son, the father goes to the cemetery to gouge a grave in the frozen ground. The peasant's widow, Daria, sews a shroud for her dead husband.

Fate has three heavy shares: to marry a slave, to be the mother of a slave's son, and to submit to a slave to the grave; they all fell on the shoulders of a Russian peasant woman. But despite the suffering, "there are women in Russian villages" to whom the dirt of a miserable situation does not seem to stick. These beauties bloom marvelously to the world, patiently and evenly enduring both hunger and cold, remaining beautiful in all clothes and dexterous for any work. They do not like idleness on weekdays, but on holidays, when a smile of fun drives away the print of labor from their faces, money cannot buy such a hearty laugh as theirs. A Russian woman "stops a galloping horse, enters a burning hut!" It feels both inner strength and strict efficiency. She is sure that all salvation lies in work, and therefore she does not feel sorry for the miserable beggar walking without work. She is rewarded in full for her work: her family knows no need, the children are healthy and well fed, there is an extra piece for the holiday, the hut is always warm.

Daria, the widow of Proclus, was such a woman. But now grief has withered her, and no matter how hard she tries to hold back the tears, they involuntarily fall on her quick hands sewing the shroud.

Having brought the chilled grandchildren, Masha and Grisha, to the neighbors, mother and father dress up the deceased son. In this sad deed, no superfluous words are said, no tears come out - as if the severe beauty of the deceased, lying with a burning candle in his head, does not allow crying. And only then, when the last rite is completed, the time comes for lamentations.

On a harsh winter morning, the savraska takes the owner on his last journey. The horse served the owner a lot: both during peasant work and in winter, going with Proclus to the cart. Being engaged in carting, in a hurry to deliver the goods on time, Proclus caught a cold. No matter how the family treated the breadwinner: they doused it with water from nine spindles, took it to the bathhouse, threaded it three times through a sweaty collar, lowered it into the hole, laid it under the chicken perch, prayed for it to the miraculous icon - Proclus no longer got up.

Neighbors, as usual, cry during the funeral, feel sorry for the family, generously praise the deceased, and then go home with God. Returning from the funeral, Daria wants to take pity and caress the orphaned children, but she has no time for affection. She sees that there is not a log of firewood left at home, and, having again taken the children to a neighbor, she sets off into the forest on the same Savraska. On the way across the plain glistening with snow, tears appear in Daria’s eyes - probably from the sun... And only when she enters the grave peace of the forest does a “dull, crushing howl” burst from her chest. The forest indifferently listens to the widow's moans, forever hiding them in its uninhabited wilderness. Without wiping away her tears, Daria begins to chop wood “and, full of thoughts about her husband, calls him, speaks to him...”.

She recalls her dream before Stasov's Day. In a dream, her innumerable army surrounded her, which suddenly turned into ears of rye; Daria appealed to her husband for help, but he did not come out, left her alone to reap overripe rye. Daria understands that her dream was prophetic, and asks her husband for help in the backbreaking work that now awaits her. She represents winter nights without cute, endless canvases that she will weave for her son's marriage. With thoughts of his son comes the fear that Grisha will be illegally recruited, because there will be no one to intercede for him.

Having piled the wood on the woodshed, Daria is getting ready to go home. But then, mechanically taking an ax and quietly, intermittently howling, he approaches the pine tree and freezes under it “without a thought, without a groan, without tears.” And then Frost the Voivode approaches her, walking around his domain. He waves an ice mace over Daria, beckons her to his kingdom, promises to caress her and warm her...

Daria is covered with sparkling frost, and she dreams of the recent hot summer. She sees herself digging potatoes in strips by the river. With her are her children, her beloved husband, and a child beating under her heart, who should be born by spring. Shielding herself from the sun, Daria watches as the cart, in which Proclus, Masha, Grisha are sitting, drives further and further...

In her sleep, she hears the sounds of a wonderful song, and the last traces of anguish leave her face. The song satisfies her heart, "there is a limit to the happiness of the valley." Oblivion in deep and sweet peace comes to the widow with death, her soul dies for sorrow and passion.

Squirrel drops a lump of snow on her, and Daria freezes “in her enchanted sleep...”.

Author of the retelling: T. A. Sotnikova

PRINCESS TRUBETSKAYA. Poem in two parts (1826)

On a winter night in 1826, Princess Ekaterina Trubetskoy follows her Decembrist husband to Siberia. The old count, Ekaterina Ivanovna's father, with tears, places the bear's cavity in the cart, which should take his daughter away from home forever. The princess mentally says goodbye not only to her family, but also to her native Petersburg, which she loved more than all the cities she had seen, in which her youth was spent happily. After her husband's arrest, Petersburg became a fatal city for her.

Despite the fact that at each station the princess generously rewards the Yamsk inhabitants, the journey to Tyumen takes twenty days. On the way, she recalls her childhood, careless youth, balls in her father’s house, to which all the fashionable lights would come. These memories are replaced by pictures of honeymoon in Italy, walks and conversations with her beloved husband.

Travel impressions are a heavy contrast with her happy memories: in reality, the princess sees the kingdom of beggars and slaves. In Siberia, for three hundred miles one comes across one miserable town, the inhabitants of which are sitting at home because of the terrible frost. "Why, damned country, Yermak found you ..?" Trubetskaya thinks in despair. She understands that she is doomed to end her days in Siberia, and recalls the events that preceded her journey: the Decembrist uprising, a meeting with her arrested husband. Horror chills her heart when she hears the piercing moan of a hungry wolf, the roar of the wind along the banks of the Yenisei, the hysterical song of a foreigner, and realizes that she may not reach the goal.

However, after two months of travel, having parted with her ill companion, Trubetskaya nevertheless arrives in Irkutsk. The governor of Irkutsk, from whom she asks for horses to Nerchinsk, hypocritically assures her of her perfect devotion, recalls the father of the princess, under whom he served for seven years. He persuades the princess to return, appealing to her childish feelings - she refuses, recalling the sanctity of marital duty. The governor frightens Trubetskaya with the horrors of Siberia, where "people are rare without a stigma, and they are callous in soul." He explains that she will not have to live with her husband, but in a common barracks, among convicts, but the princess repeats that she wants to share all the horrors of her husband's life and die next to him. The governor demands that the princess sign a renunciation of all her rights - she agrees without hesitation to be in the position of a poor commoner.

After keeping Trubetskaya in Nerchinsk for a week, the governor declares that he cannot give her horses: she must continue on foot, with an escort, along with convicts. But, having heard her answer: "I'm going! I don't care! .." - the old general with tears refuses to tyrannize the princess any more. He assures that he did this on the personal order of the king, and orders the horses to be harnessed.

PRINCESS M. N. VOLKONSKAYA. Grandmother's Notes (1826 - 1827)

Wanting to leave memories of her life to her grandchildren, the old princess Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya writes the story of her life.

She was born near Kiev, in the quiet estate of her father, the hero of the war with Napoleon, General Raevsky. Masha was the favorite of the family, she studied everything that a young noblewoman needed, and after the lessons she sang carelessly in the garden. Old General Raevsky wrote memoirs, read magazines and asked balls, which were attended by his former comrades-in-arms. The queen of the ball has always been Masha - a blue-eyed, black-haired beauty with a thick blush and a proud step. The girl easily captivated the hearts of the hussars and lancers who stood with regiments near the Raevsky estate, but none of them touched her heart.

As soon as Masha turned eighteen years old, her father found her a groom - a hero of the War of 1812, wounded near Leipzig, General Sergei Volkonsky, beloved by the sovereign. The girl was embarrassed by the fact that the groom was much older than her and she did not know him at all. But the father sternly said: “You will be happy with him!” - and she did not dare to object. The wedding took place two weeks later. Masha rarely saw her husband after the wedding: he was constantly on business trips, and even from Odessa, where he finally went to rest with his pregnant wife, Prince Volkonsky was unexpectedly forced to take Masha to his father. The departure was alarming: the Volkonskys left at night, burning some papers beforehand. Volkonsky had the opportunity to see his wife and first-born son no longer under his own roof...

The birth was difficult, for two months Masha could not recover. Soon after her recovery, she realized that her family was hiding her husband's fate from her. The fact that Prince Volkonsky was a conspirator and was preparing the overthrow of the authorities, Masha learned only from the verdict - and immediately decided that she would follow her husband to Siberia. Her decision was only strengthened after a meeting with her husband in the gloomy hall of the Peter and Paul Fortress, when she saw a quiet sadness in the eyes of her Sergei and felt how much she loved him.

All efforts to mitigate the fate of Volkonsky were in vain; he was sent to Siberia. But in order to follow him, Masha had to endure the resistance of her entire family. Her father begged her to have pity on the unfortunate child, her parents, to calmly think about her own future. After spending the night in prayer, without sleep, Masha realized that until now she had never had to think: her father made all the decisions for her, and, going down the aisle at eighteen, she "didn't think much either." Now, however, the image of her husband, tormented by prison, stood invariably before her, awakening in her soul previously unknown passions. She experienced a cruel sense of her own impotence, the torment of separation - and her heart prompted her the only solution. Leaving the child with no hope of ever seeing him, Maria Volkonskaya understood: it is better to lie alive in the grave than to deprive her husband of consolation, and then incur the contempt of her son for this. She believes that the old general Raevsky, who during the war led his sons under bullets, will understand her decision.

Soon Maria Nikolaevna received a letter from the Tsar, in which he politely admired her determination, gave permission to leave for her husband and hinted that return was hopeless. Having prepared for the journey at three days, Volkonskaya spent her last night at her son’s cradle. Saying goodbye, her father, under threat of a curse, ordered her to return in a year.

Staying in Moscow for three days with her sister Zinaida, Princess Volkonskaya became the "heroine of the day", she was admired by poets, artists, and all the nobility of Moscow. At the farewell party, she met Pushkin, whom she had known since childhood. In those early years, they met in Gurzuf, and Pushkin even seemed to be in love with Masha Raevskaya - although who was he not in love with then! After that, he dedicated wonderful lines to her in Onegin. Now, at the meeting on the eve of Maria Nikolaevna's departure to Siberia, Pushkin was sad and depressed, but admired Volkonskaya's feat and blessed.

On the way, the princess met wagon trains, crowds of praying women, state-owned wagons, recruit soldiers; watched the usual scenes of station fights. Having left Kazan after the first halt, she fell into a snowstorm, spent the night in the foresters' lodge, the door of which was pressed down with stones - from bears. In Nerchinsk, Volkonskaya, to her joy, caught up with Princess Trubetskoy and learned from her that their husbands were being held in Blagodatsk. On the way there, the coachman told the women that he took the prisoners to work, that they joked, made each other laugh - apparently, they felt at ease.

While waiting for permission to visit her husband, Maria Nikolaevna found out where the prisoners were taken to work, and went to the mine. The sentry yielded to the woman's sobs and let her into the mine. Fate took care of her: past the pits and failures, she ran to the mine, where, among other convicts, the Decembrists worked. Trubetskoy was the first to see her, then Artamon Muravyov, the Borisovs, Prince Obolensky ran up; tears streamed down their faces. Finally, the princess saw her husband - and at the sound of a sweet voice, at the sight of the shackles on his hands, she realized how much he suffered. Kneeling down, she put shackles to her lips - and the whole mine froze, in holy silence sharing with Volkonsky the grief and happiness of the meeting.

The officer who was waiting for Volkonskaya scolded her in Russian, and her husband said after her in French: "See you, Masha, in prison! .."

Author of the retelling: T. A. Sotnikova

Part 1. ANNIVERSARY AND TRIUMPHANTS

“There were worse times, // But there were no mean ones,” the author reads about the 70s. XIX century To be convinced of this, he only needs to look into one of the expensive restaurants. Dignitaries have gathered in Hall No. 1: the administrator’s anniversary is being celebrated. One of the main advantages of the hero of the day is that he did not bring the population of the region entrusted to him to ruin. The “ascetic” did not steal government goods, and for this those gathered express deep gratitude to him.

In hall No. 2 the educator is honored. They present him with a portrait of Magnitsky, the famous trustee of the Kazan educational district, who became famous as a “suppressor of science” who proposed closing Kazan University.

In Hall No. 3, Prince Ivan is honored. The grandfather of the hero of the day was the jester of Queen Elizabeth, “he himself is absolutely nothing.” Prince Ivan is passionate about vaudeville and operetta, his only joy is visiting Buff.

In Hall No. 4 they say something about the Senate, but the main place here belongs to the sturgeon. In Hall No. 5, the “agronomic lunch” is combined with a meeting. The hero of the day devoted his leisure time to cattle breeding, thinking of being useful to the peasantry. But as a result of his many years of activity, he decided that the Russian people should be left “to their fate and to God.” For the anniversary, cattle breeder Kolenov was awarded a medal “For Jealousy and Diligence,” the awarding of which is now celebrated in the restaurant.

In Hall No. 6 the inventor of armadillos and grenades is honored. Those gathered know very well that the deadly weapon turned out to be worthless, and they even talk about it directly in their congratulatory speeches. But what need do they have for this? They are celebrating the inventor's anniversary...

Bibliophiles gathered in hall No. 7, and from there they immediately “smeared like dead bodies.” Mr. Old Testament reads an excerpt from the recently found travel notes of the young man Tyapushkin, who, “arriving in Irbit, was beaten by his uncle.” Those gathered admire the masterpiece, look at the manuscript through a magnifying glass and reflect on the fact that the colon over the i should be restored in Russia. Zosimus of the Old Testament admits that dead writers are much dearer to him than living ones. The celebration in this hall resembles a “feast of coffin openers.”

Kisses and exclamations of “Hurray!” can be heard from Hall No. 8. In Hall No. 9, students are encouraged to lead an independent life, exhorting them not to indulge in anarchic dreams,

In Hall No. 10, the omnipresent Prince Ivan raises a toast to the “king of the universe - jackpot.” In Hall No. 11, those gathered are touched by the activities of the philanthropist Marya Lvovna, whose calling is to “serve the people.” But the most fascinating conversation takes place in room No. 12: a society of gastronomes has gathered here, here “they give points to a pig when discussing wine,” here you can give your opinion about salad without risk.

Tragicomedy

In all halls, endless celebration and honoring continues, acquiring an increasingly phantasmagoric character. Savva Antikhristov delivers a speech in honor of Fyodor Shkurin, the foreman of the joint-stock company. In his youth, the “nugget-hare” pulled the bristles of pigs, subsequently bought the land from the landowner “to the last bream” and, working hard, became a railway magnate. To honor Shkurin came "persons of honor" in ranks and with orders, having shares in commercial firms; "plebeians" who have risen from the bottom and reached money and crosses; debt-ridden nobles ready to put their name on any paper; money changers, "aces-foreigners" and "pillars-cogwheels" nicknamed Zatsep and Savva.

The new speaker - the money changer - expresses the idea of ​​​​the need to establish a Central House of Tolerance and hopes to give this idea grandiose development. The pillar-hook agrees with the speaker’s thought: “What is considered shameful today // Will be rewarded with a crown tomorrow...”

Soon the speeches become less coherent, and the celebration turns into a run-of-the-mill drinking session. Prince Ivan follows with his gaze one of the “modern Mitrofans”, in whom the spirit of the times is visible: “He is a miser through cowardice, // Through ignorance he is shameless, // And through stupidity he is a scoundrel!” Those gathered condemn the press, lawyers, Austrians, the judicial investigation ... The fussy businessman passionately convinces the Jewish interest-bearer that with the brochure “On Interest” he declared his connection with literature and must now direct his talent to serving capital. The pawnbroker doubts his talent; he does not want to be known as a “substitute in literature.” But the businessman is sure that “nowadays there is a kingdom of fakes” and “capital rules the press.”

Prince Ivan ridicules Berka, a Jew who got rich on a profitable contract. He is convinced that the "Jew" is indifferent to Christian souls when he seeks a generalship.

Among the "plutocrats" renegade professors are especially noticeable. Their history is simple: up to the age of thirty they were honest workers of science, smashed the plutocracy, and it seemed that they could not be led astray by any money. Suddenly they embarked on stock market speculation, using their oratorical skills for this - "machine eloquence". Former scientists became talking machines, "preferring seductive metal to scientific glory"; they can speak without being embarrassed by contradictions in their own phrases. These people have brought the power of their knowledge to the aid of swindlers, they are ready to approve "any plan, shaky at its core", and humane ideas have not bothered them for a long time.

Eduard Ivanych Grosh is also noticeable among those gathered, who can generally be found in any meeting, with whom neither a telegraph nor newspaper news is needed. This person can squeeze a bribe anywhere and get everything: a mortgage, a pug, a husband, a summer house, a house, capital, even a Portuguese order.

In the midst of a merry feast, the drunk Pillar Hook suddenly begins to sob, calling himself a thief. But among the audience, his revelations evoke the same feeling as the cry of a hetaera, who, on the slope of prodigal days, suffers from the loss of virtue. Prince Ivan is sure that "now only those who have not stolen a million are yearning." He recalls the university teacher Schwabs, who inspired students with contempt for interest and capital, and then became the director of the loan office. He also recalls Count Tverdyshov, who always suffered about hungry peasants, and ended up laying an unnecessary road through wastelands, burdening the peasants with new taxes.

The Jews also reassure Zatsepa, convincing him that if there is money, there can be no trouble and danger. They are interrupted by a philosopher-orator, who raises a toast to "Russian unshakable honor", which, in his opinion, is to "cut the whole world close at once."

Having sobbed and philosophized to their heart's content, the heroes of time sit down at the card table.

Author of the retelling: T. A. Sotnikova

Who lives well in Rus'? Poem (1863 - 1877, unfinished)

One day, seven men—recent serfs, but now temporarily bound “from adjacent villages—Zaplatova, Dyryavina, Razutova, Znobishina, Gorelova, Neyolova, Neurozhaika, etc.—come together on a highway.” Instead of going their own way, the men start an argument about who lives happily and freely in Rus'. Each of them judges in his own way who is the main lucky person in Rus': a landowner, an official, a priest, a merchant, a noble boyar, a minister of sovereigns or a tsar.

During the argument, they do not notice that they gave a detour of thirty miles. Seeing that it is too late to return home, the men make a fire and continue the argument over vodka - which, of course, little by little turns into a fight. But even a fight does not help to resolve the issue that worries the men.

The solution is found unexpectedly: one of the peasants, Pahom, catches a warbler chick, and in order to free the chick, the warbler tells the peasants where they can find a self-assembled tablecloth. Now the peasants are provided with bread, vodka, cucumbers, kvass, tea - in a word, everything they need for a long journey. And besides, the self-assembled tablecloth will repair and wash their clothes! Having received all these benefits, the peasants give a vow to find out "who lives happily, freely in Rus'."

The first possible "lucky man" they met along the way is a priest. (It was not for the oncoming soldiers and beggars to ask about happiness!) But the priest's answer to the question of whether his life is sweet disappoints the peasants. They agree with the priest that happiness lies in peace, wealth and honor. But the pop does not possess any of these benefits. In haymaking, in stubble, in a dead autumn night, in severe frost, he must go where there are sick, dying and being born. And every time his soul hurts at the sight of grave sobs and orphan sorrow - so that his hand does not rise to take copper nickels - a miserable reward for the demand. The landlords, who formerly lived in family estates and got married here, baptized children, buried the dead, are now scattered not only in Rus', but also in distant foreign land; there is no hope for their reward. Well, about what honor the priest is, the peasants themselves know: it becomes embarrassing for them when the priest blames obscene songs and insults against priests.

Realizing that the Russian pop is not among the lucky ones, the peasants go to the festive fair in the trading village of Kuzminskoye to ask the people there about happiness. In a rich and dirty village there are two churches, a tightly boarded-up house with the inscription "school", a paramedic's hut, and a dirty hotel. But most of all in the village of drinking establishments, in each of which they barely manage to cope with the thirsty. Old man Vavila cannot buy his granddaughter goat's shoes, because he drank himself to a penny. It's good that Pavlusha Veretennikov, a lover of Russian songs, whom everyone calls "master" for some reason, buys a treasured gift for him.

Wandering peasants watch the farcical Petrushka, watch how the officers are picking up book goods - but by no means Belinsky and Gogol, but portraits of fat generals unknown to anyone and works about "my lord stupid." They also see how a busy trading day ends: rampant drunkenness, fights on the way home. However, the peasants are indignant at Pavlusha Veretennikov's attempt to measure the peasant by the master's measure. In their opinion, it is impossible for a sober person to live in Rus': he will not endure either overwork or peasant misfortune; without drinking, bloody rain would have poured out of the angry peasant soul. These words are confirmed by Yakim Nagoi from the village of Bosovo - one of those who "work to death, drink half to death." Yakim believes that only pigs walk the earth and do not see the sky for a century. During a fire, he himself did not save money accumulated over a lifetime, but useless and beloved pictures that hung in the hut; he is sure that with the cessation of drunkenness, great sadness will come to Rus'.

Wandering peasants do not lose hope of finding people who live well in Russia. But even for the promise to give water to the lucky ones for free, they fail to find those. For the sake of gratuitous booze, both an overworked worker, and a paralyzed former courtyard, who for forty years licked the master's plates with the best French truffle, and even ragged beggars are ready to declare themselves lucky.

Finally, someone tells them the story of Ermil Girin, a steward in the estate of Prince Yurlov, who has earned universal respect for his justice and honesty. When Girin needed money to buy the mill, the peasants lent it to him without even asking for a receipt. But Yermil is now unhappy: after the peasant revolt, he is in jail.

About the misfortune that befell the nobles after the peasant reform, the ruddy sixty-year-old landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev tells the peasant wanderers. He recalls how in the old days everything amused the master: villages, forests, fields, serf actors, musicians, hunters, who belonged undividedly to him. Obolt-Obolduev tells with emotion how on the twelfth holidays he invited his serfs to pray in the manor's house - despite the fact that after that they had to drive women from all over the estate to wash the floors.

And although the peasants themselves know that life in serf times was far from the idyll drawn by Obolduev, they nevertheless understand: the great chain of serfdom, having broken, hit both the master, who at once lost his usual way of life, and the peasant.

Desperate to find a happy man among the men, the wanderers decide to ask the women. The surrounding peasants recall that Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina lives in the village of Klin, whom everyone considers lucky. But Matrona herself thinks differently. In confirmation, she tells the wanderers the story of her life.

Before her marriage, Matryona lived in a non-drinking and prosperous peasant family. She married Philip Korchagin, a stove-maker from a foreign village. But the only happy night for her was that night when the groom persuaded Matryona to marry him; then the usual hopeless life of a village woman began. True, her husband loved her and beat her only once, but soon he went to work in St. Petersburg, and Matryona was forced to endure insults in her father-in-law's family. The only one who felt sorry for Matryona was grandfather Saveliy, who lived out his life in the family after hard labor, where he ended up for the murder of the hated German manager. Savely told Matryona what Russian heroism is: a peasant cannot be defeated, because he "bends, but does not break."

The birth of the first-born Demushka brightened up the life of Matryona. But soon her mother-in-law forbade her to take the child into the field, and old grandfather Savely did not follow the baby and fed him to the pigs. In front of Matryona, the judges who came from the city performed an autopsy of her child. Matryona could not forget her first child, although after she had five sons. One of them, the shepherd Fedot, once allowed a she-wolf to carry away a sheep. Matrena took upon herself the punishment assigned to her son. Then, being pregnant with her son Liodor, she was forced to go to the city to seek justice: her husband, bypassing the laws, was taken to the soldiers. Matryona was then helped by the governor Elena Alexandrovna, for whom the whole family is now praying.

By all peasant standards, the life of Matryona Korchagina can be considered happy. But it is impossible to tell about the invisible spiritual storm that passed through this woman - just like about unrequited mortal insults, and about the blood of the firstborn. Matryona Timofeevna is convinced that a Russian peasant woman cannot be happy at all, because the keys to her happiness and free will are lost from God himself.

In the midst of haymaking, wanderers come to the Volga. Here they witness a strange scene. A noble family swims up to the shore in three boats. The mowers, who have just sat down to rest, immediately jump up to show the old master their zeal. It turns out that the peasants of the village of Vakhlachina help the heirs to hide the abolition of serfdom from the landowner Utyatin, who has lost his mind. For this, the relatives of the Last Duck-Duck promise the peasants floodplain meadows. But after the long-awaited death of the Afterlife, the heirs forget their promises, and the whole peasant performance turns out to be in vain.

Here, near the village of Vahlachin, wanderers listen to peasant songs - corvée, hungry, soldier's, salty - and stories about serf times. One of these stories is about the serf of the exemplary Jacob the faithful. Yakov's only joy was to please his master, the petty landowner Polivanov. Samodur Polivanov, in gratitude, beat Yakov in the teeth with his heel, which aroused even greater love in the lackey's soul. By old age, Polivanov lost his legs, and Yakov began to follow him like a child. But when Yakov's nephew, Grisha, decided to marry the serf beauty Arisha, out of jealousy, Polivanov sent the guy to the recruits. Yakov began to drink, but soon returned to the master. And yet he managed to take revenge on Polivanov - the only way available to him, in a lackey way. Having brought the master into the forest, Yakov hanged himself right above him on a pine tree. Polivanov spent the night under the corpse of his faithful serf, driving away birds and wolves with groans of horror.

Another story - about two great sinners - is told to the peasants by God's wanderer Iona Lyapushkin. The Lord awakened the conscience of the ataman of the robbers Kudeyar. The robber prayed for sins for a long time, but all of them were released to him only after he killed the cruel Pan Glukhovsky in a surge of anger.

The wandering men also listen to the story of another sinner - Gleb the headman, who hid the last will of the late widower admiral for money, who decided to free his peasants.

But not only wandering peasants think about the happiness of the people. The son of a sacristan, seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov, lives in Vakhlachin. In his heart, love for the deceased mother merged with love for the whole of Vahlachina. For fifteen years, Grisha knew for sure whom he was ready to give his life, for whom he was ready to die. He thinks of all mysterious Russia as a miserable, abundant, powerful and powerless mother, and expects that the indestructible strength that he feels in his own soul will still be reflected in her. Such strong souls, like those of Grisha Dobrosklonov, the angel of mercy himself calls for an honest path. Fate prepares Grisha "a glorious path, a loud name of the people's intercessor, consumption and Siberia."

If the wandering men knew what was happening in the soul of Grisha Dobrosklonov, they would surely understand that they could already return to their native roof, because the goal of their journey had been achieved.

Author of the retelling: T. A. Sotnikova

<< Back: Alexey Feofilaktovich Pisemsky 1821-1881 (A Thousand Souls. Novel (1853-1858). Bitter Fate. Drama (1859))

>> Forward: Dmitry Vasilievich Grigorovich 1822-1899/1900 (Anton the Miserable. Tale (1847). Gutta-percha boy. Tale (1883))

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