Anton-Goremyka. Tale (1847)

Anton, a fifty-year-old serf peasant, lean and hunched, looking at the world of God with dull eyes, is busy preparing fuel for the winter.

Returning to his hut, Anton finds a guest there, a beggar old woman Arkharovna, who is not so much begging as looking out for good from the inhabitants of the village. Anton has to have dinner with one kvass and bread, but he does not grumble and still manages to give half of his share to the children. Rastabarivaya with his grandmother, Anton remembers his brother and son Arkharovna, who were taken to the soldiers - for a long time there is no news from them.

The man’s speeches are addressed not so much to the guest as to himself: how many times has he been thinking about his bitter life... The villain-manager is eating up his life, the time has come to pay the capitation, but not a half-ruble of money; Nikita Fedorych threatens to hand Anton over as a soldier, and then who will feed his wife and children?

Before Anton had time to leave the table, he was called to the manager. Nikita Fedorych, a stout and squat man, resembling a bulldog, menacingly meets the debtor and, not listening to his plaintive excuses, demands to sell the last horse in order to pay off the master.

No matter how she cries, no matter how her wife is killed, Anton has to go to the fair in the city and sell the nurse.

To top it off, Anton meets a miller on the road, whom he has been avoiding for a long time (and he owes the miller for grinding). The miller, of course, also demands his own.

At the fair, the already timid and intimidated peasant was completely at a loss. And then there are the gypsy horsemen and the swindlers who hunt near the horses (they pretend that they want to help Anton) completely confused the peasant's head. The day is wasted - Anton still does not dare to sell the peg, being afraid to sell too cheap.

Anton's new "friends" take him to spend the night at an inn, where they give him alcohol, who has become weak from fatigue and hunger... In the morning, the poor fellow discovers that his horse is missing.

The owner of the inn, who was in collusion with the robbers, demands that Anton pay for dinner and vodka. We have to give him the last sheepskin coat.

"Knowing people" advise Anton to go in search of a horse in one of the nearby villages, although they realize that without a ransom he will only knock down his legs in vain.

The advisers, comfortably seated on the bench, spend a long time discussing the misfortune that happened to Anton. Newly arrived guests listen to them, one of whom is familiar with the unfortunate woman. He explains the main reason for Anton's troubles. The manager disliked him, confident that the complaint to the master about Nikita Fedorych’s willfulness came from Anton.

While Anton is wandering through the impenetrable mud, Nikita Fedorych indulges himself with tea, feeds his already fat clumsy son and quarrels with his wife. The miller complains about the same Anton - he does not want to pay for the grinding.

Nikita Fedorych got along with the miller and was about to resume tea drinking, but then his wife attacked him with renewed vigor, not without reason suspecting that her husband was hiding the money received from the miller. Anton wanders for three days in search of a stolen nag along the chilly autumn country roads. In grief, he does not notice the freezing rain, nor fatigue, nor hunger and cold.

The search, as one would expect, is in vain. Almost unconscious, Anton returns early in the morning to his village and first of all goes to Nikita Fedorych. The guards won't let him in - the manager is still resting.

Like a madman, the unfortunate peasant runs home and runs into Arkharovna. He remembers the rumors that swept through the village about her hidden wealth, and Anton decides that she can help him out. "Help, if you want to save a Christian soul from sin - give me money!" he screams in utter despair.

The frightened old woman leads him into a ravine, in which, according to her, a small fraction of ruble coins is hidden in her egg-box.

However, in the ravine, Anton is grabbed by two hefty fellows. In one of them he recognizes his brother Yermolai. The other turns out to be the son of an old woman - and both of them are runaway soldiers, now earning their living by theft and robbery.

Yermolai tells how they robbed the merchant yesterday and promises to help his brother. You just need to go to the tavern first to meet.

A new misfortune awaits Anton in the tavern, worse than the previous ones. In the tavern, Yermolai and his partner are identified and detained, and together with them Anton is knitted as an accomplice.

A week after these events, almost the entire village people are crowding in the street. Everyone wants to see how the robbers are taken to prison. Onlookers are especially interested in heavy birch blocks that will stuff criminals on their feet.

The crowd is discussing Anton's fate and blaming him for all the thefts that happened in the area. “It’s clear that besides one’s own, there is no one to check who has what...”

Finally, a procession appears consisting of Nikita Fedorych, escort soldiers and prisoners. Anton, who comes last, is followed by his wife and children, roaring at the top of their voices. When it was Anton’s turn to fill the stocks, the poor fellow, “who had been sitting until now with a look of complete numbness, slowly raised his head, and tears began to fall in hail.”

Yermolai and Arkharovna's son swagger and joke in public, but in the end, Antonov's brother shouts to his fellow villagers without jokes: "Do not remember dashingly! Farewell, brothers, farewell, do not forget us!"

Carts with prisoners are approaching the outskirts, and, as if hiding them from human eyes, fluffy flakes of snow begin to cover the frozen ground, and the cold wind begins to blow even stronger.

And as soon as Nikita Fedorych escorts the departing with his eyes, pleased that he has finally finished with the "robbers".

Gutta-percha boy. Tale (1883)

Behind the scenes of the circus, artists are crowding, the people are cheerful and careless. Among them stands out a not too young bald man, whose face is heavily painted in white and red. This is Edwards the clown, entering a "period of boredom" followed by a period of heavy drinking. Edwards is the main decoration of the circus, his bait, but the behavior of the clown is unreliable, on any day he can break loose and drink.

The director asks Edwards to hold out for at least two more days, until the end of Shrove Tuesday, and then the circus will be closed for Lent.

The clown gets off with meaningless words and looks into the dressing room of the acrobat Becker, a rough muscular giant.

Edwards is not interested in Becker, but in his pet, a "gutta-percha boy", an assistant to an acrobat. The clown asks for permission to take a walk with him, proving to Becker that after rest and entertainment, the little artist will work better. Becker is always irritated by something and does not want to hear about it. And without that, a quiet and mute boy, he threatens with a whip.

The story of the "gutta-percha boy" was simple and sad. He lost his mother, an eccentric and overly loving cook, in the fifth year of his life. And with his mother, sometimes he had to starve and freeze, but he still did not feel lonely.

After the death of her mother, her compatriot, the washerwoman Varvara, arranged the fate of the orphan, having identified him as an apprentice to Becker. At the first meeting with Petya, Karl Bogdanovich roughly and painfully felt the boy stripped naked, frozen in pain and horror. No matter how much he cried, no matter how he clung to the hem of the laundress, Varvara gave him full possession of the acrobat.

Petya's first impressions of the circus, with its diversity and noise, were so strong that he cried out all night and woke up several times.

The teaching of acrobatic tricks was not easy for the frail boy. He fell, hurt himself, and not once did the stern giant cheer up Petya, caress him, and after all, the child was only eight years old. Only Edwards showed him how to perform this or that exercise, and Petya was drawn to him with all his heart.

Once a clown gave Petya a puppy, but the boy's happiness was short-lived. Becker grabbed the dog against the wall, and she immediately expired. At the same time, Petya also earned a slap in the face. In a word, Petya was "not so much a gutta-percha as an unhappy boy."

And in the children's rooms of Count Listomirov, a completely different atmosphere reigns. Everything here is adapted for the convenience and fun of children, whose health and mood are carefully monitored by a governess.

On one of the last days of Shrovetide, the count's children were especially lively. Still would! Aunt Sonya, their mother's sister, promised to take them to the circus on Friday.

Eight-year-old Verochka, six-year-old Zina, and a five-year-old chubby butuz nicknamed Paf are doing their best to earn the promised entertainment by exemplary behavior, but they cannot think of anything other than the circus. Gramoteika Verochka reads a circus poster to her sister and brother, in which they are especially intrigued by the gutta-percha boy. Time goes by very slowly for children.

Finally, the long-awaited Friday arrives. And now all the worries and fears are behind us. Children take their seats long before the show starts. They are all interested. With genuine delight, children look at the rider, the juggler and the clowns, looking forward to meeting the gutta-percha boy.

The second part of the program begins with the release of Becker and Petit. The acrobat attaches to his belt a heavy gilded pole with a small crossbar at the top. The end of the pole reaches right under the dome. The pole sways, the audience sees how difficult it is for the giant Becker to hold it. Petya climbs up the pole, now he is almost invisible. The audience applauds and starts shouting that the dangerous act should be stopped. But the boy must still hook his feet onto the crossbar and hang upside down.

He performs this part of the trick, when suddenly “something sparkled and spun <...> at the same second the dull sound of something falling into the arena was heard.”

The attendants and artists pick up the small body and quickly carry it away. The orchestra plays a cheerful tune, clowns run out, somersaulting...

The frustrated audience begins to crowd to the exits. Vera hysterically screams and sobs: "Ay, boy! boy!"

At home, children can hardly be calmed and put to bed. At night, Aunt Sonya looks in on Verochka and sees that her sleep is restless, and a tear has dried on her cheek.

And in a dark deserted circus on a mattress lies a child tied with rags with broken ribs and a broken chest.

From time to time, Edward appears from the darkness and bends over the little acrobat. It is felt that the clown has already entered the binge period, it is not for nothing that an almost emptied decanter can be seen on the table.

Everything around is plunged into darkness and silence. The next morning, the number of the "gutta-percha boy" was not indicated on the poster - he was no longer in the world.

Author of the retelling: V. P. Meshcheryakov

<< Back: Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov 1821-1877/78 (Sasha. Poem (1856). Frost, Red Nose. Poem (1863-1864). Russian women. Poem (1871-1872). Contemporaries. Satirical poem (1875-1876). Who lives well in Rus'. Poem (1863- 1877, unfinished))

>> Forward: Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky 1823-1886 (Let's count our own people. Comedy (1850). Profitable place. Comedy (1857). Thunderstorm. Drama (1859). For every wise man there is enough simplicity. Comedy (1868). Forest. Comedy (1871). The Snow Maiden. A spring tale in four actions with a prologue. Fairy tale play (1873). Wolves and sheep. Comedy (1875). Dowry. Drama (1879). Guilty without guilt. Comedy (1884))

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