Famous tales of Saltykov Shchedrin. "Fairy tales" by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, the formation of the genre. creative story. perception

22.04.2019

Saltykov-Shchedrin (pseudonym - N. Shchedrin) Mikhail Evgrafovich- Russian satirist writer.

Born in the village of Spas-Ugol, Tver province, into an old noble family. His childhood years were spent on his father's family estate in "... the years... of the very height of serfdom", in one of the remote corners of "Poshekhonye". Observations of this life will subsequently be reflected in the writer’s books.

Having received a good education at home, Saltykov at the age of 10 was accepted as a boarder at the Moscow Noble Institute, where he spent two years, then in 1838 he was transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Here he began to write poetry, having been greatly influenced by the articles of Belinsky and Herzen, and the works of Gogol.

In 1844, after graduating from the Lyceum, he served as an official in the office of the War Ministry. “...Everywhere there is duty, everywhere there is coercion, everywhere there is boredom and lies...” - this is how he described bureaucratic Petersburg. Another life was more attractive to Saltykov: communication with writers, visiting Petrashevsky’s “Fridays,” where philosophers, scientists, writers, and military men gathered, united by anti-serfdom sentiments and the search for the ideals of a just society.

Saltykov's first stories "Contradictions" (1847), "Confused Affair" (1848) with their acute social issues attracted the attention of the authorities, frightened French revolution 1848. The writer was exiled to Vyatka for “... a harmful way of thinking and a destructive desire to spread ideas that have already shaken the whole of Western Europe...”. For eight years he lived in Vyatka, where in 1850 he was appointed to the position of adviser to the provincial government. This made it possible to often go on business trips and observe the bureaucratic world and peasant life. The impressions of these years will influence the satirical direction of the writer’s work.

At the end of 1855, after the death of Nicholas I, having received the right to “live wherever he wishes,” he returned to St. Petersburg and resumed literary work. In 1856 - 1857, “Provincial Sketches” were written, published on behalf of the “court adviser N. Shchedrin,” who became known throughout reading Russia, which named him Gogol’s heir.

At this time, he married the 17-year-old daughter of the Vyatka vice-governor, E. Boltina. Saltykov sought to combine the work of a writer with public service. In 1856 - 1858 he was an official of special assignments in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where work on preparing the peasant reform was concentrated.

In 1858 - 1862 he served as vice-governor in Ryazan, then in Tver. I always tried to surround myself at my place of work with honest, young and educated people, firing bribe-takers and thieves.

During these years, stories and essays appeared (“Innocent Stories”, 1857㬻 “Satires in Prose”, 1859 - 62), as well as articles on the peasant question.

In 1862, the writer retired, moved to St. Petersburg and, at the invitation of Nekrasov, joined the editorial staff of the Sovremennik magazine, which at that time was experiencing enormous difficulties (Dobrolyubov died, Chernyshevsky was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress). Saltykov took on a huge amount of writing and editing work. But he paid most attention to the monthly review “Our Social Life,” which became a monument to Russian journalism of the 1860s.

In 1864 Saltykov left the editorial office of Sovremennik. The reason was internal disagreements on the tactics of social struggle in the new conditions. He returned to government service.

In 1865 - 1868 he headed the State Chambers in Penza, Tula, Ryazan; observations of the life of these cities formed the basis of “Letters about the Province” (1869). The frequent change of duty stations is explained by conflicts with the heads of the provinces, at whom the writer “laughed” in grotesque pamphlets. After a complaint from the Ryazan governor, Saltykov was dismissed in 1868 with the rank of full state councilor. He moved to St. Petersburg and accepted N. Nekrasov’s invitation to become co-editor of the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, where he worked from 1868 to 1884. Saltykov now switched entirely to literary activity. In 1869 he wrote “The History of a City” - the pinnacle of his satirical art.

In 1875 - 1876 he was treated abroad, visited countries Western Europe V different years life. In Paris he met with Turgenev, Flaubert, Zola.

In the 1880s, Saltykov's satire reached its climax in its anger and grotesquery: "Modern Idyll" (1877 - 83); "Messrs. Golovlevs" (1880); "Poshekhonsky stories" (1883㭐).

In 1884, the journal Otechestvennye zapiski was closed, after which Saltykov was forced to publish in the journal Vestnik Evropy.

IN last years During his life, the writer created his masterpieces: "Fairy Tales" (1882 - 86); "Little things in life" (1886 - 87); autobiographical novel"Poshekhon antiquity" (1887 - 89).

A few days before his death, he wrote the first pages of a new work, “Forgotten Words,” where he wanted to remind the “motley people” of the 1880s about the words they had lost: “conscience, fatherland, humanity... others are still out there...”.

M. Saltykov-Shchedrin died in St. Petersburg.

"FAIRY TALES" by M. E. SALTYKOV-SHCHEDRIN

Formation of the genre. Creative story. Perception

A. S. Bushmin, V. N. Baskakov

“Fairy Tales” is one of the most striking creations and the most widely read of Saltykov’s books. Various assumptions have been made about the motives that prompted Saltykov to write fairy tales. The earliest and most naive attempts are to explain the appearance of fairy tales by private factors in the writer’s personal biography: or by bouts of painful illness that prevented him from concentrating his thoughts on more complex creative work.

Having nevertheless decided to complete the planned cycle of fairy tales, Saltykov actually resorted to “breaking” within the genre, which had a very noticeable effect on “Chizhikov Mountain” - the first fairy tale written after the closure of “Otechestvennye Zapiski” and published in December 1884 in “Russians” statements." The tale is a satire on a bourgeois-noble family. Saltykov was not happy with the fairy tale. “I feel,” he wrote to Sobolevsky on January 9, 1885, “that two or three “Chizhikov’s grief” - and the reputation of my fairy tales will be significantly undermined. Feoktistov, perhaps, was telling the truth that particular affairs are not at all suitable for me” (XX, 122). And after “Chizhikov’s Grief,” Saltykov continues to work intensively on fairy tales (“Such a verse attacked me,” he wrote on January 9, 1885 to V. M. Sobolevsky). But, enhancing their fantastic flavor, he abandons “particular” plots as, in his opinion, weakening the power of satire.

Many fairy tales encountered censorship obstacles when going to press, which affected the timing of their publication and obligated the author to make some mitigating amendments. For the legal publication of “The Crow the Petitioner,” which had undergone two years of ordeal, it was necessary to tone down a number of the most sensitive passages, and it appeared only on the eve of Saltykov’s death. The fairy tales “The Bear in the Voivodeship”, “Dried Roach”, “The Eagle Patron” and “The Bogatyr” during the author’s lifetime could not break through censorship barriers at all.

The censorship history of fairy tales testifies to Saltykov’s exceptional ideological fortitude. Of course, some muting of the ideological sharpness of the works was inevitable. However, the writer’s desire to overcome censorship obstacles by means of allegorical skill remained constant.

Censorship delays and prohibitions determined the extent of the underground distribution of fairy tales in Russia and their reproduction in the foreign emigrant press. The range of fairy tales illegally printed or published abroad is limited to eight works that have experienced censorship persecution to varying degrees. These are “The Wise Minnow”, “Selfless Hare”, “Poor Wolf”, “Virtues and Vices”, “Bear in the Voivodeship”, “Deceitful Newsboy and gullible reader", "Dried roach", "Eagle Patron".

In Russia, fairy tales were distributed in small editions in lithographed and hectographed editions, carried out by the Flying Hectograph of the People's Party, the General Student Union, and the hectograph “Public Benefit.” They were usually printed from lists or from uncorrected proofs of Otechestvennye Zapiski, and therefore contained a large number of errors and deviations from the final text of the tale. The first brochures entitled “Fairy Tales for Children” were published in 1883 by the free hectograph “Public Benefit”. of considerable age. M.E. Saltykov", including " The wise minnow", "Selfless Hare", "Poor Wolf". This publication was published eight times during 1883 (before the publication of fairy tales in Otechestvennye zapiski) in different formats (six times with an indication of the release date and two times without an indication). The publication was distributed by members of Narodnaya Volya, as evidenced by the seal (“Book Agents of Narodnaya Volya”) on a number of surviving copies. One of the publications with a date of release, unlike all the others, contains only one fairy tale - “The Most Muddy Minnow”.

This was followed by illegal editions of fairy tales, removed by Saltykov from the proofs of the February issue of Otechestvennye Zapiski for 1884. In the spring and summer of 1884, two illegal publications appeared in Moscow, reproducing the fairy tales “The Bear in the Voivodeship” and “Virtues and Vices” based on uncorrected proofs "Domestic Notes". The first of them, printed by the Flying Hectograph of the People's Party, had the title “New Tales of Shchedrin.” It appeared, apparently, at the beginning of May 1884: under the handwritten text of the fairy tales, the signature is “Shchedrin” and the date is “April 29, 1884.” In the same year, two editions of a lithographed publication appeared under the title “(New) Fairy Tales for Children of a Fair Age. Shchedrin”, carried out by the General Student Union. In the first issue, “Virtues and Vices” and “Bear in the Voivodeship” were published, in the second - “Dried Roach” and “Deceitful Newspaper Man and Gullible Reader.” In 1892, which by that time had not been authorized for printing, appeared as a separate hectographed edition of “Dried Roach” note_272, and in 1901 - “Eagle the Patron”. The latest edition was carried out “in favor of the Kyiv Fund for Assistance to Political Exiles and Red Cross Prisoners” note_273.

Of particular interest is the second edition of “Fairy Tales for Children of a Fair Age,” lithographed in 1884 in Moscow by the General Student Union and including the fairy tales “Dried Roach” and “The Deceiver Newspaper Man and the Gullible Reader.” This issue, very rare (only four copies are known), attracts attention with its design and preface, entitled “To Russian Society from the Moscow Central Circle of the General Student Union.” Cover drawing by unknown artist, is a half-open curtain. On its closed part the title of the collection, the author's surname and imprint are indicated, while the slightly open part presents the reader with the behind-the-scenes side of autocratic reality: here is the site where the quarterly delivers the "unwell-intentioned" by the collar, the editorial office of the newspaper "Slops", representatives of the emerging bourgeoisie, captured by the writer in the images The Derunovs and Razuvaevs, the peasant they robbed, one of Shchedrin’s “scoundrels” scribbling a denunciation, in the very corner is a character from the fairy tale “The Sane Hare,” and next to them a policeman in full form and the pig helping him, grabbing the raised part of the curtain, tries to lower it so that the reader does not see the ugliness of the reality opening before him. Reflecting the close connection and interweaving of Shchedrin's satire with modern reality, the artist at the same time emphasized its revolutionary role and the fear of it by the ruling classes in Russia. This same idea is reinforced by a short preface, which talks about the attitude of Russian society to the closure of Otechestvennye Zapiski and calls for a fight against the oppressors.

Saltykov-Shchedrin's "Fairy Tales" played a huge role in revolutionary propaganda, and in this respect they stand out among all other works of the satirist. As evidenced by numerous memoirs of leaders of the revolutionary populist movement, the satirist’s fabulous miniatures were a constant and effective ideological weapon in their revolutionary practice note_274. Frequent appeals of populist propaganda to the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin are predetermined by their social acuity and power psychological impact on the reader. Moreover, he had at his disposal mainly prohibited fairy tales, which had a strong impact on the masses from the point of view of instilling hatred towards the autocratic serfdom system and its moral, social and everyday way of life. Saltykov’s “fairy tales” “had a revolutionaryizing influence,” recalled P. R. Rovensky, a participant in the populist movement note_275. And this influence was deep and lasting. Reading the later written memoirs of the populists, we grasp many of the nuances of their relationship to the legacy of Saltykov-Shchedrin and are once again convinced of the enduring significance that his works - and first of all "Fairy Tales" - played in the revolutionary development of Russian society.

Foreign publications of fairy tales were initially carried out on the pages of the newspaper “Common Cause”, published in Geneva with the direct participation of N. A. Belogolovy, one of the writer’s closest friends. “The Wise Minnow”, “Selfless Hare”, “Poor Wolf”, “Virtues and Vices”, “Bear in the Voivodeship (Toptygin 1st)”, “Dried Roach”, “Eagle Patron” were published here. Soon after the newspaper publication, these works were published by M. Elpidin's publishing house in Geneva in the form of collections and separate brochures.

As in the Russian illegal press, the first booklet published in Geneva in 1883 was “Three Fairy Tales for Children of a Fair Age. N. Shchedrin”, containing “The Wise Minnow”, “The Selfless Hare” and “The Poor Wolf”. Subsequently, this brochure was republished by M. Elpidin in 1890 and 1895, and in 1903 it was published in Berlin by G. Steinitz as the 69th issue of the “Collection of the best Russian works.”

In 1886, the publishing house of M. Elpidin published a second collection entitled “New fairy tales for children of a fair age. N. Shchedrin." It included “Virtues and Vices”, “Bear in the Voivodeship” and “Dried Roach”. In the 90s a photomechanical reproduction of this collection appeared twice (in 1893; the third edition was published without a year). In 1903, G. Steinitz published this brochure in Berlin as the 72nd issue of the “Collection of the Best Russian Works.” Simultaneously with this publication, in 1886, the Elpidina publishing house published the fairy tale “The Eagle Patron” as a separate brochure. This tale was written in 1891 and 1898. was republished by Elpidin, and in 1904 it was included in the brochure “Three Revolutionary Satires” (“Collection of the best Russian works”, issue 77), published in Berlin by G. Steinitz; in Berlin, a year earlier, I. Rade carried out a separate publication of the fairy tale “The Bear on voivodeship."

Saltykov did not manage to write all of the tales planned for the cycle. From the letters of Saltykov, the memoirs of Belogolov and L.F. Panteleev, the titles and partly the content of unrealized fairy tales are known. Saltykov reported to Nekrasov about the first of them on May 22, 1869: “I want to write children's story entitled: “The Tale of How a Sexton Wanted to Concelebrate the Bishop’s Service,” and dedicate it to Ant(onovich)” (XVIII, book 2, p. 26). On February 8, 1884, he wrote to Mikhailovsky: “It’s terribly offensive: I was planning to write a fairy tale called “The Motley People” (there is already a hint about this in the fairy tale “Dried Roach”), when suddenly I see that Uspensky is treating the same subject! note_276. Well, I’ll take mine not today, but tomorrow” (XIX, book 2, p. 279). The concept of the fairy tale was transformed into the last of the “Motley Letters” in 1886.

On May 13, 1885, Saltykov informed Sobolevsky that he was writing a new fairy tale“Dogs”, which he plans to send soon to “Russian Vedomosti”. The tale, obviously, was not written, since no further mentions of it are found in Saltykov’s letters (XX, 181, 182).

As Belogolovy testifies, in mid-1885, simultaneously with “The Bogatyr,” Saltykov decided to write two more fairy tales – “The Forgotten Balalaika” and “The Sun and the Pigs,” “but both of these fairy tales had not yet been sufficiently thought out by him” note_277. In the first of them, as the memoirist points out, Saltykov wanted to present the ideologist of late Slavophilism I. S. Aksakov. In the second, the satirist apparently intended to develop the idea of dramatic scene, which under the title “The Triumphant Pig, or the Conversation of a Pig with the Truth” was included in the sixth chapter of the essays “Abroad”. Let us recall that the pig begins his attack on the Truth by denying the existence of the sun in the sky, declaring: “But in my opinion, all these suns are one false teaching.” It is known that reactionaries usually called the ideas of democracy and socialism “false teaching.” Apparently, Saltykov intended to dedicate the fairy tale “The Sun and the Pigs” to the defense of precisely these ideas.

The sixth of the fairy tales unrealized by the satirist is about an exiled revolutionary who, despite all the persecution, remains adamant in his convictions. From Saltykov’s letters it is known that in 1875-1876. he was going to write the story "Lousy" - about tragic fate and the courage of a revolutionary, the prototype of which should have been “Chernyshevsky or Petrashevsky.” Cycle " Cultured people", for which the story was designed, remained unfinished. Ten years later, Saltykov wanted to dedicate a fairy tale to the same topic and spoke about it to Panteleev as “almost ready”: “I bring out a person who lives in big city, takes a conscious and active part in the course of public life, she influences him and suddenly, by magic, she finds herself among the Siberian deserts. At first, she lives by the continuation of those interests that just yesterday worried her, she feels as if in an environment of battling passions; but gradually the images begin to move into the distance; some kind of fog descends, the outlines of the past barely appear, finally everything disappears, dead silence reigns. Only occasionally, on an impenetrable night, is the ringing of the bell of a passing troika heard, and the words reach him: “Are you still not reformed?” "note_278. The idea of a fairy tale about a political exile was not realized, obviously, primarily due to censorship difficulties, but certain motives This idea was reflected in the fairy tales “The Fool” and “The Adventure with Kramolnikov.”

The table below contains information about the appearance of fairy tales in the Russian legal, illegal and emigrant press note_279.

1. The story of how one man fed two generals/OZ. 1869. No. 2

2. Conscience/OZ is gone. 1869. No. 2

3. Wild landowner/OZ. 1869. No. 3

4. Toy business people/OZ. 1880.№1

5. Wise minnow/OZ. 1884. No. 1/"Fairy tales for children of a fair age" (1883)/OD. 1883, September

6. Selfless hare/OZ. 1884. No. 1/"Fairy tales for children of a fair age" (1883)/OD. 1883, September

8. Crucian idealist/Sat. "XXV years". (SPb., 1884) / "Fairy tales for children of a fair age" (1883) / OD. 1883, September

9. Virtues and vices / Sat. "XXV years". (SPb., 1884)/"New Tales of Shchedrin" (1884)/OD. 1884, November

10. The deceiving newspaperman and the gullible reader/Sb. "XXV years". (SPb., 1884) / "(New fairy tales for children of a fair age. Shchedrin" (M., 1884. Issue 2) / OD. 1884, November

26. Hyena/Sat. "23 Tales" (St. Petersburg, 1886)

28. Raven-petitioner/Sat. "In memory of V.M. Garshin" (St. Petersburg, 1889)

32. Dried roach/Full. collection op. in 20 volumes (M., 1937. T. 16)/"(New fairy tales for children of a fair age. Shchedrin"/"(New fairy tales for children of a fair age. N. Shchedrin" (Geneve. 1886)

Censorship persecution did not allow the satirist to give a complete set of his tales. In September 1886, the first edition of the collection of fairy tales, “23 Tales,” appeared, and in October 1887, the second edition, supplemented by “A Christmas Tale,” appeared. These collections did not include eight fairy tales. Saltykov did not include three fairy tales from 1869 (“The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals”, “The Lost Conscience”, “The Wild Landowner”) because they had already been published three times and last time in a book that has not yet been sold out note_280. Five fairy tales that did not receive censorship permission were also not included in the collection (“The Bear in the Voivodeship,” “The Eagle Patron,” “Dried Roach,” “The Crow Petitioner,” “The Bogatyr”).

The publication of fairy tales in cheap brochures intended for mass distribution among the people. The censorship allowed the book “23 Fairy Tales” in two editions, and prohibited the publication of the same fairy tales, but in separate brochures. At first glance, the actions of the censorship authorities seem inconsistent, but a closer acquaintance with the surviving records shows the opposite. The journal of the St. Petersburg Censorship Committee dated April 15, 1887 reports that “Mr. Saltykov’s intention to publish some of his fairy tales in separate brochures costing no more than three kopecks, and therefore for common people, more than strange. What Mr. Saltykov calls fairy tales does not at all correspond to its name; his fairy tales are the same satire, and the satire is caustic, tendentious, more or less directed against our social and political structure. In them, not only vices are ridiculed, but also established authorities, and higher classes, and established national habits. These tales, appearing from time to time in periodicals, constantly raise doubts among the authorities monitoring the press about whether they should be banned. And this is the kind of work Mr. Saltykov wants to propagate among the simple, uneducated population. This is not the kind of food the common people need, whose morality is already God knows how stable it is.” note_281. The conclusion of the censorship committee indicates that the authorities perfectly understood the revolutionary influence of Shchedrin’s works, including fairy tales, on the broad masses of Russian society and tried by all means to weaken this influence and prevent the dissemination of fairy tales in large circulations of cheap publications.

IN recent months life Saltykov was preparing for publication a collection of his works, in which he intended to give a complete cycle of fairy tales. However, this time, too, in volume VIII of the Collected Works, published in 1889, after the author’s death, only twenty-eight works of the fairy-tale cycle were placed - “The Tale of That...”, “Conscience Lost” and “Wild Landowner” were added, but Of the fairy tales that had not been previously censored, only “The Petitioner Raven” was included here, which by this time had nevertheless managed to be published in the collection “In Memory of Garshin.” The fairy tales “The Bear in the Voivodeship”, “The Eagle Patron” and “Dried Roach”, distributed in Russian and foreign underground publications, were legally published in Russia only in 1906, in the fifth edition Full meeting works of Saltykov, published by A.F. Marx (appendix to Niva). The fairy tale “The Bogatyr” was lost in the writer’s archive and was first published only in 1922, and added to the collection of fairy tales in 1927 note_282. Thus, the fairy tale cycle, created in 1869-1886, in its entirety became available to the reader only forty years after its completion.

Literature about Saltykov-Shchedrin, exciting wide circle issues related to his social, artistic, literary-critical and journalistic practice are extensive. Since the appearance of “Provincial Sketches,” criticism has closely followed the development of the satirist’s work. True, the value of the lifetime literature about him is insignificant. The only exceptions are articles by Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov about “ Provincial essays", which have enduring scientific significance, and partly articles by N. K. Mikhailovsky about the works created by the writer in the 70s and 80s.

Liberal-populist criticism that dominated the heyday literary activity writer, did not put forward such representatives who would be able to give a deep and correct interpretation of the revolutionary-democratic satire of Saltykov-Shchedrin. Critical thought 1870-80s. realized the futility of her attempts to penetrate the secrets of Shchedrin’s satire, to explain its true meaning and role in social and social development. One of its prominent representatives, A. M. Skabichevsky, wrote: “Such powerful writers as Shchedrin require critics equal to them in magnitude, and, to the greatest regret, Shchedrin is unlikely to receive such a correct and deep assessment during his lifetime. deserves it. In this respect, he shares the same fate with Gogol, who still remains unexamined and not fully appreciated. And yet - for such talents the Belinskys and Dobrolyubovs are required" note_283.

Current Russian criticism has lightly touched upon fairy tales, but to evaluate them at their true worth, to reveal their ideological and artistic aspects I could not. True, these satirical miniatures, appearing at the time of the most severe reaction of the 80s, immediately took their place in the revolutionary-democratic and literary-social movement, they were closely followed by all of advanced Russia, reading them in legal newspapers and magazines, getting acquainted with them in lists, hectographed editions and thin Elpidin brochures with prohibited works of the cycle. The role of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tales in the spiritual life of the society of that time was, first of all, that they instilled hatred of autocracy and serfdom, awakened the people’s self-awareness, and affirmed their faith in a bright future. In order to understand the peculiarities of the existence of Shchedrin’s fairy tales in Russian society of that time, it is necessary to consider the most significant moments of this process associated with the speeches of Saltykov’s contemporary (lifetime) criticism - bourgeois-liberal and populist criticism.

The perception of Shchedrin's fairy tales by current Russian criticism is largely due to the nature of their publication: they were published as separate satirical miniatures, for the reader and critics not yet united by a common thought (this will become clear later), and for the writer himself, not yet formed into a single fairy tale cycle, breaking which was produced repeatedly during the process of its creation. Therefore, the critic took a wait-and-see attitude, considering the tales appearing in different publications as individual performances of the satirist, carried out outside the usual cycles for Saltykov. Therefore, during the period of the most intensive work on fairy tales in the Russian press, the “Poshekhonsky Stories”, “Motley Letters” and “Little Things in Life” published at the same time were considered more often and more consistently than the fairy tales that appeared from time to time. The breakdown associated with censorship circumstances and the closure of Otechestvennye Zapiski led to the fact that one of the most outstanding and, in terms of its character, final cycle in the satirist’s work received the slightest reflection in criticism. The rare reviews that appeared in various magazines and newspapers were most often of a review and informational nature and the ideological and aesthetic content of fairy tales; their role in social and revolutionary reality was almost not touched upon.

The process of perception of fairy tales by Russian criticism begins in 1869, when the first fairy tales appeared. However, criticism was not immediately able to discern their social meaning and see in the fairy tales “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals,” “Conscience Lost,” and “The Wild Landowner” as the beginning of a new satirical cycle in the writer’s work. Focusing on the general title (“For Children”), critics for the most part viewed the first fairy tales as works truly intended for children, works full of humor and belonging to a writer whose talent “has not yet faded and, perhaps, has not weakened, it still has there is no tension visible, which is so noticeable in our other accusers or laughers” note_284. Attributing Saltykov to the “exposers” and “laugh-makers” is an attempt to obscure the true meaning of the great social and political satire, contained in these works. True, with the appearance of the entire cycle in print, criticism realized that the purpose of the first fairy tales “for children” was only a witty cover that allowed Saltykov to touch upon the most serious social and public problems in these works. “It goes without saying,” a critic of “Russian Thought” wrote in 1887, “that these fairy tales were not written for children at all, and some of them are far too tough for many adults” note_285. However, it is still impossible to judge the perception of fairy tales by Russian society based on responses to their first examples, because the main works of the cycle are ahead and the opinion about them will be formed by criticism of the second half of the 80s. However, “will be formed” is said, perhaps, not entirely accurately, because no serious works on fairy tales appeared in Russian criticism of that time, not a single large article about them.

"Domestic sheep have lived in human enslavement since time immemorial; their real ancestors are unknown." - Bram

Whether domestic sheep were ever “free” - history is silent about this. In the deepest antiquity, the patriarchs already owned herds of tamed rams, and then, through all the centuries, the ram spreads across the entire face of the earth as an animal, as if created deliberately for the needs of man. Man, in turn, creates entire special breeds of sheep that have almost nothing in common with each other. Some are raised for meat, others for lard, others for warm sheepskins, and others for abundant and soft waves.

Another animal would probably be touched by the hare’s selflessness, would not limit himself to a promise, but would now have mercy. But of all the predators found in temperate and northern climates, the wolf is the least susceptible to generosity.

However, it is not of his own free will that he is so cruel, but because his complexion is tricky: he cannot eat anything except meat. And in order to get meat food, he cannot do otherwise than deprive a living creature of life. In a word, he undertakes to commit crime, robbery.

In a certain kingdom, a hero was born. Baba Yaga gave birth to him, gave him water, fed him, groomed him, and when he Kolomna verst grew up, she retired to the desert, and she let him go in all four directions: “Go, Bogatyr, accomplish feats!”

Of course, first of all, Bogatyr hit the forest; he sees one oak tree standing - he uprooted it; he sees another one standing - he smashes him in half with his fist; he sees the third one standing and there is a hollow in it - Bogatyr climbed into the hollow and fell asleep.

The green oak tree mother moaned from his rolling snores; Fierce animals ran out of the forest, feathered birds flew; The goblin himself was so frightened that he took the goblin with her cubs in his arms - and was gone.

Trezorka served as a watchman at the storehouse of the Moscow 2nd guild of the merchant Vorotilov and guarded the owner's property with a vigilant eye. Never left the kennel; I didn’t even really see Zhivoderka, on which the storage shed stood: from morning to evening she’s jumping on a chain and getting flooded! Caveant consules! [Let the consuls be vigilant! (lat.)]

And he was wise, he never barked at his own people, but always at strangers. It used to be that the master's coachman would steal oats - Trezorka would wag his tail and think: “How much does a coachman need!” And if a passer-by happens to be walking past the yard on his business, Trezorka will hear somewhere else: “Oh, fathers, thieves!”

The merchant Vorotilov saw Trezorkin’s service and said: “There is no price for this dog!” And if he happened to walk past a dog’s kennel in the storage shed, he would certainly say: “Give Trezorka some slop!” And Trezorka crawls out of her skin with delight: “We’re glad to try, your lordship!

The old raven's whole heart ached. They are exterminating the crow family: whoever is not too lazy, everyone beats it. And at least for the sake of profit, or just for fun. And the crow itself became faint-hearted. There is no mention of the former prophetic croaking; The crows will shower the birch tree in a crowd and shout in vain: “Here we are!” Naturally, now - poof! - and a dozen or two in the flock were gone. The old, free food was also gone. The forests all around were cut down, the swamps were dried up, the animals were driven away - there is no way to feed yourself honestly. Crows began to scurry around vegetable gardens, orchards, and farmyards. And for this again - poof! - and again a dozen or two in the flock were gone! It’s good that crows are fertile, otherwise who would pay tribute to a gyrfalcon, a hawk, or a golden eagle?

He, the old man, will begin to exhort his younger brothers: “Don’t croak in vain! Don’t fly through other people’s gardens!” - Yes, only one answer is heard: “You, old horseradish, don’t understand new things! It’s impossible, in today’s time, not to steal.

The roach was caught, the insides were cleaned (only the milk was left for the offspring) and hung on a string in the sun: let it dry out. The roach hung there for a day or two, and on the third the skin on its belly wrinkled, its head dried out, and the brain that was in its head faded away and became flabby.

Take a look at any Zoology and look closely at the image of a hyena. Her muzzle, pointed downwards, does not speak of guile, nor of trickery, nor, nevertheless, of cruelty, but even seems pretty.

She makes this good impression thanks to her small eyes, in which favor shines. Other sharp-snouts have clear, quick, shiny eyes, a hard, carnivorous gaze; she has languid, moist eyes, a friendly gaze, inviting trust. Priests have such tender eyes when they gather, ad majorem Dei gloriam [to the greater glory of God (lat.)], to search the conscience of the flock.

In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a landowner, he lived and looked at the light and rejoiced. He had enough of everything: peasants, bread, livestock, land, and gardens. And that landowner was stupid, he read the newspaper “Vest*” and his body was soft, white and crumbly.

"Domestic sheep have lived in human enslavement since time immemorial; their real ancestors are unknown." - Bram

In a certain kingdom, a hero was born. Baba Yaga gave birth to him, gave him water, fed him, groomed him, and when he grew up about a mile away from Kolomna, she herself retired into the desert, and let him go on all four sides: “Go, Bogatyr, accomplish feats!”

Take a look at any Zoology and look closely at the image of a hyena. Her muzzle, pointed downwards, does not speak of guile, nor of trickery, nor, nevertheless, of cruelty, but even seems pretty.