My grandmother sent me to the ridge to buy strawberries along with the neighbor kids. She promised: if I get a full tuesk, she will sell my berries along with hers and buy me a “horse gingerbread”. A gingerbread in the form of a horse with a mane, tail and hooves covered in pink icing ensured the honor and respect of the boys of the entire village and was their cherished dream.
I went to Uval together with the children of our neighbor Levontius, who worked in logging. About once every fifteen days, “Levonty received money, and then in the neighboring house, where there were only children and nothing else, a feast began,” and Levonty’s wife ran around the village and paid off debts. On such days, I made my way to my neighbors by all means. Grandma wouldn't let me in. “There’s no point in eating these proletarians,” she said. At Levontius’s place I was willingly received and pitied as an orphan. The money the neighbor earned ran out quickly, and Vasyon’s aunt again ran around the village, borrowing money.
The Levontiev family lived poorly. There was no housekeeping around their hut; they even washed with their neighbors. Every spring they surrounded the house with a miserable tine, and every autumn it was used for kindling. To his grandmother’s reproaches, Levontii, a former sailor, replied that he “loves the settlement.”
With the Levontiev “eagles” I went to the ridge, to earn money for a horse with pink mane. I had already picked several glasses of strawberries when the Levontiev guys started a fight - the eldest noticed that the others were picking berries not in dishes, but in their mouths. As a result, all the prey was scattered and eaten, and the guys decided to go down to the Fokinskaya River. It was then that they noticed that I still had strawberries. Levontiev’s Sanka “weakly” encouraged me to eat it, after which I, along with the others, went to the river.
I only remembered that my dishes were empty in the evening. It was shameful and scary to return home with an empty suit, “my grandmother, Katerina Petrovna, is not Vasyon’s aunt, you can’t get rid of her with lies, tears and various excuses.” Sanka taught me: push herbs into the bowl and scatter a handful of berries on top. This is the “deception” I brought home.
My grandmother praised me for a long time, but didn’t bother pouring the berries in - she decided to take them straight to the city to sell. On the street, I told Sanka everything, and he demanded kalach from me as payment for silence. I didn’t get away with just one roll, I carried it around until Sanka was full. I didn’t sleep at night, I was tormented - I deceived my grandmother and stole the rolls. Finally, I decided to get up in the morning and confess everything.
When I woke up, I discovered that I had overslept - my grandmother had already left for the city. I regretted that my grandfather’s farm was so far from the village. Grandfather’s place is good, it’s quiet, and he wouldn’t hurt me. Having nothing better to do, I went fishing with Sanka. After a while I saw a large boat coming out from behind the cape. My grandmother was sitting in it and shaking her fist at me.
I returned home only in the evening and immediately ducked into the closet, where a temporary “bed of rugs and an old saddle” had been “set up.” Curled up in a ball, I felt sorry for myself and remembered my mother. Like her grandmother, she went to the city to sell berries. One day the overloaded boat capsized and my mother drowned. “She was pulled under the rafting boom,” where she got caught in the scythe. I remembered how my grandmother suffered until the river let my mother go.
When I woke up in the morning, I discovered that my grandfather had returned from the farm. He came to me and told me to ask my grandmother for forgiveness. Having shamed and denounced me enough, my grandmother sat me down to breakfast, and after that she told everyone “what the little one had done to her.”
But my grandmother still brought me a horse. Many years have passed since then, “my grandfather is no longer alive, my grandmother is no longer alive, and my life is coming to an end, but I still cannot forget my grandmother’s gingerbread - that marvelous horse with a pink mane.”
V.P. Astafiev is one of the writers who had a difficult childhood in the difficult pre-war years. Having grown up in the village, he was well acquainted with the peculiarities of the Russian character, the moral foundations on which humanity has rested for centuries.
His works, which made up the “Last Bow” cycle, are devoted to this topic. Among them is the story “The Horse with the Pink Mane.”
Autobiographical basis of the work
At the age of seven, Viktor Astafiev lost his mother - she drowned in the Yenisei River. The boy was taken in by his grandmother, Katerina Petrovna. Until the end of his life, the writer was grateful to her for her care, kindness and love. And also for the fact that she formed in him true moral values, which the grandson never forgot. One of important points of his life, forever etched in the memory of the already matured Astafiev, and he tells in his work “The Horse with a Pink Mane.”
The narration is told from the perspective of the boy Vitya, who lives with his grandparents in the taiga Siberian village. His daily routine is similar to each other: fishing, playing with other children, going to the forest to pick mushrooms and berries, helping with housework.
The author pays special attention to the description of the Levontius family, who lived in the neighborhood. In the story “The Horse with a Pink Mane,” it is their children who will play an important role. Enjoying unlimited freedom, with little idea of what true kindness, mutual assistance and responsibility are, they will push the main character to commit an act that he will remember all his life.
The plot begins with the grandmother's news that the Levontiev children are going to the ridge to buy strawberries. She asks her grandson to go with them, so that later he can sell the berries he collected in the city and buy the boy gingerbread. A horse with a pink mane - this sweetness was the cherished dream of every boy!
However, the trip to the ridge ends in deception, to which Vitya goes, having never picked strawberries. The guilty boy tries in every possible way to delay the disclosure of the offense and the subsequent punishment. Finally, the grandmother returns from the city lamenting. So the dream that Vitya would have a wonderful horse with a pink mane turned into regret that he had succumbed to the tricks of the Levontiev children. And suddenly the repentant hero sees that same gingerbread in front of him... At first he does not believe his eyes. The words bring him back to reality: “Take it... You'll see... when you fool your grandmother...”.
Many years have passed since then, but V. Astafiev could not forget this story.
“The Horse with a Pink Mane”: main characters
In the story, the author shows the period of growing up of a boy. In a country devastated by civil war, everyone had a hard time, and in a difficult situation, everyone chose their own path. Meanwhile, it is known that many character traits are formed in a person in childhood.
Getting to know the way of life in the house of Katerina Petrovna and Levontia allows us to conclude how different these families were. Grandmother loved order in everything, so everything went her own, predetermined course. She instilled the same qualities in her grandson, who was left an orphan at an early age. So the horse with the pink mane was supposed to be his reward for his efforts.
A completely different atmosphere reigned in the neighbor's house. Lack of money alternated with a feast, when Levontius bought various things with the money he received. At such a moment, Vitya loved to visit his neighbors. Moreover, the tipsy Levontiy began to remember him dead mother and slipped the best piece to the orphan. The grandmother did not like these visits by her grandson to the neighbors’ house: she believed that they themselves had a lot of children and often had nothing to eat. And the children themselves were not well-mannered, so they could have a bad influence on the boy. They will really push Vitya into deception when he goes with them to get the berries.
The story “The Horse with a Pink Mane” is the author’s attempt to determine the reason for what may guide a person who commits bad or good deeds in life.
Hike to the ridge
The writer describes in some detail the road for strawberries. The Levontiev kids behave unreasonably all the time. Along the way, they managed to climb into someone else’s garden, pull onions and use them on whistles, and fight with each other...
On the ridge, everyone began to pick berries, but the Levontievskys didn’t last long. Only the hero conscientiously put the strawberries into the container. However, after his words about the gingerbread caused only ridicule among his “friends”, wanting to show his independence, he succumbed to the general fun. For some time, Vitya forgot about his grandmother and the fact that until recently his main desire was a horse with a pink mane. The retelling of what amused the children that day includes the murder of a defenseless siskin and the massacre of fish. And they themselves constantly quarreled, Sanka especially tried. Before returning home, he told the hero what to do: fill the container with grass, and put a layer of berries on top - so the grandmother will not find out anything. And the boy followed the advice: after all, nothing would happen to Levontievsky, but he would be in trouble.
Fear of punishment and remorse
Research human soul at decisive moments in life - a task that is often solved fiction. “The Horse with a Pink Mane” is a work about how difficult it was for a boy to admit his mistake.
The next night and the whole long day, when the grandmother went to the city with the tuesk, turned into a real test for Vitya. Going to bed, he decided to get up early and confess everything, but did not have time. Then the grandson, again in the company of neighboring children and constantly teased by Sashka, fearfully awaited the return of the boat on which the grandmother had sailed away. In the evening, he did not dare to return home and was glad when he managed to lie down in the pantry (Aunt Fenya brought him home already after dark and distracted Katerina Petrovna). He could not sleep for a long time, constantly thinking about his grandmother, feeling sorry for her and remembering how hard she experienced the death of her daughter.
Unexpected ending
Fortunately for the boy, his grandfather returned from the farm at night - now he had help, and it was not so scary.
Lowering his head, pushed by his grandfather, he timidly entered the hut and roared at the top of his voice.
His grandmother put him to shame for a long time, and when she finally ran out of steam and there was silence, the boy timidly raised his head and saw an unexpected picture in front of him. A horse with a pink mane “galloped” across the scraped table (V. Astafiev remembered this for the rest of his life). This episode became one of the most important for him. moral lessons. Grandmother's kindness and understanding helped develop such qualities as responsibility for one's actions, nobility and the ability to resist evil in any situation.
A brief retelling of "The Horse with a Pink Mane." Tell brief retelling this work.
- the boy goes to pick berries with the Lerntiev boys. but they started playing. The hero bet with Sanka that he would eat all the berries. they ate it. Sanka forced him to lie to his grandmother
- The hero of the work is an orphan, he lives with his grandparents. We learn that a horse with a pink mane is an extraordinary gingerbread, the dream of all village children. The hero’s grandmother promises to buy this gingerbread by selling the strawberries that the boy has to pick. This simple task becomes a real test for him, since he has to go with the neighboring children, the children of Uncle Levontius and Aunt Vasenya.
Uncle Levontius's family lives poorly, but brightly. When he receives his salary, not only they, but also all the neighbors are seized with some kind of restlessness, fever. Aunt Vasenya quickly pays off debts, and one day everyone is walking recklessly, and after a few days they have to borrow again. Their attitude towards
life is shown through the attitude towards the house, in which there were only children and nothing else. Their windows are glazed somehow (they are knocked out quite often by a drunken father), and in the middle of the hut there is a sagging stove. These details emphasize that Uncle Levontius’s family lives as they have to, without hesitation.
The hero of the story, being close to the Levontiev children, falls under their influence. He witnesses a fight between brothers. The elder is dissatisfied that the younger ones do not so much pick strawberries as eat them. As a result, everything collected is eaten. They bully, saying that the narrator is afraid of his grandmother and is greedy. Wanting to prove the opposite, the boy gives them all the collected berries. This is a turning point in his behavior, since then he does everything as they do, becoming one of the Levontiev horde. He is already stealing rolls for them, ruining someone else’s garden, deceiving them: on Sanka’s advice, he fills the roll with grass, and sprinkles strawberries on top of the grass.
Fear of punishment and pangs of conscience do not allow him to sleep. The boy does not tell the truth, and the grandmother leaves to sell berries. The pangs of conscience are becoming more and more strong, nothing pleases the hero anymore: neither the fishing trip he went on with the Levontievskys, nor the new ways to get out of the situation proposed by Sanka. It turns out that peace and tranquility in the soul are the best blessings in the world. The boy, who does not know how to make amends for his guilt, on the advice of his grandfather, asks his grandmother for forgiveness. And suddenly the very same gingerbread appears in front of him, which he had never hoped to receive: How many years have passed since then! How many events have passed! And I still can’t forget my grandmother’s gingerbread from that marvelous horse with a pink mane.
The boy receives a gift because his grandmother wishes him well, loves him, wants to support him, seeing his mental suffering. You cannot teach a person to be kind without giving him your kindness.
- My grandmother sent me to the ridge to buy strawberries along with the neighbor kids. She promised: if I get a full tuesk, she will sell my berries along with hers and buy me a conm gingerbread. A gingerbread in the shape of a horse with a mane, tail and hooves covered in pink glaze ensured honor and respect from the boys of the entire village and was their cherished dream.
I went to Uval together with the children of our neighbor Levontius, who worked in logging. About once every fifteen days Levontius received money, and then in the neighboring house, where there were only children and nothing else, a feast began, and Levontius’s wife ran around the village and paid off debts. On such days, I made my way to my neighbors by all means. Grandma wouldn't let me in. There is no point in eating these proletarians, she said. At Levontius’s place I was willingly received and pitied as an orphan. The money the neighbor earned ran out quickly, and Vasna ran around the village again, borrowing money.
The Levontiev family lived poorly. There was no housekeeping around their hut; they even washed with their neighbors. Every spring they surrounded the house with a miserable tine, and every autumn it was used for kindling. To his grandmother’s reproaches, Levontii, a former sailor, replied that he loved the settlement.
With the Levontief eagles, I went to the ridge to earn money for a horse with a pink mane. I had already picked several glasses of strawberries when the Levontiev boys started a fight. The elder noticed that the others were picking berries not in dishes, but in their mouths. As a result, all the prey was scattered and eaten, and the guys decided to go down to the Fokinskaya River. It was then that they noticed that I still had strawberries. Levontyevsky Sanka weakly encouraged me to eat it, after which I, along with the others, went to the river.
I only remembered that my dishes were empty in the evening. It was a shame and fear to return home with an empty suit, my grandmother, Katerina Petrovna, not Vasna, you can’t get away with lies, tears and various excuses. Sanka taught me: push herbs into the bowl and scatter a handful of berries on top. This is the deception I brought home.
My grandmother praised me for a long time, but she didn’t bother to pour the berries and decided to take them straight to the city to sell. On the street I told Sanka everything, and he demanded a kalach from me as payment for silence. I didn’t get away with just one roll, I carried it around until Sanka was full. I didn’t sleep at night, I was tormented and I deceived my grandmother and stole the rolls. Finally, I decided to get up in the morning and confess everything.
When I woke up, I discovered that I had overslept and my grandmother had already left for the city. I regretted that my grandfather’s farm was so far from the village. Grandfather’s place is good, it’s quiet, and he wouldn’t hurt me. Having nothing better to do, I went fishing with Sanka. After a while I saw a large boat coming out from behind the cape. My grandmother was sitting in it and shaking her fist at me.
I returned home only in the evening and immediately ducked into the closet, where a temporary bed had been set up from rugs and an old saddle. Curled up in a ball, I felt sorry for myself and remembered my mother. Like her grandmother, she went to the city to sell berries. One day the overloaded boat capsized and my mother drowned. She was pulled under the floating boom, where she got caught in the scythe. I remembered how my grandmother suffered until the river let my mother go.
When I woke up in the morning, I discovered that my grandfather had returned from the farm. He came to me and told me to ask my grandmother for forgiveness. Having shamed and denounced me enough, my grandmother sat me down to breakfast, and after that she told everyone what the little guy had done.
But my grandmother still brought me a horse. Many years have passed since then, my grandfather is no longer alive, my grandmother is no longer alive, and my life is coming to an end, but I still cannot forget my grandmother’s gingerbread of that marvelous horse with a pink mane.
- Astafiev's story The Horse with a Pink Mane tells about an episode from a boy's childhood. The story makes you smile at the main character’s trick and at the same time appreciate the wonderful lesson that the grandmother taught her grandson. Little boy goes to pick strawberries, and his grandmother promises him a gingerbread horse with a pink mane for this. For a difficult, half-starved time, such a gift is simply magnificent. But the boy falls under the influence of his friends, who eat their berries and reproach him for greed.
But for the fact that the berries were never picked, there will be a severe punishment from the grandmother. And the boy decides to cheat; he puts grass into a container and covers it with berries on top. The boy wants to confess to his grandmother in the morning, but does not have time. And she leaves for the city to sell berries there. The boy is afraid of exposure, and after his grandmother returns, he doesn’t even want to go home.
But then you still have to return. How ashamed he is to hear an angry grandmother who has already told everyone around him about his fraud! The boy asks for forgiveness and receives from his grandmother that same gingerbread horse with a pink mane. Grandmother taught her grandson good lesson and said: Take it, take it, what are you looking at? You look, but even when you deceive your grandmother... And indeed, the author says: How many years have passed since then! How many events have passed! and I still can’t forget my grandmother’s gingerbread from that marvelous horse with a pink mane.
In his story, the author talks about a person’s responsibility for his actions, about lies and the courage to admit that he is wrong. Every person, even small child, is responsible for his actions and words. Little hero In the story, he promised his grandmother to pick berries, which means he had to fulfill his promise. Main character In the story, he simply does not realize the necessity of keeping his word to his grandmother. And the fear of punishment makes him decide to deceive. But this deception resonates painfully in the boy’s heart. He understands that everyone around him has the right to judge him. Not only did he not keep his word to his grandmother, but he also made her blush because of his deception.
In order for the child to remember this story properly, the grandmother gives him a horse with a pink mane. The child is already ashamed, and then there is this wonderful gingerbread horse. Of course, after this the boy is unlikely to deceive not only his grandmother, but also anyone else.
A brief retelling of “The Horse with a Pink Mane” will remind you of what Astafiev wrote in his autobiographical story.
Retelling of the story “The Horse with the Pink Mane”
The story is narrated from Vitka’s perspective. The author recalls an incident from his life that happened when he was still a boy. After the death of his parents, he lived with his grandmother in the village. One day his grandmother sent him to the forest to pick strawberries, promising that if he picked a full bunch of berries, she would bring him from the city a gingerbread in the shape of a horse with a pink mane. All the boys in the village dreamed of such a gingerbread, and of course, the author decided not to return from the forest without berries.
The father of the children with whom the grandmother sent the boy to pick berries, neighbor Levontii, worked in logging. About once every fifteen days, “Levonty received money, and then in the neighboring house, where there were only children and nothing else, a feast began,” and Levonty’s wife ran around the village and paid off debts. On such days, Vitka made his way to his neighbors by all means. Grandma wouldn't let me in. “There’s no point in eating these proletarians,” she said. Levontius willingly accepted Vitka and pitied him as an orphan. The money the neighbor earned ran out quickly, and Vasyon’s aunt again ran around the village, borrowing money.
When the hero had already picked several glasses of strawberries, a fight broke out between Levontius’s children - the eldest son noticed that the others were not picking strawberries, but eating them. During the fight, they scattered the strawberries that they had already collected, and then decided to go to the river. And then they noticed that the hero still had strawberries, and immediately persuaded him to eat all the berries, which he did. The boy felt sorry for the berries, but pretending to be desperate, he rushed with the others to the river.
The guys spent the whole day walking. We returned home in the evening. To prevent the grandmother from scolding the main character, the guys advised him to fill the bowl with grass and sprinkle berries on top. The boy did just that. Grandma was very happy, not noticing the deception and even decided not to pour in the berries. To prevent Sanka from telling Katerina Petrovna about what happened, the narrator had to steal several rolls of bread for him from the pantry.
The boy regretted that his grandfather was on a farm “about five kilometers from the village, at the mouth of the Mana River,” so that he could escape to him. Grandfather never swore and allowed his grandson to walk until late.
Vitka wanted to wait until morning and tell his grandmother the truth. But I woke up when my grandmother had already left for the market. He went fishing with the Levontiev boys. Sanka caught some fish and lit a fire. Without waiting for the fish to finish cooking, the Levontiev boys ate it half-raw, without salt and without bread. After swimming in the river, everyone fell into the grass.
Suddenly, a boat appeared from behind the cape, in which Ekaterina Petrovna was sitting. The boy immediately started running, although his grandmother shouted menacingly after him. The narrator stayed with his cousin until dark. His aunt brought him home. Hiding in the closet among the rugs, the boy hoped that if he thought well of his grandmother, “she would guess about it and forgive everything.”
The main character began to remember his mother. She also took people to the city to sell berries. One day their boat capsized and the mother drowned. Having learned about the death of her daughter, the grandmother stayed on the shore for six days, “hoping to appease the river.” She was “almost dragged home,” and after that she was sad for the deceased for a long time.
Vitka woke up from the first rays of the sun. He was wearing his grandfather's sheepskin coat. The boy was happy - his grandfather had arrived. All morning the grandmother told everyone who visited them how she sold berries to a “cultured lady in a hat” and what dirty tricks her grandson had committed.
Having gone into the pantry to get the reins, the grandfather pushed his grandson into the kitchen so that he would apologize. Crying, the boy asked his grandmother for forgiveness. The woman “still irreconcilably, but without the storm” called him to eat. Listening to his grandmother’s words about “what a bottomless abyss his “cheating” had plunged him into,” the boy burst into tears again. Having finished scolding her grandson, the woman nevertheless placed a gingerbread horse with a pink mane in front of him, telling him to never deceive her again.
“How many years have passed since then! My grandfather is no longer alive, my grandmother is no longer alive, and my life is coming to an end, but I still can’t forget my grandmother’s gingerbread - that marvelous horse with a pink mane.”
A brief retelling of the story “The Horse with the Pink Mane” for reader's diary It's better to cut it down a bit. Here's an example:
The village boy Vitka dreams of a gingerbread in the shape of a horse with a pink mane. He goes to pick strawberries, because his grandmother promises him a gingerbread horse for this. The boy could not restrain himself and ate the entire basket of berries that he had picked. Then he cheated and put the grass in a basket, picked up a few berries and covered the grass with them. His conscience tormented him all the time and he wanted to tell his grandmother, but did not have time.
The grandmother went to the market in the morning, and her grandson was tormented by his conscience and fear of what would happen when the deception was revealed. Out of shame, the boy did not want to go home. Meanwhile, the grandmother had already told about her grandson’s fraud. When he arrived, the grandmother was upset, scolded the boy, but still bought him a gingerbread horse - a horse with a pink mane.
Events take place in a village on the banks of the Yenisei.
The grandmother promised her grandson that if he picked a bunch of strawberries in the forest, she would sell them in the city and buy him a gingerbread - a white horse with a pink mane and tail.
“You can put a gingerbread under your shirt, run around and hear the horse kicking its hooves on its bare belly. Cold with horror - lost, - grab your shirt and be convinced with happiness - here he is, here is the horse-fire!
The owner of such a gingerbread is honored and respected by children. The boy tells (the narration is in the first person) about the “Levontievsky” children - the children of a neighbor-logger.
When the father brings money for the forest, there is a feast in the house. Levontia’s wife, Aunt Vasenya, is “enthusiastic” - when she pays off debts, she will always hand over a ruble, or even two. Doesn't like counting money.
Grandmother does not respect them: they are undignified people. They don’t even have a bathhouse—they wash in their neighbors’ bathhouse.
Levontius was once a sailor. I rocked the shaky boat with my youngest and sang a song:
Sailed along the Akiyan
Sailor from Africa
Little licker
He brought it in a box...
In the village, every family has “its own” signature song, which deeper and more fully expressed the feelings of this particular family and no other. “To this day, whenever I remember the song “The Monk Fell in Love with a Beauty,” I still see Bobrovsky Lane and all the Bobrovskys, and goosebumps spread across my skin from shock.”
The boy loves his neighbor, loves his song about the “monkey” and cry with everyone over her unfortunate fate, loves to feast among the children. Grandma gets angry: “There’s no point in eating these proletarians!”
However, Levontius loved to drink, and after drinking, “he would break the remaining glass in the windows, curse, thunder, and cry.
The next morning he used shards of glass on the windows, repaired the benches, the table and was full of remorse.”
With the children of Uncle Levontius, the hero went to pick strawberries. The boys were playing around, throwing disheveled birch bark tueskas at each other.
The older (on this trip) brother began to scold the younger ones, a girl and a boy, for eating berries and not picking them for the house. The brothers fought, the berries spilled out of the copper kettle where the eldest had collected them.
They crushed all the berries in the fight.
Then the eldest began to eat berries. “Scratched, with bumps on his head from fights and various other reasons, with pimples on his arms and legs, with red, bloody eyes, Sanka was more harmful and angrier than all the Levontiev boys.”
And then they knocked down the main character too, they took him “weakly”. Trying to prove that he was not greedy or a coward, the boy poured his almost full meal onto the grass: “Eat!”
“I only got a few tiny, bent berries with greenery. It's a pity for the berries. Sad.
There is longing in the heart - it anticipates a meeting with grandmother, a report and a reckoning. But I assumed despair, gave up on everything - now it doesn’t matter. I rushed along with the Levontiev children down the mountain, to the river, and boasted:
“I’ll steal grandma’s kalach!”
The boys’ hooliganism is cruel: they caught and tore apart a fish “for its ugly appearance”, and killed a swallow with a stone.
Sanka runs into a dark cave and assures that he saw there evil spirits- “cave brownie.”
The Levontievsky guys mock the boy: “Oh, your grandmother will give you a hard time!” They taught him to fill the container with grass and place a layer of berries on top.
- You are my child! - my grandmother began to cry when I, frozen with fear, handed her the vessel. - God help you, God help you! I’ll buy you a gingerbread, the biggest one. And I won’t pour your berries into mine, I’ll take them right away in this little bag...
Sanka threatens to tell everything to his grandmother and the hero has to steal several rolls from his only teacher (he is an orphan) so that Sanka can “get drunk.”
The boy decides to tell his grandmother everything in the morning. But early in the morning she sailed to the city to sell berries.
The hero goes fishing with Sanka and the younger children; they catch fish and fry it over a fire. Eternally hungry children eat the poor catch almost raw.
The boy again thinks about his offense: “Why did you listen to the Levontievskys? It was so good to live... Maybe the boat will capsize and grandma will drown? No, it’s better not to tip over. Mom drowned. I'm an orphan now. Unhappy man. And there is no one to feel sorry for me.
Levontius only feels sorry for him when he’s drunk, and even his grandfather - and that’s all, the grandmother just screams, no, no, yes, she’ll give in - she won’t last long. The main thing is that there is no grandfather. Grandfather is in charge. He wouldn’t let me offend.”
Then the fish start biting again - and they bite well. In the midst of the bite, come to the place fishing a boat is heading, where a grandmother is sitting among others. The boy takes to his heels and goes to “his cousin Kesha, Uncle Vanya’s son, who lived here, on the upper edge of the village.”
Aunt Fenya fed the boy, asked him about everything, took him by the hand and took him home.
She began to talk with her grandmother, and the boy hid in the closet.
Auntie left. “The floorboards didn’t creak in the hut, and grandma didn’t walk. Tired. Not a short way to the city! Eighteen miles, and with a knapsack. It seemed to me that if I felt sorry for my grandmother and thought well of her, she would guess about it and forgive me everything. He will come and forgive. Well, it just clicks once, so what a problem! For such a thing, you can do it more than once...”
The boy remembers how deeply grief-stricken his grandmother was when his mother drowned. For six days they could not take the sobbing old woman away from the shore. She kept hoping that the river would have mercy and return her daughter alive.
In the morning, the boy who had fallen asleep in the pantry heard his grandmother telling someone in the kitchen:
-...Cultural lady, in a hat. “I’ll buy all these berries.”
Please, I beg your mercy. The berries, I say, were picked by a poor little orphan...
It turns out that grandfather came from the farm. Grandma scolds him for being too lenient: “Potachik!”
A lot of people come in and the grandmother tells everyone what her grandson “did.” This does not in the least prevent her from doing household chores: she rushed back and forth, milked the cow, drove her out to the shepherd, shook out the rugs, and did her various chores.
The grandfather consoles the boy and advises him to go and confess. The boy goes to ask for forgiveness.
“And my grandmother put me to shame! And she denounced it! Only now, having fully understood into what a bottomless abyss cheating had plunged me and what “crooked path” it would lead me to, if I had taken up the ball game so early, if I was drawn to robbery after the dashing people, I began to roar, not just repenting, but afraid that I was lost, that there was no forgiveness, no return..."
The boy is ashamed and scared. And suddenly...
His grandmother called him and he saw: “a white horse with a pink mane was galloping along the scraped kitchen table, as if across a huge land, with arable lands, meadows and roads, on pink hooves.
- Take it, take it, what are you looking at? Look, when you fool your grandmother...
How many years have passed since then! How many events have passed? My grandfather is no longer alive, my grandmother is no longer alive, and my life is coming to an end, but I still can’t forget my grandmother’s gingerbread - that marvelous horse with a pink mane.”