Everyone left the house on business, but during the argument they did not notice how evening came. They had already gone far from their homes, about thirty miles, and decided to rest until the sunshine. They lit a fire and sat down to feast. They argued again, defending their point of view, and ended up in a fight.
Prologue
In what year - calculate
In what land - guess
On the sidewalk
Seven men came together:
Seven temporarily obliged,
A tightened province,
Terpigoreva County,
Empty parish,
From adjacent villages:
Zaplatova, Dyryavina,
Razutova, Znobishina,
Gorelova, Neelova -
The harvest is also bad,
They came together and argued:
Who has fun?
Free in Rus'?
Roman said: to the landowner,
Demyan said: to the official,
Luke said: ass.
To the fat-bellied merchant! -
The Gubin brothers said,
Ivan and Metrodor.
Old man Pakhom pushed
And he said, looking at the ground:
To the noble boyar,
To the sovereign minister.
And Prov said: to the king...
The guy is a bull: get involved
What a whim in the head -
Stake her from there
You can’t knock them out: they resist,
Everyone stands on their own!
Everyone left the house on business, but during the argument they did not notice how evening came. They had already gone far from their homes, about thirty miles, and decided to rest until the sunshine. They lit a fire and sat down to feast. They argued again, defending their point of view, and ended up in a fight. The tired men decided to go to bed, but then Pakhomushka caught a chick warbler and began to daydream: if only he could fly around Rus' on his wings and find out; Who lives “fun and at ease in Rus'?” And every man adds that they don’t need wings, but if they had food, they would go around Rus' with their own feet and find out the truth. A flying warbler asks to let her chick go, and for this she promises a “large ransom”: she will give them a self-assembled tablecloth that will feed them on the way, and she will also give them clothes and shoes.
The peasants sat down by the tablecloth and vowed not to return home until they “found a solution” to their dispute.
Part one
Chapter I
The men are walking along the road, and all around is “inconvenient”, “abandoned land”, everything is flooded with water, it’s not for nothing that “it snowed every day.” Along the way they meet the same peasants, only in the evening they met a priest. The peasants took off their hats and blocked his way, the priest was afraid, but they told him about their dispute. They ask the priest to answer them “without laughter and without cunning.” Pop says:
“What do you think is happiness?
Peace, wealth, honor?
Isn’t that right, dear friends?”
“Now let's see, brothers,
What’s the peace like?”
From birth, teaching was difficult for Popovich:
Our roads are difficult,
Our parish is large.
Sick, dying,
Born into the world
They don’t choose time:
In reaping and haymaking,
In the dead of autumn night,
In winter, in severe frosts,
And in the spring flood -
Go wherever you are called!
You go unconditionally.
And even if only the bones
Alone broke, -
No! Every time it gets wet,
The soul will hurt.
Don't believe it, Orthodox Christians,
There is a limit to habit:
No heart carrying out
Without any trepidation
Death rattle
Funeral lament
Orphan's sadness!
Then the priest tells how they mock the priest’s tribe, mocking priests and priests. Thus, there is no peace, no honor, no money, the parishes are poor, the landowners live in the cities, and the peasants abandoned by them are in poverty. Not like them, but the priest sometimes gives them money, because... they are dying of hunger. Having told your sad story, the priest drove off, and the peasants scolded Luka, who was shouting out to the priest. Luke stood, kept silent,
I was afraid wouldn't have imposed it
Comrades, stand by.
Chapter II
RURAL FAIR
No wonder the peasants scold spring: there is water all around, there is no greenery, the cattle must be driven out to the field, but there is still no grass. They walk past empty villages, wondering where all the people have gone. The “kid” we meet explains that everyone has gone to the village of Kuzminskoye for the fair. The men also decide to go there to look for someone happy. A trading village is described, quite dirty, with two churches: Old Believer and Orthodox, there is a school and a hotel. A rich fair is noisy nearby. People drink, party, have fun and cry. The Old Believers are angry with the dressed-up peasants, they say that there is “dog blood” in the red calicoes they wear, so there will be hunger! Wanderers
walk around the fair and admire different goods. A crying old man comes across: he drank his money and has nothing to buy his granddaughter’s shoes, but he promised, and the granddaughter is waiting. Pavlusha Veretennikov, the “master,” helped Vavila out and bought shoes for his granddaughter. The old man, out of joy, even forgot to thank his benefactor. There is also a bookshop here that sells all sorts of nonsense. Nekrasov exclaims bitterly:
Eh! eh! will the time come,
When (come, desired one!..)
They will let the peasant understand
What a rose is a portrait of a portrait,
What is the book of the book of roses?
When a man is not Blucher
And not my foolish lord -
Belinsky and Gogol
Will it come from the market?
Oh, people, Russian people!
Orthodox peasants!
Have you ever heard
Are you these names?
Those are great names,
They wore them glorified
People's intercessors!
Here's some portraits of them for you
Hang in your gorenki,
The wanderers went to the booth “...To listen, to look. // Comedy with Petrushka,.. // The resident, the policeman // Not in the eyebrow, but right in the eye!” By evening the wanderers “left the bustling village”
Chapter III
DRUNKEN NIGHT
Everywhere men see returning, sleeping drunks. Fragmentary phrases, snatches of conversations and songs rush from all sides. A drunk guy buries a zipun in the middle of the road and is sure that he is burying his mother; there are men fighting, drunk women in the ditch swearing, whose house is the worst - The road is crowded
What later is uglier:
More and more often they come across
Beaten, crawling,
Lying in a layer.
At the tavern, the peasants met Pavlusha Veretennikov, who bought the peasant shoes for his granddaughter. Pavlusha recorded peasant songs and said, What
“Russian peasants are smart,
One thing is bad
That they drink until they are stupefied...”
But one drunk shouted: “And we work harder... // And we work more sober.”
Peasant food is sweet,
The whole century saw an iron saw
He chews but doesn't eat!
You work alone
And the work is almost over,
Look, there are three shareholders standing:
God, king and lord!
There is no measure for Russian hops.
Have they measured our grief?
Is there a limit to the work?
A man does not measure troubles
Copes with everything
No matter what, come.
A man, working, does not think,
That will strain your strength,
So really over a glass
Think about it what's too much
Will you end up in a ditch?
To regret - regret skillfully,
To the master's measure
Don't kill the peasant!
Not gentle white-handed ones,
And we are great people
At work and at play!
“Write: In the village of Bosovo
Yakim Nagoy lives,
He works himself to death
He drinks until he’s half dead!..”
Yakim lived in St. Petersburg, but decided to compete with the “merchant”, so he ended up in prison. Since then, for thirty years, he has been “roasting on the strip in the sun.” He once bought pictures for his son and hung them on the walls of the house. Yakima had “thirty-five rubles” saved up. There was a fire, he should have saved money, but he began collecting pictures. The rubles have merged into a lump, now they give eleven rubles for them.
The peasants agree with Yakim:
“Drinking means we feel strong!
Great sadness will come,
How can we stop drinking!..
Work wouldn't stop me
Trouble would not prevail
Hops will not overcome us!”
Then a daring Russian song “about Mother Volga”, “about maiden beauty” burst out.
The wandering peasants refreshed themselves at the self-assembled tablecloth, left Roman on guard at the bucket, and they themselves went to look for the happy one.
Chapter IV
HAPPY
In a loud crowd, festive
The wanderers walked
They shouted the cry:
"Hey! Is there a happy one somewhere?
Show up! If it turns out
That you live happily
We have a ready-made bucket:
Drink for free as much as you like -
We'll treat you to greatness!..”
Many people gathered “hunters to take a sip of free wine.”
The sexton who came said that happiness lies in “compassion,” but he was driven away. The “old old woman” came and said that she was happy: in the fall, she had grown up to a thousand turnips on a small ridge. They laughed at her, but did not give her vodka. A soldier came and said, that he is happy
“...What's in twenty battles
I was, not killed!
I walked neither full nor hungry,
But he didn’t give in to death!
I was beaten mercilessly with sticks,
But even if you feel it, it’s alive!”
The soldier was given a drink:
You are happy - there is no word!
The “Olonchan stonemason” came to boast of his strength. They brought it to him too. A man came with shortness of breath and advised the Olonchan man not to boast about his strength. He was also strong, but he overstrained himself, lifting fourteen pounds to the second floor. A “yard man” came and boasted that he was the beloved slave of the boyar Peremetevo and was sick with a noble disease - “according to this, I am a nobleman.” “It’s called po-da-groy!” But the men did not bring him a drink. A “yellow-haired Belarusian” came and said that he was happy because he had plenty to eat rye bread. A man came “with a curled cheekbone.” Three of his comrades were broken by bears, but he is alive. They brought it to him. The beggars came and boasted of the happiness that they were served everywhere.
Our wanderers realized
That they wasted vodka for nothing.
By the way, and a bucket,
End. “Well, that will be yours!
Hey, man's happiness!
Leaky with patches,
Humpbacked with calluses,
Go home!”
They advise men to look for Yermil Girin - that’s who is happy. Yermil kept a mill. They decided to sell it, Ermila bargained, and there was only one rival - the merchant Altynnikov. But Yermil outbid the miller. You just need to pay a third of the price, but Yermil didn’t have any money with him. He Asked for a half-hour delay. The court was surprised that he would make it in half an hour; he had to travel thirty-five miles to his home, but they gave him half an hour. Yermil came to the market square, and that day there was a market. Yermil turned to the people to give him a loan:
“Shut up, listen,
I’ll tell you my word!”
“Long ago the merchant Altynnikov
Went to the mill,
Yes, I didn’t make a mistake either,
I checked in the city five times,..”
Today I arrived “without a penny”, but they appointed a bargain and they laugh, What
(outwitted:
“Cunning, strong clerks,
And their world is stronger...”
“If you know Ermil,
If you believe Yermil,
So help me out, or something!..”
And a miracle happened -
Throughout the market square
Every peasant has
Like the wind half left
Suddenly it turned upside down!
The clerks were surprised
Altynnikov turned green,
When he's a full thousand
He put it on the table for them!..
The following Friday, Yermil “was counting on the people in the same square.” Although he did not write down how much he took from whom, “Yermil did not have to give an extra penny.” There was an extra ruble left, until the evening Yermil looked for the owner, and in the evening he gave it to the blind, because the owner could not be found. Wanderers are interested in how Yermil gained such authority among the people. About twenty years ago he was a clerk, helping peasants without extorting money from them. Then the entire estate chose Ermila as mayor. And Yermil served the people honestly for seven years, and then instead of his brother Mitri, he gave the widow’s son as a soldier. Out of remorse, Yermil wanted to hang himself. They returned the boy to the widow so that Yermil wouldn’t do anything to himself. No matter how much they asked him, he resigned from his position, rented a mill and grinded for everyone without deception. The wanderers want to find Ermila, but the priest said that he is in prison. There was a peasant revolt in the province, nothing helped, they called Ermila. The peasants believed him... but, without finishing the story, the narrator hurried home, promising to finish it later. Suddenly a bell was heard. The peasants rushed onto the road when they saw the landowner.
Chapter V
LANDLORD
This was the landowner Gavrila Afanasyevich Obolt-Obolduev. He got scared when he saw “seven tall men” in front of the troika, and, grabbing a pistol, began to threaten the men, but they told him that they were not robbers, but wanted to know if he was a happy person?
“Tell us in a divine way,
Is the life of a landowner sweet?
How are you - at ease, happily,
Landowner, are you living?”
“Having laughed his fill,” the landowner began to say that he was of ancient descent. His family began two hundred and fifty years ago through his father and three hundred years ago through his mother. There was a time, says the landowner, when everyone showed them honor, everything around was the property of the family. It used to be that holidays were held for a month at a time. What luxurious hunts there were in the fall! And he talks poetically about it. Then he remembers that he punished the peasants, but lovingly. But in Christ's resurrection kissed everyone, did not disdain anyone. The peasants heard the funeral bells ringing. And the landowner said:
“They are not calling for the peasant!
Through life according to the landowners
They're calling!.. Oh, life is wide!
Sorry, goodbye forever!
Farewell to landowner Rus'!
Now Rus' is not the same!”
According to the landowner, his class has disappeared, estates are dying, forests are being cut down, the land remains uncultivated. People are drinking.
The literate people shout that they need to work, but the landowners are not used to it:
“I’ll tell you without bragging,
I live almost forever
In the village for forty years,
And from an ear of rye
I can’t tell the difference between barley
And they sing to me: “Work!”
The landowner is crying because his comfortable life is over: “The great chain has broken,
It tore and splintered:
One way for the master,
Others don't care!..”
Part two
PEASANT WOMAN
Prologue
“Not everything is between men
Find the happy one
Let’s feel the women!” -
Our wanderers decided
And they began to question the women.
They said how they cut it:
“We don’t have this kind of thing,
And in the village of Klin:
Kholmogory cow
Not a woman! kinder
And smoother - there is no woman.
You ask Korchagina
Matryona Timofeevna,
She’s also the governor’s wife...”
Wanderers go and admire the bread and flax:
All garden vegetables
Ripe: children are running around
Some with turnips, some with carrots,
Sunflowers are peeled,
And the women are pulling beets,
Such a good beet!
Exactly red boots,
They lie on the strip.
The wanderers came across the estate. The gentlemen live abroad, the clerk is dead, and the servants wander around like restless people, looking to see what they can steal: They caught all the crucian carp in the pond.
The paths are so dirty
What a shame! the girls are stone
Noses are broken!
The fruits and berries have disappeared,
Geese and swans have disappeared
The lackey's got it in his craw!
Wanderers went from the manor's estate to the village. The wanderers sighed lightly:
They are after the whining yard
Seemed beautiful
healthy, singing
A crowd of reapers and reapers...
They met Matryona Timofeevna, for whom they had traveled a long way.
Matrena Timofeevna
dignified woman,
Wide and dense
About thirty-eight years old.
Beautiful; gray streaked hair,
The eyes are big, strict,
The richest eyelashes,
Severe and dark
She's wearing a white shirt,
Yes, the sundress is short,
Yes, a sickle over your shoulder.
“What do you need, fellows?”
The wanderers persuade the peasant woman to talk about her life. Matryona Timofeevna refuses:
“Our ears are already falling apart,
There aren’t enough hands, darlings.”
What are we doing, godfather?
Bring on the sickles! All seven
How will we be tomorrow - by evening
We will burn all your rye!
Then she agreed:
“I won’t hide anything!”
While Matryona Timofeevna was managing the household, the men sat down near the self-assembled tablecloth.
The stars were already seated
Across the dark blue sky,
The month has become high
When the hostess came
And became our wanderers
“Open your whole soul...”
Chapter I
BEFORE MARRIAGE
I was lucky in the girls:
We had a good
Non-drinking family.
The parents cherished their daughter, but not for long. At the age of five, they began to accustom her to livestock, and from the age of seven she was already following the cow herself, bringing lunch to her father in the field, herding ducklings, going for mushrooms and berries, raking hay... There was enough work. She was a master at singing and dancing. Philip Korchagin, a “Petersburg resident”, a stove maker, wooed.
She grieved, cried bitterly,
And the girl did the job:
At the narrowed sideways
I looked secretly.
Beautifully ruddy, broad and mighty,
Rus hair, soft spoken -
Philip has fallen on his heart!
Matryona Timofeevna sings an old song and remembers her wedding.
Chapter II
SONGS
The wanderers sing along with Matryona Timofeevna.
The family was huge
Grumpy... I scratched
Happy maiden holiday to hell!
Her husband went to work, and she was told to endure her sister-in-law, father-in-law, and mother-in-law. The husband returned and Matryona cheered up.
Philip at the Annunciation
Gone and to Kazanskaya
I gave birth to a son.
What a handsome son he was! And then the master’s manager tormented him with his advances. Matryona rushed to grandfather Savely.
What to do! Teach!
Of all her husband’s relatives, only grandfather felt sorry for her.
Well, that's it! special speech
It would be a sin to remain silent about my grandfather.
He was lucky too...
Chapter III
SAVELIY, BOGATYR SVYATORUSSKY
Savely, Holy Russian hero.
With a huge gray mane,
Tea, twenty years uncut,
With a huge beard
Grandfather looked like a bear
Especially in the forest,
He bent over and went out.
At first she was afraid of him, that if he straightened up, he would hit the ceiling with his head. But he could not straighten up; he was said to be a hundred years old. Grandfather lived in a special upper room
Didn't like families...
He didn’t let anyone in, and his family called him “branded, a convict.” To which the grandfather cheerfully replied:
“Branded, but not a slave!”
Grandfather often made fun of his relatives. In the summer he foraged for mushrooms and berries, poultry and small animals in the forest, and in the winter he talked to himself on the stove. One day Matryona Timofeevna asked why he was called a branded convict? “I was a convict,” he answered.
Because he buried the German Vogel, the offender of the peasant, in the ground alive. He said that they lived freely among the dense forests. Only the bears bothered them, but they dealt with the bears. He lifted the bear onto his spear and tore his back. In her youth she was sick, but in her old age she was bent over and could not be straightened. The landowner called them to his city and forced them to pay rent. Under the rods, the peasants agreed to pay something. Every year the master called them that way, beat them mercilessly with rods, but had little to gain. When the old landowner was killed near Varna, his heir sent a German steward to the peasants. The German was quiet at first. If you can’t pay, don’t pay, but work, for example, dig a ditch in a swamp, cut a clearing. The German brought his family and ruined the peasants completely. They endured the steward for eighteen years. The German built a factory and ordered to dig a well. He came to dinner to scold the peasants, and they pushed him into a dug well and buried him. For this, Savely ended up in hard labor and escaped; he was returned and beaten mercilessly. He was in hard labor for twenty years and in a settlement for twenty years, where he saved up money. Returned home. When there was money, his relatives loved him, but now they spit in his eyes.
Chapter IV
GIRL
It is described how the tree burned, and with it the chicks in the nest. The birds were there to save the chicks. When she arrived, everything had already burned down. One little bird was crying,
Yes, I didn’t call the dead
Until white morning!..
Matryona Timofeevna says that she took her little son to work, but her mother-in-law scolded her and ordered him to leave him with his grandfather. While working in the field, she heard groans and saw her grandfather crawling:
Oh, poor young girl!
The daughter-in-law is the last one in the house,
The last slave!
Endure the great storm,
Take the extra beatings
And in the eyes of the foolish
Don't let the baby go!..
The old man fell asleep in the sun,
Fed Demidushka to the pigs
Silly grandfather!..
My mother almost died from grief. Then the judges arrived and began to interrogate the witnesses and Matryona whether she was in a relationship with Savely:
I answered in a whisper:
It's a shame, master, you're kidding!
I am an honest wife to my husband,
And to old Savely
A hundred years... Tea, you know it yourself.
They accused Matryona of colluding with the old man to kill her son, and Matryona only asked that her son’s body not be opened! Drive without reproach
Honest burial
Betray the baby!
Entering the upper room, she saw her son Savely reading prayers at the tomb, and drove him away, calling him a murderer. He loved the baby. Grandfather reassured her by saying that no matter how long a peasant lives, he suffers, but her Demushka is in heaven.
“...It’s easy for him, it’s light for him...”
Chapter V
WOLF
Twenty years have passed since then. The inconsolable mother suffered for a long time. Grandfather went to repentance in a monastery. Time passed, children were born every year, and three years later a new misfortune crept up - her parents died. Grandfather returned all white from repentance, and soon he died.
As ordered, they did it:
Buried next to Dema...
He lived one hundred and seven years.
When her son Fedot turned eight years old, he was sent to help as a shepherd. The shepherd left, and the she-wolf dragged away the sheep. Fedot first took the sheep away from the weakened she-wolf, and then he saw that the sheep was already dead, and threw it back to the she-wolf. He came to the village and told everything himself. They wanted to flog Fedot for this, but his mother did not give it to him. Instead of her young son, she was flogged. Having seen off her son with the herd, Matryona cries, calls out to her dead parents, but she has no intercessors.
Chapter VI
DIFFICULT YEAR
There was hunger. The mother-in-law told the neighbors that it was all her fault, Matryona, because... I wore a clean shirt on Christmas Day.
For my husband, for my protector,
I got off cheap;
And one woman
Not for the same thing
Killed to death with stakes.
Don't joke with the hungry!..
We've barely managed to cope with the lack of bread, and the recruitment has arrived. But Matryona Timofeevna was not very afraid; a recruit had already been taken from the family. She stayed at home because... was pregnant and nursing last days. An upset father-in-law came and said that they were taking Philip as a recruit. Matryona Timofeevna realized that if they took her husband as a soldier, she and her children would disappear. She got up from the stove and went into the night.
Chapter VII
GOVERNOR
On a frosty night, Matryona Timofeevna prays and goes to the city. Arriving at the governor's house, she asks the doorman when she can come. The doorman promises to help her. Having learned that the governor’s wife was coming, Matryona Timofeevna threw herself at her feet and told her about her misfortune.
I didn't know what did you do
(Yes, apparently gave me some advice
Lady!..) How will I throw myself
At her feet: “Intercede!
By deception not divine
breadwinner and parent
They take it from the kids!”
The peasant woman lost consciousness, and when she woke up, she saw herself in rich chambers, with a “laid child” nearby.
Thanks to the governor
Elena Alexandrovna,
I'm so grateful to her
Like a mother!
She baptized the boy herself
And name: Liodorushka
Chosen for the baby...
Everything was clarified and my husband was returned.
Chapter VIII
Called lucky
Nicknamed the governor's wife
Matryona since then.
Now she rules the house, raises children: she has five sons, one has already been recruited... And then the peasant woman added: - And then, what are you up to
Not the point - between women
Happy searching!
What else do you need?
Shouldn't I tell you?
That we burned twice,
That god is anthrax
Visited us three times?
Horse attempts
We carried; I took a walk
Like a gelding in a harrow!..
I haven't trampled my feet,
Not tied with ropes,
No needles...
What else do you need?
For a mother scolded,
Like a trampled snake,
The blood of the firstborn has passed...
And you came looking for happiness!
It's a shame, well done!
Don't touch women,
What a god! you pass with nothing
To the grave!
One pilgrim pilgrim said:
“The keys to women's happiness,
From our free will
Abandoned lost
God himself!”
Part three
LAST
Chapters 1-III
On Peter's Day (29/VI), having passed through the villages, the wanderers came to the Volga. And here there are huge expanses of hayfields, and all the people are mowing.
Along the low bank,
On the Volga the grass is tall,
Fun mowing.
The wanderers could not stand it:
“We haven’t worked for a long time,
Let’s mow!”
Amused, tired,
We sat down to a haystack for breakfast...
The landowners arrived on three boats with their retinue, children, and dogs. Everyone went around the mowing and ordered to sweep away a huge stack of hay, supposedly damp. (The wanderers tried:
Dry senso!)
The wanderers are surprised why the landowner behaves this way, because the order is already new, but he is fooling around in the old way. The peasants explain that the hay is not his,
and “patrimony”.
The wanderers, unrolling the self-assembled tablecloth, talk with the old man Vla-sushka, ask him to explain why the peasants please the landowner, and learn: “Our landowner is special,
Exorbitant wealth
An important rank, a noble family,
I've been weird and foolish all my life...”
And when he learned about the “will,” he was seized with a blow. Now the left half is paralyzed. Having somehow recovered from the blow, the old man believed that the peasants had been returned to the landowners. His heirs deceive him so that he does not deprive them of their rich inheritance in their hearts. The heirs persuaded the peasants to “amuse” the master, but the slave Ipat did not need to be persuaded, he loves the master for his favors and serves not out of fear, but out of conscience. What kind of “mercies” does Ipat remember: “How small I was, our prince
me with my own hand
Harnessed the cart;
I have reached a frisky youth:
The prince came on vacation
And, having taken a walk, redeemed
Me, the latter's slave,
In the winter in the ice hole!..”
And then in a snowstorm he forced Prov, who was riding a horse, to play the violin, and when he fell, the prince ran over him with a sleigh:
“...They pressed their chest”
The heirs agreed with the estate as follows:
“Keep silent, take a bow
Don't contradict the sick man,
We will reward you:
For extra work, for corvée,
For even a swear word -
We will pay you for everything.
The hearty one cannot live long,
Probably two or three months,
The doctor himself announced!
Respect us, listen to us,
We are watering meadows for you
We’ll give it along the Volga;..”
Things almost went wrong. Vlas, being a mayor, did not want to bow to the old man and resigned from his post. A volunteer was immediately found - Klimka Lavin - but he is such a thieving and empty person that they left Vlas as mayor, and Klimka Lavin turns and bows in front of the master.
Every day the landowner drives around the village, picking on the peasants, and they:
“Let's get together - laughter! Everyone has
Your own tale about the holy fool...”
The master receives orders, one more stupid than the other: to marry the widow Terentyeva Gavrila Zhokhov: the bride is seventy, and the groom is six years old. A herd of cows passing in the morning woke up the master, so he ordered the shepherds to “calm down the cows from now on.” Only the peasant Agap did not agree to indulge the master, and “then in the middle of the day he was caught with the master’s log. Agap got tired of listening to the master’s swearing, he responded. The landowner ordered Agap to be punished in front of everyone. The master could not move from the porch, and Agap in the stable simply yelled:
“Neither give nor take under the rods
Agap shouted, fooled around,
Until I finished the damask:
How they took him out of the stables
He's dead drunk
Four men
So the master even took pity:
"It's your own fault, Agapushka!" -
He said kindly...”
To which Vlas the narrator remarked:
“Praise the grass in the stack,
And the master is in a coffin!”
“Get away from the master
The ambassador is coming: we've eaten!
He must be calling the headman,
I’ll go take a look at the gum!”
The landowner asked the mayor whether the haymaking would be finished soon, he replied that in two or three days all the master's hay would be harvested. “And ours will wait!” The landowner spent an hour saying that the peasants would always be landowners: “to be squeezed into a handful!..” The mayor makes loyal speeches that pleased the landowner, for which Klim was offered a glass of “overseas wine.” Then the Last One wanted his sons and daughters-in-law to dance, and ordered the blond lady: “Sing, Lyuba!” The lady sang well. The last one fell asleep to the song, they carried him sleepily into the boat, and the gentlemen sailed away. In the evening the peasants learned that the old prince had died,
But their joy is Vakhlatsky
It didn't last long.
With the death of the Last One
The lordly weasel has disappeared:
They didn’t let me get a hangover
Vahlakam Guards!
And for the meadows
Heirs with peasants
They are reaching out to this day.
Vlas we intercede for the peasants,
Lives in Moscow... was in St. Petersburg...
But there’s no point!
Part four
PIR - TO THE WHOLE WORLD
Dedicated
Sergei Petrovich Botkin
Introduction
On the outskirts of the village “There was a feast, a great feast1” His sons, seminarians: Savvushka and Grisha, came with the sexton Tryfon.
...At Gregory's
Thin face pale
And the hair is thin, curly,
With a hint of red
Simple guys, kind.
Mowed, stung, sowed
And drank vodka on holidays
On a par with the peasantry.
The men sit and think:
Own flood meadows
Hand it over to the headman - as a tax.
The men ask Grisha to sing. He sings “happy”.
Chapter I
BITTER TIME - BITTER SONGS
Cheerful
The landowner took a cow from the peasant's yard, the chickens were taken and eaten by the zemstvo court. The boys will grow up a little: “The king will take the boys, // Master -
daughters!”
Then everyone burst into song together
Corvee
A beaten man seeks solace in a pub. A man driving by said that they were beaten for swear words until they achieved silence. Then Vikenty Aleksandrovich, a yard man, told his story.
About an exemplary slave - Jacob the faithful
He lived for thirty years in the village of Polivanov, who bought the village with bribes and did not know his neighbors, but only his sister. He was cruel to his relatives, not only to the peasants. He married his daughter, and then, after beating her, he and her husband kicked out without anything. Yakov's slave hit him in the teeth with his heel.
People of servile rank -
Real dogs sometimes:
The heavier the punishment
That's why gentlemen are dearer to them.
Yakov appeared like this from his youth,
Yakov had only joy:
To care for the master, to take care of him, please
Yes, rock my little nephew.
All his life Yakov was with his master, they grew old together. The master's legs refused to walk.
Yakov himself will carry him out and lay him down,
He himself will take the long distance to his sister,
He will help you get to the old lady yourself.
So they lived happily - for the time being.
Jacob's nephew, Grisha, grew up and threw himself at the master's feet, asking to marry Irisha. And the master himself looked for her for himself. He handed over Grisha as a recruit. Yakov was offended and made a fool. “I’m dead drunk...” Whoever doesn’t approach the master, but they can’t please him. Two weeks later, Yakov returned, allegedly feeling sorry for the landowner. Everything went as before. We were getting ready to go to the master’s sister. Yakov turned off-road into the Devil's Ravine, unharnessed the horses, and the master was afraid for his life and began to beg Yakov to spare him, he replied:
“I found the murderer!
I will dirty my hands with murder,
No, it’s not for you to die!”
Yakov himself hanged himself in front of the master. The master toiled all night, and in the morning a hunter found him. The master returned home, repenting:
“I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!”
Having told a couple more scary stories, the men argued: who is more sinful - the innkeepers, the landowners or the men? We got into a fight. And then Ionushka, who had been silent all evening, said:
And so I will make peace between you!”
Chapter II
Wanderers and pilgrims
There are many beggars in Rus', entire villages went “begging” in the fall, there are many among them rogues who know how to get along with the landowners. But there are also believing pilgrims, whose labors raise money for churches. They remembered the holy fool Fomushka, who lived like a god, and there was also the Old Believer Kropilnikov:
Old man, whose whole life
Either freedom or prison.
And there was also Evfrosinyushka, a townsman widow; she appeared in cholera years. The peasants accept everyone, for a long time winter evenings listen to the stories of wanderers.
Such soil is good -
The soul of the Russian people...
O sower! come!..
Jonah, the venerable wanderer, told the story.
About two great sinners
He heard this story in Solovki from Father Pitirtma. There were twelve robbers, their chieftain was Kudeyar. Many robbers robbed and killed people
Suddenly the fierce robber
God awakened my conscience.
The villain's conscience overcame him,
He disbanded his gang,
He distributed property to the church,
I buried the knife under the willow tree.
He went on pilgrimage, but did not atone for his sins; he lived in the forest under an oak tree. God's messenger showed him the way to salvation - with the knife that killed people,
he must cut the oak:
“...A tree has just collapsed -
The chains of sin will fall.”
Pan Glukhovsky drove by and mocked the old man, saying:
“You have to live, old man, in my opinion:
How many slaves do I destroy?
I torment, torture and hang,
I wish I could see how I’m sleeping!”
The enraged hermit stuck his knife into Glukhovsky’s heart, fell
Pan, and the tree collapsed.
The tree collapsed rolled down
The monk is off the burden of sins!..
Let us pray to the Lord God:
Have mercy on us, dark slaves!
Chapter III
BOTH OLD AND NEW
Peasant sin
There was an “ammiral-widower”; the Empress rewarded him with eight thousand souls for his faithful service. Dying, the “ammiral” handed over to the elder Gleb a casket containing freedom for all eight thousand souls. But the heir seduced the headman, giving him his freedom. The will was burned. And until recently there were eight thousand
shower for serfs.
“So this is the peasant’s sin!
Truly a terrible sin!”
The poor have fallen again
To the bottom of a bottomless abyss,
They became quiet, they became humble,
They lay down on their stomachs;
They were lying down thought
And suddenly they started singing. Slowly,
Like a cloud is approaching,
The words flowed viscously.
Hungry
About a man's eternal hunger, work and lack of sleep. The peasants are convinced that everything is to blame “ serfdom" It multiplies the sins of landowners and the misfortunes of slaves. Grisha said:
“I don’t need any silver,
No gold, but God willing,
So that my fellow countrymen
And every peasant
Life was free and fun
All over holy Rus'!”
They saw Yegorka Shutov sleepy and began to beat him, for which they themselves did not know. The “peace” ordered to beat, so they beat. An old soldier is riding on a cart. Stops and sings.
Soldatskaya
The light is sickening
There is no truth
Life is sickening
The pain is severe.
Klim sings along with him about the bitter life.
Chapter IV
GOOD TIME - GOOD SONGS
The “Great Feast” ended only in the morning. Some went home, and the wanderers went to bed right there on the shore. Returning home, Grisha and Savva sang:
Share of the people
His happiness
Light and freedom
First of all!
They lived poorer than a poor peasant; they did not even have cattle. At the seminary, Grisha was starving; he only ate up on Vakhlatchina. The sexton boasted about his sons, but did not think about what they ate. And I myself was always hungry. His wife was much more caring than him, which is why she died early. She always thought about salt and sang a song.
Salty
Son Grishenka does not want to eat unsalted food. The Lord advised to “salt” it with flour. The mother sprinkles flour and salts the food with her copious tears. Grisha is often at the seminary
remembered his mother and her song.
And soon in the boy's heart
With love to the poor mother
Love for all Vakhlatchina
Merged - and about fifteen years old
Gregory already knew for sure
What will live for happiness
Poor and dark.
Native corner.
Russia has two paths: one road is “hostility-war”, the other is an honest road. Only the “strong” and “loving” follow it.
To fight, to work.
Grisha Dobrosklonov
Fate had in store for him
The path is glorious big name
People's Defender,
Consumption and Siberia.
Grisha sings:
“In moments of despondency, O Motherland!
My thoughts fly forward.
You are still destined to suffer a lot,
But you won't die, I know.
She was both in slavery and under the Tatars:
“...You are also a slave in the family;
But the mother is already a free son.”
Grigory goes to the Volga and sees barge haulers.
Burlak
Grigory talks about the hard lot of barge haulers, and then his thoughts turn to all of Rus'.
Rus
You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You are mighty
You are also powerless
Mother Rus'!
People's power
Mighty force -
Conscience is calm,
The truth is alive!
You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You're downtrodden
You are omnipotent
If only our wanderers could be under their own roof,
If only they could know what was happening to Grisha.
From 1863 to 1877 Nekrasov created “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” The idea, characters, plot changed several times during the work. Most likely, the plan was not fully revealed: the author died in 1877. Despite this, “Who lives well in Rus'” as folk poem is considered a completed work. It was supposed to have 8 parts, but only 4 were completed.
The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” begins with the introduction of the characters. These heroes are seven men from the villages: Dyryavino, Zaplatovo, Gorelovo, Neurozhaika, Znobishino, Razutovo, Neelovo. They meet and start a conversation about who lives happily and well in Rus'. Each of the men has his own opinion. One believes that the landowner is happy, the other - that he is an official. The peasants from the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” also call happy the merchant, the priest, the minister, the noble boyar, the tsar. The heroes began to argue and lit a fire. It even came to a fight. However, they fail to come to an agreement.
Self-assembled tablecloth
Suddenly Pakhom completely unexpectedly caught the chick. The little warbler, his mother, asked the man to let the chick go free. She suggested for this where you can find a self-assembled tablecloth - a very useful thing that will certainly come in handy in long road. Thanks to her, the men did not lack food during the trip.
The priest's story
The work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” continues with the following events. The heroes decided to find out at any cost who lives happily and cheerfully in Rus'. They hit the road. First, on the way they met a priest. The men turned to him with a question about whether he lived happily. Then the pope talked about his life. He believes (in which the men could not but agree with him) that happiness is impossible without peace, honor, and wealth. Pop believes that if he had all this, he would be completely happy. However, he is obliged, day and night, in any weather, to go where he is told - to the dying, to the sick. Every time the priest has to see human grief and suffering. He sometimes even lacks the strength to take retribution for his service, since people tear the latter away from themselves. Once upon a time everything was completely different. The priest says that rich landowners generously rewarded him for funeral services, baptisms, and weddings. However, now the rich are far away, and the poor have no money. The priest also has no honor: the men do not respect him, as many folk songs testify to.
Wanderers go to the fair
Wanderers understand that this person cannot be called happy, as noted by the author of the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” The heroes set off again and find themselves along the road in the village of Kuzminskoye, at the fair. This village is dirty, although rich. There are a lot of establishments in it where residents indulge in drunkenness. They drink away their last money. For example, an old man had no money left to buy shoes for his granddaughter, since he drank everything away. All this is observed by wanderers from the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (Nekrasov).
Yakim Nagoy
They also notice fairground entertainment and fights and argue that a man is forced to drink: it helps him withstand hard work and eternal hardships. An example of this is Yakim Nagoy, a man from the village of Bosovo. He works himself to death and drinks until he is half to death. Yakim believes that if there were no drunkenness, there would be great sadness.
The wanderers continue their journey. In the work “Who Lives Well in Rus',” Nekrasov talks about how they want to find happy and cheerful people and promise to give these lucky people free water. Therefore the most different people trying to pass themselves off as such - a former servant suffering from paralysis, for many years licking plates behind the master, exhausted workers, beggars. However, the travelers themselves understand that these people cannot be called happy.
Ermil Girin
The men once heard about a man named Ermil Girin. Nekrasov further tells his story, of course, but does not convey all the details. Yermil Girin - burgomaster, who was very respected, fair and honest man. He intended to one day buy the mill. The men lent him money without a receipt, they trusted him so much. However, a peasant revolt occurred. Now Yermil is in prison.
Obolt-Obolduev's story
Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev, one of the landowners, spoke about the fate of the nobles after They used to own a lot: serfs, villages, forests. On holidays, nobles could invite serfs into their homes to pray. But after that the master was no longer the full owner of the men. The wanderers knew very well how difficult life was during the times of serfdom. But it is also not difficult for them to understand that things became much harder for the nobles after the abolition of serfdom. And it’s not easier for men now. The wanderers realized that they would not be able to find a happy one among the men. So they decided to go to the women.
Life of Matryona Korchagina
The peasants were told that in one village there lived a peasant woman named Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, whom everyone called lucky. They found her, and Matryona told the men about her life. Nekrasov continues this story “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”
A brief summary of this woman's life story is as follows. Her childhood was cloudless and happy. She had a hard-working family that didn't drink. The mother cared for and cherished her daughter. When Matryona grew up, she became a beauty. One day, a stove maker from another village, Philip Korchagin, wooed her. Matryona told how he persuaded her to marry him. This was the only bright memory of this woman in her entire life, which was hopeless and dreary, although her husband treated her well by peasant standards: he almost never beat her. However, he went to the city to earn money. Matryona lived in her father-in-law's house. Everyone here treated her badly. The only one who was kind to the peasant woman was very old grandfather Savely. He told her that he was sent to hard labor for the murder of the manager.
Soon Matryona gave birth to Demushka - a sweet and beautiful baby. She could not part with him for a minute. However, the woman had to work in the field, where her mother-in-law did not allow her to take the child. Grandfather Savely was watching the baby. One day he did not take care of Demushka, and the child was eaten by pigs. They came from the city to investigate, and they opened up the baby in front of the mother’s eyes. This was the hardest blow for Matryona.
Then five children were born to her, all boys. Matryona was a kind and caring mother. One day Fedot, one of the children, was tending sheep. One of them was carried away by a she-wolf. The shepherd was to blame for this and should have been punished with whips. Then Matryona begged her to be beaten instead of her son.
She also said that they once wanted to recruit her husband as a soldier, although this was a violation of the law. Then Matryona went to the city, being pregnant. Here the woman met Elena Alexandrovna, the kind governor’s wife, who helped her, and Matryona’s husband was released.
The peasants considered Matryona a happy woman. However, after listening to her story, the men realized that she could not be called happy. There was too much suffering and troubles in her life. Matryona Timofeevna herself also says that a woman in Rus', especially a peasant woman, cannot be happy. Her lot is very difficult.
Crazy landowner
Men-wanderers are on their way to the Volga. Here comes the mowing. People are busy with hard work. Suddenly an amazing scene: the mowers humiliate themselves and please the old master. It turned out that the landowner He could not understand what had already been abolished. Therefore, his relatives persuaded the men to behave as if it was still in effect. They were promised for this. The men agreed, but were deceived once again. When the old master died, the heirs gave them nothing.
The story of Jacob
Repeatedly along the way, wanderers listen folk songs- hungry, soldier and others, as well as different stories. They remembered, for example, the story of Yakov, the faithful slave. He always tried to please and appease the master, who humiliated and beat the slave. However, this led to Yakov loving him even more. The master's legs gave out in old age. Yakov continued to look after him as if he were his own child. But he received no gratitude for this. Grisha, a young guy, Yakov's nephew, wanted to marry a beauty - a serf girl. Out of jealousy, the old master sent Grisha as a recruit. Yakov fell into drunkenness from this grief, but then returned to the master and took revenge. He took him to the forest and hanged himself right in front of the master. Since his legs were paralyzed, he could not escape anywhere. The master sat all night under Yakov's corpse.
Grigory Dobrosklonov - people's defender
This and other stories make men think that they will not be able to find happy people. However, they learn about Grigory Dobrosklonov, a seminarian. This is the son of a sexton, who has seen the suffering and hopeless life of the people since childhood. He made a choice in his early youth, he decided that he would give his strength to fight for the happiness of his people. Gregory is educated and smart. He understands that Rus' is strong and will cope with all troubles. Gregory will have a glorious path in the future, a great name people's defender, "consumption and Siberia".
The men hear about this intercessor, but they do not yet understand that such people can make others happy. This won't happen anytime soon.
Heroes of the poem
Nekrasov depicted various segments of the population. Simple peasants become the main characters of the work. They were freed by the reform of 1861. But their life did not change much after the abolition of serfdom. The same hard work, hopeless life. After the reform, peasants who had their own lands found themselves in an even more difficult situation.
The characteristics of the heroes of the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” can be supplemented by the fact that the author created surprisingly reliable images of peasants. Their characters are very accurate, although contradictory. Not only kindness, strength and integrity of character are found in Russian people. They have preserved at the genetic level servility, servility, and readiness to submit to a despot and tyrant. The coming of Grigory Dobrosklonov, a new man, is a symbol of the fact that honest, noble, smart people appear among the downtrodden peasantry. May their fate be unenviable and difficult. Thanks to them, self-awareness will arise among the peasant masses, and people will finally be able to fight for happiness. This is exactly what the heroes and the author of the poem dream about. N.A. Nekrasov ("Who Lives Well in Rus'", "Russian Women", "Frost, and Other Works) are truly considered national poet, who was interested in the fate of the peasantry, its sufferings and problems. The poet could not remain indifferent to his difficult lot. Work by N.A. Nekrasov’s “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was written with such sympathy for the people that it still makes us sympathize with their fate in that difficult time.
The prologue tells about the events that occur in the poem itself. Those. about how seven peasants from the villages of Zaplatovo, Neurozhaiko, Dyryavino, Znobishino, Razutovo, Neelovo, Gorelovo started a dispute on the topic “Who can live freely in Rus'?” This one is spicy social issue It is not for nothing that Nikolai Alekseevich submits for consideration to the illiterate and ignorant class, which the peasants were considered to be in late XIX century, this is a very bold step - to entrust the search for justice, and, in human terms, happiness, to ordinary men. After all, each of them judges in his own way “who is more at ease” with the landowner, official, priest, merchant, noble boyar, minister of the sovereign or the tsar. The poet included such fairy-tale conventions in the work as a prophetic bird and a self-assembled tablecloth. And the men, having abandoned their affairs, set out on the difficult path of searching for justice and happiness.
Chapter I Pop.
On the way, the peasants meet various wanderers: artisans, beggars, a peasant bast worker like them, coachmen, and soldiers. But the men don’t ask them questions about happiness: “Soldiers shave with an awl, Soldiers warm themselves with smoke, What kind of happiness is there?” " Towards evening the men met the priest. From his plaintive speeches it turns out that “the landowners went bankrupt,” hinting at the abolition of serfdom by Alexander II the Liberator in 1861. The priest's ideal of happiness is “peace, wealth, honor.” But in real life This was no longer possible for him, due to the impoverishment of the landowners and peasants and the rich, well-fed way of life of the priest came to an end.
Chapter II Country Fair.
In this chapter, the men go to the trading village of Kuzminskoye to ask the people there about happiness. They hear different things: someone buys something, sells something, and someone, having squandered all their savings, cannot buy gifts for their relatives. Russian people know how to relax, and therefore they walk in a big way, as if they were living on their last day. Having seen enough, the men hit the road.
Chapter III. Drunken night.
At the fair, the men met a new character in the poem - Pavlusha Veretennikov. It is he who tells our “heroes” about the terrible trait of the Russian person - drunkenness. Yakim Nagoy, in turn, counters with the statement that grief has to be drowned in wine. The poet generally created Yakim Nagogo as the embodiment of a plowman-worker who is capable of reflection.
Chapter IV. Happy.
In this chapter, the image of the hero Ermila Girin is painted with new colors. The main emphasis is on the scene with the merchant Altynnikov, regarding the purchase of the mill. To “victory” over the merchant, Girin needs 1000 rubles as quickly as possible. Ermila decides to ask the people for help to lend him this amount. And on market day, on the market square, he carries out his plans. The peasants, imbued with Girin’s situation, “give whatever they are rich in.” This story is precisely related to the search for human happiness. The travelers, having listened carefully to the story, wanted to meet him, but this was not destined to come true, because... Ermila is sitting in prison. And among the people he has a good reputation as a defender of peasant interests.
Chapter V. Landowner.
The fifth chapter of the poem is devoted to the story of the landowner Obolt-Obolduev about his life. Key words descriptions of the past life are: “the landowner’s chest breathed freely and easily”: “Whoever I want, I will have mercy, Whoever I want, I will execute. Law is my desire! The fist is my police! " Now everything has changed, the peasants give preference to theft, as a simpler and easier task than work. During the story, the landowner realizes how worthless his life is: “...What did I study? What did I see around? I smoked God’s heaven, wore the royal livery, littered the people’s treasury, and thought of living like this forever.” The chapter ends with the landowner's tears and his feeling of being a deeply unhappy person.
PART II. LAST
Dedicated to the history of Prince Utyatin. He still cannot believe that the reform to free the peasants has forever deprived him of his landowner privileges. The princely sons ask the peasant people to at least outwardly preserve the previous forms of the “landowner-peasant” relationship. This is reflected in the text with the words: “Keep silent, bow down, and don’t contradict the sick man, we will reward you.” The peasants seem to express agreement: “we were joking, fooling around...”. At the end of the second part, the fact of the weak self-awareness of the peasants becomes clear.
PART III. PEASANT WOMAN.
The author composed the third part of the poem from a prologue and eight chapters. The narration comes from the perspective of Matryona Timofeevna, whom everyone around considers lucky, although Matryona herself does not think so. She tells the men about her life. Her confession includes stories Holy Russian hero Savelia, which he tells on his own. The life of Matryona Timofeevna is filled with tragedy. Its story begins in the distant past, at a time when people only dared to dream about the abolition of serfdom. Recognizing the situations in which Matryona Timofeevna found herself, it is difficult to believe the human savagery that she had to go through. Matryona left her firstborn with her grandfather Savely. He did not keep an eye on the baby and the child was eaten by pigs.
The police, ignoring her grief, not considering this an excuse, accused her of conspiring with a convict. The doctor, in front of Matryona’s eyes, performs an autopsy on the small body; the mother’s grief knows no bounds, and she spends all her time at her son’s grave. Grandfather Savely, feeling guilty, goes into the forests and then to the “Sand Monastery” to repent. Her troubles did not end there: soon, she buried her parents. Matryona gives birth every year. Her husband's parents - her father-in-law and mother-in-law - do not love her and are trying to drive her away from the world. My husband was selected as a recruit out of turn for 25 years. Matryona works alone for everyone. Unable to withstand the onslaught, she asks the governor’s wife for help. While waiting, she loses consciousness, and when she comes to, she learns that she has given birth to a son.
The governor does everything possible for Matryona. The husband is returned home. As a result of her confession, Matryona tells the men: “It’s not a matter of looking for a happy woman among women!” An old woman in the same village gave a very accurate description of the female lot: “The keys to female happiness, From our free will, Abandoned, lost from God himself! »
PART IV. A Feast FOR THE WHOLE WORLD
Nekrasov included an introduction and five chapters in his final part of the poem. According to the plot, the fourth part continues the second: the death of Prince Utyatin led to the celebration of the peasant people, a discussion of issues about the meadows that were promised to the prince’s sons. This is reflected in the text with the words: “On the day of the death of the old prince, the peasants did not foresee that it would not be hired meadows, but litigation.” “Our” men from seven villages are present at the feast as guests: they listen to songs and stories about Kudeyar, about Yakov, about the elder Gleb. But sooner or later everything comes to an end and “Having fallen asleep, our wanderers remained under the willow.” The songs of Grisha Dobrosklonov reflect the thoughts of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov himself about the people. Consists of an introduction and five chapters.
Plot-wise, the fourth part continues the second part: Prince Utyatin died, and the peasants threw a feast for the whole world, discussing the issue of meadows promised by the sons of the prince (“On the day of the death of the old prince // The peasants did not foresee, // That they were not hired meadows, // And they will get into litigation"). The wanderers are present as guests: they listen to songs, stories about Yakov, about Kudeyar, about the elder Gleb. But now the great feast is over. “Having fallen asleep, our wanderers remained under the willow.” Meanwhile, the author talks about Grisha Dobrosklonov. Grisha Dobrosklonov sings songs that reflect Nekrasov’s own thoughts about the people: “You are poor, You are abundant, You are powerful, You are powerless, Mother Rus'! ..” conclude the product of lines that express the general deep meaning of the entire poem: “Our wanderers would be under their own roof, if they could know what was happening to Grisha.” With these lines the author answers the question with which he titled his work. Okay on Rus' lives democratic intellectual Grisha Dobrosklonov. Who is a democratic revolutionary who is ready to fight for the people's happiness. The feeling that prompted Nekrasov to write the poem is nothing more than a feeling of real, sincere love for the Russian people. This fact determines the incompleteness of the poem.
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky spoke about Nekrasov in his essays: “... Nekrasov’s love for the people was, as it were, the outcome of his own grief in itself. In serving his people with his heart and talent, he found his purification before himself. The people were his real inner need, not just for poetry. He found his justification in his love for him. With his feelings for the people, he elevated his spirit.< .. >He bowed before the truth of the people...” .These words express Nekrasov’s need for the love of the people, which served as a source of inspiration for his poetry.
A short retelling of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” in abbreviation was prepared by Oleg Nikov for the reader’s diary.
Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” included in the compulsory school curriculum, is presented in our summary, which you can read below.
Part 1
Prologue
Seven men from neighboring villages. They start an argument about who has fun in Rus'. Everyone has their own answer. In their conversations they do not notice that they have already walked thirty miles to God knows where. It gets dark, they make a fire. The argument gradually turns into a fight. But a definite answer still cannot be found.
A man named Pakhom catches a chick of a warbler. In return, the bird promises to tell the men where the self-assembled tablecloth is, which will give them as much food as they want, a bucket of vodka a day, and will wash and mend their clothes. The heroes receive a real treasure and decide to find the final answer to the question: who can live well in Rus'?
Pop
On the way the men meet a priest. They ask if he has a happy life. According to the priest, happiness is wealth, honor and peace. But these benefits are not available to the priest: in the cold and rain, he is forced to go out to the funeral service, to look at the tears of his relatives, when it is awkward to accept payment for the service. In addition, the priest does not see respect among the people, and every now and then he becomes the subject of ridicule from the men.
Rural fair
Having found out that the priest is not happy, the peasants go to a fair in the village of Kuzminskoye. Maybe they will find the lucky one there. There are a lot of drunk people at the fair. Old man Vavila is grieving that he wasted money on shoes for his granddaughter. Everyone wants to help, but they don’t have the opportunity. Master Pavel Veretennikov feels sorry for his grandfather and buys a gift for his granddaughter.
As night approaches, everyone around is drunk, the men leave.
drunken night
Pavel Veretennikov, after talking with common people, regrets that Russian people drink too much. But the men are convinced that the peasants drink out of despair, that it is impossible to live sober in these conditions. If the Russian people stop drinking, great sadness awaits them.
These thoughts are expressed by Yakim Nagoy, a resident of the village of Bosovo. He tells how, during a fire, the first thing he did was take out popular prints from the hut - what he valued most.
The men settled down for lunch. Then one of them remained to guard the bucket of vodka, and the rest again went in search of happiness.
Happy
Wanderers offer those who are happy in Rus' a glass of vodka. There are many such lucky people - the overstrained man, the paralytic, and even the beggars.
Someone points them to Ermila Girin, an honest and respected peasant. When he needed to buy his mill at auction, people raised the required amount by ruble and by penny. A couple of weeks later, Girin was distributing debt in the square. And when I stayed last ruble, he continued to look for its owner until sunset. But now Yermila has little happiness - he was accused of a popular revolt and thrown into prison.
landowner
The rosy-cheeked landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev is another candidate for the “lucky one.” But he complains to the peasants about the misfortune of the nobility - the abolition of serfdom. He was fine before. Everyone took care of him and tried to please him. And he himself was kind to the servants. The reform destroyed his usual way of life. How can he live now, because he doesn’t know how to do anything, he’s not capable of anything. The landowner began to cry, and the men became sad after him. The abolition of serfdom was not easy for the peasants either.
Part 2
Last One
The men find themselves on the banks of the Volga during haymaking. They observe a picture that is surprising to them. Three master's boats moor to the shore. The mowers, having just sat down to rest, jump up, wanting to curry favor with the master. It turned out that the heirs, having enlisted the support of the peasants, were trying to hide the peasant reform from the distraught landowner Utyatin. The peasants were promised land for this, but when the landowner dies, the heirs forget about the agreement.
Part 3
Peasant woman
Happiness seekers thought about asking women about happiness. Everyone they meet calls the name of Matryona Korchagina, whom people see as lucky.
Matryona claims that there are many troubles in her life, and dedicates wanderers to her story.
As a girl, Matryona had a good, non-drinking family. When the stove maker Korchagin looked after her, she was happy. But after marriage the usual painful village life. She was beaten by her husband only once, because he loved her. When he left to work, the stove-maker's family continued to abuse her. Only grandfather Savely, a former convict who was imprisoned for the murder of a manager, felt sorry for her. Savely looked like a hero, confident that it was impossible to defeat a Russian man.
Matryona was happy when her first son was born. But while she was at work in the field, Savely fell asleep, and the child was eaten by pigs. In front of the grief-stricken mother, the county doctor performed an autopsy on her firstborn. The woman still cannot forget the child, although after him she gave birth to five.
From the outside, everyone considers Matryona lucky, but no one understands what pain she carries inside, what mortal unavenged grievances gnaw at her, how she dies every time she remembers her dead child.
Matryona Timofeevna knows that a Russian woman simply cannot be happy, because she has no life, no will.
Part 4
Feast for the whole world
Wanderers near the village of Vakhlachina hear folk songs - hungry, salty, soldier's and corvee. Grisha Dobrosklonov sings - a simple Russian guy. There are stories about serfdom. One of them is the story of the Yakima Faithful. He was devoted to the master to the extreme. He rejoiced at the blows and fulfilled any whim. But when the landowner gave his nephew to military service, Yakim left and soon returned. He figured out how to take revenge on the landowner. Enervated, he brought him to the forest and hanged himself on a tree above the master.
A dispute begins about the worst sin. Elder Jonah tells the parable of “two sinners.” The sinner Kudeyar prayed to God for forgiveness, and he answered him. If Kudeyar knocks down a huge tree with just one knife, then his sins will disappear. The oak fell only after the sinner washed it with the blood of the cruel Pan Glukhovsky.
The clerk's son Grisha Dobrosklonov thinks about the future of the Russian people. For him, Rus' is a wretched, abundant, powerful and powerless mother. In his soul he feels immense strength, he is ready to give his life for the good of the people. In the future, the glory of the people's intercessor, hard labor, Siberia and consumption awaits him. But if the wanderers knew what feelings filled Gregory’s soul, they would realize that the goal of their search had been achieved.
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.
While arguing, they do not notice that they have taken 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 develops into a fight. But a fight does not help resolve the issue that worries the men.
The solution is found unexpectedly: one of the men, Pakhom, catches a warbler chick, and in order to free the chick, the warbler tells the men where they can find a self-assembled tablecloth. Now the men are provided with bread, vodka, cucumbers, kvass, tea - in a word, everything they need for long journey. And besides, a self-assembled tablecloth will repair and wash their clothes! Having received all these benefits, the men make a vow to find out “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.”
The first possible “lucky person” they meet along the way turns out to be a priest. (It was not right for the soldiers and beggars they met to ask about happiness!) But the priest’s answer to the question of whether his life is sweet disappoints the men. They agree with the priest that happiness lies in peace, wealth and honor. But the priest does not possess any of these benefits. In the haymaking, in the harvest, in the dead of autumn night, in the severe frost, he must go to where there are the sick, the dying and those being born. And every time his soul hurts at the sight of funeral sobs and orphan's sadness - so much so that his hand does not rise to take copper coins - a pitiful reward for the demand. The landowners, who previously lived in family estates and got married here, baptized children, buried the dead, are now scattered not only throughout Rus', but also in distant foreign lands; there is no hope for their retribution. Well, the men themselves know how much honor the priest deserves: they feel embarrassed when the priest reproaches him for obscene songs and insults towards priests.
Realizing that the Russian priest is not one of the lucky ones, the men go to a holiday fair in the trading village of Kuzminskoye to ask people about happiness. In a rich and dirty village there are two churches, a tightly boarded house with the sign “school”, a paramedic’s hut, a dirty hotel. But most of all in the village there are drinking establishments, in each of which they barely have time to cope with thirsty people. Old man Vavila cannot buy goatskin shoes for his granddaughter 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 him the treasured gift.
Male wanderers watch the farcical Petrushka, watch as the ladies stock up on books - but not Belinsky and Gogol, but portraits of unknown fat generals and works about “my lord stupid.” They also see how a busy trading day ends: widespread drunkenness, fights on the way home. However, the men are indignant at Pavlusha Veretennikov’s attempt to measure the peasant against the master’s standard. In their opinion, it is impossible for a sober person to live in Rus': he will not withstand either backbreaking labor or peasant misfortune; without drinking out of anger peasant soul It would rain bloody rain. These words are confirmed by Yakim Nagoy from the village of Bosovo - one of those who “works until they die, drinks until they die.” Yakim believes that only pigs walk on the earth and never see the sky. During the fire, he himself did not save the money he had accumulated throughout his life, but the useless and beloved pictures hanging in the hut; he is sure that with the cessation of drunkenness, great sadness will come to Rus'.
Male wanderers do not lose hope of finding people who live well in Rus'. But even for the promise of giving free water to the lucky ones, they fail to find them. For the sake of free booze, both the overworked worker, the paralyzed former servant who licked the master’s plates with the best French truffle for forty years, and even ragged beggars are ready to declare themselves lucky.
Finally, someone tells them the story of Yermil Girin, the mayor in the estate of Prince Yurlov, who earned universal respect for his justice and honesty. When Girin needed money to buy the mill, the men lent it to him without even requiring a receipt. But Yermil is now unhappy: after the peasant revolt, he is in prison.
The ruddy sixty-year-old landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev tells the wandering men about the misfortune that befell the nobles after the peasant reform. He remembers how in the old days everything amused the master: villages, forests, fields, serf actors, musicians, hunters, who completely belonged to him. Obolt-Obolduev talks with emotion about how on the twelve holidays he invited his serfs to pray in the master's house - despite the fact that after this he had to drive the women away from the entire estate to wash the floors.
And although the men themselves know that life in serfdom was far from the idyll depicted by Obolduev, they still understand: the great chain of serfdom, having broken, hit both the master, who was immediately deprived of his usual way of life, and the peasant.
Desperate to find someone happy among the men, the wanderers decide to ask the women. The surrounding peasants remember that Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina lives in the village of Klin, whom everyone considers lucky. But Matryona herself thinks differently. In confirmation, she tells the wanderers the story of her life.
Before her marriage, Matryona lived in a teetotal and wealthy peasant family. She married a stove-maker from a foreign village, Philip Korchagin. 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 Savely, who was living out his life in the family after hard labor, where he ended up for the murder of a hated German manager. Savely told Matryona what Russian heroism is: it is impossible to defeat a peasant, because he “bends, but does not break.”
The birth of Demushka's first child brightened Matryona's life. But soon her mother-in-law forbade her to take the child into the field, and the old grandfather Savely did not keep an eye on the baby and fed him to pigs. In front of Matryona's eyes, judges who came from the city performed an autopsy on her child. Matryona could not forget her first-born, although after that she had five sons. One of them, the shepherd boy Fedot, once allowed a she-wolf to carry away a sheep. Matryona accepted 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 into the army. Matryona was then helped by the governor Elena Alexandrovna, for whom the whole family is now praying.
By all peasant standards, Matryona Korchagina’s life can be considered happy. But about the invisible mental storm It is impossible to tell the story that passed through this woman - just like about unpaid mortal grievances, and about the blood of the firstborn. Matrena Timofeevna is convinced that a Russian peasant woman cannot be happy at all, because the keys to her happiness and free will are lost to God himself.
At the height of haymaking, wanderers come to the Volga. Here they witness a strange scene. A noble family swims to the shore in three boats. The mowers, having 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 hide the abolition of serfdom from the crazy landowner Utyatin. The relatives of the Last-Duckling promise the men floodplain meadows for this. But after the long-awaited death of the Last One, the heirs forget their promises, and the whole peasant performance turns out to be in vain.
Here, near the village of Vakhlachina, wanderers listen to peasant songs - corvée, hunger, soldier, salty - and stories about serfdom. One of these stories is about a slave exemplary Jacob true. Yakov's only joy was pleasing his master, the small landowner Polivanov. Tyrant Polivanov, in gratitude, hit Yakov in the teeth with his heel, which aroused even greater love in the lackey’s soul. As Polivanov grew older, his legs became weak, and Yakov began to follow him like a child. But when Yakov’s nephew, Grisha, decided to marry the beautiful serf Arisha, Polivanov, out of jealousy, gave the guy as a recruit. Yakov started drinking, but soon returned to the master. And yet he managed to take revenge on Polivanov - the only way available to him, the lackey. Having taken 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 servant, driving away birds and wolves with groans of horror.
Another story - about two great sinners - is told to the men by God's wanderer Jonah Lyapushkin. The Lord awakened the conscience of the chieftain of the robbers Kudeyar. The robber atoned for his sins for a long time, but all of them were forgiven him only after he, in a surge of anger, killed the cruel Pan Glukhovsky.
The wandering men also listen to the story of another sinner - Gleb the elder, who for money hid the last will of the late widower admiral, who decided to free his peasants.
But not only wandering men think about people's happiness. The sexton’s son, seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov, lives on Vakhlachin. In his heart, love for his late mother merged with love for all of Vakhlachina. For fifteen years Grisha knew for sure who he was ready to give his life to, for whom he was ready to die. He thinks of all the mysterious Rus' as a wretched, abundant, powerful and powerless mother, and expects that the indestructible power that he feels in his own soul will still be reflected in it. Such strong souls, like Grisha Dobrosklonov, the angel of mercy himself calls to an honest path. Fate is preparing for Grisha “a glorious path, a great name for the people’s intercessor, consumption and Siberia.”
If the wandering men knew what was happening in the soul of Grisha Dobrosklonov, they would probably understand that they could already return to their native shelter, because the goal of their journey had been achieved.