The work of Russian literature of the 19th century does not lose its relevance. The search for happiness can continue. Things have changed a bit modern Russia. Summary Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” in chapters and parts will help you find the desired episode and understand the plot.
Part 1
Prologue
Seven men from different villages gathered on the road and began to argue about who would live happily and freely in Rus'. The meeting place and the names of the villages were chosen by the author with meaning. County - Terpigorev (we endure grief), volost - Pustoporozhnaya (empty or empty). Villages with names that convey the main characteristics of peasant life:
- clothing made from patches – Zaplatovo;
- things with holes - Dyryavino;
- without shoes – Razutovo;
- shivering from illness and fear - Znobishino;
- burnt houses - Gorelovo;
- no food - Neelovo;
- constant crop failures - crop failure.
- landowner;
- official;
- merchant;
- boyar;
- minister;
- tsar.
"The tablecloth will do everything"
The warbler promised. The bird warned that you should not ask the tablecloth for more food than your stomach can handle, and only 1 bucket of vodka. If these conditions are not met, the desire will lead to disaster for the 3rd time. The men found a tablecloth and had a feast. They decided that they would find out who lived happily on Russian soil, and only then would they return home.
Chapter 1 Pop
The peasants continued their journey. They met a lot of people, but no one asked about life. All the wanderers were close to them: the bast worker, the artisan, the beggar, the coachman. The soldier could not be happy. He shaves with an awl and warms himself with smoke. Closer to night they met a priest. The peasants stood in a row and bowed to the holy man. Luka began to ask the priest whether he was living comfortably. The priest thought about it and began to talk. He simply kept silent about his years of study. The priest has no peace. He is called to a sick, dying person. My heart aches and hurts for orphans and people leaving for another world. The priest has no honor. They call him offensive names, avoid him on the way, and make up fairy tales. They don’t like either the priest’s daughter or the priest. The priest is not held in high esteem by all classes. Where does the priest get his wealth? Previously, there were many nobles in Rus'. Children were born on estates and weddings took place. Everyone went to the priests, wealth grew and multiplied. Now everything has changed in Rus'. The landowners scattered throughout the foreign land, leaving only ruined possessions in their homeland. The priest complains about the appearance of schismatics who live among the Orthodox. The life of the priests is becoming more and more difficult; only poor peasants provide income. What can they give? Just a dime and a pie for the holiday. The priest finished his sad story and moved on. The men attacked Luka, who claimed that priests live freely.Chapter 2 Rural fair
The comrades move on and end up at a fair in the village of Kuzminskoye. They hope to meet someone there who is truly happy. The village is rich, commercial and dirty. Kuzminsky has everything that is found in Rus'.- Dirty hotel with a beautiful sign and a tray with dishes.
- Two churches: Orthodox and Old Believers.
- School.
- A paramedic's hut where patients are bled.
Chapter 3 drunken night
The men moved along the road, meeting drunks. They“they crawled, they lay, they rode, they floundered.”
Sober wanderers walked, looking around and listening to speeches. Some were so bad that it’s scary how the Russian people drink themselves to death. Women argue in a ditch about who has a harder life. One goes to hard labor, the other is beaten by her sons-in-law.
The wanderers hear the familiar voice of Pavlusha Veretennikov. He praises the smart Russian people for their proverbs and songs, but is upset about drinking to the point of stupor. But the man doesn’t let him write down the thought. He began to prove that peasants drink on time. During the harvest, people are in the field, who works and feeds the whole country? For a drinking family, a non-drinking family. And trouble comes to everyone equally. Ugly, drunken men are no worse than those who were eaten by midges, eaten by swamp reptiles. One of the drunks was Yakim Nagoy. The worker decided to compete with the merchant and ended up in prison. Yakim loved paintings, and because of them he almost burned down in a fire. While taking pictures, I didn’t have time to pull out the rubles. They merged into a lump and lost value. The men decided that the Russian man could not be overcome by hops.
Chapter 4 Happy
Wanderers are looking for happiness in the festive crowd at the bazaar. But all the arguments of those they meet seem absurd. There are no truly happy people. A man's happiness does not impress wanderers. They are sent to Yermil Girin. He collected money from people in an hour. All the peasants chipped in and helped Yermil buy the mill and resist the merchant Altynnikov. A week later, Yermil returned everything to the last penny, no one demanded anything extra from him, and no one was left offended. Someone didn’t take one ruble from Girin, he gave it to the blind. The men decided to find out what kind of witchcraft Yermil possesses. Girin honestly served as headman. But he couldn’t send his brother to the army, so he replaced him with a peasant. The act exhausted Yermil’s soul. He returned the peasant home and sent his brother to serve. He resigned as headman and rented the mill. Fate still took its toll on the man; he was sent to prison. The wanderers move on, realizing that this is not the most happy man in Rus'.Chapter 5 landowner
The wanderers meet the landowner. The ruddy landowner was 60 years old. And here the author tried. He chose a special surname for the hero - Obolt-Obolduev Gavrila Afanasyevich. The landowner decided that they were going to rob him. He pulled out a pistol, but the men calmed him down and explained the essence of their dispute. Gavrila Afanasyevich was amused by the peasants’ question. He laughed his fill and began to talk about his life. He started with family tree. The men quickly understood what was being said. The landowner's ancestor was Oboldui, who is already more than 2 and a half centuries old. He amused the empress by playing with animals. On the other hand, the family originates from a prince who tried to set fire to Moscow and was executed for this. The landowner was famous; the older the tree, the more eminent the family. The family's wealth was such that it seemed possible not to think about the future. The forests are full of hares, the rivers are full of fish, the arable land is filled with grain. Houses were built with greenhouses, gazebos and parks. The landowners celebrated and walked. Hunting was his favorite pastime. But gradually, along with it, the power of the Russian landowner goes away. Peasants give gifts to the master from all over the vast country. The free life quickly ended. The houses were dismantled brick by brick, everything began to fall into disrepair. There is still land left to work on. The landowner doesn't know how to work, he spends his whole life“lived on the labor of others.”
The peasants realized that the landowner was not the one they were looking for.
Part 2. Last One
Chapter 1
The wanderers reached the Volga. There was a cheerful mowing going on all around. The wanderers saw how a wonderful old man was swaggering over the peasants. He forced the heroic haystack to be swept away. It seemed to him that the hay was not dry. It turned out to be Prince Utyatin. The wanderers were surprised why the peasants behaved this way, if they had long been given their freedom and the estate belonged not to the prince, but to them. Vlas explains to his comrades what the matter is.Chapter 2
The landowner was very rich and important. He didn't believe it was canceled serfdom. He was struck. The children and their wives arrived. Everyone thought that the old man would die, but he recovered. The heirs of their father's wrath were frightened. One of the ladies said that serfdom had been returned. I had to persuade the serfs to continue behaving as before, until freedom. They promised to pay for all the parent's quirks. The prince's orders were as ridiculous as they were absurd. One of the old men could not stand it and spoke out to the prince. He was ordered to be punished. They persuaded Agap to drink and scream as if he was being beaten. They drank the old man to death, and by morning he died.Chapter 3
The peasants, believing in the promises of their heirs, behave like serfs. Prince Posledysh dies. But no one keeps the promises; the promised lands do not go to the peasants. There is a legal battle going on.Part 3. Peasant woman
The men decided to look happy people among women They were advised to find Matryona Timofeeva Korchagina. Wanderers walk through the fields, admiring the rye. Wheat does not make them happy; it does not feed everyone. We reached the desired village - Klin. The peasants were surprised at every step. Strange, absurd work was going on throughout the village. Everything around was being destroyed, broken or damaged. Finally, they saw the reapers and reapers. Beautiful girls changed the situation. Among them was Matryona Timofeevna, popularly nicknamed the governor’s wife. The woman was approximately 37 - 38 years old. The woman’s appearance is attractive with beauty:- large stern eyes;
- wide, tight posture;
- rich eyelashes;
- dark skin.
Chapter 1 Before marriage
Matryona was happy in her parents' house. Everyone treated her well: father, brother, mother. The girl grew up hardworking. She has been helping with housework since she was 5 years old. She grew up to be a kind worker who loved to sing and dance. Matryona was in no hurry to get married. But stove maker Philip Korchagin appeared. The girl thought it over all night, cried, but after looking at the guy more closely, she agreed. Happiness was only on the night of the matchmaking, as Matryona said.Chapter 2 Songs
The wanderers and the woman sing songs. They talk about the hard life in someone else's house. Matryona continues the story about her life. The girl ended up in a huge family. The husband went to work and advised his wife to remain silent and endure. Matryona worked for her eldest sister-in-law, the pious Martha, looked after her father-in-law, and pleased her mother-in-law. It occurred to Philip’s mother that it would be better for rye to grow from stolen seeds. The father-in-law went to steal, he was caught, beaten and thrown into the barn, half dead. Matryona praises her husband, and the wanderers ask if he beat her. The woman is talking. Philip beat him for not answering a question quickly when his wife was lifting a heavy pot and could not speak. The wanderers began to sing new song about the husband's whip and relatives. Matryona gave birth to a son, Demushka, when her husband went to work again. Trouble came again: the master’s manager, Abram Gordeevich Sitnikov, liked the woman. He didn't give way. Of the whole family, only grandfather Savely felt sorry for Matryona. She went to him for advice.Chapter 3 Saveliy, Holy Russian hero
Grandfather Savely looked like a bear. He hasn’t cut his hair for 20 years, he’s bent over with age. According to documents, my grandfather was already more than 100 years old. He lived in a corner - in a special upper room. He didn’t allow family members to visit him; they didn’t like him. Even native son scolded my father. They called my grandfather branded. But Savely was not offended:“Branded, but not a slave!”
The grandfather rejoiced at the family’s failures: while they were waiting for matchmakers, beggars came to the window, and they beat up the father-in-law in the pub. Grandfather collects mushrooms and berries, catches birds. In winter he talks to himself on the stove. The old man has many sayings and favorite sayings. Matryona and her son went to the old man. The grandfather told the woman why he was called the branded one in the family. He was a convict who buried the German Vogel alive in the ground. Savely tells the woman how they lived. Times were prosperous for the peasants. The master could not get to the village because there were no roads. Only bears worried the residents, but the men easily dealt with them without guns:
"with a knife and a spear."
The grandfather tells how he got scared and why his back bent. He stepped on the sleepy bear, was not afraid, drove the spear into her and raised her like a chicken. My back crunched from the weight; in my youth it ached a little, but in my old age it became bent. In a lean year, Shalashnikov reached them. The landowner began to tear “three skins” from the peasants. When Shalashnikov died, a German, a strange and quiet man, was sent to the village. He forced them to work, unbeknownst to them, the peasants cut a clearing to the village, and a road appeared. Hard labor came with her. The German spirit is to let it go around the world. The Russian heroes endured and did not break. Peasant
“The axes lay there for the time being.”
The German ordered to dig a well and came to scold him for his slowness. Hungry men stood and listened to his whining. Saveliy quietly pushed him with his shoulder, and the others did the same. They carefully threw the German into the pit. He shouted and demanded a rope and a ladder, but Savely said:
“Pump it up!”
The hole was filled quickly, as if it had never happened. Next came hard labor, prison, and floggings. The old man’s skin has become as if it had been tanned, the grandfather jokes, and that’s why it has been worn “for a hundred years” because it has endured so much. Grandfather returned to his homeland while there was money, he was loved, then they began to hate him.
Chapter 4. Demushka
Matryona continues the story about her life. She loved her son Demushka and took him with her everywhere, but her mother-in-law demanded that the child be left with his grandfather. The woman was loading compressed sheaves of rye when she saw Savely crawling towards her. The old man roared. He fell asleep and did not notice how the pigs ate the child. Matryona experienced terrible grief, but the interrogations of the police officer were even more terrible. He found out whether Matryona and Savely cohabited, whether she killed her son in conspiracy and added arsenic. The mother asked to bury Demushka according to Christian custom, but they began to cut the child, “torture and plaster.” The woman almost went crazy from anger and grief, she cursed Savely. Lost in her mind, she went into oblivion, when she woke up, she saw that her grandfather was reading a prayer over a small coffin. Matryona began to persecute the old man, and he asked for forgiveness and explained that Demushka had melted the old man’s petrified heart. All night Savely read a prayer over the child, and the mother held a candle in her hands.Chapter 5. She-Wolf
20 years have passed since her son died, and the woman still regrets his fate. Matryona stopped working and was not afraid of her father-in-law’s reins. I couldn’t make any more promises with my grandfather Savely. The old man sat in his little room out of grief for 6 days and went into the forest. He cried so much that the whole forest groaned with him. In the fall, my grandfather went to the Sand Monastery to repent for what he had done. Life began to take its course: children, work. Her parents died, Matryona went to cry at Demushka’s grave. I met Savelia there. He prayed for Dema, Russian suffering, for the peasantry, asked to remove the anger from his mother’s heart. Matryona reassured the old man, saying that she had forgiven him a long time ago. Savely asked to look at him as before. The woman’s kind look pleased the grandfather. The “hero” died hard: he didn’t eat for 100 days and withered away. He lived 107 years and asked to be buried next to Demushka. The request was fulfilled. Matryona worked for the whole family. My son was sent to work as a shepherd at the age of 8. He did not keep track of the lamb, and the she-wolf carried it away. The mother did not allow the crowd to flog her son. Fedot said that the enormous she-wolf grabbed the sheep and ran. The boy rushed after her, boldly took the animal from the gray woman, but took pity on her. The she-wolf was covered in blood, her nipples were cut up by grass. She howled as pitifully as a mother cries. The boy gave her the sheep, came to the village and told everything honestly. The headman ordered the assistant shepherd to be forgiven and the woman to be punished with rods.Chapter 6. Difficult year
A hungry year has come to the village. The peasants looked for reasons in their neighbors; Matryona was almost killed for wearing a clean shirt for Christmas. My husband was drafted into the army, and poverty became almost unbearable. Matryona sends her children to beg. The woman can’t stand it and leaves the house at night. She sings a song to the wanderers that she really likes.Chapter 7. Governor's wife
Matryona ran at night to ask the governor for help in the city. The woman walked all night, silently praying to God. In the morning I got to cathedral square. I found out that the doorman's name was Makar and began to wait. He promised to let us in in two hours. The woman walked around the city, looked at the monument to Susanin, which reminded her of Savely, and was frightened by the cry of a drake that had fallen under the knife. I returned to the governor’s house early and managed to talk with Makar. A lady in a sable fur coat was coming down the stairs, and Matryona threw herself at her feet. She begged so much that she began giving birth in the governor’s house. The lady baptized the boy and chose his name Liodor. Elena Alexandrovna (the lady) returned Philip. Matryona wishes the lady only joy and goodness. The husband's family is grateful to their daughter-in-law; with a man in the house, hunger is not so bad.Chapter 8. The Woman's Parable
The woman was glorified in the area and began to be called by a new name - governor's wife. Matryona has 5 sons, one is already in the army. Korchagina sums up her story:“...It’s no business to look for a happy woman among women!...”
The wanderers are trying to find out if the woman has told everything about her life, but she only tells them about troubles and grief:
- Anthrax;
- Work instead of a horse;
- The whip and the loss of the firstborn.
Part 4 Feast for the whole world
The wanderers settled down at the end of the village under a willow tree. They remember the master - the Last One. During the feast they begin to sing and share stories.Song Merry. It is sung by priests and street people like a dance song. Only the vakhlak did not sing. A song about the hard lot of the Russian peasant.
“It is glorious to live for the people in holy Rus'”:
He has no milk - the master took away the cow for offspring, there are no chickens - the judges of the zemstvo council ate them, the children are taken away: the king - the boys, the master - the daughters.
Corvee song. The second song is sad and drawn-out. The hero of the story is the unkempt Kalinushka. Only his back is painted with rods and lashes. Kalinushka drowns his grief in the tavern, sees his wife only on Saturday, and “comes back” to her from the master’s stable.
About an exemplary slave - Yakov Verny. The story is narrated by the servant Vikenty Alexandrovich. Main character story - a gentleman, cruel and evil. For bribes, he acquired a village for himself and established his own law. The master’s cruelty was not only towards the servants. Native daughter got married, whipped the guy and “drove (the children) away naked.” Polivanov had a servant - Yakov. He served his master like a faithful dog. The slave took care of the master and pleased him as best he could. The old man began to get sick, his legs gave out. Yakov carried him in his arms like a child. Yakov's nephew Grisha grew up. Yakov asked permission to marry the girl Arisha, but the master himself liked the girl, so he sent Grigory as a recruit. The slave was tanning. He drank for 2 weeks, the master felt what it was like for him without an assistant. Yakov returned and devotedly began to look after the landowner again. They went to visit their sister. The landowner sat carefree in the carriage, Yakov took him to the forest. The master was frightened when he saw that they had turned off the road towards a ravine. He got scared and decided that death awaited him. But the slave laughed evilly:
“I found a murderer!”
Yakov didn't want to
“...getting your hands dirty with murder...”
He made a rope and hanged himself in front of the master. He lay in the ravine all night, driving away birds and wolves. The next morning a hunter found him. The gentleman realized what sin he had committed against his faithful servant.
The story "About two great sinners." Ionushka began to tell the story of Father Pitirim from Solovki. Twelve robbers with ataman Kudeyar committed rampage in Rus'. Suddenly, the robber Kudeyar's conscience awoke. He began to argue with her, trying to gain the upper hand. He cut off the beauty's head and killed the captain. But conscience won. The ataman disbanded the gang and went to pray. For a long time he sat under the oak tree, asking God. The Lord heard the sinner. He suggested that he cut down a century-old tree with a knife. The chieftain began to work, but the oak tree did not give in to him. Pan Glukhovsky came to him. He began to boast that he kills easily and sleeps peacefully, without remorse. Kudeyar could not stand it and stabbed the master in the heart. The oak collapsed at that very moment. God forgave the sins of one sinner, freeing the world from another villain.
Peasant sin. The widower ammiral received 8 thousand souls from the empress for his service. The ammiral leaves a will to the headman. The free ones are hidden in the casket. After the death of the ammiral, a relative finds out from Gleb where the will is kept and burns the will. Peasant sin is betrayal among one's own. He is not forgiven even by God.
Song Hungry. The men sing it in chorus, like a chased march, the words approach like a cloud and draw in the soul. The song is about hunger, a man’s constant desire for food. He is ready to eat everything alone, dreams of cheesecake on a large table. The song is sung not by voice, but by a hungry gut.
Grisha Dobrosklonov joins the wanderers. He tells the peasants that the main thing for him is to achieve a good life for the peasants. They sing a song about the lot of people's and working life. The people ask God for little - light and freedom.
Epilogue. Grisha Dobrosklonov
Gregory lived in the family of a poor, seedy peasant. He was the son of a clerk who boasted about his children, but did not think about their food. Gregory remembered the song that his mother sang to him. Song "Salty". The essence of the song is that the mother managed to salt her son’s piece of bread with her tears. The guy grew up with love for his mother in his heart. Already at the age of 15 he knows for whom he will give his life. Two roads stretch before a person:- Spacious, where people inhumanly fight among themselves for the sake of passions and sin.
- Close where honest people suffer and fight for the oppressed.
The main points of the teacher's story 1. The idea of the poem. “The people are liberated, but are the people happy?” - this line from “Elegy” explains N.A. Nekrasov’s position in relation to the Peasant Reform of 1861, which only formally deprived the landowners of their former power, but in fact deceived and robbed peasant Rus'. The poem was begun shortly after the Peasant Reform. Nekrasov considered its goal to be the depiction of the disadvantaged lower peasantry, among whom - as in all of Russia - there is no happy person.
For Nekrasov, the search for happiness among the upper echelons of society was only compositional technique. The happiness of the “strong” and “well-fed” was beyond doubt for him. The very word “lucky,” according to Nekrasov, is a synonym for a representative of the privileged classes. (Cf. “... but the happy are deaf to good” - “Reflections at the main entrance.”) Depicting the ruling classes (priest, landowner), Nekrasov first of all focuses on the fact that the reform hit not so much “with one end at the master”, but "different people like men."
2. The history of the creation of the poem and its composition.
The poet worked on the poem from 1863 to 1877, i.e. about 14 years. During this time, his plan changed, but the poem was never completed by the author, so there is no criticism consensus about her composition. The poet calls the wanderers “time-bound,” which shows that the poem was begun no later than 1863, since later this term was very rarely applied to peasants. Under the chapter “Landowner” there is a date set by the author - 1865, which indicates that before that the poet worked on its first part.
Dates of writing other chapters: “The Last One,” 1872; "Peasant Woman", 1873; "A Feast for the Whole World", 1877. Nekrasov wrote “A Feast for the Whole World” while already in a state of mortal illness, but he did not consider this part to be the last, intending to continue the poem with the image of wanderers in St. Petersburg. Literary critic IN.
V. Gippius, in the article “On the study of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” back in 1934, wrote: “The poem remained unfinished, the poet’s intention was unclear; individual parts of the poem followed each other in different times and not always in sequential order. Two questions that are of primary importance when studying the poem remain controversial: 1) about relative position the parts that have come down to us and 2) about the reconstruction of the unwritten parts and, above all, the denouement. Both issues are obviously closely related, and they have to be resolved together.” It was V.V. Gippius who found in the poem itself objective indications of the sequence of parts: “Time is calculated in it “according to the calendar”: the action of the “Prologue” begins in the spring, when birds build nests and the cuckoo crows.
In the chapter “Pop” the wanderers say: “And the time is not early, the month of May is approaching.” In the chapter " Rural fair“There is a mention: “The weather only stared at St. Nicholas of the spring”; Apparently, on St. Nicholas Day (May 9, old style) the fair itself takes place. "The Last One" also begins exact date: “Petrovka. It's a hot time. Haymaking is in full swing." In “A Feast for the Whole World” the haymaking is already over: the peasants are going to the market with hay. Finally, in “The Peasant Woman” there is the harvest.
The events described in A Feast for the Whole World refer to early autumn(Gregory collects mushrooms), and the “Petersburg part” conceived but not implemented by Nekrasov was supposed to take place in the winter, when wanderers would come to Petersburg to seek access “to the noble boyar, the sovereign’s minister.” It can be assumed that the poem could have ended with the St. Petersburg episodes.
You can invite students to conduct their own research work with the text and find in it Indications of the time sequence of parts. However, in modern publications, chapters are arranged according to the time they were written. Questions and tasks for discussing “Prologue” 1. What is the essence of the dispute between the men? What oath do they take at the end of the Prologue? (“Don’t go back to the little houses... until they find out... who lives happily and at ease in Rus'?”) 2.
Which folklore motives appear in the Prologue? (Fantastic elements of Russian fairy tales; numberSeven; folk signs related to peasant labor and life; riddles; humanizing the natural world; stylistic manner of leisurely folklore storytelling, etc.) 3. What objective realities and names speak about the difficult life of a peasant in the post-reform period? 4. What is the plot and compositional role of the “Prologue” in the poem? Can we consider that “Prologue” is the author’s bid for a new image of the “encyclopedia of Russian life”, this time primarily the life of the people, peasants? Questions and tasks for discussing the chapter “Pop” 1.
Did the men find happiness in this chapter? Why does the priest himself consider himself unhappy? Is this true? 2. How does the chapter depict the situation of the peasants? What troubles befall them? 3. What words and expressions paint figurative pictures of the life of the priest and peasants? What's it like author's attitude to them? 4. What folklore elements can you see in the chapter? Questions and tasks for discussing the chapter “Rural Fair” 1.
What life circumstances, according to Nekrasov, prevented the peasants from being happy? 2. How do you see Pavlusha Veretennikov?
What is his lifestyle? What author's characteristics of this image did you notice? What is its compositional role in the chapter? 3. What meaning does the author give to the image of a bench “with paintings and books” at a fair? What is his attitude towards public education?
4. What mood does this chapter evoke? Why, despite adversity, did the Russian peasant not consider himself unhappy? What qualities of the Russian peasant do the author admire? 5. How is the folklore flavor of the poem reflected in the chapter? Conclusions. Nekrasov, following Pushkin and Gogol, decided to depict a broad canvas of the life of the Russian people and their main mass - the Russian peasant of the post-reform era, to show the predatory nature of the Peasant Reform and the deterioration of the people's lot.
At the same time, the author’s task included satirical image"highs", where the poet follows Gogol's traditions. But the main thing is to demonstrate the talent, will, perseverance and optimism of the Russian peasant. In its stylistic features and poetic intonations, the poem is close to works of folklore. The composition of the poem is complex primarily because the author's intentions changed over time, the work remained unfinished, and a number of fragments were not published due to censorship restrictions.
PROLOGUE
On the main road in Pustoporozhnaya volost, seven men meet: Roman, Demyan, Luka, Prov, old man Pakhom, brothers Ivan and Mitrodor Gubin. They come from neighboring villages: Neurozhayki, Zaplatova, Dyryavina, Razutova, Znobishina, Gorelova and Neelova. Men argue about who lives well and freely in Rus'. Roman believes that the landowner, Demyan - the official, and Luka - the priest. Old man Pakhom claims that a minister lives best, the Gubin brothers live best as a merchant, and Prov thinks that he is a king.
It's starting to get dark. The men understand that, carried away by the argument, they have walked thirty miles and now it is too late to return home. They decide to spend the night in the forest, light a fire in the clearing and again begin to argue, and then even fight. Their noise causes all the forest animals to scatter, and a chick falls out of the warbler’s nest, which Pakhom picks up. The mother warbler flies up to the fire and asks in a human voice to let her chick go. For this, she will fulfill any desire of the peasants.
The men decide to go further and find out which of them is right. Warbler tells where you can find a self-assembled tablecloth that will feed and water them on the road. The men find a self-assembled tablecloth and sit down to feast. They agree not to return home until they find out who has the best life in Rus'.
Chapter I. Pop
Soon the travelers meet the priest and tell the priest that they are looking for “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.” They ask the church minister to answer honestly: is he satisfied with his fate?
The priest replies that he carries his cross with humility. If men think that happy life- this is peace, honor and wealth, then he has nothing like that. People don't choose the time of their death. So they call the priest to the dying person, even in the pouring rain, even in the bitter cold. And sometimes the heart cannot stand the tears of widows and orphans.
There is no talk of any honor. They make up all sorts of stories about priests, laugh at them and consider meeting a priest a bad omen. And the wealth of the priests is not what it used to be. Previously, when noble people lived on their family estates, the incomes of the priests were quite good. The landowners gave rich gifts, were baptized and married in the parish church. Here they had a funeral service and were buried. These were the traditions. And now nobles live in capitals and “abroads”, where they celebrate all church rites. But you can’t take much money from poor peasants.
The men bow respectfully to the priest and move on.
CHAPTER II. Country fair
The travelers pass several empty villages and ask: where have all the people gone? It turns out that there is a fair in the neighboring village. The men decide to go there. There are a lot of dressed-up people walking around the fair, selling everything from plows and horses to scarves and books. There are a lot of goods, but there are even more drinking establishments.
Old man Vavila is crying near the bench. He drank all the money and promised his granddaughter goatskin boots. Pavlusha Veretennikov approaches his grandfather and buys shoes for the girl. The delighted old man grabs his shoes and hurries home. Veretennikov is known in the area. He loves to sing and listen to Russian songs.
CHAPTER III. drunken night
After the fair, there are drunk people on the road. Some wander, some crawl, and some even lie in the ditch. Moans and endless drunken conversations can be heard everywhere. Veretennikov is talking with peasants at a road sign. He listens and writes down songs and proverbs, and then begins to reproach the peasants for drinking a lot.
A well-drunk man named Yakim gets into an argument with Veretennikov. He says that common people many grievances have accumulated against landowners and officials. If you didn’t drink, it would be a big disaster, but all the anger dissolves in vodka. There is no measure for men in drunkenness, but is there any measure in grief, in hard work?
Veretennikov agrees with such reasoning and even drinks with the peasants. Here the travelers hear a beautiful young song and decide to look for the lucky ones in the crowd.
CHAPTER IV. Happy
Men walk around and shout: “Come out happy! We’ll pour some vodka!” People crowded around. The travelers began to ask about who was happy and how. They pour it to some, they just laugh at others. But the conclusion from the stories is this: a man’s happiness lies in the fact that he sometimes ate his fill, and God protected him in difficult times.
The men are advised to find Ermila Girin, whom the whole neighborhood knows. One day, the cunning merchant Altynnikov decided to take the mill away from him. He came to an agreement with the judges and declared that Ermila needed to immediately pay a thousand rubles. Girin did not have that kind of money, but he went to the marketplace and asked honest people to chip in. The men responded to the request, and Ermil bought the mill, and then returned all the money to the people. For seven years he was mayor. During that time, I didn’t pocket a single penny. Only once he excluded his younger brother from recruits, and then he repented in front of all the people and left his post.
The wanderers agree to look for Girin, but the local priest says that Yermil is in prison. Then a troika appears on the road, and in it is a gentleman.
CHAPTER V. Landowner
The men stop the troika, in which the landowner Gavrila Afanasyevich Obolt-Obolduev is riding, and ask how he lives. The landowner begins to remember the past with tears. Previously, he owned the entire district, he kept a whole regiment of servants and gave holidays with dances, theatrical performances and hunting. Now “the great chain has broken.” The landowners have land, but there are no peasants to cultivate it.
Gavrila Afanasyevich was not used to working. It’s not a noble thing to do housekeeping. He only knows how to walk, hunt, and steal from the treasury. Now his family nest has been sold for debts, everything is stolen, and the men drink day and night. Obolt-Obolduev bursts into tears, and the travelers sympathize with him. After this meeting, they understand that they need to look for happiness not among the rich, but in the “Unbroken province, Ungutted volost...”.
PEASANT WOMAN
PROLOGUE
The wanderers decide to look for happy people among women. In one village they are advised to find Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, nicknamed “the governor’s wife.” Soon the men find this beautiful, dignified woman of about thirty-seven. But Korchagina doesn’t want to talk: it’s hard, the bread needs to be removed urgently. Then the travelers offer their help in the field in exchange for a story of happiness. Matryona agrees.
Chapter I. Before marriage
Korchagina spends her childhood in a non-drinking, friendly family, in an atmosphere of love from her parents and brother. Cheerful and agile Matryona works a lot, but also loves to go for a walk. A stranger, the stove maker Philip, is wooing her. They are having a wedding. Now Korchagina understands: she was only happy in her childhood and girlhood.
Chapter II. Songs
Philip brings his young wife to his big family. It’s not easy there for Matryona. Her mother-in-law, father-in-law and sisters-in-law do not allow her to live, they constantly reproach her. Everything happens exactly as it is sung in the songs. Korchagina endures. Then her first-born Demushka is born - like the sun in a window.
The master's manager pesters a young woman. Matryona avoids him as best she can. The manager threatens to give Philip a soldier. Then the woman goes for advice to grandfather Savely, the father-in-law, who is one hundred years old.
Chapter III. Saveliy, Holy Russian hero
Savely looks like a huge bear. He served hard labor for a long time for murder. The cunning German manager sucked all the juice out of the serfs. When he ordered four hungry peasants to dig a well, they pushed the manager into the hole and covered it with earth. Among these killers was Savely.
CHAPTER IV. Demushka
The old man's advice was of no use. The manager, who did not allow Matryona passage, suddenly died. But then another problem happened. The young mother was forced to leave Demushka under the supervision of her grandfather. One day he fell asleep, and the child was eaten by pigs.
The doctor and the judges arrive, perform an autopsy, and interrogate Matryona. She is accused of intentionally killing a child, in conspiracy with an old man. The poor woman is almost losing her mind with grief. And Savely goes to the monastery to atone for his sin.
CHAPTER V. She-Wolf
Four years later, the grandfather returns, and Matryona forgives him. When Korchagina’s eldest son, Fedotushka, turns eight years old, the boy is given to help as a shepherd. One day the she-wolf manages to steal a sheep. Fedot chases after her and snatches out the already dead prey. The she-wolf is terribly thin, she leaves a bloody trail behind her: she cut her nipples on the grass. The predator looks doomedly at Fedot and howls. The boy feels sorry for the she-wolf and her cubs. He leaves the carcass of a sheep to the hungry beast. For this, the villagers want to whip the child, but Matryona accepts the punishment for her son.
CHAPTER VI. Difficult year
A hungry year is coming, in which Matryona is pregnant. Suddenly news comes that her husband is being recruited as a soldier. The eldest son from their family is already serving, so they shouldn’t take the second one, but the landowner doesn’t care about the laws. Matryona is horrified; pictures of poverty and lawlessness appear before her, because her only breadwinner and protector will not be there.
CHAPTER VII. Governor's wife
The woman walks into the city and arrives at the governor's house in the morning. She asks the doorman to arrange a date for her with the governor. For two rubles, the doorman agrees and lets Matryona into the house. At this time, the governor’s wife comes out of her chambers. Matryona falls at her feet and falls into unconsciousness.
When Korchagina comes to her senses, she sees that she has given birth to a boy. The kind, childless governor's wife fusses with her and the child until Matryona recovers. Together with her husband, who was released from service, the peasant woman returns home. Since then, she has not tired of praying for the health of the governor.
Chapter VIII. The Old Woman's Parable
Matryona ends her story with an appeal to wanderers: do not look for happy people among women. The Lord dropped the keys to women's happiness into the sea, and they were swallowed by a fish. Since then they have been looking for those keys, but they can’t find them.
LAST
Chapter I
I
Travelers come to the banks of the Volga to the village of Vakhlaki. There are beautiful meadows there and haymaking is in full swing. Suddenly music sounds and boats land on the shore. It is old Prince Utyatin who has arrived. He inspects the mowing and swears, and the peasants bow and ask for forgiveness. The men are amazed: everything is like under serfdom. They turn to the local mayor Vlas for clarification.
II
Vlas gives an explanation. The prince became terribly angry when he learned that the peasants had been given free rein, and he was struck down. After that, Utyatin began to act weird. He doesn’t want to believe that he no longer has power over the peasants. He even promised to curse his sons and disinherit them if they spoke such nonsense. So the heirs of the peasants asked them to pretend in front of the master that everything was as before. And for this they will be granted the best meadows.
III
The prince sits down to breakfast, which the peasants gather to gawk at. One of them, the biggest quitter and drunkard, had long ago volunteered to play the steward in front of the prince instead of the rebellious Vlas. So he crawls in front of Utyatin, and the people can barely contain their laughter. One, however, cannot cope with himself and laughs. The prince turns blue with anger and orders the rebel to be flogged. One lively peasant woman comes to the rescue, telling the master that her son, the fool, laughed.
The prince forgives everyone and sets off on the boat. Soon the peasants learn that Utyatin died on the way home.
A Feast FOR THE WHOLE WORLD
Dedicated to Sergei Petrovich Botkin
Introduction
The peasants rejoice at the death of the prince. They walk and sing songs, and the former servant of Baron Sineguzin, Vikenty, tells an amazing story.
About the exemplary slave - Yakov Verny
There lived one very cruel and greedy landowner, Polivanov, who had a faithful servant, Yakov. The man suffered a lot from the master. But Polivanov’s legs became paralyzed, and faithful Yakov became an indispensable person for the disabled man. The master is not overjoyed with the slave, calling him his brother.
Yakov’s beloved nephew once decided to get married, and asks the master to marry the girl whom Polivanov had his eye on for himself. The master, for such insolence, gives up his rival as a soldier, and Yakov, out of grief, goes on a drinking binge. Polivanov feels bad without an assistant, but the slave returns to work after two weeks. Again the master is pleased with the servant.
But new trouble is already on the way. On the way to the master's sister, Yakov suddenly turns into a ravine, unharnesses the horses, and hangs himself by the reins. All night the master drives away the crows from the poor body of the servant with a stick.
After this story, the men argued about who was more sinful in Rus': landowners, peasants or robbers? And the pilgrim Ionushka tells the following story.
About two great sinners
Once upon a time there was a gang of robbers led by Ataman Kudeyar. The robber destroyed many innocent souls, but the time has come - he began to repent. And he went to the Holy Sepulcher, and received the schema in the monastery - everyone does not forgive sins, his conscience torments him. Kudeyar settled in the forest under a hundred-year-old oak tree, where he dreamed of a saint who showed him the way to salvation. The murderer will be forgiven when he cuts down this oak tree with the knife that killed people.
Kudeyar began to saw the oak tree in three circles with a knife. Things are going slowly, because the sinner is already advanced in age and weak. One day, the landowner Glukhovsky drives up to the oak tree and begins to mock the old man. He beats, tortures and hangs slaves as much as he wants, but sleeps peacefully. Here Kudeyar falls into a terrible anger and kills the landowner. The oak tree immediately falls, and all the robber’s sins are immediately forgiven.
After this story, the peasant Ignatius Prokhorov begins to argue and prove that the most serious sin is the peasant sin. Here is his story.
Peasant sin
For military services, the admiral receives from the empress eight thousand souls of serfs. Before his death, he calls the elder Gleb and hands him a casket, and in it - free food for all the peasants. After the death of the admiral, the heir began to pester Gleb: he gives him money, free money, just to get the treasured casket. And Gleb trembled and agreed to give important documents. So the heir burned all the papers, and eight thousand souls remained in the fortress. The peasants, after listening to Ignatius, agree that this sin is the most serious.
Wide path
Furnished with birch trees,
Stretches far
Sandy and deaf.
On the sides of the path
There are gentle hills
With fields, with hayfields,
And more often with an inconvenient
Abandoned land;
There are old villages,
There are new villages,
By the rivers, by the ponds...
Russian streams and rivers
Good in spring.
But you, spring fields!
On your shoots the poor
Not fun to watch!
“It’s not for nothing that in the long winter
(Our wanderers interpret)
It snowed every day.
Spring has come - the snow has had its effect!
He is humble for the time being:
It flies - is silent, lies - is silent,
When he dies, then he roars.
Water – everywhere you look!
The fields are completely flooded
Carrying manure - there is no road,
And the time is not too early -
The month of May is coming!”
I don’t like the old ones either,
It’s even more painful for new ones
They should look at the villages.
Oh huts, new huts!
You are smart, let him build you up
Not an extra penny,
And blood trouble!..
In the morning we met wanderers
All more people small:
Your brother, a peasant-basket worker,
Craftsmen, beggars,
Soldiers, coachmen.
From the beggars, from the soldiers
The strangers did not ask
How is it for them - is it easy or difficult?
Lives in Rus'?
Soldiers shave with an awl,
Soldiers warm themselves with smoke -
What happiness is there?..
The day was already approaching evening,
They go along the road,
A priest is coming towards me.
The peasants took off their caps.
bowed low,
Lined up in a row
And the gelding Savras
They blocked the way.
The priest raised his head
He looked and asked with his eyes:
What do they want?
“I suppose! We are not robbers! -
Luke said to the priest.
(Luka is a squat guy,
With a wide beard.
Stubborn, vocal and stupid.
Luke looks like a mill:
One is not a bird mill,
That, no matter how it flaps its wings,
Probably won't fly.)
“We are sedate men,
Of those temporarily obliged,
A tightened province,
Terpigoreva County,
Empty parish,
Nearby villages:
Zaplatova, Dyryavina,
Razutova, Znobishina,
Gorelova, Neelova -
Bad harvest too.
Let's go on something important:
We have concerns
Is it such a concern?
Which of the houses did she survive?
She made us friends with work,
I stopped eating.
Give us the right word
To our peasant speech
Without laughter and without cunning,
According to conscience, according to reason,
To answer truthfully
Not so with your care
We'll go to someone else..."
– I give you my true word:
If you ask the matter,
Without laughter and without cunning,
In truth and in reason,
How should one answer?
"Thank you. Listen!
Walking the path,
We came together by chance
They came together and argued:
Who has fun?
Free in Rus'?
Roman said: to the landowner,
Demyan said: to the official,
And I said: ass.
Kupchina fat-bellied, -
The Gubin brothers said,
Ivan and Metrodor.
Pakhom said: to the brightest
To the noble boyar,
To the sovereign minister.
And Prov said: to the king...
The guy's a bull: he'll get in trouble
What a whim in the head -
Stake her from there
You can’t knock it out: no matter how much they argue,
We did not agree!
Having argued, we quarreled,
Having quarreled, they fought,
Having caught up, they changed their minds:
Don't go apart
Don't toss and turn in the houses,
Don't see your wives
Not with the little guys
Not with old people,
As long as our dispute
We won't find a solution
Until we find out
Whatever it is - for certain:
Who likes to live happily?
Free in Rus'?
Tell us in a divine way:
Is the priest's life sweet?
How are you - at ease, happily
Are you living, honest father?..”
I looked down and thought,
Sitting in a cart, pop
And he said: “Orthodox!”
It is a sin to grumble against God,
I bear my cross with patience,
I’m living... but how? Listen!
I'll tell you the truth, the truth,
And you have a peasant mind
Be smart! -
“Begin!”
– What do you think is happiness?
Peace, wealth, honor -
Isn't that right, dear friends?
They said: “Yes”...
- Now let's see, brothers,
What's the butt like? peace?
I have to admit, I should start
Almost from birth itself,
How to get a diploma
the priest's son,
At what cost to Popovich
I'm not a sinner, I haven't lived
Nothing from the schismatics.
Fortunately, there was no need:
In my parish there are
Living in Orthodoxy
And there are such volosts,
Where there are almost all schismatics,
So what about the butt?
Everything in the world is changeable,
The world itself will pass away...
Laws formerly strict
To the schismatics, they softened,
And with them the priest
The landowners moved away
They don't live in estates
And die in old age
They don't come to us anymore.
Rich landowners
Pious old ladies,
Which died out
Who have settled down
Near monasteries,
Nobody wears a cassock now
He won’t give you your butt!
Live with only peasants,
Collect worldly hryvnias,
Yes, pies on holidays,
Yes, holy eggs.
The peasant himself needs
And I would be glad to give, but there’s nothing...
PART ONE
PROLOGUE
On the main road in Pustoporozhnaya volost, seven men meet: Roman, Demyan, Luka, Prov, old man Pakhom, brothers Ivan and Mitrodor Gubin. They come from neighboring villages: Neurozhayki, Zaplatova, Dyryavina, Razutov, Znobishina, Gorelova and Neelova. Men argue about who lives well and freely in Rus'. Roman believes that he is a landowner, Demyan - an official, and Luka - a priest. Old man Pakhom claims that the minister lives best, the Gubin brothers live best as a merchant, and Prov thinks that he is a king.
It's starting to get dark. The men understand that, carried away by the argument, they have walked thirty miles and now it is too late to return home. They decide to spend the night in the forest, light a fire in the clearing and again begin to argue, and then even fight. Their noise causes all the forest animals to scatter, and a chick falls out of the warbler’s nest, which Pakhom picks up. The mother warbler flies up to the fire and asks in a human voice to let her chick go. For this, she will fulfill any desire of the peasants.
The men decide to go further and find out which of them is right. Warbler tells where you can find a self-assembled tablecloth that will feed and water them on the road. The men find a self-assembled tablecloth and sit down to feast. They agree not to return home until they find out who has the best life in Rus'.
Chapter I. Pop
Soon the travelers meet the priest and tell the priest that they are looking for “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.” They ask the church minister to answer honestly: is he satisfied with his fate?
The priest replies that he carries his cross with humility. If men believe that a happy life means peace, honor and wealth, then he has nothing like that. People don't choose the time of their death. So they call the priest to the dying person, even in the pouring rain, even in the bitter cold. And sometimes the heart cannot stand the tears of widows and orphans.
There is no talk of any honor. They make up all sorts of stories about priests, laugh at them and consider meeting a priest a bad omen. And the wealth of the priests is not what it used to be. Previously, when noble people lived on their family estates, the incomes of the priests were quite good. The landowners gave rich gifts, were baptized and married in the parish church. Here they had a funeral service and were buried. These were the traditions. And now nobles live in capitals and “abroads”, where they celebrate all church rites. But you can’t take much money from poor peasants.
The men bow respectfully to the priest and move on.
CHAPTER II. Country fair
The travelers pass several empty villages and ask: where have all the people gone? It turns out that there is a fair in the neighboring village. The men decide to go there. There are a lot of dressed-up people walking around the fair, selling everything from plows and horses to scarves and books. There are a lot of goods, but there are even more drinking establishments.
Old man Vavila is crying near the bench. He drank all the money and promised his granddaughter goatskin boots. Pavlusha Veretennikov approaches his grandfather and buys shoes for the girl. The delighted old man grabs his shoes and hurries home. Veretennikov is known in the area. He loves to sing and listen to Russian songs.
CHAPTER III. drunken night
After the fair, there are drunk people on the road. Some wander, some crawl, and some even lie in the ditch. Moans and endless drunken conversations can be heard everywhere. Veretennikov is talking with peasants at a road sign. He listens and writes down songs and proverbs, and then begins to reproach the peasants for drinking a lot.
A well-drunk man named Yakim gets into an argument with Veretennikov. He says that the common people have accumulated a lot of grievances against landowners and officials. If you didn’t drink, it would be a big disaster, but all the anger dissolves in vodka. There is no measure for men in drunkenness, but is there any measure in grief, in hard work?
Veretennikov agrees with such reasoning and even drinks with the peasants. Here the travelers hear a beautiful young song and decide to look for the lucky ones in the crowd.
CHAPTER IV. Happy
Men walk around and shout: “Come out happy! We’ll pour some vodka!” People crowded around. The travelers began to ask about who was happy and how. They pour it to some, they just laugh at others. But the conclusion from the stories is this: a man’s happiness lies in the fact that he sometimes ate his fill, and God protected him in difficult times.
The men are advised to find Ermila Girin, whom the whole neighborhood knows. One day, the cunning merchant Altynnikov decided to take the mill away from him. He came to an agreement with the judges and declared that Ermila needed to immediately pay a thousand rubles. Girin did not have that kind of money, but he went to the marketplace and asked honest people to chip in. The men responded to the request, and Ermil bought the mill, and then returned all the money to the people. For seven years he was mayor. During that time, I didn’t pocket a single penny. Only once he excluded his younger brother from recruits, and then he repented in front of all the people and left his post.
The wanderers agree to look for Girin, but the local priest says that Yermil is in prison. Then a troika appears on the road, and in it is a gentleman.
CHAPTER V. Landowner
The men stop the troika, in which the landowner Gavrila Afanasyevich Obolt-Obolduev is riding, and ask how he lives. The landowner begins to remember the past with tears. Previously, he owned the entire district, he kept a whole regiment of servants and gave holidays with dancing, theatrical performances and hunting. Now “the great chain has broken.” The landowners have land, but there are no peasants to cultivate it.
Gavrila Afanasyevich was not used to working. It is not a noble thing to do housekeeping. He only knows how to walk, hunt, and steal from the treasury. Now his family nest has been sold for debts, everything is stolen, and the men drink day and night. Obolt-Obolduev bursts into tears, and the travelers sympathize with him. After this meeting, they understand that they need to look for happiness not among the rich, but in the “Unbroken province, Ungutted volost...”.
PEASANT WOMAN
PROLOGUE
The wanderers decide to look for happy people among women. In one village they are advised to find Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, nicknamed “the governor’s wife.” Soon the men find this beautiful, dignified woman of about thirty-seven. But Korchagina doesn’t want to talk: it’s hard, the bread needs to be removed urgently. Then the travelers offer their help in the field in exchange for a story of happiness. Matryona agrees.
Chapter I. Before marriage
Korchagina spends her childhood in a non-drinking, friendly family, in an atmosphere of love from her parents and brother. Cheerful and agile Matryona works a lot, but also loves to go for a walk. A stranger, the stove maker Philip, is wooing her. They are having a wedding. Now Korchagina understands: she was only happy in her childhood and girlhood.
Chapter II. Songs
Philip brings his young wife to his large family. It’s not easy there for Matryona. Her mother-in-law, father-in-law and sisters-in-law do not allow her to live, they constantly reproach her. Everything happens exactly as it is sung in the songs. Korchagina endures. Then her first-born Demushka is born - like the sun in a window.
The master's manager pesters a young woman. Matryona avoids him as best she can. The manager threatens to give Philip a soldier. Then the woman goes for advice to grandfather Savely, the father-in-law, who is one hundred years old.
Chapter III. Saveliy, Holy Russian hero
Savely looks like a huge bear. He served hard labor for a long time for murder. The cunning German manager sucked all the juice out of the serfs. When he ordered four hungry peasants to dig a well, they pushed the manager into the hole and covered it with earth. Among these killers was Savely.
CHAPTER IV. Demushka
The old man's advice was of no use. The manager, who did not allow Matryona passage, suddenly died. But then another problem happened. The young mother was forced to leave Demushka under the supervision of her grandfather. One day he fell asleep, and the child was eaten by pigs.
The doctor and the judges arrive, perform an autopsy, and interrogate Matryona. She is accused of intentionally killing a child, in conspiracy with an old man. The poor woman is almost losing her mind with grief. And Savely goes to the monastery to atone for his sin.
CHAPTER V. She-Wolf
Four years later, the grandfather returns, and Matryona forgives him. When Korchagina’s eldest son, Fedotushka, turns eight years old, the boy is given to help as a shepherd. One day the she-wolf manages to steal a sheep. Fedot chases after her and snatches out the already dead prey. The she-wolf is terribly thin, she leaves a bloody trail behind her: she cut her nipples on the grass. The predator looks doomedly at Fedot and howls. The boy feels sorry for the she-wolf and her cubs. He leaves the carcass of a sheep to the hungry beast. For this, the villagers want to whip the child, but Matryona accepts the punishment for her son.
CHAPTER VI. Difficult year
A hungry year is coming, in which Matryona is pregnant. Suddenly news comes that her husband is being recruited as a soldier. The eldest son from their family is already serving, so they shouldn’t take the second one, but the landowner doesn’t care about the laws. Matryona is horrified; pictures of poverty and lawlessness appear before her, because her only breadwinner and protector will not be there.
CHAPTER VII. Governor's wife
The woman walks into the city and arrives at the governor's house in the morning. She asks the doorman to arrange a date for her with the governor. For two rubles, the doorman agrees and lets Matryona into the house. At this time, the governor’s wife comes out of her chambers. Matryona falls at her feet and falls into unconsciousness.
When Korchagina comes to her senses, she sees that she has given birth to a boy. The kind, childless governor's wife fusses with her and the child until Matryona recovers. Together with her husband, who was released from service, the peasant woman returns home. Since then, she has not tired of praying for the health of the governor.
Chapter VIII. The Old Woman's Parable
Matryona ends her story with an appeal to wanderers: do not look for happy people among women. The Lord dropped the keys to women's happiness into the sea, and they were swallowed by a fish. Since then they have been looking for those keys, but they can’t find them.
LAST
Chapter I
I
Travelers come to the banks of the Volga to the village of Vakhlaki. There are beautiful meadows there and haymaking is in full swing. Suddenly music sounds and boats land on the shore. It is old Prince Utyatin who has arrived. He inspects the mowing and swears, and the peasants bow and ask for forgiveness. The men are amazed: everything is like under serfdom. They turn to the local mayor Vlas for clarification.
II
Vlas gives an explanation. The prince became terribly angry when he learned that the peasants had been given free rein, and he was struck down. After that, Utyatin began to act weird. He doesn’t want to believe that he no longer has power over the peasants. He even promised to curse his sons and disinherit them if they spoke such nonsense. So the heirs of the peasants asked them to pretend in front of the master that everything was as before. And for this they will be granted the best meadows.
III
The prince sits down to breakfast, which the peasants gather to gawk at. One of them, the biggest quitter and drunkard, had long ago volunteered to play the steward in front of the prince instead of the rebellious Vlas. So he crawls in front of Utyatin, and the people can barely contain their laughter. One, however, cannot cope with himself and laughs. The prince turns blue with anger and orders the rebel to be flogged. One lively peasant woman comes to the rescue, telling the master that her son, the fool, laughed.
The prince forgives everyone and sets off on the boat. Soon the peasants learn that Utyatin died on the way home.
Feast - FOR THE WHOLE WORLD
Dedicated to Sergei Petrovich Botkin
Introduction
The peasants rejoice at the death of the prince. They walk and sing songs, and the former servant of Baron Sineguzin, Vikenty, tells an amazing story.
About the exemplary slave - Yakov Verny
There lived one very cruel and greedy landowner, Polivanov, who had a faithful servant, Yakov. The man suffered a lot from the master. But Polivanov’s legs became paralyzed, and faithful Yakov became an indispensable person for the disabled man. The master is not overjoyed with the slave, calling him his brother.
Yakov’s beloved nephew once decided to get married, and asks the master to marry the girl whom Polivanov had his eye on for himself. The master, for such insolence, gives up his rival as a soldier, and Yakov, out of grief, goes on a drinking binge. Polivanov feels bad without an assistant, but the slave returns to work after two weeks. Again the master is pleased with the servant.
But new trouble is already on the way. On the way to the master's sister, Yakov suddenly turns into a ravine, unharnesses the horses, and hangs himself by the reins. All night the master drives away the crows from the poor body of the servant with a stick.
After this story, the men argued about who was more sinful in Rus': landowners, peasants or robbers? And the pilgrim Ionushka tells the following story.
About two great sinners
Once upon a time there was a gang of robbers led by Ataman Kudeyar. The robber killed many innocent souls, but the time has come - he began to repent. And he went to the Holy Sepulcher, and received the schema in the monastery - everyone does not forgive sins, his conscience torments him. Kudeyar settled in the forest under a hundred-year-old oak tree, where he dreamed of a saint who showed him the way to salvation. The murderer will be forgiven when he cuts down this oak tree with the knife that killed people.
Kudeyar began to saw the oak tree in three circles with a knife. Things are going slowly, because the sinner is already advanced in age and weak. One day, the landowner Glukhovsky drives up to the oak tree and begins to mock the old man. He beats, tortures and hangs slaves as much as he wants, but sleeps peacefully. Here Kudeyar falls into a terrible anger and kills the landowner. The oak tree immediately falls, and all the robber’s sins are immediately forgiven.
After this story, the peasant Ignatius Prokhorov begins to argue and prove that the most serious sin is the peasant sin. Here is his story.
Peasant sin
For military services, the admiral receives from the empress eight thousand souls of serfs. Before his death, he calls the elder Gleb and hands him a casket, and in it - free food for all the peasants. After the death of the admiral, the heir began to pester Gleb: he gives him money, free money, just to get the treasured casket. And Gleb trembled and agreed to hand over important documents. So the heir burned all the papers, and eight thousand souls remained in the fortress. The peasants, after listening to Ignatius, agree that this sin is the most serious.
At this time, a cart appears on the road. A retired soldier is riding on it to the city to collect his pension. He is sad that he needs to get all the way to St. Petersburg, and the “piece of iron” is very expensive. The peasants invite the servant to sing and play the spoons. The soldier sings about his hard lot, about how unfairly he was awarded a pension. He can barely walk and his injuries were considered “minor.” The peasants chip in a penny and collect a ruble for the soldier.
EPILOGUE
Grisha Dobrosklonov
The local sexton Dobrosklonov has a son, Grisha, who is studying at the seminary. The guy is endowed with wonderful qualities: smart, kind, hardworking and honest. He composes songs and plans to go to university, dreams of improving the lives of the people.
Returning from a peasant celebration, Gregory composes a new song: “The army is rising - innumerable! The strength in her will be indestructible! He will definitely teach his fellow villagers to sing it.