Front page the first edition of the Tales of the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin A.S. Pushkin. 1831
A.S. Pushkin a book was written called " Stories of the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin", which essentially consisted of 5 independent stories:
- Shot
They were united only by the author - the late nobleman Belkin, who died of fever in the thirtieth year of his life. The young man had a weakness for literature and tried himself in the art of writing. But I couldn’t run my farm until it was impossible. This was reported in a letter sent by Belkin's elderly friend and neighbor. The surviving stories were attached to the letter. In this article we will talk about the first Belkin's stories « Shot"
Shot: Summary
During his service, the narrator met a mysterious young man of Russian appearance named Silvio. Silvio was 35 years old, he had once served as a hussar and was distinguished by his accuracy in shooting. He was respected for his experience and violent temper. No one knew why this fearless young man retired. But Silvio’s love for martial arts was further confirmed by the presence of books on this topic in his library and daily exercise in shooting. Silvio behaved quite mysterious image life. He lived in a poor environment, but at the same time he had daily receptions for the regiment's officers, during which champagne flowed like a river. No one could even imagine what his financial situation was. Silvio never discussed or supported conversations about duels and fights. When asked if he had to take part in fights, he dryly answered that yes. This created the impression that Silvio was an innocent victim of his excellent shooting ability. All the officers of the regiment felt that Silvio was keeping some secret.
One evening, as usual, everyone gathered at Silvio’s house. A young lieutenant who had recently joined the regiment and did not know Silvio’s character and habits was also present. Everyone, as usual, was drunk and decided to play cards. Silvio was persuaded to sweep the bank. As a rule, he kept track of the players' mistakes in their notes. Nobody ever argued with him. But this time everything turned out differently. The new officer decided that Silvio had mistakenly corrected the recording and said so. To which Silvio did not react at all. Then the lieutenant repeated again. But this time Silvio pretended not to hear him. The lieutenant corrected the entry by erasing the chalk. Silvio, still silent, again corrected the entry at his discretion. Then the enraged officer threw a shandal at Silvio’s head, but missed, because the latter managed to dodge. Silvio immediately asked the young officer to leave his house. Everyone believed that the lieutenant’s fate was predetermined and that a new vacancy would soon appear in their regiment. But the duel did not follow either the next morning or a week later. Similar case greatly damaged Silvio's reputation, but it seemed that he did not care at all.
After some time, the quarrel was forgotten and only one person, the narrator himself, in his heart could not come to terms with such incomprehensible behavior of Silvio. It should be noted that the narrator and Silvio were friends. It happened that they often stayed and talked. But from the moment of the failed duel, the narrator began to avoid his previous relationships. One postal day, a message for Silvio arrived in the regiment. After reading the message, Silvio was delighted and invited everyone to a farewell dinner. No one knew what was said in this letter. Just like no one knew why Silvio decided to so unexpectedly leave this unsightly place where he had spent several years. That evening Silvio was very cheerful, and when everyone began to go home, Silvio asked the narrator to stay. That's when the secret of the mysterious man was revealed.
Silvio admitted to the narrator that he did not demand satisfaction from the officer who threw the shandal at him, because... I was not entirely sure of the outcome of this duel. He must not die until he is avenged. It turns out that during his years of service, Silvio was very popular among his fellow soldiers and prospered. But one day a young officer joined the regiment great wealth and a noble family. He was an extremely lucky fellow. He shook Silvio's significant position, which caused him great envy. The young officer was respected in the regiment and he enjoyed success with women. At first, the newcomer wanted to get closer to Silvio, but was rejected. The young officer was not at all upset. Silvio began to look for a quarrel. And such an opportunity presented itself during a ball hosted by a Polish landowner.
Silvio saw how the chosen one of fortune enjoyed great success with women, including the hostess of the ball, with whom Silvio was in a relationship. Then Silvio came close to the hated lucky man and said some flat and rude joke in his ear. The young man flared up and gave Silvio a resounding slap in the face. The rivals grabbed their sabers, but were separated. That same night they went to a duel. Silvio was in great excitement. The same could not be said about his opponent. He came with one second and calmly waited. Fearing that his faithful hand would tremble from excitement, Silvio offered the first shot to his opponent in the hope of calming down his anger during this time. But he refused. Then it was decided to cast lots. The lucky young man got to shoot first. The bullet only pierced Silvio's cap. It was Silvio's turn. The skilled marksman raised his pistol and saw his opponent enjoying the cherries without worrying about his life. Then Silvio was overtaken by great disappointment. The faded life of the lucky man could not satisfy Silvio. Realizing this, he lowered the pistol and refused to continue the duel. Silvio reserved the right to shoot. And now he received a message that his rival intends to marry the beauty. Therefore, he is happy and has something to lose! Therefore, Silvio decided to claim his right to his shot right now.
Several years have passed. The narrator settled in a remote village and was very bored. But then a rumor reached him that the countess and her husband had arrived at the neighboring estate. The narrator went to visit them. The hosts turned out to be friendly. The narrator was very embarrassed at first. Looking for a subject for conversation, he involuntarily looked at the walls on which paintings hung. The narrator was not good at painting. But one of the paintings still struck him, because it “ was shot through by two bullets embedded in one another.”. The narrator was very happy about the topic that was close to him and stated that he knew one person who had the talent to shoot accurately. The Count immediately asked what this man's name was. Hearing the answer, the owners sank. And after some time, the narrator learned the continuation of Silvio’s secret story, because the bullet holes in the painting were left by him. This is what the Count said. 5 years ago he married the beautiful Masha. They were very happy and spent honeymoon in the village. One day the count was informed that a man was waiting for him who did not want to give his name. Seeing Silvio, the count did not immediately recognize him. Then Silvio reminded himself, saying that he had stopped by to unload his pistol. The Count asked Silvio to shoot as quickly as possible, before his beloved wife arrived. But Silvio was playing for time and suggested that the count cast lots to find out who to shoot first. The lot fell on the count and he shot through the painting. At that moment, the frightened wife ran in. Then the count tried to calm his wife down, saying that Silvio was an old friend of his, with whom they joked. But the Countess did not believe it and threw herself at Silvio’s feet. Then the count asked Silvio to shoot as quickly as possible. But his opponent said that he would not shoot, because... I saw fear and confusion on the count’s face. Satisfied, Silvio was already leaving, but right at the door he stopped and fired. His bullet pierced exactly the place where the count's bullet had hit before.
From that moment on, neither the count nor the narrator saw Silvio, only rumors brought the news that he fought on the side of the rebel Greeks under the leadership of Alexander Ypsilanti and died.
Good luck with your exams!
An army regiment is stationed at an unknown location ***. Everything in the life of an army man follows the same routine, but one day the officers meet Silvio, who lives in ***. He is much older than all the officers, rather reserved and has a cocky tongue. Silvio is hiding a terrible secret from everyone. He once served, but it ended in resignation and no one knows the reason for it. His financial condition is also a mystery, but at all feasts he serves everyone and always. He shoots skillfully, but does not like talking about fights, and if anyone asks whether he was in them, then the answer is dry - “He was.”
Everyone believes that it is the fight that ended in tragedy that oppresses him.
One evening at Silvio’s gathering, the officers drank heavily and asked Silvio to sweep the bank. He was always silent in the game, only correcting mistakes. A new officer who had just come to duty, not knowing Silvio, became enraged by his silence and threw a shandal at his head. Silvio politely asked him to leave. The officers were upset by this incident, but soon everyone forgot this situation.
Only one of them could not come to terms with Silvio's shame.
One day Silvio received mail at the office, he was excited by its contents. He said that he was leaving and called for lunch. Towards evening, when everyone had already left, Silvio asked the officer who was closer to him to stay and told him what his secret was
He said that this happened several years ago, his offender did not die, he lives somewhere. So, Silvio received a slap in the face from him. Silvio has always been cocky. Everything made him happy and he was respected, until a noble officer from a wealthy family, a lucky man and the soul of the campaign, arrived in the regiment. Silvio tried to establish friendly relations with him, but all his attempts were in vain. At the ball, a young officer hit Silvio on the cheek. A duel took place. The officer was quite impudent and came to the duel with a cap of cherries, the seeds from which tactfully hit Silvio. He was furious and left the duel. The officer said that Silvio would have the right to use his shot at any time, since he had already fired and missed.
That's how he got here, he was always consumed by the thirst for revenge and finally justice has the opportunity to be done. He was informed that that officer was going to get married and this was an excellent opportunity to find out whether he would now want to part with his life as easily as he did in the duel. Silvio left.
Several years passed, that young officer who was close to Silvio somehow ended up on the estate, where Count B*** came with his wife. They received him with honors. Suddenly the officer notices a painting shot twice, in one place. He said that he knew a man who was also a skilled shooter and said that his name was Silvio. The count and countess began to ask him if he knew the story that Silvio was hiding and he answered that he knew. The Count told the continuation of the story.
Five years have passed since the Count met Silvio for the second time. The offender did not immediately recognize Silvio, but he said that he wanted to use the shot. The count did not dare to refuse, he only asked to do everything faster, since his wife would soon return. Silvio suggested drawing lots again, and again the right to shoot first belonged to the count. He fired and missed. The wife entered, and the count began to ask for a shot faster, not paying attention to his wife. Silvio said that he had already seen his fear, and when he approached the door he shot in the same place where the count hit. Silvio soon died taking part in the Greek uprising, and they never met again.
The publisher decided to include a “short biography of the late author”, Ivan Petrovich Belkin, with the first edition of the stories. He contacted his friend, and he said that Belkin’s father was a second major and a poor landowner. Belkin himself also served in the army, but retired after the death of his parents.
Ivan Petrovich was a gentle and inexperienced man; the peasants were not afraid of him and shamelessly deceived him. He led a moderate life, had a strong inclination towards the female sex, but was hampered by “truly girlish” shyness. Ivan Petrovich died a bachelor, in his thirtieth year, from fever.
These stories were his first literary experience. They are mostly true - Belkin wrote down stories he heard from various people. The housekeeper sealed the windows with the rest of Ivan Petrovich's manuscripts.
Undertaker Adriyan Prokhorov moved to new home and met a neighbor, the German shoemaker Schultz. He invited him to a celebration on the occasion of his silver wedding. During the feast, the Germans began to drink to their clients and offered Prokhorov to drink to the health of the dead, which he found offensive.
Adrian returned home drunk and angry. At night they sent for him - a rich merchant's wife died. Returning, the undertaker saw some people entering his gate. Entering the house, Adrian was horrified to discover that the room was full of dead people - his clients.
One of the dead men tried to hug Adrian, he pushed him away, the dead man fell and crumbled. The others saw this, surrounded the undertaker with threats, and he fainted.
In the morning, Adrian learned that the merchant’s wife did not die and the dead did not come to him. Returning from the shoemaker, Prokhorov immediately fell asleep, and he dreamed it all.
Caught by the rain, the narrator stopped at the postal station, where he met the station guard Samson Vyrin and his fourteen-year-old beautiful daughter Dunya. A few years later, the narrator again found himself at this station, but did not find Dunya. Vyrin told him the story of her disappearance.
One day, a young officer Minsky arrived at the station, fell ill with a fever and stayed with Vyrin for several days. Getting ready to leave, Minsky offered to give Dunya a ride to the church. Vyrin allowed, but then felt uneasy, ran to the church and found out that his daughter had not appeared there - Minsky had taken her with him.
Vyrin fell ill with a fever, and, having recovered, went to St. Petersburg and found Minsky. He swore that he loved Dunya and would make her happy, gave the caretaker money and escorted him out into the street. Then Vyrin found his daughter, who lived in a luxurious mansion. Seeing her father, Dunya fainted, and Minsky pushed the old man out of the house.
Finding himself at that station again, the narrator learned that Vyrin died a year ago. Then a “beautiful lady” came here with three children and lay on his grave for a long time.
His son Alexey, who graduated from the university, came to visit the retired guardsman Berestov. Lisa, the daughter of their Anglomaniac neighbor Muromsky, found out about this. She wanted to see Alexei, but this was impossible - Berestov and Muromsky were at enmity. The story of the maid, who visited the neighbors, further piqued Lisa's curiosity. She disguised herself as a peasant woman and met Alexei in the forest, calling herself Akulina, the daughter of a blacksmith.
Alexey fell in love with a smart and pretty “peasant girl”, and the young people began to meet secretly. Two months later, Muromsky and Berestov made peace. Berestov invited his neighbors to visit. To remain unrecognized, Lisa whitened her face and appeared before Alexei in the guise of a cutesy young lady.
Soon Berestov and Muromsky finally became friends and decided to marry their children. Alexey refused to marry the prissy Muromskaya and decided to throw in his lot with the blacksmith’s daughter. He went to the neighbors to explain himself, saw Lisa without makeup and recognized her as his beloved Akulina.
The army regiment is stationed in the town of ***. Life passes according to the routine established in the army, and the garrison boredom is dispelled only by the officers’ acquaintance with a certain man named Silvio, who lives in this place. He is older than most of the regiment's officers, gloomy, has a tough temperament and with an evil tongue. There is some secret in his life that Silvio does not reveal to anyone. It is known that Silvio once served in a hussar regiment, but the reason for his resignation is unknown to anyone, as well as the reason for living in this outback. Neither his income nor his fortune are known, but he keeps an open table for the officers of the regiment, and at dinners champagne flows like a river. For this, everyone is ready to forgive him. The mystery of Silvio's figure sets off his almost supernatural skill in shooting with a pistol. He does not take part in the officers’ conversations about fights, and when asked if he has ever fought, he answers dryly that he has. Among themselves, the officers believe that some unfortunate victim of his inhuman art lies on Silvio’s conscience. One day, several officers gathered at Silvio’s as usual. After drinking quite a lot, we started card game and asked Silvio to sweep the bank. During the game, as usual, he was silent and wordlessly corrected the punters’ mistakes in the notes. One young officer, who had recently joined the regiment and did not know Silvio’s habits, thought that he had made a mistake. Enraged by Silvio's silent persistence, the officer threw a shandal at his head. Silvio, pale with anger, asked the officer to leave. Everyone considered the fight inevitable and had no doubt about its outcome, but Silvio did not call the officer, and this circumstance ruined his reputation in the eyes of the officers, but gradually everything returned to normal and the incident was forgotten. Only one officer, with whom Silvio sympathized more than the others, could not come to terms with the idea that Silvio had not washed away the insult.
One day, at the regimental office, where mail arrived, Silvio received a package, the contents of which greatly excited him. He announced his unexpected departure to the assembled officers and invited everyone to a farewell dinner. Late in the evening, when everyone was leaving Silvio's house, the owner asked the officer he liked most to stay and revealed his secret to him.
Several years ago, Silvio received a slap in the face, and his offender is still alive. This happened during the years of his service, when Silvio had a violent temper. He was the leader in the regiment and enjoyed this position until “a young man of a rich and noble family” joined the regiment. He was the most brilliantly lucky man, who was always fabulously lucky in everything. At first he tried to achieve Silvio’s friendship and affection, but, not succeeding in this, he moved away from him without regret. Silvio's championship wavered, and he began to hate this favorite of fortune. Once, at a ball held by a Polish landowner, they quarreled, and Silvio received a slap in the face from his enemy. At dawn there was a duel, to which the offender Silvio came with a cap full of ripe cherries. By lot, he got the first shot, having fired it and shot through Silvio’s cap, he stood calmly at the point of his pistol and happily feasted on cherries, spitting out the seeds, which sometimes flew to his opponent. His indifference and equanimity infuriated Silvio, and he refused to shoot. His opponent indifferently said that Silvio would have the right to use his shot whenever he pleased. Soon Silvio retired and retired to this place, but not a day passed that he did not dream of revenge. And finally his time has come. They inform him “that a famous person will soon enter into a legal marriage with a young and beautiful girl.” And Silvio decided to see “whether he will accept death as indifferently before his wedding as he once waited for it behind the cherries!” The friends said goodbye and Silvio left.
A few years later, circumstances forced the officer to resign and settle in his poor village, where he died of boredom until Count B*** came to a neighboring estate with his young wife. The narrator goes to visit them. The Count and Countess charmed him with their social manners. On the living room wall, the narrator's attention is drawn to a painting riddled with "two bullets embedded in one another." He praised the successful shot and said that he knew in his life a man whose shooting skill was truly amazing. When asked by the count what the shooter's name was, the narrator named Silvio. At this name, the Count and Countess were embarrassed. The Count asks if Silvio told his friend about one strange story, and the narrator realizes that the count is the same old offender of his friend. It turns out that this story had a continuation, and the shot-through picture is a kind of monument to their last meeting.
It happened five years ago in this very house, where the Count and Countess spent their honeymoon. One day the count was informed that a certain person was waiting for him, who did not want to give his name. Entering the living room, the count found Silvio there, whom he did not immediately recognize and who reminded him of the shot left behind him and said that he had come to unload his pistol. The countess could come in any minute. The Count was nervous and in a hurry, Silvio hesitated and finally forced the Count to draw lots again. And again the count got the first shot. Against all the rules, he fired and shot through the picture hanging on the wall. At that moment the frightened countess ran in. The husband began to assure her that they were just joking with an old friend. But what was happening did not look too much like a joke. The Countess was on the verge of fainting, and the enraged Count shouted at Silvio to shoot quickly, but Silvio replied that he would not do this, that he saw the main thing - the Count’s fear and confusion, and he had had enough. The rest is a matter of conscience for the count himself. He turned and walked towards the exit, but stopped right at the door and, almost without aiming, fired and hit exactly the place in the painting shot through by the count. The narrator did not meet Silvio again, but heard that he died while participating in the Greek uprising led by Alexander Ypsilanti.
The cycle consists of a preface (“From the Publisher”) and five stories: “The Shot,” “The Blizzard,” “The Undertaker,” “The Station Agent,” and “The Peasant Young Lady.”
In the preface to the cycle, Pushkin says that the author of the stories was supposedly the now deceased young man Ivan Petrovich Belkin, born in the village of Goryukhin. After the death of his parents, he left his service in the Jaeger regiment and returned to this patrimony of his. The fictional Belkin had no economic abilities and soon ruined the estate. But he showed an extraordinary penchant for the female sex, as well as for listening to and recording amusing life stories. According to Pushkin, Belkin died at the end of 1828 from “a cold fever that turned into a fever.” His stories are now offered to readers as “a monument to a noble way of thinking and touching friendship.”
SHOT
The author describes his life among army officers, and then talks about Silvio, the only person in their society who was not a military man. He was about 35 years old. This man's life is surrounded by mystery. He is sullen, angry with his tongue and has a tough temper, but he is sympathetic to the author of the story. Silvio once served as a hussar, but for some unknown reason he resigned and settled in a poor town, living modestly. However, he constantly arranged dinners with officers. His favorite pastime was shooting. All the walls in his room were covered in marks from gunshots.
Once, while playing cards at Silvio's house, a conflict arose between him and one of the guests, and according to all the rules of that time, he had to challenge the offender to a duel. But he didn't. This incident briefly damaged his reputation among young officers, although it cost Silvio nothing to shoot his offender in a duel. Silvio tried for a long time to explain himself to the main character, but to no avail. One day he said that he had to leave immediately and invited the officers to a last lunch. After that, he asked the main character to stay and told him the following story.
When Silvio served as a hussar, he loved to excel in everything. One day, a young and noble man joined their regiment and made an impression on the young ladies and fellow soldiers. This hurt Silvio’s vanity, and he began to treat him with anger and coldness. One day a young man slapped him in response to his taunts, and it came to a duel. Silvio's opponent had the chance to shoot first, and he shot through his cap. When Silvio began to shoot, he saw that the enemy was absolutely calm and carefree. This infuriated him, and he decided that he would postpone his shot until he presented himself best case. After this, Silvio retired. Recently, news reached him that his old enemy was getting married, and he decided to finally meet and take revenge on him, for which he was going to leave for Moscow.
Several years have passed. The author of the story retired and settled in a poor village. He was bored there and had no one to visit. But one day he learned that a countess and her husband had come to live on a rich estate four miles from him. The hero goes to visit them. While looking around the house, he notices a bullet-riddled painting, and the conversation turns to the shooting. The hero remembers Silvio, the best shooter he knew. The Count was very surprised that he knew this man and admitted that he was Silvio’s sworn enemy. The bullet-riddled painting is a memory of his last visit to this house.
The Count tells how five years ago he got married and settled on this estate. One evening after a horse ride, he sees a guest in his room and recognizes him as Silvio. He announces that he has come to carry out his shot. Saying that he did not want to shoot at an unarmed man, Silvio cast lots, and the count had to shoot first again. The Count missed and fell into the picture. He was nervous thinking about his wife. When it was Silvio's turn, the count's wife entered the room. She was very frightened and threw herself at Silvio’s feet, asking him not to shoot her husband. He took pity because he got what he deserved: he saw the confusion of his enemy, who did not want to die at that moment. As Silvio left, he shot at the painting without aiming.
BLIZZARD
At the end of 1811, the landowner Gavrila Gavrilovich R** lived in the village of Nenaradovo. He had a daughter, Masha. Her lover is poor warrant officer Vladimir. The parents, of course, would not agree to marry their daughter to him, so the young people met and corresponded in secret. In the end, they decided to elope at night and get married secretly.
The night before the escape, the girl said she was sick and locked herself in her room. However, she really felt bad because she was nervous and worried about her parents.
Her lover, Vladimir, with difficulty persuading the local priest and finding witnesses, sent his servant to Nenaradovo to bring the bride to church. In the evening he went on a sleigh to the village of Zhadrino, to the chapel where the wedding was to take place.
A strong snowstorm arose, Vladimir lost his way and was escorted to Zhadrino when morning came. The church was closed. Bad news awaited him.
The next morning, Masha, as if nothing had happened, went out to her parents. The day went well, but by evening the girl became seriously ill. In her delirium, she said something about Vladimir, and her parents decided that they still needed to give in to her and marry her to the man they loved. They wrote to Vladimir, but received a half-crazy letter from him that he would never be in this house again. The parents did not dare to tell Masha about this. Meanwhile, the girl was recovering. In 1812, Vladimir went to the army and was wounded near Borodino.
Masha's father died, and the girl and her mother moved to live in another estate. There were many suitors around Masha, but she didn’t look at anyone. Vladimir died, but she kept all his things. Everyone was amazed at her fidelity.
The war is over. One day, a wounded hussar colonel Burmin appeared at Masha’s estate. He was 26 years old. Masha began to single him out from the rest. They fell in love. One day Burmin confessed his feelings to her, but said that he was married and did not even know his wife. He told her the story of how at the beginning of 1812 he had to go to Vilna, where their regiment was located. There was a strong snowstorm at night, but it was as if something was pushing him to go. On the way, he lost his way and came across a village. There was a church there. The young man was called there. The priest and everyone else took him for a late groom, took him to some girl and married her. The girl saw that it was not her fiancé and fainted. Burmin left the church and left.
Masha realized that this was the man with whom she was married then instead of Vladimir, and Burmin threw himself at her feet.
UNDERTAKER
Undertaker Adriyan Prokhorov moved to a new house from Basmannaya to Nikitskaya. He had not yet gotten used to the new house and was immersed in sad thoughts about his losses and ensuring that his clients did not go to another contractor who lived closer.
Then they knocked on his door, and his new neighbor, a German shoemaker, Gottlieb Schultz, entered. They started talking. The German invited him to visit him.
The next day the undertaker went to a neighbor. The shoemaker had many guests - German craftsmen with their wives and apprentices. Everyone started drinking and making various toasts. Someone offered to drink to the clients' health. They laughed at Adriyan - it’s funny to drink to the health of the dead. The undertaker came home drunk and angry and went to bed saying that he would not invite these Germans to his housewarming party, but his dead.
He was woken up while it was still dark. That night the merchant's wife Tryukhina died. Adrian was tasked with making all the funeral supplies. The undertaker spent the whole day fulfilling the order, and in the evening he went home on foot. Then he saw someone vaguely familiar enter his house. Arriving home, the undertaker discovered that his house was full of dead people.
He was horrified to recognize them as his clients. The dead said that they had risen at his invitation. A skeleton approached him, said that he was his very first client, and hugged Adrian, but he screamed in horror. The dead became indignant and began to threaten the undertaker. He fell unconscious in fear.
He came to himself in his bed. The sun was shining. It turned out that he saw Tryukhina’s death and the dead in a dream. The worker said that the German shoemaker invited him to visit again.
STATION GUARD
The author tells a story from the life of one he knew well stationmaster. He met him in 1816, when he was passing through the *** province, along a highway that has now been destroyed. On the way, he got wet in the pouring rain and asked for some tea. The caretaker asked his pretty 14 year old daughter Dunya to put on the samovar. The main character really liked the girl, and he kissed her goodbye. He remembered this for a long time.
A few years later, circumstances again brought him to the same places. The hero decided to visit the caretaker and his daughter.
A glass of rum dispelled the old man’s gloom, and he told the hero the following story. Three years ago a hussar stopped with them and immediately demanded horses. Dunya came out and offered him something to eat. Her appearance calmed the young man, and he agreed to wait. He settled down with them and began to talk cheerfully with the caretaker and his daughter. Then he fell ill and stayed with the caretaker for three days. Having recovered, the hussar got ready to leave and offered to take Dunya to the church, since it was Sunday. The father, not suspecting anything, let the girl go, but when she did not return home, he realized that she had been stolen, and the hussar’s illness was feigned in order to stay longer with the caretaker.
The caretaker begins to look for his daughter. He arrives in St. Petersburg and pays a visit to Captain Minsky, the man who took his daughter away. The caretaker asks Minsky to return Dunya, but he refuses him because she loves Minsky and has lost the habit of her former life.
The caretaker makes another attempt to see his daughter and sneaks into her room. There he sees her with Minsky, beautifully dressed and happy. Noticing her father, Dunya faints, and Minsky throws him away in a rage.
The caretaker returned to his station and began to live alone, wondering about Dunya's fate.
A little more time passed. The author passes through the same place again and learns that the station has been removed, and the caretaker died a year ago from drinking himself to death. Other people began to live in his house. A boy from the new owners’ house took him to the caretaker’s grave and told him that a beautiful lady with children came here in the summer and spent a long time at the grave, gave money to the priest and the boy and left. The author realized that it was Dunya.
PEASANT GIRL
In one of remote provinces there lived two neighbors who did not get along with each other because they had absolutely different characters. Ivan Petrovich Berestov retired from the guard and lived in his village, without leaving anywhere. He managed the household skillfully and was not very approving of innovations. His neighbor, Grigory Ivanovich Muromsky, on the contrary, squandered most of his estate in Moscow, and in the village began to live in the English manner, which further aggravated his losses.
Berestov's son, Alexey, came to his father's estate. He dreamed of becoming a military man, but his father did not agree, and therefore Alexey decided to live as a master for a while.
The “Anglomaniac” also had a daughter, Lisa. She immediately became interested in the young man and asked her maid Nastya to find out about him and tell her. When Nastya talked about his beauty and cheerful character, Lisa really wanted to see him, but there was enmity between their fathers, and they might have thought that she was chasing a young man if she herself was looking for a meeting. Lisa came up with a plan: dress up like a peasant and go out for a walk in the grove where Alexei usually goes.
Early in the morning the girl went to the grove and met Alexei there. They met immediately. Lisa called herself Akulina, the daughter of a blacksmith, and promised to come here the next day.
The girl’s conscience began to torment her, but she could not help but come to the meeting so that Alexey would not look for her among the peasants and discover the deception. At the next meeting she says young man don't look for her. Gradually they fall in love with each other.
The relationship between their fathers had changed dramatically in the meantime. Once, during a horseback ride, Muromsky met Berestov when he was hunting. Muromsky's horse got scared and bolted from the shouts of the hunters, and he fell from it and hurt his leg. Berestov came to his aid and invited him to his place. The neighbors started talking amicably, and the next day Muromsky invited Berestov and his son to visit him.
Upon learning of this, Lisa was dumbfounded. At first she told her father that she would not come out to them, and then a plan matured in her head: she demanded from her father that he not show his surprise at her appearance and the next day she put on a wig, whitened her face, and dressed in an extravagant dress. Alexey did not recognize the real Lisa in this guise, and he terribly did not like Muromsky’s daughter.
The acquaintance between Muromsky and Berestov strengthened, and Berestov intended to marry his son to Lisa. However, Alexey categorically refused. Deciding that he would marry a peasant woman and live by his labors, he wrote a letter to “Akulina” about this and went to Muromsky to beg him to refuse the marriage. There he saw Lisa without makeup and in an ordinary dress, reading his letter, and rushed to her. At this time, Muromsky entered and saw that everything had worked out for the young people even without the participation of their parents.