Green brings it to Nina Nikolaevna and dedicates it to her
Chapter 1
Prediction
Longren, a sailor of the Orion, a strong three-hundred-ton brig on which he served for ten years and to which he was more attached than another son to his own mother, had to finally leave this service.
It happened like this. On one of his rare returns home, he did not see, as always from afar, his wife Mary on the threshold of the house, throwing up her hands and then running towards him until she lost her breath. Instead, an excited neighbor stood by the crib - a new item in Longren's small house.
“I followed her for three months, old man,” she said, “look at your daughter.”
Dead, Longren bent down and saw an eight-month-old creature intently looking at his long beard, then he sat down, looked down and began to twirl his mustache. The mustache was wet as if from rain.
- When did Mary die? - he asked.
The woman told a sad story, interrupting the story with touching gurgles to the girl and assurances that Mary was in heaven. When Longren found out the details, heaven seemed to him a little brighter than a woodshed, and he thought that the fire of a simple lamp - if all three of them were now together - would be an irreplaceable consolation for a woman who had gone to an unknown country.
Three months ago, the young mother’s economic affairs were very bad. Of the money left by Longren, a good half was spent on treatment after a difficult birth and on caring for the health of the newborn; Finally, the loss of a small but necessary amount for life forced Mary to ask Menners for a loan of money. Menners ran a tavern and a shop and was considered a wealthy man.
Mary went to see him at six o'clock in the evening. At about seven the narrator met her on the road to Liss. Tearful and upset, Mary said that she was going to the city to lay wedding ring. She added that Menners agreed to give money, but demanded love for it. Mary achieved nothing.
“We don’t even have a crumb of food in our house,” she told her neighbor. “I’ll go into town, and the girl and I will get by somehow until my husband returns.”
The weather was cold and windy that evening; the narrator tried in vain to persuade the young woman not to go to Liss at nightfall. “You’ll get wet, Mary, it’s drizzling, and the wind, no matter what, will bring downpour.”
Back and forth from the seaside village to the city was at least three hours of quick walking, but Mary did not listen to the narrator’s advice. “It’s enough for me to prick your eyes,” she said, “and there is almost not a single family where I would not borrow bread, tea or flour. I’ll pawn the ring and it’s over.” She went, returned, and the next day fell ill with fever and delirium; bad weather and evening drizzle struck her with double pneumonia, as the city doctor said, caused by the kind-hearted narrator. A week later, there was an empty space on Longren’s double bed, and a neighbor moved into his house to nurse and feed the girl. It was not difficult for her, a lonely widow.
“Besides,” she added, “it’s boring without such a fool.”
Longren went to the city, took payment, said goodbye to his comrades and began to raise little Assol. Until the girl learned to walk firmly, the widow lived with the sailor, replacing the orphan’s mother, but as soon as Assol stopped falling, lifting her leg over the threshold, Longren decisively announced that now he himself would do everything for the girl, and, thanking the widow for her active sympathy, lived the lonely life of a widower, focusing all his thoughts, hopes, love and memories on a small creature.
Ten years of wandering life left very little money in his hands. He started working. Soon his toys appeared in city stores - skillfully made small models of boats, cutters, single- and double-decker sailing ships, cruisers, steamships - in a word, what he knew intimately, which, due to the nature of the work, partly replaced for him the roar of port life and painting work swimming. In this way, Longren obtained enough to live within the limits of moderate economy. Unsociable by nature, after the death of his wife he became even more withdrawn and unsociable. On holidays, he was sometimes seen in a tavern, but he never sat down, but hastily drank a glass of vodka at the counter and left, briefly throwing around: “yes”, “no”, “hello”, “goodbye”, “little by little” - at all the calls and nods from the neighbors. He could not stand guests, quietly sending them away not by force, but with such hints and fictitious circumstances that the visitor had no choice but to invent a reason not to allow him to sit longer.
He himself did not visit anyone either; Thus, a cold alienation lay between him and his fellow countrymen, and if Longren’s work - toys - had been less independent from the affairs of the village, he would have had to more clearly experience the consequences of such a relationship. He bought goods and food supplies in the city - Menners could not even boast of the box of matches that Longren bought from him. He also did everything himself homework and patiently went through the difficult art of raising a girl, unusual for a man.
Assol was already five years old, and her father began to smile softer and softer, looking at her nervous, kind face, when, sitting on his lap, she worked on the secret of a buttoned vest or amusingly hummed sailor songs - wild rhymes. Translated in a child's voice and not always with the letter "r", these songs gave the impression of a dancing bear, decorated with a blue ribbon. At this time, an event occurred, the shadow of which, falling on the father, covered the daughter as well.
It was spring, early and harsh, like winter, but of a different kind. For three weeks, a sharp coastal north fell to the cold earth.
Fishing boats, dragged ashore, formed a long row of dark keels on the white sand, reminiscent of the ridges of huge fish. No one dared to fish in such weather. On the only street of the village it was rare to see a person who had left the house; the cold whirlwind rushing from the coastal hills into the emptiness of the horizon made the open air a severe torture. All the chimneys of Kaperna smoked from morning to evening, spreading smoke over the steep roofs.
But these days of the Nord lured Longren out of his small warm house more often than the sun, which in clear weather covered the sea and Kaperna with blankets of airy gold. Longren went out onto a bridge built along long rows of piles, where, at the very end of this plank pier, he smoked a pipe blown by the wind for a long time, watching how the bottom exposed near the shore smoked with gray foam, barely keeping up with the waves, the thundering run of which towards the black, stormy horizon filled the space with herds of fantastic maned creatures, rushing in unbridled ferocious despair towards distant consolation. Moans and noises, the howling gunfire of huge upsurges of water and, it seemed, a visible stream of wind striping the surroundings - so strong was its smooth run - gave tormented soul Longren that dullness, stupefaction, which, reducing grief to vague sadness, is equal to the action deep sleep.
On one of these days, Menners’s twelve-year-old son, Khin, noticing that his father’s boat was hitting the piles under the bridge, breaking the sides, went and told his father about it. The storm began recently; Menners forgot to take the boat out onto the sand. He immediately went to the water, where he saw Longren standing at the end of the pier, with his back to it, smoking. There was no one else on the shore except the two of them. Menners walked along the bridge to the middle, descended into the madly splashing water and untied the sheet; standing in the boat, he began to make his way to the shore, grabbing the piles with his hands. He did not take the oars, and at that moment, when, staggering, he missed to grab the next pile, swipe the wind threw the bow of the boat away from the bridge towards the ocean. Now, even with the entire length of his body, Menners could not reach the nearest pile. The wind and waves, rocking, carried the boat into the disastrous expanse. Realizing the situation, Menners wanted to throw himself into the water to swim to the shore, but his decision was late, since the boat was already spinning not far from the end of the pier, where the considerable depth of the water and the fury of the waves promised certain death. Between Longren and Menners, carried away into the stormy distance, there was no more than ten fathoms of still saving distance, since on the walkway at Longren’s hand hung a bundle of rope with a load woven into one end. This rope hung in case of a pier in stormy weather and was thrown from the bridge.
- Longren! - shouted the mortally frightened Menners. - Why have you become like a stump? You see, I'm being carried away; leave the pier!
Longren was silent, calmly looking at Menners, who was rushing about in the boat, only his pipe began to smoke more strongly, and he, after hesitating, took it out of his mouth in order to better see what was happening.
- Longren! - Menners cried, - you can hear me, I’m dying, save me!
But Longren did not say a single word to him; he didn't seem to hear the desperate scream. Until the boat carried so far that Menners’ words and cries could barely reach him, he did not even shift from foot to foot. Menners sobbed in horror, begged the sailor to run to the fishermen, call for help, promised money, threatened and cursed, but Longren only came closer to the very edge of the pier so as not to immediately lose sight of the throwing and jumping boats. “Longren,” it came to him muffledly, as if from the roof, sitting inside the house, “save me!” Then, taking a deep breath and taking a deep breath so that not a single word would be lost in the wind, Longren shouted:
“She asked you the same thing!” Think about this while you are still alive, Menners, and don’t forget!
Then the screams stopped, and Longren went home. Assol woke up and saw that her father was sitting in front of a dying lamp, deep in thought. Hearing the girl's voice calling him, he went up to her, kissed her deeply and covered her with a tangled blanket.
“Sleep, honey,” he said, “the morning is still far away.”
- What are you doing?
“I made a black toy, Assol, sleep!”
The next day, all the residents of Kaperna could talk about was the missing Menners, and on the sixth day they brought him himself, dying and angry. His story quickly spread around the surrounding villages. Until the evening wore Menners; broken by shocks on the sides and bottom of the boat, during a terrible struggle with the ferocity of the waves, which, tirelessly, threatened to throw the maddened shopkeeper into the sea, he was picked up by the steamer Lucretia, heading to Kasset. A cold and shock of horror ended Menners' days. He lived a little less than forty-eight hours, calling upon Longren all the disasters possible on earth and in the imagination. Menners' story of how the sailor watched his death, refusing help, eloquent all the more so since the dying man was breathing with difficulty and groaning, amazed the residents of Kaperna. Not to mention the fact that very few of them were able to remember an insult even more severe than that suffered by Longren, and to grieve as much as he grieved for Mary for the rest of his life - they were disgusted, incomprehensible, and amazed that Longren was silent. Silently, to your own last words sent after Menners, Longren stood; stood motionless, sternly and quietly, like judge, showing deep contempt for Menners - there was more than hatred in his silence, and everyone felt it. If he had shouted, expressing with gestures or fussiness gloating, or in some other way his triumph at the sight of Menners’ despair, the fishermen would have understood him, but he acted differently from what they did - he acted impressive, incomprehensible and by this he placed himself above others, in a word, he did something that cannot be forgiven. No one else bowed to him, extended their hands, or cast a recognizing, greeting glance. He remained completely aloof from village affairs; The boys, seeing him, shouted after him: “Longren drowned Menners!” He didn't pay any attention to it. It also seemed that he did not notice that in the tavern or on the shore, among the boats, the fishermen fell silent in his presence, moving away as if from the plague. The case of Menners cemented the previously incomplete alienation. Having become complete, it caused lasting mutual hatred, the shadow of which fell on Assol.
The girl grew up without friends. Two or three dozen children of her age who lived in Kaperna, soaked like a sponge with water, a rough family principle, the basis of which was the unshakable authority of the mother and father, re-important, like all children in the world, once and for all crossed out little Assol from the sphere of their patronage and attention. This happened, of course, gradually, through suggestion and shouting from adults, it acquired the character of a terrible prohibition, and then, reinforced by gossip and rumors, it grew in children’s minds with fear of the sailor’s house.
In addition, Longren’s secluded lifestyle has now freed the hysterical language of gossip; They used to say about the sailor that he had killed someone somewhere, which is why, they say, he is no longer hired to serve on ships, and he himself is gloomy and unsociable, because “he is tormented by remorse of a criminal conscience.” While playing, the children chased Assol if she approached them, threw dirt and teased her that her father ate human flesh and was now making counterfeit money. One after another, her naive attempts to get closer ended in bitter crying, bruises, scratches and other manifestations public opinion ; She finally stopped being offended, but still sometimes asked her father: “Tell me, why don’t they like us?” “Eh, Assol,” said Longren, “do they know how to love? You have to be able to love, but they can’t do that.” - "Like this - be able to? - "And like this!" He took the girl in his arms and deeply kissed her sad eyes, which were squinting with tender pleasure. Assol's favorite pastime was in the evenings or on holidays, when her father, having put aside jars of paste, tools and unfinished work, sat down, taking off his apron, to rest with a pipe in his teeth - climb onto his lap and, turning in the careful ring of his father's hand, touch various parts of toys, asking about their purpose. Thus began a kind of fantastic lecture about life and people - a lecture in which, thanks to Longren’s previous lifestyle, accidents, chance in general - outlandish, amazing and extraordinary events was given the main place. Longren, telling the girl the names of rigging, sails, and marine items, gradually became carried away, moving from explanations to various episodes in which either a windlass, or a steering wheel, or a mast or some type of boat, etc. played a role, and then From these individual illustrations he moved on to broad pictures of sea wanderings, weaving superstition into reality, and reality into the images of his imagination. Here appeared a tiger cat, the messenger of a shipwreck, and a talking flying fish, disobeying whose orders meant going off course, and the “Flying Dutchman” with its frantic crew; omens, ghosts, mermaids, pirates - in a word, all the fables that while away a sailor's leisure time in calm or in his favorite tavern. Longren also talked about the castaways, about people who had gone wild and had forgotten how to speak, about mysterious treasures, convict riots and much more, which the girl listened to more attentively than, perhaps, the first time she listened to Columbus’s story about the new continent. “Well, say more,” Assol asked when Longren, lost in thought, fell silent, and fell asleep on his chest with a head full of wonderful dreams.
It also gave her great, always materially significant pleasure, the appearance of the clerk of the city toy shop, who willingly bought Longren’s work. To appease the father and bargain for excess, the clerk took with him a couple of apples, a sweet pie, and a handful of nuts for the girl. Longren usually asked for the real price out of dislike for bargaining, and the clerk would reduce it. “Oh, you,” Longren said, “I spent a week working on this bot. - The boat was five vershoks. - Look at this strength, what about the cage, what about kindness? This boat can withstand fifteen people in any weather.” The end result was that the quiet fuss of the girl, purring over her apple, deprived Longren of his stamina and desire to argue; he gave in, and the clerk, having filled the basket with excellent, durable toys, left, chuckling in his mustache.
Longren did all the housework himself: he chopped wood, carried water, lit the stove, cooked, washed, ironed clothes and, besides all this, managed to work for money. When Assol was eight years old, her father taught her to read and write. He began to occasionally take her with him to the city, and then send her even alone if there was a need to intercept money in a store or carry goods. This did not happen often, although Liss lay only four miles from Kaperna, but the road to it went through the forest, and in the forest there is much that can frighten children, in addition to physical danger, which, it is true, is difficult to encounter at such a close distance from the city, but still... it doesn't hurt to keep this in mind. Therefore only in good days, in the morning, when the thicket surrounding the road was full of sunny showers, flowers and silence, so that Assol’s impressionability was not threatened by phantoms of the imagination, Longren let her go into the city.
One day, in the middle of such a journey to the city, the girl sat down by the road to eat a piece of pie that had been placed in her breakfast basket. While snacking, she sorted through the toys; two or three of them turned out to be new to her: Longren made them at night. One such novelty was a miniature racing yacht; This white boat carried scarlet sails made from scraps of silk, used by Longren for lining steamship cabins - toys for a rich buyer. Here, apparently, having made a yacht, he did not find suitable material for the sails, using what he had - scraps of scarlet silk. Assol was delighted.
2018 marks 95
years publication of A. Green's story " Scarlet Sails».
The extravaganza story “Scarlet Sails” by Alexander Green (1880-1932) has stood the test of time and taken its rightful place on the “golden shelf” of literature for young people. Translated from English, extravaganza means “ fairy tale».
Life of Alexander Stepanovich Green ( real name Grinevsky) turned out to be such that he early experienced joyless wanderings around Russia, soldiering, prison and exile. He survived hunger and humiliation. But after passing this thorny path and becoming famous writer, he retained the childish freshness of feelings and the ability to be surprised.
Green left us dozens of exciting and beautiful works. Among them business card The writer became the story “Scarlet Sails”.
This romantic work was written during the most difficult period of Alexander Green’s life. In 1920, he served in the Red Army and fell ill with typhus. Together with other patients he was sent for treatment to Petrograd. Alexander left the hospital almost disabled, without a roof over his head. Exhausted, he wandered around the city in search of food and shelter. And only thanks to the efforts of Maxim Gorky, Green received a room in the House of Arts. It was here, in a room with only a table and a narrow bed, that Alexander Stepanovich wrote his lyrical work, which he eventually called “Scarlet Sails”. According to Green himself, the idea for the book came to him when he saw a toy boat in a store window, the sails of which seemed scarlet to the author from the rays of the sun. (The events of this time are reflected in the novel modern writer and journalist D. Bykov “Spelling”. The prototype of Graham, one of the heroes of the opera novel, was the writer A. Green).
The extravaganza story “Scarlet Sails” was published in 1923. The literary community received the work differently. For example, in one of the newspapers of that time they wrote: “A sweet fairy tale, deep and azure, like the sea, especially for resting the soul.” But there were publications that openly slandered his story, calling it a “treacle extravaganza.” And it got to the point where there were statements: “And who needs his stories about a semi-fantastic world...”.
There is, of course, a lot of fabulous stuff in “Scarlet Sails”. The fictitious town of Coperna. Fictional characters: Longren, Egle, Arthur Gray, Assol. But Green's extravaganza is much deeper than an ordinary fairy tale. Here in many ways one can see a special creative style Alexandra Green: in the brilliance and originality of the phrase, in the deep penetration into inner world heroes, contrast of images, and finally, the ability to see the unusual in the ordinary. But reality and fiction are so intertwined in his work that the fairy-tale atmosphere looks like pure truth.
The romantic writer made more than one generation of readers believe that dreams come true, that miracles exist around us. You just need to be able to see them.
The reflection of “Scarlet Sails” falls on Green’s entire work. In his works, the writer focuses the reader’s attention on thoughts about simple human happiness.
Time has passed, but the plot of the “Scarlet Sails” extravaganza is so multifaceted that it gives researchers and readers the opportunity to turn to Green’s characters again and again and make discoveries for themselves each time.
33
Alexander Stepanovich Gr
in: “Scarlet Sails”
Alexander Stepanovich Green
Scarlet Sails
annotation
Alexander Green created in his own
the works have their own special world. The wind of distant travels blows in this world
Yes, it is inhabited by kind, brave, cheerful people. And in the sun-drenched harbors
with romantic names Ch Liss, Zurbagan, Gel-Gyu Ch beautiful de
The girls are waiting for their suitors. To this world, slightly elevated above ours, oh
simultaneously fantastic and real, we invite readers.
Alexander Stepanovich Green
Scarlet Sails
I. PREDICTION
Longren, a sailor of the Orion, a strong three-hundred-ton brig on which he
served for ten years and to whom he was more attached than another son to his relatives
oh mother, had to finally leave the service.
It happened like this. On one of his rare returns home, he did not see
always from afar, on the threshold of the house, his wife Mary, clasping her hands,
and then running towards him until he loses his breath. Instead, by the children's bed
ki Ch of a new item in Longren’s small house Ch stood excited
neighbor.
“I followed her for three months, old man,” she said, “Look at your daughter.”
oh
Dead, Longren bent down and saw an eight-month-old creature, concentrating
looking very much at his long beard, then he sat down, looked down and began to twist
mustache The mustache was wet as if from rain.
Ch When did Mary die? He asked.
The woman told a sad story, interrupting the story with a touching ghoul
singing to the girl and assuring her that Mary is in heaven. When Longren found out in detail
sti, heaven seemed to him a little brighter than a woodshed, and he thought that
turn on a simple lamp, if they were all together now, the three of them would be gone
When you go to an unknown country, women are an irreplaceable joy.
Three months ago, the young mother’s economic affairs were very bad. From
of the money left by Longren, a good half was spent on treatment after labor
during childbirth, to take care of the health of the newborn; finally, the loss is small
y, but the amount necessary for life forced Mary to ask for a loan of money from
Menners. Menners owned a tavern, a shop and was considered a wealthy man
com.
Mary went to see him at six o'clock in the evening. Around seven the narrator met
her on the road to Liss. Mary, tearful and upset, said that she was going to the city.
ord to pawn the wedding ring. She added that Menners agreed
give money, but demanded love for it. Mary achieved nothing.
We don’t even have a crumb of food in our house, she told her neighbor. I'm like
I’m going to the city, and the girl and I will survive somehow until my husband returns.
The weather was cold and windy that evening; the narrator's persuasion is in vain
I warned the young woman not to go to Lis by nightfall. “You’ll get wet, Mary, dripping wet.”
It’s raining, and the wind, just like that, will bring downpour.”
The journey back and forth from the seaside village to the city was at least three hours
ov quickly walking, but Mary did not listen to the narrator’s advice. "Enough
“I should stab you in the eyes,” she said, “and there’s almost no family anyway,”
where I would not borrow bread, tea or flour. I’ll pawn the ring and it’s over.” About Us
she walked, returned, and the next day fell ill with fever and delirium; bad weather and evening
The drizzle struck her with double pneumonia, as he said
a family doctor called by a kind-hearted narrator. In a week for two
there was an empty space in Longren's bed, and the neighbor moved in
to his house to nurse and feed the girl. It was not difficult for her, a lonely widow.
Besides, she added, it’s boring without such a fool.
Longren went to the city, took payment, said goodbye to his comrades and began to raise
little Assol. Until the girl could walk firmly, the widow lived with
sailor, replacing the orphan's mother, but as soon as Assol stopped falling, for
carrying his leg over the threshold, Longren decisively announced that now he would be with
we do everything for the girl, and, thanking the widow for her active sympathy
e, lived the lonely life of a widower, concentrating all his thoughts, hopes, love
b and memories on a small creature.
Ten years of wandering life left very little money in his hands
. He started working. Soon his toys appeared in city stores.
Elaborately made small models of boats, boats, single and double deck
blue sailing ships, cruisers, steamships - in a word, what he knew intimately
l, which, due to the nature of the work, partly replaced the roar of port life
and the picturesque labor of voyages. In this way, Longren mined so much that
would live within the framework of moderate savings. Uncommunicative by nature, he, after
death of his wife, he became even more withdrawn and unsociable. On holidays it is sometimes seen
ate at the tavern, but he never sat down, but hurriedly drank at the
what glass of vodka and left, briefly throwing around “yes”, “no”, “hello”
say goodbye,” “farewell,” “little by little” to all the calls and nods of the neighbors. GOST
he couldn’t stand her, quietly sending them away not by force, but with such hints and invented
certain circumstances that the visitor had no choice but
come up with a reason not to sit longer.
He himself did not visit anyone either; Thus, a cold lay between him and his fellow countrymen.
one alienation, and be Longren's work - toys - less independent
from the affairs of the village, he would have to experience the consequences more clearly
I have such a relationship. He purchased goods and food supplies in the city of Ch Menne
rs could not even boast of a box of matches bought from him by Longren
ohm He also did all the housework himself and patiently went through the troubles.
The complex art of raising a girl belongs to a man.
Assol was already five years old, and her father began to smile softer and softer,
looking at her nervous, kind face when, sitting on his lap, she labored
pondered the mystery of a buttoned waistcoat or hummed sailor songs amusingly
songs and wild revivals. In the program in a child’s voice and not everywhere with the letter “
p" these songs gave the impression of a dancing bear, decorated
o blue ribbon. At this time an event occurred, the shadow of which fell
on the father, and hid the daughter.
It was spring, early and harsh, like winter, but of a different kind. Three weeks for three weeks
l to the cold land a sharp coastal north.
Fishing boats pulled ashore formed a long
a row of dark keels resembling the ridges of huge fish. Nobody dared
I can go fishing in this weather. On the only street of the village
where one could see a person who had left the house; a cold whirlwind rushing
I from the coastal hills into the emptiness of the horizon, did the “open air” harshly
th torture. All the chimneys of Kaperna smoked from morning to evening, wafting smoke along the steep
roofs.
But these days the Nord lured Longren out of his small warm house more often
than the sun, which in clear weather covers the sea and Caperna with blankets of carts
stuffy gold. Longren went out onto a bridge laid out along long rows with
wai, where, at the very end of this boardwalk, he smoked his inflated cigarette for a long time
holding a pipe, watching the bottom exposed near the shore smoke with gray foam, he ate
e keeping up with the waves, the thundering run of which towards the black, stormy
horizon filled the space with herds of fantastic maned creatures
TV, rushing in unbridled ferocious despair towards distant consolation. Moan
s and noises, the howling gunfire of huge rises of water and, it seemed, a visible page
the sound of the wind sweeping the surroundings, so strong was its even run,
gave Longren's tormented soul that dullness, stupefaction that
This, reducing grief to vague sadness, is equal in effect to deep sleep.
On one of these days, Menners's twelve-year-old son, Hin, noticing that his father
the boat is hitting the piles under the bridge, breaking the sides, so he went and said about it
to my father. The storm began recently; Menners forgot to take the boat out onto the sand. He's mute
walked for a long time to the water, where he saw at the end of the pier, standing with his back to it
oh, smoking, Longren. There was no one else on the shore except the two of them. Menners about
walked along the walkway to the middle, descended into the madly splashing water and untied the
from; standing in the boat, he began to make his way to the shore, grabbing the piles with his hands. Weight
he didn’t take it, and at that moment when, staggering, he missed to grab the very
next pile, a strong blow of the wind threw the bow of the boat away from the bridge to the side
keana. Now, even with the entire length of his body, Menners could not reach the closest
best piles. The wind and waves, rocking, carried the boat into the disastrous expanse. Consciousness
In this situation, Menners wanted to throw himself into the water to swim to the shore, but decided
its arrival was late, since the boat was already spinning not far from the end of the pier, where
the significant depth of the water and the fury of the waves promised certain death. Inter Long
Ren and Menners, carried away into the stormy distance, were no more than ten fathoms
there is still a saving distance, since Longren is at hand on the bridge
There was a bundle of rope hanging with a weight woven into one end. This rope hangs
ate in case of a pier in stormy weather and threw himself from the bridge.
Ch Longren! The mortally frightened Menners shouted. What are you doing?
al, how's the stump? You see, I'm being carried away; leave the pier!
Longren was silent, calmly looking at Menners, who was rushing about in the boat, only
his pipe began to smoke more intensely, and he hesitated, took it out of his mouth in order to better see
to understand what is happening.
Ch Longren! Menners called out. You can hear me, I’m dying, save me!
But Longren did not say a single word to him; it seemed he didn't hear the despair
oh screaming. Until the boat carried so far that the words-screams of Me could barely reach
nners, he didn’t even move from foot to foot. Menners sobbed in horror, shouted
the sailor ran to the fishermen, called for help, promised money, threatened and rash
cursed, but Longren only came closer to the very edge of the pier to
Don’t immediately lose sight of the boat’s throwing and racing. “Longren, it came to
It’s deaf to him, as if from the roof, sitting inside the house, save him!” Then, by typing
breath and taking a deep breath so that not a single word is lost in the wind, Lon
Gren shouted: She asked you the same thing! Think about it while you're still alive, Menner
s, and don’t forget!
Then the screams stopped, and Longren went home. Assol woke up and saw that
then the father sits in front of the dying lamp in deep thought. Hearing a goal
When the girl called him, he walked up to her, kissed her deeply and covered her
We are wearing a blanket.
“Sleep, honey,” he said, “The morning is still far away.”
W What are you doing?
I made a black toy, Assol, sleep!
The next day all the residents of Kaperna could talk about was the missing
m Mennerse, and on the sixth day they brought him himself, dying and angry. Eg
The story quickly spread around the surrounding villages. Until the evening wore Menners
; broken by shocks on the sides and bottom of the boat, during a terrible fight with swarms
the sound of waves that, without tiring, threatened to throw the maddened lava into the sea
chnik, he was picked up by the steamship "Lucretia", heading to Kasset. Colds and
a shock of horror ended the days of Menners. He lived a little under forty
eight o'clock, calling upon Longren all disasters possible on earth and in
image. Menners' story about how the sailor watched over his death, refusing him
help, eloquent especially since the dying man was breathing with difficulty and groaning, while
Azil the inhabitants of Kaperna. Not to mention the fact that few of them were capable of
remember the insult even more serious than Longren suffered, and grieve
as much as he grieved for Mary until the end of his life, and they were disgusted
Oh, it’s unclear, they were amazed that Longren was silent. Silently, until my last words
When sent after Menners, Longren stood; stood motionless, strictly
and quietly, like a judge, showing deep contempt for Menners, more than not
there was hatred in his silence, and everyone felt it. If he screamed, you would
celebrating his triumph with gestures or fussiness of gloating, or in some other way
at the sight of Menners' despair, the fishermen would have understood him, but he acted differently than
m they acted Ch acted impressively, incomprehensibly and by this they set themselves
above others, in a word, he did what is not forgiven. No one else bowed down
y, did not extend his hand, did not cast a recognizing, greeting glance. Sauveur
He definitely remained aloof from village affairs forever; boys, jealous
Having eaten him, they shouted after him: “Longren drowned Menners!” He didn't pay attention to it
attention. It also seemed that he did not notice that in the tavern or on the shore
among the boats, the fishermen fell silent in his presence, moving aside as if from
plague-ridden The case of Menners cemented the previously incomplete alienation. St
when complete, it caused lasting mutual hatred, the shadow of which fell on
Assol.
The girl grew up without friends. Two or three dozen children her age who lived in Cape
rne, soaked like a sponge with water, the rough family principle, the basis of which
he was served by the unshakable authority of his mother and father, who, like everyone else,
children in the world, once and for all erased little Assol from the sphere of their p
patronage and attention. This happened, of course, gradually, through
m suggestions and shouts from adults acquired the character of a terrible prohibition, and for
therefore, reinforced by gossip and rumors, fear grew in children's minds.
home to the sailor's house.
In addition, Longren's secluded lifestyle has now freed his hysterical
gossip language; they used to say about the sailor that he had killed someone somewhere, that’s why
l, they no longer take him to serve on ships, and he himself is gloomy and unsociable, because
“tormented by remorse of a criminal conscience.” While playing, the children drove Assol, es
whenever she approached them, they threw dirt and teased that it was as if her father
ate human flesh, and now makes counterfeit money. One by one, on
Her genuine attempts to get closer ended in bitter crying, bruises,
pins and other manifestations of public opinion; she stopped, however
nets, to be offended, but still sometimes asked her father: “Tell me why we
do not like?" Eh, Assol, Longren said, Do they really know how to love? Above
Oh, be able to love, but that’s something they can’t do.” Ch “How can you do that?” C “And so!
"He took the girl in his arms and kissed her sad eyes, squinting from
tender pleasure.
Assol's favorite pastime was in the evenings or on holidays, when her father, oh
putting away jars of paste, tools and unfinished work, he sat down,
having taken off his apron, rest, with a pipe in his teeth, and climb onto his lap
and, turning in the careful ring of his father’s hand, touch various parts of the games
ears, asking about their purpose. Thus began a kind of fantasy
tical lecture about life and people. A lecture in which, thanks to the previous
Longren's way of life, accidents, chance in general, outlandish, amaze
significant and extraordinary events were given the main place.
This is an introductory excerpt from the book. This book is protected by copyright. For getting full version books, contact our partner - the distributor of legal content "liters".
Alexander Stepanovich Green
Scarlet Sails
Offered and dedicated to Nina Nikolaevna Green by the Author
I. PREDICTION
Longren, a sailor of the Orion, a strong three-hundred-ton brig on which he served for ten years and to which he was more attached than another son to his own mother, had to finally leave the service.
It happened like this. On one of his rare returns home, he did not see, as always from afar, his wife Mary on the threshold of the house, throwing up her hands and then running towards him until she lost her breath. Instead, an excited neighbor stood by the crib - a new item in Longren's small house.
I followed her for three months, old man,” she said, “look at your daughter.”
Dead, Longren bent down and saw an eight-month-old creature intently looking at his long beard, then he sat down, looked down and began to twirl his mustache. The mustache was wet as if from rain.
When did Mary die? - he asked.
The woman told a sad story, interrupting the story with touching gurgles to the girl and assurances that Mary was in heaven. When Longren found out the details, heaven seemed to him a little brighter than a woodshed, and he thought that the fire of a simple lamp - if now they were all together, the three of them - would be an irreplaceable consolation for a woman who had gone to an unknown country.
Three months ago, the young mother’s economic affairs were very bad. Of the money left by Longren, a good half was spent on treatment after a difficult birth and on caring for the health of the newborn; finally, the loss of a small but necessary amount for life forced Mary to ask Menners for a loan of money. Menners ran a tavern and a shop and was considered a wealthy man.
Mary went to see him at six o'clock in the evening. At about seven the narrator met her on the road to Liss. Mary, tearful and upset, said that she was going to the city to pawn her engagement ring. She added that Menners agreed to give money, but demanded love for it. Mary achieved nothing.
“We don’t even have a crumb of food in our house,” she told her neighbor. “I’ll go into town, and the girl and I will get by somehow until my husband returns.”
The weather was cold and windy that evening; The narrator tried in vain to persuade the young woman not to go to Lis before nightfall. “You’ll get wet, Mary, it’s drizzling, and the wind, no matter what, will bring downpour.”
Back and forth from the seaside village to the city was at least three hours of quick walking, but Mary did not listen to the narrator’s advice. “It’s enough for me to prick your eyes,” she said, “and there is almost not a single family where I would not borrow bread, tea or flour. I’ll pawn the ring and it’s over.” She went, returned, and the next day fell ill with fever and delirium; bad weather and evening drizzle struck her with double pneumonia, as the city doctor said, caused by the kind-hearted narrator. A week later, there was an empty space on Longren’s double bed, and a neighbor moved into his house to nurse and feed the girl. It was not difficult for her, a lonely widow. Besides,” she added, “it’s boring without such a fool.”
Longren went to the city, took payment, said goodbye to his comrades and began to raise little Assol. Until the girl learned to walk firmly, the widow lived with the sailor, replacing the orphan’s mother, but as soon as Assol stopped falling, lifting her leg over the threshold, Longren decisively announced that now he himself would do everything for the girl, and, thanking the widow for her active sympathy, lived the lonely life of a widower, focusing all his thoughts, hopes, love and memories on a small creature.
Ten years of wandering life left very little money in his hands. He started working. Soon his toys appeared in city stores - skillfully made small models of boats, cutters, single- and double-decker sailing ships, cruisers, steamships - in a word, what he knew intimately, which, due to the nature of the work, partly replaced for him the roar of port life and painting work swimming. In this way, Longren obtained enough to live within the limits of moderate economy. Unsociable by nature, after the death of his wife, he became even more withdrawn and unsociable. On holidays, he was sometimes seen in a tavern, but he never sat down, but hurriedly drank a glass of vodka at the counter and left, briefly throwing around “yes”, “no”, “hello”, “goodbye”, “little by little” - at everything addresses and nods from neighbors. He could not stand guests, quietly sending them away not by force, but with such hints and fictitious circumstances that the visitor had no choice but to invent a reason not to allow him to sit longer.
He himself did not visit anyone either; Thus, a cold alienation lay between him and his fellow countrymen, and if Longren’s work - toys - had been less independent from the affairs of the village, he would have had to more clearly experience the consequences of such a relationship. He purchased goods and food supplies in the city - Menners could not even boast of the box of matches that Longren bought from him. He also did all the housework himself and patiently went through the difficult art of raising a girl, which is unusual for a man.
Assol was already five years old, and her father began to smile softer and softer, looking at her nervous, kind face, when, sitting on his lap, she worked on the secret of a buttoned vest or amusingly hummed sailor songs - wild rhymes. Translated in a child's voice and not always with the letter "r", these songs gave the impression of a dancing bear, decorated with a blue ribbon. At this time, an event occurred, the shadow of which, falling on the father, covered the daughter as well.
It was spring, early and harsh, like winter, but of a different kind. For three weeks, a sharp coastal north fell to the cold earth.
A. S. Green
SCARLET SAILS
(extravaganza)
Prediction
Longren, a sailor of the Orion, a strong three-hundred-ton brig on which he served for ten years and to which he was more attached than another son to his own mother, had to finally leave the service.
It happened like this. On one of his rare returns home, he did not see, as always from afar, his wife Mary on the threshold of the house, throwing up her hands and then running towards him until she lost her breath. Instead, an excited neighbor stood by the crib - a new item in Longren's small house.
“I followed her for three months, old man,” she said, “look at your daughter.”
Dead, Longren bent down and saw an eight-month-old creature intently looking at his long beard, then he sat down, looked down and began to twirl his mustache. The mustache was wet as if from rain.
- When did Mary die? - he asked.
The woman told a sad story, interrupting the story with touching gurgles to the girl and assurances that Mary was in heaven. When Longren found out the details, heaven seemed to him a little brighter than a woodshed, and he thought that the fire of a simple lamp - if all three of them were now together - would be an irreplaceable consolation for a woman who had gone to an unknown country.
Three months ago, the young mother’s economic affairs were very bad. Of the money left by Longren, a good half was spent on treatment after a difficult birth and on caring for the health of the newborn; finally, the loss of a small but necessary amount for life forced Mary to ask Menners for a loan of money. Menners ran a tavern and a shop and was considered a wealthy man.
Mary went to see him at six o'clock in the evening. At about seven the narrator met her on the road to Liss. Mary, tearful and upset, said that she was going to the city to pawn her engagement ring. She added that Menners agreed to give money, but demanded love for it. Mary achieved nothing.
“We don’t even have a crumb of food in our house,” she told her neighbor. “I’ll go into town, and the girl and I will get by somehow until my husband returns.”
The weather was cold and windy that evening; The narrator tried in vain to persuade the young woman not to go to Lis before nightfall. “You’ll get wet, Mary, it’s drizzling, and the wind, no matter what, will bring downpour.”
Back and forth from the seaside village to the city was at least three hours of quick walking, but Mary did not listen to the narrator’s advice. “It’s enough for me to prick your eyes,” she said, “and there is almost not a single family where I would not borrow bread, tea or flour. I’ll pawn the ring and it’s over.” She went, returned, and the next day fell ill with fever and delirium; bad weather and evening drizzle struck her with double pneumonia, as the city doctor said, caused by the kind-hearted narrator. A week later, there was an empty space on Longren’s double bed, and a neighbor moved into his house to nurse and feed the girl. It was not difficult for her, a lonely widow. Besides,” she added, “it’s boring without such a fool.”
Longren went to the city, took payment, said goodbye to his comrades and began to raise little Assol. Until the girl learned to walk firmly, the widow lived with the sailor, replacing the orphan’s mother, but as soon as Assol stopped falling, lifting her leg over the threshold, Longren decisively announced that now he himself would do everything for the girl, and, thanking the widow for her active sympathy, lived the lonely life of a widower, focusing all his thoughts, hopes, love and memories on a small creature.
Ten years of wandering life left very little money in his hands. He started working. Soon his toys appeared in city stores - skillfully made small models of boats, cutters, single- and double-decker sailing ships, cruisers, steamships - in a word, what he knew intimately, which, due to the nature of the work, partly replaced for him the roar of port life and painting work swimming. In this way, Longren obtained enough to live within the limits of moderate economy. Unsociable by nature, after the death of his wife, he became even more withdrawn and unsociable. On holidays he was sometimes seen in a tavern, but he never sat down, but hurriedly drank a glass of vodka at the counter and left, briefly throwing around “yes”, “no”, “hello”, “goodbye”, “little by little” - at everything addresses and nods from neighbors. He could not stand guests, quietly sending them away not by force, but with such hints and fictitious circumstances that the visitor had no choice but to invent a reason not to allow him to sit longer.
He himself did not visit anyone either; Thus, a cold alienation lay between him and his fellow countrymen, and if Longren’s work - toys - had been less independent from the affairs of the village, he would have had to more clearly experience the consequences of such a relationship. He purchased goods and food supplies in the city - Menners could not even boast of the box of matches that Longren bought from him. He also did all the housework himself and patiently went through the difficult art of raising a girl, which is unusual for a man.
Assol was already five years old, and her father began to smile softer and softer, looking at her nervous, kind face, when, sitting on his lap, she worked on the secret of a buttoned vest or amusingly hummed sailor songs - wild rhymes. Translated in a child's voice and not always with the letter "r", these songs gave the impression of a dancing bear, decorated with a blue ribbon. At this time, an event occurred, the shadow of which, falling on the father, covered the daughter as well.
It was spring, early and harsh, like winter, but of a different kind. For three weeks, a sharp coastal north fell to the cold earth.
Fishing boats pulled ashore formed a long row of dark keels on the white sand, reminiscent of the ridges of huge fish. No one dared to fish in such weather. On the only street of the village it was rare to see a person who had left the house; the cold whirlwind rushing from the coastal hills into the emptiness of the horizon made the “open air” a severe torture. All the chimneys of Kaperna smoked from morning to evening, spreading smoke over the steep roofs.
But these days of the Nord lured Longren out of his small warm house more often than the sun, which in clear weather covered the sea and Kaperna with blankets of airy gold. Longren went out onto a bridge built along long rows of piles, where, at the very end of this plank pier, he smoked a pipe blown by the wind for a long time, watching how the bottom exposed near the shore smoked with gray foam, barely keeping up with the waves, the thundering run of which towards the black, stormy horizon filled the space with herds of fantastic maned creatures, rushing in unbridled ferocious despair towards distant consolation. Moans and noises, the howling gunfire of huge upsurges of water and, it seemed, a visible stream of wind striping the surroundings - so strong was its smooth run - gave Longren's exhausted soul that dullness, stunnedness, which, reducing grief to vague sadness, is equal in effect to deep sleep .