Illustration by Sergei Gerasimov "Dispute"
One day, seven men converge on the high road - recent serfs, and now temporarily liable "from adjacent villages - Zaplatova, Dyryavin, Razutov, Znobishina, Gorelova, Neyolova, Neurozhayka, too." Instead of going their own way, the peasants start a dispute about who in Rus' lives happily and freely. Each of them judges in his own way who is the main lucky man in Rus': a landowner, an official, a priest, a merchant, a noble boyar, a minister of sovereigns or a tsar.
During the argument, they do not notice that they gave a detour of thirty miles. Seeing that it is too late to return home, the men make a fire and continue to argue over vodka - which, of course, little by little turns into a fight. But even a fight does not help to resolve the issue that worries the men.
The solution is found unexpectedly: one of the peasants, Pahom, catches a warbler chick, and in order to free the chick, the warbler tells the peasants where they can find a self-assembled tablecloth. Now the peasants are provided with bread, vodka, cucumbers, kvass, tea - in a word, everything they need for a long journey. And besides, the self-assembled tablecloth will repair and wash their clothes! Having received all these benefits, the peasants give a vow to find out "who lives happily, freely in Rus'."
The first possible "lucky man" they met along the way is a priest. (It was not for the oncoming soldiers and beggars to ask about happiness!) But the priest's answer to the question of whether his life is sweet disappoints the peasants. They agree with the priest that happiness lies in peace, wealth and honor. But the pop does not possess any of these benefits. In haymaking, in stubble, in a dead autumn night, in severe frost, he must go where there are sick, dying and being born. And every time his soul hurts at the sight of grave sobs and orphan sorrow - so that his hand does not rise to take copper nickels - a miserable reward for the demand. The landlords, who formerly lived in family estates and got married here, baptized children, buried the dead, are now scattered not only in Rus', but also in distant foreign land; there is no hope for their reward. Well, the peasants themselves know what honor the priest is: they feel embarrassed when the priest blames obscene songs and insults against priests.
Realizing that the Russian pop is not among the lucky ones, the peasants go to the festive fair in the trading village of Kuzminskoye to ask the people about happiness there. In a rich and dirty village there are two churches, a tightly boarded-up house with the inscription "school", a paramedic's hut, and a dirty hotel. But most of all in the village of drinking establishments, in each of which they barely manage to cope with the thirsty. Old man Vavila cannot buy his granddaughter goat's shoes, because he drank himself to a penny. It’s good that Pavlusha Veretennikov, a lover of Russian songs, whom everyone calls “master” for some reason, buys a treasured gift for him.
Wandering peasants watch the farcical Petrushka, watch how the women are picking up book goods - but by no means Belinsky and Gogol, but portraits of fat generals unknown to anyone and works about "my lord stupid." They also see how a busy trading day ends: rampant drunkenness, fights on the way home. However, the peasants are indignant at Pavlusha Veretennikov's attempt to measure the peasant by the master's measure. In their opinion, it is impossible for a sober person to live in Rus': he will not endure either overwork or peasant misfortune; without drinking, bloody rain would have poured out of the angry peasant soul. These words are confirmed by Yakim Nagoi from the village of Bosovo - one of those who "work to death, drink half to death." Yakim believes that only pigs walk the earth and do not see the sky for a century. During a fire, he himself did not save money accumulated over a lifetime, but useless and beloved pictures that hung in the hut; he is sure that with the cessation of drunkenness, great sadness will come to Rus'.
Wandering men do not lose hope of finding people who live well in Rus'. But even for the promise to give water to the lucky ones for free, they fail to find those. For the sake of a free drink, both an overworked worker, and a paralyzed former courtyard, who for forty years licked the master's plates with the best French truffle, and even ragged beggars are ready to declare themselves lucky.
Finally, someone tells them the story of Ermil Girin, a steward in the estate of Prince Yurlov, who has earned universal respect for his justice and honesty. When Girin needed money to buy the mill, the peasants lent it to him without even asking for a receipt. But Yermil is now unhappy: after the peasant revolt, he is in prison.
About the misfortune that befell the nobles after the peasant reform, the ruddy sixty-year-old landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev tells the peasant wanderers. He recalls how in the old days everything amused the master: villages, forests, fields, serf actors, musicians, hunters, who belonged undividedly to him. Obolt-Obolduev tells with emotion how on the twelfth holidays he invited his serfs to pray in the manor's house - despite the fact that after that they had to drive women from all over the estate to wash the floors.
And although the peasants themselves know that life in serf times was far from the idyll drawn by Obolduev, they nevertheless understand: the great chain of serfdom, having broken, hit both the master, who at once lost his usual way of life, and the peasant.
Desperate to find a happy man among the men, the wanderers decide to ask the women. The surrounding peasants remember that Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina lives in the village of Klin, whom everyone considers lucky. But Matrona herself thinks differently. In confirmation, she tells the wanderers the story of her life.
Before her marriage, Matryona lived in a non-drinking and prosperous peasant family. She married Philip Korchagin, a stove-maker from a foreign village. But the only happy night for her was that night when the groom persuaded Matryona to marry him; then the usual hopeless life of a village woman began. True, her husband loved her and beat her only once, but soon he went to work in St. Petersburg, and Matryona was forced to endure insults in her father-in-law's family. The only one who felt sorry for Matryona was grandfather Saveliy, who lived out his life in the family after hard labor, where he ended up for the murder of the hated German manager. Savely told Matryona what Russian heroism is: a peasant cannot be defeated, because he "bends, but does not break."
The birth of the first-born Demushka brightened up the life of Matryona. But soon her mother-in-law forbade her to take the child into the field, and old grandfather Savely did not follow the baby and fed him to the pigs. In front of Matryona, the judges who arrived from the city performed an autopsy on her child. Matryona could not forget her first child, although after she had five sons. One of them, the shepherd Fedot, once allowed a she-wolf to carry off a sheep. Matrena took upon herself the punishment assigned to her son. Then, being pregnant with her son Liodor, she was forced to go to the city to seek justice: her husband, bypassing the laws, was taken to the soldiers. Matryona was then helped by the governor Elena Alexandrovna, for whom the whole family is now praying.
By all peasant standards, the life of Matryona Korchagina can be considered happy. But it is impossible to tell about the invisible spiritual storm that passed through this woman - just like about unrequited mortal insults, and about the blood of the firstborn. Matrena Timofeevna is convinced that a Russian peasant woman cannot be happy at all, because the keys to her happiness and free will are lost from God himself.
In the midst of haymaking, wanderers come to the Volga. Here they witness a strange scene. A noble family swims up to the shore in three boats. The mowers, who have just sat down to rest, immediately jump up to show the old master their zeal. It turns out that the peasants of the village of Vakhlachina help their heirs to hide the abolition of serfdom from the landowner Utyatin, who has lost his mind. For this, the relatives of the Last Duck-Duck promise the peasants floodplain meadows. But after the long-awaited death of the Afterlife, the heirs forget their promises, and the whole peasant performance turns out to be in vain.
Here, near the village of Vakhlachin, wanderers listen to peasant songs - corvée, hungry, soldier's, salty - and stories about serf times. One of these stories is about the serf of the exemplary Jacob the faithful. Yakov's only joy was to please his master, the petty landowner Polivanov. Samodur Polivanov, in gratitude, beat Yakov in the teeth with his heel, which aroused even greater love in the lackey's soul. By old age, Polivanov lost his legs, and Yakov began to follow him as if he were a child. But when Yakov's nephew, Grisha, decided to marry the serf beauty Arisha, out of jealousy, Polivanov sent the guy to the recruits. Yakov began to drink, but soon returned to the master. And yet he managed to take revenge on Polivanov - the only way available to him, in a lackey way. Having brought the master into the forest, Yakov hanged himself right above him on a pine tree. Polivanov spent the night under the corpse of his faithful servant, driving away birds and wolves with groans of horror.
Another story - about two great sinners - is told to the peasants by God's wanderer Iona Lyapushkin. The Lord awakened the conscience of the ataman of the robbers Kudeyar. The robber prayed for sins for a long time, but all of them were released to him only after he killed the cruel Pan Glukhovsky in a surge of anger.
The wandering men also listen to the story of another sinner - Gleb the elder, who hid the last will of the late widower admiral for money, who decided to free his peasants.
But not only wandering peasants think about the happiness of the people. The son of a sacristan, seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov, lives in Vakhlachin. In his heart, love for the deceased mother merged with love for the whole of Vahlachina. For fifteen years, Grisha knew for sure whom he was ready to give his life, for whom he was ready to die. He thinks of all mysterious Rus' as a miserable, abundant, powerful and powerless mother, and expects that the indestructible strength that he feels in his own soul will still be reflected in her. Such strong souls, like those of Grisha Dobrosklonov, the angel of mercy himself calls for an honest path. Fate prepares Grisha "a glorious path, a loud name of the people's intercessor, consumption and Siberia."
If the wanderer men knew what was happening in the soul of Grisha Dobrosklonov, they would surely understand that they could already return to their native roof, because the goal of their journey had been achieved.
retold
The prologue tells about the events that take place in the poem itself. Those. about how seven peasants from the villages of Zaplatovo, Neurozhayko, Dyryavino, Znobishino, Razutovo, Neyolovo, Gorelovo started a dispute on the topic “Who lives at ease, freely in Rus'?”. It is not without reason that Nikolai Alekseevich gives this acute social issue for consideration to the illiterate and ignorant class, which the peasants were considered at the end of the 19th century, this is a very bold step - to entrust the search for justice, and humanly - happiness, to ordinary peasants. After all, each of them judges in his own way “who is more at ease” a landowner, an official, a priest, a merchant, a noble boyar, a minister of sovereigns or a tsar. In the work, the poet included such fabulous conventions as a prophetic bird, a self-assembled tablecloth. And the men, leaving their affairs, go on a difficult path of seeking justice and happiness.
Chapter I Pop.
On the way, the peasants meet various wanderers: artisans, beggars, the same peasant bast-worker, coachmen, and soldiers. But the peasants do not ask them questions about happiness: “Soldiers shave with an awl, Soldiers warm themselves with smoke, What happiness is there? ". Toward evening, the men met the priest. From his plaintive speeches, it turns out that "the landowners went bankrupt", alluding to the abolition of serfdom by Alexander II the Liberator in 1861. The priest's ideal of happiness is "peace, wealth, honor." But in real life he did not have this, in connection with the impoverishment of the landowners and peasants, and the rich, well-fed lifestyle of the priest came to an end.
Chapter II Country Fair.
In this chapter, the peasants go to the trading village of Kuzminskoye to ask the people about happiness there. They hear different things: someone buys something, sells something, and someone, having squandered all their savings, cannot buy gifts for their relatives. Russian people know how to relax, and therefore they walk in a big way, as if they are living the last day. Having seen enough, the men set off on their journey.
Chapter III. Drunk night.
At the fair, the peasants met a new character in the poem - Pavlusha Veretennikov. It is he who broadcasts to our "heroes" about the terrible trait of a Russian person - drunkenness. Yakim Nagoi, in turn, counter-argues with the statement that grief has to be poured with wine. The poet generally created Yakim Nagogo as the embodiment of a plowman-worker who is capable of reflection.
Chapter IV. Happy.
In this chapter, the image of the hero Yermila Girin is painted with new colors. The main emphasis is on the scene with the merchant Altynnikov, about the purchase of the mill. To "victory" over the merchant, Girin needs 1000 rubles as soon as possible. Yermila decides to ask for help from the people to lend him this amount. And on the market day on the market square he carries out his plan. The peasants, imbued with the position of Girin, "give, who is rich in what." This story is somehow correlated with the search for human happiness. The travelers, having carefully listened to the story, wanted to meet him, but this was not destined to come true, because. Yermila is in jail. And among the people about him there is a good reputation as defenders of peasant interests.
Chapter V. Landowner.
The fifth chapter of the poem is devoted to the story of the landowner Obolt-Obolduev about his life. The key words of the description of the past life are: “the chest of the landowner breathed freely and easily”: “Whoever I want, I will have mercy, Whom I want, execution. Law is my wish! The fist is my police! ". Now everything has changed, the peasants prefer theft, as a simpler and easier business than work. In the course of the story, the landowner realizes how worthless his life is: “... What did I study? What did I see around? I smoked the sky of God, I wore the royal livery, I littered the people's treasury, And I thought to live like this for a century. The chapter ends with tears of the landowners and his feeling of being a deeply unhappy person.
PART II. LATER
Dedicated to the history of Prince Utyatin. He still cannot believe that the reform to free the peasants forever deprived him of his landlord privileges. The princely sons ask the peasant people, at least outwardly, to preserve the former forms of the "landlord-peasant" relationship. In the text, this is displayed by the words: "Keep quiet, bow down, but do not contradict the sick, we will reward you." The peasants seem to express their agreement: “We were joking, fooling around ...” . At the end of the second part, the fact of the weak self-consciousness of the peasants becomes clear.
PART III. PEASANT WOMAN.
The author composed the third part of the poem from the prologue and eight chapters. The narration comes from the perspective of Matryona Timofeevna, whom everyone around considers lucky, although Matryona herself does not think so. She tells the men about her life. Her confession includes the stories of the Holy Russian hero Savely, which he tells on his own. The life of Matrena Timofeevna is filled with tragedy. Its history begins in the distant past, at a time when the abolition of serfdom was only dreamed of. Knowing the situations in which Matrena Timofeevna found herself, it is difficult to believe in the human savagery through which she had to go. Matryona left her firstborn to grandfather Saveliy. He did not keep track of the baby and the pigs ate the baby.
The police, ignoring her grief, not considering this an excuse, accused her of conspiring with a convict. The doctor, in front of Matryona, performs an autopsy on a small body, the mother's grief knows no bounds, and she spends all the time at her son's grave. Grandfather Savely, feeling guilty, goes into the forests, and then to repentance in the "Sand Monastery". Her troubles did not end there: soon, she also buries her parents. Matryona gives birth every year. The husband's parents - the father-in-law with the mother-in-law - do not love her and are trying to get out of the world. My husband was out of turn recruited for 25 years. Matrena works alone for all. Unable to withstand the onslaught, she asks for help from the governor. While waiting, she loses consciousness, and when she comes to, she finds out that she has given birth to a son.
The Governor is doing her best for Matryona. The husband is returned home. As a result of her confession, Matrena tells the peasants: “It’s not a matter of looking for a happy woman between women!” An old woman in the same village gave a very accurate description of the female share: “The keys to female happiness, From our free will, Abandoned, lost From God himself! »
IV PART. A PIR FOR THE WHOLE WORLD
Nekrasov included an introduction and five chapters in his final part of the poem. According to the plot, the fourth part continues the second: the death of Prince Utyatin led to the celebration of the peasant people, the discussion of the meadows that were promised to the sons of the prince. This is reflected in the text with the words: “On the day of the death of the old prince, the Peasants did not foresee that they would not hire meadows, but would gain litigation.” "Our" men from seven villages are present at the feast as guests: they listen to songs, stories about Kudeyar, about Yakov, about the elder Gleb. But sooner or later, everything comes to an end and “Our wanderers fell asleep under the willow.” The songs of Grisha Dobrosklonov reflect the thoughts of the people of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov himself. Consists of an introduction and five chapters.
The plot of the fourth part continues the second part: Prince Utyatin died, and the peasants arranged a feast for the whole world, discussing the issue of the meadows promised by the sons of the prince (“On the day of the death of the old prince // The peasants did not foresee, // That there were no hired meadows, // And litigation). Wanderers are present as guests: they listen to songs, stories about Jacob, about Kudeyar, about the elder Gleb. But now the great feast is over. “Having fallen asleep, our wanderers remained under the willow.” Meanwhile, the author talks about Grisha Dobrosklonov. Grisha Dobrosklonov sings songs that reflect the thoughts of the people of Nekrasov himself: “You are poor, You are plentiful, You are powerful, You are powerless, Mother Rus'! ..” conclude the work with lines that express the general deep meaning of the entire poem: “ Would our wanderers be under their native roof, if they could know what was happening with Grisha". With these lines, the author answers the question with which he titled his work. The intellectual democrat Grisha Dobrosklonov lives well in Rus'. Who is a democratic revolutionary who is ready to fight for the happiness of the people. The feeling that prompted Nekrasov to write a poem is nothing more than a feeling of true sincere love for the Russian people. This fact determines the incompleteness of the poem.
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky spoke about Nekrasov in his essays: “... Nekrasov's love for the people was, as it were, the outcome of his own grief in itself. In serving his people with his heart and talent, he found his purification before himself. The people were a real inner need of it not only for verses. In love for him, he found his justification. With his feelings for the people, he raised his spirit.< .. >He bowed before the truth of the people ... " .These words express Nekrasov's need for the love of the people, which served as a source of inspiration for his poetry.
A brief retelling of "To whom it is good to live in Rus'" in abbreviation was prepared by Oleg Nikov for the reader's diary.
Who lives well in Rus'
Part one
PROLOGUE
“Seven men came together on a pillared path” and began to argue, “who in Rus' has a good life.” The men spent the whole day in their pores. After drinking vodka, they even had a fight. One of the peasants, Pahom, is twirling a chiffchaff that has flown up to the fire. In exchange for freedom, she tells the peasants how to find a self-assembled tablecloth. Having found it, the debaters decide without answering the question: “Who lives happily, freely in Rus'?” - do not return home.
CHAPTER ONE POP
On the road, the peasants meet peasants, coachmen, soldiers. They don't even ask them this question. Finally they meet the priest. Om replies to their question that he does not have any happiness in life. All funds go to the priest's son. At any time of the day or night, he himself can be called to the dying, he has to endure the sorrows of families in which relatives or people close to the family die. There is no respect for the priest, he is called the "breed of the foal", they compose draz-ilki, indecent songs about the priests. After talking with the priest, the men move on.
CHAPTER TWO RURAL FAIR
At the fair, fun, people drink, bargain, walk. Everyone rejoices at the deed of the "master" Pavlusha Veretennikov. He bought shoes for the granddaughter of a peasant who drank all the money without buying gifts for his relatives.
In the booth there is a performance - a comedy with Petrushka. After the performance, people drink with the actors, give them money.
From the fair, the peasants also carry printed materials - these are stupid little books and portraits of generals with many orders. The famous lines are devoted to this, expressing the hope for the cultural growth of the people:
When a peasant is not Blucher And not my lord stupid - Belinsky and Gogol From the market will carry?
CHAPTER THREE DRUNK NIGHT
After the fair, everyone returns home drunk. The men notice the women arguing in the ditch. Each proves that her home is the worst. Then they meet Veretennikov. He says that all the troubles come from the fact that Russian peasants drink without measure. The men begin to prove to him that if there was no sadness, then people would not drink.
Every peasant has a Soul - like a black cloud - Wrathful, formidable - but it would be necessary for Thunders to thunder from there, To pour bloody rains, And everything ends with wine.
They meet a woman. She tells them about her jealous husband, who watches over her even in her sleep. Men miss their wives and want to return home as soon as possible.
CHAPTER FOUR HAPPY
With the help of a self-collection tablecloth, the men take out a bucket of vodka. They walk in a festive crowd and promise to treat vodka to those who prove that they are happy. The emaciated deacon proves that he is happy by faith in God and the Kingdom of Heaven; the old woman says that she is happy that her turnip has ugly - they don’t give them vodka. A soldier comes up next, shows off his medals, and says he's happy because he wasn't killed in any of the battles he's been in. The soldier is treated to vodka. The bricklayer got home alive after a serious illness - this is what makes him happy.
The yard man considers himself happy, because, while licking the master's plates, he got a "noble disease" - gout. He puts himself above the men, they drive him away. A Belarusian sees his happiness in bread. Wanderers bring vodka to a peasant who survived hunting a bear.
People tell strangers about Yermila Girin. He asked people for a loan of money, then returned everything to the last ruble, although he could deceive them. People believed him, because he honestly served as a clerk and treated everyone carefully, did not take someone else's, did not shield the guilty. But once a fine was imposed on Yermila because instead of his brother he sent the son of a peasant woman, Nenila Vlasyevna, to recruit. He repented, and the peasant woman's son was returned. But Yermila still feels guilty for her act. People advise wanderers to go to Yermila and ask him. The story of Girin is interrupted by the cries of a drunken footman who has been caught stealing.
CHAPTER FIVE LANDMAN
In the morning the wanderers meet the landowner Obolt-Obolduev. He takes the wanderers for robbers. Realizing that they are not robbers, the landowner hides the gun and tells the wanderers about his life. His family is very ancient; he recalls the sumptuous feasts that used to take place. The landowner was very kind: on holidays he let peasants into his house to pray. The peasants voluntarily brought him gifts. Now the gardens of the landlords are being plundered, the houses are being dismantled, the peasants are working badly, reluctantly. The landowner is called upon to study and work when he cannot even tell a barley ear from a rye ear. At the end of the conversation, the landowner sobs.
Last
(From the second part)
Seeing the haymaking, the peasants, longing for work, take the scythes from the women and begin to mow. Here an old gray-haired landowner sails in boats with servants, barchats, ladies. Orders to dry one stack - it seems to him that it is wet. Everyone is trying to curry favor with the master. Vlas tells the story of the master.
When serfdom was abolished, he had a stroke, as he became extremely furious. Fearing that the master would deprive them of their inheritance, the sons persuaded the peasants to pretend that serfdom still existed. Vlas refused the post of burmister. Having no conscience, Klim Lavin takes his place.
Satisfied with himself, the prince walks around the estate and gives stupid orders. Trying to do a good deed, the prince fixes the crumbling house of a seventy-year-old widow and orders her to be married to a minor neighbor. Not wanting to obey Prince Utyatin, the peasant Aran tells him everything. Because of this, the prince had a second blow. But he survived again, not justifying the hopes of the heirs, and demanded the punishment of Agap. The heirs persuaded Petrov to shout louder in the stable after drinking a damask of wine. Then he was taken home drunk. But soon he, poisoned by wine, died.
At the table, everyone submits to the whims of Utyatin. The "rich St. Petersburg worker" suddenly arrived for a while, unable to stand it, laughs.
Utyatin demands to punish the guilty. Burmistrova's godfather throws herself at the master's feet and says that her son laughed. Having calmed down, the prince drinks champagne, revels and after a while falls asleep. They take him away. The duckling grabs the third blow - he dies. With the death of the master, the expected happiness did not come. Litigation began between the peasants and the heirs.
peasant woman
(From the third part)
PROLOGUE
Wanderers come to the village of Klin to ask Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina about happiness. Some men fishing complain to strangers that there used to be more fish. Matryona Timofeevna has no time to talk about her life, because she is busy harvesting. When the wanderers promise to help her, she agrees to talk to them.
CHAPTER ONE BEFORE MARRIAGE
When Matryona was a girl, she lived "like in Christ's bosom." Having drunk with the matchmakers, the father decides to marry his daughter to Philip Korchagin. After persuasion, Matrena agrees to marriage.
CHAPTER TWO SONG
Matrena Timofeevna compares her life in her husband's family with hell. “The family was huge, quarrelsome...” True, the husband got a good one - her husband beat her only once. And so he even "ride on a sled" and "gave a silk handkerchief." She named her son Matryona Demushka.
In order not to quarrel with her husband's relatives, Matryona does all the work assigned to her, does not answer the scolding of her mother-in-law and father-in-law. But the old grandfather Savely - the father of the father-in-law - takes pity on the young woman and talks to her kindly.
CHAPTER THREE
Matrena Timofeevna begins the story about grandfather Saveliy. Compares him to a bear. Grandfather Saveliy did not let his relatives into his room, for which they were angry with him.
Peasants during Savely's youth paid dues only three times a year. The landowner Shalashnikov could not get to the remote village himself, so he ordered the peasants to come to him. They have not come. Twice the peasants paid tribute to the police: sometimes with honey and fish, sometimes with skins. After the third arrival of the police, the peasants decided to go to Shalashnikov and say that there was no quitrent. But after the flogging, they still gave away some of the money. The hundred-ruble notes sewn under the lining did not get to the landowner.
The German, sent by the son of Shalashnikov, who died in battle, first asked the peasants to pay as much as they could. Since the peasants could not pay, they had to earn dues. Only later did they realize that they were building a road to the village. And, therefore, now they can not hide from the tax collectors!
The peasants began a hard life and lasted eighteen years. Angry, the peasants buried the German alive. They were all sent to prison. Savely failed to escape, and he spent twenty years in hard labor. Since then, it has been called "convict".
CHAPTER FOUR
Because of her son, Matryona began to work less. Mother-in-law demanded to give Demushka to grandfather. Falling asleep, the grandfather overlooked the child, he was eaten by pigs. The arriving police accuse Matryona of deliberately killing the child. She is declared insane. Demushka is buried in a closed coffin.
CHAPTER FIVE THE WOLF
After the death of his son, Matryona spends all the time at his grave, unable to work. Savely takes the tragedy hard and goes to the Sand Monastery for repentance. Every year Matryona gives birth to children. Three years later, Matryona's parents die. At the grave of his son, Matryona meets with grandfather Savely, who came to pray for the child.
Matryona's eight-year-old son Fedot is sent to guard the sheep. One sheep was stolen by a hungry she-wolf. Fedot, after a long pursuit, overtakes the she-wolf and takes away the sheep from her, but, seeing that the cattle is already dead, he returns it to the she-wolf - she has become terribly thin, it is clear that she is feeding children. For the act of Fedotushka, the mother is punished. Matrena believes that her disobedience is to blame, she fed Fedot with milk on a fast day.
CHAPTER SIX
HARD YEAR
When the lack of bread came, the mother-in-law blamed Matryona for the bey. She would have been killed for this, if not for her intercessor husband. Matrona's husband is recruited. Her life in the house of her father-in-law and mother-in-law became even harder.
CHAPTER SEVEN
GOVERNOR
Pregnant Matryona goes to the governor. Having given two rubles to the lackey, Matryona meets with the governor's wife, asking her for protection. Matryona Timofeevna gives birth to a child in the governor's house.
Elena Alexandrovna has no children of her own; she takes care of Matrena's child as if it were her own. The envoy sorted everything out in the village, Matrena's husband was returned.
CHAPTER EIGHT
WOMAN'S PARABLE
Matrena tells the wanderers about her current life, saying that among the women they will not find a happy one. To the question of the wanderers, did Matryona tell them everything, the woman replies that there is not enough time to list all her troubles. He says that women are already slaves from their very birth.
The keys to women's happiness, From our free will Abandoned, lost From God himself!
Feast - for the whole world
INTRODUCTION
Klim Yakovlich started a feast in the village. The parish deacon Trifon came with his sons Savvushka and Grisha. They were hardworking, kind guys. The peasants argued about how they should dispose of the meadows after the death of the prince; guessed and sang songs: "Merry", "Corvee".
The peasants remember the old order: they worked during the day, drank and fought at night.
They tell the story of the faithful servant Jacob. Yakov's nephew Grisha asked to marry his girlfriend Arisha. The landowner himself likes Arish, so the master sends Grisha to the soldiers. After a long absence, Yakov returns to the master. Later, Yakov, in front of the master, hangs himself in a dense forest. Left alone, the master cannot get out of the forest. In the morning a hunter found him. The master admits his guilt and asks to be executed.
Klim Lavin defeats the merchant in a fight. The pilgrim Ionushka talks about the power of faith; how the Turks drowned the monks of Athos in the sea.
ABOUT TWO GREAT SINNERS
Father Pitirim told this ancient story to Ionushka. Twelve robbers with ataman Kudeyar lived in the forest and robbed people. But soon the robber began to imagine the people he had killed, and he began to ask the Lord to forgive him his sins. To atone for his sins, Kudeyar needed to cut down an oak with the same hand and the same knife that he used to kill people. When he began to saw, pan Glukhovsky rode by, who honored only women, wine and gold, but mercilessly tortured, tortured and hanged peasants. Angry, Kudeyar plunged a knife into the sinner's heart. The burden of sins immediately fell.
OLD AND NEW
Jonah swims away. The peasants are again arguing about sins. Ignat Prokhorov tells the story of a will, according to which eight thousand serfs would have been freed if the headman had not sold it.
Soldier Ovsyannikov and his niece Ustinyushka arrive on the wagon. Ovsyannikov sings a song that there is no truth. They do not want to give the soldier a pension, and yet he was repeatedly wounded in numerous battles.
GOOD TIME - GOOD SONGS
Savva and Grisha take their father home and sing a song that freedom comes first. Grisha goes to the fields and remembers his mother. Sings a song about the future of the country. Grigory sees a barge hauler and sings the song "Rus", calling her mother.
Nekrasov's poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'" was created over more than ten years. It so happened that the last, fourth, was the chapter "A Feast for the Whole World." In the finale, it acquires a certain completeness - it is known that the author failed to realize the plan in full. This was manifested in the fact that the author indirectly names himself in Rus'. This is Grisha, who decided to devote his life to serving the people and his native country.
Introduction
In the chapter "A Feast for the Whole World" the action takes place on the banks of the Volga River, on the outskirts of the village of Vakhlachina. The most important events always took place here: both holidays and reprisals against the guilty. The great feast was organized by Klim, already familiar to the reader. Next to the Vakhlaks, among whom were the elder Vlas, the parish deacon Tryphon and his sons: the nineteen-year-old Savvushka and Grigory, with a thin, pale face and thin, curly hair, sat down and the seven main characters of the poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'." People who were waiting for the ferry also stopped here, beggars, among whom were a wanderer and a quiet praying mantis.
Local peasants gathered under the old willow not by chance. Nekrasov connects the chapter “A Feast for the Last World” with the plot of “Last Child”, which reports the death of the prince. The Vahlaks began to decide what to do with the meadows that they now hoped to get. Not often, but still it happened that blessed corners of the earth with meadows or woods fell to the peasants. Their owners felt independent of the headman who collected taxes. So the Vahlaks wanted to surrender the meadows to Vlas. Klim proclaimed that this would be more than enough to pay both taxes and dues, which means that you can feel free. This is the beginning of the chapter and its summary. “A feast for the whole world” Nekrasov continues with Vlas's response speech and his characterization.
Good soul man
That was the name of the headman of the Vakhlaks. He was distinguished by justice and tried to help the peasants, to protect them from the cruelties of the landowner. In his youth, Vlas kept hoping for the best, but any change brought only promises or trouble. From this, the headman became unbelieving and gloomy. And then all of a sudden the general merriment seized him. He could not believe that now, indeed, life would come without taxes, sticks and corvee. The author compares the kind smile of Vlas with a sunbeam that made everything around golden. And a new, previously unexplored feeling seized every man. To celebrate, they put another bucket, and the songs began. One of them, “funny”, was performed by Grisha - its summary will be given below.
"A Feast for the Whole World" includes several songs about the hard peasant life.
About the bitter lot
At the request of the audience, the seminarians remembered the folk song. It tells about how defenseless the people are in front of those on whom they depend. So the landowner stole the cow from the peasant, the judge took away the chickens. The fate of children is unenviable: the girls are waiting for the servants, and the boys - a long service. Against the background of these stories, the repeated refrain sounds bitterly: “It is glorious for the people to live in holy Rus'!”.
Then the Vakhlaks sang their own - about corvee. The same sad: the people's soul has not yet come up with merry ones.
"Corvee": a summary
“A Feast for the Whole World” tells about how the Vakhlaks and their neighbors live. The first story is about Kalinushka, whose back is "adorned" with scars - often and severely flogged - and her stomach is swollen from the chaff. Out of hopelessness, he goes to a tavern and drowns out his grief with wine - this will come back to haunt his wife on Saturday.
The story goes on about how the inhabitants of Vakhlachina suffered under the landowner. During the day they worked like hard labor, and at night they waited for the messengers sent for the girls. From shame, they stopped looking into each other's eyes and could not exchange a word.
A neighboring peasant reported how a landowner in their volost decided to flog everyone who would say a strong word. Namalyalis - after all, without him, the peasant does not. But having received freedom, they abused plenty ...
The chapter "A Feast for the Whole World" continues with a story about a new hero - Vikenty Alexandrovich. At first he served under the baron, then moved to the plowmen. He told his story.
About the faithful serf Jacob
Polivanov bought a village for bribes and lived there for 33 years. He became famous for his cruelty: having given his daughter in marriage, he immediately whipped the young and drove him away. He did not associate with other landowners, he was greedy, he drank a lot. Kholopa Yakov, who faithfully served him from an early age, would beat his teeth with his heel for nothing, and that gentleman in every possible way cherished and appeased. So both lived to old age. Polivanov's legs began to hurt, and no treatment helped. They had entertainment left: playing cards and visiting the landowner's sister. Yakov himself endured the master and took him to visit. For the time being, everything went peacefully. Yes, as soon as the servant's nephew Grisha grew up and wanted to get married. Hearing that the bride was Arisha, Polivanov became angry: he laid eyes on her himself. And he gave the groom to the recruits. Yakov was very offended and started to drink. And the master felt embarrassed without a faithful servant, whom he called his brother. This is the first part of the story and its summary.
“A Feast for the Whole World” Nekrasov continues with a story about how Jacob decided to avenge his nephew. After a while he returned to the master, repented and began to serve further. It just got gloomy. Somehow the master's serf took him to visit his sister. On the way, he suddenly turned to a ravine, where there was a forest slum, and stopped under pine trees. When he began to unharness his horses, the frightened landowner begged. But Yakov only laughed evilly and replied that he would not dirty his hands with murder. He fixed the reins on a tall pine tree and his head in a noose ... The master screams, rushes about, but no one hears him. And the serf hangs over his head, sways. Only the next morning did a hunter see Polivanov and take him home. The punished gentleman only lamented: “I am a sinner! Execute me!
Controversy about sinners
The narrator fell silent, and the men argued. Some felt sorry for Yakov, others for the master. And they began to decide who is the most sinful of all: tavern owners, landowners, peasants? The merchant Eremin called the robbers, which caused indignation in Klim. Their argument soon turned into a fight. The praying mantis Ionushka, who until then had been sitting quietly, decided to reconcile the merchant and the peasant. He told his story, which will continue the summary of the chapter "A Feast for the Whole World."
About wanderers and pilgrims
Ionushka began by saying that there are many homeless people in Rus'. Sometimes, entire villages are begging. Such people do not plow and do not reap, but the settled peasants are called the hump of the granary. Of course, among them come across the wicked, such as a wanderer-thief or pilgrims who approached the mistress by deceit. The old man is also known, who undertook to teach the girls to sing, but only spoiled them all. But more often wanderers are harmless people, like Fomushka, who lives like a god, is girded with chains and eats only bread.
Ionushka also told about Kropilnikov, who came to Usolovo, accused the villagers of godlessness and urged them to go into the forest. They asked the Stranger to submit, then they took him to prison, and he kept saying that grief and even more difficult life awaited everyone ahead. The frightened residents were baptized, and in the morning soldiers came to the neighboring village, from whom the Usolovets also got it. So the prophecy of Kropilnikov came true.
In "A Feast for the Whole World" Nekrasov also includes a description of a peasant's hut in which a passing wanderer stopped. The whole family is busy with work and listens to measured speech. At some point, the old man drops the bast shoes that he was repairing, and the girl does not notice that she pricked her finger. Even the children freeze and listen with their heads hanging from the bedspreads. So the Russian soul has not yet been explored, it is waiting for a sower who will show the right path.
About two sinners
And then Ionushka told about the robber and the pan. He heard this story in Solovki from Father Pitirim.
12 robbers led by Kudeyar were outraged. Many were robbed and killed. But somehow the conscience woke up in the ataman, he began to see the shadows of the dead. Then Kudeyar spotted the captain, beheaded his mistress, dismissed the gang, buried the knife under an oak tree, and distributed the stolen wealth. And he began to forgive sins. He traveled a lot and repented, and after returning home, he settled under an oak tree. God took pity on him and proclaimed: he will receive forgiveness as soon as he cuts down a mighty tree with his knife. For several years the hermit cut an oak three times wide. And somehow a rich pan drove up to him. Glukhovsky chuckled and said that one should live according to his principles. And he added that he respects only women, loves wine, ruined many slaves, and sleeps peacefully. Anger seized Kudeyar, and he plunged his knife into the chest of the pan. At the same moment, a mighty oak collapsed. Thus, the poem "To whom it is good to live in Rus'" shows how the former robber receives forgiveness after the punishment of evil.
About peasant sin
We listened to Ionushka and thought about it. And Ignatius again noted that the most serious sin is the peasant one. Klim was indignant, but then nevertheless said: "Tell me." Here is the story the men heard.
One admiral received eight thousand souls for his faithful service from the empress. And before his death, he handed over to the headman a casket, in which was his last wish: to release all the serfs into freedom. But a distant relative arrived, who, after the funeral, called the headman to him. Having learned about the casket, he promised Gleb freedom and gold. The greedy headman burned the will and doomed all eight thousand souls to eternal bondage.
Vahlaks made a noise: "It is indeed a great sin." And their whole past and future hard life appeared before them. Then they calmed down and suddenly started singing “Hungry” in unison. We offer its summary (“A Feast for the Whole World” by Nekrasov, it seems, fills with the centuries-old suffering of the people). A tortured peasant goes to a strip of rye and calls on her: “Rise, mother, eat a pile of carpet, I won’t give it to anyone.” As if in their guts, the Vakhlaks sang a song to the hungry and went to the bucket. And Grisha suddenly noticed that the cause of all sins is strength. Klim immediately exclaimed: “Down with the “Hungry”. And they began to talk about the support, praising Grisha.
"Soldier's"
It began to get light. Ignatius found a sleeping man near the logs and called Vlas. The rest of the men approached, and seeing the man lying on the ground, they began to beat him. To the question of the wanderers, for what, they answered: “We don’t know. But this is how it is punished from Tiskov. So it turns out - since the whole world is ordered, then there is guilt behind him. Here the hostesses brought out cheesecakes and goose, and everyone pounced on the food. The Vakhlaks were amused by the news that someone was coming.
Ovsyannikov, familiar to everyone, was on the cart - a soldier who earned money by playing on spoons. They asked him to sing. And again, a bitter story poured out about how the former warrior tried to achieve a well-deserved pension. However, all the wounds he received were measured in inches and rejected: second-rate. Klim sang along to the old man, and the people collected a ruble for a penny and a penny.
The end of the feast
Only in the morning the Vakhlaks began to disperse. They took home their father and Savvushka with Grisha. They walked and sang that the happiness of the people lies in freedom. Further, the author introduces a story about the life of Tryphon. He did not keep farms, they ate what others would share. The wife was caring, but died early. The sons studied at the seminary. This is its summary.
Nekrasov concludes "A Feast for the Whole World" with Grisha's song. Having brought the parent to the house, he went to the fields. He remembered in solitude the songs that his mother sang, especially "Salty". And not by chance. You could ask the Vakhlaks for bread, but you only bought salt. Forever sunk into the soul and study: the housekeeper underfed the seminarians, taking everything for himself. Knowing well the difficult peasant life, Grisha already at the age of fifteen decided to fight for the happiness of the miserable, but dear Vakhlachina. And now, under the influence of what he heard, he thought about the fate of the people, and his thoughts poured into songs about the imminent reprisal against the landowner, about the difficult fate of a barge hauler (he saw three loaded barges on the Volga), about wretched and plentiful, mighty and powerless Rus', the salvation of which he saw in the strength of the people. A spark ignites, and a great army rises, containing indestructible power.
Before you - summary Nekrasov's poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'" The poem was conceived as a "people's book", an epic depicting a whole era in the life of the people. The poet himself spoke of his work as follows:
“I decided to present in a coherent story everything that I know about the people, everything that I happened to hear from their lips, and I started “Who should live well in Rus'”. It will be the epic of modern peasant life.”
As you know, the poet did not finish the poem. Only the first of 4 parts was completed.
We have not reduced the main points to which you should pay attention. The rest is given in brief.
Summary of “Who lives well in Rus'” chapter by chapter
Click on the desired chapter or part of the work to go to its summary
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
peasant woman
PART FOUR
Feast - for the whole world
PART ONE
PROLOGUE - summary
In what year - count
In what land - guess
On the pillar path
Seven men came together:
Seven temporarily liable,
tightened province,
County Terpigorev,
empty parish,
From adjacent villages:
Zaplatova, Dyryavina,
Razutova, Znobishina,
Gorelova, Neelova -
Crop failure, too,
Agreed - and argued:
Who has fun
Feel free in Rus'?
Roman said: to the landowner,
“Demyan said: to an official,
Luke said: ass.
Fat-bellied merchant! -
Gubin brothers said
Ivan and Mitrodor.
Old man Pahom pushed
And he said, looking at the ground:
noble boyar,
Minister of the State.
And Prov said: to the king ...
Man what a bull: vtemyashitsya
In the head what a whim -
Stake her from there
You won’t knock out: they rest,
Everyone is on their own!
The men are arguing and do not notice how the evening comes. They built a fire, went for vodka, had a bite, and again began to argue about who lives "fun, freely in Rus'." The dispute turned into a fight. At this time, a chick flew up to the fire. Pahom caught him. A chiffchaff bird appears and asks to let the chick go. In return, she tells how to find a self-assembled tablecloth. The groin releases the chick, the men go the indicated way and find a self-assembled tablecloth. The peasants decide not to return home until they find out "for certain", "Who lives happily, // Freely in Rus'."
Chapter 1
The men are on their way. They meet peasants, artisans, coachmen, soldiers, and travelers understand that the life of these people cannot be called happy. Finally they meet pop. He proves to the peasants that the priest has no peace, no wealth, no happiness - it is difficult for a priest's son to get a diploma, the priesthood is even more expensive. The priest can be called at any time of the day or night, in any weather. The priest has to see the tears of the orphans and the death rattle of the dying. And there is no honor for the priest - they compose about him "funny tales // And obscene songs, // And all kinds of blasphemy." The priest has no wealth either - the rich landlords almost never live in Rus'. The men agree with the priest. They go further.
Chapter 2
The peasants see poor living everywhere. A man bathes a horse in the river. The wanderers learn from him that all the people went to the fair. The men go there. At the fair, people trade, have fun, walk, drink. One peasant is crying in front of the people - he drank all the money, and the granddaughter of the guest is waiting at home. Pavlusha Veretennikov, nicknamed "master" bought shoes for his granddaughter. The old man is very happy. Wanderers are watching a performance in a booth.
Chapter 3
People return drunk after the fair.
People go and fall
As if because of the rollers
Buckshot enemies
They fire at the men.
Some man buries the little girl, while assuring that he is burying his mother. Women quarrel in a ditch: who has a worse house. Yakim Nagoi says that "there is no measure for Russian hops," but it is also impossible to measure the grief of the people.
What follows is a story about Yakime Nagom, who previously lived in St. Petersburg, then ended up in prison because of a lawsuit with a merchant. Then he came to live in his native village. He bought pictures with which he pasted over the hut and which he loved very much. There was a fire. Yakim rushed to save not the accumulated money, but the pictures that he later hung in the new hut. The people, returning, sing songs. Wanderers are sad about their own home, about their wives.
Chapter 4
Wanderers walk among the festive crowd with a bucket of vodka. They promise it to the one who convinces that he is really happy. The deacon is the first to come, he says that he is happy that he believes in the kingdom of heaven. They don't give him vodka. An old woman comes up and says that a very large turnip has been born in her garden. They laughed at her and did not give anything either. A soldier comes with medals, says that he is happy that he survived. They brought it to him.
Approached stonemason tells about his happiness - about great strength. His opponent is a thin man. He says that at one time God punished him for boasting the same way. The contractor praised him at the construction site, and he was glad - he took the burden of fourteen pounds and brought it to the second floor. Since then, and withered. He goes to die at home, an epidemic begins in the car, the dead are unloaded at the stations, but he still survived.
A courtyard man comes, boasts that he was the prince's favorite slave, that he licked plates with the remnants of gourmet food, drank foreign drinks from glasses, suffers from a noble disease of gout. He is chased away. A Belarusian comes up and says that his happiness lies in bread, which he can't get enough of. At home, in Belarus, he ate bread with chaff and bark. A man who had been hurt by a bear came and said that his comrades had died while hunting, but he remained alive. The man received vodka from strangers. The beggars boast that they are happy because they are often served. Wanderers understand that they were wasting vodka on " peasant happiness". They are advised to ask Ermil Girin, who kept the mill, about happiness. By decision of the court, the mill is sold at auction. Yermil won the bargain with the merchant Altynnikov, the clerks demanded a third of the cost immediately, contrary to the rules. Yermil did not have money with him, which was required to be paid within an hour, and it was a long way to go home.
He went out to the square and asked the people to lend as much as they could. They got more money than they needed. Yermil gave the money, the mill became his, and the next Friday he distributed the debts. The wanderers wonder why the people believed Girin and gave money. They answer him that he achieved this with the truth. Girin served as a clerk in the estate of Prince Yurlov. He served for five years and did not take anything from anyone, he was attentive to everyone. But he was expelled, and a new clerk came in his place - a scoundrel and a grabber. After the death of the old prince, the new master drove out all the old henchmen and ordered the peasants to elect a new steward. All unanimously elected Yermila. He served honestly, but one day he nevertheless committed an offense - his younger brother Mitrius " shielded”, and instead of him, the son of Nenila Vlasyevna went to the soldiers.
Since that time, Yermil has become homesick - he does not eat, does not drink, says that he is a criminal. He said that let him be judged according to his conscience. The son of Nenila Vlasvna was returned, and Mitriy was taken away, and a fine was imposed on Yermila. A year after that, he walked not on his own, then resigned from his post, no matter how he was begged to stay.
The narrator advises to go to Girin, but another peasant says that Yermil is in jail. A riot broke out, government troops were needed. To avoid bloodshed, they asked Girin to address the people.
The story is interrupted by the cries of a drunken lackey suffering from gout - now he is suffering from beatings for theft. The strangers leave.
Chapter 5
The landowner Obolt-Obolduev was
... "ruddy,
portly, squat,
sixty years;
Mustache gray, long,
Good fellows.
He mistook the men for robbers, even drew a pistol. But they told him what it was. Obolduev laughs, gets down from the carriage and tells about the life of the landowners.
At first he speaks of the antiquity of his kind, then he recalls the old days when
Not only Russian people,
Russian nature itself
Subdued us.
Then the landowners lived well - luxurious feasts, a whole regiment of servants, their own actors, etc. The landowner recalls dog hunting, unlimited power, how he christened with all his patrimony "on bright Sunday."
Now decay is everywhere - " Noble estate // As if everything was hidden, // Died out! The landowner cannot understand in any way why the “idle hacks” urge him to study and work, because he is a nobleman. He says that he has been living in the village for forty years, but he cannot distinguish a barley ear from a rye ear. The peasants think
The great chain is broken
Torn - jumped:
One end on the master,
Others for a man! ..
PART TWO
Last - summary
Wanderers go, they see haymaking. They take the braids from the women, they begin to mow. Music is heard from the river - this is a landowner riding in a boat. The gray-haired man Vlas urges the women - you should not upset the landowner. Three boats moor to the shore, in them the landowner with his family and servants.
The old landowner bypasses the hay, finds fault that the hay is damp, demands to dry it. He leaves with his retinue for breakfast. Wanderers ask Vlas (he turned out to be the burgomaster) why the landowner orders if serfdom is abolished. Vlas replies that they have a special landowner: when he learned about the abolition of serfdom, he had a stroke - the left half of his body was taken away, he lay motionless.
The heirs arrived, but the old man recovered. His sons told him about the abolition of serfdom, but he called them traitors, cowards, etc. Out of fear that they would be deprived of their inheritance, the sons decide to indulge him in everything.
That is why they persuade the peasants to play a comedy, as if the peasants were returned to the landlords. But some peasants did not need to be persuaded. Ipat, for example, says: And I'm a serf of the Utyatin princes - and that's the whole story! He recalls how the prince harnessed him to a cart, how he bathed him in an ice hole - he dipped him into one hole, pulled him out of another - and immediately gave him vodka.
The prince put Ipat on the goats to play the violin. The horse stumbled, Ipat fell, and the sleigh ran over him, but the prince left. But after a while he returned. Ipat is grateful to the prince that he did not leave him to freeze. Everyone agrees to pretend that serfdom has not been abolished.
Vlas does not agree to be the burgomaster. Agrees to be Klim Lavin.
Klim has a conscience of clay,
And Minin's beards,
Take a look, you'll think
Why not find a peasant
Degree and sober .
The old prince walks and orders, the peasants laugh at him on the sly. The peasant Agap Petrov did not want to obey the orders of the old landowner, and when he caught him cutting down the forest, he told Utyatin directly about everything, calling him a pea jester. The duckling took the second blow. But contrary to the expectations of the heirs, the old prince recovered again and began to demand a public flogging of Agap.
The latter is being persuaded by the whole world. They took him to the stable, put a damask of wine in front of him and told him to shout louder. He shouted so that even Utyatin took pity. Drunk Agap was carried home. He died soon after: Klim shameless ruined him, anathema, blame!»
Utyatin is sitting at the table at this time. Peasants stand at the porch. Everyone is doing a comedy, as usual, except for one guy - he laughs. The man is a visitor, local orders are ridiculous to him. Utyatin again demands the punishment of the rebel. But the wanderers do not want to blame. Burmistrova's godfather saves the day - she says that her son was laughing - a foolish boy. Utyatin calms down, has fun and swaggers at dinner. Dies after dinner. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But the joy of the peasants was premature: “ With the death of the Last, the caress of the lord disappeared».
PEASANT WOMAN (FROM THE THIRD PART)
Prologue - summary
The wanderers decide to look for a happy man among women. They are advised to go to the village of Klin and ask for Matrena Timofeevna, nicknamed the "governor". Arriving in the village, the peasants see "wretched houses." The footman who met them explains that "The landowner is abroad, // And the steward is dying." Wanderers meet Matrena Timofeevna.
Matrena Timofeevna
stubborn woman,
Wide and dense
Thirty-eight years old.
Beautiful; gray hair,
The eyes are large, stern,
Eyelashes are the richest
Stern and swarthy.
Wanderers talk about their goal. The peasant woman replies that she has no time to talk about life now - she has to go harvest rye. The men offer to help. Matrena Timofeevna talks about her life.
Chapter 1 - Before marriage. Summary
Matrena Timofeevna was born in a friendly, non-drinking family and lived "like in Christ's bosom." There was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Then Matrena Timofeevna met her betrothed;
On the mountain - a stranger!
Philip Korchagin - St. Petersburg worker,
A baker by skill.
Chapter 2 - Songs. Summary
Matrena Timofeevna ends up in a strange house.
The family was big
Grumpy... I got it
From girlish holi to hell!
Husband went to work
Silence, patience advised ...
As ordered, so done:
She walked with anger in her heart.
And didn't say too much
Word to nobody.
Filippushka came in winter,
Bring a silk handkerchief
Yes, I took a ride on a sled
On Catherine's day
And as if there was no grief! ..
She says that her husband beat her only once, when her husband's sister arrived and he asked to give her shoes, but Matryona hesitated. Philip went back to work, and Matrena's son Demushka was born on Kazanskaya. Life in the mother-in-law's house has become even more difficult, but she endures:
Whatever they say, I work
No matter how they scold - I am silent.
Of the entire family of her husband, Matryona Timofeevna was pitied only by her grandfather Savely.
Chapter 3 Summary.
Matrena Timofeevna talks about Savelia.
With a huge gray mane,
Tea, twenty years uncut,
With a big beard
Grandfather looked like a bear ...<…>
... He already knocked,
According to fairy tales, a hundred years.
Grandfather lived in a special room,
Didn't like families
He didn’t let me into his corner;
And she was angry, barking,
His "branded, convict"
He honored his own son.
Savely will not be angry,
He will go into his light,
Reads the holy calendar, is baptized
Yes, suddenly he will say cheerfully;
“Branded, but not a slave!”…
Savely tells Matryona why he is called "branded". In the years of his youth, the serfs of his village did not pay dues, did not go to corvee, because they lived in remote places and it was difficult to get there. The landowner Shalashnikov tried to collect quitrent, but was not very successful in this.
Excellently fought Shalashnikov,
And not so hot great
Received income.
Soon Shalashnikov (he was a military man) was killed near Varna. His heir sends a German governor.
He makes the peasants work. They themselves do not notice how they cut through the clearing, that is, it has now become easy to get to them.
And then came the hardship
Korega peasant-
Ruined to the bone!<…>
The German has a dead grip:
Until they let the world go
Without leaving, sucks!
This went on for eighteen years. The German built a factory, ordered to dig a well. The German began to scold those who dug the well for idleness (among them was Savely). The peasants pushed the German into a pit and the pit was dug up. Next - hard labor, Savelig! tried to run away from her, but he was caught. He spent twenty years in hard labor, another twenty in the settlement.
Chapter 4 Summary
Matryona Timofeevna gave birth to a son, but her mother-in-law does not allow her to be with the child, since the daughter-in-law began to work less.
The mother-in-law insists that Matryona Timofeevna leave her son with his grandfather. Savely overlooked the child: “The old man fell asleep in the sun, // He fed Demidushka to the pigs // Stupid grandfather! ..” Matryona blames her grandfather, cries. But it didn't end there:
The Lord got angry
He sent uninvited guests,
Wrong judges!
A doctor, a camp officer, and the police appear in the village, accuse Matryona of deliberately killing a child. The doctor makes an autopsy, despite the requests of Matryona " without reproach // To an honest burial // To betray the child ". They call her crazy. Grandfather Savely says that her madness lies in the fact that she went to the authorities without taking with her " no tselkovik, no novelty. They bury Demushka in a closed coffin. Matryona Timofeevna cannot come to her senses, Savely, trying to console her, says that her son is now in paradise.
Chapter 5
After Demushka died, Matryona "she was not herself," she could not work. The father-in-law decided to teach her a lesson with the reins. The peasant woman leaned at his feet and asked: "Kill!" The father-in-law retreated. Day and night Matrena Timofeevna is at her son's grave. Closer to winter, my husband arrived. Savely after the death of Demushki
For six days lay hopelessly
Then he went into the woods.
So sang, so cried grandfather,
What a forest groaned! And in autumn
Gone to repentance
At the Sand Monastery.
Every year Matryona has a baby. Three years later, the parents of Matrena Timofeevna die. She goes to her son's grave to cry. Meets grandfather Saveliy there. He came from the monastery to pray for "the dema of the poor, for all the suffering Russian peasantry." Savely did not live long - "in the autumn, the old one had some kind of deep wound on his neck, he was dying hard ...". Savely spoke of the share of the peasants:
There are three paths for men:
Tavern, jail and hard labor,
And the women in Rus'
Three loops: white silk,
The second - red silk,
And the third - black silk,
Choose any! .
Four years have passed. Matryona resigned herself to everything. Once a pilgrim wanderer comes to the village, she talks about the salvation of the soul, demands from mothers that they do not feed babies with milk on fasting days. Matrena Timofeevna did not obey. “Yes, it is clear that God was angry,” the peasant woman believes. When her son Fedot was eight years old, he was sent to herd sheep. One day Fedot was brought in and told that he had fed a sheep to a she-wolf. Fedot says that a huge emaciated she-wolf appeared, grabbed a sheep and started running. Fedot caught up with her and took away the sheep, which was already dead. The she-wolf looked into his eyes plaintively and howled. From the bleeding nipples it was clear that she had wolf cubs in her lair. Fedot took pity on the she-wolf and gave her the sheep. Matrena Timofeevna, trying to save her son from a flogging, asks for mercy from the landowner, who orders to punish not the shepherd, but the “impudent woman”.
Chapter 6 Summary.
Matrena Timofeevna says that the she-wolf did not appear in vain - there was a lack of bread. The mother-in-law told the neighbors that Matryona, who had put on a clean shirt on Christmas, called on hunger.
For a husband, for an intercessor,
I got off cheap;
And one woman
Not for the same
Killed to death with stakes.
Don't mess with the hungry!
After the lack of bread came the recruitment. The brother's older husband was taken to the soldiers, so the family did not expect trouble. But the husband of Matrena Timofeevna is taken to the soldiers out of turn. Life gets even harder. Children had to be sent around the world. The mother-in-law became even more grumpy.
Well don't dress up
Don't wash your face
Neighbors have sharp eyes
Vostro tongues!
Walk the street quieter
Carry your head down
When it's fun, don't laugh
Don't cry out of sadness!
Chapter 7 Summary
Matrena Timofeevna is going to the governor. She has difficulty getting to the city, as she is pregnant. Gives a ruble to the porter to let him in. He says to come back in two hours. Matrena Timofeevna comes, the doorman takes another ruble from her. The governor's wife drives up, Matryona Timofeevna rushes to her with a request for intercession. The peasant woman becomes ill. When she comes to, she is told that she has given birth to a child. The governor, Elena Alexandrovna, was very imbued with Matryona Timofeevna, went after her son as if she were her own (she herself had no children). A messenger is sent to the village to sort everything out. The husband was returned.
Chapter 8 Summary
The men ask if Matryona Timofeevna told them everything. She says that all, except that they survived the fire twice, had anthrax three times, that instead of a horse she had to walk "in a harrow." Matrena Timofeevna recalls the words of the holy pilgrim who went to "Heights of Athens»:
Keys to female happiness
From our free will
Abandoned, lost by God himself!<…>
Yes, they are unlikely to be found ...
What fish swallowed
Those reserved keys
In what seas is that fish
Walking - God forgot!
PART FOUR.
Feast - for the whole world
Introduction - summary
There is a feast in the village. Organized a feast Klim. They sent for the parish deacon Tryphon. He came along with his sons, seminarians Savvushka and Grisha.
... Was the eldest
Already nineteen years old;
Now a protodeacon
I looked, and at Gregory
Face thin, pale
And the hair is thin, curly,
With a hint of red.
Simple guys, kind,
Mowed, reaped, sowed
And drank vodka on holidays
equal to the peasantry.
The clerk and the seminarians began to sing.
I. Bitter Time - Bitter Songs - Summary
CHEERFUL
“Eat prison, Yasha! There is no milk!"
- "Where is our cow?"
Take away, my light!
Master for offspring
I took her home."
It's nice to live people
Saint in Rus'!
"Where are our chickens?" -
The girls are yelling.
"Don't scream, fools!
The Zemsky court ate them;
I took another supply
Yes, he promised to stay ... "
It's nice to live people
Saint in Rus'!
Broke my back
And the sourdough doesn't wait!
Baba Katerina
Remembered - roars:
In the yard for over a year
Daughter ... no dear!
It's nice to live people
Saint in Rus'!
A little from the kids
Look - and there are no children:
The king will take the boys
Barin - daughters!
One freak
Live with family.
It's nice to live people
Saint in Rus'!
Then the wahlaks sang:
corvee
Poor, unkempt Kalinushka,
Nothing for him to flaunt
Only the back is painted
Yes, you don’t know behind the shirt.
From the bast to the gate
The skin is all torn
The belly swells from the chaff.
twisted, twisted,
Slashed, tormented,
Hardly Kalina wanders.
It will knock on the feet of the tavern keeper,
Sorrow drowns in wine
Only on Saturday will come around
From the lord's stables to his wife ...
The men remember the old order. One of the peasants recalls how one day their mistress decided to mercilessly beat the one "who says a strong word." The men stopped swearing, but as soon as the will was announced, they took their souls away so much that "priest Ivan was offended." Another man tells about the serf of the exemplary Jacob the faithful. The greedy landowner Polivanov had a faithful servant Yakov. He was devoted to the master without limit.
Jacob showed up like this from his youth,
Only Jacob had joy:
Gentleman groom, cherish, appease
Yes, the nephew is a youngster to download.
Yakov's nephew Grisha grew up and asked the master for permission to marry the girl Arina.
However, the master himself liked her. He gave Grisha to the soldiers, despite the pleas of Yakov. The serf got drunk and disappeared. Polivanov feels bad without Yakov. Two weeks later, the serf returned. Polivanov is going to visit his sister, Yakov is taking him. They go through the forest, Yakov turns into a deaf place - Devil's ravine. Polivanov is frightened - he begs to be spared. But Yakov says that he is not going to get his hands dirty with murder, and hangs himself on a tree. Polivanov is left alone. He spends the whole night in the ravine, screaming, calling people, but no one responds. In the morning a hunter finds him. The landowner returns home, lamenting: "I'm a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!"
After the story, the peasants start a dispute over who is more sinful - tavern owners, landowners, peasants or robbers. Klim Lavin fights with a merchant. Ionushka, the "humble praying mantis", talks about the power of faith. His story is about the holy fool Fomushka, who called people to flee to the forests, but he was arrested and taken to prison. From the cart, Fomushka shouted: “They beat you with sticks, rods, whips, you will be beaten with iron bars!” In the morning a military team came and pacification and interrogations began, that is, Fomushka's prophecy "almost came true to the point." Jonah talks about Efrosinyushka, the messenger of God, who, in her cholera years, “buries, heals, and takes care of the sick.” Iona Lyapushkin - praying mantis and wanderer. The peasants loved him and argued about who would be the first to take him in. When he appeared, everyone brought icons to meet him, and Jonah followed those whose icon he liked best. Jonah tells a parable about two great sinners.
ABOUT TWO GREAT SINNERS
The true story was told to Jonah in Solovki by Father Pitirim. There were twelve robbers, whose chieftain was Kudeyar. They lived in a dense forest, plundered a lot of wealth, and killed a lot of innocent souls. From near Kyiv, Kudeyar brought himself a beautiful girl. Unexpectedly, “the Lord awakened the conscience” of the robber. Kudeyar " He blew off his mistress's head // And he spotted the Yesaula". returned home with tartsem in monastic clothes y ”, day and night prays to God for forgiveness. A saint of the Lord appeared before Kudeyar. He pointed to a huge oak tree and said: With the same knife that robbed, / Cut him with the same hand! ..<…>The tree has just collapsed, // The chains of sin will fall". Kudeyar begins to fulfill what has been said. Time passes, and pan Glukhovsky passes by. He asks what Kudeyar is doing.
A lot of cruel, scary
The old man heard about the pan
And as a lesson to the sinner
He told his secret.
Pan chuckled: "Salvation
I haven't had tea for a long time
In the world I honor only a woman,
Gold, honor and wine.
You have to live, old man, in my opinion:
How many slaves I destroy
I torture, I torture and hang,
And I would like to see how I sleep!
The hermit becomes furious, attacks the pan and plunges a knife into his heart. At that very moment, the tree collapsed, and a load of sins fell from the old man.
III. Both old and new - summary
PEASANT SIN
One admiral for military service, for the battle with the Turks near Ochakovo, the empress was granted eight thousand souls of peasants. Dying, he gives the casket to Gleb the elder. Punishes the casket to protect, as it contains a will, according to which all eight thousand souls will receive freedom. After the death of the admiral, a distant relative appears on the estate, promises the headman a lot of money, and the will is burned. Everyone agrees with Ignat that this is a big sin. Grisha Dobrosklonov speaks about the freedom of the peasants, that "there will be no new Gleb in Rus'." Vlas wishes Grisha wealth, a smart and healthy wife. Grisha in response:
I don't need any silver
No gold, but God forbid
So that my countrymen
And every peasant
Lived freely and cheerfully
All over holy Rus'!
A cart of hay is approaching. Soldier Ovsyannikov is sitting on the wagon together with his niece Ustinyushka. The soldier made his living with the help of a raik, a portable panorama showing objects through a magnifying glass. But the tool is broken. The soldier then came up with new songs and began to play on spoons. Sings a song.
Soldier's Toshen light,
There is no truth
Life is boring
The pain is strong.
German bullets,
Turkish bullets,
French bullets,
Russian sticks!
Klim notices that in his yard there is a deck on which he chopped firewood from his youth. She is "not as wounded" as Ovsyannikov. However, the soldier did not receive full board, as the doctor's assistant, when examining the wounds, said that they were second-rate. The soldier reapplies.
IV. Good time - good songs - a summary.
Grisha and Savva take their father home and sing:
The share of the people
his happiness.
Light and freedom
First of all!
We are a little
We ask God:
honest deal
do skillfully
Give us strength!
Working life -
Direct to friend
Road to the heart
Away from the threshold
Coward and lazy!
Isn't it heaven!
The share of the people
his happiness.
Light and freedom
First of all!
Father fell asleep, Savvushka took up the book, and Grisha went into the field. Grisha has a thin face - in the seminary they were underfed by the housekeeper. Grisha remembers his mother Domna, whose favorite son he was. Sings a song:
In the middle of the world
For a free heart
There are two ways.
Weigh the proud strength
Weigh firm will, -
How to go?
One spacious
The road is torn,
The passions of a slave
On it is huge,
Hungry for temptation
The crowd is coming.
About sincere life
About the lofty goal
There thought is ridiculous.
Eternal boils there
Inhuman
Enmity-war.
For mortal blessings...
There are captive souls
Full of sin.<…>
The other one is tight
The road is honest
They walk on it
Only strong souls
loving,
To fight, to work.
For the bypassed
For the oppressed
In their footsteps
Go to the downtrodden
Go to the offended -
Be the first there.
No matter how dark vakhlachina,
No matter how crowded with corvee
And slavery - and she,
Blessed, put
In Grigory Dobrosklonov
Such a messenger.
Fate prepared for him
The path is glorious, the name is loud
people's protector,
Consumption and Siberia.
Grisha sings a song about the bright future of his Motherland: “ You are still destined to suffer a lot, / But you will not die, I know". Grisha sees a barge hauler, who, having completed his work, clinking coppers in his pocket, goes to a tavern. Grisha sings another song.
RUS
You are poor
You are abundant
You are powerful
You are powerless
Mother Rus'!
Saved in bondage
Free heart -
Gold, gold
The heart of the people!
The strength of the people
mighty force -
Conscience is calm
The truth is alive!
Strength with unrighteousness
They don't get along
Victim of untruth
Not called -
Rus' does not stir
Rus' is dead!
And lit up in it
The hidden spark
We got up - nebuzheny,
Came out - uninvited,
Live by the grain
The mountains have been applied!
Rat rises -
Innumerable!
The strength will affect her
Invincible!
You are poor
You are abundant
You are beaten
You are almighty
Mother Rus'!
Grisha is pleased with his song:
He heard immense strength in his chest,
Gracious sounds delighted his ears,
Sounds of the radiant hymn of the noble -
He sang the embodiment of the happiness of the people! ..
I hope this summary of Nekrasov's poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'" helped you prepare for the lesson of Russian literature.
