ON THE. Nekrasov "Who should live well in Rus'": description, heroes, analysis of the poem

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov's poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'" has its own unique feature. All the names of the villages and the names of the heroes clearly reflect the essence of what is happening. In the first chapter, the reader can get acquainted with seven men from the villages of Zaplatovo, Dyryaevo, Razutovo, Znobishino, Gorelovo, Neyolovo, Neurozhayko, who argue about who lives well in Rus', and in no way cannot come to an agreement. No one is even going to yield to another ... So unusually begins the work that Nikolai Nekrasov conceived in order, as he writes, "to present in a coherent story everything that he knows about the people, everything that happened to be heard from his lips ..."

The history of the creation of the poem

Nikolai Nekrasov began working on his work in the early 1860s and finished the first part five years later. The prologue was published in the January issue of the Sovremennik magazine for 1866. Then painstaking work began on the second part, which was called "Last Child" and was published in 1972. The third part, entitled "Peasant Woman", was released in 1973, and the fourth, "A Feast for the Whole World" - in the fall of 1976, that is, three years later. It is a pity that the author of the legendary epic did not manage to fully complete his plan - the writing of the poem was interrupted by an untimely death - in 1877. However, even after 140 years, this work remains important for people, it is read and studied by both children and adults. The poem “To whom it is good to live in Rus'” is included in the compulsory school curriculum.

Part 1. Prologue: who is the happiest in Rus'

So, the prologue tells how seven men meet on a high road, and then go on a journey to find a happy man. Who in Rus' lives freely, happily and cheerfully - this is the main question of curious travelers. Each, arguing with the other, believes that he is right. Roman shouts that the landowner has the best life, Demyan claims that the official lives wonderfully, Luka proves that it’s still a priest, the rest also express their opinion: “noble boyar”, “fat-bellied merchant”, “sovereign minister” or the tsar .

Such a disagreement leads to a ridiculous fight, which is observed by birds and animals. It is interesting to read how the author displays their surprise at what is happening. Even the cow “came to the fire, stared at the peasants, listened to crazy speeches and began, cordially, to moo, moo, moo! ..”

At last, having kneaded each other's sides, the peasants came to their senses. They saw a tiny warbler chick flying up to the fire, and Pahom took it in his hands. The travelers began to envy the little bird that could fly wherever it wanted. They talked about what everyone wants, when suddenly ... the bird spoke in a human voice, asking to release the chick and promising a large ransom for it.

The bird showed the peasants the way to where the real tablecloth was buried. Wow! Now you can definitely live, not grieve. But the quick-witted wanderers also asked that their clothes not wear out. “And this will be done by a self-assembled tablecloth,” said the warbler. And she kept her promise.

The life of the peasants began to be full and cheerful. But they have not yet resolved the main question: who still lives well in Rus'. And friends decided not to return to their families until they find the answer to it.

Chapter 1. Pop

On the way, the peasants met the priest and, bowing low, asked him to answer “in conscience, without laughter and without cunning,” whether he really lives well in Rus'. What the pop said dispelled the ideas of the seven curious about his happy life. No matter how severe the circumstances are - a dead autumn night, or a severe frost, or a spring flood - the priest has to go where he is called, without arguing or contradicting. The work is not easy, besides, the groans of people leaving for another world, the weeping of orphans and the sobs of widows completely upset the peace of the priest's soul. And only outwardly it seems that pop is held in high esteem. In fact, he is often the target of ridicule by the common people.

Chapter 2

Further, the road leads purposeful wanderers to other villages, which for some reason turn out to be empty. The reason is that all the people are at the fair, in the village of Kuzminskoye. And it was decided to go there to ask people about happiness.

The life of the village evoked not very pleasant feelings among the peasants: there were a lot of drunks around, everywhere it was dirty, dull, uncomfortable. Books are also sold at the fair, but low-quality books, Belinsky and Gogol are not to be found here.

By evening, everyone becomes so drunk that it seems that even the church with the bell tower is shaking.

Chapter 3

At night, the men are on their way again. They hear the conversations of drunk people. Suddenly, attention is attracted by Pavlush Veretennikov, who makes notes in a notebook. He collects peasant songs and sayings, as well as their stories. After everything that has been said is captured on paper, Veretennikov begins to reproach the assembled people for drunkenness, to which he hears objections: “The peasant drinks mainly because he has grief, and therefore it is impossible, even a sin, to reproach for it.

Chapter 4

Men do not deviate from their goal - by all means to find a happy person. They promise to reward with a bucket of vodka the one who tells that it is he who lives freely and cheerfully in Rus'. Drinkers peck at such a "tempting" offer. But no matter how hard they try to colorfully paint the gloomy everyday life of those who want to get drunk for free, nothing comes out of them. Stories of an old woman who has born up to a thousand turnips, a sexton rejoicing when they pour him a pigtail; the paralyzed former courtyard, who for forty years licked the master's plates with the best French truffle, does not impress the stubborn seekers of happiness on Russian soil.

Chapter 5

Maybe luck will smile on them here - the searchers assumed a happy Russian person, having met the landowner Gavrila Afanasich Obolt-Obolduev on the road. At first he was frightened, thinking that he saw the robbers, but after learning about the unusual desire of the seven men who blocked his path, he calmed down, laughed and told his story.

Maybe before the landowner considered himself happy, but not now. Indeed, in the old days, Gavriil Afanasyevich was the owner of the entire district, a whole regiment of servants and arranged holidays with theatrical performances and dances. Even the peasants did not hesitate to invite the peasants to pray in the manor house on holidays. Now everything has changed: the family estate of Obolt-Obolduev was sold for debts, because, left without peasants who knew how to cultivate the land, the landowner, who was not used to working, suffered heavy losses, which led to a deplorable outcome.

Part 2

The next day, the travelers went to the banks of the Volga, where they saw a large hay meadow. Before they had time to talk with the locals, they noticed three boats at the pier. It turns out that this is a noble family: two gentlemen with their wives, their children, servants and a gray-haired old gentleman named Utyatin. Everything in this family, to the surprise of travelers, occurs according to such a scenario, as if there was no abolition of serfdom. It turns out that Utyatin was very angry when he found out that the peasants were given freedom and came down with a stroke, threatening to deprive his sons of their inheritance. To prevent this from happening, they came up with a cunning plan: they persuaded the peasants to play along with the landowner, posing as serfs. As a reward, they promised the best meadows after the death of the master.

Utyatin, hearing that the peasants were staying with him, perked up, and the comedy began. Some even liked the role of serfs, but Agap Petrov could not come to terms with the shameful fate and told the landowner everything to his face. For this, the prince sentenced him to flogging. The peasants also played a role here: they took the “rebellious” to the stable, put wine in front of him and asked him to shout louder, for appearances. Alas, Agap could not bear such humiliation, got very drunk and died the same night.

Further, the Last (Prince Utyatin) arranges a feast, where, barely moving his tongue, he delivers a speech about the advantages and benefits of serfdom. After that, he lies down in the boat and gives up the spirit. Everyone is glad that they finally got rid of the old tyrant, however, the heirs are not even going to fulfill their promise to those who played the role of serfs. The hopes of the peasants were not justified: no one gave them meadows.

Part 3. Peasant woman.

No longer hoping to find a happy man among the men, the wanderers decided to ask the women. And from the lips of a peasant woman named Korchagina Matryona Timofeevna they hear a very sad and, one might say, terrible story. Only in her parents' house she was happy, and then, when she married Philip, a ruddy and strong guy, a hard life began. Love did not last long, because the husband went to work, leaving his young wife with his family. Matryona works tirelessly and sees no support from anyone except old Savely, who lives a century after hard labor, which lasted twenty years. Only one joy appears in her difficult fate - the son of Demushka. But suddenly a terrible misfortune befell the woman: it is impossible to even imagine what happened to the child because the mother-in-law did not allow her daughter-in-law to take him into the field with her. Due to an oversight of the boy's grandfather, the pigs eat him. What grief for a mother! She mourns Demushka all the time, although other children were born in the family. For their sake, a woman sacrifices herself, for example, she takes upon herself the punishment when they want to flog her son Fedot for a sheep that was carried away by wolves. When Matryona was carrying another son, Lidor, in her womb, her husband was unfairly taken into the army, and his wife had to go to the city to look for the truth. It’s good that the governor’s wife, Elena Alexandrovna, helped her then. By the way, in the waiting room Matryona gave birth to a son.

Yes, the life of the one who was called “lucky” in the village was not easy: she constantly had to fight for herself, for her children, and for her husband.

Part 4. A feast for the whole world.

At the end of the village of Valakhchina, a feast was held, where everyone was gathered: the wandering peasants, and Vlas the headman, and Klim Yakovlevich. Among the celebrating - two seminarians, simple, kind guys - Savvushka and Grisha Dobrosklonov. They sing funny songs and tell different stories. They do it because ordinary people ask for it. From the age of fifteen, Grisha knows for sure that he will devote his life to the happiness of the Russian people. He sings a song about a great and mighty country called Rus'. Isn't this the lucky one that the travelers were so stubbornly looking for? After all, he clearly sees the purpose of his life - in serving the disadvantaged people. Unfortunately, Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov died untimely, before he had time to finish the poem (according to the author's plan, the peasants were to go to St. Petersburg). But the reflections of the seven wanderers coincide with the thought of Dobrosklonov, who thinks that every peasant should live freely and cheerfully in Rus'. This was the main intention of the author.

The poem by Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov became legendary, a symbol of the struggle for the happy everyday life of ordinary people, as well as the result of the author's reflections on the fate of the peasantry.

“To whom it is good to live in Rus'” - a summary of the poem by N.A. Nekrasov

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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, Neelovo, 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 to the illiterate and ignorant class, which the peasants were considered to be 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.

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is known all over the world for his folk, unusual works. His dedications to the common people, peasant life, the period of a short childhood and constant hardships in adult life arouse not only literary, but also historical interest.

Such works as "To whom it is good to live in Rus'" is a real digression into the 60s of the XIX century. The poem literally immerses the reader in the events of the post-serf times. A journey in search of a happy person in the Russian Empire reveals numerous problems of society, paints a picture of reality without embellishment and makes you think about the future of the country that dared to live in a new way.

The history of the creation of the Nekrasov poem

The exact date of the start of work on the poem is unknown. But the researchers of Nekrasov's work drew attention to the fact that already in his first part he mentions the Poles who were exiled. This makes it possible to assume that the idea of ​​the poem arose from the poet around 1860-1863, and Nikolai Alekseevich started writing it around 1863. Although the sketches by the poet could have been done earlier.

It is no secret that Nikolai Nekrasov has been collecting material for his new poetic work for a very long time. The date on the manuscript after the first chapter is 1865. But this date means that work on the chapter "Landlord" was completed this year.

It is known that since 1866 the first part of Nekrasov's work tried to see the light. For four years, the author tried to publish his work and constantly fell under discontent and sharp condemnation of censorship. Despite this, work on the poem continued.

The poet had to print it gradually all in the same magazine Sovremennik. So it was printed for four years, and all these years the censorship was unhappy. The poet himself was constantly criticized and persecuted. Therefore, he stopped his work for a while, and was able to start it again only in 1870. In this new period of the rise of his literary creativity, he creates three more parts to this poem, which were written at different times:

✪ "Last Child" -1872.
✪ "Peasant Woman" -1873.
✪ "Feast for the whole world" - 1876.

The poet wanted to write a few more chapters, but he was working on his poem at the time when he began to fall ill, so the illness prevented him from realizing these poetic plans. But still realizing that he would soon die, Nikolai Alekseevich tried in his last part to finish it so that the whole poem had logical completeness.

The plot of the poem "To whom it is good to live in Rus'"

In one of the volosts, on a wide road, there are seven peasants who live in neighboring villages. And they think about one question: who lives well in their native land. And their conversation reached such a point that it soon turns into an argument. The matter went on towards the evening, and they could not resolve this dispute in any way. And suddenly the peasants noticed that they had already traveled a long distance, carried away by the conversation. Therefore, they decided not to return home, but to spend the night in a clearing. But the argument continued and ended in a fight.

From such a noise, a chick of a warbler falls out, which Pahom saves, and for this an exemplary mother is ready to fulfill any desire of the men. Having received a magic tablecloth, the men decide to go on a journey to find the answer to the question that interests them so much. Soon they meet a priest who changes the opinion of the men that he lives well and happily. Heroes also get to the village fair.

They try to find happy people among the drunks, and it soon turns out that a peasant doesn’t need much to be happy: eat enough to protect himself from troubles. And in order to learn about happiness, I advise the heroes to find Yermila Girin, whom everyone knows. And here the men learn his story, and then the gentleman appears. But he also complains about his life.

At the end of the poem, the heroes try to look for happy people among women. They get acquainted with one peasant woman Matryona. They help Korchagina in the field, and for this she tells them her story, where she says that a woman cannot have happiness. Women only suffer.

And now the peasants are already on the banks of the Volga. Then they heard a story about a prince who could not come to terms with the abolition of serfdom, and then a story about two sinners. The story of the son of the deacon Grishka Dobrosklonov is also interesting.

You are wretched, You are plentiful, You are powerful, You are powerless, Mother Rus'! In slavery, the saved Heart is free - Gold, gold The heart of the people! The strength of the people, the mighty strength - the conscience is calm, the truth is tenacious!

Genre and unusual composition of the poem "To whom in Rus' it is good to live"

About what is the composition of the Nekrasov poem, there are still disputes between writers and critics. Most researchers of the literary work of Nikolai Nekrasov came to the conclusion that the material should be arranged as follows: the prologue and part one, then the chapter "Peasant Woman" should be placed, the chapter "Last Child" follows the content and in conclusion - "Feast - for the whole world."

Evidence of this arrangement of chapters in the plot of the poem was that, for example, in the first part and in the subsequent chapter, the world is depicted when the peasants were not yet free, that is, this is the world that was a little earlier: old and obsolete. In the next Nekrasov part, it is already shown how this old world is completely destroyed and perishes.

But already in the last Nekrasov chapter, the poet shows all the signs that a new life is beginning. The tone of the narrative changes dramatically and now it is lighter, clearer, more joyful. The reader feels that the poet, like his characters, believes in the future. Especially this striving for a clear and bright future is felt at those moments when the main character, Grishka Dobrosklonov, appears in the poem.

In this part, the poet completes the poem, so it is here that the denouement of the entire plot action takes place. And here is the answer to the question that was posed at the very beginning of the work about who, after all, is well and free, carefree and cheerful in Rus'. It turns out that the most carefree, happy and cheerful person is Grishka, who is the protector of his people. In his beautiful and lyrical songs, he predicted happiness for his people.

But if you carefully read how the denouement in the poem comes in its last part, then you can pay attention to the oddities of the story. The reader does not see the peasants returning to their homes, they do not stop traveling, and, in general, they do not even get to know Grisha. Therefore, a continuation was probably planned here.

Poetic composition has its own peculiarities. First of all, it is worth paying attention to the construction, which is based on the classical epic. The poem consists of separate chapters, in which there is an independent plot, but there is no main character in the poem, since it tells about the people, as if it were an epic of the life of the whole people. All parts are connected into one thanks to the motives that run through the entire plot. For example, the motif of a long road along which peasants go to find a happy person.

In the work, the fabulousness of the composition is easily visible. There are many elements in the text that can easily be attributed to folklore. During the entire journey, the author inserts his lyrical digressions and elements that are completely irrelevant to the plot.

Analysis of Nekrasov's poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'"

It is known from the history of Russia that in 1861 the most shameful phenomenon, serfdom, was abolished. But such a reform caused unrest in society, and soon new problems arose. First of all, the question arose that even a free peasant, poor and destitute, cannot be happy. This problem interested Nikolai Nekrasov, and he decided to write a poem in which the question of peasant happiness would be considered.

Despite the fact that the work is written in simple language, and has an appeal to folklore, it usually seems difficult for the reader to perceive, since it touches on the most serious philosophical problems and questions. For most of the questions, the author himself has been looking for answers all his life. Perhaps that is why it was so difficult for him to write a poem, and he created it for fourteen years. But, unfortunately, the work was never finished.

The poet was conceived to write his poem of eight chapters, but due to illness he was able to write only four and they do not follow at all, as expected, one after another. Now the poem is presented in the form, in the sequence suggested by K. Chukovsky, who for a long time carefully studied the Nekrasov archives.

Nikolai Nekrasov chose ordinary people as the heroes of the poem, which is why he also used colloquial vocabulary. For a long time there were disputes about who can still be attributed to the main characters of the poem. So, there were suggestions that these were heroes - men who walk around the country, trying to find a happy person. But other researchers still believed that it was Grishka Dobrosklonov. This question remains open to this day. But you can consider this poem as if the protagonist in it is the whole common people.

There are no accurate and detailed descriptions of these men in the plot, their characters are also incomprehensible, the author simply does not reveal or show them. But on the other hand, these men are united by one goal, for the sake of which they travel. It is also interesting that the episodic faces in Nekrasov's poem are drawn by the author more clearly, accurately, in detail and vividly. The poet raises many problems that arose among the peasantry after the abolition of serfdom.

Nikolai Alekseevich shows that for each character in his poem there is a concept of happiness. For example, a rich person sees happiness in having financial well-being. And the peasant dreams that in his life there would be no grief and troubles that usually lie in wait for the peasant at every step. There are also heroes who are happy because they believe in the happiness of others. The language of the Nekrasov poem is close to the folk language, so there is a huge amount of vernacular in it.

Despite the fact that the work remained unfinished, it reflects the whole reality of what was happening. This is a real literary gift to all lovers of poetry, history and literature.

PROLOGUE

Seven men meet on the high road in the Pustoporozhnaya Volost: Roman, Demyan, Luka, Prov, the old man Pakhom, the brothers Ivan and Mitrodor Gubin. They come from neighboring villages: Neurozhayki, Zaplatova, Dyryavina, Razutova, Znobishina, Gorelova and Neelova. The men are arguing about who is good in Rus', who lives freely. Roman believes that the landowner, Demyan - the official, and Luka - the priest. The old man Pakhom claims that the minister lives best, the Gubin brothers - a merchant, and Prov thinks that the king.

It starts to get dark. The peasants understand that, carried away by the dispute, they have traveled thirty miles and now it is too late to return home. They decide to spend the night in the forest, make a fire in the clearing and start arguing again, and then even fighting. From their noise, all the forest animals scatter, and a chick falls out of the nest of a warbler, which Pahom picks up. The mother warbler flies up to the fire and asks in a human voice to let her chick go. For this, she will fulfill any desire of the peasants.

The men decide to go ahead and find out which of them is right. Chiffchaff tells where you can find a self-assembled tablecloth that will feed and water them on the road. The men find a self-assembled tablecloth and sit down to feast. They agree not to return home until they find out who has the best life in Rus'.

Chapter I. Pop

Soon the travelers meet the priest and tell the priest that they are looking for "who lives happily, freely in Rus'." They ask the minister of the church to honestly answer: is he satisfied with his fate?

Pop replies that he bears his cross with humility. If men believe that a happy life is peace, honor and wealth, then he has nothing of the kind. People don't choose the time of their death. So the priest is called to the dying man, even in pouring rain, even in severe frost. Yes, and the heart sometimes can not stand the widow's and orphan's tears.

There is no honor to speak of. They make up all sorts of tales about priests, laugh at them and consider meeting with a priest a bad omen. And the wealth of the priests is not the same now. Before, when noble people lived in their family estates, the incomes of the priests were not bad. The landowners made rich gifts, were baptized and married in the parish church. Here they were buried and buried. Those were the traditions. And now the nobles live in the capitals and "foreign countries", where they celebrate all church rites. And you can't take a lot of money from poor peasants.

The men respectfully bow to the priest and go on.

CHAPTER II. country fair

Travelers pass through several empty villages and ask: where have all the people gone? It turns out that there is a fair in the neighboring village. The men decide to go there. A lot of well-dressed people walk at the fair, they sell everything: from plows and horses to scarves and books. There is a lot of goods, but even more drinking establishments.

Old man Vavila is crying near the shop. He drank all the money, and promised his granddaughter goat shoes. Pavlusha Veretennikov comes up to his grandfather and buys shoes for the girl. The overjoyed old man grabs his shoes and hurries home. Veretennikov is known in the district. He loves to sing and listen to Russian songs.

CHAPTER III. drunken night

After the fair, there are drunks on the way. Who wanders, who crawls, and who even rolls in a ditch. Groans and endless drunken conversations are heard everywhere. Veretennikov is talking to the peasants at the road post. He listens and writes down songs, proverbs, and then begins to reproach the peasants for drinking a lot.

A well drunk man named Yakim enters into an argument with Veretennikov. He says that the common people have accumulated many grievances against the landlords and officials. If they didn’t drink, then it would be a big disaster, otherwise all anger dissolves in vodka. There is no measure for peasants in drunkenness, but is there any measure in grief, in hard work?

Veretennikov agrees with such reasoning and even drinks with the peasants. Here the travelers hear a beautiful valiant song and decide to look for the lucky ones in the crowd.

CHAPTER IV. Happy

Men walk around and shout: “Come out happy! We'll pour some vodka!" The people crowded. Travelers began to ask about who and how happy. One is poured, others are only laughed at. But the conclusion from the stories is this: a peasant's happiness lies in the fact that he sometimes ate his fill, and God protected him in difficult times.

The peasants are advised to find Yermila Girin, whom the whole district knows. Once the cunning merchant Altynnikov decided to take away his mill. He conspired with the judges, and declared that Yermila should immediately pay a thousand rubles. Girin did not have that kind of money, but he went to the marketplace and asked the honest people to chip in. The peasants responded to the request, and bought Yermila the mill, and then returned all the money to the people. For seven years he was a steward. During that time, he did not appropriate a single penny for himself. Only once he shielded his younger brother from the recruits, then he repented before all the people and left his post.

The wanderers agree to look for Girin, but the local priest says that Yermil is in prison. Then a troika appears on the road, and a master is in it.

CHAPTER V. Landowner

The men stop the troika, in which the landowner Gavrila Afanasyevich Obolt-Obolduev is traveling, and ask how he lives. The landowner with tears begins to recall the past. Previously, he owned the whole district, he kept a whole regiment of servants and gave holidays with dances, theatrical performances and hunting. Now the great chain is broken. The landowners have land, but there are no peasants who would cultivate it.

Gavrila Afanasyevich was not accustomed to work. This is not a noble business - to deal with the economy. He only knows how to walk, hunt, and steal from the treasury. Now his ancestral home has been sold for debts, everything is stolen, and the peasants drink day and night. Obolt-Obolduev bursts into tears, and the travelers sympathize with him. After this meeting, they understand that it is necessary to seek happiness not among the rich, but in the "Unwhacked province, Ungutted volost ...".

PEASANT WOMAN

PROLOGUE

Wanderers decide to look for happy people among women. In one village, they are advised to find Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, nicknamed the "governor". Soon the men find this beautiful, portly woman of about thirty-seven. But Korchagina does not want to talk: suffering, we urgently need to clean up the bread. Then the travelers offer their help in the field in exchange for a story about happiness. Matryona agrees.

Chapter I. Before Marriage

Korchagina's childhood passes in a non-drinking friendly family, in an atmosphere of love from her parents and brother. Cheerful and agile Matryona works a lot, but she also likes to take a walk. A stranger wooed her - a stove-maker Philip. Playing a wedding. Now Korchagina understands: only she was happy in childhood and girlhood.

Chapter II. Songs

Philip brings his young wife to his large family. It's not easy for Matryona. Her mother-in-law, father-in-law and sister-in-law do not give her life, they constantly reproach her. Everything happens exactly as it is sung in the songs. Korchagin is patient. Then her firstborn Demushka is born - like the sun in the window.

The master's steward molests a young woman. Matryona avoids him as best she can. The manager threatens that he will give Philip to the soldiers. Then the woman goes for advice to her grandfather Savely, the father of her father-in-law, who is one hundred years old.

Chapter III. Saveliy, Holy Russian hero

Savely looks like a huge bear. He spent a long time serving hard labor for murder. The cunning German manager sucked all the juice out of the serfs. When he ordered four hungry peasants to dig a well, they pushed the manager into the pit and covered it with earth. Among these killers was Savely.

CHAPTER IV. Demushka

The old man's advice was useless. The manager, who did not give Matryona a pass, suddenly died. But then another problem happened. The young mother was forced to leave Demushka under the supervision of her grandfather. Once he fell asleep, and the pigs ate the child.

The doctor and judges arrive, do an autopsy, interrogate Matryona. She is accused of intentionally killing a child, in collusion with an old man. The poor woman's mind almost goes haywire with grief. And Savely goes to the monastery to atone for his sin.

CHAPTER V. She-wolf

Four years later, the grandfather returns, and Matryona forgives him. When the eldest son of Korchagina Fedotushka turns eight years old, the boy is given into the shepherd. One day, the she-wolf manages to steal the sheep. Fedot chases after her and pulls out the already dead prey. The she-wolf is terribly thin, she leaves behind a trail of blood: she cut her nipples on the grass. The predator looks doomed at Fedot and howls. The boy feels sorry for the she-wolf and her cubs. He leaves the carcass of a sheep to the hungry beast. For this, the villagers want to flog the child, but Matryona takes the punishment for her son.

CHAPTER VI. Difficult year

There comes a hungry year in which Matryona is pregnant. Suddenly the news comes that her husband is being taken to the soldiers. The eldest son from their family is already serving, so the second one should not be taken away, but the landowner does not care about the laws. Matryona is horrified, before her there are pictures of poverty and lawlessness, because her only breadwinner and protector will not be around.

CHAPTER VII. Governor

The woman goes on foot to the city and in the morning arrives at the governor's house. She asks the porter to arrange a meeting with the governor. For two roubles, the porter agrees and lets Matryona into the house. At this time, the governor's wife comes out of the chambers. Matryona falls at her feet and falls into unconsciousness.

When Korchagina comes to, she sees that she has given birth to a boy. The kind, childless governor's wife takes care of her and the child until Matryona recovers. Together with her husband, who was released from service, the peasant woman returns home. Since then, she has not tired of praying for the health of the governor.

Chapter VIII. woman's parable

Matryona ends her story with an appeal to wanderers: do not look for happy people among women. The Lord dropped the keys to female happiness into the sea, they were swallowed by a fish. Since then, they have been looking for those keys, but they can’t find them in any way.

LATER

Chapter I

I

Travelers come to the banks of the Volga to the village of Vakhlaki. There are beautiful meadows and haymaking in full swing. Suddenly music sounds, boats moor to the shore. It was the old prince Utyatin who arrived. He examines the mowing and swears, and the peasants bow and ask for forgiveness. The peasants wonder: everything is like under serfdom. For clarification, they turn to the local steward Vlas.

II

Vlas gives an explanation. The prince was terribly angry when he found out that the peasants had been given freedom, and he had a blow. After that, Utyatin began to act weird. He does not want to believe that he no longer has power over the peasants. He even promised to curse and disinherit his sons if they say such nonsense. So the heirs of the peasants asked that they, under the master, pretend that everything was the same as before. And for this they will be granted the best meadows.

III

The prince sits down to have breakfast, which the peasants are going to stare at. One of them, the biggest loafer and drunkard, had long volunteered to play the steward in front of the prince instead of the recalcitrant Vlas. So it spreads before Utyatin, and the people can hardly restrain their laughter. One, however, can not cope with himself and laughs. The prince turns blue with anger, orders to flog the rebel. One brisk peasant woman helps out, who tells the master that her foolish son laughed.

The prince forgives everyone and sails away in a boat. Soon the peasants learn that Utyatin died on the way home.

PIR - FOR THE WHOLE WORLD

Dedicated to Sergei Petrovich Botkin

Introduction

The peasants rejoice at the death of the prince. They walk and sing songs, and the former servant of Baron Sineguzin, Vikenty, tells an amazing story.

About the exemplary serf - Yakov Verny

There lived one very cruel and greedy landowner Polivanov, he had a faithful serf Yakov. The man endured a lot from the master. But Polivanov's legs were taken away, and the faithful Yakov became an indispensable person for the disabled person. The master is not overjoyed with the serf, he calls him his own brother.

Somehow, Yakov's beloved nephew decided to marry, he asks the master to marry the girl that Polivanov looked after for himself. The master, for such impudence, gives his opponent to the soldiers, and Yakov, out of grief, goes into a binge. Polivanov feels bad without an assistant, but the serf returns to work in two weeks. Again the master is pleased with the servant.

But a new problem is already on the way. On the way to the master's sister, Yakov unexpectedly turns into a ravine, harnesses his horses, and hangs himself on the reins. All night the master drives away the crows from the poor body of the servant with a stick.

After this story, the peasants argued about who is more sinful in Rus': landowners, peasants or robbers? And the pilgrim Ionushka tells such a story.

About two great sinners

Somehow a band of robbers led by ataman Kudeyar hunted. The robber ruined many innocent souls, and the time has come - he began to repent. And he went to the Holy Sepulcher, and accepted the schema in the monastery - everyone does not forgive sins, his conscience torments. Kudeyar settled in a forest under a hundred-year-old oak, where he dreamed of a saint who showed the way to salvation. The murderer will be forgiven when he cuts this oak with the knife that killed people.

Kudeyar began to cut oak in three girths with a knife. Things go slowly, because the sinner is already at a respectable age and weak. One day, the landowner Glukhovsky drives up to the oak tree and begins to mock the old man. He beats slaves as much as he wants, tortures and hangs him, and sleeps peacefully. Here Kudeyar falls into a terrible rage and kills the landowner. The oak immediately falls, and all the sins of the robber are immediately forgiven.

After this story, the peasant Ignatius Prokhorov begins to argue and prove that the gravest sin is the peasant. Here is his story.

Peasant sin

For military merit, the admiral receives from the empress eight thousand souls of serfs. Before his death, he calls the headman Gleb and hands him a casket, and in it - free for all the peasants. After the death of the admiral, the heir began to pester Gleb: he gives him money, free, just to get the coveted casket. And Gleb trembled, agreed to give important documents. So the heir burned all the papers, and eight thousand souls remained in the fortress. The peasants, after listening to Ignatius, agree that this sin is the most serious.

Summary

In what year - count

In what land - guess

On the pillar path

Seven men got naked:

Seven temporarily liable,

tightened province,

County Terpigorev,

empty parish,

From adjacent villages:

Zaplatova, Dyryavina,

Razutova, Znobishina,

Gorelova, Neelova -

Crop failure, too,

They agreed and argued:

Who has fun

Feel free in Rus'?

According to Roman, the landowner, Demyan is sure that Luka said to the official that the priest. The Gubin brothers, Ivan and Mitrodor, insist that the "fat-bellied merchant" lives best. "Old man Pahom puckered up and said, looking at the ground: to the noble boyar, the minister of the sovereign." And Prov is convinced that the king has such a life.

Each of them left the house on his own business, and it would be time to go back, but they started a dispute. Evening comes, and the men do not stop arguing. Durandiha asks where they go at night looking. Pakhom notices that they are "thirty miles away" from the house. “Under the forest by the path” they made a fire, drank, ate, and, continuing the argument “who should live happily, freely in Rus'?”, they fought. The forest woke up from the noise: a hare jumped out, the jackdaws “raised a nasty, sharp squeak”, “a tiny chick fell out of fright from the nest”, the warbler is looking for him, the old cuckoo “woke up and decided to cuckle for someone”, seven owls fly in, “ the raven came to the fire, a cow with a bell came to the fire and mooed, an owl flies over the peasants, a fox “crept up to the peasants”. No one can understand what the men are making such a fuss about. Pahom finds a chick by the fire. He complains that they would have wings, they would fly around "the whole kingdom"; Prov notices that if there was bread, they would have bypassed "Mother Rus'" with their feet; the rest added that vodka, cucumbers, “cold kvass” would be good with bread. The chiffchaff bird asks the men to release the chick. For this, she promises to tell them how they can find a “self-assembled tablecloth” that they will “repair, wash, dry”. The men release the chick. Chiffchaff warns them:

“Look, chur, one!

How much food will take

Womb - then ask

And you can ask for vodka

In day exactly on a bucket.

If you ask more

And one and two - it will be fulfilled

At your request,

And in the third, be in trouble!

PART ONE

Wanderers see old and new villages.

Not fond of the old ones,

It hurts more than that for new

Trees for them to look at.

Oh, huts, new huts!

You are smart, let it build you

Not an extra penny

And blood trouble!

On the way, the peasants meet peasants, "artisans, beggars, soldiers, coachmen." Their life is miserable. In the evening the wanderers meet the priest. Luka reassures him: "We are not robbers."

(Luke is a squat man

With a wide beard

Stubborn, verbose and stupid.

Luka looks like a mill:

One is not a bird mill,

What, no matter how it flaps its wings,

Probably won't fly.)

The men are interested in: “Is the priestly life sweet?” Pop responds:

“What is happiness, in your opinion?

Peace, wealth, honor ... "

He has no peace, since it is difficult for a priest's son to get a letter, and the priesthood of a priest is even more expensive. He must go to the dying at any time of the day, in any weather, in any wilderness, see the tears of relatives and listen to the dying groans and wheezing. Further, the priest tells, "what honor is the priest." People call the priests "a foal breed", they are afraid of meeting them, they compose about them "joke tales and obscene songs and all kinds of blasphemy." From human languages ​​suffer "mother-popadya sedate" and "priest's daughter innocent".

Meanwhile, the sky is covered with clouds, "to be heavy rain."

The priest invites the peasants to listen, "where the priestly wealth comes from." In the old days, landowners lived, who "became fruitful and multiplied" and "let the priests live." All family holidays could not do without clergy. Now the "landlords have died out," and there is nothing to take from the poor.

Our poor villages

And in them the peasants are sick

Yes, sad women

Nurses, drinkers,

Slaves, pilgrims

And eternal workers

Lord give them strength!

Guiding the deceased...

..And here to you C

taruha, mother of the deceased,

Look, stretching with a bony,

Callused hand.

The soul will turn

How they tinkle in this hand

Two copper coins! ..

The priest leaves, and the men attacked Luka with reproaches:

Well, here's your praise

Pop's life!

rural fair

Wanderers complain about the "wet, cold spring." Stocks are running out, the cattle in the field have nothing to eat. “Only for Nikola Veshny” the cattle ate plenty of grass. Passing through the village, the wanderers notice that there is no one in it. Wanderers are interested in a peasant who bathes a horse in the river, where the people are from the village, and they hear that everyone is “at the fair” in the village of Kuzminskoye. At the fair, people trade, drink, walk. In Kuzminsky there are two churches, “one Old Believer, the other Orthodox”, a school - a house “packed up tightly”, a hut “with the image of a paramedic bleeding”, a hotel, shops. Wanderers come to the square where there is trade. Who is not here! "Intoxicating, loud, festive, motley, red all around!" The wanderers admire the goods. They see a man who has drunk his money and is crying, as he promised his granddaughter to bring gifts. The assembled people feel sorry for him, but no one helps him: if you give money, "you yourself will be left with nothing." Pavlusha Veretennikov, who was called "master", bought shoes for the peasant's granddaughter. He didn't even thank him. The peasants are “so happy, as if he gave each one a ruble!”

Among other things, the fair has a shop selling second-rate reading material, as well as portraits of generals. The author wonders if the time will come when the peasants will understand "that a portrait is a portrait, that a book is a book", when the people "will carry Belinsky and Gogol from the market."

Here you would have their portraits

Hang in your boots,

In the booth there is a performance: “the comedy is not wise, but not stupid either, to the hozhal, quarter not in the eyebrow, but right in the eye!” The speech of Petrushka, the hero of the comedy, is interrupted by the "accurate word" from the people. After the performance, some of the spectators fraternize with the actors, bring them drunk, drink with them, give money. By evening, the wanderers leave the “vibrant village”.

drunken night

After the fair, everyone goes home, "the people go and fall." Sober wanderers see how a drunken man buries his undercoat, saying at the same time that he is burying his mother. Two peasants sort things out, aiming at each other's beards. With swearing, the women in the ditch are trying to determine who's house is worse. Veretennikov notes that the peasants are "smart", but "drink to the point of stupefaction". To which the peasant, whose name is Yakim, objects that the peasants are busy with work, only occasionally allowing the “poor peasant soul” to have fun, that “the family of the drinking non-drinking family”, that when the work ends, “look, there are three equity holders: God, the king and sir!

Wine brings down the peasant

And grief does not bring him down?

Work not falling?

A man copes with any trouble; when he works, he does not think that he will overstrain.

Every peasant has

The soul is like a black cloud -

Angry, formidable - and it would be necessary

Thunders rumble from there,

pouring bloody rains,

And everything ends with wine.

Veretennikov learns from the peasants the story of the plowman Yakim Nagogoi, who "works to death, drinks half to death." While in St. Petersburg, he decided to compete with the merchant and "ended up in prison", and then returned home. He bought pictures for his son and, hanging them on the walls, “he himself loved to look at them no less than a boy.” During his life, Yakim collected "thirty-five rubles". But there was a fire in the village. Yakim began to save the pictures, but the money melted into a lump, and the buyers offered eleven rubles for him. Saved and new pictures Yakim hung on the walls in a new hut.

The master looked at the plowman:

The chest is sunken; like a depressed

Stomach; at the eyes, at the mouth

Bends like cracks

On dry ground;

And myself to mother earth

He looks like: a brown neck,

Like a layer cut off with a plow.

brick face,

Hand - tree bark,

And hair is sand.

According to Yakim, since people drink, it means that they feel strength.

On the way, the peasants sing a song, to which the “young woman alone” burst into tears, admitting that her husband is jealous: he gets drunk and snores on the cart, guards her. She wants to jump off the wagon, but she does not succeed: the husband "stood up - and the woman by the scythe." The men are sad about their wives, and then unfold the "self-assembled tablecloth." Having refreshed himself, Roman stays by the bucket of vodka, and the rest go "to the crowd - to look for the lucky one."

Happy

Having obtained a bucket of vodka with the help of a self-collection tablecloth, the wanderers throw a cry into the festive crowd, whether there are those among those present who consider themselves happy. Anyone who confesses is promised vodka.

A skinny, dismissed deacon hurries to tell about his happiness, which lies in "complacency" and faith in the Kingdom of Heaven. They don't give him vodka.

An old woman appears and boasts that she has a rich harvest in her garden: "rep up to a thousand." But they just laughed at her.

A "soldier with medals" arrives. He is happy that he was in twenty battles, but remained alive, was beaten with sticks, but survived, starved, but did not die. The wanderers give him vodka.

“Olonchanin Stonemason” tells about his happiness: every day he hammers gravel “for five silver”, which testifies to the great strength that he possesses.

"A man with shortness of breath, relaxed, thin" tells that he was also a bricklayer and also boasted of his strength, "God punished." The contractor praised him, but he was foolishly happy, he worked for four. After the mason lifted the load "of fourteen pounds" to the second floor, he withered away and could no longer work. Went home to die. On the way, an epidemic broke out in the carriage, people were dying, and their corpses were unloaded at the stations. The mason in delirium saw that he was cutting roosters, he thought he would die, but he got home. According to him, this is happiness.

The courtyard man says: “I was a favorite slave of Prince Peremetyev,” his wife was “a beloved slave,” his daughter studied French and other languages ​​\u200b\u200bwith a young lady and sat in the presence of her mistress. He got "a noble disease, which is only found in the first persons in the empire", - gout, which can be obtained if you drink various alcoholic beverages for thirty years. He himself licked plates, finished drinking drinks from glasses. The men chase him away.

A “Belarusian peasant” comes up and says that his happiness is in bread, that he “chewed barley bread with chaff, with a bonfire”, from which he “grabs the bellies”. Now he eats bread "to the full at Gubonin's."

A man with a folded cheekbone says that he and his comrades hunted for bears. The bears broke three comrades, and he managed to stay alive. They gave him vodka.

For the poor, happiness lies in large alms.

Hey, happiness man!

Leaky with patches

Humpbacked with calluses

Get off home!

The peasant Fedosey advises the peasants to ask Yermila Girin. "The Orphan was held by Yermilo mill on Unzha." The court decides to sell the mill. Yermilo is bargaining with the merchant Altynnikov (“the merchant is his penny, and the other is his ruble!”) And wins the bargain. The clerks demanded to pay at once a third of the cost of the mill - about a thousand rubles. Girin did not have so much money, and they had to be paid within an hour. At the market place, he told people about everything and asked them to lend him money, promising that he would return everything next Friday. Got more than needed. Thus the mill became his. He, as promised, returned the money to everyone who approached him. Nobody asked too much. He had one ruble left, which he, not finding the owner, gave to the blind. Wanderers are interested in why people believed Yermila, and they hear in response that he gained trust with the truth. Yermilo served as a clerk in the estate of Prince Yurlov. He was fair, he was attentive to everyone. For five years, many have learned about him. He was kicked out. The new clerk was a grabber and a scoundrel. When the old prince died, the young prince came and ordered the peasants to elect a steward. They chose Yermila, who decided everything fairly.

At seven years of a worldly penny

Didn't squeeze under the nail

At the age of seven, he did not touch the right one,

Didn't let the guilty

I didn’t bend my heart…

The “gray-haired priest” interrupted the narrator, and he had to recall the case when Yermilo “buffed out” his younger brother Mitriy from recruitment, sending the son of a peasant woman, Nenila Vlasyevna, instead of him, and then repented before the people and asked to be judged. And he fell on his knees in front of the peasant woman. The son of Nenila Vlasyevna was returned, Mitriy was recruited, and Yermila himself was fined. After that, Yermilo "resigned from his post", rented a mill, where "strict order was maintained."

The “gray-haired priest” says that Yermilo is now in prison. A riot arose on the estate of "the landowner Obrubkov, the Frightened province, Nedykhanyev county, the village of Stolbnyaki", which required government troops to suppress. In order to do without bloodshed, they decided to turn to Yermila, believing that the people would listen to him. At this moment, the narrator is interrupted by the cries of a drunken lackey, the owner of a "noble disease", who was caught stealing, and therefore flogged. The wanderers are trying to find out about Yermil, but the man who started talking about the rebellion, leaving me, promises that he will tell another time.

Wanderers meet the landowner.

Some kind of round gentleman,

mustachioed, pot-bellied,

With a cigar in my mouth.

The landowner, Obolt-Obolduev, is riding in a carriage.

The landlord was ruddy,

portly, squat,

sixty years;

Mustache gray, long,

Good fellows,

Hungarian woman with brandenburgers,

Wide pants.

He takes the wanderers for robbers, draws a pistol. Having learned for what purpose they travel, he laughs heartily.

Tell us godly

Is the landowner's life sweet?

You are like - at ease, happily,

Landlord, do you live?

Leaving the carriage, Obolt-Obolduev orders the footman to bring a pillow, a carpet and a glass of sherry. He sits down and tells the story of his family. His most ancient ancestor on his father's side "with wolves and foxes ... amuse the empress", and on the name day of the empress the bear "ripped off" him. Wanderers say that "there are a lot of scoundrels roaming with bears even now." Landowner: "Shut up!" His most ancient ancestor on his mother’s side was Prince Shchepin, who, together with Vaska Gusev, “tried to set fire to Moscow, they thought to rob the treasury, but they were executed by death.” The landowner recalls the old days when they lived "like in Christ's bosom", "knew ... honor", nature "subdued". He talks about luxurious feasts, rich feasts, his own actors. He talks about hunting with special feeling. Complains that his power is over:

Whom I want - I have mercy

Whoever I want, I will execute.

The law is my desire!

The fist is my police!

The landowner interrupts his speech, calls the servant, while noting that "it is impossible without severity," but that he "punished - loving." He assures the wanderers that he was kind and that on holidays peasants were allowed into his house to pray. Gavrilo Afanasyevich, having heard the “death knell”, remarks that “they are not calling for a peasant! They call for landlord life! Now the landowners' houses are being demolished for bricks, the gardens are being cut down for firewood, the peasants are stealing timber, and instead of estates, "drinking houses are being built."

The dissolute people sing,

They call for earthly services,

Planted, taught to read and write, -

He needs her!

The landowner says that he is "not a peasant-bast worker", but "by the grace of God, a Russian nobleman."

Noble estates

We do not learn how to work.

We have a bad official

And he won't sweep the floors

Will not heat the oven...

He complains to strangers that he is called to work, and having lived in the village for forty years, he cannot distinguish a barley ear from a rye ear.

After listening to the landowner, the peasants sympathize with him.

PEASANT WOMAN

(From the third part)

Wanderers decide what they should ask

about the happiness of not only men, but also women. They go to the village of Klin, where Korchagina Matryona Timofeevna lives, whom everyone called the "governor".

“Oh, a field of many grains!

Now you don't think

How many people of God

Beat over you

While you are dressed

Heavy, even spike

And stood in front of the plowman,

Like an army before a king!

Not so much dew is warm,

Like sweat from a peasant's face

Moisturize you!..”

Wanderers do not rejoice looking at the fields of wheat that feeds "by choice", they like to look at the rye that "feeds everyone." In the village of Klin, life is miserable. The wanderers reach the master's house, and the lackey explains that "the landowner is abroad, and the steward is dying." “Hungry courtyards” are loitering around the estate, whom the master left “to the mercy of fate”. Local men fish in the river, complaining that there were much more fish before. A pregnant woman is waiting for them to catch at least "heels" in her ear.

Yards and peasants are dragging whatever they can. One of the courtyards is angry at the wanderers who refuse to buy foreign books from him.

Wanderers hear how the song "Tsevets Novo-Arkhangelskaya" sings in a beautiful bass. There were “non-Russian words” in the song, “and the grief in them is the same as in the Russian song, it was heard, without a shore, without a bottom.” There is a herd of cows, as well as "a crowd of reapers and reapers." They meet Matrena Timofeevna, a woman of "thirty-eight years old", and tell why they found her. But the woman says she needs to harvest rye. The strangers promise to help her. They take out a "self-assembled tablecloth." “The month became high” when Matryona began to “open her whole soul to wanderers.”

before marriage

She was born in a good and non-drinking family.

For father, for mother

Like Christ in the bosom,

I lived...

She lived happily, although there was a lot of work. After some time, “the betrothed appeared”:

On the mountain - a stranger!

Philip Korchagin - Petersburger,

A baker by skill.

The father promised to marry his daughter. Korchagin persuades Matryona to marry him, promising that he will not offend her. She agrees.

Matrena sings a song about a girl who ended up in her husband's house, where evil relatives live. The strangers sing in chorus.

Matryona lives in the house of her mother-in-law and father-in-law. Their family is “big, grumpy”, in which “there is no one to love, dove, but there is someone to scold!” Philip went to work, and he advised her not to interfere in anything and endure.

As ordered, so done:

Walked with anger in my 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! ..

There were always “frets” between the young. The wanderers ask Matrena Timofeyevna if her husband beat her. She answers them that only once, when her husband asked for shoes for his visiting sister, and she hesitated.

On the Annunciation, Matrena Timofeevna's husband went to work, and on Kazanskaya she gave birth to a son, Demushka.

The manager Abram Gordeich Sitnikov “began to bother her hard,” and she had to turn to her grandfather for advice.

From the whole family of her husband

One Savely, grandfather,

The father-in-law's parent - fathers,

Pity me...

Matrena Timofeevna asks the wanderers if they want to hear the story of Savely's life. They answer in agreement.

Saveliy, Holy Russian hero

Grandfather Savely "looked like a bear", had not cut his hair for about twenty years, had a beard, they said that he was a hundred years old. He lived "in a special room", where he did not let anyone from the family of his son, who called him "branded, hard labor". To this he replied: "Branded, but not a slave."

Matrena asked Saveliy why his own son calls him that. During his youth, the peasants were also serfs. Their village was in remote places. “We didn’t rule the corvee, we didn’t pay dues, and so, when we judge, we’ll send it three times over.” The landowner Shalashnikov tried to get to them by animal paths, "yes, he turned his skis." After that, he orders the peasants to come to him, but they do not go. Twice the police come and leave with tribute, and when they came the third time, they left with nothing. Then the peasant women went to Shalashnikov in the provincial town, where he stood with the regiment. When the landowner found out that there was no quitrent, he ordered the peasants to be flogged. They flogged them so badly that the peasants had to “rip open” where the money was hidden, and bring half a cap of “lobanchiki”. After that, the landowner even drank with the peasants. They went home, and on the way the two old men rejoiced that they were carrying hundred-ruble notes sewn up in the lining.

Excellently fought Shalashnikov,

And not so hot great

Received income.

Soon Shalashnikov was killed near Varna. His heir sent to them a German, Christian Christian Vogel, who managed to gain confidence in the peasants. He told them that if they can't pay, then let them work. The peasants, as the German asks them, dig in the swamp with grooves, cut down the trees in the designated places. It turned out a clearing, a road.

And then came the hardship

Korean peasant -

/ Ruined to the bone!

And he fought ... like Shalashnikov himself!

Yes, he was simple: pounce

With all military strength,

Think it will kill you!

And sun the money, it will fall off,

Neither give nor take bloated

Tick ​​in a dog's ear.

The German grip is dead:

Until they let the world go

Without leaving, sucks!

For eighteen years the peasants endured. We built a factory. The German ordered the peasants to dig a well. Among them was Savely. When the peasants, having worked until noon, decided to take a break, Vogel came and began to saw them "in his own way, without haste." Then they threw him into the hole. Savely shouted: “Give it!” After that, the Germans were buried alive. So Savely ended up in hard labor, fled, he was caught.

Twenty years of strict hard labor.

Twenty years of settlement.

I saved money

According to the royal manifesto

Went home again

Built this stove...

The mother-in-law is unhappy that, because of her son, Matryona does not work much, and demands that she leave him with her grandfather. Matryona reaps rye together with everyone. The grandfather appears and asks for forgiveness for the fact that “the old man fell asleep in the sun, the silly grandfather fed Demidushka to the pigs!” Matryona is crying.

The Lord got angry

He sent uninvited guests,

Wrong judges!

The camp officer, the doctor, the police arrive to accuse Matryona and Saveliy of premeditated murder of the child. The doctor makes an autopsy, and Matryona begs not to do this.

From a thin diaper

Rolled out Demushka

And the body became white

To torment and plastovat.

Matryona sends curses. She is declared insane. When family members are asked if they noticed “crazy” behind her, they answer that they “did not notice.” Savely notes that when she was called to the authorities, she did not take with her "neither a security deposit, nor a novina (homespun canvas)."

Seeing grandfather at the coffin of his son, Matryona chases him, calling him "branded, hard labor." The old man says that after the prison he turned to stone, and Demushka melted his heart. Grandfather Savely comforts her, says that her son is in paradise. Matryona exclaims: “Is it really true that neither God nor the tsar will stand up? ..” Savely replies: “God is high, the tsar is far away,” and therefore they have to endure, since she is a “serf woman.”

Twenty years have passed since Matryona buried her son. It didn't take long for her to "recover". She could not work, for which her father-in-law decided to “teach” her with the reins. Bowing at his feet, she asked him to kill her. Then he calmed down.

For days and nights, Matryona cries at the grave of her Demushka. By winter, Philip returns from work. Grandfather Savely went to the forests, where he mourned the death of the boy. “And in the autumn he went to repentance in the Sand Monastery.” Every year Matryona has a baby. She has no time to "neither think nor grieve, God forbid to cope with the work and cross her forehead." Three years later, her parents die. At the grave of her son, she meets grandfather Saveliy, who came to pray for "the Poor Dema, for all the suffering Russian peasantry." Grandfather soon dies, and before his death he says:

There are three paths for men:

Tavern, jail and hard labor,

And the women in Rus'

Three loops: white silk,

The second is for red silk,

And the third - black silk,

Choose any!

They buried him next to Demushka. He was at that time one hundred and seven years old.

Four years later, a praying pilgrim appears in the village. She makes speeches about the salvation of the soul, on holidays she wakes up the peasants for matins, she makes sure that mothers do not feed babies on fast days. They shed tears when they hear their children crying. Matryona did not listen to the pilgrimage. Her son, Fedot, was eight years old when he was sent to guard the sheep. The boy is accused of not seeing the sheep. From the words of Fedot, it becomes known that when he was sitting on a hillock, a huge emaciated she-wolf appeared, “puppy: her nipples dragged, in a bloody trail.” She managed to grab the sheep and run. But Fedot pursued her and pulled out the dead sheep. The boy felt sorry for the she-wolf, and he gave her the sheep. For this, Fedot is going to be flogged.

Matryona asks for mercy from the landowner, and he decides "to shepherd a minor in his youth, to forgive out of stupidity ... and punish the impudent woman approximately." Matryona comes to the sleeping Fedotushka, who, although he was “born weak,” since during pregnancy she greatly missed Demushka, he was a smart boy.

I sat on it all night

I am a kind shepherd

Raised up to the sun

Itself, shod in bast shoes,

rebaptized; cap,

She gave me a horn and a whip.

In a quiet place on the river Matrena cries about her fate, remembering her parents.

Night - I shed tears,

Day - like grass I lay down ...

I bow my head

I carry an angry heart!

Difficult year

According to Matryona, the she-wolf appeared for a reason, since soon a breadless woman came to the village. The mother-in-law of Matrena Timofeevna admits to her neighbors that her daughter-in-law is to blame for everything, who “put on a clean shirt at Christmas.” If Matryona had been a lonely woman, then the hungry peasants would have killed her with stakes. But “for her husband, for her intercessor,” she “got off cheaply.”

After one misfortune came another: recruitment. The family was calm, as the husband's older brother was among the recruits. Matryona was pregnant with Liodorushka. The father-in-law goes to a meeting and returns with the news: “Now give me less!”

Now I'm not a sharecropper

rural area,

Mansion builder,

Clothing and livestock.

Now one wealth:

Three lakes cry

Flammable tears, sown

Three stripes of trouble!

Matryona does not know how she can live with her children without her husband, who is not recruited in turn. When everyone is asleep, she gets dressed and leaves the hut.

Governor

On the way, Matrena prays to the Mother of God and asks her: “How did I anger God?”

Pray on a frosty night

Under the starry sky of God

I have loved since then.

With difficulty, the pregnant Matrena Timofeevna gets to the city to the governor. She gives the porter a “tight money”, but he does not let her through, but sends her away to come in two hours. Matryona sees how a drake escaped from the hands of the cook and he rushed after him.

And how he screams!

Such was the cry, what a soul

Enough - I almost fell,

So they scream under the knife!

When the drake was caught, Matrena, running away, thinks: "The gray drake will subside under the chef's knife!" She reappears in front of the governor's house, where the porter takes from her another "virgin" one, and then in his "closet" gives her tea to drink. Matrona throws herself at the governor's feet. She becomes ill. When she comes to, she learns that she has given birth to a son. The governor, Elena Alexandrovna, who had no children, listened to the woman in labor, took care of the child, baptized him herself and chose his name, and then sent a messenger to the village to sort everything out. The husband was saved. Song of praise for the governor.

woman's parable

Wanderers drink to the governor's health. Since then, Matryona was "nicknamed the governor's wife." She has five sons. "Peasant orders are endless - they already took one!" "... We burned twice ... God visited us three times with anthrax."

The mountains didn't move

Fell on the head

God is not a thunderbolt

In anger he pierced his chest,

For me - quiet, invisible -

The storm has passed,

Will you show her?

For a mother that has been scolded,

Like a trampled snake,

The blood of the firstborn has passed

For me insults are mortal

Gone unpaid

And the whip passed over me!

Matrena Timofeevna says that it is useless for wanderers to "look for a happy woman among women."

Matryona Timofeevna recalls the words of the holy praying woman:

Keys to female happiness

From our free will Abandoned, lost in God himself!

Those keys are constantly looking for "the desert fathers, and the blameless wives, and the scribes-readers."

Yes, they are unlikely to be found ...

LATER

(From the second part)

On the way, the wanderers see a hayfield. Wanderers came to the Volga, where haystacks stand in the meadows and peasant families live. They missed work.

They take braids from seven women and mow them down. Music comes from the river. The man, whose name is Vlas, reports that the landowner is in the boat. Three boats are approaching, in which sit an old landowner, hangers-on, servants, three barchonok, two ladies, two mustachioed gentlemen.

The old landowner finds fault with one stack and demands that the hay be dried. They cater to him in every way. The landowner with his retinue goes to breakfast. The wanderers ask Vlas, who turned out to be a steward, about the landowner, perplexed that he is the one who disposes of it at a time when serfdom has already been abolished. The wanderers take out a "self-assembled tablecloth", and Vlas begins to tell.

Vlas says that their landowner, Prince Utyatin, is "special." After a quarrel with the governor, he had a stroke - the left half of his body was taken away.

Lost for a dime!

It is known, not self-interest,

And arrogance cut him off,

He lost his sorinko.

Pakhom recalls that, being in prison on suspicion, he saw a peasant.

For horse stealing, it seems

He was sued, his name was Sidor,

So from the prison to the master

He sent a tribute!

Vlas continues the story. Sons and wives appeared. When the master recovered, his sons informed him that serfdom had been abolished. He calls them traitors. They, fearing to be left without an inheritance, decide that they will indulge him. The sons persuade the peasants to pretend that serfdom has not been abolished. One of the peasants, Ipat, declares: “You have fun! And I'm a serf of the Duck princes - and that's the whole story! With emotion, Ipat reminisces about how the prince harnessed him to the cart, how he bought him in the hole and gave him vodka, how he put him on the goats to play the violin, how he fell and the sleigh ran over him, and the prince left, how the prince returned for him and he was grateful to him. Sons are ready to give good "promises" for silence. Everyone agrees to play comedy.

Let's go to an intermediary:

Laughing! "It's a good thing

And the meadows are good,

Fool around, God forgives!

Not in Rus', you know

Shut up and bow down

Forbid anyone!”

Vlas did not want to be a steward: “Yes, I didn’t want to be a gorokhov jester.” They volunteered to be Klim Lavin, “both a drunkard and unclean at hand. It doesn’t work to work, ”says that“ no matter how you suffer from work, you will not be rich, but you will be a hunchback! Vlas is left as a burgher, and the old gentleman is told that Klim, who has a "clay conscience", has become him. The old orders are back. Looking at how the old prince disposes of his estate, the peasants laugh at him.

Klim reads orders to the peasants; from one it follows that the house of the widow Terentyeva has collapsed and she is forced to beg, and therefore she must marry Gavrila Zhokhov and the house should be repaired. The widow is already close to seventy, and Gavrila is a six-year-old child. Another order says that the shepherds should "calm down the cows" so that they do not wake the master. From the next order it was clear that the watchman's "dog is disrespectful", barked at the master, and therefore the watchman must be driven away and Eremka appointed. He is deaf and mute from birth.

Agap Petrov refuses to obey the old order. The old master finds him stealing wood, and he calls the landowner a jester. Peasant souls possession It's over. You are the last!

You are the last! By grace

Peasant our stupidity

Today you are in charge

And tomorrow we'll follow

Pink - and the ball is over!

Here Utyatin had a second blow. From the new order it followed that Agapa should be punished "for unparalleled audacity." Agapa begin to persuade the whole world. Klim drinks with him for a day and then brings him to the manor's yard. The old prince is sitting on the porch. In front of Agap at the stable they put a damask of wine and ask to shout louder. The peasant screams so that the landowner takes pity on him. Drunk Agap was carried home. He was not destined to live long, because soon "Klim the shameless ruined him, anathema, with a blame!"

Gentlemen are sitting at the table: the old prince, on the sides are two young ladies, three boys, their nanny, “Last sons”, obsequious servants: teachers, poor noblewomen; the lackeys make sure that the flies do not bother him, they assent to him from everywhere. The master's steward, when asked by the master whether the haymaking will soon be completed, speaks of the "master's term." Utyatin laughs: “The master’s term is the whole life of a slave!” The steward says: "Everything is yours, everything is master's!"

It's written for you

Watch over the stupid peasantry,

And we work, obey,

Pray for the Lord!

One man laughs. Utyatin demands punishment. The steward turns to the wanderers, asks one of them to confess, but they only nod at each other. The sons of the Last say that "a rich man ... a Petersburger" was laughing. "Our orders are wonderful to him so far as a curiosity." Utyatin calms down only after the burmistrov's godfather asks him to forgive her son, who laughed, since he is an unintelligent boy.

Utyatin does not deny himself anything: he drinks champagne without measure, “pinches beautiful daughters-in-law”; music and singing are heard, girls are dancing; he ridicules his sons and their wives, who dance before his eyes. To the song of the “blond lady”, the Last falls asleep, and he is transferred to the boat. Klim says:

Do not know about the new will,

Die as you lived, landowner,

To the songs of our slaves,

To the music of servile -

Yes, just hurry up!

Let the peasant rest!

Everyone will know that after eating the master had a new stroke, as a result of which he died. The peasants rejoice, but in vain, because "with the death of the Last, the caress of the lord disappeared."

The sons of the landlord "compete with the peasants to this day." Vlas was in St. Petersburg, now he lives in Moscow, he is trying to stand up for the peasants, but he does not succeed.

PIR - FOR THE WHOLE WORLD

(From the second part)

Dedicated to Sergei Petrovich Botkin

Introduction

Klim Yakovlich organized a feast in the village. “Vlas the headman” sent his son for the parish deacon Tryphon, with whom his sons, seminarians, Savvushka and Grisha, also came.

Simple guys, kind,

Mowed, reaped, sowed

And drank vodka on holidays

equal to the peasantry.

When the prince died, the peasants did not suspect that they would have to decide what to do with the flooded meadows.

And after drinking a glass,

First of all, they argued:

How should they be with the meadows?

They decide "to hand over the meadows to the headman - on taxes: everything is weighed, calculated, just quitrent and taxes, with a surplus."

After that, "continuous clamor and songs began." They ask Vlas if he agrees with this decision. Vlas "was sick of the whole vakhlachin", he honestly carried out his service, but now he was thinking how to live "without corvée ... without taxation ... without a stick ... is it true, Lord?"

1. Bitter times - bitter songs

- Eat prison, Yasha!

There is no milk!

"Where is our cow?"

— Take away, my light!

Master for offspring Took her home.

It is glorious for the people to live In Rus', a saint!

"Where are our chickens?" —

The girls are yelling.

- Don't yell, 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'!

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

Puzznet belly 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 master's stables to his wife~.

Peasants remember the old order.

Day is hard labor, but night?

-L silently got drunk,

Kissed in silence

The fight went on in silence.

One of the peasants says that their young lady Gertruda Aleksandrovna ordered that the one who says a strong word be punished ... and the peasant does not bark - it’s the only thing to be silent. When the peasants “celebrated their freedom,” they swore so hard that the priest was offended.

Vikenty Alexandrovich, nicknamed "Exit", tells about the "opportunity" that happened to them.

About the exemplary serf - Jacob the faithful

The landowner Polivanov, who “bought a village with bribes” and was distinguished by cruelty, giving his daughter in marriage, quarreled with his son-in-law, and therefore ordered him to be whipped, and kicked him out with his daughter without any gifts.

In the teeth of an exemplary slave,

Jacob the faithful

Like he was blowing with his heel.

Yakov was more faithful than a dog, he pleased his master, and the harder the owner punished him, the sweeter he was for him. The bartender's legs hurt. He constantly calls his servant to serve him.

Yakov's nephew decided to marry the girl Arisha and turned to the master for permission. Despite the fact that Yakov asks for his nephew, he gives Grisha to the soldiers, since he has his own intentions regarding the girl. Jacob got drunk and disappeared. The landowner is uneasy, he is used to his faithful servant. Two weeks later, Jacob appears. The servant takes Polivanov to his sister through the forest and turns into a remote place, where he throws the reins over the bough and hangs himself, telling the master that he will not dirty his hands with murder. The master calls people for help, spends the whole night in the Devil's ravine. The hunter finds him. At home, Polivanov laments: “I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!"

The peasants decide who is more sinful - "tavern owners", "landlords" or, as Ignaty Prokhorov said, "muzhiks". “We should listen to him,” but the peasants did not let him say a word. “Eremin, the brother of the merchant, who bought anything from the peasants,” says that “robbers” are the most sinful of all. Klim Lavin fights him and wins. Suddenly, Ionushka enters the conversation.

2. Wanderers and pilgrims

Ionushka says that wanderers and pilgrims are different.

people's conscience:

Got tired of the decision

What is more misfortune here,

Than lies - they are served.

It happens that "the wanderer will turn out to be a thief", "there are great masters to please the ladies."

Others don't do good

And evil is not seen behind him,

You won't understand otherwise. ^

Ionushka tells a story about the holy fool Fomushka, who "lives like a god." He called people to flee to the forests, was arrested and taken to prison, but from the cart he shouted to the peasants: “... they beat you with sticks, rods, whips, you will be beaten with iron rods!” The next morning came to understand the military team. She carried out interrogations, pacification, so that Fomushka's words were almost justified.

After that, Ionushka tells another story about God's messenger Euphrosyne. She appears in the cholera years and "buries, heals, fusses with the sick."

If there is a wanderer in the family, then the owners follow him, “wouldn’t shave anything,” and women listen to stories on long winter evenings, which the “wretched and timid” have a lot of: how the Turks drowned the monks of Athos in the sea.

Who has seen how he listens

Of their passing wanderers

peasant family,

Understand that no work

Not eternal care

Nor the yoke of long slavery,

No taverns themselves

More Russian people

No limits set:

Before him is a wide path!

Soil is good

The soul of the Russian people...

O sower! come!..

Iona Lyapushkin was a pilgrim and a wanderer. The peasants were arguing about who would give him shelter first, and icons were brought out to meet him. Jonah went with those whose icon he liked best, often behind the poorest. Jonah tells a parable about two great sinners.

About two great sinners

This story is very ancient. Jonah learned about it from Father Pitirim in Solovki. The ataman of the twelve robbers was Kudeyar. They hunted in the forest, robbed, shed human blood. Kudeyar took a beautiful girl out of Kyiv.

Suddenly, the leader of the robbers began to imagine the people he had killed. He “blew off his mistress’s head and spotted the Yesaul”, and then “an old man in monastic clothes” returned to his native land, where he tirelessly prays to the Lord to forgive him his sins. An angel appears, pointing to a huge oak tree, telling Kudeyar that the Lord will forgive his sins if he cuts the tree with the same knife that killed people.

Kudeyar began to fulfill God's command. Pan Glukhovsky is passing by, he is interested in what he is doing. He heard a lot of terrible things about Pan Kudeyar himself, and therefore told him about himself.

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!

Kudeyar pounces on Glukhovsky and plunges a knife into his heart. Immediately after this, the oak falls. Thus, the hermit "rolled down ... the burden of sins."

3. Old and new

Jonah leaves on the ferry. Again the peasants start talking about sins. Vlas says that "the sin of the nobility is great." Ignat Prokhorov talks about peasant sin.

Peasant sin

The empress granted one admiral eight thousand souls of peasants for the service, for the battle with the Turks near Ochakovo. Being near death, the admiral gives the headman, whose name was Gleb, a casket. This casket contains a will, according to which all its peasants receive freedom.

A distant relative of the admiral came to the estate, learned from the headman about the will, promised him "mountains of gold." And then the will was burned.

The peasants agree with Ignat that this is a great sin. The wanderers sing a song.

hungry

The man is standing

swaying

A man is walking

Don't breathe!

From its bark

swelled up,

Longing trouble

Exhausted.

Darker face

Glass

Not seen

At the drunk.

Goes - puffs,

Walks and sleeps

Went there

Where the rye is noisy.

How the idol became

On the strip

"Rise, rise,

Rye is mother!

I am your plowman

Pankratushka!

I'll eat the rug

mountain mountain,

Eat a cheesecake

With a big table!

Eat all alone

I manage myself.

Whether mother or son

Ask - I will not give!

The deacon's son Grigory approaches the countrymen, who look sadly. Grisha Dobrosklonov talks about the freedom of the peasants and that "there will be no new Gleb in Rus'." The deacon, father, “wept over Grisha: “God will create a little head! It’s not for nothing that he rushes to Moscow, to the new city!” Vlas wishes him gold, silver, a smart and healthy wife. He replies that he does not need all this, since he wants something else:

So that my countrymen

And every peasant

Lived freely and cheerfully

All over holy Rus'!

When it began to get light, among the poor, the peasants saw a “beaten man”, who was attacked with cries of “beat him!”, “Yegor Shutov - beat him!”. Fourteen villages “driven him away, as if through a system!”

A cart with hay rides, on which soldier Ovsyannikov sits with his niece Ustinyushka. He was fed by the district committee, but the instrument broke. Ovsyannikov bought "three yellow spoons", "in due time he came up with new words, and the spoons went into action." The headman asks him to sing. The soldier 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 compares Ovsyannikov with a deck on which he has been chopping wood since his youth, saying that "it is not so wounded." The soldier did not receive a full pension, since the doctor's assistant recognized his wounds as second-class. Ovsyannikov had to apply again with a petition. “They measured the wounds with versts and estimated each one a little more than a copper penny.”

4. Good time - good songs

The feast ended in the morning. The people go home. Swinging, Savva and Grisha lead their father home. They sing a song.

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!

Tryphon lived very poorly. The children put their father to bed. Savva starts reading a book. Grisha goes to the fields, to the meadows. He has a thin face, because in the seminary the seminarians were malnourished because of the "grabber-economist." He was the favorite son of his now deceased mother, Domna, who "thought about salt all her life." Peasant women sing a song called "Salty". It says that the mother gives her son a piece of bread, and he asks to sprinkle it with salt. The mother sprinkles flour, but the son "twisted his mouth." Tears drip on a piece of bread.

Missed mother -

Saved my son.-

Know, salt

There was a tear!

Grisha often remembered this song, grieved for his mother, the love for which merged in his soul with the love for all the peasants, for whom he is ready to die.

In the middle of the world

For a free heart

There are two ways.

Weigh the proud strength

Weigh your firm will,

How to go?

One spacious

The road is tortuous,

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.

Boils there eternal

Inhuman

feud-war

For mortal blessings...

There are captive souls

Full of sin.

Looks shiny

There life is deadly

Good deaf.

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

Join their ranks.

Go to the downtrodden

Go to the offended -

You are needed 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.

In another of his songs, Gregory believes that, despite the fact that his country has suffered a lot, it will not perish, as "the Russian people are gathering strength and learning to be a citizen."

Seeing a barge hauler who, after work, clinking copper in his pocket, goes to a tavern, Grigory sings the following song:

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 invoked -

Rus' does not stir

Rus' is dead!

And lit up in it

The hidden spark

We got up - unwary,

Came out - uninvited,

Live by the grain

Mountains of Nanogeens!

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 proud of his songs, because "he sang the embodiment of the happiness of the people!"