Tales for adults Saltykov Shchedrin short. "fairy tales" m

Deciding nevertheless to complete the planned cycle of fairy tales, Saltykov really resorted to “breaking” within the genre, which had a very noticeable effect on Chizhikov Gora, the first fairy tale written after the closure of Fatherland Notes and published in December 1884 in Russian statements". The tale is a satire on the bourgeois-noble family. Saltykov was not satisfied with the fairy tale. “I feel,” he wrote to Sobolevsky on January 9, 1885, “that two or three “Chizhikov’s grief” and the reputation of my fairy tales will be significantly undermined. Perhaps Feoktistov told the truth that particular things are not at all suitable for me” (XX, 122). And after "Chizhikov's grief" Saltykov continues to work intensively on fairy tales ("Such a verse attacked me," he writes on January 9, 1885 to V. M. Sobolevsky). But, intensifying their fantastic coloring, he refuses "particular" plots as weakening, in his opinion, the power of satire.

Many fairy tales met with censorship obstacles when going to print, which affected the timing of their publication and obliged the author to make some mitigating corrections. For the legal publication of The Petitioner Crow, which had undergone two years of ordeal, it was necessary to muffle a number of the most poignant passages, and it appeared only on the eve of Saltykov's death. The tales “The Bear in the Voivodship”, “The Dried Vobla”, “The Eagle-Patron” and “The Bogatyr” during the life of the author could not break through the censorship barriers at all.

The censored history of fairy tales testifies to Saltykov's exceptional ideological steadfastness. Of course, some muting of the ideological sharpness of the works was inevitable. However, the writer's desire to overcome censorship obstacles by means of allegorical skill remained constant.

Censorship delays and prohibitions determined the breadth of the underground distribution of fairy tales in Russia and their reproduction in the foreign emigre press. The circle of fairy tales illegally printed or published abroad is limited to eight works that have experienced censorship persecution to varying degrees. These are the Wise Scribbler, Selfless Hare, Poor Wolf, Virtues and Vices, Bear in the Voivodeship, Deceiver Newspaperman and Gullible Reader, Dried Vobla, Eagle Patron.

In Russia, fairy tales were distributed in small editions in lithographed and hectographed editions, carried out by the Flying Hectography of the People's Party, the All-Student Union, and the Public Benefits hectography. They were usually printed according to lists or uncorrected proof proofs of Otechestvennye Zapiski, in connection with which they contained a large number of errors and deviations from the final text of the tale. In 1883, the first free hectography "Public Benefit" published brochures under the title "Tales for Children fair age. M. E. Saltykov”, which included “ wise scribbler», « selfless hare"," The poor wolf. This edition during 1883 (before the publication of fairy tales in Otechestvennye Zapiski) was published eight times in different formats (six times with the date of issue and two times without). The publication was distributed by the participants " People's Will”, as evidenced by the seal (“Narodnaya Volya Book Agents”) on a number of surviving copies. One of the publications with a release date, unlike all the others, contains only one fairy tale - "The Wise Piskar".

This was followed by illegal editions of fairy tales seized by Saltykov from the proof proofs of the February issue of Otechestvennye Zapiski for 1884. In the spring and summer of 1884, two illegal editions appeared in Moscow, reproducing the fairy tales “The Bear in the Voivodeship” and “Virtue and Vices” on uncorrected galley proofs. "Domestic Notes". The first of them, printed by the Flying Hectography of the People's Party, had the title "New Tales of Shchedrin." Apparently, it appeared at the beginning of May 1884: under the handwritten text of fairy tales, the signature is “Shchedrin” and the date is “April 29, 1884”. In the same year, two issues of a lithographed edition appeared under the title “(New) fairy tales for children of a fair age. Shchedrin”, carried out by the All-Student Union. In the first issue, "Virtue and Vices" and "A Bear in the Voivodship" were printed, in the second - "Dried Vobla" and "Deceiver-newspaperman and gullible reader." In 1892, by that time, not allowed for printing, appeared as a separate hectographed edition of Dried Vobla note_272, and in 1901 - The Eagle Patron. The last edition was carried out "in favor of the Kyiv fund for assistance to political exiles and prisoners of the Red Cross" note_273.

Of particular interest is the second issue of Fairy Tales for Children of a Fair Age, lithographed in 1884 in Moscow by the All-Student Union and including the fairy tales The Dried Vobla and The Deceiver-Newsman and the Gullible Reader. This issue, very rare (only four copies are known), attracts attention with its design and preface, entitled "To the Russian Society from the Moscow Central Circle of the All-Student Union." Cover drawing made by by an unknown artist, is a half-open curtain. On its closed part, the title of the collection, the author's surname and imprint are indicated, while the ajar part presents the reader with the behind-the-scenes side of autocratic reality: here is the site where the quarterly delivers the "ill-intentioned" by the scruff of the neck, the editorial office of the "Slop" newspaper, representatives of the emerging bourgeoisie, captured by the writer in images Derunovs and Razuvaevs, a peasant robbed by them, one of Shchedrin's "bastards", scribbling a denunciation, in the very corner - a character from the fairy tale "The Sane Hare", and next to them a policeman in full form and the pig helping him, grabbing the raised part of the curtain, are trying to lower it so that the reader does not see the ugliness of the reality that opens before him. Reflecting the close connection and interweaving of Shchedrin's satire with modern reality, the artist at the same time emphasized its revolutionary role and the fear of it by the ruling classes in Russia. The same idea is reinforced by a brief preface, which speaks of the attitude of Russian society to the closure of the Notes of the Fatherland and calls for a fight against the oppressors.

The "Tales" of Saltykov-Shchedrin played a huge role in revolutionary propaganda, and in this respect they stand out among all other works of the satirist. As numerous memoirs of leaders of the revolutionary populist movement testify, the satirist's fabulous miniatures were a constant and effective ideological weapon in their revolutionary practice note_274. The frequent appeals of populist propaganda to the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin are predetermined by their social sharpness and the strength of the psychological impact on the reader. Moreover, at his disposal were mostly forbidden fairy tales, which had a strong impact on the masses from the point of view of instilling hatred for the autocratic serf system and its moral and social way of life. Saltykov's "Tales" "had a revolutionary influence," recalled P.R. Rovensky, a member of the populist movement, note_275. And this influence was deep and lasting. Reading the memoirs of the populists written later, we catch many nuances of their relationship to the legacy of Saltykov-Shchedrin and once again become convinced of the enduring significance that his works - and above all "Tales" - played in the revolutionary development of Russian society.

Foreign publications of fairy tales were initially made on the pages of the newspaper Common Cause, which was published in Geneva with the direct participation of N. A. Belogolovy, one of the writer's closest friends. The Wise Piskar, The Selfless Hare, The Poor Wolf, The Virtues and Vices, The Bear in the Voivodship (Toptygin 1st), The Dried Vobla, and The Eagle Patron were printed here. Soon after the newspaper publication, these works were published by M. Elpidin's publishing house in Geneva in the form of collections and separate brochures.

As in the Russian illegal press, the first booklet published in Geneva in 1883 was “Three Tales for Children of a Fair Age. N. Shchedrin", which contained "The Wise Scribbler", "The Selfless Hare" and "The Poor Wolf". Subsequently, this pamphlet was republished by M. Elpidin in 1890 and 1895, and in 1903 it was published in Berlin by G. Steinitz as the 69th edition of the Collection of the Best Russian Works.

In 1886, the publishing house of M. Elpidin published the second collection under the title “New Tales for Children of a Fair Age. N. Shchedrin. It included Virtues and Vices, Bear in the Voivodeship and Dried Vobla. In the 90s. a photomechanical reproduction of this collection appeared twice (in 1893; the third edition was published without a year). In 1903, G. Steinitz published this pamphlet in Berlin as the 72nd edition of the Collection of the Best Russian Works. Simultaneously with the named edition, in 1886, Elpidin's publishing house published the fairy tale "The Eagle-Maecenas" as a separate brochure. This tale in 1891 and 1898. was republished by Elpidin, and in 1904 it was included in the brochure “Three Revolutionary Satires” (“Collection of the Best Russian Works”, issue 77) published in Berlin by G. Steinitz, in Berlin a year earlier I. Rede carried out separate edition fairy tales "Bear in the Voivodeship".

Saltykov managed to write not all of the fairy tales planned for the cycle. According to Saltykov's letters, the memoirs of Belogolovoy and L.F. Panteleev, the titles and partly the content of unrealized fairy tales are known. Saltykov informed Nekrasov about the first of them on May 22, 1869: “I want to write children's story under the title: “The Tale of How One Sexton Wanted to Serve as Bishop,” and dedicate it to Ant (onovich)” (XVIII, book 2, p. 26). On February 8, 1884, he wrote to Mikhailovsky: “It’s terribly insulting: I conceived a fairy tale called “Colorful People” to write (there is already a hint about this in the fairy tale “Dried Vobla”), when suddenly I see that Uspensky is interpreting the same subject! note_276. Well, yes, I’ll take mine not today, but tomorrow ”(XIX, book 2, p. 279). The idea of ​​the tale in 1886 was transformed into the last of the Motley Letters.

On May 13, 1885, Saltykov informed Sobolevsky that he was writing a new fairy tale“Dogs”, which is going to be sent to Russkiye Vedomosti soon. The tale, obviously, was not written, since no further mention of it is found in Saltykov's letters (XX, 181, 182).

As Belogolovy testifies, in the middle of 1885, simultaneously with Bogatyr, Saltykov planned to write two more tales - The Forgotten Balalaika and The Sun and Pigs, "but both of these tales had not yet been sufficiently thought out by him" note_277. In the first of them, as the memoirist points out, Saltykov wanted to present the ideologist of the late Slavophilism, I. S. Aksakov. In the second, the satirist, apparently, intended to develop the idea of ​​that dramatic scene, which, under the title "The Triumphant Pig, or the Conversation of the Pig with the Truth," was included in the sixth chapter of the essays "Abroad." Recall that the pig begins its attack on the Truth by denying the existence of the sun in the sky, declaring: "But in my opinion, all these suns are one false doctrine." It is well known that the reactionaries usually called the ideas of democracy and socialism “false doctrine”. Apparently, Saltykov intended to dedicate the fairy tale "The Sun and the Pigs" to the defense of precisely these ideas.

The sixth of the fairy tales unrealized by the satirist is on the topic of an exiled revolutionary who, despite all the persecution, remains adamant in his convictions. From Saltykov's letters it is known that in 1875-1876. he was going to write the story "Lousy" - about tragic fate and the courage of a revolutionary, whose prototype should have been Chernyshevsky or Petrashevsky. Cycle " cultured people”, for which the story was designed, remained unfinished. Ten years later, Saltykov wanted to dedicate a fairy tale to the same topic and spoke of it to Panteleev as “almost finished”: “I bring out a person who lives in big city, takes a conscious and active part in the course of public life, influences it herself, and suddenly, by magic, finds herself in the middle of the Siberian deserts. At first, she lives by the continuation of those interests that only yesterday agitated her, she feels as if in the midst of struggling passions; but gradually the images begin to recede into the distance; a kind of fog descends, the outlines of the past barely emerge, finally everything disappears, dead silence reigns. Only occasionally, on an impenetrable night, is the ringing of the bell of a passing troika heard, and the words reach him: “Are you still not corrected?” note_278. This idea was reflected in the fairy tales "The Fool" and "The Adventure with Kramolnikov".

The table below contains information about the appearance of fairy tales in the Russian legal, illegal and émigré press note_279.

1. The story of how one man fed two generals / OZ. 1869. No. 2

2. Lost conscience / OZ. 1869. No. 2

3. wild landlord/oz. 1869. No. 3

4. Toy business people / OZ. 1880.№1

5. Wise scribbler/OZ. 1884. No. 1 / "Tales for children of a fair age" (1883) / OD. 1883 September

6. Selfless hare / OZ. 1884. No. 1 / "Tales for children of a fair age" (1883) / OD. 1883 September

8. Karas-idealist / Sat. "XXV years". (St. Petersburg, 1884) / "Tales for children of a fair age" (1883) / OD. 1883 September

9. Virtues and vices / Sat. "XXV years". (St. Petersburg, 1884) / "New Tales of Shchedrin" (1884) / OD. 1884 November

10. Deceiver-newspaperman and gullible reader / Sat. "XXV years". (St. Petersburg, 1884) / "(New fairy tales for children of a fair age. Shchedrin" (M., 1884. Issue 2) / OD. 1884, November

26. Hyena/Sat. "23 Tales" (St. Petersburg, 1886)

28. Raven petitioner / Sat. "In memory of V.M. Garshin" (St. Petersburg, 1889)

32. Dried vobla/Full. coll. op. in 20 volumes (M., 1937. Vol. 16) / "(New fairy tales for children of a fair age. Shchedrin" / "(New fairy tales for children of a fair age. N. Shchedrin" (Geneve. 1886)

Censorship persecution did not allow the satirist to give a complete set of his tales. In September 1886, the first edition of the collection of fairy tales appeared - "23 Tales", and in October 1887 - the second, supplemented by "A Christmas Tale". These collections did not include eight fairy tales. Saltykov did not include three fairy tales of 1869 (“The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals”, “The Conscience Lost”, “The Wild Landowner”) because they had already been published three times and last time in a book that has not yet been sold out note_280. The collection also did not include five fairy tales that did not receive censorship permission (“Bear in the Voivodeship”, “Eagle-Maecenas”, “Dried Vobla”, “Crow Petitioner”, “Bogatyr”).

The publication of fairy tales in cheap pamphlets intended for mass distribution among the people, conceived by Saltykov in 1887, did not take place either. The book "23 Tales" was allowed by censorship in two editions, and the publication of the same fairy tales, but in separate brochures, was banned. At first glance, the actions of the censorship authorities seem inconsistent, but close acquaintance with the surviving record keeping convinces of the opposite. The journal of the St. Petersburg Censorship Committee dated April 15, 1887 reports that “Mr. Saltykov’s intention is to publish some of his fairy tales in separate pamphlets that cost no more than three kopecks, and therefore, for common people more than strange. What Mr. Saltykov calls fairy tales does not at all correspond to its name; his tales are the same satire, and caustic, tendentious satire, more or less directed against our social and political structure. They ridicule not only vices, but also established authorities, and the upper classes, and established national habits. These tales, appearing from time to time in periodicals, constantly arouse doubts in the press-monitoring authorities as to whether they should be banned. And Mr. Saltykov wants to propagate such and such works among the simple, uneducated population. This is not the kind of food that a simple people needs, whose morality God knows how stable without that” note_281. The conclusion of the censorship committee testifies that the authorities were well aware of the revolutionary influence of Shchedrin's works, including fairy tales, on the broad masses of Russian society and tried by all means to weaken this influence and prevent the distribution of fairy tales in large print runs of cheap publications.

IN recent months life, Saltykov was preparing for publication a collection of his works, in which he intended to give full cycle fairy tales. However, this time, in volume VIII of the Collected Works, published in 1889, after the death of the author, only twenty-eight works of the fairy-tale cycle were placed - the Tale of That ..., The Conscience Lost and The Wild Landowner were added, but Of the fairy tales that had not previously been censored, only The Raven Petitioner got here, which by this time still managed to be printed in the collection “In Memory of Garshin”. The fairy tales “The Bear in the Voivodeship”, “The Eagle-Patron” and “The Dried Vobla”, which were distributed in Russian and foreign underground publications, were legally published in Russia only in 1906, in the fifth edition Complete collection works of Saltykov, published by A. F. Marx (Appendix to "Niva"). The fairy tale "Bogatyr" was lost in the writer's archive and was first published only in 1922, and added to the collection of fairy tales in 1927 note_282. Thus, the fairy tale cycle, created in 1869-1886, became available to the reader in its entirety only forty years after its completion.

Literature about Saltykov-Shchedrin, fascinating wide circle issues related to his social, artistic, literary-critical and journalistic practice is extensive. From the moment the "Provincial Essays" appeared, criticism has closely followed the development of the satirist's work. True, the value of lifetime literature about him is negligible. The only exceptions are the articles by Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov about the "Provincial Essays", which have enduring scientific significance, and partly by N.K. Mikhailovsky's articles about the works created by the writer in the 70s and 80s.

Liberal populist criticism, which dominated during the heyday of the writer's literary activity, did not put forward such representatives who would be able to give a deep and correct interpretation of the revolutionary democratic satire of Saltykov-Shchedrin. critical thought 1870-80s was aware of the futility of her attempts to penetrate the secrets of Shchedrin's satire, to explain its true meaning and role in social and social development. One of its prominent representatives A. M. Skabichevsky wrote: “Such powerful writers as Shchedrin require critics equal to them in size, and, to the greatest regret, it is unlikely that Shchedrin will receive such a correct and deep assessment during his lifetime. deserves. In this respect, he shares the same fate with Gogol, who still remains unexamined and unappreciated comprehensively. And still - for such talents Belinskys and Dobrolyubovs are required ”note_283.

The current Russian criticism has touched slightly on fairy tales, but to appreciate them, to reveal their ideological and artistic aspects I could not. True, these satirical miniatures, appearing at the time of the most difficult reaction of the 1980s, immediately took their place in the revolutionary-democratic and literary-social movement, they were closely followed by all progressive Russia, reading them in legal newspapers and magazines, getting acquainted with them in lists, hectographed editions and thin Elpidin pamphlets with forbidden works of the cycle. The role of the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin in the spiritual life of the then society consisted primarily in the fact that they brought up hatred for autocracy and serfdom, awakened the self-consciousness of the people, affirmed their faith in a brighter future. In order to understand the peculiarities of the existence of Shchedrin's fairy tales in Russian society of that time, it is necessary to consider the most significant moments of this process, associated with performances modern Saltykov(lifetime) criticism - bourgeois-liberal and populist criticism.

The perception of Shchedrin's tales by current Russian criticism is largely due to the nature of their publication: they were printed as separate satirical miniatures, not yet combined for the reader and critics. common thought(this will become clear later), and for the writer himself, they have not yet formed into a single fairy-tale cycle, the breaking of which was carried out repeatedly in the process of its creation. Therefore, criticism took a wait-and-see attitude, considering the tales appearing in different publications as separate speeches by the satirist, carried out outside the usual cycles for Saltykov. Therefore, during the period of the most intensive work on fairy tales in the Russian press, the Poshekhon stories, Motley Letters and Little Things in Life, published at the same time, were considered more often and more consistently than fairy tales that appeared from time to time. The breakdown associated with censorship circumstances and the closure of Otechestvennye Zapiski led to the fact that one of the most outstanding and by nature final cycle in the work of the satirist received the most insignificant reflection in criticism. The rare reviews that appeared in various magazines and newspapers were most often of an overview and informational nature and the ideological and aesthetic content of fairy tales, their role in social and revolutionary reality was almost never touched upon.

The process of perception of fairy tales by Russian critics begins in 1869, when the first fairy tales appeared. However, criticism was not immediately able to discern their social meaning and see in the fairy tales “The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals”, “The Conscience Lost” and “The Wild Landowner” the beginning of a new satirical cycle in the writer's work. Focusing on the common title (“For Children”), critics for the most part considered the first fairy tales as works really intended for children, works full of humor and belonging to a writer whose talent “has not yet faded and, perhaps, has not weakened, he still no stretch is visible, which is so noticeable in our other accusers or laughers ”note_284. Ranking Saltykov among the "accusers" and "laughers" is an attempt to obscure the true meaning of the great social and political satire contained in these works. True, with the appearance in the press of the entire cycle, criticism realized that the purpose of the first fairy tales “for children” was only a witty cover that allowed Saltykov to touch upon the most serious social and social problems in these works. public problems. “It goes without saying,” a critic of Russian Thought wrote in 1887, “that these fairy tales are not written for children at all, and some of them are far too “too tough” for very many adults” note_285. However, it is still impossible to judge the perception of fairy tales by Russian society on the basis of responses to their first samples, because the main works of the cycle are ahead and opinion about them will be formed by criticism of the second half of the 80s. However, "it will be formed" - it is said, perhaps, not quite accurately, because there were no serious works about fairy tales in the then Russian criticism, not a single great article about them was not.

The well-known writer Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin was a truly great creator. As an official, he masterfully denounced the ignorant nobles and praised the simple Russian people. Tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, the list of which includes more than a dozen, are the property of our classical literature.

"Wild Landlord"

All Mikhail Evgrafovich's fairy tales are written with sharp sarcasm. With the help of heroes (animals or people), he ridicules not so much human vices as stupidity higher ranks. The tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, the list of which would be incomplete without the story of the wild landowner, help us to see the attitude of the nobles of the 19th century towards their serfs. The story is short, but it makes you think about many serious things.

Landowner with strange name Urus Kuchum Kildibaev lives for his own pleasure: he gathers a rich harvest, has luxurious housing and a lot of land. But one day he got tired of the abundance of peasants in his house and decided to get rid of them. The landowner prayed to God, but he did not heed his requests. He began to mock the peasants in every possible way, began to crush them with taxes. And then the Lord took pity on them, and they disappeared.

At first, the stupid landowner was happy: now no one bothered him. But later he began to feel their absence: no one prepared food for him, no one cleaned the house. The visiting generals and police officer called him a fool. But he did not understand why they treated him like that. As a result, he became so wild that he even became like an animal: he was overgrown with hair, climbed trees, and tore his prey with his hands and ate.

Saltykov-Shchedrin skillfully portrayed the satirical guise of the vices of a nobleman. The fairy tale "The Wild Landowner" shows how stupid a person can be who does not understand that he lived well only thanks to his peasants.

In the finale, all the serfs return to the landowner, and life flourishes again: meat is sold in the market, the house is clean and tidy. Yes, but Urus Kuchum never returned to its former appearance. He still hums, missing his former wild life.

"Wise Gudgeon"

Many from childhood remember the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, the list of which is not small: “How a man fed two generals”, “A bear in the province”, “Kissel”, “Konyaga”. True, we begin to understand the real meaning of these stories when we become adults.

Such is the tale wise gudgeon". He lived all his life and was afraid of everything: cancer, a water flea, a man, and even his own brother. Parents bequeathed to him: "Look at both!" And the scribbler decided to hide all his life and not come across anyone's eyes. And he lived like that for more than a hundred years. I haven't seen or heard anything in my entire life.

Saltykov-Shchedrin's tale "The Wise Gudgeon" makes fun of stupid people ready to live their whole lives in fear of any danger. Now the old fish-man thought about what he lived for. And he became so sad because he did not see white light. Decided to emerge from behind his driftwood. And after that no one saw him.

The writer laughs that even a pike will not eat such an old fish. The minnow in the work is called wise, but this is undoubtedly because it is extremely difficult to call him smart.

Conclusion

The tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin (listed above) have become a real treasure trove of Russian literature. How clearly and wisely the author describes human shortcomings! These stories have not lost their relevance in our time. In this they resemble fables.

"Domestic sheep from time immemorial live in enslavement to humans; their real ancestors are unknown." - Bram

Have domestic rams ever been "free" - history is silent about this. In the deepest antiquity, the patriarchs already possessed herds of tamed rams, and then, through all the ages, the ram passes spread over the whole face of the earth as an animal, as if deliberately created for the needs of man. Man, in turn, creates whole special breeds of sheep, which have almost nothing in common with each other. Some are brought up for meat, others for fat, others for warm sheepskins, and others for a rich and soft wave.

Another beast, probably, would have been touched by the selflessness of the hare, would not have limited himself to a promise, but now would have had mercy. But of all the predators found in temperate and northern climates, the wolf is the least accessible to generosity.

However, he is not so cruel of his own free will, but because his complexion is tricky: he cannot eat anything but meat. And in order to get meat food, he cannot act otherwise than to deprive a living being of life. In a word, he undertakes to commit villainy, robbery.

In a certain kingdom, the Bogatyr was born. Baba Yaga gave birth to him, brought him to drink, nursed him, groomed him, and when he Kolomna verst grew up, she herself went to rest in the desert, and let him go on all four sides: "Go, Bogatyr, perform feats!"

Of course, first of all, the Bogatyr hit the forest; he sees one oak stands - he uprooted it; he sees another standing - he broke him in half with his fist; sees the third one standing and there is a hollow in it - the Bogatyr climbed into the hollow and fell asleep.

The green oak-tree mother groaned from his rolling snores; fierce beasts fled from the forest, feathered birds flew; the goblin himself was so frightened that he took a lesha with leshas in his armful - and he was like that.

Trezorka served as a watchman at the storehouse of the Moscow 2nd guild of the merchant Vorotilov and guarded the master's goodness with an unsleeping eye. Never left the kennel; I didn’t even see the Zhivoderka, on which the storage shed stood, in a real way: from morning to evening, it jumps on chains, and it floods! Caveant consuls! [Let the consuls be vigilant! (lat.)]

And he was wise, he never barked at his own people, but all at strangers. It used to happen that the master's coachman would steal oats - Trezorka waving his tail, thinking: "How much does the coachman need!" And if a passer-by happens to go past the yard on his own business - Trezorka will hear somewhere else: "Ah, fathers, thieves!"

The merchant Vorotilov saw Trezorkin's service and said: "There is no price for this dog!" And if it happened to pass a dog kennel in the storehouse, he would certainly say: "Give Trezorka slop!" And Trezorka climbs out of her skin with delight: "We are glad to try, your degree! .. ham-am! rest, your degree, calmly ... ham ... am ... am ... am!"

The whole heart of the old raven ached. They exterminate the crow race: who is not lazy, everyone beats him. And at least for the sake of profit, otherwise just for fun. Yes, and the crow itself was exhausted. There is no trace of the former prophetic croaking; crows will shower the birch in a crowd and shout in vain: "Here we are!" Naturally, now - bang! - and a dozen or two in the flock as if it had never happened. The food of the former, free, also disappeared. The forests were cut down all around, the swamps were dried up, the animals were stolen - there is no way to feed yourself in an honest way. The crows began to dart around the gardens, orchards, and barnyards. And for this again - bang! - and again a dozen or two in the flock as if it had never happened! It’s good that crows are fruitful, otherwise who would pay tribute to the gyrfalcon, the hawk, and the golden eagle?

He, the old man, will begin to exhort his younger brothers: "Do not croak in vain! Do not fly around other people's gardens!" - Yes, only one answer is heard: “Nothing, you old horseradish, you don’t understand new things! It’s impossible not to steal, by now.

Vobla was caught, cleaned out the insides (only milk for the offspring was left) and hung on a string in the sun: let it dry. The roach hung for a day or two, and on the third, the skin on her belly wrinkled, and her head dried up, and the brain that was in her head was weathered, became flabby.

Look into any Zoology and look at the picture of the hyena. Her pointed muzzle speaks neither of slyness, nor of trickery, nor, all the less, of cruelty, but even seems pretty.

She makes this good impression thanks to her small eyes, in which benevolence shines. Other sharp-nosed ones have clear, quick, shining eyes, a hard, carnivorous gaze; her eyes are languid, moist, her gaze is benevolent, inviting to trust. Priests have such touching eyes when they gather, ad majorem Dei gloriam [to the greater glory of God (lat.)], in the conscience of the flock to rummage around.

In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a landowner, he lived and looked at the light and rejoiced. He had enough of everything: peasants, and bread, and cattle, and land, and gardens. And that landowner was stupid, he read the newspaper "Vest *" and his body was soft, white and crumbly.

Saltykov-Shchedrin (pseudonym - N. Shchedrin) Mikhail Evgrafovich- Russian satirist.

Born in the village of Spas-Ugol, Tver province, in the ancient noble family. Childhood years passed in family estate father in "... the years ... of the height of serfdom", in one of the back corners of Poshekhonye. Observations of this life will later be reflected in the books of the writer.

Having received good home education, Saltykov at the age of 10 was accepted as a boarder at the Moscow Noble Institute, where he spent two years, then in 1838 he was transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Here he began to write poetry, having been greatly influenced by the articles of Belinsky and Herzen, the works of Gogol.

In 1844, after graduating from the Lyceum, he served as an official in the Office of the War Ministry. "... Duty is everywhere, coercion is everywhere, boredom and lies are everywhere..." - this is how he characterized bureaucratic Petersburg. Another life attracted Saltykov more: communication with writers, visiting Petrashevsky's "Fridays", where philosophers, scientists, writers, military men gathered, united by anti-serfdom sentiments, the search for the ideals of a just society.

Saltykov's first stories "Contradictions" (1847), "A Tangled Case" (1848) with their sharp social issues drew the attention of the authorities, frightened French Revolution 1848. The writer was exiled to Vyatka for "... a harmful way of thinking and a pernicious desire to spread ideas that have already shaken the whole of Western Europe ...". For eight years he lived in Vyatka, where in 1850 he was appointed to the post of adviser to the provincial government. This made it possible to often go on business trips and observe the bureaucratic world and peasant life. The impressions of these years will have an impact on the satirical direction of the writer's work.

At the end of 1855, after the death of Nicholas I, having received the right to "live where he wants", he returned to St. Petersburg and resumed his literary work. In 1856 - 1857 were written " Provincial essays", published on behalf of the "court adviser N. Shchedrin", who became known to all reading Russia, who called him Gogol's heir.

At this time, he married the 17-year-old daughter of the Vyatka vice-governor, E. Boltina. Saltykov sought to combine the work of the writer with public service. In 1856 - 1858 he was an official special assignments in the Ministry of the Interior, where work was concentrated on the preparation of the peasant reform.

In 1858 - 1862 he served as vice-governor in Ryazan, then in Tver. He always tried to surround himself at his place of service with honest, young and educated people, dismissing bribe-takers and thieves.

During these years, short stories and essays appeared ("Innocent Stories", 1857㬻 "Satires in Prose", 1859 - 62), as well as articles on the peasant question.

In 1862, the writer retired, moved to St. Petersburg and, at the invitation of Nekrasov, joined the editorial office of the Sovremennik magazine, which at that time was experiencing enormous difficulties (Dobrolyubov died, Chernyshevsky was imprisoned in Peter and Paul Fortress). Saltykov took on an enormous amount of writing and editorial work. But the main attention was paid to the monthly review "Our public life", which became a monument of Russian journalism of the 1860s.

In 1864 Saltykov left the editorial office of Sovremennik. The reason was intra-journal disagreements on the tactics of social struggle in the new conditions. He returned to public service.

In 1865 - 1868 he headed the State Chambers in Penza, Tula, Ryazan; observations of the life of these cities formed the basis of "Letters on the Province" (1869). The frequent change of duty stations is explained by conflicts with the heads of the provinces, over whom the writer "laughed" in grotesque pamphlets. After a complaint from the Ryazan governor, Saltykov was dismissed in 1868 with the rank of real state councilor. Moved to St. Petersburg, accepted the invitation of N. Nekrasov to become co-editor of the magazine " Domestic notes", where he worked in 1868 - 1884. Saltykov now completely switched to literary activity. In 1869, he wrote "The History of a City" - the pinnacle of his satirical art.

In 1875 - 1876 he was treated abroad, visited countries Western Europe V different years life. In Paris he met with Turgenev, Flaubert, Zola.

In the 1880s, Saltykov's satire culminated in its rage and grotesque: " Modern idyll"(1877 - 83); "Lord Golovlevs" (1880); "Poshekhon stories" (1883㭐).

In 1884, the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski was closed, after which Saltykov was forced to publish in the journal Vestnik Evropy.

IN last years life the writer created his masterpieces: "Tales" (1882 - 86); "Little Things in Life" (1886 - 87); autobiographical novel "Poshekhonskaya antiquity" (1887 - 89).

A few days before his death, he wrote the first pages of a new work "Forgotten Words", where he wanted to remind the "variegated people" of the 1880s about the words they had lost: "conscience, fatherland, humanity ... others are still there ...".

M. Saltykov-Shchedrin died in St. Petersburg.