“It’s not always possible to find a happy one between men, let’s touch the women!” - the wanderers decide. They are advised to go to the village of Klin and ask Korchagina Matryona Timofeevna, whom everyone nicknamed “the governor’s wife.”
Wanderers come to the village: Every hut is supported, Like a beggar with a crutch; And the straw from the roofs was fed to the cattle. The poor houses stand like skeletons. At the gate, the wanderers meet a footman who explains that “the landowner is abroad, and the steward is dying.” Some men are catching small fish in the river and complaining that there used to be more fish. Peasants and servants take away whatever they can: One servant suffered at the door: unscrewed the copper handles; another was carrying some tiles... A gray-haired servant offers to buy foreign books for wanderers, he is angry that they refuse: What do you need smart books for?
Drinking signs for you Yes, the word “prohibited”, What is found on the pillars, Just read! Wanderers hear a beautiful bass singing a song in an unknown language. It turns out that “the singer of Novo-Arkhangelskaya, the gentlemen lured him from Little Russia.
They promised to take him to Italy, but they left.” Finally, the wanderers meet Matryona Timofeevna. Matryona Timofeevna A dignified woman, broad and dense, about thirty-eight years old.
Beautiful; gray hair, large, stern eyes, rich eyelashes, stern and dark. The wanderers tell why they set off on their journey, Matryona Timofeevna replies that she has no time to talk about her life - she has to reap rye. The wanderers promise to help her remove the rye; Matryona Timofeevna “began to open her whole soul to our wanderers.” Chapter 1 Before marriage I was lucky in girls: We had a good, non-drinking family. Behind the priest, behind the mother, Like in Christ’s bosom, Living...
It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. Finally, “the betrothed was found”: There is a stranger on the mountain! Philip Korchagin is a St. Petersburg worker, a stove maker by skill. The father cheated with the matchmakers and promised to give his daughter away. Matryona does not want to marry Philip, he persuades her and says that she will not offend her. In the end, Matryona Timofeevna agrees. Chapter 2 Songs Matryona Timofeevna ends up in someone else's house - with her mother-in-law and father-in-law.
The narration is interrupted from time to time by songs about the hard lot of a girl who got married “to someone else.” The family was huge, grumpy... I ended up in hell from my maiden holiday! My husband went to work, advised me to be silent, to be patient... As ordered, so it was done: I walked with anger in my heart, And I didn’t say too much to anyone. In winter, Filippushka came, brought a silk handkerchief, and took him for a ride on a sleigh on Catherine’s day, and as if there was no grief!.. Wanderers ask: “As if he didn’t beat you?
“Matryona Timofeevna replies that only once, when her husband’s sister arrived and he asked to give her shoes, but Matryona Timofeevna hesitated. On the Annunciation, Philip again goes to work, and on Kazan, Matryona had a son, who was named Demushkoy. Life in the house of her husband’s parents has become even more difficult, but Matryona endures: No matter what they tell me, I work, No matter how much they scold me, I remain silent. Of all my husband’s family, Savely, the grandfather, the parent of my father-in-law, felt sorry for me... Matryona Timofeevna asks the wanderers whether to tell about grandfather Savely, they are ready to listen. Chapter 3 Savely, the Holy Russian hero With a huge gray mane, Tea, twenty years uncut, With a huge beard, Grandfather looked like a bear...
According to fairy tales, he is already a hundred years old. Grandfather lived in a special room, didn’t like families, didn’t let them into his corner; And she was angry, barking, His own son honored him as a “branded, convict.” Savely will not be angry, he will go to his little room, read the holy calendar, cross himself, and suddenly he will say cheerfully: “Branded, but not a slave.” One day Matryona asks Savely why he is called branded and a convict.
Grandfather tells her his life. In his youth, the peasants of his village were also serfs, “but we didn’t know either landowners or German administrators then.
We didn’t rule corvée, we didn’t pay taxes, but when it comes down to it, we’ll send it once in three years.” The places were remote, and no one could get there through the thickets and swamps. “Our landowner Shalash-nikov tried to approach us through the animal trails with his regiment - he was a military man - but turned his skis!
“Then Shalashnikov sends an order to appear, but the peasants do not go. The police came (there was a drought) - “we paid her with honey and fish,” when they came another time, “with animal skins,” but the third time they gave nothing. They put on old bast shoes and holey army coats and went to Shalashnikov, who was stationed with a regiment in the provincial town. They came and said that there was no rent. Shalashnikov ordered them to be flogged. Shalashnikov flogged him severely; he had to “rip him open,” take out the money and bring half the cap of the “lobanchikov” (half-imperials). Shalashnikov immediately calmed down, even drank with the peasants.
They set off on their way back, the two old men laughed that they were carrying hundred-ruble notes home, sewn into the lining. Shalashnikov tore excellently, and received not so much great income. Soon a notification arrives that Shalashnikov has been killed near Varna. The heir came up with a solution: He sent a German to us. Through dense forests, through swampy swamps, a rogue came on foot! And at first it was quiet: “Pay what you can.”
We can't do anything! “I’ll notify the master.” - Notify!.. - That’s the end of it. The German, Christian Christian Vogel, meanwhile gained the trust of the peasants and says: “If you can’t pay, then work.” They ask what the job is. He replies that it is advisable to dig around the swamp with ditches and cut down trees where desired.
The peasants did as he asked, and they saw that it had become a clearing, a road. We realized it, but it was too late. And then hard labor came to the Korezh peasant - He ruined him to the bone!
And he tore... like Shalashnikov himself! Yes, he was simple: he will attack with all his military strength, Just think: he will kill! And put the money in - it will fall off, No matter how swollen a tick is in a dog's ear. The German has a death grip: Until he lets him go around the world, Without leaving, he sucks! This life continued for eighteen years. The German built a factory and ordered a well to be dug.
Nine people dug it, including Savely. After working until noon, we decided to rest. Then the German appeared and began to scold the peasants for idleness. The peasants pushed the German into a hole, Savely shouted “Give it up!”, and Vogel was buried alive. Next was “hard labor and whips beforehand; They didn’t tear it out - they anointed it, that’s some bad shit!
Then... I escaped from hard labor...
Caught! They didn’t even pat me on the head.” And life was not easy. Twenty years of strict hard labor.
About twenty years of settlement. I saved up some money, According to the Tsar’s manifesto, I went back to my homeland, I built this little house, And I’ve been living here for a long time.
Petrovka. It's a hot time.
Haymaking is in full swing.
Having passed the poor village,
Illiterate province,
Staro-Vakhlatsky volost,
Big Vakhlaki,
Wanderers came to the Volga...
Seagulls fly over the Volga;
Waders are walking
Along the shallows. And across the meadow,
What a goal, like a clerk
Cheek, shaved yesterday,
Standing "princes Volkonsky"
And their children that earlier
Will be born than fathers.
“The swaths are the widest! -
Pakhom Onisimitch said. -
Here are the heroic people!”
The Gubin brothers laugh:
They noticed a long time ago
Tall Peasant
With a jug - on a haystack;
He was drinking, and the woman was with a pitchfork,
Raising my head up,
I looked at him.
We caught up with the stack -
The man drinks everything! Measured out
Another half a hundred steps
Everyone looked around at once:
Still thrown back,
A man is standing; vessel
Raised upside down...
Scattered under the shore
Tents; old women, horses
With empty carts
Yes, children are visible here.
And then where does it end?
The waste is decimated,
There are tons of people! There are white people
Women's shirts are colorful
Men's shirts
Yes voices, yes tinkling
Agile braids. “God help me!”
- Thank you, well done! -
The wanderers stopped...
Haymaking swings
They go in the correct order:
All brought in at once
The braids flashed and jingled,
The grass instantly trembled
And fell, making a noise!
Along the low bank
On the Volga the grass is tall,
Fun mowing.
The wanderers could not stand it:
“We haven’t worked for a long time,
Let's mow!"
Seven women gave them their braids.
Woke up, got excited
A forgotten habit
To work! Like teeth from hunger,
Works for everyone
Nimble hand.
They cut down the tall grass,
To a song unfamiliar
Vakhlatsky side;
To the song that is inspired
Blizzards and blizzards
Home villages:
Zaplatova, Dyryavina,
Razutova, Znobishina,
Gorelova, Neelova -
Bad harvest too...
Amused, tired,
We sat down to a haystack for breakfast...
From where, well done? -
I asked our wanderers
Gray-haired man (whom
The women's name was Vlasushka). -
Where is God taking you?
“And we...” said the wanderers
And they suddenly fell silent:
They heard music!
- Our landowner is riding, -
Vlas said - and rushed
To the workers: - Don't yawn!
Mow more friendly! And most importantly:
Don't upset the landowner.
If he gets angry, bow to him!
He will praise you - shout “hurray”...
Hey women! don't make noise! -
Another guy, squat,
With a wide beard,
Almost the same
He ordered the people
Put on a caftan - and the master
Runs to meet. - What kind of people? -
To dumbfounded wanderers
He shouts as he runs. -
Take off your hats! -
To the shore
Three boats moored.
In one there is a servant, music,
In the other there is a hefty feeder
With a child, an old nanny
And the hanger-on is quiet,
And in the third - gentlemen:
Two beautiful ladies
(Thinner - blond,
Thicker - black-browed)
Two mustachioed gentlemen,
Three young little barnies
Yes old old man:
Thin! like winter hares,
All white, and a white hat,
Tall, with a band
Made from red cloth.
Nose beak like a hawk's
The mustache is gray, long,
And - different eyes:
One healthy one glows.
And the left one is cloudy, cloudy,
Like a tin penny!
They have white dogs with them,
Shaggy, with a plume,
On tiny legs...
The old man, having climbed ashore,
On a red, soft rug
I rested for a long time,
Then he inspected the mowing:
He was led by the hand
Those mustachioed gentlemen,
Those are young ladies, -
And so, with all my retinue,
With children and hangers-on,
With a nurse and a nurse,
And with white dogs,
The whole field is hayfield
The landowner walked around.
The peasants bowed low,
Burmister (the wanderers realized,
That guy is squat
Burmister) in front of the landowner,
Like a demon before matins,
Yulil: “That’s right! I’m listening, sir!” -
And bowed to the landowner
Almost to the ground.
In one place, seasoned,
Today only sour cream
The landowner pointed his finger,
I found that the hay was wet,
He flared up: “The Lord’s good
Rot? I am you scammers
I'll rot in corvée!
Dry it now!..”
The elder began to fuss:
- I missed it, manenichko!
Syrenko: guilty! -
He called the people and with a pitchfork
The stocky hero,
In the presence of the landowner,
They smashed it to pieces.
The landowner calmed down.
(The wanderers tried:
Dry senso!)
A footman runs with a napkin,
Limps: “Food is served!”
With all my retinue,
With children and hangers-on,
With a nurse and a nurse,
And with white dogs,
The landowner went to breakfast
Having inspected the work.
It came from a boat from the river
Music towards the bars,
The laid table turns white
On the very shore...
Our wanderers marvel.
They pestered Vlas: “Grandfather!
What kind of wonderful order is this?
What a wonderful old man is this?”
Our landowner: Prince Duck! -
“Why is he showing off?
Now the order is new.
And he makes a fool of himself in the old way:
Senzo dry-dry -
He told me to dry it out!”
And even more strange,
That's the same thing
And the reap is not his!
“Whose is it?”
- Our patrimony.
“Why is he bothering here?
Are you not people with God?”
No, we, by God's grace,
Now the peasants are free,
We are like people.
The rules are also new,
Yes, here is a special article...
“What article?”
An old lady lay down under a haystack
And - not another word!
Besides, there are a lot of strangers
Sit down; they said quietly:
"Hey! self-assembled tablecloth,
Treat the men!”
And the tablecloth unrolled,
Where did they come from?
Two hefty arms:
They put a bucket of wine,
They piled up a mountain of bread
And they hid again...
Pouring a glass for grandpa,
The wanderers came again:
“Respect! tell us, Vlasushka,
What is the article here?
- Yes, nothing! There's nothing here
Tell... And you yourself
What kind of people? Where are you from?
Where is God taking you? -
"We are foreign people,
For a long time, on an important matter,
We left the houses
We have a concern...
Is it such a concern?
Which of the houses did she survive?
She made us friends with work,
Got me off the food..."
The wanderers stopped...
What are you worrying about? -
“Let's keep quiet! We ate
It’s advisable to rest like that.”
And they settled down. They are silent!
You are like that! but in our opinion,
If you started, then finish it!
“But you’re probably silent yourself!
We're not into you, old lady!
Please, we will say: you see,
We are looking, Uncle Vlas,
Unflogged province,
Ungutted parish,
Izbytkova village!..”
And the strangers said,
How we met by chance
How they fought, argued,
How they made their vow
And how they then staggered,
Searched by province
Fit, Shot,
Who lives happily?
Free in Rus'?
Vlas listened - and to the storytellers
He measured with his eyes: - I see,
You people are strange too! -
He said finally. -
We do wonders enough too.
And you are more wonderful than us! -
“What’s going on with you?
Another glass, grandpa!”
How I drank two glasses,
Vlas started talking:
II
Our landowner is special,
The wealth is exorbitant.
An important rank, a noble family,
I've been weird and foolish all my life.
Yes, suddenly a thunderstorm struck...
He doesn’t believe it: they’re lying, robbers!
Mediator, police officer
I drove him away! fooling around in the old way.
Became very suspicious
Don't bow - he'll fight!
The governor himself to the master
I arrived: they argued for a long time,
The master's angry voice
The servants in the dining room heard;
I got so angry that by evening
Enough of his blow!
The entire left half
Recovered: like dead
And, like the earth, it is black...
Lost for a penny!
It is known that it is not self-interest,
But his arrogance cut him off.
He lost the mote. -
“What do you mean, dear friends,
It’s a landowner’s habit!” -
Mitrodor noticed.
“Not only over the landowner,
Habit over the peasant
“Strong,” said Pakhom. -
I once, on suspicion
Having ended up in prison, a wonderful
I saw a man there.
For horse stealing, it seems
He was sued, his name was Sidor,
So from prison to the master
He sent a quitrent!
(Prisoner income
Known for: alms,
Yes, something will work,
Let him steal something.)
The others laughed at him:
“Well, let’s get settled
They send me away - the money is gone!“
“Everything is better,” he says...”
A speck is no big deal,
Yes, but not in the eye:
An oak tree has fallen on the quiet sea,
And the sea began to cry -
An old man lies unconscious
(It won’t get up, that’s what we thought!).
The sons have arrived
Black mustache guards
(Have you seen them before?
And the ladies are beautiful -
Those are well done wives).
The elder has a power of attorney
Was: through it with an intermediary
Installed a certificate...
And suddenly the old man stood up!
They stuttered a little... Lord!
Like a wounded beast darted
And it thundered like thunder!
Things are all recent,
I was the headman at that time,
Happened here - so I heard myself,
How he honored the landowners,
I remember everything down to the word:
“They reproach the Jews for betraying
Christ... what did you do?
Your noble rights,
Hallowed for centuries,
You betrayed!..” To the sons
He said: “You are vile cowards!
You are not my children!
Even if people are small,
What came from the popovichs
Yes, having profited from bribes,
We bought men
Let them... be forgiven!
And you... the princes of Utyatina?
What kind of U-cha-ti-ns you are!
Get out!.. foundlings,
You are not my children!
Fearful heirs:
Well, just like before death
Disinherit? You never know
Forests, lands from the father?
That money has been accumulated
Where will the good go?
Guess! At the prince's in St. Petersburg
Three side daughters
Passed off as generals
I wouldn't refuse them!
And the prince is sick again...
Just to gain time,
Think about what to do here,
Some lady
(Must be blond:
She to him, dear one,
I heard, I was rubbing with a brush
At that time the left side)
Take it and blurt it out to the master,
What do men mean to landowners?
They told me to turn it back!
I believed it! Simpler than small
The child has become an old lady,
How the paralysis struck!
I started crying! in front of the icons
Praying with the whole family,
Orders a prayer service to be served,
Ring the bells!
And the strength seemed to have arrived,
Again: hunting, music,
The courtyard blows with a stick,
He orders the peasants to be summoned.
With the courtyard heirs
Of course we bumped into each other
And there is one (he just now
He came running with a napkin)
To persuade him
There was no need: master
He loves so much!
He is called Ipatom.
How the will was prepared for us,
So he didn't believe her:
“You’re being naughty! Princes of Utyatina
Will they be left without an estate?
No, my arms are short!
The “Regulation” appeared -
Ipat said: “Have fun!
And I am the princes Utyatin
Serf - and that’s the whole story!”
Can't have lordly favors
Forget Ipat! Funny
About childhood and youth,
And about old age itself
He has stories
(You used to come to the master,
You wait, you wait... You listen involuntarily,
I've heard them a hundred times):
“How small I was, our prince
me with my own hand
Harnessed the cart;
I have reached a frisky youth:
The prince came on vacation
And, having had a little fun, he bought it
Me, the latter's slave,
In winter in the ice hole!
How wonderful! Two ice holes:
He will lower you into one in a net,
In another moment he will pull out -
And he’ll bring you some vodka.
I began to decline towards old age.
In winter the roads are narrow,
The prince and I traveled so often
We are a five horse goose.
One day the prince is an entertainer! -
And plant it with faletur
Me, the latter's slave,
With a violin - in front.
He loved music deeply.
“Play, Ipat!” And the coachman
Shouts: “Get lost!”
There was a fair snowstorm,
I played: my hands were full,
And the horse is stumbling -
I fell off it!
Well, a sleigh, of course
They passed through me
They pressed my chest.
It’s not a problem: it’s cold.
If you freeze, there is no escape.
All around is desert, snow...
I look at the stars often
Yes, I repent of my sins.
So what, are you a true friend?
I heard bells.
Chu, closer! wow, ringing!
The prince returned (dripped
The yard servant is in tears here.
And no matter how much he told.
He was always crying here!)
Dressed me, kept me warm
And nearby, unworthy,
With his special princely
I brought it home in a sleigh!” -
The wanderers laughed...
Taking a sip of wine (for the fourth time),
Vlas continued: “Heirs
They hit the fiefdom
Brow: “We feel sorry for the parent,
New orders, not current ones
He can't bear it.
Take care of your father!
Be silent, bow down,
Don't contradict the sick man,
We will reward you:
For extra work, for corvée,
For even a swear word -
We'll pay you for everything.
The heart doesn't have long to live,
Probably two or three months,
The doctor himself announced!
Respect us, listen to us,
We are watering meadows for you
We will give along the Volga;
Now we will send it to the intermediary
Paper, that's the right thing!
The world has gathered and is making noise!
Meadows (these ones),
Yes, vodka, yes, three boxes
They made promises,
What the world has decided to keep silent
Until the old man's death.
Let's go to the mediator:
Laughs! "It's a good deed,
And the meadows are good,
Fool, God will forgive!
Not in Rus', you know
Keep silent and bow
No one is allowed!”
However, I resisted:
“To you guys, I’m sorry,
How do I feel?
Whatever happens - go to the master
Burmistra! whatever you want,
He'll send for me! How will I
The demands are stupid
Responsible? stupid
Follow orders?
You stand in front of him without a hat,
Keep quiet and bow down
You leave and the matter is over.
The old man is sick, relaxed,
He doesn't remember anything!
It’s true: it could be!
Fool the crazy
A simple article.
Yes, be a fool,
I didn't want to admit it.
And so I will forever,
Standing at the lintel,
He hesitated in front of the master
Enough! "If the world
(I said, bowing to the world)
Allows you to show off
To the fired master
In the remaining hours,
I am silent and I submit,
And just left office
Fire me!”
Things almost went wrong.
Yes Klimka Lavin helped out:
“And you make me a mayor
Me! I'll satisfy
Both the old man and you.
God will take the Last One away
Quickly, and at the estate
Meadows will remain.
This is how we will lead,
We are so strict
Let's establish order,
What will hurt your tummies?
The whole estate... You'll see!
The world thought for a long time.
No matter how desperate
Klim was a man: and a drunkard,
And his hand is unclean.
Work doesn't work
He gets involved with the gypsies,
Tramp, farrier!
Laughs at the worker:
From work, no matter how much you suffer,
You won't be rich
And you will be hunchbacked!
However, the guy is literate,
Been to Moscow and St. Petersburg,
Traveled to Siberia with the merchants,
It's a pity I didn't stay there!
Smart, but penniless
He's cunning, but he gets caught
What a mess! Boast man!
Some special words
I've heard enough: fatherland,
Moscow is the first throne,
Great Russian soul.
“I am a Russian peasant!” -
Bawled in a wild voice
And, hitting the forehead with the dishes,
I drank half a glass in one gulp!
Like a washstand bow
Ready for anyone for vodka
And there is a treasury - it will share,
He will drink everything with the person he meets!
It’s great to yell and balk,
Show rotten goods
From the hazy end.
Boasts about three boxes,
And if you catch him, he’ll laugh it off
With a shameless saying,
What a right honk
They hit you in the face with a bow!”
After thinking, they left
I am the mayor: I rule
Things to do now.
And in front of the old master
They named Klimka Burmistr,
Let him go! According to the master
Mayor! before the Last One
Last man!
Klim has a conscience made of clay,
And Minin’s beard,
If you look, you'll think so
Why can't you find a peasant?
More mature and sober.
The heirs built
Kaftan for him: dressed him -
And Klim Yakovlich became
From Klimka reckless
Burmistr is the first grade.
The old order has gone!
I will give our last breath,
As luck would have it, they were ordered
Walks. Every day
Rolling through the village
Spring stroller:
Get up! Down with the cap!
God knows what he'll pounce on,
Scolds, reproaches; with a threat
If he comes up, be quiet!
Sees a plowman in the field
And for his own lane
Barks: and lazy people,
And we are couch potatoes!
And the streak is done,
Like never before a master
The man didn't work
Yes, the Last One doesn’t know,
That it’s been a long time since she’s a lord,
And our streak!
Let's get together - laughter! Everyone has it
Your own tale about the holy fool
Landowner: hiccups,
I think he does!
And then there’s Klim Yakovlich.
He comes and looks like a boss
(Proud pig: itched
Oh the master's porch!),
Shouts: “Order for the estate!”
Well, let's listen to the order:
“I reported to the master,
What does the widow Terentyevna have?
The hut fell apart
What is the woman begging for?
Christ's alms,
So the master ordered:
On that widow Terentyeva
Marry Gavrila Zhokhov,
Fix the hut again,
So that they live in it and multiply
And they ruled the tax!
And that widow is nearly seventy,
And the groom is six years old!
Well, laughter, of course!..
Another order: “Cows
Yesterday we chased until the sun
Near the manor's yard
And so they mooed, stupid,
What woke up the master -
This is what the shepherds are ordered to do
Keep the cows quiet from now on!”
The patrimony is laughing again.
“Why are you laughing? All sorts of
There are orders:
Served as governor
General in Yakutsk.
So impale that little cow
Planted! They listened for a long time,
The whole city was decorated
Like St. Petersburg with monuments,
Executed cows
Until we figured it out
Why is he crazy!”
Another order: “At the watchman’s,
Under Sofronov,
The dog is disrespectful:
She barked at the master,
So drive the under away,
And we are guards to the landowners
The estate is assigned
Eremka!..” They rolled
Again the peasants laughed:
Eremka has been one since birth
Deaf and mute fool!
Klim is happy. I found it
I like the position! Runs around
He's acting weird, he's getting in the way of everything,
I started drinking even less!
There is a lively little woman here,
Orefyevna, his godfather,
So Klimakh master is with her
He's fooling around at the same time.
Lafa to the women! running
To the manor's courtyard with canvases,
With mushrooms, with strawberries:
Ladies buy everything
They feed and water!
We joked, we fooled around,
Yes, suddenly they were joking
To the point of disaster:
He was rude and unyielding
We have a man Agap Petrov,
He reproached us a lot:
“Ay, guys! The king took pity
So you are eager to get into the yoke...
God be with them, with haymaking!
I don’t want to know, gentlemen!..”
They only calmed down
What a bottle of wine they put
(He loved Vinzo).
Damn it with time
I applied it to the master:
Agap is carrying a log
(See, night is not enough for a fool,
So I went to steal
Forest - in broad daylight!),
That stroller is coming towards you
And the master in it: “From where
The log is so nice
Are you taking it, little man?..”
And he realized where it came from.
Agap is silent: it’s a breveshko
From the forest from the master's,
So what can I say!
Yeah, I'm really freaking out
The old man: sawed, sawed him,
Your noble rights
Calculated for him!
Peasant patience
Enduringly, and with time
There is an end to it too.
Agap left early,
Without breakfast: peasant
I felt so sick
And then there’s the lordly speech,
Like a persistent fly,
It's buzzing in my ear...
Agap laughed!
“Oh, you jester, you fool!
Nikshni! - yes, and off he went!
The Last One got it here
For grandfathers and great-grandfathers,
Not just for yourself.
It is known to our anger
Give free rein! Lord's abuse
What a mosquito sting
Peasant - wow!
The master was taken aback! It would be easier
Stand under bullets for him,
Under the stone rain!
The relatives were also taken aback,
The women rushed
To Agap with persuasion,
So he cried out: “I’ll kill you!”
What a waste, we got excited
Scum from the filthy
Trough... Tsits! Nikshni!
Peasant souls possession
It's over. You are the last one!
You are the last one! By grace
Our peasant stupidity
Today you are in charge
And tomorrow we will follow
Kick - and the ball is over!
Go home, walk around
With your tail between your legs, through the upper rooms,
Leave us alone! Nikshni!..”
“You are a rebel!” - with hoarseness
The old man said; shook all over
And he fell half dead!
"Now it's over!" - thought
Black mustache guards
And the ladies are beautiful;
But it turned out - it’s not the end!
Order: before the whole estate,
In the presence of the landowner,
For unparalleled audacity
Agape to punish.
The heirs ran around
And their wives - to Agapushka,
And to Klim, and to me!
“Save us, my dears!
Save!" The pale ones walk:
“If the deception is revealed,
We are completely lost!”
The mayor has gone to work!
I drank with Agap until the evening,
Embracing until midnight
I walked with him through the village,
Then again from midnight
I gave him something to drink - and he was drunk
He brought me to the master's yard.
Everything went smoothly:
I couldn't move from the porch
The last one was so upset...
Well, Klimke and lafa!
Into the stable of a rogue criminal
Brought before the peasant
I put a bottle of wine:
“Drink and shout: have mercy!
Oh, fathers! oh, mothers!
Agap listened
Chu, he screams! Like music
The last one listens to the groans;
We almost laughed
As he began to say:
“Ka-tai him, raz-boy-nicka,
Bun-tov-schi-ka... Ka-tai!
Neither give nor take under the rods
Agap shouted, fooled around,
Until I finished the damask.
How they took him out of the stables
He's dead drunk
Four men
So the master even took pity:
“It’s your own fault, Agapushka!” -
He said affectionately... -
“See, he’s kind too! took pity" -
Prov noticed, and Vlas told him:
- Don’t be angry... yes there is a proverb:
Praise the grass in the stack,
And the master is in a coffin!
Everything is better, if only God
Cleaned it up... Agapushka is gone...
"How! died?"
- Yes, sir:
Almost on the same day!
In the evening he got tired,
By midnight the priest asked
He reposed into the world.
Buried and placed
Life-giving cross...
Why? Only God knows!
Of course we didn't touch
Him not only with rods -
And a finger. Well, anyway
No, no, just think:
Don't have such an opportunity
Agap would not have died!
The man is raw, special,
The head is unbending
And here: go, lie down!
Let's say, okay, it's over,
And Agap thought of everything:
If you resist, the world will get angry,
And the world is a fool - it will get you!
Everything came together like this:
Slightly young ladies
Didn't kiss the old one
Fifty, tea, slipped,
And what’s more, Klim is unscrupulous,
Ruined him, anathema,
Blame!..
Get away from the master
The ambassador is coming: we've eaten!
He must be calling the headman,
I'll go take a look at the gum! -
III
The wanderers followed Vlas;
There are also a few sissies
And the guys started off with them;
It was noon, time to rest,
So there's quite a lot
For the people to gawk.
Everyone stood in a row respectfully
Away from the gentlemen...
At a long white table,
Lined with bottles
And different dishes,
The gentlemen were sitting:
In first place is the old prince,
Gray-haired, dressed in white,
The face is distorted
And - different eyes.
There is a white cross in the buttonhole
(Vlas says: Georgiy
Victorious Cross).
Behind a chair in a white tie
Ipat, the yard devotee,
Fans flies.
On the sides of the landowner
Two young ladies:
One black-haired one
Lips as red as beets,
Eyes on the apple!
Another blonde
With a loose braid,
Ay, pigtail! like gold
It's burning in the sun!
On three high chairs
Three boys are dressed up,
Napkins are tied
Under the throats of children.
They have an old nanny with them,
And then - various servants:
Teachers, poor
Noblewomen. Against the master -
Black mustache guards,
The last sons.
There's a girl behind every chair
Or even a woman with a branch -
Fans flies.
And under the table there are furry ones
The dogs are white-haired.
The youngsters tease them...
Without a hat in front of the master
The mayor was standing.
“Will it be soon?”
The landowner asked while eating,
Shall we finish haymaking?
Yes, how do you now order:
According to our situation
Three days a week lordly,
From tax: worker with horse,
Teenager or woman
Yes, half an old woman a day,
The Lord's term ends...
“Shh! shh! - said Prince Ducky,
As a person who noticed
What's the subtlest trick
He caught the other one. -
What kind of master's term?
Where did you get it from?
And to the faithful mayor
He looked inquisitively.
The mayor lowered his head,
- How to order, if you please!
Two or three days are good
And your mercy's hay
We'll clean everything up, God willing!
Isn't it true, guys?.. -
(The mayor turns back to corvée
Wide face.)
Answered for corvée
Agile Orefyevna,
Burmistro's godfather:
- So, Klim Yakovlich.
As long as the bucket holds,
I wish I could remove the master's hay,
And ours will wait!
“Little woman, you’re smarter than you!” -
The landowner suddenly grinned
And he started laughing. -
Ha ha! fool!.. Ha-ha-ha-ha!
Fool! fool! fool!
We came up with: master's term!
Haha... fool! ha ha ha ha!
The master's term is the entire life of a slave!
Have you forgotten:
By the grace of God I
And an ancient royal letter,
Both by birth and merit
Master is above you!..”
Vlas falls to the ground.
“What’s wrong?” - asked the wanderers.
- Let me rest for now!
Not soon now, princess
Get off your beloved horse!
Since the rumor passed,
That the will is preparing for us,
The prince has only one speech:
What does a man have with a master?
Until the end of the world
To be squeezed in a handful!..
And exactly: almost an hour
The last one spoke!
His tongue did not obey:
The old man was spluttering,
Hissed! And I was so upset
That the right eye twitched,
And the left one suddenly expanded
And - round, like an owl's -
Spun like a wheel.
Your noble rights,
Hallowed for centuries,
Merits, ancient name
The landowner remembered
By the king's wrath, by God
He threatened the peasants if
They will rebel
And he firmly ordered
So that I don’t think about trifles,
The patrimony did not indulge,
And I obeyed the gentlemen!
“Fathers! - said Klim Yakovlich,
With some kind of squeal in his voice,
It's as if the whole womb is in it,
When thinking about landowners,
Suddenly she cheered. -
Who should we listen to?
Whom to love? hope
For whom?
We revel in troubles
We wash ourselves with tears,
Where should we rebel?
Everything is yours, everything is the master's -
Our houses are dilapidated,
And sick tummies,
And we ourselves are yours!
The grain that was thrown into the ground
And garden vegetables,
And the hair is unkempt
To a man's head -
Everything is yours, everything is the master's!
Our great-grandfathers are in the graves,
Old grandfathers on the stoves
And in shaky little children -
Everything is yours, everything is the master’s!
And we are like fish in a net,
The owners are in the house!
The mayor's speech is submissive
The landowner liked:
A healthy eye on the headman
He looked with favor
And the left one calmed down:
How the moon has become in the sky!
Pouring with my own hand
A glass of overseas wine,
“Drink!” - the master says.
Wine sparkles in the sun
Thick, oily.
Klim drank and didn’t wince
And again he said: “Fathers!
We live for your mercy,
Like Christ in his bosom:
Try it without the master
Peasant live like this!
(And again, a natural rogue,
I took a sip of overseas wine.)
Where would we be without gentlemen?
Boyars - cypress trees,
They stand and don’t bend their heads!
Above them there is only one king!
And the elm men -
And they bend and stretch,
They creak! Where is the peasant's mate?
There the master was in awe:
The ice is breaking under the man,
It's cracking under the master!
Fathers! leaders!
If we didn't have landowners,
We won’t make bread,
Let's not stock up on grass!
Guardians! Guardians!
And the world would have collapsed long ago
Without the master's mind,
Without our simplicity!
It's destined for you
Watch out for the stupid peasantry
And we have to work, obey,
Pray for the gentlemen!”
The yardman, that the master has
He stood behind a chair with a branch,
Suddenly he sobbed! Tears are rolling down
By an old face.
“Let us pray to the Lord
Here’s to the master’s longevity!” -
Said the sensitive lackey
And he began to be baptized by the decrepit woman,
With a trembling hand.
Black mustache guards
Looked sour somehow
To a faithful servant;
However, there is nothing to do! -
They took off their caps and crossed themselves.
The ladies crossed themselves.
The nanny crossed herself,
Klim crossed himself...
And he blinked at Orefyevna:
And the women who squeezed through
Closer to the gentlemen
They also began to be baptized,
One even sobbed
Like a yard worker.
(“Urchi! widow Terentyevna!
Crazy old woman! -
Vlas said angrily.)
The red sun emerges from the clouds
Suddenly it looked out; music
Lingering and quiet
I heard it from the river...
The landowner was so moved
That the right eye is tear-stained
I wiped him with a handkerchief
Daughter-in-law with a loose braid
And kissed the old lady
In this healthy eye.
"Here! - he said solemnly
To your sons and heirs
And to young daughters-in-law. -
I wish they could see
The capital's jesters lied,
What they call wild
We are serfs,
To be seen, to be heard..."
The Last One twitched.
He jumped up and stared
Forward! Like a lynx, he looked out
I'll get the booty. Left eye
He started to freak out... “Get him!”
S-skat bun-tov-schi-ka!”
The bailiff went into the crowd;
Doesn't look for someone to blame
And he thinks: what should I do?
Came to the last ranks,
Where were our wanderers?
And he said tenderly:
"You are foreign people,
What will he do with you?
Somebody come!”
Our wanderers hesitated
It would be nice to help out
Unhappy Vakhlaks,
Yes, the master is stupid: sue later,
How to slap a good hundred
In all fairness to the world!
“Go ahead, Romanushka! -
The Gubin brothers said. -
Go! you love the bar!”
- No, try it yourself! -
And our wanderers began
Send to each other.
Klim spat: “Come on, Vlasushka,
Think about what we can do here?
And I'm tired; I have no urine!
Well, yes, you lied! -
“Eh, Vlas Ilyich! where are the lies? -
The mayor said with annoyance. -
We're not in their hands, are we?..
The last time will come:
Let's all get into a pothole,
We won't leave at all
We'll fall into absolute hell,
So the peasant is waiting there too. Wait! I'll help you out!
Suddenly the brisk one announced
Burmistro's godfather
And she ran to the master,
Bang at your feet: - Red sun!
Sorry, don't ruin it!
My only son
My son made a fool!
The Lord is crazy
Released into the world! Stupid:
Coming out of the bathhouse, it's itchy!
Laptishko, instead of a ladle,
Strives to get drunk!
Work doesn't work
Know he bares his white teeth,
Laughable... that's how God gave birth!
There is little joy in the house:
The hut fell apart
It happens that there is nothing to eat -
The fool laughs!
Will anyone give me a penny?
Will it hit the crown -
The fool laughs!
He's funny... what can you do with him?
Out of a fool, dear,
And grief bursts with laughter!
Such a clever woman!
Yells like at a bachelorette party
Kisses the master's feet.
“Well, God be with you! Go! -
The Last One said affectionately. -
I'm not angry with a stupid person
I laugh at him myself!”
"You are so kind!" - said
Black-haired daughter-in-law
And I stroked the old man
On the white head.
Black mustache guards
They also inserted a word:
Where is the village fool?
Understand the words of the Lord,
Especially the Last One
Such clever words?
And Klim is hollow with cloth
Wipe your shameless eyes
And he muttered: “Fathers!
Fathers! sons of the Fatherland!
They know how to punish
They also know how to have mercy!”
The old man is cheerful!
I asked for sparkling wine.
The traffic jams hung high,
They fell for women.
The women squealed in fright,
They flinched. old lady
Laughed! Behind him
The ladies laughed.
Behind them are their husbands,
Then the devoted butler,
Then the nurses, the nannies,
And there - all the people!
Let's have fun! Ladies,
By order of the master,
They brought it to the peasants
The teenagers were given gingerbread,
Sweet vodka for the girls,
And the women drank too
For a simple glass...
The last one drank and clinked glasses,
He pinched beautiful daughters-in-law.
(- That's it! Why would the old
“Drink the medicine,” Vlas noted, “
He drinks wine by the glass.
For a long time now every measure
Both in anger and in joy
Lost the last one.-)
Music thunders on the Volga.
The girls sing and dance -
Well, in a word, a feast!
Join the girls
The old man wanted to, got to his feet
And he almost flew!
The son supported his parent.
The old man stood: stamped his feet,
Whistled, clicked,
And he made his eye -
He was spinning like a wheel!
“Why don’t you dance? -
The Last One said to the ladies
And to young sons. -
Dance!" Nothing to do!
They walked to the music.
The old man ridiculed them!
Rocking like on deck
In unsettled weather,
He imagined how they amused themselves
In his time!
“Sing, Lyuba!” I didn't want to
Sing to the blond lady,
Yes, the old one is so annoying!
The lady sang wonderfully!
That song caressed my ears,
Quiet and gentle
Like the wind on a summer evening,
Lightly running
On the velvet ant,
Like the sound of spring rain
By the young leaves!
To that beautiful song
The Last One fell asleep. Carefully
They carried him into the boat
And they put him to sleep.
Above him with a green umbrella
The yard devotee stood
With the other hand he waved
Horseflies and mosquitoes.
The brave ones sat silently
Rowers; music was playing
Barely audible... the boat started moving
And she swam steadily...
At the blond lady's
A braid, like a unfurled flag,
Played in the wind...
“I respected the Last One! -
The mayor said. - The Lord is with you!
Show off, kolobrod!
Don’t know about the new will,
Die as you lived, a landowner,
To our slave songs,
To the music of servile -
Just hurry up!
Give the peasant a rest!
Well, brothers! bow to me
Say thank you, Vlas Ilyich:
I have pleased the world!
Standing before the Last One
Attack... the tongue will become accustomed,
And it will add even more laughter.
This eye... how it will spin,
Trouble! You look and think:
“Where are you going, my only friend?”
According to your own needs
Al about other people's business?
You must have got enough
By courier road!..“
I almost burst out laughing.
Man, I'm drunk, flighty,
There are starving rats in the barn
They died, the house is empty,
But I wouldn’t have taken it, God is my witness,
I'm for such hard labor
And thousands of rubles,
If I didn't know for sure,
What am I facing the last one
I stand... that he is showing off
By my will..."
Vlas answered thoughtfully:
- Boast! How long have we been
We are not alone - the whole patrimony...
(Yes... the entire peasantry is Russian!)
Not as a joke, not for money,
Not three or four months
And a whole century... but what can there be!
Where can we brag?
No wonder Vahlaki! -
However, Klima Lavina
Half drunk peasants
Respected: “Pump him!”
And well, download... “hurray!”
Then the widow Terentyevna
With Gavrilka, the little boy,
Klim planted in a row
And the bride and groom
Congratulations! Fooling around
Enough men.
We ate everything, we drank everything,
What the gentlemen left behind
And only late in the evening
We arrived at the village.
The family greeted them
With unexpected news:
The old prince has died!
“How so?” - They took me out of the boat
His already lifeless -
The second blow is enough! -
Peasants amazed
They looked at each other... crossed themselves...
Sigh... Never
Such a friendly sigh,
Deep-deep
The poor thing didn't emit
Illiterate province
Vakhlaki village…
But their joy is Vakhlatsky
It didn't last long.
With the death of the Last One
The lordly weasel has disappeared:
They didn’t let me get a hangover
Vahlakam Guards!
And for the meadows
Heirs with peasants
They are reaching out to this day.
Vlas we intercede for the peasants,
Lives in Moscow... was in St. Petersburg...
But there’s no point!
Creating in his main book - the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” an encyclopedic complete and correct picture of Russian reality, the life of all layers of society at one of the turning points in history, N. A. Nekrasov turned to the most important problem of his time - the so-called “women’s issue” " The “women's question,” by which, by the way, it was always possible to determine the level of development of the state, was one of the most pressing political issues in Russian life in the 60s and 70s of the 19th century. The problem of a woman’s emancipation, her liberation from all types of dependence was raised in the works of I. S. Turgenev, N. N. Ostrovsky, N. G. Chernyshevsky, and a lot of attention was paid to it in the lyrics of N. A. Nekrasov. The image of a Russian woman, a peasant woman, is most fully revealed in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” By narrowing their search for the happy to one class - the peasantry, truth-seeking peasants further specify the goal of their search - to find a happy woman. They point to Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, known for her unusual life outside her native village, moreover, bearing the nickname “governor”. Among the healthy, singing crowd of reapers and reapers, among the working people, whose fatigue after working in the field will not drown out the song, we meet our heroine. Her appearance corresponds to the aesthetic ideal of democrats and popular ideas about beauty - this is the image of a strong, healthy working wife, mother of the family:
Matrena Timofeevna
dignified woman,
Wide and dense
About thirty-eight years old.
Beautiful, gray hair,
The eyes are big, strict,
The richest eyelashes,
Severe and dark.
She's wearing a white shirt,
Yes, the sundress is nice,
Yes, a sickle over your shoulder.
Despite her thirty-eight years, she sometimes considers herself an “old woman” and talks about her life, as if summing up her life, saying that it will never be better. The confessional nature of Matryona Timofeevna’s story is captivating, she is ready to “lay out her whole soul.” Looking over the years of her life, the peasant woman really notes the happy moments:
I was lucky in the girls:
We had a good
Non-drinking family.
For father, for mother,
Like Christ, in his bosom,
I lived, well done.
But both happy childhood and youth in the parental home were associated with work, and this work was perceived by the peasant woman as a natural, integral part of her life. Without boasting, Matryona Timofeevna speaks about herself with dignity:
And a good worker
And the sing-dance huntress
I was young.
Marriage for love, out of heartfelt inclination, is also a happy gift of fate, but this is where the “women’s issue” manifests itself - the oppression of the daughter-in-law by her own people, especially in the “foreign side” when the husband goes to work. Themselves, oppressed by poverty, hard work, and sometimes by the injustice of the manager, Matryona Timofeevna’s relatives become even greater oppressors, carping in vain, poisoning life over trifles.
The family was huge
Grumpy... I'm in trouble
Happy maiden holiday to hell!
My husband went to work
He advised to remain silent and be patient:
Don't spit on hot things
Iron will hiss!
I stayed with my sisters-in-law,
With my father-in-law, with my mother-in-law,
There is no one to love,
And there is someone to scold!
Many years later, Matryona Timofeevna recalls the insult inflicted by her husband Filippushka (what a “look for with a candle”) at the instigation of her relatives - undeserved beatings! The further life of the peasant woman is expressed in a few words:
Whatever they tell me, I work,
No matter how much they scold me, I remain silent.
Her relatives do not want to stand up for her even before the master’s manager, leaving the poor woman between a “hammer” and a “hard place,” dooming her to solve her problems herself - to defend her purity and fidelity to her husband and not bring grief to the family. The birth of his first-born son was an equally short-lived joy. Beginning the story about Demushka (Chapter IV), Nekrasov resorts to one of the most poetic techniques of folk songwriting - parallelism, comparing a mother who has lost her firstborn with a bird whose nest was burned by a thunderstorm. “Intimidated, scolded” by her relatives, Matryona Timofeevna leaves the baby with her old grandfather and goes to the field. The old man, having fallen asleep in the sun, did not look, and the child was killed by pigs.
The daughter-in-law is the last one in the house,
The last slave!
Endure the great storm,
Take the extra beatings
And to the eye of the unreasonable
Don't let the baby go!
Matryona's grief is further aggravated by the desecration of the body of the deceased baby - an autopsy in front of the mother, because she, heartbroken, did not give a bribe. The only one of her relatives who is trying to console her, “much-stricken, long-suffering” in irreparable grief, is grandfather Savely, to whom she will forgive over time his involuntary guilt. He will explain to Matryona Timofeevna the futility of requests for protection, the futility of any hopes for the best, briefly naming the reason for all her past, present and future torments:
You are a serf woman!
The peasant woman’s confession also speaks of her reluctance to live:
My father-in-law thought it up
To teach with the reins,
This is how I answered him:
"Kill!" I bowed at my feet:
“Kill! one end!
Then we see that Matryona does not connect her troubles and grievances with specific people - after the explanation of grandfather Savely, she seems to imagine some kind of great dark force that cannot be overcome. You can’t even turn to her parents, her usual and usual defenders:
Drive forty miles
Tell your troubles
Ask about your troubles
It’s a pity to drive the drill!
We should have arrived a long time ago
Yes, they thought and thought:
We'll come - you'll cry,
Let's leave - you'll roar!
Then the parents die.
We heard the violent winds
Orphan's sadness,
And you don't need to tell.
We see how a peasant woman simply lists the days and months of backbreaking labor, nagging and humiliation, lists her troubles, having become accustomed to them, like an inevitable evil:
…Once
Neither think nor mourn,
May God help me get the job done
Yes, cross your forehead.
Eat when you have left
From the elders and from the children,
You will fall asleep when you are sick...
Dying, grandfather Savely, as it were, sums up the hopeless life of the peasant:
There are three paths for men:
Tavern, prison and hard labor,
And the women in Rus'
Three loops: white silk,
The second - red silk,
And the third - black silk,
Choose any one
Climb into any!
Accepting fate as an inevitability, Matryona Timofeevna finds the strength to protect her children, taking upon herself, as it seems to her, a sin before God when the praying mantis demands not to feed infants on fast days, and punishment with a whip when her son, a young shepherd, was fed to a wolf sheep Like the first spark of protest, the consciousness of her power to protect her children, stand up for her loved ones, and not let misfortune bend her, ignites in her:
I have my head down
I carry an angry heart.
Matryona’s heart tells her a picture of life “without an intercessor,” when her husband is going to be recruited out of turn. Like reality, a possible disaster appears before one’s eyes, and the mother worries not so much for herself as for the children:
...Hungry
Orphan children are standing
In front of me... Unkind
The family is looking at them
They are noisy in the house
There are pugnacious people on the street,
Gluttons at the table...
And they began to pinch them,
A pounding on the head!..
Shut up, soldier mother!
Wanting to protect them from inevitable disaster, from the future of orphans-beggars with a soldier father and a mother powerless according to rural laws
(Now I'm not a sharecropper
Village plot,
Mansion building,
Clothes and livestock.
Now one richness:
Three lakes are cried
Burnt tears, sown
Three stripes of trouble)
Matryona Timofeevna, being pregnant, walks into the city on a winter night to ask the governor for justice. Her prayer, addressed under the starry sky to the Mother of God, is not memorized words, not a manifestation of dull submission and doom, but in some ways an attempt to say about herself, to restore justice:
Open to me, Mother of God,
How have I angered God?
Lady! in my
There is no broken bone,
There is no stretched vein,
There is no unspoiled blood -
I can’t stand the murmur!
All the power given by God,
I put it to work
All the love for the kids!
You see everything, intercessor!
Save your slave!..
In the last minutes before giving birth, Matryona Timofeevna manages to turn to the governor’s wife:
How will I throw myself
At her feet: “Intercede!
By deception, not in God's way
breadwinner and parent
They take it from the kids!”
The intercession of the governor's wife, her attention and help to Matryona and the baby, the happy resolution of Philip's fate is perceived in the story of the peasant woman, who is sincerely grateful to the noble lady, after all, as a happy occasion, and not a typical phenomenon. The peasant woman's further story is again a list of misfortunes, past and future. Even the end of family oppression (obviously with the death of the father-in-law and mother-in-law) is no consolation, because there is no confidence in the future of the children.
Raising children... Is it for joy?
You need to know too.
Five sons! Peasant
The orders are endless -
They already took one!
The end of the confession no longer sounds only like a story-complaint - the peasant woman, perhaps still unconsciously, rises to the heights of accusation, defense of her human dignity, her feminine self, the essence of a mother, wife, beloved.
We got burned twice
That god is anthrax
Visited us three times?
Horse attempts
We carried; I took a walk
Like a gelding in a harrow!..
I haven't trampled my feet,
Not tied with ropes,
Not stabbed with needles...
For me - quiet, invisible -
The spiritual storm has passed,
Will you show it?
For a mother scolded,
Like a trampled snake,
The blood of the firstborn has passed,
For me, grievances are mortal
Gone unpaid
And the whip passed over me!
Although Matryona Timofeevna claims that there are no and cannot be happy women, we see before us a man who became famous outside his village, a man who dared to change something in his destiny. Maybe the rebellious spirit of grandfather Savely ignited this spark of anger and self-awareness in her, and this fire was supported all her life by her ardent love for her children, her husband, whom she lovingly and affectionately calls Filippushka throughout the confessional story. I know one thing for sure: the poet wanted there to be more people like Matryona Timofeevna, and therefore he called this part of the poem “Peasant Woman” not after the name of the main character.
Retelling plan
1. A dispute between men about “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.”
2. Meeting with the priest.
3. A drunken night after the fair.
4. History of Yakima Nagogo.
5. Searching for a happy person among men. A story about Ermil Girin.
6. The men meet the landowner Obolt-Obolduev.
7. Searching for a happy man among women. The story of Matryona Timofeevna.
8 Meeting with an eccentric landowner.
9. The parable about the exemplary slave - Jacob the faithful.
10. A story about two great sinners - Ataman Kudeyar and Pan Glukhovsky. The story of the "peasant sin".
11. Thoughts of Grisha Dobrosklonov.
12. Grisha Dobrosklonov - “people's defender.”
Retelling
Part I
Prologue
The poem begins with the fact that seven men met on a pillar path and argued about “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.” “Roman said: to the landowner, Demyan said: to the official, Luka said: to the priest. To the fat-bellied merchant! - said the Gubin brothers, Ivan and Mitrodor. Old man Pakhom strained and said, looking at the ground: to the noble boyar, to the sovereign’s minister. And Prov said: to the king.” They argued all day and didn’t even notice how night had fallen. The men looked around, realized that they had gone far from home, and decided to rest before heading back. As soon as they had time to settle down under a tree and drink vodka, their argument began with renewed vigor, it even came to a fight. But then the men saw that a small chick had crawled up to the fire and had fallen out of the nest. Pakhom caught it, but then a warbler appeared and began to ask the men to let her chick go, and for this she told them where the self-assembled tablecloth was hidden. The men found a tablecloth, had dinner and decided that they would not return home until they found out “who lives happily and at ease in Rus'.”
Chapter I. Pop
The next day the men set off on their journey. At first they met only peasants, beggars and soldiers, but the men did not ask them “how is it for them - is it easy or difficult to live in Rus'.” Finally, in the evening, they met a priest. The men explained to him that they had a concern that “kept us out of our homes, made us estranged from work, kept us away from food”: “Is the priest’s life sweet? How are you living freely and happily, honest father?” And the priest begins his story.
It turns out that there is no peace, no wealth, no honor in his life. There is no peace, because in a large district “the sick, the dying, the one born into the world does not choose time: for harvesting and haymaking, in the dead of autumn night, in winter, in severe frosts and in spring floods.” And the priest must always go to fulfill his duty. But the most difficult thing, the priest admits, is to watch how a person dies and how his relatives cry over him. There is no priest and no honor, because the people call him “the foal breed”; meeting a priest on the road is considered a bad omen; they make up “jokey tales, obscene songs, and all sorts of blasphemy” about the priest, and they make a lot of jokes about the priest’s family. And it’s hard to get rich as a butt. If in former times, before the abolition of serfdom, there were many landowner estates in the district, in which weddings and christenings were constantly celebrated, now only poor peasants remain who cannot generously pay the priest for his work. The priest himself says that his “soul will turn over” to take money from the poor, but then he will have nothing to feed his family. With these words the priest leaves the men.
Chapter 2. Rural fair
The men continued their journey and ended up in the village of Kuzminskoye, at the fair, and decided to look for a happy one here. “Wanderers went to the shops: they admired the handkerchiefs, Ivanovo calicoes, harnesses, new shoes, and the products of the Kimryaks.” At the shoe shop they meet old man Vavila, who admires the goat shoes, but does not buy them: he promised his little granddaughter to buy shoes, and other family members - various gifts, but drank all the money. Now he is ashamed to appear in front of his granddaughter. The gathered people listen to him, but cannot help, because no one has extra money. But there was one person, Pavel Veretennikov, who bought boots for Vavila. The old man was so emotional that he ran away, forgetting to even thank Veretennikov, “but the other peasants were so consoled, so happy, as if he had given each one a ruble.” The wanderers go to a booth where they watch a comedy with Petrushka.
Chapter 3. Drunken night
Evening comes, and the travelers leave the “turbulent village”. They walk along the road, and everywhere they meet drunken people who are returning home after the fair. From all sides, the wanderers can hear drunken conversations, songs, complaints about a hard life, and the screams of fighters.
At the road pillar, travelers meet Pavel Veretennikov, around whom peasants have gathered. Veretennikov writes down in his little book the songs and proverbs that the peasants sing to him. “Russian peasants are smart,” says Veretennikov, “the only thing that’s not good is that they drink until they become stupefied, they fall into ditches and ditches—it’s a shame to see!” After these words, a man approaches him, who explains that the peasants drink because of a hard life: “There is no measure for Russian hops. Have you measured our grief? Is there a limit to the work? Wine brings down the peasant, but grief does not bring down? Is work not going well? And the peasants drink to forget themselves, to drown their grief in a glass of vodka. But then the man adds: “For our family, we have a non-drinking family!” They don’t drink, and they also struggle, it would be better if they drank, they’re stupid, but that’s their conscience.” When Veretennikov asked what his name was, the man replied: “Yakim Nagoy lives in the village of Bosovo, he works until he’s dead, drinks until he’s half to death!..”, and the rest of the men began to tell Veretennikov the story of Yakim Nagoy. He once lived in St. Petersburg, but he was sent to prison after he decided to compete with a merchant. He was stripped to the last thread, and so he returned to his homeland, where he took up the plow. Since then, he has been “roasting on the strip under the sun” for thirty years. He bought pictures for his son, which he hung around the hut, and he himself loved to look at them. But then one day there was a fire. Yakim, instead of saving the money he had accumulated throughout his life, saved the pictures, which he then hung in the new hut.
Chapter 4. Happy
People who called themselves happy began to gather under the linden tree. A sexton came, whose happiness consisted “not in sables, not in gold,” but “in complacency.” A pockmarked old woman came. She was happy that she had a large turnip. Then the soldier came, happy because “he was in twenty battles and not killed.” The mason began to say that his happiness lies in the hammer with which he earns money. But then another mason approached. He advised not to brag about his strength, otherwise grief might come out of it, as happened to him in his youth: the contractor began to praise him for his strength, but one day he put so many bricks on his stretcher that the man could not bear such a burden and after that he became completely ill. A servant, a servant, also came to the travelers. He stated that his happiness lies in the fact that he has a disease that only noble people suffer from. Various other people came to brag about their happiness, and in the end the wanderers pronounced their verdict on peasant happiness: “Eh, peasant happiness! Leaky, patched, hunchbacked, with calluses, go home!”
But then a man approached them and advised them to ask Ermila Girin about happiness. When the travelers asked who this Ermila was, the man told them. Ermila worked at a mill that did not belong to anyone, but the court decided to sell it. An auction was held, in which Ermila began to compete with the merchant Altynnikov. In the end, Ermila won, only they immediately demanded money from him for the mill, and Ermila did not have that kind of money with her. He asked to give him half an hour, ran to the square and turned to the people with a request to help him. Ermila was a man respected by the people, so every peasant gave him as much money as he could. Yermila bought the mill, and a week later he came back to the square and gave back all the money he had lent. And everyone took as much money as they lent him, no one misappropriated anything extra, there was even one more ruble left. Those gathered began to ask why Ermila Girin was held in such esteem. The narrator said that in his youth Ermila was a clerk in the gendarmerie corps and helped every peasant who turned to him with advice and deeds and did not take a penny for it. Then, when a new prince arrived in the estate and dispersed the gendarmerie office, the peasants asked him to elect Ermila as mayor of the volost, since they trusted him in everything.
But then the priest interrupted the narrator and said that he was not telling the whole truth about Yermila, that he also had a sin: instead of his younger brother, Yermila, he recruited the only son of the old woman, who was her breadwinner and support. Since then, his conscience haunted him, and one day he almost hanged himself, but instead demanded to be tried as a criminal in front of all the people. The peasants began to ask the prince to take the old woman’s son from the recruits, otherwise Yermila would hang himself from conscience. In the end, their son was returned to the old woman, and Ermila’s brother was sent as a recruit. But Ermila’s conscience still tormented him, so he abandoned his position and began working at the mill. During a riot in the estate, Yermila ended up in prison... Then the cry of a footman, who was flogged for theft, was heard, and the priest did not have time to tell the story to the end.
Chapter 5. Landowner
The next morning we met the landowner Obolt-Obolduev and decided to ask if he lived happily. The landowner began to tell him that he was “of an eminent family”; his ancestors were known three hundred years ago. This landowner lived in the old days “like Christ in his bosom,” he had honor, respect, a lot of land, several times a month he organized holidays that “any Frenchman” could envy, and went hunting. The landowner kept the peasants strict: “Whoever I want, I will have mercy on, and whomever I want, I will execute. The law is my desire! The fist is my police! But then he added that “he punished with love,” that the peasants loved him, they celebrated Easter together. But the travelers only laughed at his words: “He knocked them down with a stake, or are you going to pray in the manor’s house?..” Then the landowner began to sigh that such a carefree life had passed after the abolition of serfdom. Now the peasants no longer work on the landowners' lands, and the fields have fallen into disrepair. Instead of a hunting horn, the sound of an ax is heard in the forests. Where previously there were manor houses, drinking establishments are now being built. After these words, the landowner began to cry. And the travelers thought: “The great chain has broken, it has broken and it has sprung: one end is hitting the master, the other is hitting the peasant!”
Peasant woman
Prologue
The travelers decided to look for a happy man among women. In one village they were advised to find Matryona Timofeevna and ask her around. The men set off and soon reached the village of Klin, in which lived “Matryona Timofeevna, a dignified woman, broad and dense, about thirty-eight years old. Beautiful: gray hair, large, stern eyes, rich eyelashes, stern and dark. She’s wearing a white shirt, a short sundress, and a sickle over her shoulder.” The men turned to her: “Tell me in divine terms: what is your happiness?” And Matryona Timofeevna began to tell.
Chapter 1. Before marriage
As a girl, Matryona Timofeevna lived happily in a large family where everyone loved her. No one woke her up early; they allowed her to sleep and gain strength. From the age of five she was taken out into the fields, she followed the cows, brought breakfast to her father, then she learned how to harvest hay, and so she got used to work. After work, she and her friends sat at the spinning wheel, sang songs, and went dancing on holidays. Matryona was hiding from the guys; she didn’t want to end up in captivity as a girl. But still she found a groom, Philip, from distant lands. He began to woo her. Matryona did not agree at first, but she liked the guy. Matryona Timofeevna admitted: “While we were bargaining, it must have been, so I think, then there was happiness. And it’s unlikely ever again!” She married Philip.
Chapter 2. Songs
Matryona Timofeevna sings a song about how the groom’s relatives attack his daughter-in-law when she arrives at a new house. Nobody likes her, everyone forces her to work, and if she doesn’t like the work, they can beat her. The same thing happened with Matryona Timofeevna’s new family: “The family was huge, grumpy. I ended up in hell from my maiden will!” Only in her husband could she find support, and it sometimes happened that he beat her. Matryona Timofeevna began to sing about a husband who beats his wife, and his relatives do not want to stand up for her, but only order them to beat her even more.
Soon Matryona's son Demushka was born, and now it was easier for her to endure the reproaches of her father-in-law and mother-in-law. But trouble happened to her again. The master's manager began to pester her, and she did not know where to escape from him. Only grandfather Savely helped Matryona cope with all her troubles, only he loved her in her new family.
Chapter 3. Savely, the Holy Russian hero
“With a huge gray mane, tea, twenty years uncut, with a huge beard, the grandfather looked like a bear,” “grandfather had an arched back,” “he was already a hundred years old, according to fairy tales.” “Grandfather lived in a special room, he didn’t like families, he didn’t let them into his corner; and she was angry, barking, his own son called him “branded, a convict.” When the father-in-law began to get very angry with Matryona, she and her son went to Savely and worked there, and Demushka played with his grandfather.
One day Savely told her the story of his life. He lived with other peasants in impenetrable swampy forests, where neither the landowner nor the police could reach. But one day the landowner ordered them to come to him and sent the police after them. The peasants had to obey. The landowner demanded quitrent from them, and when the men began to say that they had nothing, he ordered them to be flogged. Again the peasants had to obey, and they gave the landowner their money. Now every year the landowner came to collect rent from them. But the landowner died, and his heir sent a German manager to the estate. At first, the German lived calmly and became friends with the peasants. Then he began to order them to work. Before the men had time to come to their senses, they had cut a road from their village to the city. Now you could easily visit them. The German brought his wife and children to the village and began to rob the peasants even more viciously than the previous landowner had robbed. The peasants tolerated him for eighteen years. During this time, the German managed to build a factory. Then he ordered to dig a well. He did not like the work and began to scold the peasants. And Savely and his comrades buried him in a hole dug for a well. For this he was sent to hard labor, where he spent twenty years. Then he returned to his homeland and built a house. The men asked Matryona Timofeevna to continue talking about her life as a woman.
Chapter 4. Demushka
Matryona Timofeevna took her son to work. But the mother-in-law told her to leave it to grandfather Savely, since you won’t earn much with a child. And so she gave Demushka to her grandfather, and she went to work. When I returned home in the evening, it turned out that Savely dozed off in the sun, did not look after the baby, and he was trampled by pigs. Matryona “rolled around like a ball”, “coiled like a worm, called, woke up Demushka - but it was too late to call.” The gendarmes arrived and began to interrogate, “Did you kill the child in agreement with the peasant Savely?” Then a doctor came to autopsy the child's corpse. Matryona began to ask him not to do this, sent curses on everyone, and everyone decided that she had lost her mind.
At night Matryona came to her son’s tomb and saw Savely there. At first she shouted at him, blaming him for Dema’s death, but then the two of them began to pray.
Chapter 5. She-Wolf
After Demushka’s death, Matryona Timofeevna did not talk to anyone, she could not see Savelia, she did not work. And Savely went to repentance at the Sand Monastery. Then Matryona and her husband went to her parents and got to work. Soon she had more children. So four years passed. Matryona's parents died, and she went to cry at her son's grave. He sees that the grave has been tidied up, there is an icon on it, and Savely is lying on the ground. They talked, Matryona forgave the old man and told him about her grief. Soon Savely died and was buried next to Dema.
Another four years passed. Matryona came to terms with her life, worked for the whole family, but did not harm her children. A praying mantis came to their village and began to teach them how to live correctly, in a divine way. She forbade breastfeeding on fasting days. But Matryona did not listen to her; she decided that it would be better for God to punish her than for her to leave her children hungry. So grief came to her. When her son Fedot was eight years old, his father-in-law gave him to be a shepherdess. One day the boy did not take care of the sheep, and one of them was stolen by a she-wolf. For this, the village elder wanted to flog him. But Matryona threw herself at the landowner’s feet, and he decided to punish his mother instead of his son. Matryona was flogged. In the evening she came to see how her son slept. And the next morning she did not show herself to her husband’s relatives, but went to the river, where she began to cry and call for protection from her parents.
Chapter 6. Difficult year
Two new troubles came to the village: first came a lean year, then a recruitment drive. The mother-in-law began to scold Matryona for causing trouble by wearing a clean shirt on Christmas. And then they wanted to send her husband as a recruit. Matryona didn’t know where to go. She herself did not eat, she gave everything to her husband’s family, and they also scolded her and looked angrily at her children, since they had extra mouths to feed. So Matryona had to “send the children around the world” so that they would ask strangers for money. Finally, her husband was taken away, and pregnant Matryona was left all alone.
Chapter 7. Governor's wife
Her husband was recruited at the wrong time, but no one wanted to help him return home. Matryona, who had been carrying her child to term for the last few days, went to seek help from the governor. She left home at night without telling anyone. I arrived in the city in the early morning. The doorman at the governor's palace told her to try to come in two hours, then maybe the governor would receive her. On the square, Matryona saw a monument to Susanin, and it reminded her of Savely. When the carriage drove up to the palace and the governor’s wife got out, Matryona threw herself at her feet with pleas for intercession. Then she felt bad. The long journey and fatigue affected her health, and she gave birth to a son. The governor's wife helped her, baptized the baby herself and gave him a name. Then she helped save Matryona’s husband from being recruited. Matryona brought her husband home, and his family bowed at her feet and apologized to her.
Chapter 8. The Woman's Parable
Since then they nicknamed Matryona Timofeevna the governor. She began to live as before, worked, raised children. One of her sons has already been recruited. Matryona Timofeevna said to the travelers: “It’s not a matter of looking for a happy woman among women”: “The keys to women’s happiness, to our free will, are abandoned, lost to God himself!”
Last One
The travelers went to the banks of the Volga and saw peasants working in haymaking. “We haven’t worked for a long time, let’s mow!” - the wanderers asked the local women. After work they sat down to a haystack to rest. Suddenly they see: three boats are floating along the river, in which music is playing, beautiful ladies, two mustachioed gentlemen, children and an old man are sitting. As soon as the peasants saw them, they immediately began to work even harder.
The old landowner went ashore and walked around the entire hayfield. “The peasants bowed low, the mayor fussed before the landowner, like a demon before matins.” And the landowner scolded them for their work and ordered them to dry out the already harvested hay, which was already dry. The travelers were surprised why the old landowner behaved this way with the peasants, because they are now free people and are not under his authority. Old Vlas began to tell them.
“Our landowner is special, his wealth is exorbitant, his rank is important, his family is noble, he has been a weirdo and a fool all his life.” But then serfdom was abolished, but he didn’t believe it, decided that he was being deceived, even argued with the governor about this, and by the evening he had a stroke. His sons were afraid that he might disinherit them, and they agreed with the peasants to live as before, as if the landowner were still their master. Some peasants happily agreed to continue serving the landowner, but many could not agree. For example, Vlas, who was then the mayor, did not know how he would have to carry out the “stupid orders” of the old man. Then another peasant asked to be made mayor, and “the old order went.” And the peasants gathered together and laughed at the master’s stupid orders. For example, he ordered a seventy-year-old widow to be married to a six-year-old boy so that he would support her and build her a new house. He ordered the cows not to moo when they passed the manor's house, because they woke up the landowner.
But then there was a peasant Agap who did not want to obey the master and even reproached other peasants for obedience. One day he was walking with a log, and a gentleman met him. The landowner realized that the log was from his forest and began to scold Agap for theft. But the peasant could not stand it and began to laugh at the landowner. The old man was struck again, they thought that he would now die, but instead he issued a decree to punish Agap for disobedience. Young landowners, their wives, the new mayor and Vlas went to Agap all day, persuaded Agap to pretend, and gave him wine to drink all night. The next morning they locked him in the stable and told him to scream as if he was being beaten, but in fact he was sitting and drinking vodka. The landowner believed it, and he even felt sorry for the peasant. Only Agap, after so much vodka, died in the evening.
The wanderers went to look at the old landowner. And he sits surrounded by sons, daughters-in-law, peasants and has dinner. He began to ask whether the peasants would soon collect the master's hay. The new mayor began to assure him that the hay would be removed in two days, then he declared that the men would not escape from the master, that he was their father and god. The landowner liked this speech, but suddenly he heard that one of the peasants in the crowd laughed, and ordered to find and punish the culprit. The mayor went, and he himself thought about what to do. He began to ask the wanderers to have one of them confess: they are not from here, the master cannot do anything to them. But the travelers did not agree. Then the mayor's godfather, a cunning woman, fell at the master's feet, began to lament, saying that it was her only stupid son who laughed, and begged the master not to scold him. The master took pity. Then he fell asleep and died in his sleep.
Feast for the whole world
Introduction
The peasants organized a holiday, to which the entire estate came, they wanted to celebrate their newfound freedom. The peasants sang songs.
I. Bitter times - bitter songs
Cheerful. The song says that the master took the cow from the peasant, the zemstvo court took the chickens, the tsar took his sons as recruits, and the master took his daughters to himself. “It is glorious to live in holy Rus'!”
Corvee. The poor peasant of Kalinushka has wounds all over his back from beatings, he has nothing to wear, nothing to eat. Everything he earns has to be given to the master. The only joy in life is to go to a tavern and get drunk.
After this song, the peasants began to tell each other how hard it was under corvee. One recalled how their mistress Gertrude Alexandrovna ordered them to be beaten mercilessly. And the peasant Vikenty told the following parable.
About an exemplary slave - Yakov the faithful. Once upon a time there lived a landowner who was very stingy; he even drove away his daughter when she got married. This master had a faithful servant, Yakov, who loved him more than his own life, and did everything to please the master. Yakov never asked his master for anything, but his nephew grew up and wanted to get married. Only the master also liked the bride, so he did not allow Yakov’s nephew to marry, but gave him as a recruit. Yakov decided to take revenge on his master, only his revenge was as servile as his life. The master's legs hurt and he could not walk. Yakov took him into a dense forest and hanged himself in front of his eyes. The master spent the whole night in the ravine, and the next morning hunters found him. He did not recover from what he saw: “You, master, will be an exemplary slave, faithful Yakov, remembered until the day of judgment!”
II. Wanderers and pilgrims
There are different kinds of pilgrims in the world. Some of them only hide behind the name of God in order to profit at the expense of others, since it is customary to receive pilgrims in any home and feed them. Therefore, they most often choose rich houses where they can eat well and steal something. But there are also real pilgrims who bring the word of God to a peasant house. Such people go to the poorest house so that God’s mercy may come to them too. Such pilgrims include Ionushka, who wrote the story “About Two Great Sinners.”
About two great sinners. Ataman Kudeyar was a robber and during his life he killed and robbed many people. But his conscience tormented him, so much so that he could neither eat nor sleep, but only remembered his victims. He disbanded the whole gang and went to pray at the Holy Sepulcher. He wanders, prays, repents, but it doesn’t get any easier for him. The sinner returned to his homeland and began to live under a century-old oak tree. One day he hears a voice that tells him to cut down an oak tree with the same knife with which he used to kill people, then all his sins will be forgiven. The elder worked for several years, but could not cut down the oak tree. Once he met Pan Glukhovskoy, about whom they said that he was a cruel and evil person. When the master asked what the elder was doing, the sinner said that he wanted to atone for his sins. Pan began to laugh and said that his conscience did not torment him at all, even though he had ruined many lives. “A miracle happened to the hermit: he felt furious anger, rushed to Pan Glukhovsky, and plunged a knife into his heart! The bloodied gentleman had just fallen with his head on the saddle, a huge tree collapsed, and the echo shook the whole forest.” So Kudeyar prayed for his sins.
III. Both old and new
“Great is the noble sin,” the peasants began to say after Jonah’s story. But the peasant Ignatius Prokhorov objected: “He is great, but he will not be against the sin of the peasant.” And he told the following story.
Peasant sin. For his courage and bravery, the widower admiral received eight thousand souls from the empress. When the time came for the admiral to die, he called the headman to him and handed him a casket containing free food for all the peasants. After his death, a distant relative came and, promising the elder mountains of gold and freedom, begged him for that casket. So eight thousand peasants remained in lordly bondage, and the headman committed the most serious sin: he betrayed his comrades. “So this is the peasant’s sin! Indeed, a terrible sin! - the men decided. Then they sang the song “Hungry” and again started talking about the sin of the landowners and peasants. And so Grisha Dobrosklonov, the son of the sexton, said: “The snake will give birth to baby snakes, and the fortress will give birth to the sins of the landowner, the sin of the unfortunate Yakov, and the sin of Gleb! There is no support - there is no landowner who brings a zealous slave to a noose, there is no support - there is no yard servant taking revenge on his villain by suicide, there is no support - there will be no new Gleb in Rus'! Everyone liked the boy’s speech, they began to wish him wealth and an intelligent wife, but Grisha replied that he did not need wealth, but so that “every peasant could live freely, cheerfully throughout all holy Rus'.”
IV. Good times - good songs
In the morning the travelers fell asleep. Grisha and his brother took their father home, and they sang songs along the way. When the brothers put their father to bed, Grisha went for a walk around the village. Grisha studies at the seminary, where he is poorly fed, so he is thin. But he doesn't think about himself at all. All his thoughts are occupied only with his native village and peasant happiness. “Fate had prepared for him a glorious path, a great name as a people’s intercessor, consumption and Siberia.” Grisha is happy that he can be an intercessor and take care of ordinary people and his homeland. Seven men finally found someone happy, but they didn’t even know about this happiness.
“Flaxes are also very noble...
Ay! poor thing! stuck!
There is a small lark here,
Stuck in flax
The novel was carefully unraveled,
Kissed: “Fly!”
And the bird flew up,
Those who are touched by her
The men were watching...
The peas are ripe! They pounced
Like locusts on the strip:
Peas, like a red girl,
Whoever passes by will pinch!
Now everyone has peas -
The old one, the little one,
Peas spilled
For seventy roads!
All garden vegetables
Has ripened; children are running around
Some with turnips, some with carrots,
Sunflowers are peeled,
And the women are pulling beets,
Such a good beet!
Exactly red boots,
Lying on the strip.
Whether it was long or short,
Were we walking close or far?
Finally here is Klin.
Unenviable village:
No matter the hut - with support,
Like a beggar with a crutch,
And straw was fed from the roofs
Cattle. They stand like skeletons
Poor houses.
Rainy, late autumn
This is how jackdaw nests look,
When the jackdaws fly out
And the roadside wind
Birch trees will be exposed...
People in the fields are working.
Noticing the village
A manor on a hill,
Let's go have a look for now.
Huge house, wide yard,
A pond lined with willows,
In the middle of the yard.
The tower rises above the house,
Surrounded by a balcony
A spire protrudes above the tower.
I met them at the gate
Lackey, some kind of cloak
Covered: “Who do you want?
Landowner abroad
And the manager is dying!..” -
And he showed his back.
Our peasants burst into tears:
All over the back of the yard
A lion was drawn.
“Well, that’s a thing!” They argued for a long time
What an outlandish outfit!
While Pakhom is quick-witted
Didn't solve the riddle:
“The lackey is cunning: he will pull off the carpet,
He'll make a hole in the carpet,
He sticks his head into the hole
And he walks like that!..”
“The paths are so dirty,
What a shame! the girls are stone
Noses knocked off!
The fruits and berries have disappeared,
Geese and swans have disappeared
The lackey's got it in his craw!
What are churches without a priest?
Pleasing without a peasant,
To a garden without a landowner! -
The men decided. -
The landowner was firmly built,
I wished for such a distance,
But..." (Six laugh,
The seventh hung his nose.)
Suddenly from above somewhere
How the song will burst forth! heads
The men picked it up:
There is a balcony around the tower
Walked around in a cassock
A man
And he sang... In the evening air,
Like a silver bell,
Thunderous bass boomed...
Buzzed - and right for the heart
He grabbed our wanderers:
Not Russian words
And the grief in them is the same,
As it was heard in a Russian song,
Without shore, without bottom.
Such sounds are smooth,
Sobbing... “Clever girl,
What kind of man is there? -
Roman asked the woman,
Already feeding Mitenka
Hot soup.
Singer of Novo-Arkhangelskaya.
Him from Little Russia
The gentlemen enticed us.
Take him to Italy
They promised and left...
And he would be very happy -
What kind of Italy is it? -
Back to Konotop,
He has nothing to do here...
The dogs left the house
(The woman got angry)
Who cares here?..
Yes, not in front of him,
Not from behind... except for the voice...
Otherwise you will hear
How will you stay until the morning:
From here about three miles
There is a deacon... also with a voice...
So that's what they started
Say hello in your own way
At dawn.
How to climb the tower
Let ours bark: “Is it great?
Are you alive, father I-pat?”
So the glass will crack!
And that one to him, from there:
- Great, our so-lo-vu-shko!
I'm looking forward to drinking some water! - “I-do!..”
“I’m coming” is in the air
It takes an hour to respond...
Such stallions!..
The cattle are chasing home,
The road is dusty
It smelled like milk.
Mityukhin’s mother sighed:
- At least one cow
She entered the manor's courtyard! -
“Chu! song outside the village,
Goodbye, poor soul!
Let’s go meet the people.”
The wanderers sighed lightly:
They are after the whining yard
Seemed beautiful
Healthy, singing
A crowd of reapers and reapers, -
The girls painted the whole thing
(A crowd without red girls,
What is rye without cornflowers).
“Good way! Which one
Matrena Timofeevna?
- What do you need, good fellows?
Matrena Timofeevna
dignified woman,
Wide and dense
About thirty-eight years old.
Beautiful; gray streaked hair,
The eyes are big, strict,
The richest eyelashes,
Severe and dark.
She's wearing a white shirt,
Yes, the sundress is short,
Yes, a sickle over your shoulder.
What do you guys need?
The wanderers were silent
For now there are other women
Didn't go forward
Then they bowed:
"We are foreign people,
We have concerns
Is it such a concern?
Which of the houses did she survive?
She made us friends with work,
I stopped eating.
We are sedate men,
Of those temporarily obliged,
A tightened province,
Empty parish,
From adjacent villages:
Nesytova, Neelova,
Zaplatova, Dyryavina,
Gorelok, Golodukhina -
Bad harvest too.
Walking the path,
We came together by chance
We got together and argued:
Who lives happily?
Free in Rus'?
Roman said: to the landowner,
Demyan said: to the official,
Luke said: ass,
Kupchina fat-bellied, -
The Gubin brothers said,
Ivan and Metrodor.
Pakhom said: to the brightest,
To the noble boyar,
To the sovereign minister,
And Prov said: to the king...
The guy's a bull: he'll get in trouble
What a whim in the head -
Stake her from there
You won't knock it out! No matter how they argued,
We did not agree!
We argued, we quarreled,
They quarreled and fought,
Having caught up, we thought
Don't go apart
Don't toss and turn in the houses,
Don't see your wives
Not with the little guys
Not with old people,
As long as our dispute
We won't find a solution
Until we find out
Whatever it is - for certain,
Who likes to live happily?
Is it free in Rus'?..
We've already figured it out,
They brought the landowner
Yes, we are coming straight to you!
How should we look for an official?
Merchant, royal minister,
The Tsar (will he still allow
Is there a king of us little men?) -
Free us, help us out!
The rumor goes all over the world,
What are you at ease, happily
You live... Say in a divine way:
What is your happiness?
Not that I was surprised
Matrena Timofeevna,
And somehow it got twisted,
She thought...
It's not your business!
Now it's time to work,
Is it time to interpret?..
“We measured half the kingdom,
Nobody refused us!” -
The men asked.
Our ears are already falling apart,
There are not enough hands, dears...
“What are we for, godfather?
Bring on the sickles! All seven
How will we be tomorrow - by evening
We will burn all your rye!”
Timofeevna realized,
What a suitable thing.
“I agree,” he says, “
You are so brave
Press it, you won’t notice
Ten sheaves.
“And you pour out your soul to us!”
I won't hide anything!
As long as Timofeevna
Managed the farm
Peasants are a noble place
Elected for the hut:
Here is Riga, hemp fields,
Two hefty stacks,
Rich vegetable garden.
And the oak grew here - the beauty of oaks.
The wanderers crouched under him:
“Hey, self-assembled tablecloth,
Serve the men."
And the tablecloth unrolled,
Where did they come from?
Two hefty arms
They put a bucket of wine,
They piled up a mountain of bread
And they hid again...
The Gubin brothers cackle:
They grabbed such a radish
There is passion in the garden!
The stars were already seated
Across the dark blue sky,
The month has become high
When the hostess came
And became our wanderers
“Open your whole soul...”
Yes, I was not born in the forest,
I didn’t pray to the stumps,
I didn't sleep much.
On the day of Simeon, father
He put me on a burushka
And brought me out of infancy
By the fifth year,
And on the seventh for the beetroot
I myself ran into the herd,
I took my father to breakfast,
She was feeding the ducklings.
Then mushrooms and berries,
Then: “Get a rake
Yes, turn up the hay!”
So I got used to it...
And a good worker
And the sing-dance huntress
I was young.
You'll work in the field for a day,
You come home dirty
What's the use of a bathhouse?
Thanks to the hot baenka,
birch broom,
To the icy spring, -
White again, fresh,
Spinning with friends
Eat until midnight!
I didn't hang myself on guys
I cut off Nayanov,
And I’ll whisper quietly:
“My face is flushed,
And mother is quick-witted,
Don't touch it! go away!.." - will go away...
Yes, no matter how I ran them,
And the betrothed turned out to be
There's a stranger on the mountain!
Philip Korchagin - St. Petersburg resident,
Stove maker by skill.
The mother cried:
"Like a fish in a blue sea
You'll scurry away! like a nightingale
You'll fly out of the nest!
Someone else's side
Not sprinkled with sugar
Not drizzled with honey!
It's cold there, it's hungry there,
There's a well-groomed daughter there
Violent winds will blow around,
Black crows will rob
Shaggy dogs bark
And people will laugh!..”
And the priest with the matchmakers
Tipsy. Spun up
I didn't sleep all night...
Oh! what are you, guy, about a girl
Did you find any good in me?
Where did you spot me?
About Christmas time, how I'm on the roller coaster
With guys, with friends
Rolling around laughing?
You are mistaken, father's son!
From playing, from riding, from running,
It flared up in the cold
The girl has a face!
Is it a quiet conversation?
I was dressed up there
Portliness and niceness
I saved up over the winter
Blooming like poppies!
Should you look at me?
I shake like flax, like sheaves
I'm milking in Riga...
Is it in the parents' house?..
Oh! If only I knew! I would send
I'm going to the city of brother falcon:
“Dear brother! silk, garus
Buy - seven colors,
Yes, a blue set!”
I would embroider in the corners
Moscow, the Tsar and Queen,
Yes Kyiv, yes Constantinople,
And in the middle is the sun,
And this curtain
I would hang it in the window,
Maybe you should take a look, -
He would have missed me!..
I've been thinking all night...
“Leave it,” I told the guy, “
I'm in captivity from the volushka,
God knows, I won’t go!”
We've traveled such a long distance!
Go! - said Philippushka. -
I won't offend you!
She grieved, cried bitterly,
And the girl did the job:
At the narrowed sideways
I looked secretly.
Beautifully ruddy, broad and mighty,
Rus hair, soft spoken -
Philip fell on my heart!
“Stand up, good fellow,
Directly against me
Get on the same page!
Look into my clear eyes,
Look into the rosy face,
Think, dare:
To live with me - not to repent,
And I don’t have to cry with you...
That’s all I am here!”
I probably won't repent
You probably won't cry! -
Philippushka said.
While we were bargaining,
To Philip I: “Go away!”
And he: - Come with me! -
It is known: - Beloved,
Nice... pretty... -
“Ay!..” - I suddenly rushed...
- What are you? Eka strength! -
If you didn’t hold back, you wouldn’t see
Matryonushka forever and ever,
Yes, Philip kept it!
While we were bargaining,
It must be so I think
Then there was happiness...
And hardly ever again!
I remember the starry night,
Just as good
Just like now, it was...
Timofeevna sighed,
I bowed to the haystack,
In a sad, quiet voice
She sang to herself:
“Tell me why,
Young merchant
Loved me.
A peasant's daughter?
I'm not in silver
I'm not in gold
I am the pearls
Not hung!”
Pure silver -
Your purity
Red gold -
Your beauty
White-large pearls -
From your eyes
Tears are rolling...
My dear father ordered,
Blessed mother
Set by parents
To the oak table,
With the edges of the spell poured:
“Take the tray, stranger guests
Take me with a bow!”
For the first time I bowed -
The frisky legs trembled;
I bowed second -
The white face has faded;
I bowed for the third time,
And the wolf rolled down
From a girl's head...
“So, it’s a wedding? It should be -
Said one of the Gubins, -
Congratulate the young people."
"Let's! Start with the hostess." -
“Are you drinking vodka, Timofeevna?”
The old woman shouldn't drink?..
I sleep, baby, doze,
He lays his head on the pillow,
The mother-in-law walks along the hay fields,
Angry, she walks around new ones.
Wanderers (in chorus)
Knocking, rattling, knocking, rattling,
Does not allow daughter-in-law to sleep:
Get up, get up, get up, you're sleepy!
Get up, get up, get up, you sleepy one!
Sleepy, dormant, unruly!
The family was huge
Grumpy... I'm in trouble
Happy maiden holiday to hell!
My husband went to work
He advised to remain silent and be patient:
Don't spit on hot things
Iron will hiss!
I stayed with my sisters-in-law,
With my father-in-law, with my mother-in-law,
There is no one to love and dove,
And there is someone to scold!
To the elder sister-in-law,
To Martha the Pious,
Work like a slave;
Keep an eye on your father-in-law
You're wrong - at the innkeeper's
Redeem what is lost.
And get up and sit down with a sign,
Otherwise the mother-in-law will be offended;
Where can I know them all?
There are good signs
And there are also poor people.
It happened like this: mother-in-law
I blew it into my father-in-law's ears,
That kinder rye will be born
From stolen seeds.
Tikhonych went at night,
Caught - half dead
They threw it in the barn...
As ordered, so done:
I walked with anger in my heart,
And I didn’t say too much
A word to no one.
In winter Philippus came,
Brought a silk handkerchief
Yes, I went for a ride on a sled
On Catherine's day,
And it was as if there was no grief!
Sang as I sang
In my parents' house.
We were the same age
Don't touch us - we're having fun
We always get along.
It's true that the husband
Such as Philippushka,
Search with a candle...
“It’s as if he didn’t beat you?”
Timofeevna hesitated:
“Only once,” in a quiet voice
She said.
"For what?" - asked the wanderers.
It's as if you don't know
Like village quarrels
Coming out? To hubby
My sister came to visit
Her cats crashed.
“Give the shoes to Olenushka,
Wife!" - said Philip.
But I didn’t suddenly answer.
I lifted the pot,
Such a urge: to say
I couldn't speak.
Philip Ilyich was angry,
I waited until I installed it
Korchaga for a pole,
Yes, slap me on the temple!
“Well, fortunately you came,
And that’s how you look!” - said
Other, unmarried
Philip's sister.
Philip encouraged his wife.
"We haven't seen each other for a long time,
If only I had known, I wouldn’t have gone like that!” -
My mother-in-law said this.
Filyushka also added...
And that's it! It wouldn't do
Wife beaten by husband
Count; yes I said:
I won't hide anything!
“Well, women! with such and such
Underwater snakes
And the dead will take the whip!”
The hostess did not answer.
Peasants, for the sake of occasion,
We drank a new glass
And they sang a song in chorus
About the silk whip,
About my husband's relatives.
My hateful husband
Rises:
For the silk lash
Accepted.
The whip whistled
Blood spattered...
Oh! cherished! cherished!
Blood spattered...
Father-in-law
Bowed:
Father-in-law,
Take me away
From the recklessness of her husband,
Fierce snake!
Father-in-law
Orders to hit more
Orders blood to be shed.
The whip whistled
Blood spattered...
Oh! cherished! cherished!
Blood spattered...
Mother-in-law
Bowed:
Mother-in-law,
Take me away
From the recklessness of her husband,
Fierce snake!
Mother-in-law
Orders to hit more
Orders blood to be shed.
The whip whistled
Blood spattered...
Oh! cherished! cherished!
Blood spattered...
Philip at the Annunciation
He left and went to Kazanskaya
I gave birth to a son.
How written Demushka was!
Beauty taken from the sun,
The snow is white,
Maku's lips are red,
The sable has a black eyebrow,
In Siberian sable,
The hawk has eyes!
All the anger from my soul, my handsome man
Driven away with an angelic smile,
Like the spring sun
Clears the snow from the fields...
I didn't worry
Whatever they tell me, I work,
No matter how much they scold me, I remain silent.
Yes, this is where trouble comes in:
Abram Gordeich Sitnikov,
Lord's manager
He began to pester me:
“You are a written kralenka,
You are a pouring berry...”
- Leave me alone, shameless! berry,
Yes, not that! -
I bowed my sister-in-law,
I won’t go to corvée myself,
So he'll roll into the hut!
I’ll hide in a barn, in Riga -
The mother-in-law will pull out from there:
"Hey, don't joke with fire!"
- Drive him away, darling,
By the neck! - “Don’t you want
Should I be a soldier? I'm going to grandpa:
"What to do? Teach!”
From the whole husband's family
One Savely, grandfather,
Father-in-law's parent,
He felt sorry for me... Tell
About your grandfather, well done?
“Get the whole story out!”
Let’s throw two sheaves,”
The men said.
Well then! special speech.
It’s a sin to remain silent about grandfather,
He was lucky too...
“You started, so finish it!
Well, you lived - you didn’t grieve,
What’s next, head?”
According to Shalashnikov time
I came up with a new thing,
An order comes to us:
“Appear!” We didn't show up
Let's keep quiet, let's not move
In your swamp.
There was a severe drought
The police arrived
We pay tribute to her - with honey and fish!
I came again
Threatens to straighten out with a convoy,
We are animal skins!
And in the third - we are nothing!
Put on old bast shoes,
We put on torn hats,
Skinny Armenians -
And Koryozhina set off!..
They came... (In the provincial town
He stood with the Shalashnikov regiment.)
“Obrok!” - There is no rent!
No grain was produced
No smelts were caught... -
“Obrok!” - There is no rent! -
Didn't bother to talk:
“Hey, recess is first!” -
And he began to flog us.
Korezhskaya's money is tight!
Yes racks and Shalashnikov:
The tongues were already getting in the way,
My brains were already shaking
It's in the heads!
Heroic fortification,
Don't use the rod!.. There's nothing to do!
We shout: wait, give us time!
We cut open the onuchi
And the master of the foreheads
They brought half a hat.
The fighter Shalashnikov has calmed down!
Something so bitter
He brought it to us to the herbalist,
He drank with us and clinked his glass
With Koryoga conquered:
“Well, fortunately you gave up!
And then - here is God! - I decided
Skin you clean...
I would put it on a drum
And he gave it to the shelf!
Haha, haha! haha! haha!
(He laughs - he’s glad about the idea.)
If only there was a drum!”
Let's go home dejected...
Two stocky old men
Laughing... Oh ridges!
Hundred-ruble notes
Home under the shadows
They carry untouched ones!
How stubborn we are: we are beggars,
So that’s what they were afraid of!
I thought then:
“Well, okay! devils,
You won't get ahead
Laugh at me!"
And the rest became ashamed,
They swore to the church:
“We will not be put to shame in the future,
We will die under the rods!”
The landowner liked it
Korezhsky foreheads,
What a year - calling... calling...
Shalashnikov tore excellently,
And not so great
Income received:
Weak people gave up
And the strong for the patrimony
They stood well.
I also endured
He remained silent and thought:
“No matter how you take it, son of a dog,
But you can’t knock out all the souls,
Leave something behind!”
How will Shalashnikov accept the tribute?
Let's leave - and behind the outpost
Let's divide the profits:
“What money is left!
You’re a fool, Shalashnikov!”
And made fun of the master
Koryoga in turn!
These were proud people!
And now give me a slap -
Police officer, landowner
They're taking their last penny!
But we lived as merchants...
Red summer is coming,
We are waiting for the certificate... It has arrived...
And there is a notice in it,
What Mr. Shalashnikov
Killed near Varna.
We have no regrets,
And a thought fell on my heart:
"Prosperity comes
The peasant is finished!”
And for sure: unprecedented
The heir came up with a solution:
He sent a German to us.
Through the dense forests,
Through swampy swamps
He came on foot, you rascal!
One finger: a cap
Yes, a cane, but in a cane
A shell for fishing.
And at first he was quiet:
"Pay what you can."
- We can’t do anything! -
“I’ll notify the master.”
- Notify!.. - That’s the end of it.
He began to live and live;
I ate more fish
Sitting on the river with a fishing rod
Yes, hit yourself on the nose,
Then on the forehead - bam yes bam!
We laughed:
You don't love
Korezh mosquito...
Don’t you love me, don’t you?.. -
Rolling along the shore
Cackling in a wild voice
Like in a bathhouse on a shelf...
With the guys, with the girls
Made friends, wanders through the forest...
No wonder he wandered!
"If you can't pay,
Work!" - What is yours?
Job? - “Dig in
Ditches are desirable
Swamp..." We dug...
“Now cut down the forest...”
- OK then! - We chopped
And he was quick to show
Where to cut.
We look: there is a clearing!
How the clearing was cleared,
To the crossbar swamp
He ordered me to drive it along it.
Well, in a word, we realized
How did they make the road?
That the German caught us!
I went to town as a couple!
Let's see, he's lucky from the city
Boxes, mattresses;
Where did they come from?
The German has bare feet
Kids and wife.
Took bread and salt with the police officer
And with other zemstvo authorities,
The yard is full of guests!
And then came hard labor
To the Korezh peasant -
Ruined to the bone!
And he tore... like Shalashnikov himself!
Yes, he was simple: he will attack
With all our military strength,
Just think: he will kill!
And put the money in - it will fall off,
Neither give nor take bloated
There is a tick in the dog's ear.
The German has a death grip:
Until he lets you go around the world,
Without leaving he sucks!
“How did you endure, grandfather?”
That's why we endured
That we are heroes.
This is Russian heroism.
Do you think, Matryonushka,
The man is not a hero?
And his life is not a military one,
And death is not written for him
In battle - what a hero!
Hands are twisted in chains,
Feet forged with iron,
Back...dense forests
We walked along it - we broke down.
What about the breasts? Elijah the prophet
It rattles and rolls around
On a chariot of fire...
The hero endures everything!
Walked around the upper room,
Like an animal growling in the forest...
"Hey! wifey! you were a member
With the peasant Savely
In cohabitation? Blame it!”
I answered in a whisper:
- It's a shame, master, you're kidding!
I am an honest wife to my husband,
And to old Savely
A hundred years... Tea, you know it yourself? -
Like a shod horse in a stall,
Stomped; o maple table
Hit with his fist:
“Be silent! Isn't it by agreement?
With the peasant Savely
Did you kill the child?..”
Lady! what do you think!
A little bit of this world eater
I didn’t call you an unchrist,
I was all boiling...
Yes, I saw a doctor:
Knives, lancets, scissors
He sharpened it here.
I shuddered and thought better of it.
“No,” I say, “I’m Demushku.”
Loved, took care of... -
“Didn’t you give me the potion?
Didn’t you sprinkle arsenic?”
- No! God bless!.. -
And then I submitted
I bowed at my feet:
- Be compassionate, be kind!
Drive without reproach
Honest burial
Betray the baby!
I am his mother!.. - Will you beg?
They have no darling in their chests,
They have no conscience in their eyes,
There is no cross on the neck!
From a thin diaper
They gave Demushka a ride
And the body became white
To tear and plaster.
I didn’t see the light here, -
I thrashed and screamed:
- Villains! executioners!..
Fall my tears
Not on land, not on water,
Not to the Lord's temple!
Fall right on your heart
My villain!
Give it, O Lord!
So that decay comes on the dress,
Madness on the head
My villain!
His wife is stupid
Let's go, holy fool children!
Accept, hear, Lord,
Prayers, mother's tears,
Punish the villain!.. -
“Is she crazy? -
The chief said to the sotsky. -
Why didn't you warn me?
Hey! don't be stupid! I order you to tie it up!..”
I sat down on the bench.
I'm weak and shaking all over.
I tremble and look at the doctor:
Sleeves rolled up
The chest is covered with an apron,
In one hand there is a wide knife,
Use another handbrake and there is blood on it,
And there are glasses on my nose!
It became so quiet in the upper room...
The boss was silent,
The pen creaked
The priest puffed on his pipe,
Without moving, gloomy
The men were standing there.
- You read hearts with a knife, -
The priest said to the doctor,
When Demushka has a villain
My heart was spread out.
Here I rushed again...
“Well, that’s right - I’m crazy!
Tie her up!” - foreman
The boss shouted.
He began to question witnesses:
"In the peasant woman Timofeeva
And before the madness
Did you notice?
- No!
They asked the father-in-law, brother-in-law,
Mother-in-law, sister-in-law:
Didn't notice, no!
They asked the old grandfather:
- I didn’t notice! was smooth...
One thing: they called to the authorities,
I went... and not a dime,
No news, disappearing,
I didn’t take it with me!
Grandfather burst into tears.
The boss frowned
Didn't say a word.
And then I realized it!
God was angry: to the mind
Deprived! was ready
New in box!
Yes, it was too late to repent.
In my eyes, to the bones
The doctor cut up Demushka,
Covered it with a mat.
I'm like wood
Suddenly I began to stare,
Like a doctor washed his hands,
Like drinking vodka. To the priest
He said: “I humbly ask!”
And priest to him: - What are you asking?
Without a twig, without a whip
We all go, sinners,
To this watering hole!
The peasants insisted
The peasants trembled.
(Where did they come from?
At the flying kite
Selfish deeds!)
We prayed without church,
They bowed without an image!
How the whirlwind flew -
The boss tore his beards,
Like a fierce beast pounced -
I broke gold rings...
Then he began to eat.
I drank and ate, talked with the priest,
I heard it whisper
The priest cried to him:
- Our people are all hungry and drunk,
For the wedding, for confession
They owe it for years.
The last pennies they carry
To the pub! And to the dean
Only sins drag! -
Then I heard songs
All the voices are familiar,
Girls' voices:
Natasha, Glasha, Daryushka...
Chu, dance! choo! harmony!..
And suddenly everything went quiet...
I fell asleep, apparently it was me?..
It suddenly became easy: it seemed
That someone is leaning over
And whispers above me:
“Go to sleep, multi-stranded one!
Go to sleep, long-suffering one!”
And baptizes... They rolled off their hands
Ropes... I didn't remember
Then nothing...
I woke up. It's dark all around
I look out the window - it’s dead night!
Where am I? what's wrong with me?
I don’t remember, for the life of me!
I went outside -
Empty. I looked at the sky -
No month, no stars.
Solid black cloud
Hung over the village
The peasant houses are dark,
One extension is grandfather's
She shone like a palace.
I walked in and I remembered everything:
Candles in ardent wax
Furnished, among the gorenki
The oak table stood
There is a tiny coffin on it,
Covered with a damask tablecloth,
Icon in the heads...
“Oh, carpenter workers!
What kind of house did you build?
To my son?
The windows are not cut through,
The glass beads are not inserted
No stove, no bench!
There is no down feather...
Oh, it will be tough for Demushka,
Oh, it will be scary to sleep!..”
“Go away!..” I suddenly shouted.
I saw my grandfather:
With glasses, with an open book
He stood in front of the coffin,
I read above Demoy.
I am a hundred year old man
She called them branded, convicts,
Angry, menacing, I shouted:
“Go away! You killed Demushka!
Damn you... go away!..”
The old man doesn't move. gets baptized,
Reading... I left,
Here the old man came up:
- In winter for you, Matryonushka,
I told my life
Yes, I didn’t tell everything:
Our forests are gloomy,
The lakes are uninhabited,
Our people are savages.
Our crafts are harsh:
Crush the grouse with a noose,
Cut the bear with a hornet,
If you fail, you yourself are lost!
And Mr. Shalashnikov
With your military strength?
And the murderer German?
Then prison and hard labor...
I'm petrified, granddaughter,
He was fiercer than a beast.
One hundred years of constant winter
She was standing. Melted her
Your Dema is a hero!
One day I rocked it
Suddenly Demushka smiled...
And I answer him!
A miracle happened to me:
Third-day took aim
I'm in a squirrel: on a bitch
The squirrel was swinging... with its little sweetheart,
Like a cat, I washed myself...
Didn’t blurt out: live!
I wander through the groves, through the meadow,
I admire every flower.
I'm going home again
I laugh and play with Demushka...
God sees how cute I am
Loved the baby!
And I, according to my sins,
He ruined an innocent child...
Corey, execute me!
There is no point in arguing with God.
Become! pray for Demushka!
God knows what he's doing:
Is the life of a peasant sweet?
And for a long, long time grandfather
About the bitter fate of the plowman
He spoke with sadness...
If the Moscow merchants happened to
Sovereign nobles,
If the Tsar himself happened: there would be no need
It's better to talk!
Now your Demushka is in heaven,
It’s easy for him, it’s light for him...
The old grandfather cried.
“I don’t complain,” I said, “
That God took away the baby,
And it hurts why they
Did you curse at him?
Why, how black are the crows,
Parts of the body are white
Tormented?.. Really?
Neither God nor the king will intercede?..”
“There’s no need: I’ll get there!”
Oh! what you? What are you, granddaughter?..
Be patient, multi-branched one!
Be patient, long-suffering one!
We can't find the truth.
“Why not, grandfather?”
You are a serf woman! -
Savelyushka said.
I thought for a long time, bitterly...
Thunder struck, the windows shook,
And I shuddered... To the coffin
The old man let me down:
- Pray for the presence of angels
The Lord counted Demushka! -
And grandfather gave it to me
A burning candle.
All night until the light is white
I prayed, and grandfather
In a long, even voice
I read above Demo...
It took me a while to recover.
I didn't talk to anyone
And old Savely
I couldn't see.
I didn't work.
My father-in-law thought it up
To teach with the reins,
This is how I answered him:
"Kill!" I bowed at my feet:
“Kill! one end!
Father hung up the reins.
At Demina's grave
I lived day and night.
I swept it with a handkerchief
Grave, so that some grass
Rather grown up
I prayed for the deceased
I grieved for my parents:
You forgot your daughter!
Are you afraid of my dogs?
Are you ashamed of my family?
“Oh, no, dear, no!
Your dogs are not afraid
Your family is not ashamed
And it’s forty miles to go
Tell your troubles
Ask about your troubles -
It’s a pity to drive the drill!
We should have arrived a long time ago
Yes, that's what we thought:
We'll come - you'll cry,
If we leave, you’ll burst into tears!”
Winter has come: sadly
I shared with my husband
In the Savelyeva extension
The two of us grieved.
“Well, is grandpa dead?”
No. He's in his little closet
For six days I lay hopelessly,
Then he went into the woods,
That's how grandpa sang, that's how he cried,
That the forest groaned! And in the fall
Went to repentance
To the Sand Monastery.
At Father's, at Mother's
I visited Philip
She got down to business.
Three years, I think so
Week after week
They walked in one order,
Whatever the year, so are the children: there is no time
Neither think nor mourn,
May God help me get the job done
Yes, cross your forehead.
Eat when you have left
From the elders and from the children,
You will fall asleep when you are sick...
And on the fourth something new
Fierce grief crept up -
Who will it attach to?
You can't escape to death!
He flies ahead like a clear falcon,
He flies behind like a black raven,
It flies ahead - it won’t roll away,
It flies behind - it won’t stay...
I lost my parents...
Have you heard the dark nights?
We heard the violent winds
Orphan's sadness,
And you don't need to tell...
To Demina's grave
I went to cry.
I look: the grave has been tidied up.
On a wooden cross
Folding gilded
Icon. In front of her
I am a prostrate old man
I saw it. “Savelyushka!
Where did you come from?"
I came from Pesochny...
I pray for the poor Dema,
For all the suffering Russian
Peasantry I pray!
I’m still praying (not to the image)
Now Savely bowed)
So that the heart of an angry mother
The Lord has softened... Forgive me!
“I forgave you a long time ago, grandpa!”
Savely sighed... - Granddaughter!
And the granddaughter! - “What, grandfather?”
- Still look! -
I looked at it the same way.
Savelyushka looked in
In my eyes; old back
I tried to straighten it out.
Grandfather has become completely white.
I hugged the old lady
And for a long time at the cross
We sat and cried.
I am a new grief for my grandfather
She told me her...
Grandfather did not live long.
In the autumn at the old
Some kind of deep
There was a wound on the neck,
He died hard:
I haven’t eaten for a hundred days; withered and withered
He made fun of himself:
- Isn’t it true, Matryonushka,
For the Korezhsky mosquito
Do I look bony? -
He was kind, accommodating,
He was angry, picky,
He scared us: - Don’t plow,
Not this one, peasant! Hunched over
For yarn, for linens,
Peasant woman, don't sit!
No matter how you fight, you fools,
What is written in the family
This cannot be avoided!
There are three paths for men:
Tavern, prison and penal servitude,
And the women in Rus'
Three loops: white silk,
The second - red silk,
And the third - black silk,
Choose any one!..
Climb into any... -
Grandfather laughed so much
That everyone in the closet shuddered, -
And by nightfall he died.
As ordered, they did it:
Buried next to Dema...
He lived one hundred and seven years.
Four quiet years
Like twins alike
Gone later... To everything
I submitted: first
From the bed Timofeevna,
The last one is to go to bed;
I work for everyone, for everyone, -
From the mother-in-law, drunken father-in-law,
From a defective sister-in-law
I'm taking off my boots...
Just don't touch the kids!
I stood up for them...
It happened, well done
The praying man came to visit us;
Sweet-tongued wanderer
We listened;
Save yourself, live like a god
The saint taught us
On holidays at matins
Woke me up... and then
The wanderer demanded
So that we don't breastfeed
Children on fasting days.
The village was alarmed!
Hungry babies
Wednesdays, Fridays
They're screaming! Another mother
Herself over her son crying
Filled with tears:
And she’s afraid of God,
And what a pity, child!
I just didn't listen
I judged it my way:
If you endure, then mothers,
I am a sinner before God,
Not my child!
Yes, apparently God was angry.
Turned eight years old
To my son,
His father-in-law hired him as a shepherd.
One day I'm waiting for Fedotushka -
The cattle are already on their way,
I'm going outside.
It's visible and invisible there
To the people! I listened
And she rushed into the crowd.
I see pale Fedot
Silantius holds his ear.
“Why are you holding him?”
- We want to flog Manenichko:
Feed sheep
He thought up wolves! -
I snatched Fedotushka
Yes, off your feet Silantya the headman
And she accidentally knocked it down.
A wonderful thing happened:
The shepherd left; Fedotushka
There was only one with the herd.
“I’m sitting,” he said
My son, on a hillock,
Out of nowhere -
Enormous she-wolf
And grab Maryina the sheep!
I followed her
I scream, I crack the whip,
I'm whistling, I'm tying Jacket...
I'm good at running
Yes, wherever the damned
Catch up, if not a puppy:
Her nipples were dragging,
Bloody trail, mother,
I was chasing her!
The gray one went quieter,
He walks, walks, looks back,
How about I let it go!
And she sat down... I whipped her:
“Give me back the sheep, you damned one!”
Doesn't give up, sits...
I didn’t hesitate: “Then I’ll tear it out,
At least die!..” And he rushed,
And pulled it out... Nothing -
The gray one didn't bite!
She's barely alive,
He just clicks his teeth
Yes, he is breathing heavily.
There's a bloody river underneath,
The nipples are cut up by grass,
All the ribs count
He looks up, raising his head,
In my eyes... and suddenly she howled!
She howled as if she were crying.
I felt the sheep:
The sheep was already dead...
Is the she-wolf so pitiful
She looked, howled... Mother!
I threw her a sheep!..”
So this is what happened to the guy.
He came to the village, yes, stupid,
I told you everything myself,
That's why they thought of flogging.
Luckily I arrived in time...
Silantius became angry,
Shouts: - Why are you pushing?
Do you want to get the rod yourself? -
And Marya, that one:
“Let them teach the fool a lesson!” -
And he tears Fedotushka out of his hands.
Fedot is shaking like a leaf.
Hunting horns blow,
The landowner returns
From the hunt. Me to him:
“Don’t give it away! Be an intercessor!”
- What's the matter? - called the headman
And he instantly decided:
- Helping a child
Out of youth, out of stupidity
Forgive... but the woman is impudent
Approximately punish! -
“Ay master!” I jumped:
“Freed Fedotushka!
Go home, Fedot!
Let's do what we've been told! -
The elder told the laity. -
Hey! wait to dance!
The neighbor popped in here.
“And you should stand at the headman’s feet...”
“Go home, Fedot!”
I stroked the boy:
“Look, when you look back,
I’ll be angry... Go!”
Remove the word from the song,
So the whole song will be broken.
I went to bed, well done...
In Fedotov's little closet,
Like a cat I sneaked:
The boy is sleeping, delirious, tossing about;
One little hand hung down
Another one on the eye
Lies, clenched into a fist:
“Were you crying, poor thing?
Sleep. Nothing. I'm here!"
I grieved for Demushka,
How I was pregnant with him -
A weakling was born
However, a clever guy came out:
At the Alferov factory
They brought out a pipe like this
With a parent, what a passion!
I sat over him all night,
I'm the amiable shepherdess
Raised to the sun
She put on her shoes herself,
Crossed; cap,
She gave me a horn and a whip.
The whole family woke up,
Yes, I didn’t show up to her
I didn’t go to the reaping.
I went to the fast river,
I chose a quiet place
At the broom bush.
I sat down on a gray pebble,
She propped her head up with her hand,
The orphan started crying!
I called loudly to my parent:
Come, Father Intercessor!
Look at your beloved daughter...
I called in vain.
There is no great defense!
Early guest without jurisdiction,
Tribeless, rootless,
The death of a loved one took away!
I called loudly to my mother.
The violent winds responded,
The distant mountains responded,
But my dear one didn’t come!
Day is my sad one,
In the night - night pilgrimage!
Never you, my beloved,
I won't see it now!
You went into irrevocability,
An unfamiliar path
Where the wind doesn't reach,
The beast is not searching...
There is no great defense!
If only you knew and knew,
To whom did you leave your daughter,
What can I bear without you?
Night - I shed tears...
Day - I lay down like grass.
I have my head down
I carry an angry heart!..
Extraordinary that year
A star played in the sky;
Some judged it this way:
The Lord walks across the sky,
And his angels
Sweeping with a fiery broom
Before the feet of God
There is a path in the heavenly field;
Others thought the same
Yes, only for the Antichrist
And they smelled trouble.
It has come true: the lack of bread has arrived!
Brother did not persuade brother
Piece! It was a terrible year...
That she-wolf Fedotova
I remembered - I was hungry,
Similar to the kids
I was on it!
Yes, there's still my mother-in-law here
Served as a sign,
She told the neighbors
Why did I invite trouble?
With what? A clean shirt
Wore it on Christmas Day.
For my husband, for my protector,
I got off cheap;
And one woman
Not for the same thing
Killed to death with stakes.
Don't joke with the hungry!..
It didn't end with just one misfortune:
We've dealt with the lack of bread a little
The recruit has arrived.
Yes, I wasn't worried:
For the Filippov family
My brother became a soldier.
I'm sitting alone, working,
And the husband and both brothers-in-law
We left in the morning;
Father-in-law at the meeting
Set off, and the women
They scattered to their neighbors.
I was very unwell
I was Liodorushka
Pregnant: last
I lived for days.
Having dealt with the guys,
In a big hut under a fur coat
I lay down on the stove.
The women returned in the evening,
There is only no father-in-law,
They are waiting for him to have dinner.
He came: “Oh-oh! tired,
But things didn’t get better,
We're lost, wife!
Where seen, where heard:
How long ago did they take the eldest?
Now give me less!
I calculated by years,
I bowed at the feet of the world,
What kind of world do we have?
I asked the mayor: I swear,
What a pity, but there is nothing to do!
And he asked the clerk
Yes, the truth from the scammer
And you can’t cut it out with an axe,
What shadows from the wall!
Gifted... everyone is gifted...
I should tell the governor
So he would ask them!
That's all I could ask for,
So that he is in our volost
Regular paintings
I ordered it to be checked.
Come on, come on!” They cried
Mother-in-law, sister-in-law,
And I... It was cold
Now I'm on fire!
I'm burning... God knows what I'm thinking...
I don’t think... nonsense... Hungry
Orphan children are standing
In front of me... Unkind
The family is looking at them
They are noisy in the house
There are pugnacious people on the street,
Gluttons at the table...
And they began to pinch them,
Beat your head...
Shut up, soldier mother!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Now I'm no longer a sharecropper
Village plot,
Mansion building,
Clothes and livestock.
Now one richness:
Three lakes are cried
Burnt tears, sown
Three stripes of trouble!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Now I feel guilty
I stand in front of my neighbors:
Sorry! I was
Arrogant, unbowing,
I didn’t expect it, stupid
To remain an orphan...
Sorry, good people,
Teach wisdom
How to live on your own? Like little kids
Water, feed, raise?..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sent children around the world:
Ask, children, with affection,
Don't you dare steal!
And the children burst into tears: “It’s cold!
Our clothes are torn,
From porch to porch
We'll get tired of walking
Let's trample under the windows,
Let's freeze... At the rich man's
We are afraid to ask.
“God willing!” - the poor will answer.
We will return home with nothing -
You will scold us!..”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I packed dinner; mother
I'm calling my sister-in-law and brother-in-law,
I'm standing there hungry
At the door, like a slave.
The mother-in-law shouts: “Evil one!
Are you in a hurry to go to bed?
And the brother-in-law says:
“You worked a little!
All day behind a tree
She stood: waited,
As soon as the sun goes down!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I dressed up better
I went to the Church of God,
I hear laughter behind me!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Okay, don't get dressed,
Don't wash yourself white
The neighbors have sharp eyes,
Tongues out!
Walk on the quieter streets
Carry your head lower
If you're having fun, don't laugh
Don't cry out of sadness!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The permanent winter has come,
Fields, green meadows
We hid under the snow.
On a white, snowy shroud
There is no thawed tag -
The soldier's mother does not
All over the world friend!
Who can I think about it with?
Who can I have a word with?
How to deal with squalor?
Where can I take my grievances?
In the forests - the forests would wither,
In the meadows - the meadows would burn!
Into a fast river?
The water would have stayed!
Carry it, poor soldier,
Take her to her grave!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
There was a knock on the closet,
Makar left... I sat
I waited, I waited, I missed you,
She opened the door.
The carriage was brought to the porch.
“Going by yourself?” - Governor's wife! -
Makar answered me
And he rushed up the stairs.
I went down the stairs
Lady in a sable fur coat,
The official is with her.
I didn't know what I was doing
(Yes, apparently, I got the idea
Lady!)... How will I throw myself
At her feet: “Intercede!
By deception, not in God's way
breadwinner and parent
They take it from the kids!”
Where are you from, my dear?
Did I answer correctly?
I don’t know... Mortal flour
Came under my heart...
I woke up, guys,
In a rich, bright room,
I'm lying under the canopy;
The nurse is against me,
Dressed up, in a kokoshnik,
Sitting with the baby:
“Whose child is it, beauty?”
- Your! - I kissed
Rotten child...
Like at the feet of the governor
I fell as I cried,
How did she start talking?
The long weariness took its toll,
Excessive languor
The time has run out -
My time has come!
Thanks to the governor
Elena Alexandrovna,
I'm so grateful to her
Like a mother!
She baptized the boy herself
And the name is Liodorushka
Chosen for the baby...
“What happened to my husband?”
They sent a messenger to Klin,
The whole truth has been revealed -
Philippushka was saved.
Elena Alexandrovna
Come to me, my dear,
Herself - God grant her happiness! -
She took me by the hand.
She was kind, she was smart,
Beautiful, healthy,
But God did not give children!
While I was visiting her,
All the time with Liodorushka
She wore it like she was with family.
Spring has already begun
The birch tree was blooming,
How we went home...
Okay, light
In the world of God!
Okay, easy
Clear in my heart.
We're going, we're going -
Let's stop
To forests, meadows
Let's admire
Let's admire it
Let's listen,
How they make noise and run
spring waters,
How he sings and rings
Lark!
We stand and look...
Eyes will meet -
We'll smile
Will smile at us
Liodorushka.
And we'll see
The old beggar -
Let's give it to him
We are a pretty penny:
“Don’t pray for us,”
Let's tell the old one -
You pray, old man,
For Elenushka,
For the beauty
Alexandrovna!
And we'll see
Church of God -
In front of the church
Let's be baptized for a long time:
"Give her, Lord,
Joy-happiness,
Good darling
Alexandrovna!
The forest is turning green,
The meadow is turning green,
Where is the lowland -
There's a mirror there!
Okay, light
In the world of God,
Okay, easy
Our hearts are clear.
I'm sailing on the waters
White swan
I run across the steppes
Quail.
Arrived at the house
Rock dove...
Bowed to me
Father-in-law;
Bowed
Mother-in-law,
Brothers-in-law
Bowed down
Bowed down
Apologize!
You sit down,
Don't bow down
Listen,
What will I tell you:
To him I bow,
Who is stronger than me
Who is kinder than me
Sing glory to him.
Whose glory should we sing?
To the governor!
Good darling
Alexandrovna!
Chapter VIII
THE WINNER'S PARABLE
Timofeevna fell silent.
Of course, our wanderers
Don't miss an opportunity
For the health of the governor
Drain one glass at a time.
And seeing that the hostess
I bowed to the haystack,
They approached her in single file:
"What's next?"
- You know:
Called lucky
Nicknamed the governor's wife
Matryona since then...
What's next? I rule the house
Raising children... Is it for joy?
You need to know too.
Five sons! Peasant
The orders are endless
They already took one!
Beautiful eyelashes
Timofeevna blinked,
Hastily bowed down
Head to the haystack.
The peasants hesitated, hesitated,
They whispered. “Well, mistress!
What else can you tell us?
And what are you up to?
It's not a matter - between women
Happy searching!..
“Have you told me everything?”
What else do you need?
Shouldn't I tell you?
That we burned twice,
That God anthrax
Visited us three times?
Horse attempts
We carried; I took a walk
Like a gelding in a harrow!..
I haven't trampled my feet,
Not tied with ropes,
No needles...
What else do you need?
I promised to lay out my soul,
Yes, apparently I failed, -
Sorry, well done!
It’s not the mountains that have moved,
Fell on your head
Not God with a thunder arrow
In anger he pierced the chest,
For me - quiet, invisible -
The spiritual storm has passed,
Will you show it?
For a mother scolded,
Like a trampled snake,
The blood of the firstborn has passed,
For me, grievances are mortal
Gone unpaid
And the whip passed over me!
I just didn’t taste it -
Thank you! Sitnikov died -
Inexorable shame
The last shame!
And you came looking for happiness!
It's a shame, well done!
Go to the official
To the noble boyar,
Go to the king
Don't touch women,
Here is God! you pass with nothing
To the grave!
She asked to stay with us for the night
One old woman of God:
The whole life of a wretched old woman -
Killing the flesh, fasting;
At the Tomb of Jesus
Prayed on Mount Athos
The heights rose
I swam in the Jordan River...
And that holy old woman
She told me:
"The keys to women's happiness,
From our free will
Abandoned, lost
From God himself!
Desert Fathers
And blameless wives,
And scribes
They are looking for them but will not find them!
Gone! need to think
The fish swallowed them...
In chains, exhausted,
Hungry, cold,
The Lord's warriors have passed
Deserts, cities, -
And ask the wise men
And look out for the stars
We tried - no keys!
We have known all of God's world,
In the mountains, in underground abysses
We've been looking... Finally
The Companions have found the keys!
The keys are invaluable
And all the wrong keys!
They came - great
To God's chosen people
It was a celebration -
They came to the slave slaves:
The dungeons have dissolved,
A sigh passed through the world,
So loud and joyful!..
And to our female will
Still no keys!
Great Companions
And to this day they try -
They go down to the bottom of the seas,
They rise to the sky, -
Still no keys!
Yes, they are unlikely to be found...
What kind of fish swallowed
Those keys are reserved,
In what seas is that fish
Walking - God forgot.
