Perhaps such a headline will confuse some parents, asking if she has gone crazy, stuff small child such complex works, even by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy. But no, I didn’t :) More than a century ago, the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy wrote stories for peasant children, whom he taught to read and write on his estate Yasnaya Polyana. In those days, there were practically no children's books, so Tolstoy himself wrote many simple and understandable stories for children, which to this day have not lost their relevance and significance. From a young age, they develop a sense of goodness and justice, and learn to treat the world around them with love and respect. Therefore, I simply could not help but purchase at least a couple of books by this wonderful writer for my three-year-old son.
I adore Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, not only his works, but also his entire philosophy and views on life. He was incredibly wise and highly moral. His views and attitude towards life resonate very much with how I understand our existence. Of course, I am far from such awareness, but Lev Nikolaevich inspires me! And his works breathe an incredible live atmosphere, they are simply magnificent!
That is why I decided to start introducing Tolstoy’s books from childhood. Moreover, Lev Nikolaevich wrote quite a few children's stories, fables and fairy tales, the adapted texts of which will also help to successfully introduce the child to magical world Russian classical literature.
"Little Stories"
The first thing I did was buy this wonderful book.
It's called "Little Stories". The name speaks for itself. The bulk of the book consists of short stories. About goodness, about justice, about honesty, about work, about friendship, about love, and other qualities that characterize a person’s high personality. Reading stories like this small child, you are letting him know the right things. What qualities in life are respected and appreciated, and which only disfigure a person. Here, for example, is one such short story.
Most of the stories are even shorter, just a couple of sentences, but they contain great wisdom! Leo Tolstoy's talent for investing deep meaning V simple words priceless and unique. And his books can undoubtedly be introduced to children from a very young age. In our case it is three years.
But this book is also suitable for older children. It has 183 pages and 65 works. There are also longer ones, like Filipok, for example, which can be read from the age of five.
So, the book “Little Stories” will not be at all superfluous in a children's library. Of course, it is better to read such stories with your mother, so that she comments and discusses with the child what the author wanted to say. Moreover, this book has a convenient format, good quality thick sheets and hard cover, and very soulful pictures, real, conveying the atmosphere of that time. I'm really glad I bought this book :)
"The Lion and the Dog"
I'm fully aware that it's simple but crazy dramatic work, too early for three years. But I just really wanted it to be in our home library. I myself read “The Lion and the Dog” before school, I just had this book in the house, and I picked it up and read it. Words cannot express the pain and compassion this story caused in my little heart. I was very worried. I believe that this book will not leave anyone indifferent. It awakens compassion, teaches empathy and sympathy for the pain of others.
There are cheaper versions of this book, but I chose this one - from the Rech publishing house. I really like illustrations in this style. It was as if the artist was making strokes with his brush right in the book.
The drawings are very laconic, they contain only basic sketches, but this makes them clearer to the child, and most importantly, they surprisingly allow you to feel literally every page more deeply.
The book brought by courier simply amazed me! It turned out to be larger than I imagined: the format is larger than A4; The quality is simply excellent, in general, a real decoration for a children's library! Well, I think we’ll try to read the story itself when we’re 4.5 years old. I’ll see if my son is ready to perceive this work, if not, then we’ll wait, but sooner or later the time for this book will undoubtedly come to us =)
Leo Tolstoy was not only a great writer known throughout the world, but also an outstanding teacher and philosopher. His books will allow us to get acquainted with his works of art, written for the enlightenment, education and upbringing of children. They contain works for initial reading, mainly from two large cycles of Tolstoy - “Russian Books for Reading” and “Folk Stories”.
The books are ideal for family reading, since the great Russian writer and thinker addressed his fairy tales, fables and parables not only to children, but also to himself to a wide circle readers of different ages, teaching moral lessons kindness, hard work and spirituality.
Download books by Leo Tolstoy for children
Below, using the links, you can download several children's collections, authored by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Among them there are fairy tales, fables and epics, in general, several dozen of the most famous and best works of Leo Tolstoy for children.
A selection of other children's books by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, stories, fairy tales and fables in prose for children. The collection includes not only everyone famous stories Leo Tolstoy’s “Bone”, “Kitten”, “Bulka”, but also such rare works as “Treat everyone kindly”, “Do not torture animals”, “Don’t be lazy”, “Boy and Father” and many others.
Jackdaw and jug
Galka wanted to drink. There was a jug of water in the yard, and the jug only had water at the bottom.
Jackdaw was out of reach.
She began throwing pebbles into the jug and added so many that the water became higher and could be drunk.
Rats and egg
Two rats found an egg. They wanted to share it and eat it; but they see a crow flying and wants to take an egg.
The rats began to think about how to steal an egg from a crow. Carry? - do not grab; roll? - it can be broken.
And the rats decided this: one lay on its back, grabbed the egg with its paws, and the other carried it by the tail, and, like on a sleigh, pulled the egg under the floor.
Bug
Bug carried a bone across the bridge. Look, her shadow is in the water.
It occurred to the Bug that there was not a shadow in the water, but a Bug and a bone.
She let her bone go and take it. She didn’t take that one, but hers sank to the bottom.
Wolf and goat
The wolf sees that a goat is grazing on a stone mountain and he cannot get close to it; He says to her: “You should go down: here the place is more level, and the grass is much sweeter for you to feed.”
And the Goat says: “That’s not why you, wolf, are calling me down: you’re not worrying about mine, but about your own food.”
Mouse, cat and rooster
The mouse went out for a walk. She walked around the yard and came back to her mother.
“Well, mother, I saw two animals. One is scary and the other is kind.”
The mother said: “Tell me, what kind of animals are these?”
The mouse said: “There’s a scary one, he walks around the yard like this: his legs are black, his crest is red, his eyes are bulging, and his nose is hooked. When I walked past, he opened his mouth, raised his leg and began screaming so loudly that I didn’t know where to go from fear!”
“It’s a rooster,” said the old mouse. - He does no harm to anyone, don’t be afraid of him. Well, what about the other animal?
- The other was lying in the sun and warming himself. His neck is white, his legs are gray, smooth, he licks his white chest and moves his tail slightly, looking at me.
The old mouse said: “You are a fool, you are a fool. After all, it’s the cat itself.”
Kitty
There were brother and sister - Vasya and Katya; and they had a cat. In the spring the cat disappeared. The children looked for her everywhere, but could not find her.
One day they were playing near the barn and heard someone meowing in thin voices overhead. Vasya climbed the ladder under the roof of the barn. And Katya stood and kept asking:
- Found? Found?
But Vasya did not answer her. Finally Vasya shouted to her:
- Found! Our cat... and she has kittens; so wonderful; come here quickly.
Katya ran home, took out milk and brought it to the cat.
There were five kittens. When they grew a little and began to crawl out from under the corner where they had hatched, the children chose one kitten, gray with white paws, and brought it into the house. The mother gave away all the other kittens, but left this one to the children. The children fed him, played with him and took him to bed.
One day the children went to play on the road and took a kitten with them.
The wind moved the straw along the road, and the kitten played with the straw, and the children rejoiced at him. Then they found sorrel near the road, went to collect it and forgot about the kitten.
Suddenly they heard someone shouting loudly:
“Back, back!” - and they saw that the hunter was galloping, and in front of him two dogs saw a kitten and wanted to grab it. And the kitten, stupid, instead of running, sat down to the ground, hunched its back and looked at the dogs.
Katya was scared of the dogs, screamed and ran away from them. And Vasya, as best he could, ran towards the kitten and at the same time as the dogs ran up to it.
The dogs wanted to grab the kitten, but Vasya fell with his stomach on the kitten and blocked it from the dogs.
The hunter jumped up and drove the dogs away, and Vasya brought the kitten home and never took it with him into the field again.
Old man and apple trees
The old man was planting apple trees. They told him: “Why do you need apple trees? It will take a long time to wait for fruit from these apple trees, and you will not eat any apples from them.” The old man said: “I won’t eat, others will eat, they will thank me.”
Boy and father (The truth is most precious)
The boy was playing and accidentally broke an expensive cup.
Nobody saw it.
The father came and asked:
- Who broke it?
The boy shook with fear and said:
- I.
Father said:
- Thank you for telling the truth.
Do not torture animals (Varya and Chizh)
Varya had a siskin. The siskin lived in a cage and never sang.
Varya came to the siskin. - “It’s time for you, little siskin, to sing.”
- “Let me go free, in freedom I will sing all day long.”
Don't be lazy
There were two men - Peter and Ivan, they mowed the meadows together. The next morning Peter came with his family and began to clean up his meadow. The day was hot and the grass was dry; By evening there was hay.
But Ivan didn’t go to clean, but stayed at home. On the third day, Peter took the hay home, and Ivan was just getting ready to row.
By evening it started to rain. Peter had hay, but Ivan had all his grass rotted away.
Don't take it by force
Petya and Misha had a horse. They began to argue: whose horse?
They began to tear each other's horses.
- “Give it to me, my horse!” - “No, give it to me, the horse is not yours, but mine!”
The mother came, took the horse, and the horse became no one's.
Don't overeat
The mouse was gnawing on the floor, and there was a gap. The mouse went into the gap and found a lot of food. The mouse was greedy and ate so much that its belly became full. When it became day, the mouse went home, but its belly was so full that it did not fit through the crack.
Treat everyone kindly
The squirrel jumped from branch to branch and fell straight onto the sleepy wolf. The wolf jumped up and wanted to eat her. The squirrel began to ask: “Let me go.” The wolf said: “Okay, I’ll let you in, just tell me why you squirrels are so cheerful? I’m always bored, but I look at you, you’re up there, playing and jumping.” The squirrel said: “Let me go to the tree first, and from there I’ll tell you, otherwise I’m afraid of you.” The wolf let go, and the squirrel went up a tree and from there said: “You’re bored because you’re angry. Anger burns your heart. And we are cheerful because we are kind and do no harm to anyone.”
Respect old people
The grandmother had a granddaughter; Before, the granddaughter was sweet and still slept, and the grandmother herself baked bread, swept the hut, washed, sewed, spun and weaved for her granddaughter; and then the grandmother became old and lay down on the stove and kept sleeping. And the granddaughter baked, washed, sewed, weaved and spun for her grandmother.
How my aunt talked about how she learned to sew
When I was six years old, I asked my mother to let me sew. She said: “You are still small, you will only prick your fingers”; and I kept pestering. Mother took a red piece of paper from the chest and gave it to me; then she threaded a red thread into the needle and showed me how to hold it. I began to sew, but could not make even stitches; one stitch came out large, and the other hit the very edge and broke through. Then I pricked my finger and tried not to cry, but my mother asked me: “What are you doing?” - I couldn’t resist and cried. Then my mother told me to go play.
When I went to bed, I kept imagining stitches: I kept thinking about how I could quickly learn to sew, and it seemed so difficult to me that I would never learn. And now I’ve grown up and don’t remember how I learned to sew; and when I teach my girl to sew, I’m surprised how she can’t hold a needle.
Bulka (Officer's Story)
I had a face. Her name was Bulka. She was all black, only the tips of her front paws were white.
In all faces, the lower jaw is longer than the upper and the upper teeth extend beyond the lower ones; but Bulka’s lower jaw protruded forward so much that a finger could be placed between the lower and upper teeth. Bulka’s face was wide; the eyes are large, black and shiny; and white teeth and fangs always stuck out. He looked like a blackamoor. Bulka was quiet and did not bite, but he was very strong and tenacious. When he would cling to something, he would clench his teeth and hang like a rag, and, like a tick, he could not be torn off.
Once they let him attack a bear, and he grabbed the bear’s ear and hung like a leech. The bear beat him with his paws, pressed him to himself, threw him from side to side, but could not tear him away and fell on his head to crush Bulka; but Bulka held on to it until they poured cold water on him.
I took him as a puppy and raised him myself. When I went to serve in the Caucasus, I didn’t want to take him and left him quietly, and ordered him to be locked up. At the first station, I was about to board another transfer station, when suddenly I saw something black and shiny rolling along the road. It was Bulka in his copper collar. He flew at full speed towards the station. He rushed towards me, licked my hand and stretched out in the shadows under the cart. His tongue stuck out the entire palm of his hand. He then pulled it back, swallowing drool, then again stuck it out to the whole palm. He was in a hurry, did not have time to breathe, his sides were jumping. He turned from side to side and tapped his tail on the ground.
I found out later that after me he broke through the frame and jumped out of the window and, right in my wake, galloped along the road and rode like that for twenty miles in the heat.
Milton and Bulka (Story)
I got myself a pointing dog for pheasants. This dog's name was Milton: she was tall, thin, speckled gray, with long wings and ears, and very strong and smart. They didn’t fight with Bulka. Not a single dog ever snapped at Bulka. Sometimes he would just show his teeth, and the dogs would tuck their tails and move away. One day I went with Milton to buy pheasants. Suddenly Bulka ran after me into the forest. I wanted to drive him away, but I couldn’t. And it was a long way to go home to take him. I thought that he would not disturb me, and moved on; but as soon as Milton smelled a pheasant in the grass and began to look, Bulka rushed forward and began poking around in all directions. He tried before Milton to raise a pheasant. He heard something in the grass, jumped, spun: but his instincts were bad, and he could not find the trail alone, but looked at Milton and ran to where Milton was going. As soon as Milton sets off on the trail, Bulka runs ahead. I recalled Bulka, beat him, but could not do anything with him. As soon as Milton began to search, he rushed forward and interfered with him. I wanted to go home, because I thought that my hunt was ruined, but Milton figured out better than me how to deceive Bulka. This is what he did: as soon as Bulka runs ahead of him, Milton will leave the trail, turn in the other direction and pretend that he is looking. Bulka will rush to where Milton pointed, and Milton will look back at me, wave his tail and follow the real trail again. Bulka again runs to Milton, runs ahead, and again Milton will deliberately take ten steps to the side, deceive Bulka and again lead me straight. So throughout the hunt he deceived Bulka and did not let him ruin the matter.
Shark (Story)
Our ship was anchored off the coast of Africa. It was a beautiful day, a fresh wind was blowing from the sea; but in the evening the weather changed: it became stuffy and, as if from a heated stove, hot air from the Sahara desert was blowing towards us.
Before sunset, the captain came out onto the deck, shouted: “Swim!” - and in one minute the sailors jumped into the water, lowered the sail into the water, tied it and set up a bath in the sail.
There were two boys with us on the ship. The boys were the first to jump into the water, but they were cramped in the sail; they decided to race against each other in the open sea.
Both, like lizards, stretched out in the water and, with all their strength, swam to the place where there was a barrel above the anchor.
One boy at first overtook his friend, but then began to fall behind. The boy's father, an old artilleryman, stood on the deck and admired his son. When the son began to lag behind, the father shouted to him: “Don’t give him away! push yourself!”
Suddenly someone shouted from the deck: “Shark!” - and we all saw the back of a sea monster in the water.
The shark swam straight towards the boys.
Back! back! come back! shark! - the artilleryman shouted. But the guys didn’t hear him, they swam on, laughing and shouting even more fun and louder than before.
The artilleryman, pale as a sheet, looked at the children without moving.
The sailors lowered the boat, rushed into it and, bending their oars, rushed as hard as they could towards the boys; but they were still far from them when the shark was no more than 20 steps away.
At first the boys did not hear what they were shouting and did not see the shark; but then one of them looked back, and we all heard a high-pitched squeal, and the boys swam in different directions.
This screech seemed to awaken the artilleryman. He jumped up and ran towards the guns. He turned his trunk, lay down next to the cannon, took aim and took the fuse.
All of us, no matter how many of us were on the ship, froze in fear and waited for what would happen.
A shot rang out, and we saw that the artilleryman fell near the cannon and covered his face with his hands. We didn’t see what happened to the shark and the boys, because for a minute the smoke obscured our eyes.
But when the smoke dispersed over the water, first a quiet murmur was heard from all sides, then this murmur became stronger, and finally, a loud, joyful cry was heard from all sides.
The old artilleryman opened his face, stood up and looked at the sea.
The yellow belly of a dead shark swayed across the waves. In a few minutes the boat sailed to the boys and brought them to the ship.
Lion and dog (True)
Illustration by Nastya Aksenova
In London they showed wild animals and for viewing they took money or dogs and cats to feed the wild animals.
One man wanted to see the animals: he grabbed a little dog on the street and brought it to the menagerie. They let him watch, but they took the little dog and threw him into a cage with a lion to be eaten.
The dog tucked its tail and pressed itself into the corner of the cage. The lion approached her and smelled her.
The dog lay down on its back, raised its paws and began wagging its tail.
The lion touched it with his paw and turned it over.
The dog jumped up and stood on its hind legs in front of the lion.
The lion looked at the dog, turned his head from side to side and did not touch it.
When the owner threw meat to the lion, the lion tore off a piece and left it for the dog.
In the evening, when the lion went to bed, the dog lay down next to him and put her head on his paw.
Since then, the dog lived in the same cage with the lion, the lion did not touch her, ate food, slept with her, and sometimes played with her.
One day the master came to the menagerie and recognized his dog; he said that the dog was his own, and asked the owner of the menagerie to give it to him. The owner wanted to give it back, but as soon as they began to call the dog to take it from the cage, the lion bristled and growled.
This is how the lion and the dog lived whole year in one cell.
A year later the dog got sick and died. The lion stopped eating, but kept sniffing, licking the dog and touching it with his paw.
When he realized that she was dead, he suddenly jumped up, bristled, began to whip his tail on the sides, rushed to the wall of the cage and began to gnaw at the bolts and the floor.
All day long he struggled, thrashed about in the cage and roared, then he lay down next to the dead dog and fell silent. The owner wanted to take away the dead dog, but the lion would not let anyone near it.
The owner thought that the lion would forget his grief if he was given another dog, and he let a live dog into his cage; but the lion immediately tore her to pieces. Then he hugged the dead dog with his paws and lay there for five days.
On the sixth day the lion died.
Jump (Byl)
One ship circumnavigated the world and was returning home. The weather was calm, all the people were on deck. A large monkey was spinning around in the middle of the people and amusing everyone. This monkey writhed, jumped, made funny faces, imitated people, and it was clear that she knew that they were amusing her, and that is why she became even more dissatisfied.
She jumped up to a 12-year-old boy, the son of a ship's captain, tore his hat off his head, put it on and quickly climbed up the mast. Everyone laughed, but the boy was left without a hat and did not know whether to laugh or cry.
The monkey sat down on the first crossbar of the mast, took off his hat and began to tear it with his teeth and paws. She seemed to be teasing the boy, pointing at him and making faces at him. The boy threatened her and shouted at her, but she tore her hat even angrier. The sailors began to laugh louder, and the boy blushed, took off his jacket and rushed after the monkey to the mast. In one minute he climbed the rope to the first crossbar; but the monkey was even more dexterous and faster than him, and at the very moment he was thinking of grabbing his hat, he climbed even higher.
So you won’t leave me! - the boy shouted and climbed higher. The monkey beckoned him again and climbed even higher, but the boy was already overcome with enthusiasm and did not lag behind. So the monkey and the boy reached the very top in one minute. At the very top, the monkey stretched out to its full length and, hooking its back hand1 onto the rope, hung its hat on the edge of the last crossbar, and itself climbed to the top of the mast and from there writhed, showed its teeth and rejoiced. From the mast to the end of the crossbar, where the hat hung, there were two arshins, so it was impossible to get it except by letting go of the rope and the mast.
But the boy became very excited. He dropped the mast and stepped onto the crossbar. Everyone on deck looked and laughed at what the monkey and the captain's son were doing; but when they saw that he let go of the rope and stepped onto the crossbar, shaking his arms, everyone froze with fear.
All he had to do was stumble, and he would have smashed to pieces on the deck. And even if he hadn’t stumbled, but had reached the edge of the crossbar and taken his hat, it would have been difficult for him to turn around and walk back to the mast. Everyone looked at him silently and waited to see what would happen.
Suddenly, someone among the people gasped in fear. The boy came to his senses from this scream, looked down and staggered.
At this time, the ship's captain, the boy's father, left the cabin. He carried a gun to shoot seagulls2. He saw his son on the mast, and immediately took aim at his son and shouted: “Into the water! jump into the water now! I’ll shoot you!” The boy was staggering, but did not understand. “Jump or I’ll shoot you!.. One, two...” and as soon as the father shouted: “three,” the boy swung his head down and jumped.
Like a cannonball, the boy’s body splashed into the sea, and before the waves had time to cover him, 20 young sailors had already jumped from the ship into the sea. About 40 seconds later - it seemed like a long time to everyone - the boy's body emerged. He was grabbed and dragged onto the ship. After a few minutes, water started pouring out of his mouth and nose and he began to breathe.
When the captain saw this, he suddenly screamed, as if something was choking him, and ran to his cabin so that no one would see him cry.
Fire dogs (Byl)
It often happens that in cities during fires, children are left in houses and they cannot be pulled out, because they hide from fear and are silent, and from the smoke it is impossible to see them. Dogs in London are trained for this purpose. These dogs live with firefighters, and when a house catches fire, the firefighters send the dogs to pull the children out. One such dog in London saved twelve children; her name was Bob.
One time the house caught fire. And when the firefighters arrived at the house, a woman ran out to them. She cried and said that there was a two-year-old girl left in the house. The firefighters sent Bob. Bob ran up the stairs and disappeared into the smoke. Five minutes later he ran out of the house and carried the girl by the shirt in his teeth. The mother rushed to her daughter and cried with joy that her daughter was alive. The firefighters petted the dog and examined it to see if it was burned; but Bob was eager to go back into the house. The firefighters thought there was something else alive in the house and let him in. The dog ran into the house and soon ran out with something in its teeth. When the people looked at what she was carrying, they all burst out laughing: she was carrying a large doll.
Kostochka (Byl)
The mother bought plums and wanted to give them to the children after lunch. They were on the plate. Vanya never ate plums and kept sniffing them. And he really liked them. I really wanted to eat it. He kept walking past the plums. When there was no one in the upper room, he could not resist, grabbed one plum and ate it. Before dinner, the mother counted the plums and saw that one was missing. She told her father.
At dinner, the father says: “What, children, didn’t anyone eat one plum?” Everyone said: "No." Vanya turned red as a lobster and also said: “No, I didn’t eat.”
Then the father said: “Whatever one of you has eaten is not good; but that’s not the problem. The trouble is that plums have seeds, and if someone doesn’t know how to eat them and swallows a seed, he will die within a day. I'm afraid of this."
Vanya turned pale and said: “No, I threw the bone out the window.”
And everyone laughed, and Vanya began to cry.
The Monkey and the Pea (Fable)
The monkey was carrying two full handfuls of peas. One pea popped out; The monkey wanted to pick it up and spilled twenty peas.
She rushed to pick it up and spilled everything. Then she got angry, scattered all the peas and ran away.
The Lion and the Mouse (Fable)
The lion was sleeping. The mouse ran over his body. He woke up and caught her. The mouse began to ask him to let her in; she said: “If you let me in, I’ll do you good.” The lion laughed that the mouse promised to do good to him, and let it go.
Then the hunters caught the lion and tied it to a tree with a rope. The mouse heard the lion's roar, came running, gnawed the rope and said: “Remember, you laughed, you didn’t think that I could do you any good, but now you see, good comes from a mouse.”
Old grandfather and granddaughter (Fable)
Grandfather became very old. His legs did not walk, his eyes did not see, his ears did not hear, he had no teeth. And when he ate, it flowed backwards from his mouth. His son and daughter-in-law stopped sitting him at the table and let him dine at the stove. They brought him lunch in a cup. He wanted to move it, but he dropped it and broke it. The daughter-in-law began to scold the old man for ruining everything in the house and breaking cups, and said that now she would give him dinner in a basin. The old man just sighed and said nothing. One day a husband and wife are sitting at home and watching their little son playing on the floor with planks - working out something. The father asked: “What are you doing this, Misha?” And Misha said: “It’s me, father, who’s making the tub. When you and your mother are too old to feed you from this tub.”
The husband and wife looked at each other and began to cry. They felt ashamed that they had offended the old man so much; and from then on they began to sit him at the table and look after him.
Liar (Fable, another name - Don't lie)
The boy was guarding the sheep and, as if seeing a wolf, began to call: “Help, wolf! wolf!" The men came running and saw: it’s not true. As he did this two and three times, it happened that a wolf actually came running. The boy began to shout: “Here, here quickly, wolf!” The men thought that he was deceiving again as always - they did not listen to him. The wolf sees that there is nothing to be afraid of: he has slaughtered the entire herd in the open.
Father and Sons (Fable)
The father ordered his sons to live in harmony; they didn't listen. So he ordered a broom to be brought and said:
"Break it!"
No matter how much they fought, they could not break it. Then the father untied the broom and ordered them to break one rod at a time.
They easily broke the bars one by one.
The Ant and the Dove (Fable)
The ant went down to the stream: he wanted to drink. The wave washed over him and almost drowned him. The dove carried a branch; She saw the ant drowning and threw it a branch into the stream. The ant sat on a branch and escaped. Then the hunter laid a net on the dove and wanted to slam it. The ant crawled up to the hunter and bit him on the leg; the hunter gasped and dropped his net. The dove fluttered and flew away.
Hen and Swallow (Fable)
The chicken found the snake eggs and began to hatch them. The swallow saw it and said:
“That's it, stupid! You bring them out, and when they grow up, they will be the first to offend you.”
The Fox and the Grapes (Fable)
The fox saw ripe bunches of grapes hanging, and began to figure out how to eat them.
She struggled for a long time, but could not reach it. To drown out her annoyance, she says: “They’re still green.”
Two Comrades (Fable)
Two comrades were walking through the forest, and a bear jumped out at them. One ran, climbed a tree and hid, while the other stayed on the road. He had nothing to do - he fell to the ground and pretended to be dead.
The bear came up to him and began to sniff: he stopped breathing.
The bear sniffed his face, thought he was dead, and walked away.
When the bear left, he climbed down from the tree and laughed: “Well,” he said, “did the bear speak in your ear?”
"And he told me that - bad people those who run away from their comrades in danger.”
The Tsar and the Shirt (Fairy Tale)
One king was sick and said: “I will give half of the kingdom to the one who cures me.” Then all the wise men gathered and began to judge how to cure the king. No one knew. Only one sage said that the king could be cured. He said: if you find a happy person, take off his shirt and put it on the king, the king will recover. The king sent to look for a happy person throughout his kingdom; but the king's ambassadors traveled for a long time throughout the kingdom and could not find a happy person. There was not a single one that everyone was happy with. He who is rich is sick; whoever is healthy is poor; who is healthy and rich, but whose wife is not good, and whose children are not good; Everyone is complaining about something. One day, late in the evening, the king’s son was walking past a hut, and he heard someone say: “Thank God, I’ve worked hard, I’ve eaten enough and I’m going to bed; what more do I need? The king's son was delighted and ordered to take off the man's shirt, and give him as much money as he wanted for it, and take the shirt to the king. Those sent came to happy man and they wanted to take off his shirt; but the happy one was so poor that he didn’t even have a shirt on.
Two Brothers (Fairy Tale)
Two brothers went traveling together. At noon they lay down to rest in the forest. When they woke up, they saw a stone lying next to them and something was written on the stone. They began to take it apart and read:
“Whoever finds this stone, let him go straight into the forest at sunrise. A river will come in the forest: let him swim through this river to the other side. You will see a bear with cubs: take the cubs from the bear and run without looking back straight up the mountain. On the mountain you will see home, and in that home you will find happiness."
The brothers read what was written, and the youngest said:
Let's go together. Maybe we will swim across this river, bring the cubs home and find happiness together.
Then the elder said:
I won’t go into the forest for cubs and I don’t advise you to either. First thing: no one knows whether the truth is written on this stone; maybe all this was written for fun. Yes, maybe we got it wrong. Second: if the truth is written, we will go into the forest, night will come, we will not get to the river and will get lost. And even if we find a river, how will we cross it? Maybe it's fast and wide? Third: even if we swim across the river, is it really an easy matter to take the cubs away from the mother bear? She will bully us, and instead of happiness we will disappear for nothing. Fourth thing: even if we manage to carry away the cubs, we will not make it up the mountain without rest. The main thing is not said: what kind of happiness will we find in this house? Maybe there awaits us the kind of happiness we don’t need at all.
And the younger one said:
I don't think so. There would be no point in writing this on stone. And everything is written clearly. First thing: we won't get into trouble if we try. The second thing: if we don’t go, someone else will read the inscription on the stone and find happiness, and we will be left with nothing. The third thing: if you don’t bother and don’t work, nothing in the world makes you happy. Fourth: I don’t want them to think that I was afraid of anything.
Then the elder said:
And the proverb says: “To seek great happiness is to lose little”; and also: “Don’t promise a pie in the sky, but give a bird in your hands.”
And the smaller one said:
And I heard: “Fear wolves, don’t go into the forest”; and also: “Water will not flow under a lying stone.” For me, I need to go.
The younger brother went, but the older brother stayed.
As soon as the younger brother entered the forest, he attacked the river, swam across it and immediately saw a bear on the shore. She slept. He grabbed the cubs and ran without looking back up the mountain. As soon as he reached the top, people came out to meet him, they brought him a carriage, took him to the city and made him king.
He reigned for five years. In the sixth year, another king, stronger than him, came against him with war; conquered the city and drove it away. Then the younger brother went wandering again and came to the older brother.
The elder brother lived in the village neither rich nor poor. The brothers were happy with each other and began to talk about their lives.
The elder brother says:
So my truth came out: I lived quietly and well all the time, and even though you were a king, you saw a lot of grief.
And the smaller one said:
I don’t grieve that I went into the forest up the mountain then; Even though I feel bad now, I have something to remember my life with, but you have nothing to remember it with.
Lipunyushka (Fairy Tale)
An old man lived with an old woman. They had no children. The old man went to the field to plow, and the old woman stayed at home to bake pancakes. The old woman baked pancakes and said:
“If we had a son, he would take pancakes to his father; and now who will I send with?”
Suddenly a little son crawled out of the cotton and said: “Hello, mother!..”
And the old woman says: “Where did you come from, son, and what is your name?”
And the son says: “You, mother, pulled back the cotton and put it in a column, and I hatched there. And call me Lipunyushka. Give me, mother, I’ll take the pancakes to the priest.”
The old woman says: “Will you tell, Lipunyushka?”
I'll tell you, mother...
The old woman tied the pancakes in a knot and gave them to her son. Lipunyushka took the bundle and ran into the field.
In the field he came across a bump on the road; he shouts: “Father, father, move me over the hummock! I brought you pancakes."
The old man heard someone calling him from the field, went to meet his son, transplanted him over a hummock and said: “Where are you from, son?” And the boy says: “Father, I was born in cotton,” and served his father pancakes. The old man sat down to have breakfast, and the boy said: “Give me, father, I’ll plow.”
And the old man says: “You don’t have enough strength to plow.”
And Lipunyushka took up the plow and began to plow. He plows himself and sings his own songs.
A gentleman was driving past this field and saw that the old man was sitting having breakfast, and the horse was plowing alone. The master got out of the carriage and said to the old man: “How is it, old man, that your horse plows alone?”
And the old man says: “I have a boy plowing there, and he sings songs.” The master came closer, heard the songs and saw Lipunyushka.
The master says: “Old man! sell me the boy." And the old man says: “No, you can’t sell it to me, I only have one.”
And Lipunyushka says to the old man: “Sell it, father, I’ll run away from him.”
The man sold the boy for a hundred rubles. The master gave the money, took the boy, wrapped him in a handkerchief and put him in his pocket. The master arrived home and said to his wife: “I brought you joy.” And the wife says: “Show me what it is?” The master took a handkerchief out of his pocket, unfolded it, and there was nothing in the handkerchief. Lipunyushka ran away to his father a long time ago.
Three Bears (Fairy Tale)
One girl left home for the forest. She got lost in the forest and began to look for the way home, but didn’t find it, but came to a house in the forest.
The door was open; She looked at the door, saw: there was no one in the house, and entered. Three bears lived in this house. One bear had a father, his name was Mikhailo Ivanovich. He was big and shaggy. The other was a bear. She was smaller, and her name was Nastasya Petrovna. The third was a little bear cub, and his name was Mishutka. The bears were not at home, they went for a walk in the forest.
There were two rooms in the house: one was a dining room, the other was a bedroom. The girl entered the dining room and saw three cups of stew on the table. The first cup, a very large one, was Mikhaily Ivanychev’s. The second cup, smaller, was Nastasya Petrovnina’s; the third, blue cup, was Mishutkina. Next to each cup lay a spoon: large, medium and small.
The girl took the largest spoon and sipped from the largest cup; then she took the middle spoon and sipped from the middle cup; then she took a small spoon and sipped from the blue cup; and Mishutka’s stew seemed to her the best.
The girl wanted to sit down and saw three chairs at the table: one large - Mikhail Ivanovich's; the other smaller one is Nastasya Petrovnin, and the third, small, with a blue pillow is Mishutkin. She climbed onto a large chair and fell; then she sat down on the middle chair, it was awkward; then she sat down on a small chair and laughed - it was so good. She took the blue cup onto her lap and began to eat. She ate all the stew and began to rock on her chair.
The chair broke and she fell to the floor. She stood up, picked up the chair and went to another room. There were three beds: one large - Mikhail Ivanychev's; the other middle one is Nastasya Petrovnina; the third little one is Mishenkina. The girl lay down in the big one; it was too spacious for her; I lay down in the middle - it was too high; She lay down in the small bed - the bed was just right for her, and she fell asleep.
And the bears came home hungry and wanted to have dinner.
The big bear took the cup, looked and roared in a terrible voice:
WHO WAS THE BREAD IN MY CUP?
Nastasya Petrovna looked at her cup and growled not so loudly:
WHO WAS THE BREAD IN MY CUP?
And Mishutka saw his empty cup and squeaked in a thin voice:
WHO WAS BREAD IN MY CUP AND SLAUGHED IT ALL OUT?
Mikhail Ivanovich looked at his chair and growled in a terrible voice:
Nastasya Petrovna looked at her chair and growled not so loudly:
WHO WAS SITTING ON MY CHAIR AND MOVE IT OUT OF PLACE?
Mishutka looked at his broken chair and squeaked:
WHO SAT ON MY CHAIR AND BROKE IT?
The bears came to another room.
WHO WENT INTO MY BED AND CRUSHED IT? - Mikhail Ivanovich roared in a terrible voice.
WHO WENT INTO MY BED AND CRUSHED IT? - Nastasya Petrovna growled not so loudly.
And Mishenka set up a little bench, climbed into his crib and squeaked in a thin voice:
WHO WENT IN MY BED?
And suddenly he saw the girl and screamed as if he was being cut:
Here she is! Hold it, hold it! Here she is! Ay-yay! Hold it!
He wanted to bite her.
The girl opened her eyes, saw the bears and rushed to the window. It was open, she jumped out the window and ran away. And the bears did not catch up with her.
What kind of dew happens on the grass (Description)
When you go into the forest on a sunny morning in summer, you can see diamonds in the fields and grass. All these diamonds sparkle and shimmer in the sun in different colors - yellow, red, and blue. When you come closer and see what it is, you will see that these are drops of dew collected in triangular leaves of grass and glistening in the sun.
The inside of the leaf of this grass is shaggy and fluffy, like velvet. And the drops roll on the leaf and do not wet it.
When you carelessly pick a leaf with a dewdrop, the droplet will roll off like a light ball, and you will not see how it slips past the stem. It used to be that you would tear off such a cup, slowly bring it to your mouth and drink the dewdrop, and this dewdrop seemed tastier than any drink.
Touch and Vision (Reasoning)
Braid forefinger With your middle and braided fingers, touch the small ball so that it rolls between both fingers, and close your eyes. It will seem like two balls to you. Open your eyes, you will see that there is one ball. The fingers deceived, but the eyes corrected.
Look (preferably from the side) at a good, clean mirror: it will seem to you that this is a window or a door and that there is something behind there. Feel it with your finger and you will see that it is a mirror. The eyes deceived, but the fingers corrected.
Where does water go from the sea? (Reasoning)
From springs, springs and swamps, water flows into streams, from streams into rivers, from rivers into large rivers, and from large rivers it flows from the sea. From other sides other rivers flow into the seas, and all rivers have flowed into the seas since the world was created. Where does water go from the sea? Why doesn't it flow over the edge?
Water from the sea rises in fog; the fog rises higher, and clouds become from the fog. The clouds are driven by the wind and spread across the ground. Water falls from the clouds to the ground. It flows from the ground into swamps and streams. From streams flows into rivers; from rivers to sea. From the sea again the water rises into the clouds, and the clouds spread across the earth...
Biography of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy
1828, August 28 (September 9) - Birth Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in the Yasnaya Polyana estate, Krapivensky district, Tula province.
1830 - death of Tolstoy's mother Maria Nikolaevna (nee Volkonskaya).
1837 - The Tolstoy family moved from Yasnaya Polyana to Moscow. Death of Tolstoy's father Nikolai Ilyich.
1840 - First literary work Tolstoy— congratulatory poems by T.A. Ergolskaya: “Dear auntie.”
1841 - Death in Optina Pustyn of the guardian of the children of Tolstykh A.I. Osten-Sacken. The Tolstoys move from Moscow to Kazan, to a new guardian - P.I. Yushkova.
1844 — Tolstoy admitted to Kazan University at the Faculty of Oriental Studies in the category of Arabic-Turkish literature, having passed exams in mathematics, Russian literature, French, German, English, Arabic, Turkish and Tatar languages.
1845 — Tolstoy transfers to the Faculty of Law.
1847 — Tolstoy leaves the university and leaves Kazan for Yasnaya Polyana.
1848, October - 1849, January - lives in Moscow, “very carelessly, without service, without classes, without purpose.”
1849 - Examinations for the candidate's degree at St. Petersburg University. (Discontinued after successful passing in two subjects). Tolstoy starts keeping a diary.
1850 — The idea of “Tales from Gypsy Life.”
1851 - The story “The History of Yesterday” was written. The story “Childhood” began (finished in July 1852). Departure for the Caucasus.
1852 - Examination for the rank of cadet, order for enrollment military service fireworks 4th class. The story “The Raid” was written. In No. 9 of Sovremennik, “Childhood” was published - the first published work Tolstoy. “The Novel of a Russian Landowner” began (the work continued until 1856, remaining unfinished. A fragment of the novel, selected for printing, was published in 1856 under the title “Morning of the Landowner”).
1853 - Participation in the campaign against the Chechens. Start of work on "Cossacks" (completed in 1862). The story “Notes of a Marker” has been written.
1854 - Tolstoy was promoted to ensign. Departure from the Caucasus. Report on transfer to the Crimean Army. Project of the magazine “Soldier's Bulletin” (“Military leaflet”). The stories “Uncle Zhdanov and Cavalier Chernov” and “How Russian Soldiers Die” were written for the soldiers’ magazine. Arrival in Sevastopol.
1855 - Work began on “Youth” (finished in September 1856). The stories “Sevastopol in December”, “Sevastopol in May” and “Sevastopol in August 1855” were written. Arrival in St. Petersburg. Acquaintance with Turgenev, Nekrasov, Goncharov, Fet, Tyutchev, Chernyshevsky, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Ostrovsky and other writers.
1856 - The stories “Blizzard”, “Demoted”, and the story “Two Hussars” were written. Tolstoy promoted to lieutenant. Resignation. In Yasnaya Polyana, an attempt to free the peasants from serfdom. The story “The Departing Field” was begun (the work continued until 1865, remaining unfinished). The magazine Sovremennik published an article by Chernyshevsky about “Childhood” and “Adolescence” and “War Stories” by Tolstoy.
1857 - The story "Albert" began (finished in March 1858). First trip abroad in France, Switzerland, Germany. Story "Lucerne".
1858 - The story “Three Deaths” was written.
1859 - Work on the story “Family Happiness.”
1859 - 1862 - Classes at the Yasnaya Polyana school with peasant children (“lovely, poetic feast”). Their pedagogical ideas Tolstoy expounded in articles in the Yasnaya Polyana magazine he created in 1862.
1860 - Work on stories from peasant life - “Idyll”, “Tikhon and Malanya” (remained unfinished).
1860 - 1861 - Second trip abroad - through Germany, Switzerland, France, England, Belgium. Meeting Herzen in London. Listening to lectures on the history of art at the Sorbonne. Presence at death penalty in Paris. The beginning of the novel “The Decembrists” (remained unfinished) and the story “Polikushka” (finished in December 1862). Quarrel with Turgenev.
1860 - 1863 - Work on the story “Kholstomer” (completed in 1885).
1861 - 1862 - Activities Tolstoy mediator of the 4th section of Krapivensky district. Publication of the pedagogical magazine "Yasnaya Polyana".
1862 - Gendarmerie search in YP. Marriage to Sofya Andreevna Bers, daughter of a doctor in the court department.
1863 - Work began on War and Peace (finished in 1869).
1864 - 1865 - The first Collected Works of L.N. is published. Tolstoy in two volumes (from F. Stellovsky, St. Petersburg).
1865 - 1866 - The first two parts of the future “War and Peace” under the title “1805” were published in the “Russian Bulletin”.
1866 - Meeting the artist M.S. Bashilov, to whom Tolstoy commissions the illustration of War and Peace.
1867 - Trip to Borodino in connection with work on War and Peace.
1867 - 1869 - Publication of two separate editions of War and Peace.
1868 — An article was published in the magazine “Russian Archive” Tolstoy“A few words about the book “War and Peace.”
1870 - The idea of "Anna Karenina".
1870 - 1872 - Work on a novel about the time of Peter I (remained unfinished).
1871 - 1872 - Publication of "ABC".
1873 - The novel Anna Karenina began (completed in 1877). Letter to Moskovskie Vedomosti about the Samara famine. I.N. Kramskoy paints a portrait in Yasnaya Polyana Tolstoy.
1874 — Pedagogical activity, article “On public education”, compilation of the “New ABC” and “Russian books for reading” (published in 1875).
1875 - Start of printing “Anna Karenina” in the magazine “Russian Messenger”. The French magazine Le temps published a translation of the story “The Two Hussars” with a preface by Turgenev. Turgenev wrote that upon the release of War and Peace Tolstoy"decidedly takes first place in the public's favor."
1876 - Meeting P.I. Tchaikovsky.
1877 — Separate edition the last, 8th part of “Anna Karenina” - due to disagreements that arose with the publisher of “Russian Messenger” M.N. Katkov on the issue of the Serbian war.
1878 - Separate edition of the novel “Anna Karenina”.
1878 - 1879 -Work on historical novel about the time of Nicholas I and the Decembrists
1878 - Meeting the Decembrists P.N. Svistunov, M.I. Muravyov Apostol, A.P. Belyaev. "First Memories" written.
1879 — Tolstoy collects historical materials and tries to write a novel from the era of the late 17th century - early XIX century. Visited Tolstoy N.I. Strakhov found him in a “new phase” - anti-state and anti-church. In Yasnaya Polyana the guest is the storyteller V.P. Dapper. Tolstoy writes down folk legends from his words.
1879 - 1880 - Work on the “Confession” and “A Study of Dogmatic Theology.” Meeting V.M. Garshin and I.E. Repin.
1881 - The story “How People Live” was written. A letter to Alexander III with an admonition not to execute the revolutionaries who killed Alexander II. Moving of the Tolstoy family to Moscow.
1882 - Participation in the three-day Moscow census. The article "So what should we do?" has begun. (finished in 1886). Buying a house in Dolgo-Khamovnichesky Lane in Moscow (now the House-Museum of L.N. Tolstoy). The story “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” began (completed in 1886).
1883 - Meeting V.G. Chertkov.
1883 - 1884 - Tolstoy writes the treatise “What is my faith?”
1884 — Portrait Tolstoy works by N.N. Ge. “Notes of a Madman” started (remained unfinished). The first attempt to leave Yasnaya Polyana. A book publishing house was founded for folk reading- “Mediator.”
1885 - 1886 - Written for “The Mediator” folk stories: “Two brothers and gold”, “Ilyas”, “Where there is love, there is God”, If you let the fire go, you won’t put it out”, “Candle”, “Two old men”, “The Tale of Ivan the Fool”, “How much land does a man have necessary”, etc.
1886 - Meeting V.G. Korolnko. Drama started for folk theater— “The Power of Darkness” (prohibited from production). The comedy “Fruits of Enlightenment” began (finished in 1890).
1887 - Meeting N.S. Leskov. The Kreutzer Sonata began (finished in 1889).
1888 - The story “The False Coupon” began (work was discontinued in 1904).
1889 - Work on the story “The Devil” (the second version of the ending of the story dates back to 1890). The “Konevskaya Tale” (based on the story of the judicial figure A.F. Koni) was begun - the future “Resurrection” (finished in 1899).
1890 - Censorship prohibition of the “Kreutzer Sonata” (in 1891, Alexander III allowed printing only in the Collected Works). In a letter to V.G. Chertkov, the first version of the story “Father Sergius” (finished in 1898).
1891 - Letter to the editors of Russkie Vedomosti and Novoye Vremya with a waiver of copyright for works written after 1881.
1891 - 1893 - Organization of assistance to starving peasants of the Ryazan province. Articles about hunger.
1892 - Production of “The Fruits of Enlightenment” at the Maly Theater.
1893 - A preface to the works of Guy de Maupassant was written. Meeting K.S. Stanislavsky.
1894 - 1895 - The story “The Master and the Worker” was written.
1895 - Meeting A.P. Chekhov. Performance of "The Power of Darkness" at the Maly Theater. The article “Shame” was written - a protest against corporal punishment of peasants.
1896 - The story “Hadji Murat” began (work continued until 1904; during his lifetime Tolstoy the story was not published).
1897 - 1898 - Organization of assistance to starving peasants of the Tula province. Article “Hunger or not hunger?” The decision to print “Father Sergius” and “Resurrection” was in favor of the Doukhobors moving to Canada. In Yasnaya Polyana L.O. Pasternak illustrating "Resurrection".
1898 - 1899 - Inspection of prisons, conversations with prison guards in connection with work on “Resurrection”.
1899 - The novel “Resurrection” is published in the Niva magazine.
1899 - 1900 - The article “Slavery of Our Time” was written.
1900 - acquaintance with A.M. Gorky. Work on the drama “The Living Corpse” (after watching the play “Uncle Vanya” at the Art Theater).
1901 - “Definition of the Holy Synod of February 20 - 22, 1901 ... about Count Leo Tolstoy” is published in the newspapers “Tserkovnye Vedomosti”, “Russkiy Vestnik”, etc. The definition spoke of the writer’s “falling away” from Orthodoxy. In his “Response to the Synod,” Tolstoy stated: “I began by loving my Orthodox faith more than my peace of mind, then I loved Christianity more than my church, but now I love the truth more than anything in the world. And to this day the truth coincides for me with Christianity, as I understand it.” Due to illness, departure to Crimea, to Gaspra.
1901 - 1902 - Letter to Nicholas II calling for liquidation private property to the earth and destroy “that oppression that prevents the people from expressing their desires and needs.”
1902 - return to Yasnaya Polyana.
1903 - “Memoirs” began (work continued until 1906). The story “After the Ball” was written.
1903 - 1904 - Work on the article “About Shakespeare and the Lady.”
1904 — Article about Russian-Japanese war“Come to your senses!”
1905 - An afterword to Chekhov’s story “Darling”, articles “On the Social Movement in Russia” and The Green Stick, stories “Korney Vasiliev”, “Alyosha Pot”, “Berry”, and the story “Posthumous Notes of Elder Fyodor Kuzmich” were written. Reading the notes of the Decembrists and the works of Herzen. Entry about the October 17 manifesto: “There is nothing in it for the people.”
1906 - The story “For What?” and the article “The Significance of the Russian Revolution” were written, the story “Divine and Human”, begun in 1903, was completed.
1907 — Letter to P.A. Stolypin about the situation of the Russian people and the need to destroy private ownership of land. In Yasnaya Polyana M.V. Neterov paints a portrait Tolstoy.
1908 - Tolstoy’s article against the death penalty - “I can’t remain silent!” No. 35 of the Proletary newspaper published an article by V.I. Lenin "Leo Tolstoy, as a mirror of the Russian revolution."
1908 - 1910 - Work on the story “There are no guilty people in the world.”
1909 — Tolstoy writes the story “Who are the killers? Pavel Kudryash”, a sharply critical article about the cadet collection “Milestones”, essays “Conversation with a passer-by” and “Songs in the Village”.
1900 - 1910 - Work on the essays “Three days in the countryside”.
1910 - The story “Khodynka” was written.
In a letter to V.G. Korolenko received an enthusiastic review of his article against the death penalty - “The Change House Phenomenon.”
Tolstoy preparing a report for the Peace Congress in Stockholm.
Work on the last article - “A Real Remedy” (against the death penalty).
Leo Tolstoy is known for his monumental works, but his children's works also deserve attention. Famous classic wrote dozens of excellent fairy tales, epics and short stories for children, which will be discussed below.
Fairy tales, fables, there were stories
The famous Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy always treated children's literature with special trepidation. The author's long observations of peasant children are reflected in his work. The famous “ABC”, “New ABC” and “Russian books for reading” contributed huge contribution in development children's education. This edition includes the fairy tales “Three Bears”, “Lipunyushka”, “Two Brothers”, “Filipok”, “Jump”, stories about the dog Bulka, which are widely used to this day in preschool and primary school education. Further
Three Bears
Leo Tolstoy's collection includes essays written more than half a century ago for students of the Yasnopolyansky school. Today, the texts are no less extremely popular among children, thanks to their simple and colorful descriptions of worldly wisdom. Illustrations in the book provided famous artist I. Tsygankov. Suitable for senior preschool age. Further
The collected works include such works as “Lipunyushka”, “Shark”, as well as “The Lion and the Dog”, “Two Brothers”, the famous “Bone”, “Jump”, and, of course, “Three Bears”. The works were written for all young students in the Yasnaya Polyana estate, but continue to arouse great interest among young readers today. Further
This publication is a collection of folklore works “The Fox and the Crane”, “Geese-Swans”, “Gingerbread House”, retold by L.N. Eliseeva and A.N. Afanasyeva and the creation of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy “Three Bears”. The works tell about such concepts as kindness, intelligence, justice, and intelligence. Here you will meet everyone's famous fairy-tale heroes: sly fox, evil gray wolf, Mashenka, who loved to eat from someone else’s cup. The publication is accompanied by pictures by artists Sergei Bordyug and Natalia Trepenok. Further
A collection of fascinating fairy tales about animals with many bright images for preschool children: “The Fox and the Mouse” by Vitaly Bianchi, “The Frog the Traveler” by Vsevolod Garshin, “The Gray Neck” by Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak, “The Three Bears” by Leo Tolstoy and others. Illustrator: Tatyana Vasilyeva. Further
All the best for children
A golden collection of works by Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, which will not leave both kids and older children indifferent. Subject carefree childhood It will appeal to modern children and their parents. The book calls on the younger generation to love, kindness and respect, which, perhaps, permeate the entire work of the great writer. Further
This is a collection of stories, epics and fairy tales included in the primary school curriculum. A series of stories about Lev Nikolaevich’s dogs – Milton and Bulka – will not leave boys and girls indifferent primary classes. Further
Novels and stories
The publication contains meaningful works by Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy for older children: “After the Ball,” “Kholstomer,” “The Kreutzer Sonata,” “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” and others. Further
Stories for children
A great combination of stories for beginning readers. There is a lot in the text bright pictures, accents are placed and words are divided into syllables, which makes the process of learning to read much easier for both kids and their parents. Suitable for preschool children. Further
So, these were the children's works of Leo Tolstoy. Share in the comments which works for children from this writer you remember most. 😉
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a little over twenty years old when he began teaching literacy to peasant children on his estate. He continued to work at the Yasnaya Polyana school intermittently until the end of his life; he worked long and enthusiastically on compiling educational books. In 1872, “Azbuka” was published - a book set containing the alphabet itself, texts for initial Russian and Church Slavonic reading, arithmetic and a teacher’s manual. Three years later, Tolstoy published The New ABC. When teaching, he used proverbs, sayings, and riddles. He composed many “proverb stories”: in each the proverb unfolded in short story with morals. The “New Alphabet” was supplemented by “Russian Books for Reading” - several hundred works: stories and stories, retellings folk tales and classical fables, natural history descriptions and reasoning.
Tolstoy strove for extremely simple and precise language. But to the modern child difficult to understand even the most simple texts about ancient peasant life.
So what? The works of Leo Tolstoy for children become literary monument and leave Russian children's reading, the basis of which they have been for a whole century?
There is no shortage of modern publications. Publishers are trying to make books interesting and understandable to today's children.
1. Tolstoy, L. N. Stories for children / Leo Tolstoy; [preface V. Tolstoy; comp. Yu. Kublanovsky] ; drawings by Natalia Parent-Chelpanova. - [Yasnaya Polyana]: L.N. Tolstoy Museum-Estate “Yasnaya Polyana”, 2012. - 47 p. : ill.
Illustrated by the Russian artist in exile Natalya Parent-Chelpanova, Leo Tolstoy's children's stories, translated into French, were published in Paris by the Gallimard publishing house in 1936. In the Yasnaya Polyana booklet they are, of course, printed in Russian. There are stories here that are usually included in modern collections and are undisputed in children's reading(“Fire Dogs”, “Kitten”, “Filipok”), and rare, even amazing. For example, the fable “The Owl and the Hare” - how a arrogant young owl wanted to catch a huge hare, grabbed his back with one paw, the other into a tree, and he “rushed and tore the owl apart”. Read on?
What is true is true: literary devices Tolstoy's strong; The impressions after reading will remain deep.
Natalia Parent’s illustrations brought the texts closer to the little readers of her time: the characters in the stories were drawn as if they were the artist’s contemporaries. There are French inscriptions: for example, “Pinson” on the grave of a sparrow (for the story “How my aunt talked about how she had a pet sparrow - Zhiwchik”).
2. Tolstoy, L. N. Three Bears / Leo Tolstoy; artist Yuri Vasnetsov. - Moscow: Melik-Pashaev, 2013. - 17 p. : ill.
In the same 1936, Yuri Vasnetsov illustrated the story retold in Russian by Leo Tolstoy English fairy tale. At first the illustrations were in black and white, but the later colorful version is reproduced here. The fairy-tale bears of Yu. Vasnetsov, although Mikhail Ivanovich and Mishutka are in vests, and Nastasya Petrovna with a lace umbrella, are quite scary. The child understands why “one girl” was so afraid of them; but she managed to escape!
Illustrations have been color corrected for the new edition. You can see the first edition, as well as reprints that differ from one another, in the National Electronic Children's Library (books are protected by copyright, registration is required to view).
3. Tolstoy, L. N. Lipunyushka: stories and fairy tales / Leo Tolstoy; illustrations by A. F. Pakhomov. - St. Petersburg: Amphora, 2011. - 47 p. : ill.- (Library of a junior school student).
Many adults have retained in their memory “The ABC” by Leo Tolstoy with illustrations by Alexei Fedorovich Pakhomov. The artist knew the peasant way of life very well (he himself was born in a pre-revolutionary village). He painted peasants with great sympathy, children - sentimentally, but always with a firm, confident hand.
The St. Petersburg “Amphora” more than once published small collections of stories from L. N. Tolstoy’s “ABC” with illustrations by A. F. Pakhomov. This book contains several stories from which peasant children learned to read. Then the fairy tales - “How a man divided the geese” (about a cunning man) and “Lipunyushka” (about a resourceful son who "came out in cotton").
4. Tolstoy, L. N. About animals and birds / L. N. Tolstoy; artist Andrey Brey. - Saint Petersburg; Moscow: Rech, 2015. - 19 p. : ill. - (Mom’s favorite book).
Stories “Eagle”, “Sparrow and Swallows”, “How Wolves Teach Their Children”, “What Mice Are for”, “Elephant”, “Ostrich”, “Swans”. Tolstoy is not sentimental at all. Animals in his stories are predators and prey. But, of course, a moral must be read in a basic story; Not every story is straightforward.
Here is “Swans” - a genuine prose poem.
It must be said about the artist that he painted animals expressively; among his teachers was V. A. Vatagin. “Stories about Animals” with illustrations by Andrei Andreevich Brey, published by Detgiz in 1945, are digitized and available in the National Electronic Children's Library (registration is also required to view).
5. Tolstoy, L. N. Kostochka: stories for children / Leo Tolstoy; drawings by Vladimir Galdyaev. - Saint Petersburg; Moscow: Rech, 2015. - 79 p. : ill.
The book contains mainly the most frequently published and read children's stories by L. N. Tolstoy: “Fire”, “Fire Dogs”, “Filipok”, “Kitten”...
“The Bone” is also a widely known story, but few people are ready to agree with the radical educational method shown in it.
The contents of the book and layout are the same as in the collection “Stories and Were”, published in 1977. More texts and drawings by Vladimir Galdyaev were in L. N. Tolstoy’s “Book for Children,” published by the Moskovsky Rabochiy publishing house in the same 1977 (the publications, of course, were preparing for the writer’s 150th anniversary). The rigor of the drawing and the specific character of the characters correspond well to Tolstoy's literary style.
6. Tolstoy, L. N. Children: stories / L. Tolstoy; drawings by P. Repkin. - Moscow: Nigma, 2015. - 16 p. : ill.
Four stories: “The Lion and the Dog”, “Elephant”, “Eagle”, “Kitten”. They are illustrated by Peter Repkin, a graphic artist and animator. It is interesting that the lion, eagle, elephant and his little owner depicted by the artist obviously resemble the characters of the cartoon “Mowgli”, the production designer of which was Repkin (together with A. Vinokurov). This cannot harm either Kipling or Tolstoy, but it does make one think about the differences and similarities in the views and talents of the two great writers.
7. Tolstoy, L. N. The Lion and the Dog: a true story / L. N. Tolstoy; drawings by G. A. V. Traugot. - St. Petersburg: Rech, 2014. - 23 p. : ill.
On the flyleaf there is a drawing depicting Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy in London in 1861 and as if confirming: this story is true. The story itself is given in the form of captions to the illustrations.
First line: “Wild animals were shown in London...” An ancient multi-colored, almost fairy-tale Western European city, townspeople and townswomen, curly-haired children - all in a manner that has long been characteristic of the artists “G. A. V. Traugot." Meat thrown into a lion's cage does not look naturalistic (like Repkin's). A lion yearning for a dead dog (Tolstoy honestly writes that she “died”) is drawn very expressively.
I told you more about the book “Biblioguide”.
8. Tolstoy, L. N. Filipok / L. N. Tolstoy; artist Gennady Spirin. - Moscow: RIPOL classic, 2012. -: ill. - (Masterpieces of book illustration).
“Filipok” from “The New ABC” is one of the most famous stories by Leo Tolstoy and all Russian children's literature. The figurative meaning of the word “textbook” here coincides with the direct one.
The RIPOL Classic publishing house has already republished the book with illustrations by Gennady Spirin several times and included it in the New Year's gift collection. Such "Filipok" was previously published on English language(see on the artist’s website: http://gennadyspirin.com/books/). In the drawings of Gennady Konstantinovich there is a lot of affection for the ancient peasant life and winter Russian nature.
It is noteworthy that in " New alphabet"behind this story (at the end of which Filipok “he began to speak to the Mother of God; but every word he spoke was wrong") followed by “Slavic letters”, “Slavic words under titles” and prayers.
9. Tolstoy, L. N. My first Russian book for reading / Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. - Moscow: White City, . - 79 s. : ill. - (Russian books for reading).
"White City" has undertaken a complete publication of "Russian books for reading". The second, third and fourth books were published in the same way. There are no abbreviations here. Stories, fairy tales, fables, descriptions and reasoning are given in the order in which Lev Nikolaevich arranged them. There are no comments on the texts. Illustrations are used instead of verbal explanations. Basically, these are reproductions of paintings, famous and not so famous. For example, to the description of “The Sea” - “The Ninth Wave” by Ivan Aivazovsky. To the discussion “Why does the wind happen?” - “Children running from a thunderstorm” by Konstantin Makovsky. To the story “Fire” - “Fire in the Village” by Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky. To the story " Prisoner of the Caucasus" - landscapes by Lev Lagorio and Mikhail Lermontov.
The range of ages and interests of readers of this book can be very wide.
10. Tolstoy, L. N. Sea: description / Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy; artist Mikhail Bychkov. - St. Petersburg: Azbuka, 2014. - p. : ill. - (Good and eternal).
Of the books listed, this one seems to belong most to our time. Artist Mikhail Bychkov says: “A few lines by L. N. Tolstoy gave me a wonderful opportunity to draw the sea”. On large-format spreads, the artist depicted the southern and northern sea, calm and stormy, day and night. To Tolstoy's short text he made a drawn appendix about all kinds of sea vessels.
The work fascinated Mikhail Bychkov, and he illustrated three stories from Tolstoy’s “ABC”, combining them with a fictional trip around the world on a sailing warship. In the story "The Jump" such a journey is mentioned. The story "Shark" begins with the words: "Our ship was anchored off the coast of Africa." The story “Fire Dogs” takes place in London - and the artist painted a Russian corvette flying the St. Andrew’s flag against the backdrop of the construction of the Tower Bridge (built from 1886 to 1894; “ABC” was compiled earlier, but in the same era, especially if viewed from our time) .
The book “Were” was published by the Rech publishing house in 2015. In the spring of 2016 in State Museum L. N. Tolstoy on Prechistenka hosted an exhibition of illustrations by Mikhail Bychkov for these two children's books.
“The sea is wide and deep; there is no end in sight to the sea. The sun rises at sea and sets at sea. No one has reached or knows the bottom of the sea. When there is no wind, the sea is blue and smooth; when the wind blows, the sea will stir up and become uneven..."
"Sea. Description"
“...Water from the sea rises in fog; the fog rises higher, and clouds become from the fog. The clouds are driven by the wind and spread across the ground. Water falls from the clouds to the ground. It flows from the ground into swamps and streams. From streams it flows into rivers; from rivers to sea. From the sea again the water rises into the clouds, and the clouds spread across the earth...”
“Where does the water go from the sea? Reasoning"
Leo Tolstoy's stories from "ABC" and "Russian Books for Reading" are laconic, even lapidary. In many ways, they are archaic, in today's opinion. But the essential thing about them is this: what is now rare is not game, serious attitude by the way, a simple, but not simplified attitude towards everything around.
